Find yourself constantly on the edge of burnout? Our wellness director tries the micro-presence trend that promises a gentler way to tackle stress.
Have you ever been in the middle of a massage but found yourself mentally checking off your to-do list, and feeling even a little guilty that you aren’t at your computer working away? I have.
When fighting a busy schedule with all the stress that juggling work, family and a social life can bring, taking time out for R&R might be needed, but it can also feel borderline impossible. That’s how I found myself speaking to Gudiya Dagur Patel, a leading nutritional clinical therapist and wellness coach who has just set up a new wellness centre at the Phi Clinic on Harley Street. She wants busy women to recognise that wellbeing-boosting practices don’t have to mean taking hours out of your day (or at least not all the time).
Here’s how she’s helping us embrace the micro-presence trend – a gentler way to tackle stress that can take as little as five minutes.
What is the micro-presence trend?
When was the last time you ‘checked in’ on yourself, in the same way you might do with a friend who you know is going through a stressful time? At its core, that’s exactly what ‘micro-presence’ is about – a way of ‘switching off’, without trying to paper over the cracks by cramming your schedule full with more activities.
“You don’t always have the luxury of taking an hour out of your day to relax because you have so much to do,” affirms Dagur Patel. “Micro-presence is about taking little moments – say five minutes – throughout your day, and putting yourself on the equivalent of ‘do not disturb’. Simply close your laptop, put down your phone, go to a place away from where you are working, and close your eyes.”
What you do during that time is up to you. Some people like to meditate, others concentrate on their breathing, or you might want to try a ‘body scan’, where you focus your attention for a couple of moments on each part of your body (head, neck, shoulders, hands etc) to encourage relaxation. It’s a surprisingly easy way to distract your mind into unwinding without lying on a massage table.
Ultimately, the idea is that you don’t have to do anything – aka you don’t have to actively work to complete another task, even if it’s a wellness one. That also means there’s nothing to be ‘good’ at either – something people can struggle with when trying breathwork or meditation for the first time.
“It’s about giving yourself just five minutes, throughout the day to say, ‘I’m not going to do anything’,” says Dagur Patel, acknowledging that often that’s all the time you’ve got to spare. It’s a short period of time, granted, but it’s really effective she says. “It actually sends a signal to your cells and your stress response to say, ‘I am chilling now’. And then it switches your autonomic nervous system back into the rest and digest. That pause can give you a mental clarity that you notice when you head back to work” – even if it’s just refocusing on the task you already had in hand.
How to make micro-presence easy
Feel like you can’t even stop for five minutes during the day? It might take 28 days to form a habit, but here’s how I found you could make the process of getting there a little easier.
1. Start as you mean to go on
You know that moment when you reach for the snooze button on your alarm in the morning – five of those luxurious ten extra minutes can be a great occasion for micro-presence. “Your cortisol (stress hormone) is high anyway in the morning, because that’s how our bodies are programmed to wake up – it’s our circadian rhythm,” says Dagur Patel. “So, if you wake up with high stress and just keep feeding it, you’re going to build it up and up and up.”
That means checking in with how you are feeling, and staying calm at the start of the day (rather than racing out of bed) can set the tone for the hours to come, and help you build a more positive mindset every morning.
2. Go about your day as normal… but avoid multitasking
Without knowing it, there are probably parts of your day-to-day routine, which are actually small bits of self-care just waiting to happen. From the minute you spend in front of the coffee machine, to the short walk to get a sandwich at lunchtime, you can lower your cortisol levels just by taking a moment to compose your thoughts.
“If you have a morning ritual like having your coffee, it can be a great moment to shut your eyes and shut out the world for a short time,” says Dagur Patel. Be warned though: “make sure you aren’t multitasking in those five minutes. You need to enjoy the process, especially because when you enjoy something you are going to have the extra benefit that there’s no additional cortisol spike.”
3. Recognise your stress triggers
Another benefit of keeping micro-presence in mind is that it can help you step away from stress when it is threatening to overwhelm you. Whether you feel your frustrations bubbling on the busy tube, or you start getting nervous before a big meeting, this simple practice can be the ‘off-switch’ you need to keep your emotions under control. A signal, if you will, to stop, breathe, unfurl your shoulders and take a pause. Even if the problem can’t be banished with five minutes of mindfulness, you’ll be surprised how much clarity or at least composure can come from just taking those moments.
4. Join the apps
No, not the dating ones that see you endlessly swiping away. Instead, there’s now a whole host of wellbeing apps that are designed to help you slot five minutes of wellness into your day, with the option to add little reminders if notifications aren’t too stress-inducing for you. Finch for example helps remind you to ‘drink more water’, ‘take three deep breaths’ and even ‘smile at a stranger’ to ensure you find peace and joy in the little moments. It works for all ages too, so is a great beginner-friendly wellbeing tool for children.
Lead image: Olivia von Halle and The Carlyle’s Limited Edition Cocktail Pajama.
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