City of York Council Mindfulness Project

Reducing Stress & Anxiety

Exercises to Accompany PowerPoint

Mark Willis

Exercise 1 – The Calm Cave or Sanctuary

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The Calming cave exercise reminds learners that we have the choice of turning off the stress response where it is not helpful.

The idea is the learners make their own version of a calm cave, or more accurately for this exercise – a sanctuary. This exercise can be done simply with suggestions made by the tutor using the script below. However, if the tutor feels it appropriate, attendees can close their eyes and the exercise becomes a little more like a meditative visualisation.

Suggested Script:

Imagine you are walking on a magical path. Look down at your feet and imagine what the path is made of. Is it stone, or wood, or earth, for example?

Now imagine that the path comes out in a clearing where you are going to create your perfect sanctuary. What is the most relaxing location for this sanctuary that you can imagine? Would it be by the sea or maybe in the mountains, or a harbour in a city? Or even in the sky? Where would you like to go, where would be the most relaxing landscape imaginable for you?

Next, in this landscape you have created, I want you imagine the most relaxing dwelling you can. What sort of ‘dwelling’ would relax you most? A hotel, a cave, a cottage, a monastery? Anything you want.Picture it as best you can.

Now imagine you are turning the door handle of this place, or crossing the threshold, you open the door – what can you see? What are the walls decorated with? What about the floor and the ceiling? Or is it open to the sky?

Now imagine turning to the window, what would be your perfect view, what can you see from your very own perfect dwelling? Imagine opening the window if you wish and as well as seeing, hearing, smelling the landscape around you come flooding in.

Imagine now the most comfy seat you could possibly have. What would it be? A leather chair by the fire?A hammock?A huge sofa? What would it be?

Then imagine yourself sitting in it, totally at peace, feeling your body fully supported.

You look around your perfect dwelling, what would you need for your comfort? What would you furnish it with, what items of entertainment might you want, what would be just right for you?

Rest now a while, feeling the support of your chair and seeing all these items arranged just so for your relaxation and comfort. (Allow time for this)

Imagine now leaving your seat and walking back towards the path. You reach the edge of the clearing and turn to have one last look at your relaxing dwelling place in its perfect location. Hold that image and remember you can go there any time you wish. Any time you feel stressed or anxious, it is always there for you waiting.

Now return along the path back to your classroom.

The class should now share in groups and feedback to the class where they went? What sort of landscapes and dwellings did they create? What was their chair like, where was it, what items did they need for their comfort and entertainment? Hopefully, learners will have suggested some of the things which relax them. Hopefully also they will feel more relaxed and recognise that they have a degree of control to reduce stress through visualisation and even thoughts. Hopefully they also had some fun!

Learning Outcomes:

Todemonstrate that we can reduce tension through visualisation and thought.
To discuss how we often perpetuate our stress response beyond longer than is useful.
To consider what activities might reduce our own stress.

Exercise two – Pick up and put down stress?

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This is a general technique for the everyday things in life that stress us. I usually tell the class at this point that if they recall nothing else from this lesson, remember this at the very least!

Ask the class to stand and each of them should hold a heavy book in one hand, with the book pointing down and the arm extended. As they are doing this, remind them that humans are designed to cope with stress for short periods of time. As time passes, ask them how their arms are feeling and then ask what would happen if they maintained this pose for (say) half an hour. The answer is evident; their arms would become tired and they would eventually drop the book.

Now ask the students to put the book down and then pick the book up. Allow a few seconds to pass and then ask them to repeat this process a few times. Are their arms becoming tired? No – because we are picking up and then putting down the weight.
Now imagine the book represents stress – if we hold onto that stress for a long time eventually it becomes insupportable. We have to drop it; we are no longer able to cope under its burden. But if we pick up and put down stress, as we did with the book – we will be fine.

As we have established, stress is there for a reason, even in today’s world of few predators, we require it to motivate us to perform well in sport or exams or to even get out of bed in a morning! If we learn from this exercise, to pick up and put down stress, then we can harness useful stress and recognise that we need ‘off’ times too. So after maybe revising all day for exams, a pupil might do something relaxing that evening – rather than pushing him/herself to work some more. Or even worse; sitting there worrying about the exam.

Learning Outcomes:

Torecognise that stress is only beneficial in the short term.
To understand that we can only function effectively under stress temporarily.
To consider and apply the need for relaxation after we have experienced stress.
To apply this learning to keep us mentally safe from the harmful effects of stress and anxiety.

Exercise three – What stresses you, what relaxes you?

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Stress bucket –Learners write on a piece of (scrap) paper what stresses them, each piece being then scrunched into a ball. Paper balls from everyone are then thrown in a small plastic bucket or container. Eventually the bucket overflows.

This represents our own stress “bucket”. We each have a capacity to deal with stress – some people have large buckets, some only small. Those who have small buckets will find that every set back, every piece of stress can tip them over. But we all ‘overflow’ in the end if put under too much stress.

We therefore need outlets for this bucket and what relaxes us is like a drainage tap. This can be represented by the tutor throwing one scrunched ball of paper out of the bucket for each relaxing suggestion. The diagram below is a visual demonstration of this principle.

Extension – choose a few of the stress scraps. Most of them will contain things like ‘ having a fight with friends’, ‘late to school’ ‘not getting to level 4 on a computer game’ etc. How many of these situations show someone in physical danger? Probably none. So why are we so stressed then?

Learning Outcomes:

Toidentify where stress comes from.
Torecognise that a lot of our stress comes not from the situation itself but from over-thinking.
Tounderstand that a lot of the joys we have in life, particularly those which relax us or give us a sense of well-being relate to times when we are not thinking.
To recognise a lot of our more pleasurable times are when we are engaging with the world through our senses rather than thoughts.

A study out of Harvard University about five years ago, found that we spend (on average) 47% of our lives not present. That is nearly half of our waking lives spent lost in thought. The same study estimated that 70% of our thoughts are negative, basically because we are programmed to look for predators and survive rather than be happy. So, essentially, not only are we missing large sections of our life, we are also spending this time in potentially upsetting and unsettling rumination. The good news is the knowledge and awareness of this is the first step to breaking the pattern.

It is useful to recall here too that the human brain, although greatly evolved still retains a lot of our ‘monkey brain’ or caveman brain. Caveman did not spend all day thinking. He did not sit there worrying about the price of caves! Instead he processed the world largely through his senses; when he felt cold, he lit a fire, when he was hungry he went looking for berries. We still have a lot of that caveman hardware in our heads – quite simply we are not designed to think all day. Once again, awareness of this can help us. How can we access this non-thinking existence, how can we experience more of our life; the answer is through the Being Mode.

Exercise 4– It is not about stopping thoughts?

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Exercise–tutor to say to class:

Pat the top of your head continuously. Then at the same time rub your tummy. While doing this, also whisper your postcode. Then add to this by picturing your home front-door in as much detail as you possibly can.

Allow the students to do these activities for maybe twenty or so seconds. Then ask – “did anyone think about homework or exams while doing that?” The answer will clearly be no.

This exercise is to demonstrate that using the being mode is not about trying to stop thoughts. Anything you try hard not to think about will almost certainly reverberate around your head. Trying to block thoughts simply does not work. Instead we are focusing, on purpose, on something else. We are allowing the mind to become distracted, naturally, with something else. There is a happiness theory which reminds us that the human mind can really only focus on one thing at once. If we choose to focus on the happier detail rather than the irritating or sad then we should benefit with greater contentment.

Learning Outcomes:

Torecognise that while we cannot block thoughts, we can distract ourselves through the being mode.

Exercise 5 – Application of being mode in the classroom

Slide 9

Invite the class to suspend thinking as much as they can and just relax. If going outside is an option then perhaps do that. Otherwise this exercise can be done sitting at desks.

Just for a minute, process the world through your senses. What you can see, hear, feel, touch, smell and taste? Obviously sight and sound work best, so focus more on those. But look around the room, what have we not noticed before? Feel that present moment, just you people and me, in this room, doing something really quite important – experiencing the present moment. Be aware of your breathing. Be aware of any thoughts which come along, but just allow them to come and go without the need to become entangled in them or following them.

Learning Outcomes:

To recognise that through the present moment we can calm the mind. Without the need to block thoughts, but just noticing them come and go, while processing the world through our senses.
To apply this more in our everyday lives when we need calmness or clarity of mind.

This exercise may be beneficial before an exam just to calm the mind right down. Imagine a pool of water as the mind and a pebble is a thought. If we throw lots of pebbles into the pool all the ripples merge and it becomes impossible to see what is in the pool. With just one pebble, or none, the pool is clear and we can see what it contains.

The next few exercises are all practices of Being Mode

Exercise 6 – Mindful Eating

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The students have two lots of food choices – they can either take a Jelly Baby or a grape (you can choose other foodstuffs should you wish but these fit the bill in terms of texture etc.)

The idea here is the students really experience the process of eating, in the present moment and using their senses. Ask them to empty their heads as best they can and adopt a beginner’s mind to the process. Pretend they have never seen a Jelly Baby before, like it is alien food almost.

Step one is just to look at the Jelly Baby. Push it about on the palm of the hand, observe it. Think about its journey here – from factory to shop. Notice anything about it – does it smile, is there an even sugar distribution on it?
Step two is to smell the Jelly Baby. Pretend the skull is empty and as you lower your nose to the sweet, inhale and imagine all that smell filling the empty space in the head. Try not to think – just experience.

Step three is to place the Jelly Baby to one’s ear and tap it gently with the finger nail.

Step four is to place the sweet into the mouth and just experience the texture and the beginnings of taste. As you begin to chew notice the change in texture, then the flavour starting to become more noticeable. Where do we experience taste, try to pin-point it? Is it on the tongue, the back of the throat, the nose, sides of the mouth, where? What is the flavour like – fruity, dry, bitter, sweet? This is all about experiencing through the senses rather than thinking.

Next ask the class to discuss their experiences – what was that like compared to how they normally eat grapes or sweets? Was there anything unusual? Was it more pleasurable? More flavour? Did they eat more slowly?

Learning Outcomes:

To understand that being present when we eat makes a huge difference to the experience. Using our senses, the experience of eating is truer and deeper.
To recognise we can apply this to many aspects of our life; listening to music, walking in the woods, engaging with friends, enjoying the first cup of tea of the day.
To apply this more in our everyday lives.

Exercise 7 – Five finger positivity test

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Every morning I count on the fingers of one hand five positive things about the day ahead. It might go something like; my favourite programme is on the TV tonight, a friend might be coming over, I might have that class I really like in the afternoon, I have my warm fluffy socks washed and ready to wear and it might be curry night! This is not just about the individual thoughts. You will recall that we think associatively, one thought leading to another, so your third thought might be (say) about curry night. This might lead you to think about trying a new curry,which might lead you to consider getting a recipe or phoning your friend who is the curry expert. In other words, your thoughts have gone off on a positive line of thinking. Imagine now negative you – dreading the day ahead, wishing that boring lesson was over. Compare the two alternatives of you – both walking to school, one being positive the other not. Imagine this happening every day – quite a difference! Of course none of these techniques will change your life on their own, but they all add up and slowly but surely you are changing the way you think for the better.

EXERCISE – Get the class to name individual good things about today. A fun and positive exercise and an insight into each other’s lives!

Learning Outcomes:

To recognise that positivity is an option.
To recognise the benefits of positive thinking and apply to achieve a reduction is stress and a greater sense of well-being.
To consider the interactive elements of associative thought and positivity.

Exercise 8 – Habit Breaking

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Habit breaking is about reducing stress by doing new things once in a while. When the mind is focusing on something new, it is looking outwards and less inclined to worry and cogitate. It is also a great way of experiencing new things in life.

EXERCISE – Try one new thing this week and report back at next class. It can be something small such as trying a different food, orwalking a different route home from school. Or it can be a whole new hobby. But do just one new thing and report back.

To gain ideas for this – maybe use the earlier list made concerning what relaxes your students. Maybe one learner enjoys video games and a non-gaming peer could try this over the next week.

As well as finding new joys in life, habit breaking allows us to be aware of the negative habits we have got into and maybe recognise if we have allowed ourselves to fall into a rut. Habit breaking wakes us up and also allows us to see that we always have choice in our lives. Some people return from a holiday abroad full of promises to change aspects of their lives which have become stale, this exercise engineers that same ‘wider perspective’ feeling without the expense of travel!