A guide to mindfullness
1. By admitting how they feel each day this will help women to self reflect on how and why they may be feeling this way.
Hypethesis
2. If women are encouraged to take care of their own mental well-being they will take the time to, as during the perinatal period they put their needs aside for their baby.
“ There is a reason why on airplanes they ask the parents to attend to themselves before their children.� - Angela
Activities. To understand anxiety and mindfulness more I spoke to a range of different people, people who suffer from anxiety and people who dont, along with women who are not pregnant or new mothers and women who are. These activities aim to prove or disprove my hypothesis that I have set out.
C B
A
word assossiation
self reflection
feeling emotions
ways to relax
pleasures and achievements
Mindfulness.
The 10
rules of mindfulness ....
1. HERE NOW - Notice when your mind has drifted and gently bring back your attention to the present moment, this can be done by focusing on an anchor such as your breath, sounds or a specific part of your body. 2. NON-JUDGING - Pay attention to your thoughts and the judgements your mind tends to make. Don’t try to resist them, just notice them.
Mindfullness is a simple and very powerful practice of training our attention.It’s simple in that it’s really just about paying attention to whats happening here and now ( i.e sensations, emotions and thoughts) in a nonjudgemental way. Its’s poweful because it can interrupt the habit of getting lost in thoughts. It is about enjoying life in the present - The Mindfullnes Project
3. PATIENCE - Have patience with the way your experience with mindfulness unfolds. Have patience with each moment, and be patient with the wondering nature of your mind. 4. BEGINNERS MIND - Sometimes the mind likes to think that is has seen all there is to see, or that it knows all it needs to know. Let’s call it the “know-it-all-mind”. Try to approach activities with a new sense of curiosity and stay open to discovery. 5. BE KIND TO YOURSELF - Be gentle and treat yourself with kindness. Mindfulness allows us to recognize and turn towards some painful thoughts and emotions. In those moments, it can help to adopt an attitude of compassion toward ourselves. 6. TRUST - Trust your own basic wisdom and intuition. This does not mean always trusting your thoughts. Mindfulness will help you see that those come, go, and change. 7. NOT-STRIVING - Sometimes we come to mindfulness hoping to solve our problems or change to improve ourselves. The practice of mindfulness is not about being somewhere else or different, but rather just being with and accepting what’s here not. 8. ACCEPTING - Accept that things are not the way they are in each moment. That doesn’t mean they won’t change or can’t be changed. 9. LETTING GO - Practise letting go of clinging to ideas, thoughts, control, or wanting things to be a certain way. Notice what it feels like in your body when your clinging vs. letting go. 10. COMMITMENT - Minfulness is a practice, but it’s all just not meditation, we can take mindfulness into all aspects of our lives.
Word Assosiation.
Meditation
I did two word assosiation activities :
1. With my family to better understand how different ages and genders interperate mindfulness. 2. A social media post, calling all friends and family to comment 1 word that comes to mind when they think of mindfulness. This task was carried out by both genders and all ages.
1.
This was a small exercise I did with my family to see what mindfulness meant to different people, such as females and males of different ages. 50 yr old female
18 yr old female
50 yr old male
2.
This was an activity done through social media, with family, friends and more. To understand what comes to
mind when they think of mindfulness.
Results 50 people commented on the post and from these comments the top 10 words were ......
1. Consideration. 2. Peace. 3. Present. 4. Awareness. 5. Relax. 6. Self-aware. 7. Thoughtfulness. 8. Respect. 9. Meditation. 10. Hippies.
Insights. Through this study into mindfulness there are a few key insights that have stood out and are important for generating my final brief. People perceived mindfulness as ways that you should treat others, rather than yourself. Mindfulness is all about understanding your emotions at thoughts in the present time and understanding how to deal with them. Mindfulness is overlooked and can be they key to understanding how to deal with your thoughts and worries. There are many barriers that stop women from seeking mindfulness, such as judgements and lack of understanding. Men are more inclined to judge mindfulness and perceive it as something that is unnecessary.
Self Reflection. Self reflection is very important when
overcoming and understanding anxiety. Self reflection can used as a tool to admit your feelings to family and friends. It can also be used to help reflect on the reasons behind your feelings and emotions.
Self reflection is described as, serious thought about one’s character and actions. Self-reflection strategies can unlock the mystery of anxiety while also allowing for its release. The first step in mindful selfreflection is to drop self-judgment and criticism over having the anxiety in the first place. Approach your anxiety with gentle curiosity by viewing it from a perspective of wonder. This task allows the women to recognise their anxieties while hopefully understanding where they have come from. While becoming accepting of the anxiety as we are with other emotions that may feel more pleasant. Listen and explore if there are any images or memories associated with it and reflect on the reasons behind why these emotions are present.
Emotion Magnets.
These magnets show different emotions that women may be feeling at different times of the day or daily. Every day the woman will put up their chosen magnet on the fridge. This way they can self reflect on what magnet fits how they are feeling at that time and why.
Feeling Emotions.
Emotions are our feelings. Literally. We feel them in our bodies as tingles, hot spots and muscular tension. There are cognitive aspects, but the physical sensation is what makes them really different.
To better understand how to manage anxiety, I need to understand how we feel different emotions in our body. The diagram above shows a generalization of how we as humans experience stress and anxiety in our bodies. However I would like to understand this on a more personal level. So I handed out sheets to a few different people and asked them to indicate where they experience these emotions in their body.
I have asked 14 people to colour, scribble or
annotate how they each experience happiness, sadness, anxiety, guilt and failure. I have chosen these emotions as I have found these are the main ones that are associated with antenatal and postnatal depression and anxiety. At this stage of my exploration it is evident that many women experience extreme feelings of guilt and failure, it would be great to understand how different people experience these emotions. This way I can better define my final brief and gain further understanding on how these emotions are experienced.
Results. Happiness Sadness Anxiety
Happiness = mainly felt in the head
Guilt Failure
Sadness = mainly felt in the chest Anxiety = felt mostly in the whole body whole body stomach throat chest head
Guilt = felt in the chest Failure = mainly felt in the head
Insights. These insights are from my self reflection activites above, and will help to further my exploration. By reflecting on how they feel everyday, women can better understand the cause of these feelings and the results. Women feel they do not have much time to self refelct and do activites as they have a baby to care for. Activities should be quick. Anxiety, guilt and failure are my main emotions of focus. Anxiety and guilt are mainly felt in the whole body and chest. Whereas failure is felt mainly in the head. Anxiety and guilt can cause extreme discomfort in the whole body.
Relaxatoin.
Relaxation is described as the state of being free from tension and anxiety and the action of making a rule or restriction less strict. Exploring relaxation can help you look after your wellbeing when you’re feeling stressed or busy. Relaxation doesn’t have to take up lots of time – just stepping away from something stressful for a few minutes or taking time away from your normal routines and thoughts can give you enough space and distance to feel calmer.
Ways to relax.
With a new baby
This graph is made from results from my survey, carried out my
140 women around the world,
1
from the USA, to Australia, Bulgaria and the UK.
Yoga 3
Watching TV
3
Swimming
3
Sports 4
Listen to music
4
Read
4
Breastfeeding 7
Play with baby
7
Saw friends 9
Bath 20
Couldn’t relax with a new 29
Sleep
29
Walking
During pregnancy This graph is made from results from my survey, carried out my
140 women around the world,
2 Shop for baby 3
Met up with friends
3
Meditation
from the USA, to Australia, Bulgaria and the UK.
7
Listened to music
7
Was working so couldn’t relax
7
Sleep
7
Yoga 8
Rest 10 Swimming 12 Watched Tv 22
Walking 24
Bath
24
Reading
Pleasures & Achievements. Listen to your favourite song
Put on a face mask
Write down a list of your favourite songs
Put make up on today
Eat your favourite dessert (even if it is for breakfast)
Watch your favourite film
Bake some cookies or brownies
Go for a 20 minute walk
Write your own pleasure ____________________
Meet a friend for coffee
Phone your friend for a catch up
Write your own achievement ____________________
One of my insights from above states that ques
and prompts may be useful when encouraging new mothers to relax. Therefore part of my survey that was completed by 140 mothers around the world, asked for ways they would take their mind off of their daily tasks and find pleasures in different activities.
I have created a set of coupons for new mothers that have both pleasures (top coupon) and achievements (bottom coupon). Everyday a woman can rip off either a pleasure or achievement coupon and do what the
coupon says.
Insights. Through this area of study into relaxation is important to pick out a few key insight: Walking is an activity that is important for relaxation during both pregnancy and post birth. It could be useful to consider cues and prompts for relaxation. The need to see friends increases during the postpartum period. 16% of women felt they could not relax when they had a new baby. Relaxation is very important to achieve mindfulness and free your mind of any anxieties and tension. Each women know what relaxes them best.
Thank you