Looking after your mental health
Sensory self-soothing kit
We often forget how closely our senses are tied to our emotions. A familiar scent, taste, or sound can bring back cherished memories or offer comfort when we're feeling low.
Self-soothing is a way to calm yourself using your five senses, and many people find it helpful to have a self-soothing kit ready for tough moments.
Why not try gathering five items—one for each sense—that can help bring you comfort during times of stress, worry, or upset?
Below, you can see some suggestions for each of the senses but please do create your kit in whichever way feels best for you.
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Have a soothing sound
You could make a playlist on your phone with all your favourite songs or you could find some soothing sounds on YouTube, such as birds tweeting or waves washing up on the beach.
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Something to spark tastebuds
You could have a sour sweet or a packet of flavoured gum to hand to soothe your senses.
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Something nice to smell
Why not try burning some incense, having your favourite body spray or perfume to hand, or you may just wish to have a small bag of your favourite spices to smell.
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Something nice to look at
This could be a photo of your family or friends or even a postcard from a special trip or somewhere you would like to visit one day.
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Something to touch
This could be a worry stone, a stress ball or you could use some scented hand lotion to give yourself a relaxing hand massage.
For more suggestions or information, please see: https://creativityintherapy.com/2016/05/create-a-sensory-self-soothing-kit/
Belly Breathing (deep breathing)
Belly breathing or deep breathing can help calm our bodies when we are feeling intense emotion like panic, fear or anger. By deep breathing we get more air through our bodies which reduces pain, calms the central nervous system (part of the body…
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Meditate for 5 minutes with this video
Meditation can help ground us and our thoughts, moving us away from difficult memories or overwhelming emotions and into the present moment. Sometimes it feels like our thoughts are too quick or we can't find any calm, this video should help you focus on calming. You can try this quick 5 minute video that guides you through it.
5 minute mindfulness meditation (in English)
Here you can listen to a 5 minute guided mindfulness meditations. This is great for you to use when you are short on time, but still want to get into a mindful state of mind. Even five minutes can produce major benefits, give it a try... Enjoy!
10 minute guided relaxation meditation (in Spanish)
Listen to this guided meditation to help with learning how to let go and decrease symptoms of anxiety and depression.
10 minute guided relaxation meditation (in French)
Listen to this guided meditation to help with learning how to let go and decrease symptoms of anxiety and depression.
Quick mindfulness practice (in Tigrinya)
Please take some time to listen to this short mindfulness practice to soothe worries or anxiety.
Short meditation practice (in Farsi)
Try this short meditation during your day or before sleep to soothe anxieties or worries.
Beginner Meditation (in Persian Farsi)
This is a short Farsi meditation to support with relaxation and peace.
Quick meditation (in Arabic)
Try out this short mediation to soothe yourself from worries and anxiety.
5-4-3-2-1 grounding technique for calm
Feeling panicked, having bad memories, or need distracting? Try this technique!
Grounding is a word to describe techniques used to help soothe people or help us manage overwhelming emotions.
This technique requires you to use your 5 senses which helps you focus on the present moment and calm the other emotions you may be feeling. The best thing is, you don't need anything for it, and you can do it anywhere!
- Name 5 things you can see
- Name 4 things you can feel
- Name 3 things you can hear
- Name 2 things you can smell
- Name 1 thing you can taste
