When and how should therapeutic exercises be used? Generally, a well-functioning person is able to regulate their emotions even under moderate stress and can see and choose more than one or two alternative ways to act in challenging situations. Additionally, they are usually able to feel valuable and good about themselves. This article describes the types of therapeutic exercises that can help strengthen your mental well-being.
There are exercises for many purposes: for example, you can find support in understanding your own boundaries and resources, expressing yourself and your needs, and guiding your life in a direction that feels good and meaningful to you.
At times, low moods and psychological symptoms can arise, requiring ways to ease the situation. Therapeutic exercises can be effective ways to help alleviate your discomfort, but on their own, they do not address the root causes of your problems and do not replace professional help if it is needed. If symptoms interfere with your daily life or cause you concern, even one or a few sessions with a psychologist can help you make sense of your situation. It’s better to seek help too early than too late.
You can use therapeutic exercises both for everyday mental challenges and as support alongside professional help in more difficult moments. However, your ability to apply the skills these exercises offer can vary depending on how you’re feeling. On the other hand, you can continue to practice and refine these skills indefinitely, even for a lifetime. Next, let’s explore together how these exercises can best be utilized.
Therapeutic exercises and what you should know about them
The internet is full of various therapeutic exercises to support mental well-being. However, it takes skill and wisdom to understand what you specifically need in your toolkit right now. What do you need to change or learn at this moment? A good guiding principle is to follow what resonates with you and feels meaningful. Often, the sense of meaning is rooted in a connection to pain: “This touches me. It feels important to pause here.”
“Trying is a bit like fishing. The fisherman casts his line in different directions and tests where the fish might bite. Change in oneself is about living with this dilemma.”
As another guiding principle, you can remind yourself that we often simply cannot know in advance which exercises will benefit us the most. The only way is to persistently try different things. Trying is a bit like fishing: the fisherman casts the line in various directions, testing where the fish might bite. Change within yourself is about being with this dilemma—how to simultaneously be calm and pause with yourself, while also having the energy and perseverance to test different approaches.
In this article, I aim to introduce different types of therapeutic exercises. They can be categorized into exercises for pausing, building resources, thinking skills, emotional skills, and behavioral skills.
How can we feel better mentally?
1. Stop: understanding drives change
Insights may at first appear ordinary or small, but they carry an important emotional message. This new awareness, reaching into your emotions, opens your eyes to see how, for example, a distorted view of yourself or others may be maintaining a difficult situation.
Understanding reveals opportunities to act differently. Change requires conscious effort, but understanding makes the process significantly easier. It frees us from the compulsion to repeat and breaks the cycle of being stuck. Without understanding, we don’t know what is worth changing. The risk is that we keep doing what we have already tried in an attempt to create change.
2. Check your resources
Most of us already carry skills accumulated over the course of life in our “backpack.” In difficult situations, these skills often get forgotten. To start, you can reflect on what resources you have previously used in challenging situations. What new things would you be willing to try and practice?
Trying something just once may not reveal the wisdom behind the method. It’s worth trying new things several times before deciding that a particular approach isn’t right for you. Would you like to, or might it be helpful for you, to try exercises such as mindfulness practices?
3. Work with your thoughts
By working with your thought patterns, you open a path toward deeper self-awareness and psychological balance. By recognizing and understanding your cognitive distortions, you can develop healthier perspectives, which in turn positively affect your emotions and behavior. The ability to adopt new viewpoints creates opportunities for growth, change, and enriching your life.
“At the core of emotional skills is the ability to recognize emotions. Practicing emotional skills is like peeling an onion of feelings, where each layer usually reveals new depths.”
4. Strengthen your emotional skills
Emotional skills refer to the ability to recognize, understand, and manage your own emotions, as well as to navigate the emotions of others. They include awareness of your own feelings, the ability to express them appropriately, the ability to regulate them, and the ability to recognize and understand the emotions of others. At the core of emotional skills is the recognition of emotions. Practicing these skills is like peeling an onion of feelings, with each layer usually revealing new depths.
Can you identify what you are feeling? What about what you want and need? What about what your desires or lack of feelings might be related to? Emotional skills are probably the most important part of mental well-being. By strengthening your emotional skills, you create a foundation for your inner balance and your ability to form meaningful social relationships.
5. Put your insights into practice
Insights alone, at the level of the mind, are often not enough to create change that reaches into everyday life. New ways of being do not take root in daily routines without practice. The power of insights is realized only through practical action. Habits and routines are key to moving from your current state to your desired state. Practice new ways of doing things and translate your insights into concrete everyday actions.
Don’t fear that change can feel slow or that you might doubt your own resources along the way. Humans are naturally quite “economical” in how we use energy. We resist anything that consumes energy and doesn’t immediately feel pleasant or comfortable. So don’t give up. Change takes time—and if you need support, you can always turn to a trained therapy professional.
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Therapeutic exercises
- Mental exercises reflect a fruitful dichotomy in the field: a combination of science and practice. Therapy is, in a sense, a craft—almost an art—although the guidelines provided by evidence-based care are firmly in the hands of a skilled therapist.
- On Heltti’s website, you can find exercises that psychotherapists and psychologists have found useful. We have carefully selected the tips and exercises featured on our site. At the same time, it’s worth noting that there are hundreds of therapists, and the exercises also reflect each therapist’s individual experience and perspective.
- Remember that the exercises on their own do not address the root causes of your problems and do not replace professional help if it is needed. Instead, at their best, they can serve as targeted tools to help ease your discomfort.
About the author of this article
I am Katri Kanninen, Doctor of Psychology, experienced psychotherapist, psychotherapy trainer (CAT), and non-fiction author.