Welcome to the Mindfulness Monthly! Hello friends! Welcome to the second installment of the Mindfulness Monthly - your new newsletter brought to you by your Mental Health First Aiders (normally on the first Monday of the month). We hope that you are in a good place and feeling nice and refreshed after the long weekend. In today's installment we've got tips for coming out of lockdown, a free bookazine and of course, your soundtrack to enjoy - please do join us on a desert island, grab a coconut, and dive in.

Post Lockdown Help Depending on where you are, things may be starting to slowly ease up. This article from Mental Health Foundation is a good read but it is also a long one so to summarise: expect the transition out of lockdown to feel as unfamiliar as the transition into it.. Expect to feel a bit uneasy, pace yourself, go slowly and build up a tolerance over time. You don't need to do the maximum of what you are allowed to at any given time you can slow down and work with how you feel.	Free Bookazine! At Future our bookazine team work really hard to give us a great range of bookazines with a really wide array of topics. Springtime may just be the best time to Declutter Your Life. This interactive decluttering guide is here to help you on a path to organising your life and creating order where there may have previously been chaos.
Pokemon GO Yes, people are still playing it, and maybe so should you! As it's getting warmer this is the perfect time to kick off the slippers and get outside. If like us you feel like you've exhausted the walk in your area, maybe you need some pokemon to spice things up?! It gets you out of the house, hatching eggs and getting your daily walk in.	10 Minute Mindfulness Meditation Ok, we all know that we should be meditating, I probably don't need to list out the reams of benefits here, but it generally falls into the "should list" with other things like kale and star jumps. This is a lovely 10 minute meditation - there is an old proverb which says that if you don't have time for a 10 minute meditation then you probably need a 20 minute meditation. 😉
What is mindfulness anyway? Given that we mention it a lot, what is it? Let's defer to the NHS (which needs no explanation if you're in the UK but this is a trusted resource and our pride and joy). Most of us have issues that we find hard to let go and mindfulness can help us deal with them more productively. We can ask: 'Is trying to solve this by brooding about it helpful, or am I just getting caught up in my thoughts?'	What if I'm ok and I want to help those around me? If right now, wherever you are, you're doing well - that's great! You might be asking yourself how you can help those around you that might be struggling. Mind are a really great resource for mental health advice and support. Here they offer a great resource for how to help people with a really broad range of issues from anxiety, disorders and suicidal thoughts.

Your mindfulness exercise In every edition of the Mindfulness Monthly we have an exercise to get you centred and feeling refreshed. The Good Posture Challenge! For the whole day try to bring awareness to your posture. This technique has an immediate grounding effect and restores our mindfulness. The goal is to be aware of the sensations that the body is feeling right at that moment. You may feel the pressure of the chair you are sitting on, the ground under your feet, or a slight breeze. Simply scan your body up and down and notice whatever sensations are present. You only have to do this for a minute or two, then return your attention to whatever task you were doing. The aim is to try and remember to observe your posture and its sensations as often as you can throughout the day.

     

Please see our wiki page for resources if you need help.

You can send us an email (or reply to this one) with suggestions, tips, chat or support.

We wish you well,

Gina, one of your Mental Health First Aiders