Mindfulness involves relaxation and focusing techniques intended to bring one's attention to the current moment, in the current environment, and to focus on "now".

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Key features of mood disorders and stress are worry and rumination. Both worry and rumination tend to take us mentally out of the "present".

 

Worry tends to focus on future events, which could potentially occur at any time. World events, financial stresses, aging, upcoming exams, career security, and any other possible future outcomes contribute to worry.

 

The things we worry about may be very likely or unlikely to happen. The reality of the event is irrelevant. If you wake up every morning worried about your mortgage, or an alien attack, the reality of the situation doesn't matter. If you worry about it, it's distressing. The more often and intently you worry about it, the more it can impact mental health.

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Worry is most closely related to feelings of anxiety, the body may release stress hormones to physically deal with upcoming danger, or we may fixate on an upcoming challenge. This can be beneficial when we have enough control to adequately prepare for a potential future event. Putting on a seat belt helps manage a potential future event, and it's an action that is easily within our control.

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When we feel little or no control over a possible future event, worry can become less helpful and more detrimental to our stress levels and anxiety. People with ADHD of all ages are more likely to also experience anxiety, and the challenges of living with ADHD can be damaging to one's confidence. 

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Mindfulness helps focus on the present instead of future events which may or may not happen, for someone who feels their worry is out of control, this can provide a break from stressful thoughts.

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Rumination is more focused on past events, where we relive an event, obsess over a social interaction, or otherwise reflect negatively and excessively on a past event.

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The benefit of reflecting on a past event is the ability to consider an event or behavior, contemplate how we could have been more effective, and adjust future behavior.

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If contemplation on past events continues to be distressing, and someone can't "shut it off", this can be a case of rumination.

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For individuals with ADHD or other conditions that impact behavior and social interactions, they may have had more negative social interactions than others. Anyone who has struggled more than most with social interactions can suffer from negative self-image, which can include negative rumination around past social interactions, and anxiety around current or future social interactions.

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We are social animals, our ability to maintain a strong social group is related to survival and status, and because of this need, social rejection is both painful and can cause long-term distress.

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Negative self-image, regret, and anxiety are very often rooted in thoughts about the past or the future, so mindfulness exercises can bring reprieve from distressing thoughts.

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Complex Spatial Processing

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Mindfulness can involve things like breathing techniques, focusing on an object or sound, touching and interacting with an object, or any number of techniques intended to bring someone's attention into the present environment. Observing the immediate environment and focusing on immediate sensations brings thoughts out of the past or future.

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Complex Spatial Processing attempts a similar outcome, but works by engaging our sense to a much higher degree than mindfulness.

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By providing complex sensory input, the brain is engaged to a degree that we don't have the capacity to focus on rumination or worry. We aren't just focused on a current environment, we are using so much of the brain's "bandwidth" it becomes very difficult to contemplate past or future events.

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Where meditation or mindfulness often involve "thought monitoring", or observing one's thoughts without judgement, CSP involves giving the brain complex processing tasks to draw the attention into the present moment.

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We use natural spaces and intentional interaction with wilderness environments to engage the brain with complex sensory information. 

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CSP involves targeted exercises that incorporate a range of brain regions and functions, from sensory information, to movement and moving through space, to intentional use of depth cues, CSP is like a sensory "workout" for the sense that encourages connections between brain functions and provides a novel approach to breaking up worry and rumination.

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Building Stronger Connections - ADHD and Executive Function

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It is often said that brain structures can't be defined on their individual functions, we define brain structures by their connections to other parts of the brain. Individuals with ADHD often complain that while their minds are very active, putting all of those creative thoughts into action is very difficult. They know what they need to do, but the actual physical action feels impossible. They suffer from low executive function. "Task paralysis", or the inability to follow through on actions or projects, can be one of the most distressing aspects of ADHD.

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Whether it's a great idea for a business, or a parking ticket that goes unpaid for months, there is often something sitting there, top of mind, but the task is never completed. People with ADHD often don't forget they need to do something, in fact they may obsess about it, but they feel paralyzed. The compartments of the brain responsible for thinking and acting feel disconnected.

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While Complex Spatial Processing aims in part to lesson intrusive negative thoughts, we're also actively using parts of the brain responsible for intentions, actions, and movement. Many people find that after a session that wall between ideas and actions is reduced, and they can more easily act on those intentions.

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