Softening The Mind - How Yoga and Mindfulness Help
In our mindfulness class this week we explored the ways in which we can notice and ease our hard habits of thinking such as perfectionism, judgement, control and comparison that keep us locked in patterns of tension and reactivity.
When we practice softening the mind, we begin to notice when we’ve slipped into autopilot - when our minds and thought begin to loop into over-analysis and we resist and tighten against life.
Here are some of the ways the mind becomes hard - the patterns, defences, and habits that create mental rigidity and inner tension.
1. Judgement
When the mind fixates on right and working, good and bad, black and white, it closes to nuance and curiosity. It keeps us in constant comparison - of ourslves, others, and circumstances - eroding compassion and connection.
2. Perfectionism
The drive to do or be “right”hardens the mind into impossible standards.
Perfectionism often masks fear - of failure, rejection, or not being enough. It can turn learning into self-punishment. When I was deeply entrenched in my eating disorder I was driven by being perfect and would give myself such a hard time if I made a mistake.
3. Resentment
Resentment forms when care and effort are unacknowledged or we do not feel valued or appreciated. It hardens into a shell of self protection. When we notice a feeling of resentment we can realise it as evidence of unmet needs or unspoken boundaries and a longing to be valued, recognised or considered.
4. Overthinking
When thought replaces feeling, the mind spins faster than the body can keep up. We become totally disconnected from embodiment (our felt sense of the body) - and intuition. This is why yoga and mindfulness practices help up to get out of the head and into the body so we don’t spin out of control in the mind.
5. Analysis Paralysis
This is the mind’s attempt to think its way to certainty. It freezes decision making and amplifies anxiety.
6. Self-Criticism
The inner critic is often an internalised voice of early survival - trying to keep us safe when we anticipate rejection. It is very common with people suffering with Eating disorders as they are usually highly sensitive.
7. Control
A hard mind clings to control as a buffer against uncertainty. It often resists surrender and spontaneity.
Yoga and mindfulness are not quick fixes but gentle, embodied ways of retraining our awareness.
Through conscious observation we begin to notice the hard mind habits that harden us: the striving, self-criticism, the need for control.
With awareness comes choice.
Over time, these practices rewire us so we are living from a place of response instead of reaction, curiosity instead of judgement and striving to presence.
May this be a reminder to soften when life feels hard.