Podcast Summary: Take Out Therapy – "Mini Mindfulness Lesson And Emotional Regulation Therapy Trick"

Host: Rebecca Hunter, MSW
Date: September 8, 2025

Episode Overview

In this fast-paced five-minute "mini session," therapist Rebecca Hunter delivers an actionable mindfulness technique aimed at interrupting rumination—those relentless, looping thoughts that hijack peace and foster anxiety. Speaking directly to empathic high-achievers, Rebecca shares a quick, three-step practice rooted in emotional regulation and mindfulness, designed to help listeners reset their nervous systems and reclaim focus—anytime, anywhere.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Recognizing Rumination (00:54)

Definition: Rumination is the mental process where you "go over and over and over the same thing again."
Symptoms: Look for a racing heart, feeling anxious, or breathing rapidly. Notice recurring phrases or thought themes.
Self-Observation: Rebecca encourages listeners to "figure out what your signs of rumination are" to catch themselves looping.
- Quote: “Your heart rate increases. Actually, sometimes you start to feel a little anxious or like you’re breathing really fast.” (01:19)

2. Step One: Pause and Name the Experience (01:38)

When you notice rumination, stop and label it clearly: "My brain is ruminating." or simply "thinking" or "looping."
Purpose of Labeling: By naming the thought process, you create separation between yourself and your thoughts, reinforcing that "your thoughts are thoughts, they're not really truths." (02:02)
- Quote: “Remind yourself that your thoughts are thoughts, they're not really truths.” (02:02)

3. Step Two: Refocus by Anchoring in the Senses (02:13)

Redirect the Mind: The goal is to give your brain a different job; if you can, switch focus to a concrete task.
Mindfulness Trick – Anchoring: Pick one of your five senses (touch, taste, hearing, smell, sight) or your breath as an anchor point.
- Example: “I’m just going to... focus on the smell of the brownies cooking in the oven and really get into that for a few seconds.” (02:39)

4. Step Three: Gently Redirect Attention (03:07)

Expect the Return: Rumination is persistent—your thoughts will drift back. When they do, kindly and repeatedly return your attention to your chosen anchor.
Practice, Not Perfection: There’s no finish line—just keep bringing your focus back.
- Quote: “All you want to do is just repeat this as many times as need. Yep. This is mindfulness practice.” (03:25)
- Quote: “Hey, dude, I tell you what to think, you don't tell me what to think. Right?” (03:38)

5. Closing Reflection: Tuning Into Self-Needs (03:49)

Self-Question: End the practice by asking yourself, “What is it that I need right now?” Sometimes rumination points to unmet needs that can guide positive action or self-support.
- Quote: “Sometimes we ruminate about things and we can pick up a need from that rumination... we can turn that spiral of thinking into self support.” (03:59)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

On labeling thoughts:
“That’s the working of my mind, right? So remind yourself that your thoughts are thoughts, they’re not really truths.” (02:02)
On sense-anchoring:
“Just focus on the smell of the brownies cooking in the oven and really get into that for a few seconds.” (02:39)
On self-direction:
“Hey, dude, I tell you what to think, you don’t tell me what to think. Right?” (03:38)
On the practice itself:
“Keep it really simple, keep it really short, but keep practicing.” (04:33)

Timestamps for Important Segments

00:54 – Recognizing symptoms of rumination
01:38 – Step One: Pause and name it
02:13 – Step Two: Anchor in the senses
03:07 – Step Three: Gently redirect attention
03:49 – Closing: Ask what you need now
04:33 – Encouragement for continued practice

Final Takeaways

Rebecca emphasizes that even brief (2-3 minute) mindfulness sessions can reset your nervous system and disrupt rumination. Practice, patience, and gentle self-direction are all key. Above all, she reminds listeners: “Be really kind to yourself, friend.” (04:55)

To go deeper, listeners are encouraged to visit takeouttherapy.com for more resources and a free mindulness class.

Transcript

A (0:00)

In the next five minutes, you'll learn a quick mindfulness reset you can use anytime. Rumination hijacks your peace welcome to Takeout Therapy mini Session. I'm Rebecca Hunter, therapist, anxiety expert, and a big fan of short, powerful mindset shifts. Every Monday, I'll drop one therapy, Informed Insight to help you handle life with more calm, clarity and self compassion. Find more tools anytime@takeouttherapy.com okay, let's get into it. I'm so glad you showed up for today's episode. After last week's episode about why past love lingers in our minds and hearts, today's mini session is about what to do when rumination in general grabs hold. Really? In five minutes, you're going to discover how to notice when your brain is looping on old stories. A simple three step mindfulness practice that interrupts rumination, and a closing question that might shift your focus from the past back into the present. Okay, so this is what I want to teach you. In order to deal with rumination and the stirrings of a very, very busy mind, you absolutely must learn some mindfulness. You must learn to be present. So today I want to talk about a couple of the elements involved in this idea of being present. The first thing you want to do is you always have to be paying attention to what's happening in your mind. And there's some pretty general symptoms that people experience when their minds go on bananas, right? Your heart rate increases. Actually, sometimes you start to feel a little anxious or like you're breathing really fast. Figure out what your signs of rumination are. Maybe they're phrases that come up a lot or certain themes that develop. But cat yourself. And when you do, always just pause. Just pause. Connect with your breath and name what is happening. In this case, it would be, my brain is ruminating. I'm going over and over and over the same thing again, right? That's what rumination is. It's looping. So just labeling it really clearly and simply, like thinking or looping is super helpful once you catch yourself in rumination and in this process, also try to separate yourself out from your brain. That's why we label it like this, because we want to say, oh, that's the working of my mind. Right? So remind yourself that your thoughts are thoughts, they're not really truths, which will set you up nicely for the second step, which is hopefully by now you've noticed that you're ruminating and you've gained a willingness to knock it off. So what you want to do is you want to find A different focus. Your brain needs something to do. Basically. That's why it's ruminating. So if you have something else it can think about that you can get involved in, great. But if you don't, you want to go ahead and use a mindfulness trick called anchoring in the senses. Which all that means is you choose one of your five senses. Touching, tasting, hearing, smelling, and seeing, or your breath to use as an anchor. Meaning I'm just going to, like, focus on the smell of the brownies cooking in the oven and really get into that for a few seconds. The thoughts will return, my friend, because that is how the brain works. And so what I want you to do next, and what we teach people in mindfulness is gentle redirections. So when you notice again that those same thoughts return, not a new theme, not a new rumination, but the same old thoughts guide your attention back to that anchor that you picked a while back or maybe 30 seconds back. I mean, like, whatever, right? The brain moves fast and so do thoughts. And all you want to do is just repeat this as many times as need. Yep. This is mindfulness practice. It's pausing, it's noticing, it's picking a focus from your breath to one of your five senses and continually returning there. All you're really doing is teaching your brain, hey, dude, I tell you what to think, you don't tell me what to think. Right? I call this a rumination practice. And as you end your practice, you can just end with a question. I always recommend that people do this and ask yourself, what is it that I need right now? Sometimes we ruminate about things and we can pick up a need from that rumination that we resonate with that makes sense to us, right? And we can turn that spiral of thinking into self support. The thing that I want you to understand today is that mindfulness practice actually interrupts rumination by giving the brain a new job to do, which is like being present in your environment. Even two to three minutes of mindfulness practice is enough to reset the nervous system for a lot of people. Keep it really simple, keep it really short, but keep practicing. And if this is somewhere that you get stuck and you're scratching your head going, rebecca, this is really hard for me, and I don't understand how to do it. Get in touch with me, schedule a consult. Let's see if we're a good fit to work together. Because one thing I can do is teach you mindfulness. I've been doing it for years, but practice on your own first and let me know how it goes. That's your mini session for today, friends. Something to focus on if you want to this week as usual. I'll see you for a full episode on Friday. And if you want a little extra push in the meantime, head to takeouttherapy.com and join my free class to stop your rumination habit. Yeah, I'm talking to you. It's a beginning mindfulness class. Actually, I'm here to help. Until next time, be really kind to yourself, friend.