Day 7 by Katerina Prestwood

 

Day 7

We started off the day by doing Hatha yoga with Dr. Reese which incorporated slow-paced poses stretching different parts of your body. Initially, we stood up with a block between our hands applying pressure to the block and moving side to side. Then we placed the block between our thighs and repeated going side to side. After that, we sat down and stretched our legs and torso. Unfortunately, Dr. Reese had to leave earlier so then we moved on to breathing techniques with Dr. Shivani. 

We started off by doing alternate breathing in which we hold one side of the nose closed with your thumb and your index and middle finger on your forehead. Then you interchange it by inhaling through one side of the nostril and then exhaling through the other nostril. Then we did the Om breath in which we breathe in and breathe out with an A, U, OM sound by doing this it connects us with our chakras. It takes 2 minutes long and it is very important to stay focused. 

Then we went on an outing to the Buddist Temple and learned about the culture and lifestyle that the Buddist people follow. After that we went to Thai Bistro and ordered Thai food which was really good and tasty.

Day 8 by Autumn Blanton

Day 8!!!!

Today we had our final day of yoga with Dr. Reese! Our session consisted of completely restorative yoga, a variation of yoga where you support your upper or lower body to feel the effects of the position in the other half. It is very relaxing, especially if you use pillows and blankets like we did. Dr. Reese led us through fish pose, supported bridge, twists, and finally, shavasana where we got to lie down and rest with our pillows and blankets! Dr. Reese is an amazing yoga teacher and we all deeply enjoyed the yoga she has taught us for the past two weeks. Next, we practiced our breathing with Ms. Shivani as she led us through alternate,

humming, aum, and jerk breathing. This time, we did all of the breaths together without stopping which helps you be more focused on your body and what you're feeling as you breathe. Then, we had another presentation from Ms. Sanchez who showed us the importance of conscious language. We learned that your brain listens to everything you think and say about yourself and others, and in turn, makes that into your reality. You have to be aware of the language you choose to use to shape your day and life into what you want. For example, having a positive outlook on a task you don't want to do would make it more enjoyable than constantly dreading it. The laws of conscious

language are to be specific and decisive when speaking, feel your words and speak with power, and make everything you say a decree with authority and connection. You can also use sentence stems like "I am," "I can," or "I love". A good practice to incorporate into your days is meditating for 7 minutes in the morning and at night making an outcome map at the end of the day for your future plans! An outcome map is made by making a circle in the middle of your main idea and adding branches for the specifics of what you need to do to accomplish it! Also, work in 5 moments of being grateful per day, try to see perfection, and always give to others. After lunch, we spent some time practicing for our presentations next week.
This time, Avery guided us through the Aum breath as a couple other students continued preparing. Next, Mr. Warren led us through forward fold poses including a standing one, and a couple variations of warrior two. We spent a couple minutes in guided meditation and recalling certain moments in our lives, envisioning the phases of the moon as we moved past these moments. We then took some time massaging our feet with

sesame oil, focusing on the muscles that are connected to our spine and brain. Mr. Warren then taught us about the 3 sister crops: corn, beans, and squash. These three crops are planted together because they provide each other structure, the beans growing up the corn and supplying nitrogen into the soil to help the squash grow big. He then offered us a delicious soup of these crops that we ate for our evening snack! Finally, we spent a bit of time working on our slideshow for next week and resetting the room for a final exciting day of yoga and mindfulness tomorrow!

Day 6 by Autumn Blanton

Day 6!

 Today, like most days, we started with yoga guided by Dr. Reese. We were guided through warrior one, two, and triangle poses, including a practice while pressed against the wall to help keep our cores in line with our bodies which helped increase the stretch we felt. These yoga poses help to stretch the insides and backs of your legs and give your upper legs and core a workout! I recommend you give them a try with advice from Dr. Reese: pay attention to your body and move as far as your body wants to. Yoga is a great way to become more in tune with what your body is telling you and find out where you might be tense.

Next, Dr. Shivani led us through our pranayama, a yoga breathing exercise. We completed Anilom Vilom (alternate breathing), Kapal Bhati (jerk breathing), and two new ones we learned today, Virachen and Aum breathing. 

Virachen breathing is done by taking a deep breath, putting your arms up to the sky, and pulling it down with a sharp exhale through your nose. Aum breathing is done by focusing on your stomach while saying the first syllable of the mantra, "a", focusing on your throat while saying "u", and the top of your head by saying "m". Make sure to say each syllable of the mantra for double the time then the last. 

Next, we had a guest speaker, Ms. Daniela, who taught us the basics of meditation. It started about 5000 years ago in Hinduism as a way to connect the mind and body. Through meditation, you're able to move away from the roots of hate (aversion, attachment, and ignorance) in order to let your self-love blossom! We learned that the trick to meditation isn't necessarily clearing your mind, but instead slowing down the thoughts you have. The more you practice meditation, the easier it will be and the more results you will see such as managing stress, thinking calmer and clearer, improving self esteem, and more! 

Make sure to meditate over 7, 14, or 21 minutes for the best results! You can also say a mantra repeatedly over the duration of meditation which is a 1 or 2 syllable word that your brain can connotate to relaxation

We ended the day by drawing the outlines of our large sand mandalas. Everyone made designs in their journals fueled by an intention they wanted their mandala to fulfill. Some had intentions of becoming ...

                              ( Sketch/outline of sand mandala )

...more aware of their surroundings or removing negativity from their lives, but they were all positive things to improve their wellbeing. Finally, we cleaned and reset the room for the next day! :)

Day 5 By Emma Rebuffini

                                  In the morning the first thing we did was our yoga. We practiced different poses that stretched our legs/knees. 

    After we did yoga we went into our breathing exercises with Dr. Shivani Bhatia and we did a breath called "Anulong Violon" also known as alternate breathing. It helps promote even breathing out of both nostrils and helps your neurons communicate better. You put your right hand's thumb on your right nostril and your index and middle finger on your third eye, which is in the middle of your forehead and your ring finger goes on your left nostril. You breathe in on one side and then exhale on the other. 

    It was also Dr. Shivani's birthday so we had a cake and a small celebration.

                                                                                                    

    After that, we had Mr. Warren come, and he showed us some poses and breathing to do with the poses. We learned that the poses are made to warm you and calm you down. He taught us about Ayurveda and how it is a practice of life. he then took out some oils that he had brought for us and he showed us how to massage our feet. He showed us the places to massage our feet and which parts they affected.                                                                  

After lunch we practiced making sand mandalas which are made to help your focus and are a usually circular or close to being a circle. We practiced making 2 different kinds of sand manadlas.                                                             

                                   

After we did this, we took a 15-minute break, and when we came back, we were reading books. We had 3 minutes to read each book. That way, we could look at all of them and then get 10 minutes to read our favorite one. 

Day 4 by Avery Pompa

  

Today was the third day of our two-week mindfulness, meditation, and yoga J-trem. We learned new techniques and practices and expanded on old ones. 

We start the day with a 10-minute yoga warm-up with Dr. Shivani Bhatia, and then we move on to breathing exercises that she taught us. Dr. Bhatia explained more about different breathing techniques, including how they can help us and when it's best to practice them. She also showed us some more advanced versions of the techniques we learned in previous lessons.

 

After our breathing and yoga exercises, we moved on to the seminar. We were assigned two books this past week, Mindful of Race By Ruth King and You Belong by Sebene Selassie. Half of the class read one book and over half the other book. Each group discussed their book and its topics and what they thought of it. Next week we will have a second seminar on the book we did not read and discuss it again.

In the afternoon, we all participated in a Sound Healing Session led by an expert. Everyone participated by laying on the floor on our yoga mats with blankets and eye masks while healing sounds and vibrations were played over our bodies and through our minds. Following the sound healing session, we were given metal singing bowls and encouraged to practice using them. There is a lot of science behind why sound healing is an effective mindfulness tool, and it was a very peaceful experience.

At the end of the day, we learned how to make sand mandalas, and every person made a different color mandala. Sand mandalas are an ancient Tibetan Buddhist art form, and they represent the path from an ordinary mind to an enlightened mind. Then we destroyed them while thinking of something we wanted to let go of. 

Keep an eye out for more updates on our journey of yoga, mindfulness, and creativity!















 

Day 3 by Eva Neblett

 This was the third day of our two-week-long J-term course about mindfulness, meditation, and yoga. Throughout the day, we continued to practice and improve the skills and activities that we had learned in the previous days of our J term while also learning new skills, techniques, and reasoning behind the origins of the skills we had learned.

We started our morning by having a yoga class taught by Dr.Beth Reese. That day we practiced flow yoga. while doing yoga we learned new poses and some that we have practiced, we were encouraged to use the blocks quite often. The poses that were practiced provided an excellent stretch and mood to the class.

 After the relaxing yoga class, we were taught by Dr. Shivani Bhatia. Dr. Bhatia taught the class more about breathing techniques. She explained the benefits of doing the breathing exercises and when it is best to do them. Dr. Bhatia educated the class on the more advanced versions of some of the techniques in the previous days. 

In the afternoon we learned about zentangles. Zentangles are a type of art that revolves around abstract patterns that repeat. We started by watching a video of how to make zentangles and then practicing the ideas we saw after learning how to make them we moved on to making our own zentangles.   

After the zentangles, we began to research a topic of our choice for the oral presentations we would do later in the day. After completing the slide show for the presentation we shared them with the class and answered each other's questions. The presentations taught the class a lot and provided a better understanding of mindfulness, yoga, and meditation.

We ended the day with shavasana. shavasana helped the class unwind and relax. 

Stay tuned for more updates on our journey! 

Day 2 by Quinton Walsh

Today was the second day of the two-week course on Yoga, Mindfulness, and Creativity! We practiced and learned new and old techniques, which we will continue to practice throughout the rest of the course. 

In the Morning, we started with Dr. Beth Reese, who took us through a Yoga class consisting of performing a Sun Salutation and practicing Flow Yoga. Although it was challenging at some points, both of the techniques we learned are great for beginning yogis and are definitely something we can and will practice on our own.  

Next, we practiced breathwork, led by Dr. Shivani Bhatia. We practiced the breaths we learned the day before and then were taught a new one: Bhramari. Bhramari is a humming breath, also known as Bee Breathing. This was my favorite breath we have learned so far, as doing it created a sense of relaxation in my brain. This breath is great for releasing all of the stress we have daily.

We had a short Tea/Snack break, during which we tried the teas we had and ate some of the snacks from yesterday's HEB run!

In the Afternoon, we started coloring in our mandala books. We were tasked with trying to finish our drawing today. This activity is very relaxing, as we have music playing, and it is very satisfying to color in the lines. This also gives us the ability to use different colors to express our thoughts in feelings.

Then we moved on to painting mandalas on rocks. First, we practiced on paper, watched multiple videos on how to make them, and got some inspiration for how we wanted to design ours. Students did multiple practices with different colors and tools until they felt ready to do it on their rock. 

We then began reading our seminar books, "Mindful of Race" and "You Belong," for our seminar on Friday and next Wednesday and writing notes from the day in our journals. We finished the day off with some long-awaited sleep meditation. This is a class favorite and is a great way to end a long day of learning. 

Stay tuned for more updates on our yoga, mindfulness, and creativity journey!

Here are all of the finished mandalas!