Wise Mind Breathing
Breathe in: "wise." Breathe out: "mind." A short practice for finding wise mind, the place where emotion and reason meet. About seven minutes.
Skill: Wise Mind
Audio Practices
Guided practices you can follow with your eyes closed. Each one trains a skill from the Toolkit; the same practices are on the videos page with a picture.
Guided practices
Press play and follow along. Nothing to download, nothing to sign up for.
Stone Flake on a Lake
A brief visualization exercise intended to increase peace, calm emotions, and heighten awareness of "wise mind" — an important DBT concept.
Skill: Wise Mind
Spiral Staircase Meditation
This meditative exercise reduces anxiety and stress, and increases peace. Try rating your anxiety on a scale from 1-10 before and after the exercise, and mindfully notice the improvement.
Skill: Wise Mind
Is This Wise Mind?
This exercise focuses on accessing your "wise mind" — a synthesis of emotion and reason that allows us to find the best course of action without being emotionally reactive or emotionally avoidant.
Skill: Wise Mind
Sensory Awareness
This mindfulness exercise focuses on the observation of sensory information. Paying attention to our sensations can help focus our attention and ability to remain in the present moment.
Skill: Observe
Mindful Walking
Slow, attentive walking: lifting, moving, placing. Keep your eyes open and use any short stretch of floor or path. About eight minutes.
Skill: Participate
Non-Judgmental Meditation
Designed to help you use the "How" skill of nonjudgmentally. It focuses on noticing instead of judging any thoughts and feelings that may arise over the course of the exercise.
Skill: Non-Judgmentally
Loving Kindness Meditation
Designed to improve mood, increase joy, and increase peace. This sequence focuses on acceptance using visualization techniques.
Skill: Loving-Kindness
Body Scan Meditation
Designed to connect you more fully to your body, this sequence will ground you in the present moment, increase bodily awareness, and reduce anxiety.
Skill: Observe
Mindful Emotional Awareness
Before we can change our emotions, we have to learn to recognize what we feel, when we feel it. This exercise can help you get started, and is an important skill in our anxiety treatment program.
Joyful Memory Meditation
This mindfulness exercise improves mood and increases mindfulness of the present moment. Mindfully notice any changes in mood you may experience throughout this visualization exercise.
Progressive Muscle Relaxation
Tense and release twelve muscle groups, hands to feet, with time to notice each release. Part of the TIPP skill for bringing your body down when emotions run high. About twelve minutes.
Skill: TIPP
Urge Surfing
For the moment an urge hits. Ride it like a wave, watching it rise and fall, without acting on it. About eight minutes.
Skill: Urge Surfing
Half-Smiling and Willing Hands
Use your face and hands to soften resistance and move toward acceptance. About six minutes.
Skill: Half-Smiling + Willing Hands
Turning the Mind
Practice choosing acceptance again each time you notice yourself fighting reality. About eight minutes.
Skill: Turning the Mind
Paced Breathing
Breathe in for five, out for seven. Slowing your breath, with a longer out-breath, brings your body down when emotions run high. Part of the TIPP skill. About six minutes.
Skill: TIPP
Watching Your Thoughts Go By
Set each thought on a boat and watch it drift down the river, without grabbing it or pushing it away. About eight minutes.
Cope Ahead
Rehearse a hard moment before it happens: name what you expect, pick your skills, and see yourself coping, even when something goes wrong. About seven minutes.
Skill: Cope Ahead
A Calm Place
Build a calm, safe room in your mind to return to when a moment is hard. Part of the IMPROVE skill. About seven minutes.
Skill: IMPROVE the Moment
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