Activities

How can mindfulness-based practices be used to support young people and adults with a learning disabilities?

Mindfulness-based practices can be used to support the needs of young people and adults with a learning disabilities. This approach can also be used to support the overall well-being needs of parents/carers and other members of the household. It’s important that people with learning disabilities are supported in a manner that considers their person-centred needs with values focused on dignity and respect.

The aim of this toolkit is to offer mindfulness-based practices that can be used as a social prescription included as an option to be included as part of a care and support plan and/or a positive behaviour support plan. The overall aim of all the practices included as part of the toolkit is to support people to pay attention, notie and be aware of:

• what is happening in that moment
• what is happening around you
• what is happening inside your body in that moment
• curiosity towards what is there in that moment
• help us not to create ‘stories’ in our minds
• kindness towards yourself and others.

Mind anchor

Our breathing can be used as our anchor, helping us ground ourselves in that moment! Our breathe as the anchor can help us stay in the moment.

Anchoring and Grounding Practices:

• Awareness: What you notice in your mind?
• Awareness: What you notice in your breathing?
• Breathing: Noticing the flow of your breathings and how this can help you ‘tune in’ like an anchor to what you notice in your mind and body.
• Remembering: There is no ‘wrong’ or ‘right’ way of following a practice. It is whatever you need and feel in your mind and body.
• Remembering: It’s not possible to ‘empty our mind’ or ‘stop our thoughts’!  

When can we use it?

You can use the Toolkit anytime you feel like it. You can select different activities and/or practices as you wish- whatever you feel like in that moment! This is a Toolkit for you to adapt to your own needs- it’s about noticing and listening to what you need to support your own well-being. The practices vary in length and type of activity- explore the Toolkit to find out what you enjoy!

Possibilities?

Using this Toolkit gives you options- you can choose what feel OK for your and what you enjoy. So, this Toolkit can be used to meet your needs.
This Toolkit give you options to focus on you and your own well-being. Mindfulness can support you with feelings of stress, sadness and anxiety.
The aim of this Toolkit is to also support you notice the good things, that can often make you feel good about yourself and less distracted with past or future events.

The aim of the Toolkit is to support you to:

• Develop awareness: being present and reducing responsiveness
• Pay attention to your physical feelings in your bodies
• Pay attention to the thoughts, moods and emotions
• Pay attention: by using everyday exercises
• Using different exercises: for example, the body scan or breathing exercises
• Learning how to adapt our practices to support the needs of people with learning disabilities.

Whats needed?

The aim of this practice is to pay attention and focus on ‘everyday’ activities with purpose. You can choose ‘everyday’ activities, for example:

• Choose one ‘every day’ exercise: you can undertake this ‘everyday’ exercise in a mindful way- focusing your attention and awareness on this task! Have a go!
  
  
• Eating a meal or food mindfully: (See page 10 for further guidance)
  
  
• Going for a mindful walk: If it feels comfortable for you, focus on a short practice indoor or outdoor where you walk mindfully, paying attention to the sensation and feelings of your foot as it connects with the floor/ground. You can also focus your breathing: breathing in as you lift your foot and breathing out as you place your foot down.
  
  
• Being Present: what is being ‘present’?: Being with the ‘here and now’ and focusing on your experiences and senses to focus on your experiences, including, what you are feeling, seeing, hearing and smelling in that moment. Focusing your attention and awareness
  on your experiences with purpose and without putting pressure of judgement on yourself. REMEMBER: There’s no right or wrong way of following any of the practices in this Toolkit, it more important to focus on what feel ‘OK’ for me. Focus on listening to your body.
  
  
• What is being on ‘autopilot’? What have you done today on
  ‘autopilot’? Maybe you’ve done a task without thinking or feeling what’s happening around you?
  
  
• Velcro & Teflon: Remember that our mind is like Velcro for negative things and like Teflon for positive things. That is, our mind is wired to focus on negative things rather than our positive or pleasant experiences. Try not to be hard on yourself! It takes patience and practice to focus on the positive experiences and re-focus our mind to avoid focusing on negative experiences whilst the positive experiences ‘pass us by’. Remember: everyone has negative thoughts! Give yourself time to start a routine of focusing and paying attention to at least five positive thing that you experience everyday!
  
  
• Feeling your: Feet You can use your breathing to focus on the feelings or the connection of your feel on the ground, focusing your awareness on the sensations and the feelings of the soles of the feel on the ground offering you a connection to the ‘here and now’