Every year, in June, there’s an awareness week specifically to help you “breathe easy”.
In light of the Breathe Easy awareness week, and the fact that a lot of people are in dire need of anything that can calm their minds, we are sharing some of our best tips for photography and framing that you can use around the home, the office, or your garden summerhouse.
These can give you a haven to relax in with a picture to focus your mind on to help calm a racing mind, which ultimately helps you to breathe easy.
… Using Photos that Evoke Sensory Memories
Sensory memories are invoked when you see a visual that reminds you how something smelled, felt, tasted, looked, or lets you recall a soothing sound.
Here are some examples:
Smell
To evoke memories of smell, you don’t need to recreate a family favourite recipe or frame a photo of your feel-good strawberry shampoo bottle.
Pictures of tealight holders and oil burners, or even just a photo of a candle can help you recall the soothing aroma of a favourite scent that evokes good childhood memories.
An out of the ordinary framed display would be to frame press dried flowers that helps to remind you of your Grannies bowl of Pot Pourri that sat in the hallway as you walked in.
Even woodlands photos that evoke the smell of the forest can help you to get into a calm mindset. The type needed for a meaningful meditation session.
Sound
For sound, think wildlife. The sound of hummingbirds in your garden, photos of wind chimes chiming on the porch, or for running water outdoors, a photo of a river or perhaps a beach photo.
Touch
To recall how things felt to touch, family pictures are where it’s at. The feel of a hug (remember those), the sensation of a warm knitted jumper or cardigan against your skin, or even the svelte feeling of a satin scarf around your neck as you walked among nature.
Flick through your photos thinking about how things felt in the photo. It could be something you were wearing, or perhaps the comforting feeling of a kitten purring on your lap.
Taste
Does your kitchen stress you out? Breathe easy in there by displaying photos of your favourite foods and beverages. Perhaps a photo of a cup of green tea, wild berries that remind you of bramble picking for making homemade jam, or even a picture of an apple pie that evokes good memories through taste and smell.
Sight
For visual senses, it’s all about how easy on the eyes your prints are. Pastel hues with a soft tone rather than bright neon colours are easier on the eye helping invoke a sense of calm, almost instantaneously.
Of course, for them to work, you can’t “just” have them on display.
Soothing photos to calm your mind work best when they are displayed in a room for calm with plenty of space around them so you can focus your mind on the photo inside the frame.
The best place to display a soothing print is in the bedroom as it’s this print that can transform it into your sanctuary rather than just a place to rest a racing worried mind.