When choosing the secondary school for our daughter Isabelle, good pastoral care and well being was top of our mind.
3 weeks since the new academic year has started, and the school is definitely living up to the expectations!
Our daughter is always super excited about going to school in the morning and happily tell us what she did in the day; she is enjoying the surrounding supportive environment and started to make new friendships!
One thing she has been particularly excited about is the “pause”.
The girls are invited to join a 10-minute guided meditation at the beginning of the school day and after lunch. They do also practice a minute or two “breathing pauses” in between lessons.
Neurodivergent children are prone to have a very sensitive nervous system, and their neurology is wired to feel things very deeply. They might lack a feeling of internal safety and experience many events in life as traumatic.
As they grow up, they learn to mask or cover up this sensitivity by adopting behaviors to cope. For example, prioritizing others’ needs, people pleasing to avoid conflict, over-working, pushing hard to achieve in various areas of their lives.
Does any of this resonate with you? We call this toxic load!
But let’s do a step back and understand stress.
There is good and bad stress. When stress is good, you feel alive, and you thrive. However, when the level of stress becomes too high, it starts to take a toll on your body. This is when you have an overactive sympathetic nervous system. If you are in this mode for a sustained period of time, your body suffers.
Physically you might start to crave unhealthy food, your night might be full of interrupted sleep, you might catch every cold that’s going around, you might feel bloated or develop intolerance, you might feel exhausted, and find difficult to focus, you might feel low and be excessively anxious.
The aim of the game is to not remain stuck in the sympathetic dominant state and build in daily rest and recovery to re-balance the nervous system.
Here a number of basic healthy living strategies that can help you find calm and a sense of balance while building resilience and looking after yourself:
- Meditate: meditation allows you to observe your thoughts?and emotions in a detached, non-judgmental way.?
- Breathe deeply: breathing techniques are incredibly helpful when you are trying to learn how to relax immediately. You can do this anywhere and at any time. All you need is to take 5 minutes off and focus on your breath.
- Practice mindfulness: be fully present, instead of thinking about your past or worrying about your future. For some this may be meditation, but it could be any activity that gets you tap into all your senses to bring you into the present, e.g. going for a walk and notice the leave, sounds and colors and the world around you.
- Build a switching-off routine into your daily schedule: leisure activities such as music, cooking, playing a board game, reading a book give you something enjoyable to do while helping take your mind off stressful situations.
- Write it out: journaling is a good starting-off point to help unravel interwoven thoughts and feelings. It decreased mental distress and improved mood.
- Get creative: express yourself through activities like drawing, painting, playing music, and crafting can effectively reduce your stress.
- Take a quick walk: getting some fresh air and moving your body for just 10 minutes can clear your head and make you feel ready for the tasks ahead.
- Get outside: mother nature is healing and has many calming effects. If you cannot get to a park or a forest, go outside in your garden or yard if you have one.
- Connect: as human beings we thrive on connections. People who feel more connected to others have lower level of anxiety and depression and higher level of self-esteem and empathy. ?This could go from catching up with an old friend or asking for a hug to a loved one to joining a group of like-minded people linked with your hobby or faith. It is about letting go of relationships that are not serving you and invest in those that they do.
- Practice guided imagery: a mind-body techniques that involves evoking positive mental imagery to help invoke a positive effect. This relaxation technique can be helpful for calming the body, relieving stress, and combating feelings of anxiety
- Laugh! laugh out loud with your friends and family.?
- Look outside: simply stare outside from the window and look at the sky, clouds, tries, park, or even people walking outside. Take a break from the screen and look at life.
- Practice yoga: a little yoga in the morning, at night, or even during a lunch break can reduce stress by providing the combined benefits of breathing exercises, stretching exercises, meditation practice, and guided imagery in one technique.
- Stretch: you can stretch certain body parts while on the go to relieve body tension and relax your muscles.
- Pet a furry friend: spending some time with your pet can help to greatly reduce your stress and anxiety levels instantly.
- Try cold therapies: splashing some cold water on your face and pulse points can help you cool your body temperature and make you feel energized. Research is showing that sea swimming, ice bath, or even cold shower can improve our response to stress.
- Find purposeful activities: having a sense of purpose is important as it links with a sense of identity and improve overall mental health. It will help motivate you and make you feel fulfilled.
