01 Oct 2021
Mindfulness is gaining momentum in our schools and workplaces. Your own school may be introducing Mindfulness as part of a new Well Being curriculum in response to Covid.
Whilst we all agree that that is great news for our young people, we are often slow to recognise that we ourselves need to take a breather.
One of the standard Mindful practices is to do a Check In – to see how we are doing. I spoke of this last month. Here I want to encourage you to do some gentle stop and breathe exercises to get things back on track, when you might have got a bit de-railed.
Like our prison stop and search techniques, this is your chance to take stock and look things over. So here are the steps.
When you notice things unravelling a little:
- Find a suitable point and place in which to pause what you are doing
- Stop for a just a few minutes
- Take a deep breath in and out
- Repeat this to take 3 long breaths in and out
- As you are breathing in, breathe in Love, Truth and Light. See Love and Light fill your heart and body
- As you breathe out, breathe out Peace, Harmony and Joy. See Peace and Joy infuse every part of you
- Take a moment to thank the universe for re-balancing you
- Get on with your day
Most of us only practice shallow breathing. We fill our lungs to only part of their capacity. We know that the oxygen we take in helps our brain power, so it makes sense to breathe fully, when we put our mind to it.
Not only does this simple, quick exercise do you good by energising you, it takes you away from the problem for a moment, allows you to regroup, and thanks you for noticing the levels of stress creeping up on you, little by little.
The colleagues I work with are always on my radar. I am constantly asking how they are, and most will be on automatic saying “I’m fine”. When I hear some of their daily stories, I question the lightness of their responses.
Not coping is sometimes seen as a weakness.
From Over Cheerful to Overload ‘Overnight’
Do you know anyone (maybe even yourself) who has often presented an ‘I am doing just great’ front to life, and then gone headlong towards dis-stress and dis-ease? Perhaps you did not notice the signs, or they masked them so well.
It is sad when almost ‘out of the blue’, people are on long term sick with little warning signs. They go from appearing to cope with things to sudden overload. Please don’t let that happen to you.
It is often that one extra little thing that tips us over. And I am not immune to that either!
Taking time out to ‘Stop the Madness’ is not always possible of course. We may not be able to take more than a moment. And often we can not just ‘STOP’ - (think of that luxury when stress washes over us in the middle of phone call or 1:1 conversation).
But we can give ourselves a bit of wriggle room – if we keep our eye on how things can shift in a moment and slowly unravel.
Mind the Gap
If you have sat in on any of my workshops you might have heard me talk of what I call Mind the Gap.
It is that moment when we use our Noticing Skills and Check In on ourselves.
So if you have noticed that your rate of breathing has increased, you might also be aware that you are starting to feel anxious.
Mind the Gap is that moment just after you have figured things are going badly, but before your automatic reflexes sends you into your default way of reacting to stress (i.e. getting angry, scowling, retreating, gossiping etc).
There are 3 small but significant steps that will help you stay on top of any daily stresses:
- Pause and Breathe
- Notice
- Mind the Gap
These 3 steps will help you stay on top of any daily stresses.
It is the combination that will help you de-escalate the situation. Just like the Personal Safety Training we have to do at HMP. You can look on this as your set of personal well-being steps. You might even create your own little Mantra as a mental reminder to pause, check and re-group!
We do not have to push on through the tough times. We can pause. There is no merit in slogging on when we are out of fizz. We gently remind others of that. So allow yourself some slack too.
If you can, when you feel stress overwhelming you, try the following:
- Stop
- Remove yourself from the place/situation
- Breathe deeply and calmly until you find a sense of stillness settling in
- Breathe in light and love and feel it filling any weary spaces
- Release any pain and anguish as you breathe out
- Rest in the quiet for a few minutes
- Forgive others and yourself for any uncomfortable feeling you were holding
To help you with this, I’ve put together a Stop, Pause and Breath workbook with a Mindful 5 (Minutes) Breath and Audio recording.
You can download your Stop, Pause and Breathe workbook at https://www.geraldinejozefiak.com/pause
Introducing Mindfulness to your School is my new Mindfulness course for schools. You can find out more at https://www.geraldinejozefiak.com/introducingmindfulnesswaitlist
If you’d like to share Mindfulness techniques in Staff CPD Mindfulness Workshops you’ll find details at https://www.geraldinejozefiak.com/CPDtraining
Love and light,
Geraldine