Mindful activity:
Mountain Breathing
Also known as ‘hand breathing’, ‘mountain breathing’ is a simple and effective way to calm yourself using your own body and breath.
Breathing visualisations like this are good for our wellbeing because they make us more aware of our bodies and how they respond to what’s happening around us.
This is a great resource for you to have in your ‘wellbeing toolbox’ to keep you feeling calm whenever you need a little bit of support.
What you’ll do
- Hold up one hand with your palm facing you.
2. Spread apart your fingers, so they look like a mountain range.
3. Using the forefinger (or pointing finger) on your other hand, gently trace the outline of the ‘mountains’ (your fingers), keeping in time with your breathing. Start at the base of your thumb, moving up to its tip as you breathe in. Then, as you breathe out, trace down the other side of your thumb to the base of your forefinger.
4. Continue this process across all your fingers – breathing in as you go up a ‘mountain’ and breathing out as you come down again.
5. Once you reach the bottom of your little finger, you can trace back the other way
6. Continue this process for a few minutes, or until you feel calm and relaxed.
You could also try…
Watch a step-by-step video guide to this mindful breathing activity with Dr Karen Treisman.
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