PURPLE
This 7 week course is loosely centered around the 7 Chakra's. We will use colours and themes relevant to the different areas to begin to help you to find inner balance. The Third Eye or Brow Chakra is mainly about our ability to focus on the big picture and be able to make decisions . We will discuss intuition, inspiration, imagination, wisdom and the ability to think clearly. We will look at curiousity and how we can bring this into our daily lives, making it a mindfulness practice! The colour connected to this Chakra is Purple (please note that sometimes this chakra is connected to the colour Indigo).
We will start each week with the Opening Breath. Practice really noticing how you are breathing, there is no need to change your breath just move your hands, focus on the breath and see what is happening for you. Start doing a little mindfulness meditation during your day by using the breath. You do not need to use the arms for this is you're not in a suitable place just notice your breath and wonder how you are breathing! If its possible close your eyes, if not just look down at a fixed point on the floor then bring your attention to the breath. Are you breathing through your nose or mouth, what does it feel like, is your breathing fast or slow, can you feel the breath underneath your nostrils? Try to do this a few times a day or pick a time to do it - why not try to do it every morning as you are lining up for school or when you are sitting on the busy. Take a few breaths before starting to eat.
Each week we will suggest activities that can be done at home. Find what works for you, you don't need to use everything. The idea is to practice so that you gradually become more in touch with your body and mind and so that paying attention to your wellbeing and including mindfulness becomes a habit. Remember to get the whole family involved. Here are some things to try this week.
- Work with your affirmations
- Read them, repeat them, whisper them, shout them, reword them explain what they mean to others in your family.
- Why not write affirmations for other family members?
- Your Mindful List
- Continue your list of where and when and how you can be mindful.
- Enlist the help of family members.
- Why not stick the list up at home and see how many you can all do in a day?
- Maybe you can have headers 'where', 'when' and 'how' to help you focus
- For example;
- in the car on the way to school by noticing the sounds around me.
- at the dinner table by paying attention to the tastes and feel of my food.
- at sports when I take a drink by really noticing what my water feels like in my mouth.
- at night just before I start to read by taking two breaths and really concentrating on the,.
- Discuss sleep and your sleep tool kit with family members and friends.
- What helps different people fall asleep?
- What can you do to help you feel ready for bed (tools from Inner Rainbow and other things you may like).
- What makes you calm?
- Add to your check list from class and practice running through it any time you have difficulty falling asleep.
- If you catch your self saying "I can't sleep" try and stop and instead tell yourself "I can sleep".
- Practice being curious! Look at something you see every day and see if you can notice something different that you never noticed before.
- Use the purple and rainbow meditations and make a note in your journal of how it made you feel.
- Notice purple things in your daily life.
- Play the clapping brain gym exercise with your family and friends.
- Try a 'lazy 8' brain gym exercise for 30 seconds before you start your homework or a sports activity or after watching TV/iPad.
Each week we will do this rainbow meditation. It is great for balance, focus and clearing out any blocks or negativity to learning. It is great to help you calm down, make decisions and be open to learning. You can try holding your Grounding Points from Week One before you start to help you feel centred or afterwards to 'come back to the room'.
Each week will add to the crystal bead band. Here is some information about the crystal you have received this week. If you are finding it difficult to sit or lie still while meditating then why not hold your beads and see if it helps? The beads can also be put under the pillow at night to assist sleep. see which colour you are drawn too to help you decide which colour meditation to do.
Please refer to your child's journal to identify which Bach Flower Remedy they have chosen for the week. Read more about Bach Flower Remedies here. Please work with your affirmations - they can be repeated every morning and evening, discussed with the family, reworded, repeated before meditation practice and written on post-it notes to put around your room. Our brains are hard-wired to see problems, seeing a negative first is what kept our ancestors in the caves safe from danger - they could escape and then re-think if it was a real danger! We can use things like affirmations to help train our brains to look at the positive first. The more we use and repeat things the more likely it is to become a habitual way of thinking.
The room spray may not have all of the aromatherapy oils in it, it contains a blend of some of them. All of these oils are good to support this week. You can try spraying your room spray around your bedroom before you sleep or using it to start your meditation. If you are feeling unsure of yourself spray it in the air above you and breathe in the scent.
The meditation below can be done without music, however this is the music we used in the class (available on You Tube). You can play this in the background or just during the week when doing other things. The background Binaural vibration can help to resonate within the body, correcting internal frequencies subconsciously. Read more about Binaural frequencies here.
Brain Gym exercises are designed to 'switch on' the brain. To increase focus and to exercise pathways between the left and ride sides of the brain. Have you tried thinking of them as a Mindfulness Practice? When you do the exercises you are focused and in the present moment - try to really concentrate on what you are doing, move slowly and notice how your body feels as you do the exercise. For example can you notice what your arm feels like moving through the air, do you notice any emotions coming up as you move and what are they?
You can use the exercises at any time of the day but why not try them before starting a new activity, before studying, reading or doing homework, before sports or even before your meditation. Make a note in your journal about if this exercise helps you and anything that you notice about it.
During the third eye chakra work we have looked at emotions and tools to help us process our feelings. Have a look at the Emotional Processing card for more information.
The meditation below can be done without music, however this is the music we used in the class (available on You Tube). You can play this in the background or just during the week when doing other things. The background Binaural vibration can help to resonate within the body, correcting internal frequencies subconsciously. Read more about Binaural frequencies here.
During the course we have been introducing the idea of moving meditation and bringing mindfulness into daily life. Mindfulness can be simply described as being aware and in the present moment! Moving freely and paying attention to how this movement feels and noticing how a piece of music make you want to move is a wonderful way to practice mindfulness. It is also fun, allows you to exercise, helps connect your mind-body and develops self-confidence and understanding. We start with just standing and being aware of the feet on the ground and the breath coming in and out of our body and then slowly shift our weight to notice how that feels. We then move to music. We have been using some elements of 5Rhythms dance. To listen to an interview with Gabrielle Roth click here and to use her music please see this youtube link. Any piece of music or sound with changing rhythms can work though
We have been talking about sleep which is so important to our bodies. It's a big help if your mind knows what to do when you're struggling with sleep and it is definitely a good thing to develop positive sleep habits now. Create a sleep tool kit to fit you. Here are some tips to get started.