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This week we talk to Leila, one of our student counsellors here at Imperial. We discuss the positive impact being mindful has on our wellbeing, and get top tips and advice for how to do this in our busy day to day lives.

Leila Play video
3 Minute Breathing Space

3 Minute Breathing Space

Join Leila in a 3 minute breathing space meditation- a great way to first experience mindfulness.

Leila cup of tea Play video
a Mindful cup of tea

A Mindful Cup of Tea

There are plenty of everyday activities you can use to be more mindful, giving you a moment of revitalising quiet and calmness in your day. Join Leila as she talks through how to have a mindful cup of tea.

Podcasts of the week

ten percent happier

Ten Percent Happier

Join Dan Harris in his top-ranking podcast, where he talks with smart people about meditation and whether you can be an ambitious person and still strive for enlightenment and inner peace.

Click here to listen

Mindful in Minutes

Mindful in Minutes

Join Kelly Smith, the creator of an online yoga, movement and meditation studio, in her weekly guided meditations that are 20 minutes or less. This podcast gives you everything that you need to live a mindful life in just minutes.

Click here to listen

Apps of the week

CALM app

Calm

The number 1 app for meditation and sleep, Calm helps reduce stress and enhance wellbeing. The 7-step program teaches you how to meditate, with adjustable nature scenes and relaxing music tracks. Sessions range from 2 to 30 minutes on the topics of focus, creativity, energy, confidence, sleep and more.

Click here to download

Headspace app

Headspace

The Headspace meditation app teaches you how to breathe, sleep, meditate, and live mindfully. These guided breathing exercises can promote mindfulness and have been proven to improve focus. There are exercises on everything from managing anxiety to stress relief to breathing, happiness, calm, and focus. Even if you’ve never meditated before, the free Basics course will teach you the essentials of meditation and mindfulness.

Click here to download

Portal app

Portal - Focus, Sleep, Escape

Portal is a mindfulness app with a difference. Instead of guided meditations, the app transports users around the world, helping them chill out with the assistance of some of nature’s most relaxing sounds. Check out the 'relax' function to try the breathing excercises.

Click here to download

Books of the week

mindfulness book

Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Finding Peace

Mindfulness: A practical guide to finding peace in a frantic world has become a word-of-mouth bestseller and global phenomenon. It reveals a set of simple yet powerful practices that you can incorporate into daily life to break the cycle of anxiety, stress unhappiness and exhaustion. It promotes the kind of happiness that gets into your bones and allows you to meet the worst that life throws at you with new courage.

Click here to purchase

Full Catastrophe living

How to cope with stress, pain and illness using mindfulness

Based on Jon Kabat-Zinn's renowned mindfulness-based stress reduction programme, this work shows you how to use medically proven mind-body approaches derived from meditation and yoga to counteract stress, establish greater balance of body and mind, and stimulate well-being and healing.

Click here to purchase

Let us know what you think

If you have any comments, thoughts, or encouraging stories you want to share with us as a result of this week's topic, or any of the Kind Mind Series, please email us at counselling@imperial.ac.uk.