When you get overwhelmed, stressed out, and stuck in your head, here’s a quick grounding technique to calm you down. Learn how to mindfully yawn for instant relief. This is a mindfulness practice for the real world!
It’s that time of year again. You know the drill. There’s a million things to do and not enough time to do a fraction of them. It becomes apparent that we lack the bandwidth to support life’s demands. This is when we can make a conscious choice to slow down.
Taking even just a few seconds to ground ourselves can help us feel less stressed. Pressing pause on rushing gives us a chance to remember our priorities (hello, happiness?) and live more intentionally. This is a way to practice mindfulness – being present, without judgment, in the moment – in the real world.
If you’re saying “Yeah, sounds great. But I don’t have time to pause,” this 5-second technique is for you. It’s a quick grounding exercise I read about in a recent Real Simple article on effective communication strategies for holiday conversations.[1]
Mark Robert Waldman, a neuroscience researcher and popular author, was interviewed about remaining calm and present during uncomfortable conversations. Much of what Waldman teaches revolves around slowing down, key to both effective communication and building resiliency.
My favorite piece of advice on consciously slowing down: yawn mindfully. When you find yourself stressed out, triggered, or stuck in a mental loop, stop, and make yourself yawn.
Here’s how to practice mindful yawning:
- Close your eyes.
- Yawn slowly.
- Pay attention to where you feel your yawn first (jaw, ears, nose, etc.)
- Continue to observe. Silently note how the yawn feels as if you are an investigator studying yawning with intense curiosity.
- Open your eyes and savor a calmer feeling.
That’s it! It really is that easy. If you can yawn, you can use this quick grounding technique to calm down.
Why does this work?
Yawning is a natural way to increase blood flow to the brain. Even more importantly, it triggers activity in the central executive network, an area associated with present awareness and goals. At the same time, it decreases activity in the default mode network, that area of the brain responsible for rumination and a sense of feeling “stuck in our heads.”
In addition, yawning mindfully redirects our attention to our bodies. Simply put, this practice gets us out of our heads and down into our bodies. Even if just for a few seconds, this can help us pause and reprioritize.
Give it a try this week and let me know how it goes!
[1] Maclin, A. (2022, November). The dish on awkward dinner convos. Real Simple. 73.
