Oasis of Radical Wellbeing

Benefits of Calmness: mindfulness and other calming practices for You

Mindfulness, breathing techniques and other practices help us calm our minds. Everything begins when we stop. The aim is to get in touch with the present moment, with our thoughts and our body, but also with what is around us. It is very complex and, on the other hand, very easy. This page offers you information and mindfulness and other practices to use whenever you need.

How to Cultivate a Calm State of Mind? Basics:

It is important to think about what the motivation behind mindfulness practices. What is mindfulness? What are we really talking about when we talk about it?

Psychologist Merita Petäjä reveals her views and sets the background for mindfulness practices in this episode of The Best Thing Today: About Mindfulness: Mona Ahponen and Merita Petäjä (Duration 36'48)

Read more about the three basic ideas on how to cultivate a calm state of mind:

Mindfulness - How To Practice a Calm State of Mind

Breathing

“How does this work? Changing the rhythm of your breath can signal relaxation, slowing your heart rate and stimulat Reducing Stress (hbr.org)ating the vagus nerve, which runs from the brain stem to the abdomen, and is part of the parasympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for the body’s “rest and digest” activities (in contrast to the sympathetic nervous” Research: Why Breathing Is So Effective

Self-compassion

The concept of self-compassion can help us face our shortcomings constructively and gently, just as we would comfort a friend in a similar situation.

The Keys to Your Wellbeing II is all about self-compassion.

Fierce self-compassion is a concept developed by American professor Kristin Neff. Read more from her: Self-Compassion. Learn more about the concept of fierce self-compassion by reading Oasis of Radical Wellbeing's project lead, psychologist Merita Petäjä's blog post and/or listen to this episode of The Best Thing Today psychology podcast series, where Aalto University psychologist Paula Sjöblom interviews Merita on the topic.

Presence and embodiment

A review of ten quantitative studies documented mindfulness-based intervention outcomes in reducing teachers' levels of stress and burnout, depression and anxiety. The results indicated the potential of mindfulness-based interventions for enhancing teachers' psychological health. Read more: A systematic review of mindfulness interventions for in-service teachers: A tool to enhance teacher wellbeing and performance - ScienceDirect

Meet Arawana Hayashi. On “Nowness”, improvisation, and making… | by Emma D. Paine | Field of the Future Blog | Medium

Mindfulness practices for your own use.

These practices are also available on Spotify and as Apple Podcasts under The Best Thing Today podcast series.

Background

Psychologist Merita Petäjä reveals her views and sets the background for mindfulness practices in this episode of The Best Thing Today: About Mindfulness: Mona Ahponen and Merita Petäjä (36'48)

Mindfulness practices without music:

Grounding Yourself by psychologist Sanni Saarimäki (8'21)

Scanning Your Body Movement by psychologist Sanni Saarimäki (11'38)

Hourglass by psychologist Merita Petäjä (4'19)

"Listening Me" by psychologist Merita Petäjä (6'46)

Leave It At the Door by psychologist Merita Petäjä (2'38)

Counting your Breathing by Using the Metaphor of the Slide by psychologist Sanni Saarimäki (6'08)

Counting Your Breathing in and Out by Using Numbers by psychologist Sanni Saarimäki (4'46)

Noticing Your Own Thoughts by Using the Metaphor of a Stage by psychologist Sanni Saarimäki (5'29)

Mindfulness practices with music: