Mental and Emotional Wellbeing
Square Breathing
This is a simple technique that you can do anywhere if you feel anxiety creeping up.
Picture a simple square in your head, or focus on our graphic – see all four sides the square.
Go to the top left corner of that square.
Got it?
Now inhale for 4 seconds or beats while picturing a light moving along the square until it’s at the top right.
Now, hold that breath as you travel down to the bottom right of the square.
Exhale as your light travels along the foot of the square until it hits the bottom left corner.
And now, hold your breath again as you travel back up to the start in the top left corner.
Repeat this a few times until you feel your heart rate slow or you feel able to control your breathing.
If you can’t hold it for 4 seconds or beats, don’t worry. Start with 2 seconds, just try not to rush yourself.
The 5-4-3-2-1 Technique
Grounding exercises are particularly effective when we’re feeling anxious, they help calm our breathing, heart rate and racing thoughts.
Try the 5-4-3-2-1 Technique.
Before you begin, try to take control or focus on your breathing. So start by taking slow, deep breaths, or try one of the breathing exercises we’ve shared. Once you have a comfortable, smooth rhythm, we can begin.
- 5: Start by recognising just FIVE things you can see around you in the room. It can be anything, your phone, a chair, the curtains, a book for example.
- 4: Now lets find FOUR things you can touch. Feel your body against the chair or bed, feel your feet on the floor. Can you feel the texture of the duvet or table top, if you’re holding your phone, can you feel the grooves of the volume button and charging port?
- 3: Next lets find THREE things you hear. Is there traffic outside or birds tweeting, the faint hum of an electrical appliance in the room, can you tap out a soft rhythm?
- 2: Can you smell just TWO things in the space around you? Has your pillow been recently washed and you can smell the washing powder? Is there food or drink nearby?
- 1: If there is food or drink, that’ll help on the final step where we want you to find ONE thing you can taste. If you don’t have food or drink, can you taste the toothpaste from cleaning your teeth, or perhaps you can nibble the end of a pencil – we all do it from time to time!
Body Scan
Body scan meditations are often beneficial and help ground yourself when your thoughts and feelings start running away.
It’s useful to use a guide video for these so you can follow along with your eyes shut, so here is a great example below:
If you can’t listen though, here’s what to do.
Sit or lie comfortably, and take a deep breath in through your nose, and back out through your mouth. Do this a few times to get control of your breathing.
When you’re comfortable, recognise how your whole body feels in that second – then pick either your head, or your toes as a starting point.
From there, we want to travel through the body, recognising each section. How does it feel? Is it comfortable or uncomfortable in this position? Can you feel clothes against it? How does it feel against your chair or bed? What exact points are touching a surface?
Do this slowly, moving at your own pace up or down. You’re not trying to change anything along the way, you’re just being aware and present of these feelings and sensations.
Take Control of Your Breathing
Via Mind
Category Game
Pick two or three subjects that are entirely different – they can be anything that you have a rough knowledge of. For example, lets say musical instruments. Now take a minute for each category and list as many items of that topic as possible.
This is intended to get your brain to shift gear and focus briefly on another subject. So if we’re working from musical instruments, you might think, “guitar, drums, bass, violin, piano..” etc.
If you’re a fan of a particular band, try listing all their albums and challenge yourself for release dates. Fan of football? How many times and what years did your team win the league?