Mindfulness Support Thread

[Arcadia]

Alongside the positive news thread I thought it would be good to start a thread specifically around mindfulness, meditation and relaxation so we can care fir ourselves mentally and emotionally as well as physically.

All welcome but please avoid sharing specific anxieties or 'venting' on this thread, so it can be a refuge and a source of positivity.

Let's share poems, links, positive moments from our day and resources with each other.

I will start by recommending the meditation/relaxation app I use which is free, called Insight Timer. A massive range of free resources of all kinds, from all over the world. Meditations, poems and music of all different lengths.

Lovely idea. Place marking.

Place holding also

Ooh I have a friend already! Love your username, we can share what teas we are sipping as well. Tea sipping is very mindful in itself and a very wholesome vice!

If anyone decides to sign up to Insight Timer let me know and I can recommend a couple of good ones to get started with, but it's about finding voices that don't irritate you really!

Checking in . Tea recommendations would be welcome, trying to avoid caffeine

Yes this is such a good idea.
I think we all need a place to just be positive.
The only think I can think to offer is a link to a guy who does guided meditation and sleep music.
Here
My sister actually recommended that channel after my baby was born, I've found it quite useful in the last couple days.

Yes! Place making. I’m going to bed now but will be back in the morning.
Great idea for a thread.

I love pukka teas. I like the night time one (at night!) and the turmeric one best

I like this and have downloaded insight timer

Also checking in :)

Music can have a massive and instant effect on our mood. I did a brisk walk earlier with a lovely sunset and listening to just crappy pop music really but it made me feel really uplifted!

Kadampa Buddhist centres around the uk are now streaming their meditation classes if anyone fancies that...

Ooh pukka teas are good.
In the daytime I love Earl Grey tea and have about five different types of it! (drives DP mad!)

@Merename that sounds brilliant how do you access that?
I was lucky enough to be in a meditation morning yesterday and it was really lovely. We all respected each others space, did hand washing etc and it was silent apart from the leaders, but at the end we shared our feelings and we're all so glad we'd gone.

Sounds like a lovely way to spend the morning. If I didn’t have tiny kids this would be a wonderful opportunity to do silent retreat!

If you google kadampa Buddhism and your local city you should find something, I’m not sure if they are all up and running fully online yet but the Glasgow one is, you just book and get a YouTube link to watch that lasts for a couple of days.

I use Insight Timer app for mindfulness music. Following this thread.

Thanks Arcadia!

I don't know much about mindfulness but did listen to a cd by Jon Kabat-Zin a few years ago when I had anxiety. It was very good at going through every part of the body and relaxing it. And emphasises living in the moment.

I just checked YouTube and there are plenty of Jon Kabat-Zinn videos there. I think he's very well thought of in the field.

Lovely idea for a thread. There's an interesting mindfulness app called '10%happier' which was founded by a us news anchor who had an on air meltdown. It's got a free section in coping with coronavirus anxiety including some meditations for hcps.

Jon Kanarese-Zinn is fab, very grounded. His book 'wherever you go, there you are' is good and written in short snippets so easy to take in, like a series of essays but not academic.

Lovely thread idea.

One thing that I do in each entry of my journal (I don’t write every day) is end it with:
One thing that made me laugh
One thing that I’m proud of myself for
One thing that I’m thankful for

I’m not writing today (spent a while writing up some course stuff instead and prepping for therapy session tomorrow) so here are mine:

The Horrible Histories film was quite funny and made me laugh
I’m proud that I managed to get a few things done despite being so anxious
I’m thankful for a nice chat on messenger with a friend

:)

I love that!
So something that made me laugh today was we bumped into some friends with their dog when out on a walk, and you could see the dog was torn between stopping to be made a fuss of by DD, but had just got out of their car so was desperate to have a run around!
I was proud that I finally sorted out my huge yarn stash and have planned a new crochet project.
I am grateful for my DP who had been annoying me lately, but is so calm and grounded.

What a great idea for a thread! Placemarking. Thankyou!

Place marking, thanks for the thread.

Great idea. Place marking and will add ideas when I get time. Thanks for starting the thread OP