Friday, March 22

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 Friday, March 22: Day 5 of Mindfulness!
By Yazzie Stein

 

    Today was yet another inspiring and relaxing day in the mindfulness M-term. We started off the day bright and early with Vinyasa yoga (flow yoga; the positions are all connected fluidly) with Dr. Reese, which was a perfect way to stretch and get blood flowing in the morning. Then, we did a challenge: partner yoga poses! We each chose a partner for the "stacked plank", where one student did a plank atop the other. This was challenging and fun (but safe of course), and everyone got a laugh out of it! We finished our morning session with Dr. Reese with Shavasana: a restorative resting meditation technique. Some of us even got a small nap in!


Yazzie and Cape doing the stacked plank


    After yoga, we presented our topics to the class that we each researched yesterday. Today, we heard from students about metta stones, sand mandalas, total solar eclipses, and Mission: Joy. Learning about Metta stones was fascinating because we've been doing rock dot painting for the past couple of days, and learning more about the significance and mental health benefits of the process was eye-opening. The second presentation covered the history, cultural significance, and process of sand mandalas, a Tibetan Buddhist tradition of creating intricate sand art in the shape of mandalas that they destroy once they've completed the process. We learned that the destruction was about accepting impermanence and that Buddhist monks value the process over the result. The full solar eclipse is approaching on April 8th, so we discussed that a bit as well (more information on all of these topics is on the class blogger). Last, we learned about Mission: Joy — a website created for the Netflix documentary Mission: Joy about the friendship between the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, which we watched in class earlier in the week. We then each signed up for the "Big Joy Project"; a study in association with Mission: Joy by scientists aiming to understand what sparks joy in people. The sign-up for the study was free: all we had to do was fill out a survey and send in our emails. For the next seven days, we will all be receiving emails from the Big Joy Project with different "Joy Tests" and then responding to how our moods changed after.



    After we shared research, we had lunch and then went straight into Sand Mandalas. After watching a quick tutorial for creating simple sand mandalas, we began with a sample exercise. The students loved it and meticulously dedicated themselves to creating beautiful sand mandalas. 

Mid-process

Jayla's first sand mandala


    From there, we moved on to more complex mandalas, which we all worked hard on and destroyed with a mindful wish at the end. 






    We finished off the day with more relaxation and rest-time, and then with 30 minutes to read and take notes on our books for the week.

Overall, this was a great end to the week and another amazing and relaxing day in this M-term!!

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