Staying still and present has trained me to better notice my thoughts too, so I can recognize when they are spiraling or causing me anxiety that used to happen without me understanding why.

If you want to incorporate more mindfulness into your life, here are some tips I’d recommend to get started.

We often hear about how great meditation is: it can reduce anxiety and depression, calm your mind, and bring you more into the present moment.

But what if you try meditation, and it makes you more anxious?

Let’s talk about why this might happen and what we can do about it.

With a constant stream of messages like that, it’s no surprise women feel pressure to change their bodies for the big day—or for any big event. But I think it’s very harmful and I think we owe it to ourselves to not make weight loss the focus for any of it. At the very least, let’s put it on the back burner.

Let me tell you why I feel this way—then tell you what I recommend instead of pursuing weight loss before the big day, or ever.