Can Mindfulness Help Break Cycles of Anxiety?

Anxiety is one of the most common mental health challenges, but what happens when it quietly passes from one generation to the next? That’s the question behind the HUSSH Study, a new research project exploring how a simple, culturally responsive mindfulness practice might help families interrupt cycles of anxiety.

The HUSSH Method™ is a five-step practice designed to help individuals and families slow down, reflect, and heal. HUSSH stands for:

• Hold Space – creating room for your emotions without judgment

• Understand – identifying what those emotions are telling you

• Sit With It – allowing yourself to feel without rushing to fix or avoid

• Speak It – sharing your feelings in safe, supportive ways

• Heal – finding peace through mindfulness, compassion, and intentional release

Our study focuses on Black American families, where the weight of anxiety is often compounded by cultural stigma, systemic stressors, and generational patterns. Too often, families carry unspoken worries that get passed down, shaping how children and parents cope with life’s challenges.

Early feedback from participants has been powerful. Many describe feeling more aware of their own anxiety triggers, better able to talk about emotions, and more hopeful about disrupting patterns they’ve seen in their families for years. What makes the HUSSH Method unique is that it’s designed to be practical, accessible, and culturally grounded—not something that requires a therapist’s office, but something families can integrate into their daily lives.

While this is still an ongoing study, the hope is clear: by making space for mindfulness and emotional awareness, families can begin to rewrite the story of how anxiety shows up across generations.

The HUSSH Study is a reminder that healing isn’t just personal…it’s communal, generational, and deeply powerful.