Here is a really good and simple Mindfulness exercise to practice every day or at times of stress or anxiety such as at exam time:
Sit comfortably into a chair.
Pay attention to your breathing in and breathing out.
Allow your thoughts to come in but gently send them on their way again. A good way to do this
is to place them on an imaginary leaf and then watch them float away on a breeze.
Keep bringing your mind gently back to paying attention to your breathing in and out.
The idea is not to allow yourself to become hijacked by your thoughts, but if you are to just keep centering yourself by gently focusing back again and again on your breathing.
This mindfulness practice helps take us out of our heads and therefore out of the busyness and sometimes even the chaos of our thoughts and anchors us in our bodies and in the here and now.
Practising this simple exercise every day or just when stress starts to build will help reduce anxiety and allow for clearer thinking especially when this is badly needed at exam time.
Professional help with Anxiety or Stress is available on our page: Find a Therapist here.