Tuesday, March 19

    What a wonderful way to end our second day of mindfulness! First thing in the morning, as students trickled into the classroom, we colored in our newly-acquired mandala coloring books. Beginning with such a calming activity was a great way to get our creativity flowing and settle our minds before starting with some more academic tasks. Our first activity was reading a book from our selection of either You Belong, by Sebene Selassie, or Mindful of Race, by Ruth King. After reading for 15 minutes, we did a check-in and seated stretch to ensure we were working with the utmost quality. After another 15 minutes of reading, those who read each respective book had a 10-minute seminar amongst those who read their same book. After the individual seminars, both groups joined together to discuss the big takeaways from the book. 

    Students then got to explore the magic of zen gardens, crafting their very own with boxes, sand, small decorations, and tools. This was an especially relaxing activity helping students to de-stimulate and procure an environment geared towards focus and reflection. This skill can also be taken further than this M-Term, as it is a useful tool to help remind students that meditation and relaxation is just as important as a strong emphasis on academic tasks. After building and toying with zen gardens, students went off to lunch where they were encouraged to bring a salad and/or any sort of seasonal fruit as a way to celebrate the start of the Spring Equinox today. 

After lunch, students were welcomed back to the classroom with paper and permanent markers where they learned how to draw zentangles, a small doodle-like artwork made with a simple pen and paper. The products of this lesson were absolutely stunning, and we cannot wait to use zentangles as a way to decompress after an academically rigorous day in the future, and especially our beloved seniors with upcoming IB exams! To end the day on a relaxed note, students were lead in a yoga “savasana.” This style of yoga requires students to calmly lay on top of their yoga mats, and it is encouraged that they use weighted eye patches with essential oils, blankets, and yoga blocks for support. However, this relaxation strategy is not to be confused with nap time. We loved savasana, and we are so excited to see what joy tomorrow brings!