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.
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