10 Days for Mental Health Free Online Course - Day 3

Following on from yesterday, our theme is clearing those negative thought patterns.

Hopefully you’ve managed to try and quieten some of that negative inner dialogue and brain chatter. Today it’s about actually dispelling the stuff that really brings us down.

Shifting Negativity

Below is an exercise called Negative Energy Clearing using the idea of a magnet to pull out all the unwanted stuff that’s stuck in your mind and body.

The music that accompanies the track are Tibetan singing bowls which are used for their healing and soothing properties. If you like this kind of music, you can search up Tibetan Singing Bowls and find lots of examples on YouTube.

Bringing in positivity

One of the best methods to release that tension and bring in some positive energy are breathing exercises and stretching. Some ancient techniques which incorporates both these things in a very gentle and calm manner are Tai Chi and Qi Gong.

Below we have a beautiful video of some simple breathing and stretching Qi Gong exercises which are great to try when you’re trying to calm your mind and clear away negative feelings.

No news is good news

One special thing we want to ask you to do today is….don’t read the news. There’s a lot of bad stuff happening out there at the moment. Reading the news when you feel in a fragile state of mind is proven to be detrimental to those suffering from mental health issues. So give yourself a break today and don’t go online or pick up a newspaper or watch the TV news today. Live without news for a day and see how much your anxiety levels drop.

The benefit of massage

Massage is proven to help your immune system, calm the mind and release toxins. Today we have a self indian head massage for you to try. Our head is covered with multiple acupressure points which, when pressed, release tension and pain while promoting calm and relaxation.

First of all, watch the clip and give it a go so you get the idea. Then light some incense or a scented candle, put on some relaxing music and watch the clip again with the sound down so you can create a relaxing atmosphere. Carry out the head massage while doing deep breathing and see how much you can relax by doing something as simple as treating yourself kindly.

So good luck for the techniques today – try and do them as much as you can - and we’ll see you tomorrow for Day 4.