Re-Examining Mindfulness: A Tool for Self-Care During the Coronavirus Crisis and Beyond

by Deborah Lisansky Beck, MSW, LICSW

(Note: This article is the second on mindfulness as a tool for social workers by Deborah Lisansky Beck, MSW, LICSW. Please see her Winter 2016 The New Social Worker article, Mindfulness: 10 Lessons in Self-Care for Social Workers.)

The year 2020 has become a time of acute crisis caused by the effects of a new phenomenon – the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. This crisis affects each of us as human beings in multiple domains – physically (if not medically), emotionally, socially, economically, spiritually, and occupationally - regardless of our specific situation. It also affects clients we work with directly and all fellow humans we are concerned about in our local and global community. Additionally, client experience is often severely affected by the highly toxic, frequently co-existing stressors of poverty; physical and/or mental illness; social isolation; trauma; and pervasive, life threatening systemic discrimination, particularly intractable institutional racism. What has become clearer every day is that these unrelenting stressors and the novel scourge of COVID-19 can overlap and comingle in ways that further endanger client experience. An equally powerful burden is that the constraints on conducting work as usual during this crisis within the normal context of face-to-face, spatially connected interaction is requiring social workers and clients to resort to new, often uncomfortable and awkward ways of relating and working together.

For everyone, the impact of the virus is magnified by its virulent contagion, unpredictability, threat to our need for control and clarity, uncertainty of duration, and capriciously lethal outcome. Exemplifying its meaning are statements I have recently heard, such as “my world is upside down,” “my life is topsy turvy,” and “the rug has been swept out from underneath me.” Experiencing this unique crisis in two domains of our lives – as individuals and as social workers – only amplifies the potency of its consequences and exacerbates our susceptibility to vicarious traumatization, compassion fatigue, and burnout.

Fortunately, the social work profession has a long history of innovative research, practice, and teaching in the areas of crisis theory and crisis intervention (Parad,1965), and new ideas and information that help contextualize and reshape foundational and subsequent knowledge are already being shared (Grise-Owens & Grobman, 2020; Jeans, 2020; Miller, 2020; Shemelia, 2020; Zilberstein, 2020). Equally fortunate, like all crises, COVID-19 has the potential for both “danger” and “opportunity” (McDonald, 2016; Zitter, 2020). Although the opportunities it presents are still unfolding, one that is clear is the capacity in each of us to find ways to engage in ongoing, sustaining self-care that will nurture our ability to be resilient, that is, to cope, recover, and continue to live and work effectively, perhaps with new wisdom and insight. As I shared in an earlier article, an important tool for this task of self-care is that of MINDFULNESS (Beck, 2016).

Mindfulness is the practice of being in the present moment with a sense of openness and without judgment (Kabat-Zinn, 1990, 1994, 2012; Nhat Hanh, 1975; Rosenberg, 1998; Santorelli, 1999). It allows us to tune in to where we are right now, in our bodies, emotions, and thoughts and in relation to the outside world. It directs us to be open and curious without holding on to some aspects of what we find or pushing away others. It also acknowledges that in spite of our best intentions, we will easily become distracted from the attempt to pay attention, and it encourages us to accept this interruption, refocus, and start over. Instead of siding with the wish to “wake me when it’s over,” which we may all feel during this current crisis, it helps us to have the courage to wake up and be alert to what is happening. Additionally, it helps us to pause, slow down, and be open to new ways of thinking, creating meaning, and relating to others, all of which can help us in our work with clients. In its emphasis on non-judgmental acceptance of what we find when we pay attention to the full range of our experience and to the normalcy of having to begin again and again when we become sidetracked, mindfulness also fosters a relationship to ourselves that is characterized by gentleness, patience, and forgiveness.

As an innovative way to promote health and well being, reduce stress, and increase the innate capacity to cope, mindfulness was introduced into American healthcare in 1979 by Jon Kabat-Zinn and his colleagues at the Stress Reduction and Relaxation Program in Worcester, MA (Kabat-Zinn, 1990). Since then, it has flourished and become accepted all over the world. Although best learned and integrated through the ongoing practice of meditation, mindfulness-based strategies can be incorporated directly into everyday activities (Boyce, 2012; Burdick, 2013; Fralich, 2013; Stahl & Goldstein, 2010). These strategies will not eliminate stress resulting from the pandemic or other sources, but doing them mindfully on a regular basis, with care and intention, can help us manage more effectively.

In my previous article, I discussed 10 strategies that form the foundation of my own mindfulness practice. These are:

Mindful Moments
Awareness of Breathing
Body Awareness
Awareness of Thoughts
Single-Focus Tasking
Social Support
Altruism
Attention to the Small Wonders of Life
Mindfulness at Work
Nurturance, Acceptance, and Non-Judgmentalism

These techniques continue to guide and shape my practice today as the stress of everyday life takes new twists and turns. For all of us in this unprecedented time, when people infected with the highly contagious virus may be asymptomatic, physical distancing has become an important directive. Characterized by the mandate to stay at home as much as possible and six feet apart from others, with masks on, when out, it represents an extreme shift in our usual way of being. In this context, here are a few more mindfulness strategies to consider.

Re-Connecting to Our Senses

In the midst of physical and social isolation, we can become more closely connected to our own sensory experiences and, as a result, to ourselves. Try to nurture the intimate connection between body and mind by taking a few minutes to breathe and pay attention to your sensations. Set aside some time each day to sit or lie quietly and slowly scan your whole body, noticing points of tension from head to toe. Open up to the full range of sensations and feelings that emerge, particularly those surrounding your heart, whether these are related to loss and grief on one hand or joy and hopefulness on the other. As you continue, relax and soften any tightness or constriction that you find. Observing proprioceptive sensation in this way may help you feel more centered, grounded, and connected to your own experience.

We can also become more attuned to our other senses. Effective listening has always been an essential social work skill (Beck, 2005). Now that we are often unable to work together with clients in the same room, our listening ability needs to become even more refined, a capacity with which paying attention mindfully can definitely help. When we are not at work, listening to and appreciating music or sounds of nature in the outside world in this sensitive way may be both stimulating and soothing.

Also, what about new avenues for seeing, smell, taste, and touch? Even though we can’t eat together with friends and family as usual, sharing recipes has become common on chats, and mindful cooking and eating can help us enjoy food more fully and thoughtfully. Similarly, finding new opportunities to view and create art and to explore nature can further expand our sensory gratification. As we engage in these activities, using our senses mindfully can help us take a small measure of control in our lives and can give us pleasure each day.

Physical Exercise: Mindfulness on the Move

Crises are often accompanied by a disruption in normal activities, and the routine of exercise is no exception. The benefits of physical activity have been documented for people at every life cycle stage (Kumar, 2017; Winburn, 2016). Depending on the particular form you choose, exercise can benefit your cardiovascular system, muscle and bone strength, mental alertness and ability to concentrate, and mood. It may help you reduce stress, sleep better, and be more successful if you're trying to lose weight. Exercise also tends to elicit feelings of well-being, competence, and increased self esteem. If you can’t work out in your usual way, don’t wait for your gym to re-open or the crisis to end. Find something you can easily do on a regular basis on your own, like stretching, yoga, walking or jogging, and dancing. Whether exercising by yourself or in some type of virtual class or group, bring mindfulness to your exercise efforts by noticing how your body feels and moves and by focusing on the natural rhythm of your breath.

Active Compassion and Activism

One of the byproducts of being in crisis is that it can engender a sense of helplessness, which may cause us to feel frozen in our attempts to make decisions or to think and act clearly. Although mindfulness encourages us to slow down and pause, it does not mean to be passive and immobile. Mindfulness in the form of active compassion and activism can be transformative. Examples may include making colorful signs or meals to thank those who are in essential, frontline positions (including social workers); engaging in food distribution or other community service in a new format; or taking a stance and acting on values, principles, and social justice issues that are important to you in your neighborhood, your work, or the public policy/political arena on a local, national, or global level (Nissen, 2020). The latest example of an issue crying out for attention is the need for social workers to take action against racism and race-based violence, as demonstrated in the heinous suffocation and killing by a police officer of George Floyd, an unresisting Black man.

Tried and true social work action strategies include letter-writing to newspapers and other media outlets; contacting legislators; campaigning for candidates; organizing and joining in protests and rallies; participating in efforts to get out the vote and to protect the voting process itself in upcoming elections; and advocating every day for practices that will increase diversity, inclusion, equity, and non-tolerance of discrimination in our own agencies. For suggestions relevant to current state and federal social work action, you can check out information from your chapter of NASW and join forces with other like-minded colleagues. Even if implemented virtually right now, bringing mindfulness to our efforts of individual and collective activism enables us to respond with discernment instead of shutting down and withdrawing or reacting on impulse.

I hope the strategies presented here and in the previous article are helpful to you and your clients during the coronavirus pandemic and beyond. For many years, mindfulness has been an important instrument of self-care for me and other social workers, as well (Birnbaum, 2008; Brenner, 2009; Cox & Steiner, 2013; Grise-Owens, Miller, & Eaves, 2016; Hick, 2009; Lay, 2016; and McGarigle & Walsh, 2011). Particularly right now, at a time when we are out of control in many aspects of life, it provides us with the challenge and opportunity to take charge of ourselves every day in whatever ways possible. As fellow social workers and human beings, what ideas for mindful living do you have? Share them with family, friends, colleagues, and clients, so they benefit, as well.

Here’s to opportunity, hopefulness, and resilience. With grit and wisdom, guided by mindfulness, we will get through this together! It only takes paying attention to the next breath to start. So, breathe and be on your way!

References

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Deborah Lisansky Beck, MSW, LICSW, retired in 2017 as Chair of the BSW program at Wheelock College in Boston, MA, where she had been a faculty member since 1991. Prior to being at Wheelock, she taught at Simmons College School of Social Work and worked for 20 years in child guidance and parent education. Her publications include articles on counseling services for social work students, interviewing skills, and the role of educators in community service. Her current writing and activities focus on stress reduction, burnout prevention, and mindfulness-based self-care. Her most cherished accomplishments are to have been the 1997 recipient of Wheelock’s Cynthia Longfellow Award for Teaching and the 2015 recipient of the NASW MA Chapter Award for Greatest Contribution to Social Work Education.