Topic 3:
Stress & Relaxation Strategies
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Topic: Stress & Relaxation Strategies
1. Topic Introduction
Landing page content:
Stress and Relaxation Strategies is an eLearning topic that will help you to develop effective stress management skills and boost your well-being.
Does this sound like you?
“I don’t know how to manage stress; I just keep going and hope for the best”
“I get so stressed sometimes that I shut down and can’t do anything”
“With all the assignments and exams, my stress levels go through the roof at the end of each semester”
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Topic: Stress & Relaxation Strategies
Topic content
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Topic: Stress & Relaxation Strategies
Topic overview
By the end of this topic, you will have:
If you'd prefer to watch a video about this topic, check out the Masterclass (recording) below:
Great, as you can see, we have lots to learn, so let’s get started!
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Topic: Stress & Relaxation Strategies
2. Stress and Relaxation Strategies
In this section we explore the 5 parts of a simple stress management plan that you can use to manage stress in a healthy way. First, we discuss each part of the plan, then you will have the opportunity to make your own plan.
This section will cover:
Enjoy!
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Topic: Stress & Relaxation Strategies
How can I manage stress in a healthy way?
There are lots of effective things that you can do to manage stress. Instead of just telling you about the different things that you can do, we are giving you a stress management planning template (p. 91) that you can use to make your own personalised plan.
This is what your plan looks like:
In this section we explore the 5 parts of a stress management plan. Each part of the plan can support you to manage stress in a healthy way. The parts are:
Part 1: Understand how stress impacts you (know the signs) (p. 12)
Part 2: Identify your stress triggers, and reduce them (if possible) (p. 16)
Part 3: Identify the people who can help you to manage stress (p. 18)
Part 4: Create a daily stress management plan to reduce stress (p. 21)
Part 5: Identify extra things that can boost your wellbeing (p. 21)
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Topic: Stress & Relaxation Strategies
Prefer to learn by watching a video?
Stress can be a bit like a tiger, it is creepy and sneak up on you. In the video below, Méabh will talk you through how you can manage stress in a healthy way by using the Stress Management and Wellbeing Planner.
Managing stress with a cool planner! (Video)
Read the transcript file for “Managing Stress with a Cool Planner!” (p. 72).
Video Credit: Maynooth Access Programme (2022)
Great we hope you enjoyed learning with Méabh. Let’s get going and start looking at each part of the plan in finer detail.
Good luck!
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Topic: Stress & Relaxation Strategies
Okay, let’s get going and start looking at each part of the plan in more detail.
Good luck!
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Topic: Stress & Relaxation Strategies
3.Your stress management plan
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Part 1: Understand how stress impacts you (know the signs)
What is stress?
Stress is a normal reaction to everyday pressures but if you’re experiencing too much of it it’s going to upset your day-to-day functioning.
Your natural stress response:
When you experience a stressful event (e.g. an exam, dog barking or an unexpected bill), your body perceives it as a threat and switches on your ‘fight-or-flight’ reaction. This activates your nervous system and releases specific types of hormones (adrenaline and cortisol) to help you to manage the threat. These changes can increase your blood pressure, make your heartbeat faster and increase your breathing rate.
Continued exposure to stress:
When the threat has passed, your nervous system and hormone levels return to normal. However, if you continue to perceive stressful events every day, your ‘fight-or-flight’ reaction will stay switched on and the over exposure to adrenaline and cortisol can have a negative impact on our body. The symptoms of chronic stress can include; depression, anxiety, insomnia, high blood pressure and heart problems.
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Topic: Stress & Relaxation Strategies
The short- and long-term signs and symptoms of stress include:
Stress effects everyone differently. This is a short list of some of the symptoms that people experience, it doesn’t cover everything. Lots of people experience other types of symptoms from stress. When you identify the symptoms of stress that you experience in your stress management plan, you should list everything that you experience.
You will be asked to identify the symptoms of stress that you experience in your Stress Management and Wellness Plan at the end of this topic.
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Topic: Stress & Relaxation Strategies
Learning Activity: Learn about the signs of stress
6 Signs of Stress You Shouldn't Ignore (Video)
Read the transcript file for ‘6 Signs of Stress You Shouldn’t Ignore’ (p. 72)
Video Credit: Psych2Go (2020)
The Learning Activity: Watch the video and answer the questions
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Topic: Stress & Relaxation Strategies
When you have finished, let’s reflect:
How does stress impact eating habits for most people?
How does stress impact sleep?
How does stress impact cravings?
Answers can be found on page 69
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Topic: Stress & Relaxation Strategies
Part 2: Identify and reduce the causes of stress (if possible)
Some potential causes of stress include:
Not all causes of stress can be reduced or eliminated, but how we perceive and respond to the source of stress can be changed. Think about one source of stress in your life right now, and consider the reflective questions below:
These questions will help you to consider common coping mechanisms that people use to reduce the impact of stress in their lives. Use these questions to evaluate the causes of stress in your life, to understand if they can be changed, and to plan actions to reduce your experience of stress.
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Topic: Stress & Relaxation Strategies
You will be asked to identify the common causes of your stress within your Stress Management and Wellness Plan.
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Topic: Stress & Relaxation Strategies
Part 3: Identify your circles of support
Social support is important when it comes to stress management, especially if you experience high levels stress. Social support can help you to manage the negative impact of stressful events and increase your feelings of happiness.
Your circles of support are the people around you who might be able to help you when you are stressed. They are your family, friends, neighbours, professionals, or other people that can offer support or guidance when you are feeling stressed or unwell.
The visual below represents your potential circles of support:
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Topic: Stress & Relaxation Strategies
Different people will be able to provide different types of support, for example:
To identify your circles of support, think about the people around you and ask yourself:
Use the previous questions to help you to identify the:
You can add these details to your stress management plan at the end of this topic!
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Topic: Stress & Relaxation Strategies
Who will you contact if you feel unsafe and
need immediate professional help?
Nobody likes to think about crisis situations because we hope that they won’t happen. But it’s important to be familiar with the different types of emergency supports services that are available in case you ever need them.
Within your stress management plan you will see a list of services that can support you in emergency situations, they include:
You can contact these services if you ever feel unsafe and need immediate professional help with a mental health issue.
You will be asked to identify your circle of support and how they can help you in your Stress Management and Wellness Plan at the end of this topic.
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Topic: Stress & Relaxation Strategies
Part 4 & 5: Daily stress management activities and wellness boosters
There are lots of things that you can do to manage the impact of stress. They can be categorised as:
are not the basic things that you need to do every day to stay feeling well.
In this section we present a range of research-based recommendations that can help you to manage and reduce stress, they are:
Quick tip: Some of these activities are listed in your stress management plan as daily stress management activities and as wellness boosters. That’s because everyone is different and it’s up to you to decide which activities you need to do every day to stay feeling well, and which will work better as wellness boosters.
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Topic: Stress & Relaxation Strategies
As we present each activity above, you’ll be asked to decide how the activity could be included in your stress management plan. Your options will be:
I should do this every day to help manage the regular stressors in life
|
I should try to do this every now and then, as a wellness booster
|
Now, let’s start looking at the different activities that can help you to reduce stress!
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Topic: Stress & Relaxation Strategies
A. Notice and embrace nature:
The science on this is crazy! Researchers have shown that just being in natural green spaces can have a positive impact on your mental and physical health. So, planning a walk around the grassy parts of the south campus, or a local nature trail would make an excellent addition to your stress management plan.
But nature being good for you isn’t surprising, right? The surprising bit is that researchers have also shown that even watching nature scenes on your phone can have restorative powers! That’s cool, especially if you don’t live near any green spaces.
If you were going to use ‘Notice and embrace nature’ as a stress management strategy, how often would you do it? (Tick the appropriate box, there is no right or wrong answer!) |
I would do this every day to help manage the regular stressors in life
|
I would do this every now and then, as a wellness booster
|
B. Do the things that you love:
Lots of people shut down and stop doing leisure activities when they are stressed and overwhelmed. But doing the things that you love protect your mental health, so you really shouldn’t stop! Even if you are short on time, you need to make time for fun. Make time to read a chapter of that new novel, open Spotify and sing out loud, watch a comedy, or break out the paints and start figure painting, whatever makes you smile.
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Topic: Stress & Relaxation Strategies
If you were going to use ‘Doing the things you love’ as a stress management strategy, how often would you do it? (Tick the appropriate box, there is no right or wrong answer!) |
I would do this every day to help manage the regular stressors in
|
I would do this every now and then, as a wellness booster
|
C. Relax your muscles
Stress causes your muscles to tense up and clench. Continued exposure to stress can cause tension headaches, jaw tension, muscle pains, especially around the shoulders and neck, and back aches. You can reduce these symptoms with:
Progressive muscle relaxation is backed by lots of research that shows it is a highly effective strategy for reducing stress and anxiety. Progressive muscle relaxation teaches you how to relax your muscles in a two-step process:
Step 1: Tense different muscle groups in your body, such as your neck and shoulders.
Note: it might feel uncomfortable, or your muscles might shake but you should not feel any sharp or shooting pains, stop if this happens.
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Topic: Stress & Relaxation Strategies
Step 2: Releasing the tension and noticing how your muscles feel when you relax them.
The full sequence of muscle groups that should be tensed and relaxed are:
It is often easier to do this when somebody is guiding you. If you would like to try a guided progressive muscle relaxation session, try this session guided by Dr. Fiona Gallaher:
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Topic: Stress & Relaxation Strategies
Progressive Muscle Relaxation - Dr. Fiona Gallacher - A Meditative Moment (Video)
Video Credit: Brenden Readett (2015)
If you were going to use ‘Progressive muscle relaxation’ as a stress management strategy, how often would you do it? (Tick the appropriate box, there is no right or wrong answer!) |
I would do this every day to help manage the regular stressors in
|
I would do this every now and then, as a wellness booster
|
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Topic: Stress & Relaxation Strategies
D. Challenging unhelpful thoughts
The way that you think about stressful events in your life can increase or decrease your experience of stress. We can sometimes think about things in a way that:
If you find yourself thinking in unhelpful ways about your stressors (e.g. exams), it’s time to pause, take a step back and try to reframe your thinking. To do this, it would be helpful to examine your irrational thoughts in a fair and rational way. One useful technique for doing this is a technique called “Taking your thoughts to court”.
If you want to take your own thoughts to court, you can use the Take your thoughts to court worksheet (p. 95). Watch this video, it explains the technique in more detail:
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Topic: Stress & Relaxation Strategies
Taking your thoughts to court (Video)
Read the transcript file for ‘Taking your thoughts to court’ (p.79)
Video Credit: Mental Health UK
Okay, now that you understand a bit more about the ‘Taking your thoughts to court’ technique, let’s try it out with the worksheet!
What is catastrophising?
How can the ‘taking your thoughts to court’ technique help you to examine your thoughts in a fair way?
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Topic: Stress & Relaxation Strategies
Learning Activity: Reframing an unhelpful thought pattern
This image shows an example of an unhelpful thought. We took this unhelpful thought to court using the ‘Take an unhelpful thought to court’ worksheet.
The Learning Activity: Taking an Unhelpful Thought to Court
Tools:
Instructions:
When you have finished, let’s reflect:
“I’m always messing things up in my essays, I’m horrible with details and my lecturers think that I’m useless”
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Topic: Stress & Relaxation Strategies
If you were going to use the ‘take your thoughts to court’ technique as a stress management strategy, how often would you do it? (Tick the appropriate box, there is no right or wrong answer!) |
I would do this every day to help manage the regular stressors in life
|
I would do this every now and then, as a wellness booster
|
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Topic: Stress & Relaxation Strategies
E. Get enough sleep
Getting enough sleep is an important aspect of any stress management plan.
Not getting enough sleep really affects our mood and ability to think during the day. People who get enough sleep recover faster from stressful events. To get enough sleep, try these tips:
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Topic: Stress & Relaxation Strategies
If you were going to ‘get enough sleep’ to help you to manage stress, how often would you do it? (Tick the appropriate box, there is no right or wrong answer!) |
I would do this every day to help manage the regular stressors in
|
I would do this every now and then, as a wellness booster
|
|
A. Mindful Breathing (p. 38)
B. Guided mindful meditation (p. 41)
C. Box breathing (p. 43)
D. Body scan (p. 45)
E. STAR or hand breathing (p. 47)
F. Hot Chocolate moment (p. 49)
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Topic: Stress & Relaxation Strategies
F. Move your body
Exercise in almost any form is an effective stress reliever.
You know it works, we know it works, everyone knows it works… but you are too busy. Most of us feel like we don’t have time for exercise in our day but if you are feeling stressed, you really need to squeeze it into your routine.
Exercise reduces the stress hormones in your body, such as adrenaline and cortisol. And the good news is that almost any type of exercise helps to bust stress!
If you were going to use the ‘move your body’ recommendation as a stress management strategy, how often would you do it? (Tick the appropriate box, there is no right or wrong answer!) |
I would do this every day to help manage the regular stressors in life
|
I would do this every now and then, as a wellness booster
|
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Topic: Stress & Relaxation Strategies
G. Use food to fight stress
Stress can make you crave high fat and sugary foods – fight the urge!
Eating a healthy balanced diet can help your body manage the physical changes caused by stress. Look at these top tips for fighting stress from a leading nutritionist in the Cleveland Clinic:
If you were going to use ‘food to fight stress’ technique as a stress management strategy, how often would you do it? (Tick the appropriate box, there is no right or wrong answer!) |
I would do this every day to help manage the regular stressors in
|
I would do this every now and then, as a wellness booster
|
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Topic: Stress & Relaxation Strategies
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Topic: Stress & Relaxation Strategies
H. Pick a mindful meditation that works for you
Slowing down your breathing and focusing on ‘something’ (your breath, a visualisation, an object, or physical sensations in your body), is one of the easiest and most effective ways to reduce your stress.
Breathing in and out slowly while paying attention to something tells your brain that it’s safe to relax, slow down and recentre. Calm breathing techniques can help with stress, anxiety, and panic attacks
What are the benefits?
Lots of evidence suggests that mindful meditation is effective in:
With university students, mindful meditation can even:
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Topic: Stress & Relaxation Strategies
How long should I do mindful meditations for?
If you want to get long-term results, you need to make a long-term commitment. Research shows that the shortest meditation plans that produce long lasting results are:
13-30 mins a day
for 8 weeks
= lots of long-term benefits
If that sounds like a tough commitment to make, don’t panic. Even small “doses” of mindfulness can produce some physical and psychological benefits. You can do it one minute at a time!
10-30 mins
in one day
= still some benefits!
For example, some physical and psychological benefits were found after only:
The mindfulness techniques described in this section are:
Technique | Focusing on |
1. Mindful breathing (p. 38) | Breath |
2. Guided mindful (p. 41) | Breath/Body |
3. Box breathing (p. 43) | Breath |
4. Body scan (p. 45) | Sensations in body |
5. STAR or hand breathing (p. 47) | Object – Hand |
6. Hot Chocolate Moment (p. 49) | Visualisation – Hot Chocolate |
Now let’s look at each in more detail!
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Topic: Stress & Relaxation Strategies
Mindful Breathing
Mindful breathing is a very basic mindfulness exercise. The idea is simply to focus your attention on your breathing—to its natural rhythm and flow and the way it feels on each inhale and exhale.
Instructions:
out when you inhale and relaxes when you exhale
that it is there, don’t worry. Gradually bring your awareness back into your body and focus again on your breathing.
Breath in
Breath out
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Topic: Stress & Relaxation Strategies
1-Minute visual guide to mindful breathing:
Headspace | Mini meditation | Breathe (Video)
Read the transcript for ‘Headspace | Mini meditation | Breathe’ (p. 80)
Video Credit: Headspace (2018)
Was it difficult? Did your mind jump all over the place and make it difficult to stay calm and focus on your breathing? Check out this advice on how to ‘train the monkey mind’:
Headspace | Meditation | Training the Monkey Mind (Video)
Read the transcript for ‘Headspace | Meditation | Training the Monkey Mind’ (p. 80)
Video Credit: Headspace (2018)
Ready to try a longer mindful meditation?
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Topic: Stress & Relaxation Strategies
Try the Insight Timer app! You can select the length of time that you would like to meditate for and there are lots of great mindful meditation teachers to choose from.
Find out more about the Insight Timer app in the Tech section of this topic (p. 54).
If you were going to use ‘mindful breathing’ as a stress management strategy, how often would you do it? (Tick the appropriate box, there is no right or wrong answer!) |
I would do this every day to help manage the regular stressors in life
|
I would do this every now and then, as a wellness booster
|
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Topic: Stress & Relaxation Strategies
2. Guided mindful meditation
In guided mindful meditations, you allow your meditation to be guided by someone else. The guide will usually use a series of breathing exercises and help you to focus on some specific mental imagery. You can check out the guided mindful exercises on YouTube below. The guide will talk you through the instructions.
Or try this guided mindful meditation:
10-minute mindful meditation
15-minute mindful meditation
45-minute mindful meditation
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Topic: Stress & Relaxation Strategies
Psych2Go's First Guided Meditation Video x Amanda Silvera (Video)
Read the transcript file for “Psych2Go's First Guided Meditation Video x Amanda Silvera’ (p.81)
Video Credit: Psych2Go (2020)
If you were going to use ‘guided mindful meditation’ as a stress management strategy, how would often would you do it? (Tick the appropriate box, there is no right or wrong answer!) |
I would do this every day to help manage the regular stressors in life
|
I would do this every now and then, as a wellness booster
|
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Topic: Stress & Relaxation Strategies
3. Box breathing technique
Box breathing is demonstrated in the video below, it is also known as:
Instructions:
Visualisation:
When you do it, you can visualise tracing a square like the one below.
If you want to learn more about box breathing, how it can be used to take control of your breathing and help you to manage stress, check out this video:
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Topic: Stress & Relaxation Strategies
Box Breathing Technique - simple strategy to calm anxiety (Video)
Read the transcript file for ‘Box Breathing Technique - simple strategy to calm anxiety’ (p. 83)
Video Credit: Pooky Knightsmith Mental Health (2017)
If you were going to use ‘box breathing’ as a stress management strategy, how often would you do it? (Tick the appropriate box, there is no right or answer!) |
I would do this every day to help manage the regular stressors in life
|
I would do this every now and then, as a wellness booster
|
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Topic: Stress & Relaxation Strategies
4. Body Scan
A body scan, demonstrated in the video below, involves paying attention to different parts of your body from your head to your feet. It’s a mental scan, like a light passing over your different body parts, to bring your attention to the sensations, tensions, or aches in each part.
You can try it out with this video:
Full Body Scan Guided Release Meditation (Video)
Read the transcript file for ‘Full Body Scan Guided Release Meditation’ (p.85)
Video Credit: The Fearless Man
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Topic: Stress & Relaxation Strategies
Or you can search for ‘Body Scan’ on the Insight Timer app!
If you were going to use ‘body scanning’ as a stress management strategy, how often would you do it? (Tick the appropriate box, there is no right or wrong answer!) |
I would do this every day to help manage the regular stressors in life
|
I would do this every now and then, as a wellness booster
|
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Topic: Stress & Relaxation Strategies
5. STAR or hand breathing technique
Students find this technique useful for calming and focusing their attention when they feel anxious or panicked. It’s particularly useful if you are out and about because it can be done relatively discreetly. For example, if you are away from home, it would be easy to use this technique before:
Research hasn’t been done on this specific technique but because it’s a variation of mindful meditation that focuses on your hand and breath, it is likely that it will produce the same benefits as mindful breathing if it’s practiced enough (13-30 per day).
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Topic: Stress & Relaxation Strategies
If you were going to use the ‘STAR breathing’ technique as a stress management strategy, how often would you do it? (Tick the appropriate box, there is no right or wrong answer!) |
I would do this every day to help manage the regular stressors in life
|
I would do this every now and then, as a wellness booster
|
Instructions:
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Topic: Stress & Relaxation Strategies
6. Hot Chocolate Moment
Students find this technique useful for calming and focusing their attention when they feel anxious or panicked. It involves focusing your attention on a visualisation (cup of hot chocolate) or an object (actual cup of hot chocolate/tea/coffee).
Research hasn’t been done on this specific technique but because it’s a variation of mindful meditation that focuses on your hands, a cup and breathing, it is likely that it will produce the same benefits as mindful breathing if it’s practiced enough (13-30 per day).
Instructions:
If you were going to use the ‘Hot Chocolate’ technique as a stress management strategy, how often would you do it? (Tick the appropriate box, there is no right or wrong answer!) |
I would do this every day to help manage the regular stressors in
|
I would do this every now and then, as a wellness booster
|
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Topic: Stress & Relaxation Strategies
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Topic: Stress & Relaxation Strategies
4. Action Time - Your stress management plan
It’s time to pull everything from this topic together and create your own stress management plan. The sections of the plan are:
Throughout this topic, we’ve discussed the different types of things that you might put into each section of your plan. The learning activity below will ask you to download the PDF and complete your own plan.
It’s an editable PDF so it’s easy to use and update as needed to ensure that the activities you list continue to suit your needs over time!
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Topic: Stress & Relaxation Strategies
Learning Activity: Complete your stress management plan
Let’s pull everything that you have learnt from this topic together into your very own stress management plan.
The Learning Activity: Stress Management and Wellness Plan
Tools:
Instructions:
When you have finished, let’s reflect:
Well done, you’ve just completed your stress management plan!
Remember: it’s an editable PDF so it’s easy to use and update as needed to ensure that the activities you list continue to suit your needs over time! For students using a screen reader, you can also edit the word document.
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Topic: Stress & Relaxation Strategies
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Topic: Stress & Relaxation Strategies
5. Tech tools to support stress management
Welcome to section four of your stress management topic.
This section shares tips on apps and software that can help you to manage stress and relax. This section will cover:
All apps and software that we recommend in this section are free or have free versions with optional premium updates.
We hope you enjoy exploring these useful tech tools. Enjoy!
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Topic: Stress & Relaxation Strategies
5.1 Getting started with technology
Using technology and apps might be something very new to you. There are so many apps out there that it can be difficult to know where to start. That’s what this section is for. It narrows down the possibilities and gives you a quick intro to the apps and software that we think will help you to reduce stress.
We have lots of cool apps to explore, so let’s begin.
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Topic: Stress & Relaxation Strategies
5.2 The tech skills you need
We’ve listed some skills below. Each of these skills can help you to manage stress and use relaxation strategies. Identify the skill that you want to develop. Then read about the tech that can help you to develop the skill.
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Topic: Stress & Relaxation Strategies
1. Skill: Practice mindfulness meditation
2. Skill: Develop skills for a healthy mind and positive well-being
UCLA Mindful is a free app that can help you to practice mindfulness meditation anywhere, anytime with the guidance of the UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Centre. The app offers basic meditations for people who are just trying out meditation and wellness meditations for people with challenging health conditions. It provides lots of videos on how to get started, supportive meditation postures and the science of mindfulness. The app also features weekly podcasts. To get started download the UCLA Mindful app on Google Play or UCLA Mindful on the Apple App store. You can also access transcript files for the guided meditations on the UCLA Health website. Enjoy!
Healthy Minds Program is a free app that uses neuroscience, contemplative traditions, and skill-based learning methods to help you develop the skills for a healthy mind. The app helps you to train your mind through meditation and podcast-style lessons to gain focus, reduce stress, and maintain positive social connections. Healthy Minds Program also allows you to measure your well-being and chart your progress.
To get started, download Healthy Minds on the Google Play Store or Healthy Minds on Apple App store. Once you download it, sign up and then use the “Find your Baseline” feature. This is a 3–5-minute assessment to see where you currently stand in the four areas of wellbeing, so you can track how they change over time.
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Topic: Stress & Relaxation Strategies
3. Skill: Reduce stress and get better sleep
Insight Timer is a website and mobile app for wellbeing and self-care. The app is full of free resources for sleep, anxiety, and stress. There are thousands of self-guided meditations, guided meditations, yoga, sleep, and study resources. You can also watch live sessions 24/7 from leading meditation experts. Join in during live sessions from the comfort of your bedroom. If you want to learn more you can choose from over 400 self-paced courses by top meditation experts, neuroscientists, and psychologists.
To get started explore our Insight Timer tech descriptor (p. 97) and check out the video below:
Insight Timer @work | Mindfulness & Meditation for Teams (Video)
Video Credit: Insight Timer
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Topic: Stress & Relaxation Strategies
4. Skill: Manage difficult times
What’s Up? is a fantastic free app utilising some of the best CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) and ACT (Acceptance Commitment Therapy) methods to help you cope with Depression, Anxiety, Anger, Stress and more. The app’s top features include:
Sounds great, right? To get started download What’s Up? on the Google Play Store or What’s Up? on the Apple App Store.
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5. Skill: Fall asleep and sleep deeply
6. Skill: Reduce stress and improve sleep
iSleep Easy Meditation Light is a free app that contains three guided meditations to help you fall asleep and sleep deeply. You can listen to the meditations with or without music or nature sounds. The three guided meditations to help you get asleep are:
To get started download the iSleep Easy Meditation Free on the Google Play Store or iSleep Easy Meditation Light on the Apple App Store. Happy sleeping!
Headspace provides a range of meditations, sleep sounds, yoga and fitness, and focus music. The Headspace meditations can help you to be less caught up in your thoughts and more aware of the present moment. Headspace is a leading paid subscription app, but also offers free online content. You can access excellent free video content on both the Headspace YouTube channel, and the Headspace season available on Netflix.
Headspace also has its own Spotify channel. To get started, explore our Headspace tech descriptor (p. 98).
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6. It’s Goal Setting Time
If you want to develop your stress management skills, you need to set at least 1 good goal. Read this section to learn more about goal setting, then enter your goals at the end of the page.
The steps involved in goal setting are:
Top Tip: If you want to get super organised, add your goals to a Learning MAP (Mega Action Plan) (Worksheet) (p. 99).
1. Define your goal | 2. Break your goal up into smaller parts | 3. Take it one step at a time | 4. Reward yourself when you complete your goal |
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S | Specific | | Is your objective clear, will you know when you’ve achieved it? |
M | Measurable | | Have you included measurement to allow you to measure progress? |
A | Achievable | | Is it realistic, can you access the right resources to complete it? |
R | Relevant | | Is it related to your study task, is it what you should be spending your time on? |
T | Time-Bound | | Is there a specific deadline, has a date or time been included? |
SMART goals incorporate each of the above criteria.
Setting goals, the right way:
You’ve probably heard of SMART goal setting, but do you really get it? If a goal is SMART, it should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-Bound. A SMART goal should be:
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Define your SMART goals here: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. |
Sample SMART goals:
|
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How many goals should I set?
Level 1 Newbie
Level 2 Adventurer
Level 3 Superstar
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Congratulations! You’ve reached the end of this topic on stress management and relaxation strategies.
In this topic you:
Well done, we hope that you enjoyed the journey.
We have lots of other topics waiting for you to explore on the Milo website. If you haven’t done the Learning Pathway Quiz, and are not sure which topic to do next, you should try the quiz. It will suggest topics to maximise your strengths and minimise any challenges that you experience in university.
Good luck!
7. Summary
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A quick word about student supports and services before you go... if you run into difficulty during your time at MU, remember that there are people on campus who want to help. From your first day in university to your graduation day, they are ready to support you at every stage of your journey.
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8. Student Supports and Services
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Student Budgeting Advice Centre
Student Support Officer
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9. Answers
How does stress impact eating habits for most people?
Answer = 2
How does stress impact sleep?
Answer = 1
How does stress impact cravings?
Answer = 2
____________________________________________________
What is catastrophising?
Answer = 1
How can the ‘taking your thoughts to court’ technique help you to examine your thoughts in a fair way?
Answer = 3
____________________________________________________
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10. Appendix
| 71 | |
1.1 | 72 | |
1.2 | 76 | |
1.3 | 78 | |
1.4 | 79 | |
1.5 | 78 | |
1.6 | 81 | |
1.7 | 80 | |
1.8 | 82 | |
| 90 | |
2.1 | 91 | |
2.2 | 95 | |
2.3 | 96 | |
2.4 | 97 | |
2.5 | 98 | |
2.6 | 99 |
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Appendix 1 - Video Transcripts
3. Your stress management plan
3. Part 4&5 Daily stress management activities and wellness boosters
3.H. Pick a mindful meditation that works for you
3.H.2 Guided mindful meditation
3.H.3. Box Breathing Technique
3.H.4. Body Scan
2. Stress & Relaxation Strategies
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Managing stress with a cool planner [Video Transcript]
Download PDF version: Managing Stress with a Cool Planner (Transcript)
Hi, my name is Méabh. I’m going to show you how you can manage stress in a healthy way. Stress is a bit like a tiger. It’s sneaky and can creep up on you. If your tiger is constantly stalking you, it can affect how you think, how you feel and how you behave.
It can make you anxious or depressed. It can keep you up at night. Or it can stop you from achieving your goals.
The good news is that tigers can be tamed. With the right techniques and strategies, you can relieve your stress and reduce it to a more manageable size.
I started using the stress management and well-being planner recently. It’s the perfect tool for managing stress in a healthy way. Let’s explore the planner together. The editable PDF planner is broken down into five main sections:
• Stressors and triggers
• Signs
• Circles of support
• Daily Stress Management and
• Well-being Boosters
Part 1: Stressors and triggers
The first part of your planner will help you to understand the things that can make you feel stressed. There are five main categories (College/Work, Physical, Social, Environmental, Financial) with lots of examples listed. Let’s take a look at some examples:
• College/Work e.g. college exams, or part-time job.
• Physical e.g. medical condition, or injury.
• Social e.g. family issues, or housemate conflict.
• Environmental e.g. noise, or crowded spaces.
• Financial e.g. struggling to pay bills, or debt.
Once you name the cause, you can start to think about how to cope with it, how to limit your exposure or avoid them altogether if possible.
Part 2: Signs
The common signs and symptoms of stress are listed in the planner. You can tick the ones that you experience when you’re stressed. But everyone is different, so don’t forget to also add your own. You need to watch out for these signs and symptoms. When you spot them, it’s time to take action or your stress will get worse.
Part 3: Circles of support
This section will help you identify the people and services that can help to manage stress. Everyone’s circle of support looks a little different. [Family, friends, neighbours on screen]. Professional services and crisis helplines are also listed. [MU Services, Samaritans, Pieta and external services].
Transcript for “Managing stress with a cool planner” Video, p. 1 of 2
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Stress and relaxation strategies [Video Transcript]
Download PDF version: Managing Stress with a Cool Planner (Transcript)
Part 4: Daily Well-being Management
The next step is creating a daily stress management plan. This is where you can tick the basic things that keep you feeling well every day. Everyone is different, so think about what works for you. Pick the things that help you manage the normal stressors in life. [Character shown cooking, doing yoga, brushing teeth, and sleeping.]
Part 5: Well-being Boosters
That last thing to do in your planner is to identify your wellbeing booster. These are
extra things that you can do to help relieve stress when things get tough. They’re not
the basic things you need to do every day to stay feeling well. Just try to do them
when you need to boost your wellbeing. [Character shown at cinema with friend,
listening to music and then painting a picture.]
That’s the final part of the planner, you can download it after this video. Don’t forget
to review and update it regularly to make sure that is continues to suit your needs.
Good luck!
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6 Signs of Stress You Shouldn’t Ignore [Video Transcript]
Download PDF version: 6 Signs Of Stress You Shouldn't Ignore (Transcript)
Hi everyone before we begin, we at Psych2Go would like to give a big thank you for your Support.
Psych2Go’s mission is to make psychology and self-care topics more accessible to everyone. In today's video we will be discussing the six signs of stress you shouldn't ignore. It's important to listen to your body. It gives many signals that show you it's time to de-stress. Sometimes you may think you're not stressed, but your body can tell you otherwise. Let's take a look at some signs now.
One, your appetite changes, making unhealthy or eating choices. You may start eating irregularly whether that is overeating or under eating. A study by Candia, Yake, Jones and Meyer on 272 female college students revealed that 81% had a change in appetite when stressed. While 80% of the students reported that they made healthy eating choices regularly, only 1/3 of them ate healthy when stressed, people who ate more when stressed chose foods that were significantly sweeter or greasier than their usual choices.
Two, you experience digestive issues. Has there been a time when you had digestion issues out of the blue? Your digestive system may also work against you regardless of what you eat. Even if you eat healthy stress can cause issues such as stomach pain, bloating, diarrhea, constipation and more. Maybe it's not the foods fault your tummy feels funny, it could mean that you're stressed.
Three, you feel all sorts of negative feelings. You may feel all sorts of tension restlessness and even depression. Stress impacts muscle tension and mood, it can be why you feel anxious irritable overwhelmed sad or depressed. A study found significant associations of acute and chronic stress with depression. While stress doesn't necessarily cause depression it can be a possible factor as stress dysregulated bodily functions and moods.
Four, you experience sleep issues and low energy. Are you having a hard time with sleep lately? A study on 2,316 people showed that those experiencing more stressful events had a higher risk of insomnia. Continuously having poor sleep may make you feel sluggish during the day. The change in eating habits mentioned before may also contribute to low blood sugar leading to feelings of low energy.
Five, deep breathing can become difficult. Stress and strong emotions can cause the breathing airway to constrict resulting in symptoms such as shortness of breath and rapid breathing almost like panting. Some studies show that acute stress can actually cause an asthma attack or a panic attack.
Transcript for “ 6 Signs of Stress You Shouldn’t Ignore” Video, p. 1 of 2
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6 Signs of Stress You Shouldn’t Ignore [Video Transcript]
And 6, cravings for substance misuse become stronger. Like food, substances may cause temporary immediate satisfaction in the brain, so you feel better. However, if using anything you intake and have devastating consequences such as excessively consuming alcohol or nicotine. Are you craving substances or even unhealthy food more than normal? It may be a sign that you're stressed. We can see that all these physical symptoms impact each other impact your mood and impact your behavior. If you notice that you're experiencing several of thes symptoms mentioned, it may be your body telling you to take a break be sure to take care of yourself and get the rest you need. After all you only have one body, and all your bodily systems affect one another.
How do you distress? Let us know in the comments below. Share this with someone you
think might be showing signs of stress as well. Don't forget to click the like button and
subscribe for more psychology content and as always thanks for watching. [Applause]
[Music]
Transcript for “ 6 Signs of Stress You Shouldn’t Ignore” Video, p. 2 of 2
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Progressive Muscle Relaxations – Dr. Fiona
Gallacher – A Meditative Moment [Video Transcript]
Download PDF version: Progressive Muscle Relaxations - Dr. Fiona Gallacher - A meditative Moment (Transcript)
Welcome to a meditative moment. This is your time a time for you to experience deep relaxation. You can allow yourself to relax your mind and body. Now, remember for the next few minutes there is nothing else you need to be doing and nowhere else you need to be. This is your time to focus on becoming fully relaxed, you have chosen to experience the progressive muscle relaxation in this exercise. You will focus your attention on first tensing up and then relaxing the major muscle groups of the body. This is an important exercise because when we are under stress, we often hold tension in our muscles without being aware of it. Progressive muscle relaxation teaches us to be more aware of the difference between tense and relaxed muscles in order to relax and rejuvenate the body.
Let's begin. You may sit or lie down find a comfortable position without distraction. We recommend that you close your eyes but if for any reason you don't feel comfortable doing so then we invite you to look at the relaxing video on your screen. Let's bring our attention to our bodies now by taking a few deep breaths. Really breathing in deeply and filling the lungs up with oxygen and then breathing out again breathing in through the nose and breathing out through the mouth. Often when we are stressed, we take very short fast and shallow breaths so it's important to really focus on the breath in order to slow it down. Once again breathing in and then exhaling with each inhalation we are breathing in calmness and relaxation. With each exhalation we are breathing out tension and worry notice your body begin to feel relaxed. Your muscles feel heavy, and your breathing feel calmer now. Let's begin our progressive muscle relaxation. Let's bring our attention to our feet. Let's begin by pointing our toes and really tightening up that whole area of the body when pointing the toes. Stretch your toes to the top of your feet and your calf muscles tightening the ankles and stretching the shins then begin to rotate your ankles slowly stretching out those muscles. Holding all the muscles in that area tight and now releasing allowing that area to feel heavy and loose. Moving our attention up the legs now to the thighs the hips and the buttocks area let's go ahead and squeeze that whole area holding it tight feeling yourself rise up a bit off your chair or the bed squeezing and now releasing. Feeling the tension just melt away as you allow those muscles to relax more deeply
remembering to take slow deep breaths throughout this exercise with each out-breath allowing yourself to let go just a little more deeply. Now let's move our attention up to the stomach area, blow all the air out as we tighten the stomach really pushing down and tightening those muscles squeezing now releasing them letting that tension just melt away allow your internal organs to feel relaxed. Noticing the rising and falling of your belly as you follow your slow breathing, let's move our attention now to the hands. Make a fist with your hands really tightening up tightening your fingers. Your wrists and your forearms holding those hands tight squeezing and now releasing allowing your hands to feel very heavy, now shake out your hands allowing the tension to be released allowing it to just flow out through your fingertips let's do the hands again.
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Progressive Muscle Relaxations – Dr. Fiona
Gallacher – A Meditative Moment [Video Transcript]
Go ahead and squeeze them tight make a fist. Hold that and now release it. Allowing your hands to feel heavy as they lay on the bed or as they fall down to your sides allowing that tension to fall away moving on to your upper arms, bend your elbows now and squeeze your bicep muscle really tightening your upper arms squeezing and now releasing. Again, shake out your arms breathing deeply allowing that feeling of relaxation to wash over you. Gently breathing in and gently breathing out releasing all tension every cell in your body is feeling more and more relaxed. Now let's move our attention to our shoulders very gently let's raise our shoulders towards our ears bring them up squeezing them tight holding that and then letting it go. When we let our shoulders drop imagine the tension just rolling off like water, letting it fall away. We'll do that one again since we tend to hold a lot of tension in our neck and our shoulder area gently lifting the shoulders up towards the ears holding that tight and now releasing feeling the tension just roll away. Now let's focus our attention on the neck area it's important when stretching out the neck that we don't pull too hard, just move the neck very gently let's start by turning our head gently to the left, feeling that stretch on the right side of the neck then gently turning our head to the right and feeling that stretch on the left side of the neck. Not too hard now very gently looking up and down first look down towards your stomach stretching out the back of the neck. Remembering not to pull too hard if you are sitting up go ahead and look up towards the ceiling very gently and then back down. Noticing how that area of the body is feeling. Looser and more relaxed now we are going to focus on the face let's move our attention to the jaw. This is another area of the body where we can hold a lot of tension. Let's open our mouths very wide focusing on stretching out the cheeks the lips and the jaw holding your mouth
open. Stretching and now relaxing again opening the mouth wide stretching the jaw and now relaxing. Letting those muscles soften moving our attention now on to the nose the eyes and the forehead. Let's go ahead and squeeze our facial muscles really squeezing the eyes shut squeezing the forehead and the nose holding that tight. And now releasing once again squeezing the eyes the forehead and the nose, holding it tight and now releasing feeling the relaxation wash over your face. Letting stress and negativity drop away feeling the muscles in your face as they loosen and relax. Notice how your entire body is feeling calm and relaxed your breathing is calm and relaxed, your muscles feel loose and heavy. You may feel sensations of tingling or warmth in your body as you allow yourself to relax completely. This is a normal and natural part of the relaxation response feeling more and more relaxed all of your muscles and organs feel rested and rejuvenated. Notice how calm and relaxed your body and mind feel no tension or worries. Nothing to do nowhere to be. At peace with this moment take a few moments to enjoy this feeling of deep relaxation. Now we will slowly begin to shift our attention to our
surroundings as I count back from five to one you will slowly orient yourself to the room. Five opening your eyes and becoming aware of your surroundings starting to feel more alert. Four noticing energy flowing through your body as you begin to move your arms and legs a little. Three feeling more awake and alert sitting up if you were lying down taking another deep slow breath too slowly looking around the room feeling more oriented to your surroundings your mind feels clear. One you are fully awake now. Noticing all the sights and sounds in the room. You are fully relaxed. We hope that you can take this relaxed feeling into the rest of your day and we hope you have enjoyed this meditative moment.
Transcript for “ Progressive Muscle Relaxations” Video, p. 2 of 2
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Taking your thoughts to court [Video Transcript]
Download PDF version: Taking your thoughts to court (Transcript)
Taking your thoughts to court is a technique used in cognitive behavioral therapy or CBT. The underlying principles of CBT are what do you believe and why do you believe it. This type of therapy aims to challenge our negative thinking, which can make us real stressed. So, this could be catastrophizing - that's thinking the situation is worse than it is. Over generalizing, Mind reading, when you guess what others are thinking and “Should” statements, so for example I should have done better. Taking your thoughts to court examines the evidence for and against the negative thought that's causing you to stress. It works by helping you to take a step back generating more balanced alternatives to the negative thought and allowing us to become better communicators, as we are calm rational and have a clearer understanding of the problem. It's an opportunity to pause and reflect which can help us to maintain healthy boundaries at work. Let's look at an example of taking your thoughts to court. You've just been told by your manager that you're likely to be taken off a project that you've been working on for months, but they don't have time to explain the situation right now. This triggers an emotional response in you might feel scared worried or angry. It's time to identify the hot thought, the thought driving the
emotional response, in this case it might be “I must have done something really wrong”.
Now here's where we take our thoughts the court start by looking at the factual evidence
you have to support the hot thought “I haven't been meeting all of my deadlines recently”
then we look for evidence that doesn't support the hot thought “my project manager said
the deadlines were unrealistic and hasn't given me any reason for concern”. Finally, you can consider alternative thoughts. “Maybe I'm catastrophizing I don't know all the facts. There could be other reasons they are moving things around maybe the project is ending unexpectedly for reasons that have nothing to do with me”. Hopefully you now feel less distressed. Taking your thoughts to court is a simple but valuable process to calm us down. You can do this anywhere - on paper maybe with someone you trust, on your phone or in your head. With some practice, you will hopefully notice that you experience negative thinking patterns less often or that you can challenge them as soon as they arise. Visit the mental health UK website for more well-being tips.
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Headspace | Mini meditation | Breathe video [Video Transcript]
Download PDF version: Headspace | Mini meditation | Breathe video (Transcript)
So, sitting comfortably, just taking a big deep breath, in through the nose out through the mouth. As you breathe in noticing how the body expands, as you breathe out just watching the body soften as you gently close the eyes. And rather than the mind leading the breath, allow the breath to lead the mind. Notice the sensation of the breath. Notice it where you feel it in the body. If you need so you can just gently place your hand on the stomach. And just following that rising and falling sensation. Nothing else to do, allowing thoughts to come and go and when you're ready just gently opening the eyes again.
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Headspace | Meditation | Training the Monkey Mind [Video Transcript]
Download PDF version: Headspace | Meditation | Training the Monkey Mind (Transcript)
It's quite normal, when we start to meditate, for the mind to jump around all over the place. We might find intent to chase after all the little things, to be constantly moving about, from
the present to the past to the future. In fact, to rarely be still at all. Fortunately, the mind can be tamed. Not by forcing it to stop but trying to make it sit still. We don't want to trap it - that'll just stir it up and create even more movement. But by training the mind, having an awareness of when our attention has wandered off, and gently bringing it back with a kind and friendly hand. In this way, the mind slowly becomes a little less restless. It also becomes more comfortable with this idea of sitting still. In fact, it might even come to enjoy it. This analogy for the mind has been around for thousands of years. Thankfully, so is the knowledge that, with time and practice, we can learn to train this monkey.
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Psych2Go’s Guided Meditation Video x Amanda Silvers [Video Transcript]
Download PDF version: Psych2Go’s Guided Meditation Video x Amanda Silvers (Transcript)
Hey guys, welcome back. You may recognise my voice from a bunch of the Psych2Go
videos. My name is Amanda and I actually have my own channel where I've been dabbling in ASMR and guided meditations and just soothing, cozy videos. By request, here's one of them. I hope you guys enjoy. Today we're going to try something new, a guided meditation. We can do this two ways. One, if you're working on something studying, whatever. You can open the pod and let the energy flow out. No commitment to listening to anything that I'm saying. I'm just here to keep you company. The second way is to open the pod and step into it. Lay down the pot to full body scan and work on healing.
Please don't listen to this meditation when operating heavy machinery or doing anything
of that nature. Because if you're choosing to step into the pod, we're going to need to focus with intention. It would be best if you listen to this guided meditation with headphones. If they're wireless, put your phone as far away as possible. And if you're attached to the wire, again, still put your phone as far away as possible. If you're listening on your phone, again, as far away as possible, while still being able to listen clearly. The reason for this is because our phones generate frequencies and energy and vibrations that aren't necessarily great for us. It's important that we take breaks away from our phones, and this is a perfect chance to reconnect and center ourselves. So, if you're just opening the pod, I'd like you to take a second. Let's take a deep breath in. Deep breath out, deep breath, deep breath. Now imagine a giant lush green pod that your whole body could fit inside comfortably. Just open it up and let the energy flow out as you continue to do whatever you're doing. If you're entering the pod, I'd like you to find somewhere super comfortable and lie down, put your hands here or on your tummy or on your chest or whatever is most comfortable for you. It's okay if you need to readjust at any time. Take
a moment to wiggle around. Get comfortable. Now that you've gotten comfortable, close your eyes, focus on breathing, take a deep breath in through your nose and hold it this time, you're going to hold it and when it feels like you're ready to breathe out, I want you to take two more sips of air. Have a great rest, listen to the air flowing in. Now maybe you can hear your heartbeat or reminder that you were very much alive and here. Now. What I want you to do is stretch your body out as far as you can reach your toes, your fingers, everything. Stretch and flex your muscles as hard as you can and hold it, squishing your hands into fists and curling your toes. Stretch and flex and feel free to move however you need to. Hold it and relax. Take a deep breath and notice any sensations or tingling in your fingertips or toes and wiggle your toes and your fingers releasing any stress that you may have been holding there. Now relax again. I want you to bring your attention to your head. Your jaw specifically. You'd be surprised how much stress and tension we carry there. It’s going to look a little silly, but you're safe in your pod. I want you to open your mouth. Take out your tongue and stretch it. You will the stretch in your cheeks and your face in your jaw your neck, your mouth. Stretch it out and then relax.
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Psych2Go’s Guided Meditation Video x Amanda Silvers [Video Transcript]
Again, notice any sensations just be aware of all the tiny muscles in your face. Try to relax them. Your eyebrows. Eyelids, your ears, focus on your ears and they tend to try to relax your
shoulders, your fingers, your hips, knees, calves, ankles, toes, relax. Now visualize the vibrant green walls the pod around you, as the light shines through, absorbing the light and using its energy to heal you. You are safe here. And you are being restored, noticing coming and going and observing them as if they're clouds in the sky and drift by quickly take their time but as they come, they always go. It's starting to rain. The raindrops are gently dancing on the exterior of your bod is the pod cleanses you marine cleanses the pod. You have no obligation. No need to do anything. Rest and relax, focus on your breathing. Now enjoy the noise, enjoy the sound of the rain feeling of tranquility as Mother Nature makes her music for you. The time roll over onto your side. You can curl up like a tiny beam pod like a baby and whatever feels best for you. is best for you. Notice your breathing. Notice how it flows with the rhythm of the ring. You are effortlessly connected to all the wonders of the universe; all you have to do is breath.
Transcript for “Psych2Go’s Guided Meditation Video x Amanda Silvers” Video, p. 2 of 2
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Box Breathing Technique – simple strategy to calm anxiety
[Video Transcript]
Download PDF version: Box Breathing Technique – simple strategy to calm anxiety (Transcript)
Hi welcome back. Today I am going to teach you a really simple breathing technique called box breathing or square breathing. That's a square okay. So, the point here is that I'm going to teach you this simple breathing technique, which is one I like, I find useful for calming me at moments when I feel my anxiety rising and it can be something that is useful for people of all ages and just a great tool to have in your toolbox. Now there are loads of different breathing techniques out there and you know go and find the one that works for you. This is one that I found to be super helpful, I've been able to teach it to massive groups of people or use it once one with people and also use it for myself. So,thing with breathing and anxiety and stress is that if we can kind of try and help our body override when we begin to feel the stress or anxious reaction, that can help us to kind of keep our kind of emotion and feeling and physical response in check. So, our kind of anxious response is both it's kind of a mixture of a physiological and an emotional
response and by focusing on our breathing and having a kind of go-to way of managing that, we can begin to override that kind of you know very very fast reading heart getting faster and faster and then the sweaty palms and all the different kind of anxiety induced responses that come on. So, if we can just then take check, take control of the breathing that can really help. It's helpful to try and do this as early on as possible when you feel anxiety rising and it can also be done as a kind of preventative measure. So, you might do this when you know you're about to enter an anxious situation. So, if you struggle with social anxiety, you might do this. I do this quite often. I'm going somewhere, I sit in the car and I'll do my box breathing just for a couple of minutes, so that I'm then like really nice and calm and I've got a good base to start from. Equally you might do it just before going into an exam, or you know whatever you know are the things that you know when you're more likely to feel slightly anxious. So, it's kind of yeah, your prevention, just think of yourself as you're trying to like bring down the stress level, get yourself into this kind of
nice calm state ready, ready, ready. So, box breathing or Four-square breathing or whatever you want to call it’s really, really simple. So first of all, we just want to get ourselves to feel very, very self-conscious about this way when I get ourselves in a nice kind of comfortable position you want to be sitting up nice and straight you're going to be thinking about breathing in and out so you don't really allow and be nice nice and straight. I find can I having my feet on the ground, so I'm a little bit grounded I can feel the feel of my my feet on the ground and then Is it with my palms up so palms up on my lap that's that's my preferred way you don't want to be kind of again anything that restricts your breathing not good. So, it basically like nice and open body language nice and calm so even thinking about the positioning of your body is helping to get a feeling of calm. You start off by breathing out and you can do this either through your nose or your mouth and you're trying to expel all of the oxygen from your lungs and you're thinking about your lungs as you focus on the out-breath just busting through the cat flap there just to kind of break the moment.
Transcript for “Box Breathing Technique” Video, p. 1 of 2
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Box Breathing Technique – simple strategy to calm anxiety
[Video Transcript]
Okay let's get back to our calm state, we're starting we're ready we’re going to breathe out for a count off four and so you're trying to get a think of every last bit of oxygen removing itself me along. So, it's one, two, three, four and or you can think it was a box so one, two, three, four and sometimes with younger kids I might literally draw this or have them trace it with their finger while we're doing it. So, you've breathed out and then you're going to breathe in through your nose and you’re going to count to four slowly and you’re going to slowly feel your lungs fill with air so again one, two, three, four you breathe in through the nose and then you’re going to hold that. Okay so you’ve inhaled, you throat, your lungs really fell you're going to hold it for four. One, two, three, four and then you're going to exhale through your mouth again for the count at four. One,two, three, four and you’re thinking about that air leaving your mouth, leaving your mouth and then again after that exhale. You're going to hold for a further four. One, two, three,
four okay so we're going to do it again and because obviously I was chatting a lot there
which didn't really help, but this time I’m going to print the instructions on the screen because with the magic of moviemaker I can do that and we'll do it together and we’ll go through a couple of times and the prompts will be down on the screen and hopefully you'll kind of get a feel for it after a while. So, okay we‘re starting with the exhale. So okay, so I look like a complete idiot doing that but hopefully it gave you a bit of an idea. You can try it, see how it works for you. It's funny actually, I wasn’t feeling at all anxious before I did that breathing exercise with you and by just doing it really made me kind of feel calm. You might notice I'm even like talking a little bit more slowly and stuff, so yeah give it a go, try ,it for yourself, try it with people that you are working with, try and introduce it into that toolbox of different things that we use every day, just to help us cope and you remember where possible try and use it as a preventative measure, to try to get you nice and calm before your into a situation which might be likely to impact on your anxiety. Good luck I hope you found it helpful, if you've got other things that you find helpful like this or other breathing techniques that you think we should try, then leave a comment down below. If you want to hear more from me in the future, then please subscribe and if you liked what you saw today, please give it a thumbs up. I love it when people take a moment to give
videos a thumbs up or leave a comment of any kind because I sit here in my loft shed kind of talking to the ether and so it’s really really nice to know what impact the videos are
having. So yeah, please take a moment to do that, thank you bye.
Transcript for “Box Breathing Technique” Video, p. 2 of 2
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Topic: Stress & Relaxation Strategies
Full Body Scan Guided Release Meditation | The Revealing Process
[Video Transcript]
Download PDF version: Full Body Scan Guided Release Meditation | The Revealing Process (Transcript)
Okay, so everybody just take a few deep breaths. And I don't want you to use the word imagine but imagine it's kind of an active idea. Allow your body to let any imagery you use come to you. If it's blurry, it's blurry. If it's sharp, it's sharp, don't force it to change, let it evolve over time. Okay? And so, you don't have to have a perfect image. It can be a blurry image, a clear image. I don't care what it is. But what I want you to do is we're going to work on well I want you to welcome and accept what is that's all you know, look at it from a distance and say, Okay, I can see him heavy here. I can see him light here. See, this feels good. I can see this feels bad. None of it is right or wrong. This is learning to accept yourself just the way you are. So, take a moment and let's set an intention. Imagine that you could choose and simple intention. I'm going to choose feeling my body and welcome the idea that you're choosing feeling your whole body. You're not going to feel it, you're gonna let the feeling come to you. Just make that choice internally. Imagine you could place that choice right here in the frontal lobe with the forehead, the third eye, you know, whatever you want to call it. And just welcome the idea that I'm choosing, letting the feeling of my whole body from the smallest toe all the way to the top of my head. I'm going to go on an exploration. Just notice what that feels like. Notice any part of yourself that is resisting this idea. It's wanting to do something, make something and just watch
that part of yourself. Notice any part of yourself that's wanting to understand what I mean by that, sitting there analysing your judging. You just won't. Notice any part of yourself that just wants to change because you think you're broken. And then I want you to go back and notice the part of yourself that's setting the intention to just feel and accept everything just the way it is. Perfectly. Take a few more deep breaths, welcoming and allow, even if you feel nothing or numbness or stuck, or your head keeps saying I don't feel anything. What am I feeling? What does he mean? How does he do this? Welcome that idea too. And then particularly notice what you feel like right through the forehead area, the third eye, the particular frontal lobe, excuse me. And now allow that energy whatever energy is there the awareness and sense to drop down towards your throat and allow your throat and jaw to relax or loosen or open as much as it will. Or resist as much as it wants to instead. Just walking and then again, allow yourself to welcome the jaw and the throat and allow yourself to resist feeling that area as much as you do. That can be 1% it could be 100%. Just as much as your body is resisting on its own. Just observe that, welcome that and now allow yourself to feel that area and notice how much your
body is relaxing in that area, as much as you are 1% 100% doesn't matter. And then pay
attention to the resistance and pay attention to the relaxation and casual and just relax
and go back and forth. And now welcome any part of yourself. That's wanting to change,
shift, manipulate anything you're feeling just wanting to do something about it or with it.
Transcript for ‘Full Body Scan Guided Release Meditation’ Video, p. 1 of 5
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Topic: Stress & Relaxation Strategies
Full Body Scan Guided Release Meditation | The Revealing Process
[Video Transcript]
And then welcome any part of yourself that's looking at it and it's getting heavy because you think you're broken. I need to fix this and then welcome any part of yourself even if it's small, thinks it's perfect just the way it is. They can relax into that. And now notice the feeling between the forehead, the frontal lobe and the throat, jaw. And notice if you can drop that idea of feeling your whole body under the throat, to the point where you can say confidently because you're so in alignment with your intention, that I'm allowing the feeling of my body to come to me, that I'm exploring the feeling of my whole entire body and you can say it confidently. You can even say it out loud or internally. Now allow the feeling to drop a little lower. All this energy has been building in the front of the head. It's dropping down to the throat and awareness more than energy consciousness and allow it to drop into the chest heart. And allow that intention to feel a whole body, is just that you spoke about the throat to spread into the heart and allow the heart area open as much as it's willing and allow it to come to your consciousness. Notice how much it opens naturally when you ask it to, not make it, not force it but ask it to. You open right now, in an open fully can give you some really sensitive to the environment around you, can feel the ebb and flow of things. Feel the room around you beyond or does it shut down and go tight
and everything becomes cold or numb? Just notice what the experiences could be somewhere in between can be a little of each. There is no right or wrong. Just allow yourself to experience it perfectly. And now again, ask your heart to open. But this time I want you to notice the same thing, any part of yourself trying to force your heart to open, make it wanting to do anything with or about it. Wanting to improve it, change it fix it. Just observe that part you're going to have to stop it. Just observe it, just changes, watch what it's doing and now ask it to open again. Even 1% More as beautiful one 100%. Compounding interest is an amazing thing. Notice that the heart opens more or even closes more sometimes it wants to close before it opens. Then ask it to open a little bit more, feeling the space around you, then ask it to open a bit more. And again, don't do anything as I say this, just watch what it does with each sentence I say. You're going to
hear what I'm saying. And just watch how your body responds. As you ask your heart to open a bit more. Bit more, a bit more. And even a bit more. Now welcome any part of yourself wanting to do anything or with what I just said. And just ask yourself can you let that go? And then allow your heart to open a bit more. Watch what it does, letting go of all wanting. Then a bit more, watching what it does, letting go of all one thing, and then a bit more. Just allowing it to be exactly the way it is, where it is, perfectly imperfect. Notice as you're becoming more vulnerable, welcome any sense of vulnerability that might be there, whether vulnerability means something good or not to you just notice what you're experience of that is. Now welcome any sense of being heavy or tight in the heart, closing down numbness, as much as you are, and then again, welcome any sense of vulnerability and just gently move back and forth. You don't have to analyse or get any of this perfect, just go with the flow. And notice what the heart feels like now, with that greater sense of feeling or vulnerability. And now go back to the numbness as much as you did. See we have both energies running at once, so just notice what it feels like to go from one to the other. One could be at 1% or the other can be at 99% Or the other way around or
somewhere in between. Just notice what it is for you. That's all that matters.
Transcript for ‘Full Body Scan Guided Release Meditation’ Video, p. 2 of 5
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Topic: Stress & Relaxation Strategies
Full Body Scan Guided Release Meditation | The Revealing Process
[Video Transcript]
Just let that go and become aware of the feeling that you created to the intention in the frontal lobe, down to the throat, down to the heart. Now I want you to take a special note of the level of vulnerability you're at. Just notice how sensitive the environment, the moment do you not like it, Do you like it? This might be a good thing for you. Or it might be scary. Or you might be numbing out in response when you're normally feeling all of it's beautiful, whatever your experience is perfect. But this time I want you to take those three energies and drop a little lower to the stomach. I want you to feel what you feel like in the stomach. Now as you ask the stomach to open, imagine it's like a little window that's opening and it's only going to open up as wide as you feel comfortable, as your body feels comfortable, as you just observe it, matter of fact you don't feel anything you're just observing the body and letting it come to you. So as that stomach opens a little wider and a little wider, just notice how it feels. Only opening as wide as it wants to, welcoming that feelings as that energy from the heart drops down there. And notice that the heart starts to feel a little different as you drop into your stomach. Do you feel a sense of grounding or sense of rooting some people do or does it feel more uncomfortable for some people feel that too, get to get really uncomfortable when they get in their stomach? Just notice what's the truth for you. And then welcome that sense in your stomach a little bit. Notice what it feels like. Notice that there's any part of you trying to fix change, manipulate the feeling of the
stomach, wanting to do something with or about. Ask yourself, can you just let that go?
Can you reveal beyond if you can't let it go? This idea that revealing is just like peeling
an onion. Just move one little, tiny layer secret then notice how it feels different and then
reveal again. Remove another tiny notice how it's different just sitting there. Not trying to
remove much at all, way less than 1% probably. Just peeling that onion, a little bit of time
exploring the new level. As you go deeper and deeper into the feeling in your stomach.
You may reach a point when you can just really sell if there's resistance. If there's not
resistance you may just reveal more and more low power expansion of the best energies
inside yourself. As you go deeper and deeper. Now allow yourself to notice again the pathway we're creating from the intention to feel the body down to the throat where you can speak your truth to the heart or you can fall in love with it. Whereas you may be feeling sad right now or heavy. Eventually you can fall in love with it as you reveal beyond the resistance of the heart. The stomach where you start to feel more solid and notice if the stomach is a thickness a little bit more denser energy that's starting to come up. So just notice that, if not notice that. You now allow the energy to drop a little bit lower. Allow it all right down into the pelvis area. Right below the belly button over the hip bones, down towards the groin, almost like creating an upside-down pyramid. Notice that feels welcoming. For a lot of nice guys, this is where they go this is your creative center where you create powerfully from you can create corporations, you can create art, create intent, your intentions come to life you get motivated to take action, because it's also where you create babies. So, you can create a baby, you can create anything. If you welcome the energy in this area and starts to charge up, you to start to notice it has turned on to it or an aliveness to it sometimes it's a heating or tingling for me it started out as almost like a heat, grew as I let go of my shame. To notice what that feels like in this area. What it feels like for you right now. In the beginning I felt numbness, just notice if that's the case, then I felt this one tiny speck of feeling, tingle and it started to grow.
Transcript for ‘Full Body Scan Guided Release Meditation’ Video, p. 3 of 5
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Topic: Stress & Relaxation Strategies
Full Body Scan Guided Release Meditation | The Revealing Process
[Video Transcript]
I just watched it I didn't do anything to it. I didn't try to change I didn't try manipulating it didn't try to grow it I just watched it and it grew expanded and expanded. And it grew into more and more. So, notice what's there. Now if there's a lower emotion in that area, or repressed emotion, it might feel sadness guilt, anger. And then as you watch it and observe it more me into reveal peeling the layers of the onion, allowing it to just go the hair deeper. The time you'll find that energy will move upwards it might move up and down. At first it might go from anger to sadness and back up but eventually you'll find yourself encourage loving, acceptance loving and individually love and beyond your turn on cake. And notice what turn on does for you in life. Turn on makes you want to take action, turn on makes you want to take inspired action. Turn on makes you feel alive. So, continue to reveal in this area, reveal beyond what you're feeling. What is the next layer then reveal the next and the next layer as you go deeper and deeper over the time because turn on doesn't just create a savings creates businesses and creates our passion? Again, notice the pathway we're creating from intention to being able to speak confidently about what you're creating to your heart where you fell in love with it to your stomach where your gut instincts and your self-esteem kick on. I can do it all the way down to your turn on where your passion and creative energy start to kick in and that's welcome one more energy a little lower down towards the perineum the basically the anus or the base of the spine and the spinal area and begin to feel down on the backs of your legs even just notice what that feels. Feel the earth beneath you and see if you can let that whole area for the perineum and the anus space the spine just ask it to relax, loosen or open just like we did everything else. Whatever makes sense to you. To open as much as a tiny bit is fine. A lot is great. Whatever it does is perfect just the way it is. Because compounding interest takes care of the rest all you have to do is observe and watch. So again, notice there's any part of yourself trying to do anything with or about this wanting. Ask yourself if you can just like the little one to change this. Just get good and setting an intention with no one's choosing very different than what it feels like. What does the back of the legs feel like can you feel the earth what does it premium feel? The feeling how can you feel the earth can you let the earth for you because literally walking all day the earth is supporting gives you a base from which to walk and move on. Earth gives you food water, shelter, oxygen, everything you need to be alive. Whether you resist it or not, the Earth is always taken care of. It's always giving you all the supplies you need to grow and live the next year of your life. So, feel your legs feel the ground beneath you feel your cranium as much as you do. Then feel the earth as much of your grounding as much as you do. Then fill the earth as much then fill the earth and your grounding as one as much as you can. Focus on the feeling as much as you're willing. Then let it go. For a second and then welcome it again. Let it go. And then welcome your grounding again. Let it go. And then notice how good you feel or how heavy you feel. Let all that go. And notice the flow of energy from the head all the way down to the ground. Notice what your body feels like. wants you to notice if your heart feels different. Connect all the way down to the air does your heart feel more solid? Does it feel more nervous? Does it feel more powerful? Does it feel more react? Can you feel the earth supporting him? Can you feel the earth or giving you a space to ground from something when you feel something with your heart?
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Topic: Stress & Relaxation Strategies
Full Body Scan Guided Release Meditation | The Revealing Process
[Video Transcript]
And I want you to particularly allow your heart to reach out and touch the space around you as much as it's willing to touch in the distance the earth around you and as far as you reach out in front of you, I want you to feel down to the earth and allow yourself to feel grow roots as deep as you feel out in front of you without forcing. If it's a little bit it's a little bit it's a lot it's a lot. So
again now notice what your grounding feels like. That's what your heart say grounding
feels like. Notice what your heart and then notice the pathway from your heart to your
ground and back. Now sit with it for a minute and just explore it and just practice observing
without trying to change a thing. And there's any wanting watch that too. You have to
change the wanting and just watch. If it can move the choice allow that to happen. Notice
what it's like to choose the feeling versus one to four speak with beautiful now, just let all
the concepts in your mind go and just be notice how you feel. When you look around the
room start to come back. You can touch stuff but continue to just notice how you feel. Be
aware. Awareness is the first step to change learning how you in contrast and other ways
to say it is very powerful for growth. So welcome the contrast, welcome the feeling.
Transcript for ‘Full Body Scan Guided Release Meditation’ Video, p. 5 of 5
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Topic: Stress & Relaxation Strategies
Appendix 2 - Downloadables
2. Stress and Relaxation Strategies
3. Part 4 & 5: Daily stress management activities and wellness boosters
6. It’s goal setting time
5. Tech tools to support stress management
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Topic: Stress & Relaxation Strategies
Instructions: Answer the questions honestly in each section. Give detailed answers. Use this document to understand your triggers; identify personal symptoms; and remind you to practice wellness activities.
Review and update your plan regularly to ensure that the activities continue to suit your needs.
Stressors and Triggers
What causes you to feel stressed or unwell? |
What can you do to reduce, remove, or avoid stressors or triggers? |
Signs
How do you know when you are stressed or unwell? What are the signs?
These are the symptoms of being stressed or unwell. They are the things that you feel, think, and do that tell you that things are not okay.
Instructions: Click all that apply to you and enter extra details in the text box below:
I know that I am stressed or unwell when I…
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Don’t want to get out of bed Get unexplained aches and pains Feel anxious/depressed Feel overwhelmed/tearful Experience unexplained muscle tension Increase smoking/drinking/other drug use Eat unhealthy foods or stop eating Stop doing leisure activities Have trouble sleeping | Have digestive problems Act impulsively Forget things Have irrational thoughts Stop looking after myself Stop tidying up Get angry easily Feel chest pain or my heart racing Stop talking to or meeting people |
Download PDF version: My Stress Management and Well-being Plan (Worksheet);
My Stress Management and Well-being Plan (Worksheet) [Screen-reader version]
My Stress Management and Well-being Plan (Worksheet)
Linked to Learning Activity: Complete your stress management plan (p. 52)
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Circles of Support
Who can support you? Who can help you to manage your stress or well-being?
These are your family, friends, neighbours, professionals, or other people that can offer support or guidance when you are feeling stressed or unwell
These people can support me when I am feeling unwell or stressed: |
How can these people help you to manage your stress or well-being? For example, a friend might talk about your experiences without judgment, or a family member might provide home-cooked meals. |
If I need immediate help with a mental health issue, I will contact (family, friends, or partner): |
If I feel unsafe and need immediate professional help with a mental health issue I will contact: (Click the services that you will contact and add their contact details)
External GP Name: GP Contact Number: Services ☐ Accident and emergency (A&E) department in my local general hospital [open 24/7] Hospital Name: A&E Contact Number:
Crisis ☐ Freephone Samaritans on 116 123, or Pieta House on 1800 247 247 [Available 24/7] Helplines ☐ Text ‘MU’ to 50808 for free, anonymous support [Available 24/7] Internal ☐ MU Health Centre for an emergency appointment (01 708 3878) [open office hours] Services ☐ MU Counselling Service for emergency appointment (01 708 3554) [open office hours]
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In an emergency, I want my health care professionals to know: For example, current medications, or a list of strategies that worked in the past to reduce stress and boost wellness |
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Daily Well-being Management
What do you need to do to manage your well-being every day?
These are the basic things that you need to do every day to maintain your well-being. They keep you feeling okay and help you to manage the normal stressors in life.
Quick tip: Some activities listed below are also listed as wellness boosters on the next page. Everyone is different, it’s up to you to decide which activities should be included in your daily maintenance plan, and which will work better as wellness boosters. Do what works for you.
Instructions: Click all that apply to you and enter extra details in the text boxes below:
To stay well and manage my stress levels every day, I need to…
Your daily well-being plan should be realistic and achievable, don’t pick too many activities.
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Take vitamins or medication Have a shower Brush my teeth Do your skincare routine Eat 3 healthy meals Go to college (if college day) Set realistic expectations Take breaks from studying Play with your dog Challenge your negative thoughts Do the box breathing technique Spend time in nature Practice progressive muscle relaxation Do gentle stretching or yoga Have your favourite herbal tea or coffee | Sleep for 8 hours Make a home-cooked meal Use relaxation strategies (20+ mins) Exercise (starting with just 5/10 mins) Drink enough water (1.2 litres) Do a leisure or hobby activity Check in with a friend or family member Pack a lunch and bring it to college Tidy your room or house Spend time on your hobbies and interests Make my bed Try mindfulness, even for 1-minute Listen to your favourite podcast Hug a friend or family member Practice daily positive affirmations |
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Well-being Boosters
What additional things can you do to boost your well-being?
These are extra things that make you feel good. It would be great to do these things, but they are not the basic things that you need to do every day to stay feeling well.
Quick tip: Some activities listed below are also listed as wellness boosters on the next page. Everyone is different, it’s up to you to decide which activities should be included in your daily maintenance plan, and which will work better as wellness boosters. Do what works for you.
Instructions: Click all that apply to you and enter extra details in the text boxes below:
Extra things that I can do to boost my well-being are…
Well-being boosters are things that you plan to do once every week or two, or at least once a month.
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Call a friend and have a long chat Batch cook healthy meals for the week Go to a club or society meeting Challenge your negative thoughts Invite a friend to hang out Snuggle your pet or borrow one! Have a stay-home-spa day Follow a Yoga tutorial on YouTube Do the box breathing technique Declutter your room Spend time in nature Exercise, even 5/10 mins is a good start Walk barefoot on grass Blast music and sing out loud Practice progressive muscle relaxation Watch a comedy, laughter is powerful | Do a digital detox, no tech, or social media Pick some photos and print them Try the STAR breathing technique Let yourself cry, it can reduce stress! Do mindful colouring Borrow a dog and bring them to the park Spend time on your hobbies and interests Host a games night with friends Spend time star gazing Practice positive affirmations Scream into a pillow, it reduces strong emotions Listen to peaceful music Get creative make something, paint, draw, sculpt Say no to “just one more episode” Try mindfulness, even for 1-minute Listen to your favourite podcast |
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The evidence suggests that the thought is fair, balanced, and rational. | | The evidence suggests that the thought is not fair, balanced, and rational. | |
Instructions: Use this worksheet to examine the evidence for and against a negative thought. Enter the negative thought, the evidence for the thought, and the evidence against the thought in each of the boxes below. Evidence added must be factual and verifiable. Do not include any assumptions or opinions.
The judgment: Assess the evidence and decide if the thought is fair, balanced, and rational. Tick the box that represents your judgment. If the evidence suggests that the thought is not fair, balanced, and rational, then use the space provided to come up with some alternative, balanced thoughts.
The Thought
Evidence that supports the thought | | Evidence against the thought |
The Judges Verdict – tick the appropriate box
Alternative Balanced Thoughts
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Take an unhelpful thought to court (Worksheet)
Download PDF version: Take an unhelpful thought to court (Worksheet);
Take an unhelpful thought to court (Worksheet) [Screen-reader version]
Linked to Learning Activity: Reframing an unhelpful thought pattern (p. 29)
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The evidence suggests that the thought is fair, balanced, and rational. | | The evidence suggests that the thought is not fair, balanced, and rational. | |
Instructions: Use this worksheet to examine the evidence for and against a negative thought. Enter the negative thought, the evidence for the thought, and the evidence against the thought in each of the boxes below. Evidence added must be factual and verifiable. Do not include any assumptions or opinions.
The judgment: Assess the evidence and decide if the thought is fair, balanced, and rational. Tick the box that represents your judgment. If the evidence suggests that the thought is not fair, balanced, and rational, then use the space provided to come up with some alternative, balanced thoughts.
The Thought
Evidence that supports the thought | | Evidence against the thought |
The Judges Verdict – tick the appropriate box
Alternative Balanced Thoughts
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Take an unhelpful thought to court (Sample worksheet)
Download: Take an unhelpful thought to court (Sample worksheet);
Take an unhelpful thought to court (Sample worksheet) [Screen-reader version]
“I’m always messing things up in my essays, I’m horrible with details and my lecturers think that I am useless”
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Insight Timer
An app full of free resources for sleep, anxiety, and stress.
What is it?
Insight Timer is a website and mobile app for wellbeing and self-care. It provides thousands of free resources for self-guided meditation, guided meditations, yoga, sleep, and study. Watch live sessions 24/7 from leading meditation experts. Join in during live sessions from the comfort of your bedroom. If you want to learn more you can choose from over 400 self-paced courses by top meditation experts, neuroscientists, and psychologists.
Platforms: Android Phone, Android Tablet, Windows Computer, Chrome Book, iPhone, iPad, Apple Computer.
Tips for using Insight Timer at Maynooth University:
sound, music, and starting/ending bells to suit your personal preferences.
Get started and learn more:
Cost: Free. Optional paid premium subscription.
Download PDF version: Insight timer (Tech descriptor)
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Headspace
What is it?
Headspace provides guidance and video content on meditation, sleep, stress, and mindfulness. Meditation can help you to be less caught up in our thoughts and more aware of the present moment. Headspace is a leading paid subscription app, but also offers free online content. You can access excellent video content on both Headspace YouTube and a Headspace season available on Netflix. Headspace also has its own Spotify channel.
Platforms: Android Phone, Android Tablet, Windows Computer, Chrome Book, iPhone, iPad, Apple Computer.
Tips for using Headspace at Maynooth University:
Get started and learn more:
Cost: Paid App with free trial available. Available on Netflix. Free YouTube videos.
Available on Spotify (no credit card required with free version of Spotify).
Download PDF version: Headspace (Tech descriptor)
Practice meditation and mindfulness. Improve sleep and stress with a paid app or access content on Netflix, YouTube, and Spotify.
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My Learning MAP (Mega Action Plan) (Worksheet)
How to use this tool: This worksheet will help you to set SMART goals. It will also help you to define the individual steps required to achieve each goal. These steps are called SMART action steps. Write your answers below each heading. See the example in the first 2 rows. Check your SMART goals and action steps. Are they SMART? If you can’t check each box, modify them to make sure they meet each SMART criteria:
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Specific?
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Measurable?
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Achievable?
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Relevant?
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Time-Bound?
Download PDF version: My Learning MAP (Worksheet); My Learning MAP (Worksheet) [Screen-reader version]
SMART Goal
SMART Action Step
Barriers/challenges that might interfere
Actions to overcome barriers/challenges
Deadline
Reward
Over the next 3 weeks, I will develop my proactive learning skills by picking good learning strategies and managing my learning process when I study.
In my weekly study blocks (on Tuesdays and Thursdays), I’ll use the
Manage My Learning process to plan,
monitor, and evaluate my study tasks for the next 3 weeks.
I don’t know enough about the different types of learning
strategies to be able to pick
the best one when I’m making study plans.
I’ll commit to spending time reviewing the
learning strategies.
October
/30th/ 2022
Play Red Dead
Redemption
all day 29/10/22
In my weekly study blocks (on Tuesdays and Thursdays), I’m going to
spend the first 5-10 minutes reviewing
the learning strategies.
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