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.

I’m about to do my 30 minutes meditation. I’m determined to stick to it!
Have to wait until DD2 is in bed and I can get peace.
Also doing body scans throughout the day when I remember, and practicing mindfulness.

It’s so important now.

Lovely idea for a thread. I have been feeling quite tearful and falling back on bad habits (especially scrolling news and Mumsnet). But I've noticed this pattern and acknowledged that this is a very strange and unprecedented time, so it's ok not to have a handle on it straight away.

Every morning I am trying to build one healthy habit back in before I jump on the scrolling hamster wheel. So on the first morning I meditated. The second I drank water etc. So tomorrow my plan is meditate, drink water, read a chapter of my book and do some exercise. I won't check my phone until after all of that apart from to use the Calm app (which I love).

Other habits I hope to weave in are:
Going outside to get 15mins of sunshine (or drizzle)
Journalling/Gratitude
Contacting a loved one
Eating a proper breakfast without my phone
Doing my skincare routine

Any other ideas?

I love those body scans @TwilightPeace! I just find them so reassuring. They remind me how tense I can be. Then, when I can't sleep I can do a body scan and I'm normally close to sleep by the end point.

@Spudlet

I followed your tip for naming my anxiety, which is always worst at 5am, this morning & it really, really helped. I said (mentally!) Oi, V you are not magi you can just fuck off.

I am amazed how well it worked. Thank you for the idea.

I listen to this channel when I need to. He has plenty of guided meditation and sleep hypnotherapy sessions.

Free live streaming of classical music concerts.

www.classicfm.com/music-news/live-streamed-classical-music-concerts-coronavirus/

There are some amazing talks around online. If anyone is interested I'll do some links.