Practice resources
Often I’m asked for recordings of session exercises as it can be helpful in getting to grips with a new exercise.
Ideally, you’ll develop your own practice, in your own words and own voice over time. Little and often is preferable to setting unrealistic goals.
Be fair with yourself and start where you’re at.
If I can make daft wee videos, you can do a whole lot better. Be brave, have fun!
Beatbox breathing
Lose yourself in the music, the moment, you own it! Research shows breathing to music can help manage stress and regulate breathing.
Choosing a piece of music builds a mind-body association with breathing regulation. You can adjust the tempo as needed and the best part - nobody would ever know what your were up to. A really helpful practice in social settings.
90 second mindful practice
The weather really can have an impact on our mood, and make us feel as miserable as it is outside. This sort of practice is to help you focus on the rain in a different way - think of it as training for your brain - and the rain is your gym equipment.
Practice switching between which senses you use. Being able to direct your attention can be useful if you find you’re prone to ruminating on the past or worrying about the future.
Train your brain to be here now. ☔️
Meditation
Light
Practice your attention focus skills using candle light.
Visualisation Practices
3 minute Night and Day
When we talk about difference, we sometimes compare night to day. Darkness to light. With each dark night, there’s always a new day with another chance.
Daily intention
Setting yourself up for the day with a visualisation practice. Little and often is the aim with this practice, building up an internal model of the ideal you.
If you forget to do it before you get up in the morning, catch up in the shower, brushing your teeth, boiling the kettle. It’s never too late!
Compassionate daily intention
Another gentle introduction to your day, cultivating belief in yourself and compassion for yourself.
Sleep
Sleep scripting
You have a physical bedtime routine and this is a mental bedtime routine. Often our minds start racing when trying to sleep because there are no distractions.
A sleep script is essentially a mental bedtime story that you replay in your mind every night. Create this story almost like a movie. Practice replaying it in your mind each bedtime. If you find your mind drifting, go back to the beginning and start again.
Make sure it is a relaxing, calming happy mind movie! The more you practice, the more detail your mind will add in. The more you practice, the stronger the links between brain, bed and sleep.
Switching Off
Trouble switching your brain off at night? Especially when you’re trying to sleep?! This visualisation has the aim of scrambling bothersome thoughts and shrinking them to nothing.
I’ve used the image of a TV but you might imagine you’re swiping on your mobile or pinching an image to make it smaller. Give it a go instead of reaching of your phone for distraction.
30 second mindfulness practices
Clouds
Try this exercise if you like a wee vape. You could build up your practice by starting with mindfully observing one inhale and exhale, gradually building up the number of puffs you’re able to focus on.
Mind and body shower practice
Notice how you’re thinking when you’re in the shower - not what what you’re thinking. Label it - planning, worrying, rehearsing.
Then, bring your mind and body together into the present moment by using the shower to orient you. Use all your senses that you can.
If your mind goes off again to the past or future, label it, and go right back to using your senses to anchor you to where you are right now.
Let any worries go down the drain.
Making the tea
Using a mundane, mindless exercise as an opportunity to train your brain. Drop the multitasking and focus only on the sounds of the kettle boiling. Keep bringing your mind back if it drifts.
Resist the urge to move about, keep focusing on the sounds of the kettle boiling. You’re practicing your laser focus, the ability to direct your attention where you want it to be.
This practice you can extend over time to include the sounds of making your drink - spoon in cup, splash of water and so on. The idea though is initially to start small and build up. You wouldn’t go into a gym and lift the heaviest weights on day one.
Give yourself a chance - start small, start regular and most importantly- start! It doesn’t have to be boiling the kettle - it can be brushing your teeth, making the toast, filling the kids’ bath - use what you have. Pick something you do regularly with a minimum of cognitive effort.
Covfefe
Take a break, use your coffee break to give your mind an alternative focus from everything else. Using what you have, using what you do regularly - no special gadgets, no scheduling tasks. This is an alternative suggestion to find ways to practice training your attention, bringing yourself back into the present moment.
‘Living in the moment’ I think has become a bit of a toxic platitude. What I mean by being present, is you are grounding yourself. Why might this be helpful?
When we are stressed, our mind is in tackling the threat mode. Seek and destroy or pressing eject - fight or flight future mode. If we are ruminating, it’s replaying things of the past.
If you can practice using your senses to attune yourself to your immediate environment, you are building up the ability to refocus your attention where you want it to be. You’re also giving the brain and body a chance to rest and digest to counteract that fight or flight.
Progressive Muscle Relaxation
A longer relaxation practice, tensing and relaxing muscles to intentionally and progressively relax each area of the body.
Positive psychology
Daily gratitude
Daily gratitude practice has been shown to help boost mood and life satisfaction. It is easier to do when things are going well but don’t be thinking you can’t start small.
The three suggested areas to reflect on are today, self and tomorrow. Find the small wins and try not to frame your gratitude in the negative. For example - ‘I’m grateful I made it through the day without crying’ becomes ‘I’m grateful for my emotional regulation’. Or ‘I didn’t f*ck anything up‘ becomes ‘I handled my sh*t’.
(Don‘t think I don’t know how mean that internal dialogue is! I would very much like for you to stop it. Be nice.)
Seasonal social survival strategies
Surviving the festive season
A psychologist’s seven seasonal survival strategies. TL:DW - say yes to you and no to other people 👍