Snowy swirls and flurries blew about last Sunday as we met for our first gathering of the winter season. Outside flakes floated and flew on
the wind as we unzipped, unmittened, unbuttoned, and sang.
Arctic winds danced, we made music, they tumbled, we stretched, they settled, we sat, listened, and shared. How wonderful to begin our workshop again with friends !
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| Charity Kahn on You Tube with The Loving Kindness Song |
The Loving Kindness Song is new for us this season. Charity
Kahn’s upbeat & joyful tune sets this metta meditation to music and keeps it fresh on everyone’s mind… what a fantastic song to find yourself humming
all throughout the day! This is a keeper,
and we’ll be opening with it each week.
We Love clementines! There’s nothing better than the sweet citrus explosion of a clementine… a lovely way to complement the seven food contemplations, and experience mindful eating first hand. A feast for the senses, we spent the first few minutes carefully examining the outside layer in
preparation for A citrus
challenge. Putting our observation skills to the test
we collected and mixed the clementines all back together again, and passed
around the
basket to see if we could each find our original fruit. What fun! From tiny juice
cells – to the jsssh sound of peeling, so much was discussed and discovered in this simple, satisfying, present moment practice.
In her book Sitting Still Like a Frog, Eline
Snel uses the delightful image of a frog
as a metaphor for mindful practice. Myla Kabat-Zinn soothingly voices the guided
meditations which accompany the book. We began with the first meditation,
which successfully held the children’s attention
while explaining the what, how, and why’s
of mindful breathing. It was 9 minutes,
but they held on, relaxing into a new position when necessary. We were especially impressed
with the wording of the meditation - repeatedly coming back
to the frog while keeping it simple, fresh, and interesting.
“Waking
up I smile
24 brand
–new hours before me
I vow to
live them mindfully
With love
and compassion for all beings” - Thich Nhat Hanh
We refocused our attention on
our muscles, digits, joints and limbs as we stretched full bodies to the “Waking Up” poem. An uplifting 2 minute habit to get into at the start of each new day... or anytime you need to refresh.
Mindful Monkey, Happy Panda
By Kerry Lee Maclean.
introduces mindfulness in a colorful, friendly, easy to understand, way. "… Monkey is not so mindful - his Monkey Mind
constantly
jumping from one thing to another.
Panda
helps Monkey recognize the simple joy
of doing what you're doing while you're doing it." Simple and powerfully done.
We Love clementines! There’s nothing better than the sweet citrus explosion of a clementine… a lovely way to complement the seven food contemplations, and experience mindful eating first hand. A feast for the senses, we spent the first few minutes carefully examining the outside layer in
preparation for A citrus
challenge. Putting our observation skills to the test
we collected and mixed the clementines all back together again, and passed
around the
basket to see if we could each find our original fruit. What fun! From tiny juice
cells – to the jsssh sound of peeling, so much was discussed and discovered in this simple, satisfying, present moment practice.
Clementines
make winter better.
In her book Sitting Still Like a Frog, Eline
Snel uses the delightful image of a frog
as a metaphor for mindful practice. Myla Kabat-Zinn soothingly voices the guided
meditations which accompany the book. We began with the first meditation,
which successfully held the children’s attention
while explaining the what, how, and why’s
of mindful breathing. It was 9 minutes,
but they held on, relaxing into a new position when necessary. We were especially impressed
with the wording of the meditation - repeatedly coming back
to the frog while keeping it simple, fresh, and interesting.
“Eline Snel is a therapist who has been
developing meditation and mindfulness training programs for over twenty years, and the founder of the Academy for Mindful Teaching in Leusden Netherlands.”
FROGS FROGS FROGS FROGS GRIBBITT!
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| Visit our Art Gallery to see the new meditation buddies |
We hope to see you this Sunday!
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