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This can include yoga, meditation, breathing exercises or even going for a walk. The point of mindfulness is to connect with our bodies but also our surroundings and disconnect from our brain.
Grounding exercises are good especially when we need to regulate ourselves better. One technique focuses on the 5 senses: Look around your surroundings and name 5 things you can see, 4 things you can hear, 3 things you can touch, 2 things you can smell and 1 thing you can taste.
Guided meditation can help improve focus and concentration levels and has been linked to boosting self-esteem and memory, and can reduce high blood pressure and heart rate as well as balancing the immune system.
Keeping a journal to record your thoughts and feelings or just to write about your day is a fantastic mindfulness activity for any age. Journaling helps people to get everything out of their head without any judgement. It can help clear your head, help you feel less overwhelmed, process difficult feelings and also raise self-awareness. It’s also a great way to relax and unwind at the end of the day, to practice gratitude and helps you get to know yourself better.
Being kind to others has also been shown to help improve wellbeing. This is because it can help you connect with people and you get positive feelings from these interactions. This can be done through small acts of kindness towards other people like saying thankyou, checking in on friends or family, spending time with friends and family or can be more formalised activities such as volunteering to help a charity or run an event in your school or community.
Using positive affirmations daily can also be beneficial for wellbeing. Reminding yourself of your qualities can help boost self-esteem and confidence. Saying these in the mirror so you can really connect with them.
Another beneficial activity for mindfulness is to do a technology detox. This could be a specific day of the week every week, a few hours or just 20 minutes of the day. The constant use of technology has been shown to increase stress in children and young people so it’s important to take a break sometimes.
Taking up a new hobby can be a good way of learning something new, and sometimes help getting to know new people and make friends. This can really help us by boosting our confidence.
Being active is another great way to improve our mood and wellbeing. Not only is it good for us physically, being active also causes chemical changes in your brain which can help to positively change your mood. This doesn’t mean you need to spend hours in a gym, it is best to find activities you enjoy and make them part of your life.
Finally, connecting with other people is really important for wellbeing. Friends can really help us share experiences and provide a lot of emotional support. Have a think about how you can connect with friends or look at ways to make new friends to support with this.
