I will be doing a live meditation at 3pm today (Monday 31st May 2021) via WebEx. It will be approximately 10-15 minutes. Everyone is welcome- students, parents and teachers. I thought it would be a great opportunity to celebrate the end of Mindful May as a community. So, set yourselves up and click on the link at 3pm! See you then!
https://eduvic.webex.com/meet/hargreaves.alice.r
Alice
1 Minute Breath
Set a timer for one minute (could be a digital timer or a sand timer). Sit in a comfortable position and for 1 minute feel your breath move in and out of your body.
5 S- Sharks
Put your hand in front of your nose, sideways with your thumb resting against your nose. You close your eyes, say ‘shhh’ and do the 5s’s- sit up straight, sit still, soft breathing and eyes shut.
Mindful Smelling
For your next snack or meal, try to close your eyes and bring a piece of food to your nose, in your hand or on a fork/ spoon. What do you notice?
Tense and Release
Standing up, tense your whole body, making your hands up into a fist, tighten your legs straight and arms down. Feel the tension in your body and release it, wiggle it out, what do you notice? Repeat.
Heartbeat
For about a minute run on the spot, jump or hop. Put your hand on your chest afterwards, can you feel your heart beating. What do you notice?
Lift Breathing
You place your hands palm together but horizonal (flat) in front of you. As you breath in lift the hand on top upwards like a lift going up in a building. Then as you breathe out, lower the same hand down until you finish your breath and the hands are together. Repeat 5 times.
Balloon Breathing
Can be done sitting, but its even better lying down. Put your hands on your stomach, breathe in and let your hands lift off your tummy they are on a surface of a balloon being blown up. As you breathe out, let your hands return to where they were, as if the balloon is deflating.
Mindful Seeing
Sit down anywhere. Let your eyes find something and focus on that one thing, really look at it, as it if you have never seen it before (a crack on the ceiling, a bit of fluff on the floor, a piece of clothing).
What do you notice?
Try to repeat it twice more so you look at three things mindfully for about a minute each,
Tell me Something Good!
Take a minute to think of something good that happened today. It can be a big thing like I got to play with my friends (not happening much at the moment) or something small like I loved my breakfast.
You can share with someone, write it down or share it with your whole family at a mealtime and ask them to tell you something good!
Yawn to Reset!
At times when we need a pick up because you don’t have any energy or you’re feeling sad, nervous, disappointed or even angry, you can yawn to reset!
Stand up, then try to do the biggest yawn you have ever done, use your arms to stretch up, make fists with your hands, breathe in and out through your mouth. Next, stretch your fingers out wide and move your arms in a circle. Make it dramatic!
Join Alice as she explains how to do some rainbow breathing to bring some calm to our lives.
Watch Alice read the book ‘ABC Mindful Me’ by Christaine Engel. This book goes through the alphabet and explains why these words are important and how we can implement them.
Join Alice for a guided meditation, imaging you a bird flying. I hope you feel free and lighter afterwards!
Watch Alice read ‘Mindful Me’ by Whitney Stewart. This is a great book for the Years 3-6. We only explore a few pages of the book about positions, a short meditation and setting an intention and dedication in your practice.
Watch Alice read a few pages of the ‘Calm’ book by DK and practice ‘lift breathing.’
Let Alice guide you through a meditation about setting a goal.