Mindfulness for Women: Simple Daily Practices to Quiet the Inner Critic

Do you often feel there are too many troubling thoughts? Such that these thoughts hamper the daily functioning. If this is a challenge that you have been experiencing in daily life then learning how to silence your inner critic can be a helpful way to improve the quality of life. This blog is specially written with the intention of explaining mindfulness for women. Mindfulness for women is a practice that encourages self-awareness, a non-judgmental attitude and observation of thoughts, emotions and experiences.

What Is the Inner Critic and Why Is It So Loud?

The negative voice in the mind that discourages one from feeling empowered and keeps questioning one’s abilities can be the inner critic. The voice can be different for different people and may sound like:

‘You won’t be able to achieve success in life’

‘You don’t deserve to be happy’

‘Nobody will ever love you’

The negative voice can become louder with time due to challenging experiences and past failures. At times, the loud inner critic voice may just be trying to protect the person from getting hurt.

How Mindfulness Helps Silence the Inner Critic

Mindfulness is a practice that allows the individual to observe inner critic thoughts without judging or believing them. This takes the power of the inner critic away and therefore reduces the immediate negative response. Mindfulness is known for calming the nervous system and helping with emotion regulation as well.

Why Mindfulness Is Especially Helpful for Women

Everybody can experience different benefits of mindfulness. Mindfulness practices for women are especially popular because:

1. The pressure regarding a certain body image can be challenging

2. High-intensity emotional labour in women can be distressing

3.  Mindfulness can allow females to improve self-worth

Simple Daily Practices to Quiet the Inner Critic

Women's mental health mindfulness can be improved through a lot of simple practices. Mindfulness practices for women can include a lot of methods, and a few of those have been described below.

Practice 1: Mindful Breathing

-  Focusing on inhalation and exhalation

-  Becoming aware of the body while breathing

-  Sitting comfortably to feel more relaxed

Practice 2: Naming the Inner Critic

-  Giving a name to the inner critic can help in recognising the negative self-talk.

-  The name can also support in its acknowledgement without any fighting

-  Inner critic recognition may also contribute towards inner critic healing for women

Practice 3: Self-Compassion Pause

-   Self-compassion can be different for different people

-   Using kind words for oneself and writing a letter of gratitude for oneself can be self-compassion practices

-    Self-compassion practices can help reduce shame and guilt

Practice 4: Body Awareness

-   Mental health practitioners often encourage scanning the body to become more aware

-   Mindfulness practices for women can also involve releasing bodily tightness slowly

-   Observing the stressed areas and being compassionate towards oneself can also contribute towards inner critic healing for women

Practice 5: Gentle Daily Reflection

-   Everyday reflections through journaling can increase self-awareness

-   Daily reflections can enable an individual to identify the inner critic voice

-   Gradually, one can become emotionally aware and gain clarity

How These Practices Support Women’s Mental Health

One might often question – ‘how to heal your inner critic voice, especially when it’s been there for so long?’ Well, while there are so many daily practices to quiet the inner critic, the above-listed activities are specifically beneficial because:

1.  Becoming emotionally aware

2.  Decreasing shame, guilt and self-blame

3.  Improving overall wellness

How Long Does It Take to Notice a Change?

Mindfulness for women may take some time, from days to months or even more, depending on the individual’s concerns and goals. Noticing a change may look like:

1. You becoming more aware and able to catch self-critical thoughts

2. Identifying thoughts without engaging or entertaining them

3.  Long-term practice can lead to a long-lasting change

Tips to Make Mindfulness a Daily Habit

Here are some quick tips regarding bringing regularity in daily practices to quiet inner critic:

1.  Fixing a specific time for mindfulness practice

2.  Pairing mindfulness with daily routine activities

3.  Monitoring growth and progress in mindfulness practice

Common Myths About Mindfulness and the Inner Critic

It is important to bust myths that spread false information and may cause more harm to people. Some of the many common myths about women mental health, mindfulness and inner critic can include:

1. Only calm women can practise mindfulness – It is false, anyone can practise it!

2. Mindfulness can completely replace therapy for inner critic healing – It is false, as while mindfulness may help, therapy has its own role in the inner critic healing journey

3.  The positive impact of mindfulness is instantly observed and forever permanent – It is false, as while some positive impact may be observed immediately, long-term practice is needed for sustainable results

Final Thoughts

Women’s mental health treatment is crucial for uplifting society as a whole. Some of the many mental health disorders that women may feel include Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Major Depressive Disorder, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, etc, and these can include self-critical thoughts. At Athena OKAS, we help you notice this inner critic voice with compassion and gradually work on your overall well-being.

Athena OKAS has only female clients, and therefore, our services aim to support all the women reaching out with the hope of improving mental health. We include mindfulness as a part of our treatment plan. You can reach out to us +91 9289730444 and we would be happy to assist you!