Five ways to wellbeing: Take Notice

We have selected the following resources to help you take notice of how you are and also of the world around you. Being aware of how you are feeling and reflecting on your experiences will help you appreciate what matters to you. They are a mixture of Living Well support (which we're looking forward to building up for you), and online resources.

Take notice through Living Well

Learn how to give yourself a relaxing body scan

Feel relaxed from your toes to the top of your head with this 10-minute body scan relaxation with Lydia. It’s great to help you relax at any time, but a particularly good technique for helping you get to sleep. Find somewhere you can feel comfortable and supported and perhaps pull up a blanket too.

Give yourself or someone else a relaxing hand and arm massage

This short 6-minute video by Angela demonstrates how to give a relaxing hand and arm massage. The technique demonstrated can be done to yourself or you could give a massage to someone else.

How to enjoy the massage

Please make sure that the person being massaged is sitting comfortably with their hand and arm well supported. You could use a pillow or a rolled-up towel.
Please ensure the person giving the massage is also sitting comfortably and not twisting.
The massage should be performed with a gentle touch with only a light pressure applied to the skin (especially important on the downward stroke).
You may use olive oil or talc on the skin, or just enjoy the warmth of the skin-to-skin contact.
If you are the person giving the massage, please check with them that the pressure of your massage is comfortable and not too firm or too tickly.

What to avoid

If the person being massaged is not enjoying the experience please stop.
Avoid massaging over any sores or breaks on the skin.
Do not massage if the skin is warm and red (this may indicate an infection).

Meeting with others at Katharine House

Mindfulness

Paying more attention to the present moment – to your own thoughts and feelings, and to the world around you – can improve your mental wellbeing. Learning how to be aware of sensations, thoughts and feelings has been shown to enhance wellbeing for years ahead.

Discover through teaching and meditation practices how mindfulness can help you in everyday life in our eight-week mindfulness class.

Reflections

Our sharing memories class is an informal opportunity to write, explore ideas and reflect. We’ll look at ideas, creating characters and setting the scene. No previous experience or expertise required!

Arts and crafts

Making art can help many people express themselves, without having to use words.

Explore your creativity and create your own art work with the support of our experienced volunteer artists. A range of materials are available including silk painting, card making, drawing, painting and craft work. You do not need to be an artist to take part, just enjoy being creative!

How to book your sessions

All our classes are accessible to anyone who is booked onto one of our programmes. Please get in touch if you would like to join any of our groups.

Take notice online

Nature

The impact of nature on wellbeing is well documented and there are lots of ways to still notice and connect with nature from home. Below are some examples of ways you can do this via webcams and websites from around the world.

The Great Barrier Reef: an interactive journey around the reef with David Attenborough.

Longleat Safari Park: take a (virtual) walk on the wild side with the Longleat Virtual Safari, narrated by BBC Animal Park presenter Kate Humble.

Monterey Bay: watch the live webcams from Monterey Bay Aquarium and see exhibits and natural habits in this coastal paradise.

USA National Parks: explore five USA National Parks, including Hawaii's volcanoes and Kenai fjords in Alaska through Google’s online arts and culture programme called The Hidden Worlds of the National Parks.

Wildlife via webcam: live webcams situated all over the world allow you to watch a huge range of animals in their natural habitat. The Explore website has many including:

Brown Bears in Alaska: watch Brown Bears hunt for Salmon in Alaska
The Northern Lights: watch the northern lights via a webcam in Canada
Polar Bears in Canada: watch live footage of polar bears in Wapusk National Park, Canada
African Safari: go on your own African Safari and see how many of the Big 5 you can spot on the live webcams.

Theatre

Watching plays and listening to live music brings many of us joy. Take notice of how it feels to listen to and watch performances from your own home.

The Globe Theatre is releasing six plays on YouTube for free, each available for two weeks as part of YouTube Premieres.

The Royal Albert Hall brings exclusive sessions from artists' homes to yours while the RAH is shut. These shows are available for free and can be watched on demand. There are a large selection of artists to enjoy, such as the Royal Choral Society, Katherine Jenkins, renowned pianist Gabriele Montero and British legend Cliff Richard, to name a few.

Relaxation, mindfulness and meditation

Give yourself some time out to notice how you are and to notice the world around you by trying one of the exercises or workshops below.

Insight Timer is an app with lots of free meditations and talks to enjoy.

Oxford Mindfulness Centre offer online practices and podcasts.

Virtual visits

Explore and immerse yourself in a virtual visit to an old haunt or somewhere you have always dreamed of visiting.

Buckingham Palace: pretend you’re the Queen and take a virtual tour of her official residence.

Google arts and culture: visit all of the places that you’ve dreamed of through Google arts and culture. Where will you go? The Taj Mahal? The Eiffel Tower? Sydney Opera House?

Google street view: there aren't many places that Google hasn’t documented. Explore the streets of a favourite holiday destination or where you grew up. Simply search for the location and then hit the little yellow man to bring up the street view images.

London attractions: go sightseeing in London by taking a 360-degree virtual tour of some of the city’s main attractions.

National Trust properties: love looking around National Trust stately homes? Check out these virtual tours to do from home.

The New Seven Wonders of the World: tick off these iconic landmarks by virtual tours of all seven ‘new’ wonders of the world.

Stonehenge: admire a 360-degree view of this iconic stone monument.

Other Five Ways to Wellbeing resources

Find out more about Katharine House Hospice

To find out more about the work we do, read What we do or explore our For Patients and Families pages.
To explore fundraising events, visit Fundraising events, Challenge events and Supporter events.
To receive regular news about development at the hospice and fundraising events, please sign up to our digital newsletter.

Latest

Walraven's shining example of support for Katharine House
From Garden to Vase Open Garden, Culworth

Enjoy the wonderful organic garden created by Suzy to grow all the cut flowers she uses in her flower arrangements business. She's opening her garden on Sunday, 9 June, 1–4pm.
The Old Vicarage Open Garden

The Old Vicarage in Adderbury is opening its wonderful garden, arboretums and lake to the public on Bank Holiday Monday 6 May.
Tractor Run organiser awarded for contributions to community

The organiser of the much-loved Tractor Run, which raises thousands of pounds for Katharine House Hospice every year, has been awarded a High Sheriff Award.

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