Supporting General Wellbeing

We can comfort ourselves when we feel distressed or overwhelmed by thinking about what we find comforting in each of our senses. You don’t have to do them all at once but finding ways to comfort our senses can be very helpful to feel calm again. 

Visual (seeing)

What do you like to look at pictures of - family, pets, scenery? Can you have these on your phone?

Auditory (hearing)

What sort of music helps you to cope? Can you make a coping play list?

Smell

What smells do you find comforting? Can these be on a wrist band, lip balm, or necklace?

Touch

What fabrics do you like the feel of? Can you make sure you are wearing these when doing difficult things?

Movement

What movements are soothing? Do you like to pace / rock / jiggle / bounce? Do this before a difficult thing.

Mindwell have lots of other examples and a version for you to create your own 'Back to your senses' kit. 

1. Observe your emotion.

2. Experience your emotion as a wave coming and going.

3. Try not to block the emotion, suppress it or get rid of it.

4. Don’t push it away.

5. Don’t try to keep it, hold on to it, or amplify it.

6. Accept your emotion.

Worry can make our bodies feel tight.

This exercise helps us notice tight muscles and then let them relax.

One way of reducing muscle tension that some people find helpful is something called Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR). In progressive muscle relaxation exercises, you tense up certain muscles and then relax them, and then you practise this technique consistently.

Body areas:

Legs & Feet - squish your toes in the sand - Pretend that you are standing barefoot on the beach. Spread your toes and squish them down deep into the sand. (Hold for 5 seconds.) Relax your feet and your toes. 

Back - stand up straight like a soldier - Pretend to be a soldier. Stand up as straight and tall as you can. Taller! Taller! (Hold for 5 seconds.) Great. Now relax

Shoulders & Neck - be a turtle - Now pretend you are a turtle. Try to pull your head into your shell. Try to pull your shoulders up to your ears and push your head down into your shoulders. Hold it tight! (Hold for 5 seconds.) Okay, you can come out now. Feel your shoulders relax.

Arms & Hands - squeeze a lemon - Pretend you have a lemon in your hand. Now squeeze it hard. Try to squeeze all the juice out! Feel the tightness in your hand and arm as you squeeze. Squeeze hard! (Hold for 5 seconds.) Now relax and let the lemons drop from your hands.

 Arms & Shoulders - stretch like a cat - Pretend you are a cat and you just woke up. Stretch your arms out in front of you. Now raise them over your head. Feel the pull in your shoulders. Stretch higher and try to touch the ceiling. (Hold for 5 seconds.) Great! Let your arms drop.

 Stomach - squeeze through a fence - Pretend that you want to squeeze through a narrow fence. Suck your stomach in, try to squeeze it against your backbone. (Hold it for 5 seconds). Great! Now relax.

 Jaw - chew a carrot - Pretend that you are trying to eat a big, hard carrot. It is very hard to chew. Bite down on it as hard as you can by clenching your teeth together. (Hold for 5 seconds). Good. Now relax.

Face & Nose - get a fly off your nose - Pretend that a fly has landed on your nose! Try to get it off without using your hands. Scrunch up your nose really hard and hold it just as tight as you can. Hold it! (Hold for 5 seconds.) Good. It’s gone! Now relax.

It might be helpful to listen to this audio which talks you through the PMR technique.

With practice you can scan your body, identify areas of tension, and then release.

By using breathwork you can slow your breathing down and reduce how stressed you feel.

You want to breathe in and out slowly, trying to breathe through your diaphragm or belly, not chest. If you put your hand on your belly, you should feel it move.

Using bubbles or a harmonica can help with practice.

Gaining control over your breathing involves both slowing your breathing and changing your breathing style (the way you breathe). Use the following steps to be well on your way to developing a better breathing habit.

1. Make sure that you are sitting on a comfortable chair or laying on a bed.

2. Take a breath in for 4 seconds (through the nose if possible).

3. Hold the breath for 2 seconds.

4. Release the breath taking 6 seconds (through the nose if possible) then pause slightly before breathing in again.

5. Practise, practise, practise!

How to relax when you are feeling stressed

Mindfulness works by helping you to focus on the present, grounding you in the here and now, and accepting thoughts and feelings without judgement.

1. Stand in a comfortable position, or sit comfortably, with your feet flat on the floor.

2. Now, shift all your attention to your feet.

3. Slowly move your toes, how do they feel?

4. Feel your shoes covering your feet.

5. Feel the back of your feet against your shoes.

6. Feel how your socks feel on your feet.

7. Keep breathing normally and focus on your feet until you feel relaxed.

8. Practise this exercise until you can use it wherever you are. You can use it walking slowly once you get used to it.

We all tend to compare ourselves with other people, it is a natural thing. But when we compare ourselves with others who are better at things than we are, this can make us feel worse about ourselves, lower our mood and affect our self-esteem.

This can be particularly true when it comes to social media. When we see others doing more fun things or having more friends, this can make us feel bad. These specially selected images and videos can create unrealistic standards - an illusion of perfection. These filtered, edited and staged moments are not real life. Real life contains both success and struggle.

When we post content ourselves we can be left worrying about the number of likes, shares and comments we receive. It can also leave us vulnerable to cyber bullying, which is hard to escape from.

But, we can train our brain to focus on the things that we are good at and the things that we do well.

Then we can use social media as a positive way to connect with the world, to let us see what friends, family, or people we are interested in are up to. This can make us feel socially connected and less isolated. It also exposes us to content we might find interesting and distracts us from negative thoughts.

The courses below can be accessed for free with the code: TARTAN

Understanding your brain (for teenagers)

Understanding your feelings (for teenagers only)