Welcome to "Mindfulness for Stress Relief," a Personal & Professional Learning experience aimed at providing ideas for taking care of ourselves during this stressful time. I appreciate you taking the time to be here.

Immediately below are resources to learn about how stress affects your brain & how mindfulness supports stress relief. There are also additional resources for support. The remainder of this newsletter will be broken into 4 sections based on how to use mindfulness for stress relief: Check-In, Practice, Gratitude, & Check-in

-James Butler, SEL Mindfulness Specialist

• "Name it to tame it." -Dr. Dan Siegel
• "Emotions are data, not directives." -Dr. Susan David
• "It's a state, not a trait." -Dr. Dan Siegel
• We are not the emotion. Instead of saying, 'I am (emotion word).' Use these as options: 'I notice I am feeling ______.' or 'I feel _________.' or 'I recall that I was feeling _________.'

1. Name your emotions. Use "The Feelings Wheel" for help putting words to what you're experiencing in the moment.
2. Using Zones of Regulation, what color zone represents how you're feeling in this moment?
3. On a scale of 1-5 (1-lowest, 5-highest), how are you feeling in this moment?
4. What song best represents how you're feeling in this moment?
5. What movie/show (or character) best represents how you're feeling in this moment?
6. What book (or character) best represents how you're feeling in this moment?
   
7. What type of water best represents how you're feeling in this moment?
   
8. What are you thankful for in this moment?
9. If your body could talk, what would it say in this moment?
10. Using any 5-10 words, how would you describe yourself in this moment?

I recommend doing this portion (Practice) for 5-15 minutes (or longer if you'd like). Starting small and slowly working your way up over time is important.

Pick Up

• Journal -- Write about an experience or person in your life that brings you joy
• Move -- Stretch in way that feels good, Jumping jacks, Shake your arms & legs one at a time, Yoga, Go for walk & notice things that you enjoy
• Breathe -- Take 3 quick sips of breath in through nose & 1 exhale out through mouth, repeat
• Music -- Listen to a song that brings you strength
• Art -- Doodle, draw or color

Calm Down

• Journal -- Write about an experience or person in your life that brings you peace.
• Move -- Jumping jacks, Shake arms & legs one at a time, Sun salutations, Yoga, Go for walk & notice colors/patterns, Stretch in a way that feels good
• Breathe -- Breathe in through your nose for 4 count, out through mouth for 8 count (pretend like you're blowing out through straw to help extend exhale). 5 of these breaths takes 1 minute. Do this for 1-5 minutes.
• Music -- Listen to a song that soothes you
• Art -- Doodle, draw or color

Stay Put

• Journal -- Write about what's making you feel good in this moment.
• Move -- Stretch in way that feels good, Yoga, Go for walk & notice surroundings
• Breathe -- Breathe in through your nose for 4 count & out through your mouth for 4 count or just notice your natural inhale & exhale (temp of air, body movement, where you feel breath)
• Music -- Listen to a song that you love
• Art -- Doodle, draw or color

Gratitude

There's some cool research about gratitude journaling and how it's beneficial for your health. For this practice, I recommend one of these 3 options to express your gratitude...

1. Make a list of all the people & things you are grateful for in this moment.
2. Write a letter of gratitude to someone or something expressing why you are grateful for them. Giving this letter to the recipient is totally up to you. The benefit of the practice is in the actual writing of the letter.
3. Draw what/who you are grateful for in this moment.

I recommend doing this for 1-5 minutes (or longer if you'd like).

Self-Affirmations

An optional practice is also writing a list of self-affirmations. This is something that I do daily and it has helped immensely with my self-esteem as I deal with depression & anxiety often. It's okay if it feels kinda silly at first. This stuff really works! Need some help getting started? No problem! Here are some examples of positive affirmations and sentence starters for your affirmations. I recommend reading them out loud once you're done to hear yourself saying positive things about yourself.

• I am _______________.
• I can _______________.
• I choose ____________.
• I have ______________.
• I know _____________.

Maybe start with 5 positive self-affirmations and work your way up to 20 over time.

1. Name your emotions. Use "The Feelings Wheel" for help putting words to what you're experiencing in the moment.
2. Using Zones of Regulation, what color zone represents how you're feeling in this moment?
3. On a scale of 1-5 (1-lowest, 5-highest), how are you feeling in this moment?
4. What song best represents how you're feeling in this moment?
5. What movie/show (or character) best represents how you're feeling in this moment?
6. What book (or character) best represents how you're feeling in this moment?
   
7. What type of water best represents how you're feeling in this moment?
   
8. What are you thankful for in this moment?
9. If your body could talk, what would it say in this moment?
10. Using any 5-10 words, how would you describe yourself in this moment?

Express gratitude to yourself for taking this time for yourself.

Austin ISD SEL Mindfulness Specialist

2014 Austin ISD Teacher of the Year

Author of Mindful Classrooms: Daily 5-Minute Practices to Support Social-Emotional Learning

Email: james.butler@austinisd.org
Twitter: @mrbutler629