Awareness Journey

In what ways can self-care routines help teachers reduce stress and enhance their mental health throughout the school year?

Teachers can be trained to allow their mind to pause and rest for a few minutes at least a few times during the day. This is the best self-care practice you could do for better mental health.

In this digital age of constant mental stimulation we find that most people are either engaged with their devices or within their minds with their thoughts. Thinking takes mental effort although it seems effortless. Mental activity such as a constant monologue or a dialogue within the mind, thinking about the past or future, a constant commentary in the mind in the form of naming or labelling whatever you see or feel, these and much more keeps happening nonstop in the mind.

Humans are habituated to this and don’t know how to pause and allow the mind to rest and rejuvenate. Winding down to watch a movie is considered rest but is not mental rest. Even sleeping is not entirely restful because we don’t pause to quieten the mind activity before falling asleep. The mental activity continues during sleep in the form of restless dreaming. This is the root cause for the declining mental health in most people whether acknowledged or not.

I recommend that you learn a few practices such as Fixed Gazing and Conscious Breathing, Energy Movements, Gentle body stretching and flexing as in SelvanS 30 Yoga practice. The resources for learning all these are freely available on my website or in the form of articles on my Quora profile. It is also available in a gentle inspiring story format in my book titled Inner Alchemy.