Techniques:
Grounding:
What is grounding and how can it help?
Grounding is a technique you can use when you feel strong emotions. It can help you feel calmer and more in control.
Why use grounding?
Grounding can help when you feel like strong emotions, such as panic, fear or sadness, are getting out of control. It can help you refocus your thoughts to feel calmer. It can be a useful technique for people who've been through trauma.
Some of the things grounding can help with include:
- nightmares
- flashbacks
- tension
- feeling anxious
More information can be found about grounding here:
- Grounding techniques for survivors of sexual violence | Rape Crisis England & Wales | Rape Crisis England & Wales
- Anxiety | Sheffield Hallam University (shu.ac.uk)
Meditation:
Meditation offers different techniques which encourage, through regular practice and patience, the development of attention and awareness of our state of mind and sense of being. There is a lot of research-based evidence to say that meditation has many benefits to our wellbeing and physical health.
There are lots of different approaches to meditation so it might take a while to find one that feels right for you. It is not for everybody so don't worry if it doesn't fit for you there will be something out there that does!
Here are some suggestions for you to take a look at:
- Michael Sealey You Tube
- Jason Stephenson Meditations You Tube
- Dr Kristin Neff Self compassion guided meditations and exercises
- Fragrant heart offers free guided meditations that cover a whole range of topics, including:
- Meditation courses
- Meditations for relaxation and stress relief
- Meditations for healing
- Compassionate meditations
- Meditations for self esteem
- Meditations for spiritual awareness
- Yoga meditations
Mindfulness:
Mindfulness can be a really helpful way to manage wellbeing. It works on the principle of being present in the moment to acknowledge thoughts, emotions, the body and surroundings. By becoming more aware of how these factors relate to each other can help us to notice when we are becoming anxious, overwhelmed or stressed and how we may choose to respond.
More information about mindfulness can be found here:
- NHS :Mindfulness - NHS (www.nhs.uk)
- Mental Health Foundation offer mindfulness courses and guidance on how to find a teacher
- MIND information includes: exercises and tips and how to learn mindfulness
- Mindfulness-and-meditation | Sheffield Hallam University (shu.ac.uk)