Sarah Good Occupational Therapy

Are you an Occupational Therapist interested in weaving mindfulness into your practice? Join my FREE webinar to learn more! Be sure to bring your questions! ... Webinar Name: Mindfulness for OTs Date: Monday, January 25th Time: 12:00pm EST This will be 1-hour long and will include some short meditations. You can join live via Zoom or request the replay. Comment below if you would like the link!

https://www.theothub.com//bringing-mindfulness-to-occupati

Struggling with persistent pain? These free sessions are available if you are in the Ottawa area. https://www.livinghealthychamplain.ca/en/workshop?id=4213

I've updated my website today. Please take a look: https://sarahgoodot.ca/

What self-care practices do you need to put in place right now?

https://onbeing.org/poetry/the-peace-of-wild-things/

I'm jumping into feed today to share a grounding exercise that I find helpful and simple. Many of clients find it to be a portable exercise that they can talk themselves through in situations. 54321 Grounding! Get into a comfortable position. Check in with your body briefly by taking 3 deeper breaths. Next, notice 5 things you see, 5 things you hear and 5 things you can feel. Say them to yourself. We then continue noticing 4, 3, 2, 1 item from each category. It's fine if ...there are repetitions. When you're done, check back in with yourself by taking a few more deep breaths. Notice if there are any changes in your body or mind between the beginning and end of the practice. If you would like to listen to my recorded version of this exercise, it is on the Insight Timer. You can find it here: http://insig.ht/gm_148974

Are you living with chronic pain? I have 2 spots left in an upcoming program to help you live your best life, even with symptoms.Are you living with chronic pain? I have 2 spots left in an upcoming program to help you live your best life, even with symptoms.

Happy OT Month!

Hope you can take a few moments to read my article...

What is mindfulness anyway? And how can it be used in our lives these days? The simplest way for me to understand it is that mindfulness has three parts: 1. Intention- set an intention for what you want to put your attention on 2. Attention- notice where your attention is. If it is not on your intention, can you gently bring it back to your intention?... 3. Attitude- how are you handling it when your attention wonders? How do you speak to yourself? Can you let go of judgements? The practice of mindfulness can be a formal or informal practice. If we are doing our daily occupations with a mindfulness attitude, that would be an informal practice. When we plan in time in our day to do a mindfulness meditation, that would be a formal practice. What do formal practices look like? To do a mindfulness meditation, we can be in any position. Typically, we are either sitting, standing, lying or walking. We then chose a focus (intention) such as the breath, sounds in the room or sensations in the body. We notice where our attention is and bring it back to our intention as often as needed. In fact, the bringing of our attention back is the practice and sometimes we have 100s of opportunities in a short meditation! Mindfulness is about increasing our awareness of what is present now. That means that it is not necessarily relaxing. However, over time, the practice can help us manage stressful or painful situations with more skill. What does informal mindfulness look like? Mindful doing is the practice of paying attention to the present moment while doing daily activities. This means connecting to an activity and curiously noticing what is happening around and within you with your senses while doing it, without judgement. It can be a way to practice slowing yourself down to experience the world around you in more detail. How does an orange feel under your thumb as you start to peel it? What is the smell of the food that you’re eating - what is the texture like in your mouth? What do the bubbles look like as you start to wiggle your fingers together when washing your hands? What are the sounds like as you pull a tap on to start a shower? What is something you notice about your experience in the present moment while sitting at a red light or in a waiting room - what is there to notice? The options are endless!