In a previous blogpost I have described how I have lived with Long Covid and some of the lessons I have learned throughout this period now stretching over 3,5 years. 

Living with a chronic condition it’s common to keep looking for tools that can help strengthen and calm our minds and bodies. 

While there are amazing tools available, there are three simple practices that I keep coming back to and in this blogpost I describe them and make available three recordings that I have made for myself, because I thought that others in our community might benefit from them.

Awareness Mantra

The first tool that I use regularly is the awareness mantra.

In the article linked to above, Simone says: ”The Awareness mantra is a simple tool that we can apply every time we become aware of an unhelpful thought or memory, we say the following to ourselves (if possible out loud):

“I’m proud and grateful to be aware that I have / had a not-helpful thought / flashback / sound / picture / film / smell / feeling etc. (choose the most appropriate word based on the type of memory) or action.”

For me it has been hard to stop and say the words either out loud or in my mind, so I recorded the very basic and short sentence, so all I need to do is to stop what I am doing and start the recording to follow my own instructions, which seems to help me use this tool more often.

My personal recording:

4-7-8 breathing

The second tool that I find hard to do just in my mind is the 4-7-8 breathing 4-7-8 Alarm – Simple Tool – PowerWood. This particular breathing pattern has a super calming effect so in order to use it more frequently I also use my own recording with specific counting followed by the power pose stretch.

My personal recording:

Body Scan Meditation

Thirdly I have recorded a very basic body scan meditation (scroll down for the transcript*), where the aim is to simply give attention to specific body parts when mentioned. I do love listening to various yoga nidras, which are meditations of varying lengths with various focus points, sometimes accompanied by music or sound healing. Being the very sensitive person I am, I sometimes find the extra sounds triggering or distracting, and sometimes the topic of the mediation makes me sad, if for instance you are asked to imagine that you are on a beautiful beach. Being very housebound, this particular suggestion doesn’t always promote calmness to my system, so I recorded this scan without background sound and without a story, just a focus on body attention. 

-See the transcript of the Body Scan below*-

Please feel free to use these tools if you think they would help you, whether you live with a chronic illness or not. 

© 2023 Tine Landy

*This is a little body scan for you to use when you need a little break in your day. 

Either sit down or lay down and be as comfortable as you can 

Take in a deep breath and blow out slowly 

Take in another breath and slowly release this one 

Now start by your feed 

The aim of the little exercise is not to do anything in particular 

Other than just pay attention to the body part that I mention 

We are going to do both sides of the body at the same time 

And simply just try and focus on how it feels in this particular body part  

Just give the attention that is all 

So, start by focusing on your feet 

Feel the sole of your feet 

All ten toes just give them attention 

Just see how they feel 

Move up to the top of the foot and to the ankles 

How do your ankles feel 

Don’t judge just notice how they feel 

Then move along up to your shins, knees, your thighs, your hips 

Remember to take a deep breath and just keep breathing slowly as we move through the body 

After your hips now move your attention to your belly, to your solar plexus, to your chest 

And now move to the top of your back, your lower back, and your buttocks 

Slowly move your attention up to your shoulders, your upper arms 

Your elbows, your lower arms, see how your hands are feeling 

How are your palms of your hands feeling, all ten fingers, the top of your hands 

And now move back up through your arms, wrist, lower arms, elbows, upper arms, and shoulders 

And the whole area around the shoulders and the top of the back 

Now move into your neck, to your ears, to the back of your head, to the top of your head 

To your forehead, your eyes, how do your eyes feel, your nose, your cheekbones, your cheeks, your nose, your mouth, your chin, and the front of your neck 

And now take a deep breath and see how the whole of your body feels in this moment 

And try and take in a slow and steady breathing and thank yourself for doing this exercise 

And giving yourself a break, 

Have a good of the rest of your day 

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