Centering
Centering — The core of CORE*
Attention acts like a filter directing our resources to one thing and away from something else. The more intense our focus the more powerful the effect. Understanding how to use attention is therefore central to steering our minds to where we want to go in life and consuming information that supports us while spitting out what doesn’t nourish us. This involves strengthening and cleansing our minds on a regular basis so that we have the mental resources to cultivate awareness and discernment. What is broadly called self-regulation or grounding are essential for this task. These include breathing exercises and meditation. These exercises center us so that we can move through life with more stability.
I sometimes refer to these practices as mental hygiene. Mental hygiene is just as important as, for example, dental hygiene. Think about how often you brush your teeth each day. Most people brush their teeth twice a day without fail. Even when they are stressed out and busy. We rarely, if ever, say I don’t have time to brush my teeth. We just do it. Why? Because it has become a healthy habit that we don’t question and because we don’t want the consequences of bad breath and cavities. We brush our teeth even if we only consume healthy food.
The same is true for the mind as it is with our teeth. The bad breath of the mind includes the things we say that we regret and that turn people off. The cavities of the mind are the negative beliefs, attitudes, and habits that keep us trapped in a less fulfilling life. And just like brushing our teeth, we need to practice cleansing and strengthening our mind regularly even if we have only consumed healthy information (which is unlikely). Indeed, why would we expect our mind to stay strong and healthy if we never clean and exercise it?
Grounding or centering has been shown to have positive effects on us physically (e.g., reducing inflammation), emotionally (e.g., improving mood), and cognitively (e.g., improving concentration). Furthermore, research shows that when we use these exercises on a regular basis our brains change to support us. By practicing the various mental hygiene exercises, we strengthen the prefrontal cortex increasing our capacity to stay present, aware, and responsive (instead of reactive) to our environments.
One of the first exercises I give all my clients involves the practice of slowing down their breathing. Slowing down breathing to 4–6 breaths per minute increases our heart rate variability which is associated with an activation of the prefrontal cortex and a deactivation of the stress response system. Given that we are constantly bombarded with negative, fear-based information I recommend that my clients download an application on their smartphones that will signal them at random intervals to stop and breathe in this way. By doing this regularly for just one minute at a time, they can tone down the stress response system throughout the day.
Alternatives to using an application on the phone would involve using cues in the environment. For example, with clients who have driving anxiety, I often recommend that they take at least one breath this way at every stop sign and every red light. You can use other environmental cues including objects, colours or repetitive behavioural patterns (e.g., every time you drink water or coffee) to signal that it is time to take five breaths in this way. It only takes one minute. Why not give it a try?
In a follow-up post, I will offer some more simple and straightforward practices we can all use to stay centered.
*In this article I described the CORE framework:
