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Dear School Nurses, This is our fourth and final week to connect and discuss Mind-Body Medicine. If you have enjoyed these practices, I encourage you to keep practicing them, share them with co-workers and students, and learn more about them and others here . I have no affiliation with the Center for Mind-Body Medicine other than having benefited from participating in a free skills group. In this group, we learned more about how stress affects the mind AND body. I also began pondering how these skills might fit into the daily school nurse interventions we provide for students struggling with stress and coping. This week, I share the power ...

Dear School Nurses, Welcome back to another installment of Mind-Body Medicine skills for school nurses. You face challenges every day. What if you could escape to a safe place or have a wise companion with whom you could discuss dilemmas and life’s troubles? Those ways of approaching stress may be closer than you think. This week’s video introduces you to Safe Place and Wise Guide imagery. Some connect these practices with spiritual practices and a Higher Power; others associate these practices with internal unconscious or subconscious thoughts. Whichever way you choose to associate these imagery practices and use them in your life, I hope you enjoy ...

Dear School Nurses, School nursing can be incredibly stressful. I hope you have taken many opportunities this past week to engage in soft belly breathing to relieve and cope with stress. It is free, doesn’t require any fancy equipment, and can be done anywhere (well, maybe not while driving if your eyes are closed). I feel so much lighter, freer, and more prepared to make tough decisions when I have taken a moment to practice this skill. The Center for Mind-Body Medicine has this to say about soft belly breathing: “It enhances activity in the hippocampus and frontal cortex, which allows us to gain perspective on our emotions, to integrate them more easily ...

Fight. Flight. Freeze. How do you respond when you reach the point of “stressed out”? Do you ever feel a disconnect between your brain and your body during these moments? As school nurses, you experience eustress (good stress), distress (bad stress), hypostress (low stress), and hyperstress (high stress). During the past few school years, you have likely experienced your fair share of distress and hyperstress. What has overstimulation and negative stressors done to you? Have you been experiencing symptoms of anxiety or depression? Have you experienced changes in your body because of your stress response—increased headaches, muscle ...

Suddenly widowed at age 41, my world froze. After several weeks of going through the motions – commuting to work and home again, checking the date on the milk, replacing the empty shampoo – a caring colleague invited me to create space in my daily routine to journal. I was also introduced to a foreign (to me) reading list, beginning with a book by Jack Kornfield – A Path with Heart . He suggested I set the stage by going to a safe place in my mind’s eye – a place of meaning – a place to explore life lessons. That place for me was the ocean shore. So many beach pieces to journal about – to ponder and wonder what lessons they may hold for me. For example, the ...

Cultivate love, kindness and compassion; share its position energy with family, friends and the wider world. Additional mindfulness moments are released each week in February 2022. Make yourself a priority and participate in the moments and share with your school nurse colleagues. To learn more about mindfulness, visit the Mindful Magazine article, Guide to Practicing Self-care with Mindfulness .

Take a moment for yourself and clear your head by focusing on your breathing. Additional mindfulness moments are released each week in February 2022. Make yourself a priority and participate in the moments and share with your school nurse colleagues. To learn more about mindfulness, visit the Mindful Magazine article, Guide to Practicing Self-care with Mindfulness .

Take a moment for yourself and treat yourself the way you would treat family or a close friend. Additional mindfulness moments are released each week in February 2022. Make yourself a priority and participate in the moments and share with your school nurse colleagues. To learn more about mindfulness, visit the Mindful Magazine article, Guide to Practicing Self-care with Mindfulness .

Take a moment for yourself and try find joy in simple pleasures and be fully present during the day. Additional mindfulness moments are released each week in February 2022. Make yourself a priority and participate in the moments and share with your school nurse colleagues. To learn more about mindfulness, visit the Mindful Magazine article, Guide to Practicing Self-care with Mindfulness .

Take a moment for yourself and take the time to relax and experience peace for a few moments. Additional mindfulness moments are released each week in February 2022. Make yourself a priority and participate in the moments and share with your school nurse colleagues. To learn more about mindfulness, visit the Mindful Magazine article, Guide to Practicing Self-care with Mindfulness .

Stress and Anxiety Quiz The following quiz is courtesy of the Greater Good Science Center at the University of California, Berkeley. NOTE: To complete the quiz, you do NOT have to log in or become a member of the Greater Good Science Center . Stress Management Resources American Heart Association: Stress Management Mayo Clinic: Nine Ways to Tame Anxiety During the COVID-19 Pandemic