Seven Habits for Personal Balance: COVID-19 Stress Reduction Humbly Offered by Dave Walker, Ph.D. Licensed Psychologist Anisahon Consulting, PLLC, Seattle, Washington [email protected]
1. Breathe. 2. Meditate. 3. Exercise. 4. Relax. 5. Express. 6. Eat Right. 7. Abstain.
NOTE: This document is a public offering and is not to be considered a substitute for professional advice in any way. No psychologist-client relationship is implied or intended between Dr. Walker and any person or persons reading or relying upon the educational information provided. This document is intended for health care providers, isolated people, and others NOT currently experiencing symptoms of COVID-19. This work began as a brief manual of stress reduction techniques for my private practice clients. I’ve updated and rewritten it for anyone from front-line COVID-19 health care providers to isolated individuals sheltering in place. I give credit where I know or recall the source, and this work is not intended to be a peer-reviewed, scholarly document. I do hope these “Seven Habits” - culled, copied, pasted, personally recollected and tried, and taught to and learned from clients, colleagues, and healers over my thirty years as a practicing psychologist - will somehow prove useful to you and yours as we face off with these difficult times together. 1
1. Breathe.(adapted from Reg Conally)
The Basic Message - remember to breathe using your diaphragm (belly muscles) rather than your upper chest. You typically default to upper chest breathing, and when your nervous or scared, this form of breathing can escalate the physical experience of anxiety or panic.
• A word on “anxiety”: From an evolutionary standpoint, when we can’t see into a darkened forest at night, we keep our backs to the campfire and our eyes scanning the shadows for trouble. “Anxiety” is an adaptive stance we need to survive. It includes hypervigilance, heightened reactivity, increased muscle tension, elevated heart rate, etc. • Chronic tension, poor posture, anxious thinking, elevated heart rate, etc. create breathing patterns that are not particularly great for us. We have to help ourselves relax and breathe in a healthier manner. • When we’re often anxious, we automatically use rapid, upper chest breathing… leading to over- breathing… which can contribute to an unbalanced depletion of carbon dioxide. By “automatically,” I mean this tendency is generally routinized, that is, out of conscious awareness. • One means by which breathing helps us deal with stress is by creating an optimum balance of oxygen and carbon dioxide in our bodies to deal with our circumstances. • It’s not so important how much oxygen or carbon dioxide you have in your system but rather the ongoing exchange between the two gases. o Too much oxygen (relative to the level of carbon dioxide) and we tend to feel agitated and jumpy. o Too much carbon dioxide (again, relative to the level of oxygen) and we tend to feel sluggish and sleepy and tired. o Carbon dioxide has received undeserved ‘bad press’ for no solid scientific reason in recent years. Yet one of its key roles is that of being a ‘natural tranquilizer.’ o Repetitive, shallow, rapid upper chest breathing tends to expel too much carbon dioxide, which can cause us to feel more agitated, breathless, and tense. o In extreme cases this kind of breathing can result in tetany – the symptoms of which include a tingling feeling in the lips, metallic taste in the mouth, and sometimes cramping of the feet or hands. o Check this link if you need more science: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/proper- breathing-brings-better-health/ o This document is intended for health care providers, isolated people, and others NOT experiencing symptoms of COVID-19, and the above article mentions that some practitioners feel teaching breathing techniques to very ill people may increase panic and agitation. I suspect reduced blood oxygenation in COVID-19 might decrease the efficiency of breathing techniques in inducing calm. On the other hand, modeling these techniques and “trying them out” with a patient less affected by respiratory issues might be potentially worthwhile in giving them a greater sense of control over their own agitation and fear. o Learn more about the relationship of 5-second diaphragmatic inhalation and exhalation to “heart rate coherence” and self-calming here: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2017.00267/full
2 Diaphragmatic breathing can truly reduce anxiety or panic. . • Being more like sponges than muscles your lungs cannot produce the exchange of gases required in breathing. They must rely on the contraction of the muscle surrounding them – the diaphragm.
• This is why using your abdominal or stomach muscles in breathing, which indirectly activate your diaphragm, produces better breathing.
First Evaluate Your Breathing Habits
1. Rest one hand on your upper chest and the other over your navel area. 2. Breathe normally for a minute or so 3. Notice which hand rises first when you inhale.
• If the upper hand rises first you are using upper chest breathing. • If the lower hand rises first you are breathing with your diaphragm. • If both move at the same time you are using a mix of both.
Upper-Chest Breathing
• If you mainly use upper-chest breathing, you have to breathe more rapidly in order to achieve the proper exchange of gases which breathing aims to produce. • Upper-chest rapid breathers are more prone to over-breathing or hyperventilation • Diaphragmatic breathing, particularly if accompanied by a slower and more shallow rate of breathing, optimizes carbon dioxide-oxygen balance
Using Your Diaphragm to Breathe
• Spend five minutes practicing using your diaphragm to breathe: 1. Sit in an upright position looking straight ahead. Close your eyes if it helps you concentrate. 2. Put one palm on your upper chest and the other over your navel. 3. Make the lower hand rise first when you breathe in. 4. Breathe out gently and effortlessly for a count of five seconds. 5. Now wait for a second or so until the body spontaneously begins to inhale – let it occur naturally. 6. Allow the air to naturally flow in for five seconds. 7. Make no effort to deepen your inhalation. You are allowing your body to find its own natural rate of breathing and, through relaxing into the process, allowing your breathing to slow down and become more and more shallow. 8. Remember your aim is to relax and conserve your ‘natural tranquilizer’ – to counter the effects of losing carbon dioxide caused by anxious, rapid, upper chest breathing. 9. Continue doing this for about 5 minutes.
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• Many people find that they can only do this form of breathing for a minute or two at first. Be patient and gradually extend your time to five minutes. • Many people experience a fluttering effect in the diaphragm. This is caused by anxiety and tension and will pass with practice. • This breathing exercise is also a great way of getting to sleep at night. o While lying on your back, rest your dominant palm over your heart. o Each time you breathe in, visualize energy surging into your chest. o As you exhale calmly and slowly, concentrate on your palm getting warmer. o Shift your attention periodically to parts of you that “feel sleepy” versus the parts that feel agitated. o Many people have reported to me their palm and heart region do feel warmer doing this exercise and the warmth soothed them to sleep.
4 2. Meditate. Mindfulness Meditation (Hybridized Vipassana Method & Jon Kabot-Zinn): Level One: Observe your breath. That is, attempt to maintain attention and concentration on your breath. § Breathe naturally. No need to radically change your breathing, but it helps to seek calm, diaphragmatic breathing. § Maintain attention and concentration on your breath. Say “in” and “out” inside your mind with each inhalation and exhalation. § If this approach to meditation runs contrary to your spiritual beliefs, consider using a phrase from a favorite prayer or teaching in place of saying "in" and "out." Remember, contemplative traditions are a part of many world spiritual paths. A person may be very religious or not at all and still benefit from meditation. § Concentrate on watching your breath while making your “in” and “out” or chosen phrase quieter and quieter. § Seek to create an “inner space of quietness” that involves simply observing your breath. § Your mind will eventually wander (this is common even among experienced meditators). When this occurs, simply move your attention and concentration back to your breath. Stay nonjudgmental. § If you feel like you need to shift your sitting posture or to sneeze or cough or whatever, do so. § If you’d like to avoid feeling like you need to swallow, try placing your tongue at the roof of your mouth and gently parting your lips. Breathe restfully through your nose. § Meditate for 10 minutes or so each day for the first week or so before moving on to Exercise Two.
Level Two: With Breath as Your Anchor, Shift Toward Bodily Sensations • Move to this exercise only when you feel like you can maintain your attention on your breath for fairly periods over 10 minutes. • Meditate by focusing on your breath for 10 minutes. • Gently move your attention to an awareness of your body. • Focus first on just noticing your body as a whole. • Next, work with the following exercise:
o Slowly scan from your head throughout your toes and from your toes to your top of your head. o Notice sensations and vibrations of your body while you scan. o Notice areas in your body where there is tension, pressure, aches and pains. o In a relaxed way, direct your mindful attention into these areas of tension. o Be aware of the center of these discomforts and also their outer edges. o Move back to your breath and with each exhalation, direct relaxation into these centers. o Observe any changes you feel and how the sensations fluctuate. o Direct your mindfulness also into areas with a lack of sensation. o Gradually return your attention to full awareness of your whole body. o Experience your body as alive with various vibrations and sensations. o If your mind wanders, move back to your breath and then toward the body again. o Move your attention between your breath and body for an additional 5 minutes or so. Your meditation practice should now take about 15 minutes. o Try this guided version of mindfulness meditation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFSc7Ck0Ao0
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Level Three: Meditation While Moving Through Breath and Body to Sound
• Move through breath and body meditation, now focusing your attention and concentration on sounds. • Just listen to what is around you to be heard from moment to moment. • Practice moving your mindful attention and concentration to natural sounds for several days. • If you’d like, try adding music on some days. Use music that has a beat similar to the resting human heart - about 60 to 70 beats per minute. • Try blending your breath in a relaxed way with the rhythm of the music. • Add 5 to 10 minutes of sound meditation into your practice with breath and body. You should be meditating about 20 to 25 minutes a day now. • I’ve selected calming, meditative music on youtube at the time of this writing for its diversity: o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0j4yTY_eGI o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8TyKNycHes&list=PL5fylq_iy5Hebg0F5jo9qcG6NX K9LvzRl o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wlbf2w6ZCPg o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggLTPyRXUKc o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6g4VTSGo26k
Advancing to Level Four: Meditation Toward Meta-Cognition
• Begin with meditation focusing on the breath. • After mindful attention and concentration are focused on your breath, let go and watch thoughts and feelings come and go. • Try to perceive thoughts and feelings as “events” in your mind. • Note “what the thought or feeling is about” and whether it is “positive, negative, or neutral.” • Try not to “fall into” thoughts and feelings so much as to observe them slowly and carefully before moving on to the next thought or feeling that arrives. • Note how some thoughts or feelings last awhile, some go away, some return. • Note which thoughts are about “I,” “Me” or “Mine” from a meditating place of “non-judging.” • Note when thoughts and feelings are about the past and thoughts and feelings about the future. • Note when thoughts or feelings decide how well or how badly life is going. • Note especially thoughts and feelings about Wanting, Needing, and Judging about Would, Could, Should and Must in relation to Someone or Something. • Note feelings like Anger, Happy, Sadness, Joy, Dislike, Like, Hate, Curious, and reactions like Avoid, Accept, and Reject. • Notice that you are now the Watcher or Observer of these thoughts and feelings. • Therefore, your thoughts and feelings are not ALL of you; they are just part of you. • This means that you can meditate and move back into being a Watcher of your thoughts and feelings if they ever become too much to cope with. • Any time you feel lost, simply come back to breathing meditation. • Add 10 minutes or so of practice on to your meditation time.
6 Level Five: Mindfully Sitting in Meditation
• This is the final level of your meditation practice. • Just sit. Don’t hold on to or look at anything in particular. • Stay completely open and receptive to whatever enters your awareness, letting it come and go, watching, witnessing in stillness. • You may be surprised at being able to sit in meditation for up to 45 minutes. • For the science-minded or details-please reader regarding benefits of mindfulness meditation in reducing stress: https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/pdfplus/10.1089/acm.2008.0495?casa_token=_Z2RPu0HLIYAAA AA:ZiLmmtzxCllBHyfdJA2BPFu1dm6C4XArqR_s4plqo0Uu7vxLp1vgH- BTjwDqDplsS9LhdkMydgg2Hw
On Trying to Be a "Good Meditator"
Non-Judging:
• No worries! That’s the phrase that truly applies here… • Our lives are filled with judgments. Meditation involves acceptance. • Whatever arises in your mind, whether from a sad and very challenging day of helping the very ill or a lonely and boring day wishing things were different - problems concentrating, troubling or painful bodily states, difficult or hurtful thoughts or feelings - they are all part of meditation practice. • When we judge ourselves or someone or something else during meditation, we simply note that we have had a “judging thought.” • We observe this thought just like any other and maintain our attention and concentration. • Observing the “judging mind” is part of learning about how our mind works. However, meditation involves staying in the position of watcher or observer; not in making judgments.
Patience:
• One of the most amazing things about meditation is that it is one of the only activities in which we are not really trying to “get” somewhere or “achieve” some goal. • Learning to meditate is a “practice” and meditation is a healing journey. • Butterflies don’t usually emerge from a broken chrysalis. So “emerge” from within your practice of meditation with patience. Practicing patience is a form of meditation.
Beginner’s Mind (read the classic: Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind by Shonryu Suzuki:
• https://books.google.com/books?id=syLKN1q19NgC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summa ry_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false • Being a beginner at meditation is a great place to be. Work on staying there! • When you start to feel you know how to do something, you immediately lose the open and receptive state of mind you have when you are learning. • In meditation, you pause to observe what is unique or amazing in the ordinary activities of your mind, body, heart, and spirit. • Meditation simply helps you discover aspects of being alive you’ve never noticed.
7 Trust:
• At this difficult time in human history or at any other for that matter, teachers, counselors, advisors, elders, music, artists, books - all may help guide you along your way. But it is you who will ultimately be the only one to live your own life. Trust yourself. • Try as you might, you can only be yourself. And no matter who or how you may wish to be, you can only become more fully yourself. • Therefore, in meditation, take responsibility for learning who you are and “how you work,” while learning to trust yourself, your thoughts and feelings, and your typical reactions.
Non-Striving:
• There is no particular place to “arrive” while meditating. • Sometimes you may “feel” very good while meditating but that is not a goal or arrival point. The same is true of feeling bad or suffering while meditating. • One of the gifts of meditation is learning to live “within” whatever happens in a more peaceful, accepting way. Some people have referred to this stance as “radical acceptance” or “full catastrophe living.” • Thinking you are to “get” somewhere while meditating is simply a desiring thought—one to be observed just like any other in meditation. • Therefore, there is no need to strive or seek to achieve something while meditating and this can be puzzling for people just starting out.
Acceptance:
• This means whatever happens is supposed to happen – both the tragedy of life and its triumphs. It does not mean we don’t get involved in creating change. But it does mean we need to accept things the way they are first. • Accepting means seeing things as they are and not trying to revise or avoid your own understanding of reality. • If you don’t feel good and you are about to meditate, well, that is just a part of your reality as you start to practice. Meditating while you’re down or anxious is often a great time to do so. • If you encounter grief or anger while you meditate, don’t avoid or turn away from it. Accept that this is your reality in this moment. Yes, people weep or laugh while meditating. • If you encounter things about yourself you don’t like—you’re overweight, you hurt someone, you did something wrong or made a mistake - again, this is part of meditation practice. • There are many states of mind to be experienced but, particularly, to be observed.
Letting Go:
• In meditation, thoughts, feelings, and sensations can “catch” us and hold us in much the same way, distracting us from the particular place we want to put our attention and concentration. • In many Native traditions, we talk about balance, which means that our spirits can get off balance by becoming preoccupied or caught by a problem, troubling circumstance or event. • Letting go means treating such thoughts as clouds moving across the sky - we see them, watch them for a time - and then we move on to our next point of focus.
8 A Word on 'Grounding' Techniques:
Meditation is not about only finding somewhere quiet to sit and watch your breath. It can be done in brief stretches with your eyes wide open in real time at the height of chaos and confusion. Proper breathing and a “meditative stance” can help you remain more centered and balanced. Meditation is at the heart of “grounding.”
Why Do Grounding?
• When you are overwhelmed with emotional pain, anxiety, worry or stress, you may need a way to detach so that you can gain control over your feelings and stay safe. • Grounding techniques are simply ways to ‘anchor’ you to the present and to reality. In grounding, you attain a balance between your consciousness of reality and your ability to tolerate what is happening. • Grounding is a set of simple strategies to detach from emotional pain (e.g., substance cravings, self- harm impulses, anger and rage reactivity toward others, overwhelming sadness). It works by focusing on the here and now, rather than the past or future. You can also think of it as centering. • Being grounded means being aware of your body, your feelings, your thoughts and feelings connected to them. Being conscious of current experience allows you to make decisions about what you need to do for yourself. • There are many techniques that can help bring you back to the present moment; ways to orient you to the now and the fact that you are safe in the now. • For example, one simple device is to keep something with you to remind you to come back to the safety of the present moment and your current experience, a grounding object. Carrying a stone in your pocket or purse has been useful for many people. • A variation on a theme – I populate my workspaces and office with objects that help me stay grounded. What objects might help you in this way?
A Few Brief Ways to “Ground” Yourself in the Moment:
"54321" • Name 5 things you can see in the room with you. • Name 4 things you can feel (“chair on my back” or “feet on floor”) • Name 3 things you can hear right now (“fingers tapping on keyboard” or “tv”) • Name 2 things you can smell right now (or, 2 things you like the smell of) • Name 1 good things about yourself right now
"Reorienting" (No, This is Not Your Own Personal “Mini-Mental Screening!)
1. Where are you? 2. What is today? 3. What is the date? 4. What is the month? 5. What is the year? 6. How old are you? 7. What season is it? 8. What is pretty or likeable about your immediate environment? 9
"SOS"
Three steps that help increase individual focus and clarity about situation, thoughts, feelings, and what to do next:
• Slow Down. Sit back, relax, deep breath, diaphragmatic breathing, one thought at a time. • Orient. Pay attention to where you are, what you are doing, who you are with. • Self Check. Rate yourself on a scale of 1 to 10 for how stressed and in control you feel using the 'Personal Thermometer' or on a scale of 1 to 3 using the target
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Grounding Guidelines
• Grounding can be done any time, any place, anywhere, and no one has to know. • I use the self-created word “futuring” to describe to clients how quickly we make up stories about a bleak or threatening future and then “go live in them.” • Try to avoid “futuring” when it’s unnecessary. Move your mind into the present, not into the past or future. • Keep your eyes open, scan the room, and turn a light on. • Stay neutral regarding where you are and what you’re doing– avoid judgments of ‘good’ and ‘bad’. • For example, instead of “The walls are blue; I don’t like blue because it reminds me of depression”, simply say, “The walls are blue” and move on. • Use grounding when you are faced with a trigger, enraged, dissociating, having a substance craving, or whenever your emotional pain goes above 6 (on a 0 – 10 scale). • Grounding puts healthy distance between you and these feelings. • No talking about feelings or journal writing at this time – you want to stay away from distressing feelings, not get in touch with them. • Processing feelings can happen later. • Note that grounding is not the same as relaxation training. Grounding is much more active, focuses on distraction strategies, and is intended to help extreme feelings.
10 More grounding ideas:
• Breathing deep and slow from the diaphragm with eyes defocussed • Rub your feet on floor • Go barefoot in the grass • Garden • Smell flowers, good food, or essential oils • Call or text someone you like • Pet a friendly animal • Recall a relaxing, peaceful memory - remember sights, sounds, tastes, textures
11 4. Exercise. If exercise is so good for us, why not do it? • Depression. Exercise is a powerful intervention for so-called “clinical depression, works as well as psychiatric drugs, and doesn’t have negative side effects. • Exercise boosts a depressed person's outlook by offering meaningful activity and a sense of accomplishment. • Anxiety & Panic. Physical exercise wards off panic attacks. • Attention/ADHD. Physical activity boosts the brain’s supplies of dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin levels - all of which appear to help regulate focus and attention. Exercise works like stimulant drugs such as Ritalin and Adderall but without side effects. • Traumatic Stress. Exercise help the nervous system become “unstuck” and move out of the 'immobilization stress’ responses in traumatic reactions. • Learning Potential. The same endorphins that make you feel better also help you concentrate and feel mentally sharp. Exercise also stimulates the growth of new brain cells and helps prevent age- related decline. • Higher Self-Esteem. Regular activity is an investment in mind, body, and spirit that fosters a positive sense of self-worth, strength and power. • Better Sleep and More Energy. Even short bursts of exercise in the morning or afternoon help regulate sleep patterns. Increasing heart rate several times a week makes people feel more energized. • Stronger Resilience. When faced with mental or emotional challenges, exercise helps people cope in a healthy way, instead of resorting to alcohol, drugs, etc. Regular exercise can also help boost your immune system and reduce the impact of stress. • Diabetes. Diabetics who exercised regularly showed improvements both in depression and in levels of A1C, a blood marker that reflects blood-sugar control. • Smoking. Vigorous exercise has been shown to help with quitting smoking.
• Yoga - Special Findings: o Yoga helps increase heart rate variability, an indicator of the body's ability to respond to stress more flexibly. Yoga practices reduce the impact of exaggerated stress responses and help reduce both anxiety and depression. o Active-duty soldiers experiencing traumatic stress reported yoga helped with a reduction in insomnia, depression, anxiety and fear, improved interpersonal relations and an increased sense of control over their lives. o My favorite free online yoga resources: § https://www.doyogawithme.com/ § https://www.youtube.com/user/lesleyfightmaster/videos § https://www.youtube.com/user/yogawithadriene o If you have Prime Video, check out the “Yoga For All” series put together by 8 Limbs Yoga, my favorite Seattle yoga studio. Link: https://www.primevideo.com/detail/Yoga-For- All/0U8EVBQIKJ7FT0EY95LTL657QY
12 Overcoming emotional and stressful obstacles to exercise...
Feeling exhausted. • If you are really feeling tired, promise yourself a 5-minute walk. Chances are you’ll be able to go five more minutes. When you’re tired or stressed, it only feels like working out will make it worse. But the truth is physical activity is a powerful energizer. Studies show that regular exercise can dramatically reduce fatigue and increase your energy levels. Feeling overwhelmed. • Just remember that physical activity helps us do everything else better. If you begin thinking of physical activity as a priority, you will soon find ways to fit small amounts into a busy schedule. When you’re stressed or depressed, the thought of adding another obligation can seem overwhelming. Working out just doesn’t seem doable. If you have young children, managing childcare while you exercise can be a big hurdle. Be creative and include the kids! Feeling hopeless. • If you have no experience exercising, start slow with low-impact movement a few minutes each day. Even if you’re starting at “ground zero,” you can still workout. Feeling pain. • Divide your exercise into shorter, more frequent chunks of time if that helps, or try exercising in water to reduce joint or muscle discomfort. If you have a disability, severe weight problem, arthritis, or any injury or illness that limits your mobility, talk to your healthcare provider. You shouldn’t ignore pain, but rather do what you can, when you can. Feeling bad about yourself. • At this time of isolation, try surrounding yourself with “virtual folks” in your shoes. Search for online virtual classes with people at a variety of fitness levels. Accomplishing even the smallest fitness goals will help you gain body confidence. No matter what your weight, age or fitness level, there are others like you with goals of getting fit. Stepping into the Exercise Habit (from familydoctor.org): How much exercise? • Talk to your family doctor • A good goal for many people is to work out up to 5 times a week for 30 to 60 minutes at a time. • If 30 to 60 minutes at a time sounds difficult, split your physical activity into smaller chunks. • Try exercising for 10 minutes at a time throughout your day. Remember: exercise has so many health benefits that any amount is better than none. Sneak exercise in... • Staying in and working from home for COVID? Do a one-minute plank before starting something more tedious on your work computer. • Walk fast around the house or around the block. Several times before sitting before a screen • Six feet is the social distancing rule – but twelve feet if you’re huffing and puffing! How can I stick to it? • Choose an activity you like. Make sure it suits you physically, too. Read, listen to music, or watch TV while you ride a stationary bike. Learn how to play a sport you enjoy. • Get a virtual partner. A virtual exercise partner can offer support and encouragement. Also, you will be less likely to skip exercising. • Vary your routine. Walk one day. Ride a bicycle another. Make a youtube mix of your favorite dance tunes and bust some moves. Increase the pace of chores like vacuuming or sweeping. • Choose a comfortable time. Don't work out too soon after eating or when it's very hot or cold outside. If you're too stiff to exercise in the morning, wait until later. • Don't get discouraged. It may take weeks or months before you notice some of the benefits of exercise, but they’ll show up.
13 • Forget “no pain, no gain.” While a little soreness is normal, pain isn't. Take a break if you are in pain or if you are injured. Prevent Injuries... • Start every workout with a warm-up. This will make your muscles and joints more flexible. Spend 5 to 10 minutes doing some yoga, light stretching exercises, and/or brisk walking. • Pay attention to your body. Stop exercising if you feel very out of breath, dizzy, faint, or nauseous, or if you feel pain. • Don’t try to do too much too soon. Start with an activity that is fairly easy, such as walking. Do it for a few minutes a day, several times a day. Slowly increase the amount of time and the intensity of the activity. For example, increase your walking time and speed over several weeks What is your target heart rate? • Check your heart rate by lightly pressing the tips of your first 2 fingers on the inside of your wrist to take your pulse. • Count your pulse for 15 seconds, and multiply the number of beats by 4. To time the 15 seconds, use the timer function on your smartphone or a watch or clock with a second hand. • Most people will get the greatest benefit and lower their risks if they keep their heart rate between 50% and 85% of their maximum heart rate when exercising. • To figure out your maximum heart rate, subtract your age (in years) from 220. This number is your maximum heart rate. To figure out your target heart rate range, multiply that number by 0.50 and 0.85. • For example, if you are 40 years of age, subtract 40 from 220 to get your maximum heart rate of 180 beats per minute (220 - 40 = 180). Then, multiply 180 by 0.50 and 0.85 to get your target heart rate range of 90 to 153 beats per minute (180 x 0.50 = 90 and 180 x 0.85 = 153). When you first start an exercise program, aim for the lower end of your target heart rate range. As your exercise program progresses, you can gradually build up to a higher target heart rate. • If you are taking medicine to treat high blood pressure or you have a heart condition, talk to your family doctor to find out what your target heart rate should be. Aerobic exercise... • Aerobic exercise is the type that moves large muscle groups. It causes you to breathe more deeply and makes your heart work harder to pump blood. It is also called “cardio exercise.” It improves the health of your heart and lungs. Examples of aerobic exercise include walking, hiking, running, aerobic dance, biking, rowing, swimming, and cross-country skiing. Weight-bearing exercise... • The term “weight-bearing” is used to describe exercises that work against the force of gravity. Weight-bearing exercise is important for building strong bones. Having strong bones helps prevent osteoporosis and bone fractures later in life. • Examples of weight-bearing exercise include walking, yoga, hiking, climbing stairs, playing tennis, dancing, and strength training. Strength training... • Strength training builds strength and muscles. It is also called “weight training.” Lifting weights is a strength-training exercise. Exercise machines can provide strength training. • Push-ups, pull-ups, sit-ups, and leg squats are also strength-training exercises. What's the best type? • The one you'll do on a regular basis. • Walking is considered one of the best choices because it's easy, safe, and inexpensive. Brisk walking can burn as many calories as running, and it's less likely to cause injuries than running or jogging. • Walking doesn't require training or special equipment, except for appropriate shoes. • In addition, walking is an aerobic and weight-bearing exercise, so it is good for your heart and helps prevent osteoporosis. 14 4. Relax.
A Word on News Media & Entertainment…
Yes, the news is often troubling but important if we want to know what’s happening in our world. Many people feel a responsibility and abiding interest in “what’s going on.” With COVID-19, we face many potentially devastating losses and challenges, and I believe only a greater degree of understanding, compassion, and unity among all people will help us get through and build a better world.
I am holding myself to up to 30 minutes of news media per day on COVID-19. I try to focus my attention on credible and reliable news sources. I neither dwell upon nor chase down the conjectures of nihilists and cynics. I watch out for disinformation and often check anything I feel skeptical about regarding reporting on COVID-19 with www.snopes.com Here is a link to an article on best fact-checking sites for news: https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/true-5-factchecking-websites/
Yes! I enjoy watching movies and shows. We are in a golden age, aren’t we? And the dramas and comedies we can access are better than any other time in living memory. However… have you thought to pay attention to whether your particular entertainment “interest” truly relaxes or actually agitates you? I think it’s quite all right to allow yourself a thriller here and there or to delve into that forensic crime show on some evasive serial killer once in a while.
But are you lost in slasher films and/or postapocalyptic video gaming? What if I was to suggest to you that chronic exposure to such “stimuli” isn’t really very good for your nervous system? Fear-based video games increase cortisol secretion which can damage tissue when it occurs chronically ( check out this link: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6037427/pdf/BCN-9-177.pdf), while adding cannabis or other substances to your gaming generally just adds more problems to the algebra (check this link: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3210592/pdf/ijerph-08-03979.pdf).
Limiting news media to your need-to-know, responsible viewing that feels inspiring, fascinating or very funny, gaming that keeps you straight and enjoying your time… these can fit into the other things I have to say about relaxation.
But for that matter, so can a good book! Have you downloaded a digital book you’ve been meaning to read from your local library yet?
Psychological & Psychosocial Relaxation Techniques
Research finds many benefits from regular participation in...
Sweating ... • A Hot Shower, Swedish Sauna, Lakota Ipini, or just turn up the heat to high… • Sweat activates the sympathetic nervous system and stimulates the hormonal system • Promotes healthier skin, aids in eliminating toxins, enhances immunity, and promotes deeper sleep, pain relief, and muscle relaxation.
15 • Flushes toxic metals such as copper, lead, and mercury from the body, while dilating the capillaries, increasing blood flow to the skin, and relieving stiffness and soreness. • Sweat participants report greater relaxation, stress relief, and a sense of accomplishment as well as increased o Relationship to the mineral, animal, and human world o Sense of the world being a safe place o Level of social and family support o Feelings of overall physical wellness o Satisfaction in marital relationships
Drumming, Singing, Playing an Instrument... • Improves emotional state and enhanced capacity for personal responsibility, mastery and self- expression, also enhancing social interaction and social regulation • Significant reductions in feelings of depression and anxiety, improved social resilience and mental wellbeing • Reductions in stress inflammatory chemicals such as cortisol and the cytokines interleukin, tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα), and monocyte chemo-attractant protein • Among staff members helping emotionally challenging people, having an opportunity for the staff to drum, sing or play an instrument was felt to aid them with better emotional expression, reduction in vicarious trauma, increased energy and productivity, induced relaxation, improved mood, created feelings of accomplishment, and a sense of belonging
Dance... • Again, I must mention the value of making a youtube mix. My wife and I have a serious Motown & Funk dance mix that includes tutorials for new moves to embarrass are children at some future date. Be creative with this tool! • Rigorous dancing increases serotonin and decreases dopamine, interpersonal sensitivity, feelings of depression and anxiety, hostility and paranoia, somatization and OCD • Dancing equals "An Oasis from Stress" – Movement provides inner rhythm and space, greater awareness of one’s personal boundaries, enhanced understanding of relationships, improved sense of safety, and hopes for a better future
And now to the “Relaxation Response”: • Relaxation Response: A Mind-Body technique in which you encourage your body to release chemicals that will make muscles and organs slow down and increase blood flow to the brain. • Two important psychology-based relaxation techniques: o Progressive Muscle Relaxation: § Uses a simple script to contrast tensing and releasing muscles. § Teachers in a study in the UK reported significant reductions in work-related stress using progressive relaxation. § Noise reduction and an increased ability to concentrate were reported in a school study of progressive relaxation in Scandinavia. § Progressive relaxation has been shown to reduce aggression and emotional upheaval in traumatized children. o Autogenic Training: § Uses a simple script to contrast heaviness, breathing, and warmth.
16 § In a large German study, students using autogenic made fewer errors in correcting their first recall of a verbal dictation test, while students without the training actually increased their number of errors when correcting their first recall. § Autogenic training allows heart rate to slow and increases vagal nerve control over the heart. § Autogenic training has been shown to reduce performance anxiety, insomnia, and migraines. • Using progressive muscle relaxation, autogenic phrases, slower breathing, changing posture, transforming internal language, and self-healing imagery, 80 percent of students participating in health classes at San Francisco State University reported fewer outbreaks of eczema, fewer migraines, improved sleep, and better diet and exercise habits.
Progressive Muscle Relaxation Procedure
Well, then, how do I do it? One of the simplest and most easily learned techniques for relaxation is Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR), a widely used procedure originally developed by Edmond Jacobson in 1939.
Try out doing a full PMR once a day for about a week, and then shorten it to your own version to do regularly.
Suggestions for practice:
§ Always practice full PMR in a quiet place, alone, with no electronic distractions, not even background music. § Remove your shoes and wear loose clothing. § Avoid eating, smoking, or drinking. It’s best to practice before meals rather than after for the sake of your digestive processes. § Don’t practice after using intoxicants. § Sit in a comfortable chair if possible. You may practice lying down, but this increases the likelihood of falling asleep. § If you fall asleep, give yourself credit for the work you did up to the point of sleep. § For the sleep-deprived: If you practice in bed at night, plan on falling asleep before you complete your cycle. Therefore, consider a practice session at night, in bed, to be in addition to your basic practice. § When you finish a session, relax with your eyes closed for a few seconds, and then get up slowly. § Warning: Due to orthostatic hypotension - a sudden drop in blood pressure due to standing up quickly—if you don’t take your time getting up, you might faint. § Emerging from PMR, some people like to count backwards from 5 to 1, timed to slow, deep breathing, and then say, “Eyes open. Supremely calm. Fully alert.”
Muscle Groups
You will be working with most all the major muscle groups in your body, but for convenience you will make a systematic progression from your feet upwards. Here is the most popular recommended sequence:
• Right foot • Right lower leg and foot • Entire right leg • Left foot 17 • Left lower leg and foot • Entire left leg • Right hand • Right forearm and hand • Entire right arm • Left hand • Left forearm and hand • Entire left arm • Abdomen • Chest • Neck and shoulders • Face
Note: If you are left-handed, you might want to begin with your left foot, and so on.
PMR Tension–Relaxation Procedure
Step One:
Tension. The process of applying tension to a muscle is essentially the same regardless of which muscle you are using. First, focus your mind on the muscle group; for example, your right hand. Then inhale and simply squeeze the muscles as hard as you can for about 8 seconds.
Note:
Beginners usually make the mistake of allowing muscles other than the intended group to tense as well; in the example, this would be tensing muscles in your right arm and shoulder, not just in your right hand. With practice you will learn to make fine discriminations among muscles. When PMR asks that the hand be tensed without tensing the arm, it is really speaking to beginners who, out of body unawareness, will unthinkingly tense everything in the whole arm. Accept the fact that you are simply in the beginner phase— rather than perceive yourself as somehow inept—then you can have the patience to discern the fine muscles with practice. Done properly, the tension procedure will cause the muscles to start to shake, and you will feel some pain. Contracting the muscles in your feet and your back, especially, can cause serious problems if not done carefully; i.e., gently but deliberately.
Step Two:
Releasing. This is the best part because it is actually pleasurable. After the 8 seconds, just quickly and suddenly let go. Let all the tightness and pain flow out of the muscles as you simultaneously exhale. In the example, this would be imagining tightness and pain flowing out of your hand through your fingertips as you exhale. Feel the muscles relax and become loose and limp, tension flowing away like water out of a faucet. Focus on and notice the difference between tension and relaxation.
Note: The point here is to really focus on the change that occurs as the tension is let go. Do this very deliberately, because you are trying to learn to make some very subtle distinctions between muscular tension and muscular relaxation.
18 Stay relaxed for about 15 seconds, and then repeat the tension-relaxation cycle. You’ll probably notice more sensations the second time.
A Full PMR Procedure
Once you understand the muscle groups and the tension-relaxation procedure, then you are ready to begin the full PMR training. Simply follow the list of muscle groups in the sequence given and work through your entire body. Practice once a day for a week. Spend extra time, if necessary, until you can achieve a deep sense of physical relaxation; then you can move on to creating a shortened PMR schedule.
Autogenic Training Sample Procedure
To practice this relaxation technique you need to find a quiet place. While seated in a comfortable position you repeat a particular autogenic phrase to yourself (see the list below).
At the beginning, you do this for a few minutes at a time, several times a day. Gradually, you increase the time until you practice 20 minutes twice a day.
There are six parts to autogenic training, each focuses on a different part of the body and different sensation:
1. Heaviness in the extremities - "my arms and legs are heavy" 2. Warmth in the extremities - "my arms and legs are warm" 3. Heartbeat - "my heart is calm and regular" 4. Breathing - "my breathing is calm and regular" 5. Warmth in the "center just below the ribs" [solar plexus] - " The center just below my ribs is warm" 6. Forehead - "my forehead is cool"
Repeat the autogenic phrases to yourself several times, and imagine feeling the heaviness, the warmth, and the relaxation in your body. Allow the sensations of deep relaxation come to you, rather than actively strive for these sensations. You can design your own routine. What follows is a sample autogenic relaxation procedure:
• I am beginning to feel quiet now... • I am beginning to feel relaxed... • My feet, my ankles, my knees, and my hips feel heavy • My hands feel heavy • My arms and shoulders feel heavy • My neck and my jaw feel heavy • My feet, my ankles, my knees, and my hips feel warm • My hands feel warm • My arms and shoulders feel warm • My neck and my jaw feel warm • My heart is calm and regular • My breathing is calm and regular • The center just below my ribs is warm • My forehead feels cool • My whole body feels quiet, comfortable, and deeply relaxed 19
Once your body is quiet and relaxed, visualize an image or remembered place that you find very relaxing. It may be a sandy beach with waves lapping on the shore, a cool stream of a waterfall, or a soft, fluffy cloud lazily drifting across the sky. Autogenic relaxation takes time to master. It may take few weeks to achieve the sensations of heaviness and warmth, but the results are worth it. Be patient.
The Importance of Adequate Sleep
• In Brazil, 40 percent of 169 teachers reporting significant physical and psychological stress had poor or inadequate sleep.
• "Mounting evidence suggests sleep deprivation and sleep disorders are comorbid or causative factors in diabetes and obesity. Curtailing sleep to 4 hours per night for 6 nights impairs glucose tolerance and lowers insulin secretion in healthy well-rested young men." ~ American Medical Association
• Poor or inadequate sleep is a major factor in behavioral disruption and poor academic achievement.
• 70 percent of children and youth labeled ADHD are experiencing inadequate sleep or sleep disorders. In a large Australian study of 3000 youth, when sleep was increased and sleep disorders treated, ADHD symptoms were eliminated.
• Better quality of sleep decreases depression and improves recall, learning, and general cognitive functioning.
• Evaluate your sleep and use breathing, meditation, and relaxation techniques to help yourself.
o 8 to 9 hours per night for most adults o No caffeine whatsoever for at least 8 hours before trying to sleep. o “Stage” your sleep. Have a ritual. o No screens whatsoever – no TV, laptop, or iPad. o Use an eye mask and ear plugs to reduce noise and external stimulus. o If you wake up and can’t get back to sleep, get up and go read somewhere else. Come back to bed when you feel snoozy. o Practice the “heart-warming” technique described under breathing to help to relax yourself. o Sleeping medications and Benedryl hinder more than help and can be addictive. o Try Sleep Rescue homeopathic product sublingually (this is not an endorsement of homeopathy but many people have reported this product helped them sleep)
20 5. Express.
Expressive Writing... • Psychology researcher James Pennebaker's work on expressive writing: o In 1986, Dr. Pennebaker began the first psychological study of expressive writing at University of Texas. o He instructed student participants to write for 15 minutes on four consecutive days about a traumatic event in their lives. o Compared to a control group who wrote about non-emotional topics, the students in the expressive writing group showed fewer physician visits for illness and positive immune system responses over the coming months. o Since then, over 200 studies testing the benefits and boundary conditions of expressive writing on physical and mental health have been published. o The overall conclusion of this research over the years is that expressive writing can actually improve self-reported and objective markers of health. ~Cognition & Emotion, 2011
The Pennebaker Writing Prompt (Adapted):
In your writing, I would like you to really let go and explore your very deepest emotions and thoughts about a difficult time in your life. It could be now or some other time. You might involve your childhood, your work, or your relationships with others, including caretakers, friends, relatives or other people important to you. You might link your writing to your future and who you would like to become, or to who you have been, who you would like to be, or who you are now. All of us have had major conflicts or stressors and you can write about these too if you prefer.
Notes: • Observe the Flip-out Rule: If you get into the writing, and you feel that you cannot write about a certain event because it is just too upsetting, it's okay to completely stop writing. • Expect heavy boots: Many people briefly feel a bit saddened or down after expressive writing, especially on the first day or two. Usually this feeling goes away in an hour or two. • Sharing by choice: If you choose to share what you've written with someone, that's up to you. However, please be aware that even close friends and people who love you are not always able to respond to expressive writing about trauma in a positive way. • Time: Write a minimum of twenty minutes per day for four consecutive days. • Topic: What you choose to write about should be extremely personal and important to you. • Write continuously: Do not worry about punctuation, spelling, and grammar. If you run out of things to say draw a line or repeat what you have already written. Keep pen on paper. • Write only for yourself: You may plan to destroy or hide what you are writing. Do not turn this exercise into a letter. This exercise is for your eyes only. • Poetry, Rap, Creative Storytelling, Sociodrama...
• Writing poetry has been shown to decrease depression in adolescent survivors of domestic violence and abuse. • Writing poetry reduces psychological pain and anguish, and may help prevent suicide.
21 • From Dr. Cynthia Biggs El, professor of education and songwriter for Patti LaBelle, In Cognito, and JayZ: o "Rap and spoken word expressive art forms encompass what is termed as indigenous knowledge . . . that contain the wisdom and teachings of certain regional or cultural communities." • Sociodrama is an action method in which people spontaneously enact social situations as a way to understand the situations more fully. o People also enact such situations to explore various levels of feelings about an event or events. o For example, a group of people from two conflicting communities might explore how healing would help them to better trust one another. o Groups also enact various solutions to social problems. For instance, a group may rehearse how to manage anger in more effective and nonviolent ways. o A group may also explore an issue that has no current resolution so that they may express feelings about the issue and speak their truth. o After each sociodrama, the group has an opportunity to debrief the enactment and to note what has been learned. Find an empty blank book, pad of paper, journal, or composition book and check out this New York Times, '650 Expressive Writing Prompts' website: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/20/learning/lesson-plans/650-prompts-for-narrative- and-personal-writing.html
Express Through Music... • Music is central in many peoples lives and serves as a vehicle for self-expression, emotional release, and peer relationships. o Music therapy is a profession involving the use of music to improve learning, communication and wellbeing. Music therapists often collaborate with speech and language pathologists. § Music therapy has been shown to be an important intervention for reducing worker and patient stress and burnout. o Everyone can benefit from numerous easy-to-do music interventions - § Gentle exercise to music § Progressive muscle relaxation to soft music § Use of music to help individuals create a plan for positive action/mood § Use of gentle music in health care during procedures or while waiting § Use of fast rhythmic music to enhance or increase energy while working out § Use of music paired with positive memories § Sharing of personal music preferences with a group to promote connection o Break out your old instruments & tune up! Guitarists, find some songs to play at www.ultimate-guitar.com o Set up a semi-professional recording and performance opportunity for yourself and go on facebook live, Instagram, or stage-it… (https://www.stageit.com/site/landing) o Check out free shareware to make your broadcast professional: https://obsproject.com/ o Download an incredible synthesizer app for your iPad like SynthOne (https://audiokitpro.com/synth/) or set up some grooves with Fingerlab’s DM1 (http://fingerlab.net/portfolio/dm1) or play with loops at https://www.wikiloops.com/backingtrack.php o Do some live music or choral streaming with others - https://www.ludwig- van.com/toronto/2020/03/25/guide-live-streaming-tips-musicians/
22
Express Through Arts & Crafts...
• Research abundantly shows, Art as Therapy offers: o Positive change and benefits for people experiencing emotional stress as they engage in art- and craft- based creative activity. Significant improvements in self-esteem, self-worth and self-efficacy are consistently reported ... o Engagement in creative activity is described as a welcome distraction and a relief from worry, rumination and negative thinking ... o The ‘doing’ of creative activity generates a complex interaction of mind and body processes, which can stimulate the growth of new neuron networks in the cerebral cortex ... o Art for self-expression can provide a safe, non-verbal and acceptable way to deal with difficult emotions. o It can provide a means of structuring time, and facilitating purpose and direction for people struggling with negative mental health. o Other reported benefits include an increased sense of satisfaction, empowerment, confidence and achievement, which contributes to intrinsic motivation and may lead to increased activity levels. ~ Journal of Psychiatric & Mental Health Nursing, 2012
A Great 'Art Therapy for Everyone' Website: http://intuitivecreativity.typepad.com/expressiveartinspirations/100-art- therapy-exercises.html
GO TO THE WEBSITE AND DOWNLOAD DETAILS ON EACH OF THE FOLLOWING ACTIVITIES:
Emotions Deal with emotions like anger and sadness through these helpful exercises. 1. Draw or paint your emotions. In this exercise, you'll focus entirely on painting what you're feeling. 2. Create an emotion wheel. Using color, this activity will have you thinking critically about your emotions. 3. Make a meditative painting. Looking for a creative way to relax? Have trouble sitting still to meditate? Meditative painting might be just the thing you're looking for. No painting skill or experience necessary - only a desire to relax and become more creative. 4. Put together a journal. Journals don't have to just be based around words. You can make an art journal as well, that lets you visually express your emotions. 5. Explore puppet therapy. Puppets aren't just for kids. Make your own and have them act out scenes that make you upset. 6. Use line art. Line is one of the simplest and most basic aspects of art, but it can also contain a lot of emotion. Use simple line art to demonstrate visually how you're feeling. 7. Design a postcard you will never send. Are you still angry or upset with someone in your life? Create a postcard that expresses this, though you don't have to ever send it. 8. Create a family sculpture. For this activity, you makes a clay representation of each family member-- mother, father, siblings, and any other close or influential family members to explore emotional dynamics and roles within your family.
23 9. Paint a mountain and a valley. The mountain can represent a time where you were happy, the valley, when you were sad. Add elements that reflect specific events as well. 10. Attach a drawing or message to a balloon. Send away negative emotions or spread positive ones by attaching a note or drawing to a balloon and setting it free. 11. Collage a heart. Collage your childhood memories in a heart formation.
Relaxation Art therapy can be a great way to relax. Consider these exercises if you're looking to feel a little more laid back. 1. Paint to music. Letting your creativity flow in response to music is a great way to let out feelings and just relax. 2. Make a scribble drawing. With this activity, you'll turn a simple scribble into something beautiful, using line, color and your creativity. 3. Finger paint. Finger painting isn't just fun for kids– adults can enjoy it as well. Get your hands messy and really have fun spreading paint around. 4. Make a mandala. Whether you use the traditional sand or draw one on your own, this meditative symbol can easily help you to loosen up. 5. Draw with your eyes closed. Not being able to see what you are drawing intensifies fluidity, intuition, touch and sensitivity. 6. Draw something HUGE. Getting your body involved and moving around can help release emotion as you're drawing. 7. Use color blocks. Colors often come with a lot of emotions attached. Choose several paint chips to work with and collage, paint and glue until you've created a colorful masterpiece. 8. Let yourself be free. Don't allow yourself to judge your work. If you think your paintings are too tight and controlled, this collection of tips and techniques to try should help you work in a looser style. 9. Only use colors that calm you. Create a drawing or a painting using only colors that you find calming. 10. Draw in sand. Like a Zen garden, this activity will have you drawing shapes and scenes in the sand, which can be immensely relaxing and a great way to clear your mind. 11. Make a zentangle. These fun little drawings are a great tool for letting go and helping reduce stress. 12. Color in a design. Sometimes, the simple act of coloring can be a great way to relax. Find a coloring book or use this mandala for coloring. 13. Draw outside. Working en plein air can be a fun way to relax and get in touch with nature while you're working on art.
Happiness Art not only helps you deal with the bad stuff, but also helps you appreciate and focus on the good. Check out these activities all about reflecting on your personal happiness. 1. Collage your vision of a perfect day. Think about what constitutes a perfect day to you and collage it. What about this collage can you make happen today? 2. Take photographs of things you think are beautiful. No one else has to like them but you. Print and frame them to have constant reminders of the beautiful things in life. 3. Make a collage related to a quote you like. Take the words of wisdom from someone else and turn them into something visually inspiring.
24 4. Create a drawing that represents freedom. The Surrealists embraced automatic drawing as way to incorporate randomness and the subconscious into their drawings, and to free themselves from artistic conventions and everyday thinking. 5. Document a spiritual experience. Have you ever had a spiritual experience in your life? Paint what it felt like intuitively. 6. Make a stuffed animal. Soft, cuddly objects can be very comforting. Use this project to create an animal from your intuitive drawings. 7. Work on a softness project. Using only soft or comforting objects, create a work of art. 8. Build a "home." What does home mean to you? This activity will have you create a safe, warm place that feels like home to you. 9. Document an experience where you did something you didn't think you could do. We all have to do things that we're scared or unsure of sometimes. Use this activity as a chance to commemorate one instance in your life. 10. Think up a wild invention. This invention should do something that can help make you happier– no matter what that is. 11. Make a prayer flag. Send your prayers for yourself or those around you out into the universe with this project.
Portraits Often, a great way to get to know yourself and your relationships with others is through portraits. 1. Create a past, present and future self-portrait. This drawing or painting should reflect where you have been, who you are today, and how see yourself in the future. 2. Draw a bag self-portrait. On the outside of a paper bag, you'll create a self-portrait. On the inside, you'll fill it with things that represent who you are. 3. Choose the people who matter most to you in life and create unique art for each. This is a great way to acknowledge what really matters to you and express your gratitude. 4. Collage someone you admire. If someone has ever helped inspire your path, collage this person. 5. Create an expressive self-portrait. Paint in expressive colors. Select colors for emotional impact. 6. Draw yourself as a warrior. Start thinking about yourself as a strong, capable person by drawing yourself as a warrior in this activity. 7. Create a transformational portrait series. Transform your perceptions about yourself with this list of self-portrait ideas. 8. Imitate Giuseppe Arcimboldo. Using objects that have meaning to you, create a portrait of yourself. 9. Create a body image sketch. Practice life drawing to fall in love with all of the varieties of the human body, including your own. 10. Draw a mirror. This activity is based around a Piet Mondrian quote: "The purer the artist's mirror is, the more true reality reflects in it." It involves letting die what is not your true reflection, is getting back a truer reflection of yourself in your mirror. 11. Draw yourself as a superhero. Many people like superhero stories. We resonate with the themes in the stories, with the dilemmas and problems that superheroes face, and we aspire to their noble impulses and heroic acts.
Trauma and Loss These activities will ask you to face some unpleasant aspects of life, but with the goal of overcoming them. 1. Draw a place where you feel safe. An art therapy directive for finding your safe place for healing from trauma. 2. Create a mini-diorama. This diorama can showcase an important moment in your life or some trauma that you've experienced.
25 3. Create a collage of your worries. What worries you in your life? Cut out pictures from magazines to represent these worries. 4. Draw something that scares you. Everyone is frightened of something and in this project you'll get a chance to bring that fear to light and hopefully work towards facing it. 5. Turn your illness into art. Struggling with a potentially terminal illness? Turn your illness into something meaningful with the creative journal method. 6. Paint a loss in your life. If you've lost someone you love or something, paint it. This will help you to remember but also to recover. 7. Make art that is ephemeral. Sometimes we have a hard time letting go, but this project will teach you that it's ok if something doesn't last. Use materials like sand, chalk, paper or water to create art that you will destroy when it's done.
Collaging If you prefer to cut and paste rather than draw or paint, these projects are for you. 1. Create a motivational collage. You can hang this collage somewhere you'll see it everyday. Filled with images you find motivating, it'll help you keep pushing on. 2. Create a face collage on a mask. We all wear masks of some sort. This project lets you showcase what's in your mask and the face you put on for the world. 3. Create a clutter collage. Are there things cluttering up your life? In this project, use words and pictures to show the clutter in your way. 4. Create a calming collage. Choose images that you find soothing, calming or even meditative and combine them to create an attractive collage that can help you to relax. 5. Collage a painting. To complete this exercise, you'll first need to create a simple, abstract painting on paper. Then, tear this painting up and create another. Think about how you felt when you had to tear up the first painting and which you like more. Self Examine aspects if who you are and how you see the world through these amazing art projects. 1. Draw images of your good traits. Creating drawings of your good traits will help you to become more positive and build a better self-image. 2. Draw yourself as an animal. Is there an animal that you have a special interest in or feel like is a kindred spirit? Draw yourself as that animal. 3. Create a timeline and journal the most significant moments in your life. This timeline will be the story of your life, with the most important moments highlighted visually. 4. Put together a jungle animal collage. Choose jungle animals that you find the most interesting, draw them, and then reflect on why you've chosen these specific animals. 5. Sculpt your ideal self. If you could make yourself into the perfect person, what would you look like? 6. Draw the different sides of yourself. In this project, you'll explore the different aspects of your personality, giving each a visual representation. You might only have one or two, or maybe even twelve. 7. Make art with your fingerprints. Your fingerprints are as unique as you are. Use ink and paint to make art that uses your fingerprints. 8. Draw yourself as a tree. Your roots will be loaded with descriptions of things that give you strength and your good qualities, while your leaves can be the things that you're trying to change. 9. Design a fragments box. In this project, you'll put fragments of yourself into a box, helping construct a whole and happier you. 10. Paint an important childhood memory. What was a pivotal memory in your childhood? This activity asks you to document it and try to understand why it was so important to you. 11. Write and illustrate a fairy tale about yourself. If you could put yourself into a happily ever after situation, what role would you play and how would the story go? Create a book that tells the tale.
26 12. Design a visual autobiography. This creative journaling project asks you to look back at your life and make a visual representation of it. 13. Draw a comic strip about a funny moment in your life. Enjoy a moment of levity with this exercise that will focus in on a comical even that happened to you. 14. Build your own website. Websites are very versatile ways to express yourself. Build your own to express what's most important about you. 15. Create a box of values. First, collage or paint a box the represents you. Then, place items inside the box that represent the things you value the most.
Gratitude Here you'll find a collection of projects that will help you be happy about what you have and express your gratitude for it. 1. Document your gratitude visually. What things are you grateful for in your life? Paint or collage a work that represents these things. 2. Create a family tree of strength. This exercise honors those around you who support you. Paint those close to you who offer you the strength you need. 3. Make something for someone else. Making something for someone else can be a great way to feel good and help someone else do so as well. 4. Make anchor art. Who are the anchors in your life? In this project, you'll make an anchor and decorate it with the people and things that provide you stability and strength. 5. Draw all the positive things in your life. Everyone has at least one good thing in life, so sit down and figure out what makes you happy– then draw it. 6. Sculpt your hand in plaster. Once it's dry, write all the good things you can do with it right onto the hand. 7. Paint a rock. This project is meant to offer you strength. You can approach it in two ways. One option is to paint the rock with things that empower you. The other is to paint it with struggles you overcome. 8. Write on leaves to create a gratitude tree. What are you grateful for? This project asks you to write those things on leaves to construct a tree or banner of gratitude. 9. Map of consciousness collage. More often than not, in a single day, we can feel conflicted in our consciousness in several different ways. This directive helps to explore personality dynamics by mapping them out visually with spontaneous collage and drawing. 10. Create a snowflake out of paper. Write ideas about how you are unique on the snowflake. 11. Build a personal altar. This is a highly personal project that will help connect you with your spiritual side and honor your resilience.
Inside the Mind Take a look inside your mind to see what's going on with these projects. 1. Create a blot art. Like a classic Rorschach test, fold paper in half with paint or ink in the middle and describe what you see. 2. Mind Mapping. Make a visual representation of your thoughts to figure out how your mind works. 3. Make a dreamcatcher. Having bad dreams? Create this age-old tool for catching your dreams with a few simple tools. 4. Draw your dreams. You can learn a lot from what goes on in your dreams, so keep a dream journal and use it for inspiration to draw or paint.
Miscellaneous If you're still looking for something to empower, help or soothe you, these projects may fit the bill.
27 1. Use natural materials. Leaves, sticks, dirt, clay and other natural materials can help you get in touch with the natural world and the more primal side of yourself. 2. Build an archetype. Check out this series of projects to build a set of archetypes, or ideal examples, that can help you explore how you see the world. 3. Use your body as a canvas. You don't need paper when you have you body. Paint on your hands and feet or anywhere else to feel more in touch with yourself. 4. Sculpt spirit figures. Connect with those that have passed on or your own spiritual essence using these sculpted figures. 5. Make art out of recycled items. You can reuse old items that have meaning to you or just re- purpose something you have laying around. Either way, you'll get insights into how you can reshape and reevaluate your own life. 6. Collage with old photographs. If you're uncomfortable using old photos you can make copies, but with this project you'll draw out one characteristic you see in the person in the photos. 7. Create your own interpretation of a famous work of art. How would you have painted the Mona Lisa? Using a famous work as your inspiration, create your own work. It could help reveal more about your lens on the world. 8. Work collaboratively. Art can be better when two work at it together, so find a partner and collaborate on just about anything. 9. Use a found or made object as a paintbrush. Whether it's something sharp or something soft, make your own artistic tool and use it to express what you're feeling. 10. Make crayon stained glass. Reflect upon your spiritual side with this project that lets you create your own stained glass window. 11. Paint a window. Windows let you see in and see out. Paint yours with things you want to hide or show to the world.
28 6. Eat Right.
The final two steps in Seven Habits of Personal Balance are “short and sweet.” Here are some study findings on Eating Right... • In a study of nearly 10,000 students in the U.S., unhealthy dietary patterns and limited physical activity were risk factors for depression in young men and "screen time" was a risk factor for young women. • In a study in Korea of western fast-food chains, higher Body Mass Index (BMI) scores were found to predict weight stigma and reduced self-efficacy, and increased consumption predicted levels of depression. • In a study of 3300 students in the U.S., a higher diet quality score was associated with lower likelihood of emotional symptoms. • In an Icelandic study of 3600 10th graders that controlled for family income, ADHD, and delinquency, caffeine consumption was found to strongly increase anger, violence, and aggressive acting-out in boys and moderately in girls. • Moving teens from a high fat to a "standard control" diet of appropriate calories and nutrients improved growth in the brain's HPA axis and reduced behavioral disruption and emotional reactivity. • Adherence to a Mediterranean-style diet reduced the risk of stroke and related circulatory problems among 133,000 participants in the California Teachers Study.
Here is a recent report from NPR regarding eating healthy while in self-isolation: https://www.npr.org/2020/03/21/819629091/cooking-tips-for-self-isolation
And a great article on healthy foods to stock up on… https://www.cookrepublic.com/how-to-sensibly-stock-food-for-self-isolation-and-quarantine/
Finally, an article on ways to reduce stress eating while self-isolating… https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/25/well/how-to-manage-stress-eating-or-not-eating.html
29 7. Abstain.
Use all of the Six Habits described thus far to help you contemplate, distract yourself, relax, learn about our world, self-occupy, and then make them your go-to tools for supporting this Seventh Habit:
The Self-Discipline of 'Abstaining'...
From substance abuse... From tobacco use... From junk food... From relationships that make you feel bad about yourself... From violence... From destructive thoughts that are your own “dead end street”…
And please – as we move forward together into a brand new day – try to remember… You cannot tell from appearances how things will go. Sometimes imagination makes things out far worse than they are; yet without imagination not much can be done. Those people who are imaginative see many more dangers than perhaps exist; certainly, many more than will happen; but then they must also pray to be given that extra courage to carry this far-reaching imagination... surely from this period ... this is the lesson: never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never – in nothing, great or small, large or petty – never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy... Do not let us speak of darker days: let us speak rather of sterner days. These are not dark days; these are great days – the greatest days our country has ever lived; and we must all thank God that we have been allowed, each of us according to our stations, to play a part ... ~ Winston Churchill
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