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Practices for Your Mental Health

This isn’t a place to practice. It’s your mental emergency toolkit.

When you feel anxiety taking over, stress overwhelming you, or your mind racing, tap on the image you relate to most—and there you’ll find a ritual or practice just for you. You don’t have to believe in it; you just have to give it a try.

Each ritual is designed to take between 1 and 5 minutes. You can do them in your office bathroom, on the bus, in bed, or in the middle of a meeting. No one will notice that you’re doing anything different, but you’ll feel the difference.

Pouring Coffee Cream

We drink coffee or water while looking at our cell phones, feeling nothing.

The first time you drink something during the day (water, coffee, tea), do it without looking at a screen. Feel the warmth of the cup in your hands. Smell the aroma. Feel the liquid going down your throat.

Office Worker

We get home, but our minds are still at the office or preoccupied with our problems.

Every time you walk through a door (when leaving work, entering your home, or entering your room), pause for 2 seconds in the doorway. Take a deep breath and visualize leaving your mental “baggage” on the threshold. As you step through, you enter a new mental space.

magnific_mujer-angustiada-con-much_jSFDTwNLD0.png

The mind wanders to catastrophic scenarios.

Without anyone noticing, shift some of your weight off your heels and onto the balls of your feet, then shift it back to your heels. Feel the contact between your shoes and the floor. Mentally name three things you see that are blue.

Pensive Woman Thinking

You feel like you're going to explode.

Imagine a square:

  • Breathe in through your nose while counting to 4 (you go up one side of the square).

  • Hold your breath while counting to 4 (you reach the corner).

  • Breathe out through your mouth while counting to 4 (you go down the other side).

  • Hold your breath while counting to 4 (you reach the last corner).

A woman who can't sleep because anxiety is keeping you awake or making you feel overwhelme

Anxiety keeps you from sleeping or makes you feel overwhelmed.

Without anyone noticing, shift some of your weight off your heels and onto the balls of your feet, then shift it back to your heels. Feel the contact between your shoes and the floor. Mentally name three things you see that are blue.

A woman experiencing a panic attack, tachycardia, and a feeling of suffocation..jpg

Panic attack, tachycardia, feeling of suffocation.

  1. Sit or stand with your back straight.

  2. Breathe in through your nose while counting to 4.

  3. Hold your breath while counting to 7.

  4. Exhale slowly through your mouth (as if blowing out a candle) while counting to 8.

  5. Repeat 4 times.

Woman in Sunlight

Mental overload, irritability, a feeling of having a “hot head.”

Go to the nearest bathroom.

​

  • Turn on the cold water faucet.

  • Hold your wrists under the stream of water for 30 seconds.

  • If you can, splash your face or place your wrists on your neck.

  • Breathe deeply while you do this.

Businessman Standing Outside

When you need to take a 2-minute break from a stressful situation (meeting, argument, work).

  1. Go to the bathroom (the only place where you can be alone without raising suspicion).

  2. Lock the door.

  3. Sit on the toilet seat (you don't have to use the bathroom).

  4. Close your eyes.

  5. Take 5 deep breaths: inhale for 4 seconds, exhale for 6 seconds.

  6. Say to yourself, “This, too, shall pass.”

  7. Go back to what you were doing.

RITUALS OF TRANSITION

A Doorway to Mystery -

When leaving work, when coming home, when switching activities.

  1. Before walking through a door, pause for 2 seconds in the doorway.

  2. Take a deep breath.

  3. Visualize leaving your “mental baggage” (worries, stress, unfinished business) on the threshold.

  4. As you walk through, enter with the intention of being fully present in the new space.

Soft Morning Day

When you need to take a 2-minute break from a stressful situation (meeting, argument, work).

  1. When you wake up, DO NOT reach for your cell phone.

  2. Stay in bed for 3 minutes.

  3. Feel your body in bed: its weight, its temperature, the texture of the sheets.

  4. Take 5 deep breaths.

  5. Ask yourself, “How do I want to feel today?” (not “What do I have to do?”).

  6. Now get up.

exceso de movil.jpg

When you feel like your cell phone is draining your energy or causing you anxiety.

  1. Put your cell phone in airplane mode or turn it off.

  2. Leave it in another room or in a drawer.

  3. Spend 10 minutes doing something screen-free: take a walk, stretch, look out the window, talk to someone.

  4. Turn it back on.

estres en el trabajo

When you need to “slow down"

  1. Walk for 5–10 minutes (it could be around the block, in a park, or even down a long hallway).

  2. Don’t listen to music or podcasts.

  3. Feel each step: the contact of your foot with the ground, the movement of your legs.

  4. Look around you: trees, buildings, people.

  5. Breathe in the fresh air.

PREVENTIVE MEASURES

Calm, Mindful

A “check-up” on your mental and physical health.

  1. Stop what you're doing.

  2. Close your eyes (or look down).

  3. Mentally scan your body from head to toe:

  4. Is my jaw clenched? (Relax it.)

  5. Are my shoulders raised? (Lower them.)

  6. Is my breathing shallow? (Breathe more deeply.)

  7. Is my stomach tense? (Relax it.)

  8. Take 30 seconds to make these adjustments.

comer sano

At least one meal a day

(or a snack).

  1. Sit down to eat (don’t eat while walking or looking at your phone).

  2. Before taking your first bite, look at your food.

  3. Take in the aroma.

  4. Take your first bite and chew slowly (at least 20 times).

  5. Savor the flavors, textures, and temperature.

  6. Only then can you return to your routine (or continue eating mindfully).

cuando baja la energia

When your energy levels drop and stress builds up.

  1. Set an alarm for 3 PM (or choose the time when you usually hit a slump).

  2. When it goes off, stop what you're doing for 2 minutes.

  3. Get up, stretch, and drink some water.

  4. Look out the window (away from screens).

  5. Take 5 deep breaths.

  6. Go back to work.

cansancio mental

​When your mind is overwhelmed with to-do lists and you can't concentrate.

  1. Take a piece of paper and a pencil (or make a note on your phone).

  2. Write down EVERYTHING that’s on your mind: to-dos, ideas, worries, tasks.

  3. Don’t organize it—just get it all out.

  4. When you’re done, look at the list and choose ONE thing you can do today.

  5. Cross that item off and put the list away.

DAILY RITUALS

ducha relajante

The Shower as Meditation

  1. When you step into the shower, feel the water on your skin.

  2. Notice the temperature, the pressure, and the scent of the soap.

  3. If your mind wanders to your to-do list, bring your attention back to the water.

  4. Imagine the water washing away your stress, tension, and thoughts.

  5. When you step out, dry yourself mindfully, feeling every part of your body.

Waiting at government offices

In lines, at traffic lights, in waiting rooms, in elevators.

  1. When you have to wait, DO NOT take out your cell phone.

  2. Be aware of your body: feet on the ground, back straight.

  3. Breathe deeply.

  4. Observe your surroundings without judgment.

  5. Accept that this is a moment of “doing nothing” and allow yourself to simply be, without needing to be productive.

conversacion

Before or during a tense or emotional conversation.

  1. Before you speak, take three deep breaths.

  2. During the conversation, if you feel yourself getting upset, pause.

  3. Say, “Let me think for a second” or “I’ll take a breath and then answer you.”

  4. Feel your feet on the ground.

  5. Speak from a place of calm, not from a reaction.

antes de dormir

Before going to sleep, to wrap up the day and get ready for bed.

  1. Lie down in bed.

  2. Mentally review your day (like a fast-forwarded movie).

  3. Identify 1–2 positive moments (even if they’re small).

  4. Forgive yourself for what didn’t go well: “I did the best I could with what I knew.”

  5. Say to yourself: “The day is over. Tomorrow is another day. Now I’ll rest.”

  6. Take a deep breath and go to sleep.

por Alexandrazareth.com

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