Wellbeing Tip of the Month | May 2024 | Mindfulness: Feel The Beat

This month, we’ll be focusing on another mindfulness practice that encourages you to turn inward and pay attention to the sensations in your body – specifically, your heartbeat.  This is a great exercise to engage in when you may be feeling stressed and would benefit from taking a break from the same.  And it can easily be accomplished in three simple steps:

  1. Pause whatever you are doing, and do jumping jacks for one minute.
  2. Next, sit or stand while placing a hand (or both hands) over your heart.
  3. Pay attention to your breath and how your heartbeat feels. How fast or slow is your heart beating?  How short or long are your breaths?  Try elongating your breaths – in and out – and continue to notice your heartbeat.  Continue to do this until you’re ready to return to whatever you were doing previously.

This exercise offers you the opportunity to take a break from feeling stressed, engage in a short burst of energy, and redirect your focus to your body to feel grounded again.  You can do all this in less than three minutes!  When will you set aside three minutes this month to feel the beat?

Take good care of you,

Education Embedded Counselling & Wellbeing

Wellbeing Tip of the Month | Apr 2024 | Mindfulness: Body Scan Meditation

This month, we’ll be focusing on another mindfulness practice:  Body scan meditation.  For a review of what mindfulness is, please feel free to check out the Wellbeing Tip of the Month for March 2024.  As we learned during last month’s Online Mindful Moment Skills Lab, “there are zillions of ways of developing mindfulness skills, and meditation practices are just a tiny subset of the vast number of ways we can learn to be more mindful” (Russ Harris, 2020).  To learn more about five myths about mindfulness, check out this short video.

BODY SCAN MEDITATION

The body scan meditation involves tuning inwards and paying attention to your body and bodily sensations in a gradual sequence from your feet to head.  Some find it helpful to imagine a laser copier or x-ray machine scanning the length of their body while engaging in this practice.  The goal of this practice is to become more aware of and learn about the physical sensations and feelings in your body.

Sometimes we can get so caught up in feeling stressed that we don’t realize that physical sensations – including discomfort, pain, aches, tension – can be connected to our emotional and mental states.  The body scan meditation encourages us to check in with ourselves and become more mindful of our bodily sensations.  The benefits of practicing a mindfulness meditation like the body scan include:

  • Reduced feelings of stress and anxiety
  • Improved sleep
  • Increased self-awareness
  • Reduced pain
  • Decreased muscle tension
  • Increased emotional regulation.

For support with practicing the body scan meditation, consider being guided through this practice by watching and/or listening to this short video.  Please note this video was developed by @TheMindfulnessTeacher for children.  It is specifically being shared with you as a potential behaviour management resource to use in the classroom as an educator, as well as for your own personal wellbeing toolkit.

Take good care of you,

Education Embedded Counselling & Wellbeing

Wellbeing Tip of the Month | Mar 2024 | Mindfulness: STOP

This month, we’ll be focusing on a specific mindfulness technique:  STOP.  Before diving into this practice, let’s first dive into what mindfulness is.

WHAT IS MINDFULNESS?

“Mindfulness is awareness that arises through paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgmentally.”

~ Jon Kabat-Zinn

Mindfulness is the practice of deliberately paying attention and without judgment in the present moment:

  • To your internal feelings, body sensations, thoughts
  • To your external environment & what is going on around you.

Practicing awareness of the present moment is not easy!  However, just like learning to play a musical instrument, mindfulness is a skill that you can learn.  And with practice, mindfulness may help you free yourself of reactive, habitual patterns of thinking, feeling and acting; reduce stress; and improve sleep.

THE STOP TECHNIQUE

The STOP technique involves working through these steps: Stop, breathe, take a breath, proceed.  The Wellness Society describes these steps in further detail:

  • Stop – Interrupt your thoughts with the command ‘stop!’ and pause whatever you’re doing.
  • Take a breath – Notice your breathing for a second. Breathe in gently and slowly through your nose, expanding your belly as you do, and exhale slowly through your mouth.
  • Observe – Be the observer of your thoughts, emotions and physical sensations. What thoughts do you notice? What emotions are surfacing? How does your body feel? Tune in and stay with whatever arises for a few moments.
  • Proceed – Mindfully consider how you’d like to respond. What’s one small thing you can focus on right now? What would be a helpful response to this situation? Narrow down your focus and take it one small step at a time.

Do you have a moment to STOP today?  For support, consider watching this short video to be guided through this mindfulness practice.  Or you may consider attending the Online Mindful Moment Skills Lab Series:

Join the Education Embedded Counsellor to learn about and practice mindfulness for 15 mins, once monthly from March through June 2024.  You will be guided through a new mindfulness exercise each month, with the opportunity to practice together and connect as a community.

WHEN: First Wednesday of every month from March through June 2024 (March 6th, April 3rd, May 8th, June 5th)

TIME: 4 – 4:15 pm

WHERE:  Find the Zoom link in Canvas Calendar, Navigating the BEd Program 2023-24 (Click on the event in the calendar to find details for the Zoom link).

 

Take good care of you,

Education Embedded Counselling & Wellbeing

Wellbeing Tip of the Month | Feb 2024 | Self-compassion

We can often be our own worst critics.  Have you ever thought to yourself: “I don’t know what I’m doing”; “You are going to fail”; or “I made a mistake; I might as well just quit now.”  Most of us can be hard on ourselves.  Yet, berating ourselves does little to alleviate any pain or suffering we may experience in moments that are hard.  So, what can we do in these moments instead?   Practice self-compassion!

What is self-compassion?  Leading expert on self-compassion, Kristin Neff, defines it as “… simply the process of turning compassion inward.  We are kind and understanding rather than harshly self-critical when we fail, make mistakes or feel inadequate.”  According to Neff, there are three components to self-compassion:

  • Self-kindness: Being kind and understanding with oneself as one would be with a friend.
  • Common humanity: Acknowledging that suffering, making mistakes and failing are part of the shared human experience.
  • Mindfulness: Being mindful of one’s thoughts and feelings without judgment and without over-identifying with them.

To learn more about self-compassion and its three components from Neff herself, watch these short videos.

Research indicates that self-compassion is strongly linked to a greater sense of well-being, decreased stress, and can lead to increased productivity.  Self-compassion has also been found to be a source of coping and resilience during hard times.  What can you do to get started?  Try one of these self-compassion guided practices or exercises today!

 

Take good care of you,

Education Embedded Counselling & Wellbeing

Wellbeing Tip of the Month | Jan 2024 | Beating The Winter Blues

Written by Stephanie Seo, MA, RCC, Counselling Services

Edited by Michelle Lim, MSW, RSW, Embedded Counsellor, Faculty of Education

 

Colder weather, dark mornings, grey skies, and wet shoes are here once again – and if this change in season makes you feel a wave of low emotions, know that you are not alone.

It is common to experience a mood shift during the colder, darker winter days, and you might feel easily fatigued, sad, and lethargic. You might also feel the need to sleep longer, lose interest in activities you used to enjoy, and have more cravings for food that is sugary and starchy! These changes we see in ourselves can be distressing and overwhelming and can impact our overall wellbeing.

Well, the good news is that the shortest day of the year (‘the winter solstice,’ December 21, 2022) has already passed! Thankfully, the days have begun to, once again, grow longer and longer.

Tips to Help Beat the Winter Blues

These “self-care” tips might help with the winter blues if you feel like you are getting into a slump after the winter break and the holiday festivities have ended.

✔️ Spend more time outdoors

  • Drink your morning coffee or tea outside (ex., deck, garden) or near an open window
  • Take a regular mid-day walk even if it is for a few minutes

✔️ Exercise regularly and increase physical activity levels

  • Stretch daily
  • Exercise between study sessions
  • Ideas for burst training at home are available here

✔️ Maintain a healthy, balanced diet and good sleep habits

  • Ideas for a healthy, balanced diet are available here
  • Ideas for good sleep habits are available here

✔️ Stay connected and in touch with friends and loved ones

  • Call on your support system
  • Take up a new hobby that you can do with others
  • Host a gathering of friends and/or family (ex., dinner party, board game night, etc.)

✔️ Increase the indoor light in your home

  • Move furniture around if necessary (ex., put your study space near a window)
  • Keep blinds and curtains open
  • Sit by a window for natural light

✔️ Light therapy

  • Sit in front of a light therapy box for 20 minutes or more per day
  • Read more about light therapy here and here
  • Read about the light therapy lamps on campus here

✔️ Be patient

  • Know that there is no single solution to “snap out of” it
  • Keep in mind that your mood will improve gradually

Is the Winter Blues the Same as Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)?

Unlike the winter blues, seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a clinical condition and a type of depression related to changes in the seasons ☔. SAD often is characterized by overwhelming sadness that can interfere with daily functioning and may require treatments such as medication and/or therapy.

SAD may begin at any age but typically starts between the ages of 18 and 30. Unlike the winter blues which typically affect a person’s mood during the winter months, SAD can appear in the summer months.

Here are some of the common signs and/or symptoms of SAD ✏️.

✔️ Feeling tired or fatigued all the time, causing difficulty carrying out daily tasks

✔️ Feeling sad or having a depressed mood most of the day, nearly every day

✔️ Feeling hopeless, irritable, worthless, or guilty

✔️ Problems with sleep (ex., oversleeping) and appetite (ex., increased carbohydrate cravings)

✔️ Loss of interest or pleasure in activities previously enjoyed

✔️ Withdrawal and isolation from loved ones

✔️ Reduced concentration, causing difficulty functioning at school, work or in the home

Many of these signs can also be present in other physical or mental health issues. Please talk to a health professional such as your family doctor if you resonate with some of the signs and symptoms of SAD.

Treatments for SAD

What helps with SAD? In addition to the “self-care” tips that help with the winter blues, you may discuss the medical treatment options, such as medication (ex., antidepressants) and/or counselling (ex., talk therapy, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy), with your health professional.

Where to Get Help?

If you are not sure where to start or are just curious about general mental health resources available on and off campus, please check out the resources below.

✔️ Non-urgent support

✔️ Emergency support

 

References

Rural & Northern | Wellbeing Tip of the Month | Nov 2023 | Thrive

THRIVE

November is Thrive month, a time when we come together as a UBC community to learn about, talk about, and explore ways to support our mental health and wellbeing!  Moving more, sleeping soundly, connecting with others, giving back, and eating well are just a few ways to support your mental health. What else helps you thrive? Arts and culture? Spiritual connection? Nature? Meditation?  Learn more about the Thrive 5+ here.

The focus this year is on social wellbeing and amplifying diverse experiences and perspectives of mental health.  With that said, let’s learn to Thrive together by taking part in UBC’s community-led events and focusing on connecting socially.  Check out the Thrive Events Calendar here.  There are multiple virtual events available!

Take good care of you,

Education Embedded Counselling & Wellbeing

UBCV | Wellbeing Tip of the Month | Nov 2023 | Thrive

THRIVE

November is Thrive month, a time when we come together as a UBC community to learn about, talk about, and explore ways to support our mental health and wellbeing!  Moving more, sleeping soundly, connecting with others, giving back, and eating well are just a few ways to support your mental health. What else helps you thrive? Arts and culture? Spiritual connection? Nature? Meditation?  Learn more about the Thrive 5+ here.

The focus this year is on social wellbeing and amplifying diverse experiences and perspectives of mental health.  With that said, let’s learn to Thrive together by taking part in UBC’s community-led events and focusing on connecting socially.  Check out the Thrive Events Calendar here.

Take good care of you,

Education Embedded Counselling & Wellbeing

WELLBEING EVENT | Thrive Wellbeing Booth | November 17, 2023 

Stop by to spin the wheel to answer a question about mental health and the chance to win a prize!  There will also be games and activities related to mental health and social-emotional learning that you can use when teaching students in K-12.

WHAT:  Thrive Wellbeing Booth

WHEN:  Friday, November 17th, 12 – 1:30 pm

WHERE:  Main Level Foyer, Neville Scarfe Building, 2125 Main Mall, Vancouver

 

Rural & Northern | Wellbeing Tip of the Month | Oct 2023 | Gratitude

GRATITUDE

As we usher in the autumn season, we are publicly reminded to give thanks.  Specifically, Thanksgiving Day is observed annually on the second Monday of October in Canada.  Did you know that Thanksgiving is rooted in Indigenous values, cultures, and foods?  Celebrating the harvest and giving thanks to Mother Earth is a tradition long-held by Indigenous peoples before colonial settlers arrived.  Having said this, it would be remiss of us not to take pause and reflect on the darker history of Thanksgiving, specifically, the systemic stripping of land, families, and identity of Indigenous peoples by colonial settlers.  Acknowledging the truth of the history and ongoing impacts of the residential school system in Canada is a crucial element of the reconciliation process.

While we are reminded to reflect on what we are most thankful for annually, research indicates that practicing gratitude daily reaps many benefits for our mental health and wellbeing.  Gratitude can:

  • Increase feelings of happiness, and decrease feelings of depression
  • Improve quality of sleep
  • Decrease feelings of stress
  • Increase resiliency and grit
  • Improve self-esteem
  • Enhance social connections.

In fact, practicing gratitude has the capacity to rewire our brains!  We have the capacity to train our brains to acknowledge the goodness in our lives, and harvest the benefits listed above.  So what can you do to get started?  Try one of these three gratitude practices:

  • Create a gratitude jar. Write down what you are grateful for on a piece of paper and place it in a jar.  Over time, you’ll visually be able to see all that you have to be grateful for!
  • Engage in a 5 minute guided meditation for gratitude.
  • Write a letter to someone you are grateful for and express why you are grateful for this person. A recent research study of post-secondary students seeking counselling for anxiety and depression found that writing gratitude letters significantly improved their mental health.

Which gratitude practice will you try today?

Take good care of you,

Education Embedded Counselling & Wellbeing

UBCV | Wellbeing Tip of the Month | Oct 2023 | Gratitude

GRATITUDE

As we usher in the autumn season, we are publicly reminded to give thanks.  Specifically, Thanksgiving Day is observed annually on the second Monday of October in Canada.  Did you know that Thanksgiving is rooted in Indigenous values, cultures, and foods?  Celebrating the harvest and giving thanks to Mother Earth is a tradition long-held by Indigenous peoples before colonial settlers arrived.  Having said this, it would be remiss of us not to take pause and reflect on the darker history of Thanksgiving, specifically, the systemic stripping of land, families, and identity of Indigenous peoples by colonial settlers.  Acknowledging the truth of the history and ongoing impacts of the residential school system in Canada is a crucial element of the reconciliation process.

While we are reminded to reflect on what we are most thankful for annually, research indicates that practicing gratitude daily reaps many benefits for our mental health and wellbeing.  Gratitude can:

  • Increase feelings of happiness, and decrease feelings of depression
  • Improve quality of sleep
  • Decrease feelings of stress
  • Increase resiliency and grit
  • Improve self-esteem
  • Enhance social connections.

In fact, practicing gratitude has the capacity to rewire our brains!  We have the capacity to train our brains to acknowledge the goodness in our lives, and harvest the benefits listed above.  So what can you do to get started?  Try one of these three gratitude practices:

  • Create a gratitude jar. Write down what you are grateful for on a piece of paper and place it in a jar.  Over time, you’ll visually be able to see all that you have to be grateful for!
  • Engage in a 5 minute guided meditation for gratitude.
  • Write a letter to someone you are grateful for and express why you are grateful for this person. A recent research study of post-secondary students seeking counselling for anxiety and depression found that writing gratitude letters significantly improved their mental health.

Which gratitude practice will you try today?

Take good care of you,

Education Embedded Counselling & Wellbeing

 

WELLBEING EVENT – November 17, 2023

November is Thrive Month at UBC!  Drop by and spin the wheel to answer questions about your mental health for a chance to win a prize!  There will also be games related to mental health and social-emotional learning that you can use when teaching students in K-12.