These activities will help you to relax and self-soothe.
Learning to relax and soothe yourself is very important for many reasons. When you’re relaxed, your body feels better. It also functions in a healthier way. In a state of relaxation, your heart beats more slowly and your blood pressure is reduced. Your body is no longer in a state of constant emergency, preparing to either confront a stressful situation or run away from it. As a result, it’s easier for your brain to think of healthier ways to cope with your problems.
Included here are some simple relaxation and soothing activities that utilize your five senses of smell, sight, hearing, taste, and touch. These activities are meant to bring you a small amount of peace in your life. So if one of these activities doesn’t help you feel relaxed, or makes you feel worse, don’t do it. Try something else. And remember, each one of us is different. For example, some people will become more relaxed by listening to music and others will find that taking a hot bubble bath works for them.
Self-Soothing Using Your Sense of Smell
Smell is a very powerful sense that can often trigger memories and make you feel a certain way. Therefore, it’s very important that you identify smells that make you feel good, not bad. Here are some ideas.
1. Burn scented candles or incense in your room or house.
2. Wear scented oils, perfume, or cologne that makes you feel happy, or confident.
3. Go someplace where the scent is pleasing to you, like a bakery or restaurant.
4. Bake your own food that has a pleasing smell, like chocolate chip cookies.
5. Lie down in your local park and smell the grass and outdoor smells.
6. Buy fresh-cut flowers or seek out flowers in your neighbourhood.
Self-Soothing Using Your Sense of Vision
Vision is very important to humans. In fact, a large portion of our brain is devoted solely to our sense of sight. The things you look at can often have very powerful effects on you, for better or for worse. That’s why it’s important to find images that have a very soothing effect on you. And again, for each person, it comes down to individual taste and preference. Here are some ideas.
1. Find a place that’s soothing for you to look at, like a park or a museum. Or find a picture of a place that’s soothing for you to look at, like the Grand Canyon.
2. Find photographs and/or paintings that you find relaxing, such as the nature photographs of Ansel Adams.
3. Draw or paint your own picture that’s pleasing to you.
4. Carry a picture or photograph of someone you love, someone you find attractive, or someone you admire.
Self-Soothing Using Your Sense of Hearing
Certain sounds can soothe us. Listening to gentle music, for example, may be relaxing. Use these examples to identify the sounds that help you relax.
1. Listen to soothing music. This can be classical, opera, oldies, new age, Motown, jazz, Celtic, African, or anything else that works for you. It might be music with singing or without.
2. Listen to audiobooks. Take some out to see if it helps you relax. You don’t even have to pay attention to the story line. Sometimes just listening to the sound of someone talking can be very relaxing.
3. Turn on the television and just listen. Find a show that’s boring or sedate. Sit in a comfortable chair or lie down, and then close your eyes and just listen. Make sure you turn the volume down to a level that’s not too loud.
4. Listen to a gentle talk show on the radio. Remember—a gentle talk show, not something that’s going to make you upset or angry. Stay away from political talk shows. and the news. Find something neutral in discussion. Again, sometimes just listening to someone else talk can be relaxing.
5. Open your window and listen to the peaceful sounds outside. Or, if you live in a place without relaxing sounds outside, go visit a place with relaxing sounds, such as a park. Listen to a recording of nature sounds, such as birds and other wildlife.
6. Listen to white-noise. White noise is a sound that blocks out other distracting sounds. You can listen to white noise on youtube, an app or you can turn on a fan to block out distracting sounds.
7. Listen to the sound of rushing or trickling water. Maybe your local park has a waterfall, or the nearby mall has a fountain. Or maybe just sit in your bathroom with the water running.
Self-Soothing Using Your Sense of Taste
Taste is also a very powerful sense. Our tongue has distinct regions of taste buds on it to differentiate flavors and tastes of food. These sensations can also trigger memories and feelings, so again, it’s important that you find the tastes that are pleasing to you. However, if eating is a problem for you, such as eating too much, bingeing, purging, or restricting what you eat, talk to a professional counselor about getting help for yourself. If the process of eating can make you upset or nervous, use your other senses to calm yourself. But if food soothes you, use some of these suggestions.
1. Enjoy your favorite meal, whatever it is. Eat it slowly so you can enjoy the way it tastes.
2. Carry lollipops, gum, or other candy with you to eat when you’re feeling upset.
3. Eat a soothing food, like ice cream, chocolate, pudding, or something else that makes you feel good.
4. Drink something soothing, such as tea, coffee, or hot chocolate. Practice drinking it slowly so you can enjoy the way it tastes.
5. Suck on an ice cube or an ice pop, especially if you’re feeling warm, and enjoy the taste as it melts in your mouth
Self-Soothing Using Your Sense of Touch
We often forget about our sense of touch, and yet we’re always touching something, such as the clothes we’re wearing or the chair we’re sitting in. Our skin is our largest organ, and it’s completely covered with nerves that carry feelings to our brain. Certain tactile sensations can be pleasing, like petting a soft dog, while other sensations are shocking or painful in order to communicate danger, like touching a hot stove. Again, each of us prefers different sensations. You have to find the ones that are most pleasing for you. Here are some suggestions.
1. Carry something soft or velvety in your pocket to touch when you need to, like a piece of cloth.
2. Take a hot or cold shower and enjoy the feelings of the water falling on your skin.
3. Take a warm bubble bath or a bath with scented oils and enjoy the soothing sensations on your skin.
4. Get a massage.
5. Play with your pet. Owning a pet can have many health benefits. Pet owners often have lower blood pressure, lower cholesterol levels, and reduced risk for heart disease (Anderson, Reid, & Jennings, 1992), and they experience other general health improvements (Serpell, 1991). In addition, playing with your pet and stroking the animal’s fur or skin can provide you with a soothing tactile experience. If you don’t have a pet, consider getting one. Or if you can’t afford one, visit a friend who has a pet or volunteer at your local animal shelter where you can play with the rescued animals.
6. Wear your most comfortable clothes, like your favourite worn-in T-shirt, baggy sweat suit, or old jeans.
