Mental Health

Adapted from getselfhelp.co.uk/mindfulness

The main goal of mindful breathing is to be aware of your breathing, flowing in and out of your body in a calm motion with no judgement, allowing your thoughts and feelings to come and go without getting caught up or distracted by them.

(Imagine your breath mimicking the movement of waves rolling up and down the beach)

• Make sure you are sitting comfortably, with your feet flat on the floor, your spine reasonability straight, your hands relaxed in your lap and your eyes closed.
• Now focus on your breathing.
• Imagine that your lungs have been replaced by balloons, and every time you breathe in the balloons inflate. Each time you breathe out, the balloons deflate.
• Notice the movement in your ribs and abdomen as the balloons inflate and deflate. with each in and out breath your ribs expand and contract all around from front to back and your abdomen expands, rises, contracts and falls.
• It’s okay If thoughts come into your mind as you do this. Simply notice and acknowledge these and let them pass by. Then bring your attention back to your breathing. Do this as much as you need to. The aim is to be able to focus on your breath without other thoughts coming into your mind.
• Likewise, should you become distracted by sounds and physical feelings, notice and acknowledge these and let them pass by. Then bring your attention back to your breathing.
• It’s okay and natural for your attention to drift off. You don’t have to follow those thoughts and feelings, don’t judge yourself for having them, or analyse them in any way. No matter how many times this happens, just keep bringing your attention back to your breathing.

A grounding technique is used to re-focus a person’s attention to the here and now, when they are feeling completely overwhelmed and anxious, and unable to control their emotions.

Below are a couple of exercises that can help to centre yourself and connect you with the world around you. Practice these throughout the day, especially when you find yourself getting caught up with your thoughts and feelings. Start with “Dropping Anchor”.

Dropping Anchor

1. Sit at the front of a sturdy chair and plant your feet firmly on the floor.
2. Push them down into the floor noticing the floor beneath you, supporting you.
3. Notice the muscle tension in your legs as you push your feet down.
4. Now close your eyes and notice the feeling of gravity flowing through your head, spine and legs into the floor. Remember to breathe!
5. Take some time in this position maintaining the feeling of pushing down into the floor with your feet. Try to allow your body to relax into this, focusing from the top of your head through your torso, your legs and down to your toes.
6. Return your focus on your breathing. Now try and take deeper, slower breaths visualising your lungs expanding, release the breath slowly and your lungs deflate. Notice the sense of calm and peacefulness that develops with each breath.

Take as much time as you want to enjoy how this feels.

Now you have mastered “Dropping Anchor” and hopefully enjoying your new feeling of calm, you can graduate to the next step “Notice Five Things”.

Notice 5 Things

This exercise is an extension of “Dropping Anchor” and continues to develop your ability to anchor yourself and connect with the world around you. Helping you to let go of the thoughts and feelings you have become caught up in that are causing you to become overwhelmed and distressed.

1. Pause and take a deep breath.
2. Look around you and notice five things that are green (you can pick any one colour at a time).
3. Listen carefully and notice five things you can hear (close your eyes if this helps).
4. Now notice five things you can feel are in contact with your body (what are they and how do they feel)?
5. Finally, try to do all the above at the same time...

It is important to practice these techniques even when you ‘feel fine’ . They need to become second nature so you are able to do them effectively and without thinking when things start to feel difficult.