Dropping Anchor

This week’s practice is called Dropping the Anchor which is really helpful when we’re distracted and want to remain alert and able to pay attention.

We simply use the anchor, or in other words we purposefully use our stance and the natural rhythm of our breathing as something that we choose to focus on. We take a moment and notice where the breath is, is it in the nose, the chest or the body.

When to use

Sometimes when we feel stressed, upset, angry or really excited, we forget about everything else! We might get annoyed with ourselves or others, we may even get frustrated with how we feel and can sometimes end up feeling worse! This is where Anchor Breathing becomes useful.

How to practice

By purposefully breathing, dropping our attention into our body and the natural rhythm of the breath, we can begin to settle, to focus, to calm and help ourselves feel more able to deal with whatever is going on.

How do we do this? We drop our attention into the lower half of our body. We focus on our feet on the floor, we ground ourselves in the present moment by noticing what is actually going on in our bodies, our feet, our breath. This type of anchoring can really help us calm down by slowing our heart-rate and allowing us to focus our attention away from what is stressful and unwanted.

You can do this practice anytime, eyes open or eyes closed and anywhere. It is a safe and appropriate practice to help you deal with anything that making your day anything other than “plain sailing”. Enjoy and see you next Monday for the next in this series of #MindfulMondays