10 Days for Mental Health Free Online Course - Day 1

Welcome to Day 1 of the 10 Days for Mental Health free online course.

The methods have been specially chosen by counsellor and mindfulness instructor Katya Jezzard-Puyraud and NHS cognitive analytic therapist & psychiatric nurse Liz Axham, to help you reduce stress, cope with anxiety and deal with fearful feelings.

All you have to do is try out a few of the techniques introduced every day and see how you feel. You don’t have to do the course in a straight 10 day run - you can space out the days if you prefer. Just make a little commitment to treat yourself kindly and try these techniques if you can.

So today we’re going to concentrate on first trying to relax our bodies. Because when we make an effort to control and calm our physiological responses to stress, then our minds quite naturally follow.

Basic Breathing Technique

We’re going to start off with the simple mindfulness technique of deep breathing which has a host of relaxing and calming benefits to our mental health. When we feel anxious and panicky, the first thing that changes is our breathing. By learning to breathe deeply you can begin to get control of your emotions and change the physical feelings that are brought on by stress.

Below is an animated sequence which will help you begin breathing more deeply. It’s a picture of a shape folding and unfolding, and by synchronising your breathing to this shape you’ll be able to breathe in a guided, rhythmic fashion.

All you need to do is this:

1. As the shape folds out - breathe deeply in through your nostrils.

2. As the shape collapses, blow the air out loudly through your mouth.

Give it several goes and see how you feel afterwards. Then try breathing in a similar slow rhythm but without the picture.

Progressive Muscle Relaxation

One way to get your mind to relax is to relax your body first. Progressive muscle relaxation is an effective mindfulness technique of getting your muscles to release tension first which then naturally brings on the effect of relaxing your mind.

First of all, take a moment to just focus on your body. Can you identify where you’re feeling tense? Are there areas that particularly ache or feel sore? Just isolate an area of tension, and see if you can make a conscious effort to relax those muscles. After trying this for a few minutes, see how your posture changes or how your body softens.

To help you find a way to release the tension from all around your body, we have an audio clip for you of a Progressive Muscle Relaxation Meditation. Just lie back and listen to the guided meditation which will list the areas of your body and help you to lessen the tension in those muscles.

Escaping Worry

When you’re feeling anxious, the only thing you want to do is escape from your situation. Unfortunately, most of the time we have no way of doing that straight away.

But being able to use our imaginations for good (rather than bad such as imagining negative or catastrophic scenarios) we can conjure up places or situations that arouse pleasant relaxing feelings that can take our minds off our worries.

Even by just giving your mind an escape for five or ten minutes can mean you stop a negative spiral or thinking and instead retrieve the energy and strength to continue with the rest of your day.

Below is an audio that should help get you in the right frame of mind. It’s a favourite with our relaxation groups and leaves everyone with a feeling of lightness and dreaminess. Make sure you try this one in a quiet moment. Give yourself some time and space to really let the words guide you into a calming, soothing place.

So that’s all for today. Try and give all the techniques a go and if you have time, feel free to repeat them whenever you get a break in the day. Figure out the ones you like best and make a note of them so you can come back to them when the 10 days are over. Just click on the button below for the next day. You can also take a look at our Mental Health Helplines page if you’re in need of urgent specialist help.

So good luck for the techniques today, and we’ll see you tomorrow for Day 2.

Skip to Day #2