Many people have heard of Couch to 5k, the programme that takes complete beginners with no level of fitness through a weekly course until they can run 5km, but have you ever considered doing one of these for your mental and emotional health?
The 7 Day Mental Health Challenge gives you guided exercises for 5 mins a day designed to make looking after yourself easy.
"The 7 Day Calming Down Challenge was an excellent way of reconnecting with the beneficial impact of mindfulness after a period of feeling overwhelmed and struggling to use mindfulness practice."
Sarah
Our psychological well being has a direct impact on our levels of resilience, our ability to make healthy and strong relationships, our moods and sleep, as well as our physical health. It is that important and yet, as adults, most of us do not spend much time looking after our mental and emotional health or don't have the tools or knowledge that is required.
This 7 Day Mental Health Challenge is an excellent introduction to Calming Down tools and techniques. It is designed to give you a short sample of different ways to calm your mind, step outside of the pressures connected with the level of thinking, access a deeper level of well being within yourself, and improve your overall mental and emotional health.
It is a 7 day program where you will get access to 7 x 5 minute downloadable mp3 audio files. You listen to one file (5 mins) each day at a time convenient to you.
You have to listen to the 5 min audio track and, just for that time, put your full concentration on it. You cannot do this if you are driving. You can do it on a bus, train, or just as you wake up, or as you are about to go to sleep, any time that suits you where you can focus for 5 mins.
Each day, the audio track will change slightly introducing you slowly to a new aspect of relaxation or how to calm the mind.
It is called the Calming Down Challenge as normally most people do not stop in the day time - and certainly the mind doesn't get much rest. It is constantly active and producing thoughts whether we want them or not. Even for 5 minutes, it is challenging to stop and focus on something else other than your thoughts (which usually take centre stage).
You will be guided through this and given several strategies to choose from to find out which one works best for you. By learning to take the pressure off the 'thinking mind', we take pressure off our whole system and allow ourselves to naturally calm down.... but it does take persistence and practice - hence the 7 day Mental Health Challenge!
Yes!
Commit yourself to the 7 Day Mental Health Challenge before you start. Mentally predict the difficult days or times of your week in advance and work out a plan as to how you are going to fit in your 5 minute relaxation.
Pick a regular time of day to do this that works for you and stick to it.
Do not listen to all 7 tracks back to back on Day 1, they are not designed to be used this way. Use one a day as indicated by the Track title. You can always repeat the same day's track again (eg. morning and night) if you want to.
Use headphones if you have them - it will help cut out external distractions. Remember to turn off calls or other notifications just for 5 minutes.
If you miss a day, for whatever reason, don't beat yourself up! Just repeat the missed session on the next day.
If you find you particularly enjoy one of the sessions, then go back to it again - you can keep using these after the 7 Day Mental Health Challenge is over and find the method that works the best for you.
No problem at all if you are a beginner.
When you listen to a relaxation, you will find that the voice guidance slows down as you get into the track. This is deliberate and helps your body and mind relax more as you listen. Compared to a 'normal' conversation it can seem slow (and even boring to the thinking mind!), but persevere with it and see if you feel any different at the end.
It can help to set aside a regular time of day and even a regular place to do your relaxation and this all helps build a routine.
Set your intention to complete the 7 Day Mental Health Challenge and then commit yourself to it. Enjoy!
Congratulations and Well Done!
If this has prompted an interest within you to find out more, have a look in the Shop area to see what the next steps might be for you.
There is a free relaxation track, a longer Deeper Relaxation and, for those who want to learn even more the Find Your Calm video course.
Make sure you are in a place where you can relax safely and have a listen to this track. If it is helpful, you can download this track for FREE from the Shop section and have it delivered by email.
7 Day Mental Health Challenge not for you?
Looking for something else...
Try out the Calming Down personal selection tool!
Partners