In a world of six foot bubbles, face coverings, and inescapable amounts of screen time, our mental and emotional health is at risk now more than ever. Feelings such as fear, stress, and anxiety can be intense, and working from home is isolating- especially since the things that once kept us busy, such as sports, jobs, and clubs have been halted.

 Luckily, there are many ways we can teach our body to combat these feelings of stress and anxiety. Setting aside and dedicating time to ourselves and our mental health can be a difficult thing to remember to do, but even just ten minutes a day can make a considerable impact on our well-being. There are so many ways to care for ourselves mentally, such as: meditation, journaling, and physical exercise. There are also ways to combat in-the-moment-stress, such as the learned Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT).

Meditation

Meditation is often thought of as something only for the experienced practitioners. But let me ask you, how do you think they became experienced? Meditation can be as simple as finding a comfortable sitting position, and finding steady rhythm in your breathing. Meditation can be so grounding, and really helps to form a connection between your body and mind.

When the body and mind are connected and acknowledged, there are innumerable benefits, such as increased focus and motivation, and decreased muscle tension.  Meditation can be so relaxing, and often that’s all our body needs: a little relaxation to loosen up those muscles you’ve been tirelessly using. So take a break and practice your breath work, you deserve it!

Journaling

The written word is one of the most powerful of things to culminate from human history. When the thoughts we have are constantly being churned and swirled in our minds, it can be beneficial to write those things down. The physical act of writing in itself can help to reduce stress, and often when we write our thoughts, we come to new revelations. Writing down ourthoughts can be symbolic of actually letting them go, which can be extremely helpful when the thoughts we have cause us stress and anxiety.

Exercise

 The health of your mind has much to do with the health of your body. Go out and move it! Any form of physical exercise such as walking, biking, practicing yoga, or playing sports has been proven to reduce stress and increase attention and focus. Even movements as stationary as stretching are important, and can help to increase the connection between mind and body. Exercising is a great way to take your mind off any stress or anxiety you may have, and many find it relaxing for the mind, as well.

Emotional Freedom Techniques

Sometimes there are moments in our day which can be exhausting or stressful, and in these moments we can’t necessarily drop everything and meditate or pull out a journal to write. These moments of stress can be best combated by something I’ve researched and used, called Emotional Freedom Techniques 1 . Founded by researcher Gary Craig in the 90s and championed by one of my favorite Yogi’s, Parvati Shallow, EFT consists of small actions called “tapping”, which focus on the meridian lines that are believed to be hotspots of energy within the body.

The first step of EFT (tapping) is to identify what it is that is causing you to be stressed, and then follow up with some statement of encouraging self-acceptance. For example, “Even though [insert situation] is causing me stress, I truly and deeply love and accept myself”. Once you’ve identified the mantra you’ll use, you can begin tapping on the specified meridian points to balance the energy in your body.

Common meridian points to tap include the top of your head, the inside corner of the eyebrow, under the eye, on the chin, under the armpit, and the beginning of the collarbone. The most common and inconspicuous spot is the “karate chop”, which is the outside of the hand below the pinky. Simply tapping on these points of the body with your hand and repeating your mantra, either inside your head or out loud, has been proven to significantly reduce stress and anxiety in all age groups and levels of psychological stress. The repetitive nature of tapping and reciting helps to provide reaffirmations of self-love and acceptance, and creates an atmosphere for the mind to reassess the situation it is in.

Mental health is such an important topic, and is something that needs to be talked about openly and more regularly. By practicing some form of self-care you’re not only benefiting yourself, but you are helping to create a society in which forms of mental health care are normalized in our everyday routine. Taking care of ourselves is crucial to our wellbeing, especially while we endure this global pandemic. Please know that you deserve a break, and you deserve time each day that is dedicated to yourself. You have earned it!

-Written by Cami M., Teen CHARGE Brand Rep

1 https://www.healthline.com/health/eft-tapping#bottom-line