Engage Aotearoa

Tag Archives: Relaxation

No. 67: Removing the Pressure

October 20, 2011 8:16 pm ⋅ Leave a Comment ⋅
This week, to attain, maintain or regain my sense of wellbeing… Coping Kete…when I encounter everyday problems and hiccups, I will make things seem more manageable by reminding myself ‘ all I need to do is get through this one moment.’ Instead of piling pressure on myself to measure up to expectations, I will tell myself that I don’ t need to do anything but get through each moment and anything else is an added bonus, so I can relax and go with it. I’ ll then take myself through the standard breathing exercise while I give myself a brief running commentary of the moment I am currently in. Once I have described the moment to myself I will come back to my original idea that I just need to get through this moment and that means all I need to do is keep breathing. Once I am comfortable removing the pressure and doing some breathing in everyday situations, I will add it to my Personal Coping Kete for times of stress and distress.
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No. 61: Changing the Scene

September 8, 2011 11:42 pm ⋅ Leave a Comment ⋅
This week, to attain, maintain or regain my sense of wellbeing… ""I will practice getting a change of scene to shift my mood, even just for a moment. Sometimes we need to get out of where we are to be able to shift our thinking and feeling. This week, when I notice slight drops in my mood or energy level, I will get a change of scene by moving my attention to a different aspect of my current environment or by physically moving myself somewhere new. It could be as simple as going for a walk down a nearby street I’ ve never walked down. Or spending a moment looking closely at a plant I’ ve never studied closely. Giving myself a range of different experiences throughout the week will help me to connect with more positive emotion. I will search out opportunities to give myself these out-of-the-moment experiences, taking the time I need to make considered responses where I am able to find and savour insights rather than act only out of feeling. I will observe how I am affected by these changes of scene. Once I am comfortable changing the scene, I will add it to my Personal Coping Kete as a way of shifting my mood in times of stress and distress.
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No. 55: Progressive Muscle Relaxation

July 28, 2011 6:25 pm ⋅ 
This week, to attain, maintain or regain my sense of wellbeing...



...practice progressive muscle relaxation. Find a quiet place where you can lie down comfortably and spend 10-15 minutes systematically tensing and relaxing each muscle group in your body.This is about inducing a sensations of relaxation and being really mindful of what we are doing. Thoughts will come and go, just notice whenever you are distracted and come back to the task at hand. 

Start with your toes and work your way up through your body: feet, calves, thighs, stomach, chest, hands, arms, shoulders, neck, and face. For each muscle group, tense the muscles for 5-10 seconds, really focusing on what this feels like, then release and relax for 10-15 seconds, noticing the difference between tension and relaxation.

Try to keep your breathing slow and regular as in the standard breathing exercise, as you work your way through my body, tensing and releasing one muscle-group at a time.

Once you are comfortable with this practice, add Progressive Muscle Relaxation to your Personal Coping Kete for times of stress and distress.

Here is a recorded exercise you can use to guide you as you learn.Click the link below to download the MP3 file to your device. 

Progressive Muscle Relaxation audio by Miriam Larsen-Barr
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No. 41: Snug

April 20, 2011 6:52 am ⋅ Leave a Comment ⋅
This week, to attain, maintain or regain my sense of wellbeing… Coping Kete I will spend 10 minutes each evening, somewhere comfortable, wrapped in a feather duvet or other really snuggly blanket. I might turn the lights down or light some candles and play some quiet, relaxing music or enjoy some silence. This is ten minutes for comfort – I will focus my mind on all of the sensations of comfort in this moment by observing and describing them to myself. When my mind wanders onto concerns of the day, I will gently turn my thoughts back to the sensation of being enfolded in the warm blanket and each of the places where it touches my body. No matter how I have been feeling, I will allow myself this time of calm and comfort. By giving myself regular, unconditional comfort, I will create a more nurturing relationship with myself. Once I am comfortable with giving myself regular moments of comfort, I will add it to my Personal Coping Kete as a strategy for self-soothing when things get tough.
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No. 36: Using Humour

March 10, 2011 3:01 am ⋅ Leave a Comment ⋅
This week to attain, maintain or regain my sense of wellbeing… Coping Kete I will explore humour. This week I make a commitment to comedy and humour. Every day will contain at least one item of comedy or humour – I will watch funny movies, stand-up comedy on Youtube or live comedians on stage. I will read comic strips and cartoons. I will check out some theatre sports. I will read jokes with my friends. I might even try laughter yoga. This week is about creating opportunities for positive emotion. Most importantly, I will laugh at my own falls, foibles and fears – sometimes, it is all you can do. In much the same way, spending a lot of time focused on things that make us frown and cry primes us to experience more negative emotions more readily and more often. Putting that light-hearted stuff into daily life is a crucial balancing point that we so often forget in the rush of living. Once I am familiar with connecting with comedy, I will add it to my Personal Coping Kete to distract from and soothe distressing emotions.
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No. 32: An interesting day

February 9, 2011 10:26 am ⋅ Leave a Comment ⋅
This week, in order to attain, maintain or regain my sense of wellness… Coping Kete I will plan interesting days into my week. This week, every second day is going to be an interest day. I will make sure that I do, talk about, watch or read interesting things. I will approach each present moment with the mindful curiosity and inquisitiveness that I was born approaching the world with. I will find out things I have wondered about or connect with old hobbies. This might take some planning. It’s easy to fall out of step with what actually does interest us. My first interest day might need to involve exploring what I find interesting. I could use the internet, the Engage Online Resources Sheet or Community Resources Directory or my local library as places to find things that will absorb me. Or talk to a friend to come up with ideas. They might even want to join me. Regardless of what I do or where I find myself, I will take interest in what is around me. If I can’t do a day, I will do a moment. Once I have gotten comfortable having Interest Days I will add them to my Personal Coping Kete as an engagement strategy for times when my mood needs a lift and my thoughts need to shift.
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No. 31: Getting Sensory

February 2, 2011 9:37 am ⋅ Leave a Comment ⋅
This week, to attain, maintain or regain my sense of wellness … Coping Kete I will take 15-30 minutes at night to practice sensory modulation as a way to relax and unwind before bed. Sensory modulation is a way of regulating how you feel through your senses by making pleasant changes to your surroundings. This means putting some quiet, soothing music on, dimming the lights or lighting candles, and sitting somewhere comfortable with a snug, heavy blanket across my knees. It means just spending some time focusing my mind on the safe, content sensations of the blanket on my lap, the couch beneath me, the fabric under my hands, the calm lighting and the soothing music. I can return my mind to this state in memory whenever I need to. Once I am familiar with using sensory modulation to relax on a regular basis, I will add it to my Personal Coping Kete as a way of shifting distressing moments.
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No. 26: Stop Point

December 23, 2010 3:29 am ⋅ Leave a Comment ⋅
This week, in order to attain, maintain or regain my sense of wellbeing… Coping Kete I will practice taking a break. This means that for one set period of time I will not do work. I will take a break from all self-criticism and worries about the past/present/future. I can pick them back up again in a week or so if I still want or need them. Whatever my situation happens to be right now, I will take time to do things that are good and fun for me, without pressure to perform to any level or achieve any outcome, other than to take a break. I will actively relax. I will socialise. I will spend some quality time to alone. I will plan a couple of things I’d really like to do or see or try. Wherever I am, I will holiday. Once I am used to taking regular breaks, I will add this to my Personal Coping Kete as a strategy for shifting negative moods when they are hard to deal with. Sometimes, we have been pushing ourselves for too long, and taking some time out helps to recharge the batteries.
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No. 23: Doodle Through

December 1, 2010 5:12 am ⋅ Leave a Comment ⋅
This week, in order to attain, maintain or regain my sense of wellness… Coping Kete I will practice using sketching to shift my attention. When I notice I need a break from the current moment, I will doodle in a notebook with a pen or pencil. I will just draw/sketch shapes and colour them in, or trace lines on the page or draw koru or flowers or anything at all. It doesn’t matter what I create, the point is that I will focus my attention on the pen in my hand and the lines I am creating. I will observe how I feel after doing this. I can make this one easier to practice by carrying a small notebook and pen/pencil in my bag or pocket. Once I am comfortable spending a bit of time drawing patterns or shapes in a notebook, I will add the strategy to my Personal Coping Kete for when I want to distract myself from stress or distress. By focusing attention on this simple action instead of the stressful or distressing thoughts, I can take some of the heat out of my emotions and get through the current moment. It’s also a good way to keep my hands busy if I am feeling fidgety or restless, but need to sit still.
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No. 22: Planting An Imaginary Garden

November 24, 2010 4:45 am ⋅ Leave a Comment ⋅
This week, in order to attain, maintain or regain my sense of wellbeing… Coping Kete I will practice using visualisation to change the moment. Once a day, I will visualise myself planting and then enjoying my own imaginary garden. My imaginary garden will be my idea of the most perfect garden. This is a private place of my own design. I will plant my favourite flowers, shrubs, herbs, fruit trees, vegetables and any other plants that I have enjoyed at some time. I will start at the beginning by imagining the piece of land that the garden is on and laying out where I want each thing to be. The good thing about an imaginary garden is that we can make things flower well or mature whenever we want them to, without having to worry about things like time or seasons! Each time I come back to the visualisation, I can add something else or I can simply take a walk through the garden, watching things grow or just enjoying what is there. I will imagine the sounds in my garden, perhaps there are birds there or I can simply hear the wind through the trees. I will furnish the garden with any kinds of extras that I may please, I might hang a hammock under one of the mature trees, I might have a river running through the bottom of the garden, whatever I find peaceful and beautiful in nature, I can put in my garden. I will create this peaceful ‘space’ in my imagination and I will return to it when I need a bit of calm or some distraction from the intensity of the moment. Throughout the visualisation I will practice diaphragmatic breathing – deep, soft, slow breaths into my belly. This will help to create a conditioned association between imagining the garden and relaxed breathing, so over time it will become very easy to experience a state of calm when I practice the visualisation. Once the garden is established in my imagination, I can pop in really briefly and get the same kind of benefit. I can do this exercise whether I have a garden or don’t have a garden, because in my imaginary garden I am not constrained by any of the rules or barriers that may be present in the real world. Once I am comfortable using this visualisation to relax, I will add it to my Personal Coping Kete as a way of shifting moments of stress and distress.
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