Relaxation and Mindfulness
What is Mindfulness?
Mindfulness is a technique you can learn which involves making
a special effort to notice what’s happening in the present moment
(in your mind, body and surroundings) – without judging anything.
It can help you to become more self-aware, feel calmer and less
stressed, feel more able to choose how to respond to your thoughts
and feelings, cope with difficult or unhelpful thoughts and to be kinder
towards yourself.
Many people find practising mindfulness helps them manage their
day-to-day wellbeing.
Apps for supporting wellbeing and mental health
Happify
The app is created to boost users’ moods. The app involves you in activities that were created with positive psychology techniques in mind. It helps cope with stress, boost your career success, cope with negative thoughts, increase your self-confidence, and meditate.
IBreathe
If you are a fan of breathing techniques to relax and reduce the level of stress, iBreathe could be your number-one app. It helps master breathing exercises. The purpose of this app is to teach you deep breathing techniques, therefore, it is extremely easy to use.
Mindshift
A user-friendly self-help tool which teaches users about anxiety, helping them engage in healthy thinking and to take action. Users check in each day to track their anxiety and work with tools in the app.
Smiling Mind
A meditation program developed by psychologists and educators to help bring mindfulness into your life.
Stay Alive
This app is a pocket suicide prevention resource, packed full of useful information to help you stay safe. You can use it if you are having thoughts of suicide or if you are concerned about someone else who may be considering suicide.
Activity: Mindfulness
Here are some ideas on how you can incorporate mindfulness into your routine:
Mindful eating.
This involves paying attention to the taste, sight and textures of what you eat. For example, when drinking a cup of tea or coffee you could focus on how hot and liquid it feels on your tongue, how sweet it tastes or watch the steam that it gives off.
Mindful moving, walking or running.
Notice the feeling of your body moving. You might notice the breeze against your skin, the feeling of your feet or hands against different textures on the ground or nearby surfaces, and the different smells that are around you.
Body scan.
This is where you move your attention slowly through different parts of the body, starting from the top of your head moving all the way down to the end of your toes. You could focus on feelings of warmth, tension, tingling or relaxation of different parts of your body.
Mindful colouring and drawing.
Focus on the colours and the sensation of your pencil against the paper, rather than trying to draw something in particular. You could use a mindfulness colouring book or download mindfulness colouring images.
Mindful meditation.
This involves sitting quietly and focusing on your breathing, your thoughts, sensations in your body and the things you can hear around you. Try to bring you focus back to the present if your mind starts to wander. Many people also find that yoga helps them to concentrate on their breathing and focus on the present moment.
Different things work for different people, so if you don’t find one exercise useful, try another.