Mental wellness; Vida’s isolation tips
Lockdown Tips On Mental Wellness
At Social Pantry we are keeping in touch with the team and working hard to ensure everyone feels connected throughout the pandemic. We’re using all the tools, connecting over quizzes, bake offs, zoom catch ups, birthday love and weekly group sessions. But, In addition to all the activities we had a brilliant session with the wonderful Vida last week.
Vida is a qualified NLP (neuro-linguistic programming) practitioner and her session gave us essential tools for coping with the mental rollercoaster that is lockdown. Vida has worked with Social Pantry over the last year, she has helped put ‘wellness’ into SP, each and every session gets the best feedback from the team.
You can connect with vida via her website Please do get in touch with her if you or your team need some positive coaching.
5 ways to unlock your self during this enforced lockdown
- Embark on a project of self-care. If you can take care of yourself you will be able to connect with and support other people far more effectively. I asked my mum to read this before sharing it with you all. She said, “self-care is a difficult concept, it’s taken me 60 years” and it’s true, it’s a continuous journey and one that we are all learning and re-adjusting to throughout our lives. When the plane goes down, we are told to put our own mask on first before helping others. So give yourself permission to put yourself first now.
Take a moment to consider, what needs to be true for you to feel balanced? What are you already doing to feel centred and connected? What else can you start doing to feel more grounded?
- Acknowledge and welcome. Recognise when you are experiencing feelings that may be difficult. Pay attention to your body and notice if you are anxious or stressed, perhaps your heart is racing, constricted breathing, or overwhelming thoughts. Take the time to welcome those uncomfortable feelings. It’s OK that you feel that way, and I am sure it’s important. Notice what happens in your body when you witness and acknowledge yourself.
- Be radically present. If you are feeling stressed find ways to reconnect with the material reality of the world around you. Notice what is actually happening in the here and now.
Breathe.
Pay attention to what you can see, hear and feel in the external world. Perhaps you can hear the birds, the insects, feel the sun on your face. Name 3 things you can see, 3 things you can hear, and 3 things you can feel.
- Set boundaries to change your environment. Find ways to design your space so that you are consciously choosing when you are “on” and when you are “off”. Physical objects are a useful way to mark your environment and the setting up and tidying away of objects that you use to create an office, a classroom, or a yoga studio become part of the ritual that signals to your brain it is time to “work” or “relax”. What objects can you use to set up these different environments, and what can you use or do to signal to yourself that it is time to switch-off?
- Re-imagine the future. Humans are full of resources and I am sure you have already discovered useful skills within yourself during this challenging time.
Consider what new behaviours, capabilities, practices and rituals you have cultivated that you would like to sustain for the future. What are you currently doing that you want to keep hold of in a post corona world?