Tools for Mental Health Wellness
- May 2
- 5 min read
May is Mental Health Awareness month. So often, we talk about physical wellness, eating healthily, watching our diet, exercising, and maybe taking some time for rest and renewal. Mental health is just as important as tending to the body. In fact, when mental health is tended, it unites the mind-body connection, giving the body space to work more effectively, reducing stress load, improving one’s overall outlook on life, regulating the nervous system, reducing pain and increasing adaptability and resilience. *
In the past, mental health may have been viewed as ‘something being wrong with you.’ The reality is that on some level, we are all managing our mental wellbeing. Sometimes that may look like talking with a professional, other times that may look like taking a walk in nature to clear your head, or perhaps a massage for relaxation, going out dancing, getting together with friends, or maybe quiet time away from the noise of life, or regular practices such as mindful breathing, yoga, meditation or simply slowing down. Mental health is no longer something to ‘fix,’ but rather to be nourished, offering inner harmony and peace.
When we have regular check-ins with ourselves and can neutrally observe how we’re feeling or thinking, we give ourselves permission to allow what is arising within. This is a very different approach than using judgment over oneself for one’s personal truth. It’s okay to be angry. It’s okay to be sad. It’s okay to be happy. It’s okay to feel lonely. Culturally, we’ve been taught to sweep ‘undesirable emotions’ under the rug and to show up ‘sane,’ ‘happy,’ ‘pleasant,’ ‘accommodating.’ But that’s not usually how we feel. As human beings, we have a range of emotions and letting them be expressed in healthy ways is important to balancing our mental wellbeing.
Throughout this month of Mental Health Awareness, I’ll be sharing practices, musings, reflections and education about mental health wellness. And my go-to to assess where I am is always through my breath. The breath can reveal a lot about what’s going on internally. You might notice your breath is rapid, or perhaps very long, or maybe it’s quick on the inhale, sharp on the exhale. Maybe you notice your breath is smooth, or that you’re sighing a lot. Or maybe you sense that you’re holding your breath. What I love most about tuning into my breath is that it’s one of the mechanisms in the body that can be shaped with intention. Your body will naturally inhale and exhale, but you have the ability to either increase or decrease the rate of your breath, as well as change the quality of your breath.
In Yoga tradition, the breath is our vital life-force energy. It is prana, all that ignites and fuels life. And through the breath, you can regulate the body, the mind, your energy and your outlook. In some practices, you might use the breath to increase Agni or ‘fire’ and energy. In other practices, you might need more tamas or ‘calming’ from the breath. And yet through other breath practices, you might seek to find sattva or ‘balance’ of your energy. Below are some breathing practices you might call upon to help regulate what you notice about your mental state.
Low Energy/Depressed/Grief/Wiped Out: Use Bumblebee Breath
- Start by noticing how you are sitting. Try sitting up tall, with your seat grounded and your spine long.
- Try placing both hands on your lower abdomen and aim to direct your breath into your belly.
- Take 3-4 breaths like this, inhaling and exhaling through the nose.
- When you feel you have this, keeping your mouth closed, on your next exhale, create a humming sound.
- Complete 10 breaths with the exhaling hum sound and maybe notice what you sense within your body through the vibration.
- Check in. How do you feel now? If you’re still feeling low energy, try another round of 10 breaths with a hum exhale (mouth closed)
High Energy/Stressed/Anxious/Worried: Use 3-Part Breath
- Start by sitting upright, notice if you can sit with your feet firmly on the ground.
- Perhaps place one hand on your lower abdomen and one hand over your heart
- Take 3 cleansing breaths, inhaling through the nose, exhaling through the mouth.
- Now, try to fill your breath at your lower abdomen, trying to make that hand push away with your inhale. Complete 5 breaths here.
- Then, try to fill your breath at your heart, letting your chest press into the hand with each inhale. Complete 5 breaths here.
- Next, try to direct your breath into your collarbones, imagining your breath is coming up into your lower throat with each inhale. Complete 5 breaths here.
- For the next 5 breaths, you’ll inhale 3 times, first at the lower abdomen, then the heart, then the collarbones, and slowly exhale, releasing the collarbones, heart, lower abdomen.
- Check in. How do you feel now? If you’re still feeling stressed or high energy, try another 5-10 breaths inhaling 3 times, and exhaling from collarbones to abdomen. Aim to slow the inhale and exhale with each breath.
Balancing/Need a quick practice/Unsure what you’re feeling: Use Equal-Part Breath
- Start with a check in. Notice your head, notice your feet, notice your hands, notice your front body, notice your back body.
- Start to feel your breath in your body, just as it is. Take several breaths without trying to change anything.
- Slowly begin to lengthen your inhale, counting to 3 or 4, and then lengthening your exhale, counting to 3 or 4. Complete 5 breaths here.
- If time allows, lengthen your inhale by counting to 5 or 6, and then lengthen your exhale with a count of 5 or 6. Complete 5 breaths here.
- Check in. How do you feel now? Reassess and determine what you need to move forward.
- You can continue this practice, increasing the duration of your inhale and exhale up to a count of 10 or 12, as it feels appropriate for you. Always start small and work your way up to a longer count.
After a breathing practice, remember to allow time to return to your normal breath, if even for just a couple of breaths. This will allow the body to return to its autonomic function, and let your mind take a break, hopefully feeling clearer, and more present in your body.
Checking in on your mental health status regularly helps you identify any patterns you may not notice outright. These could be postural (how you sit or stand), mental (looking at the quality of your thoughts), emotional (how you react to your mental state), or perhaps spiritual (how you feel supported or not). Keeping a neutral witness, without judgment, gives you the ability to notice with curiosity. You may find keeping a journal or digital record of your mental state is helpful. Having an awareness is the first step, because once aware, you can then acknowledge, and then you have the power of choice for how to proceed.
The breath is one way to check in with yourself, and I find it to be very tactile and immediate. These, and other mind-body practices, are pathways to supporting your mental health wellness. Sometimes we need more support, and that’s where you might explore working with a mental health professional. Personally, I see my therapist fairly regularly, and she has helped me process significant mental obstacles in my life. Our work together evolves and is on-going, and it’s invaluable to me having this layer in my mental health care plan. Know there are many resources available to help you find your unique pathway to mental health wellness.
In honor and celebration of Mental Health Awareness month, I’ll share different strategies or learnings each week in May. Our collective of practitioners is also available to support your mental health, through energy balancing, somatics/yoga/movement, professional therapy, sound healing and coaching – reach out: if not now, then when? Wishing you moments of peace within ~ Jen Rizza
By Jennifer Rizza, Founder of Newtown Wellness Collective, Reiki Master Teacher, Therapeutic Yoga instructor and guide, Healthy Living Coach
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