Lesson 16: The Power of Positive Thinking

Think Positive, you can do anything!
You can change a sad feeling or negative thought simply by thinking and breathing as you tell yourself the opposite, tell yourself the positives!

Healthy test taking
Healthy habits create an empowered sucessful outcome. Take care of your mind, body, and spirit, by eating well, sleeping well, and thinking positive. If you do your best all will turn out good.

Journal Entry #16: positive thinking

Positive Thinking, Affirmation
(maybe apply to your upcoming Tests?)

1. Identify a fear, complaint, or goal that you would like to see some change in
   
2. Describe how you feel when you think about this thing, describe how you behave when you have these feelings
3. Create positive change by restating this thing and its feelings in an affirmative manner, start your statement with "I am..."

Example:

1. I hate tests.
2. They make me feel nervous and I can't stay focused.
3. I am calm and confident that I will do well on this test, and I know that if my mind wanders I can return to my breath and re-focus myself.
   

Lesson 15: Energy Renewal

The new year is a time of renewal, with the winter solstice comes longer daylight time, we can come our of the long nights part of winter with new intentions for how we will use our energy. This is similar to the way some people make New Years Resolutions, things they hope to change about their lives. In particular I hope that you will use this period of the year to renew your commitment to yourself, your own empowerment and happiness. Be happy with who you are by making good healthy choices for your body, and also your mind and spirit.

Lesson 15 Activities

Co-listening, active listening
Energy renewing breath: mother earth, celestial(star) father
Energy Drawing

Journal Entry #15, Energy Renewal

Place your energy drawing in your Journal and label it #15.

Energy Drawing Practice:

1. start by picking one color to use, choose a color that seems to represent your energy right now
2. draw one line with that color that represents "energy" in any way that you like (there is no right or wrong)
3. use that first line as inspiration, a starting point for a drawing, poem, short story, or personal journal entry about energy
4. stay connected to your breath as you complete the page, if you don't know what to do next on the page, just breath deep and slow and start your pencil moving again.
   
5. Let it flow freely onto the page whatever it is
   

Lesson 14: Use the tools of Healthy Living

Use the tools of healthy living to stay happy and balanced in this time of year. Use your own strength to stay focused on what matters the most to you, as the world around you might try to push you in other directions.

There will be no required Journal Entry this week (#14)
However, I invite you to write a Personal Affirmation. This is a short phrase that might bring you back to your true self when you feel like the messages you are getting, from outside and in, aren't serving you well.

Lesson 13: Practicing Balance and meeting our Inner Advisor

Breath:
Elephant breath. Stand with feet wide apart. With fingers interlaced, inhale to swing your arms up overhead, on the exhale bend the knees and swing the hands between the legs, repeat several times.

Practice/Poses:
Review/warm-up: Sun salute "C", dancer (balance)

Warrior two series:
mountain, warrior 2, reverse warrior, triangle, right angle, half moon (balance)

Journal Entry #13: Inner Advisor
Describe the visit from your inner advisor from relaxation today. Who or what did it appear as? What was their name? What did you discuss with them? What did they tell you to do?

Review of Inner Advisor activity:
Lie on your back in resting pose. Imagine yourself in your peaceful garden or other place. Imagine finding a comfortable place to sit or lie down there. Imagine how nice it would be to have a guardian angel, someone who knows and loves you better than anyone else. Invite this kind, loving person to sit with you now. Let them appear in whatever form they choose, maybe an animal, a person, a relative, or a warm glowing light. Ask them their name. Accept whatever comes without trying to change it.
When you feel comfortable, explain to them what's on your mind. Ask them any questions that you need answered, or maybe ask for help with something that is confusing you. Then just listen, be open to what your inner advisor has to share. Maybe it comes in words, or pictures, or a feeling of sudden understanding.
Consider what you have received, and image yourself taking the next right action, sometimes this means just staying still and not doing anything. Notice if you have any resistance to taking this advice, and why or why not.
Thank your inner advisor and say goodbye in any way that seems right to you. Hear them remind you that you can ask them to come back any time you choose. After they've gone, bring yourself slowly back into a relaxed but awake state.

Lesson 12: Balance and the Hip flexors

What do you think it means to have a balanced life? A balanced mind, balance in the body, balance in yourself?

Balancing poses help us to improve the our powers of concentration in other types of activity. They also induce nervous balance and remove stress, anxiety and worries. If you feel particularly tense at any time, do one or more of these poses for as long as possible.
These poses also develop the cerebellum, the brain center that controls fine movements of the body.


Anatomy connection:
Hip flexors, help us to move more efficiently and gracefully.

Bunny breath:
inhale through the nose, 3 quick sniffs; pause and then exhale through the nose like big silent sigh. This will relax and cleanse.
Poses:
Hand to toe, dancer, tree, triangle, twisted triangle, half-moon,twisted half moon

Journal entry #12:

• Where do you need more balance in your life? Describe in one paragraph.
• What are the three hip flexor muscles and what is their function?
  

Lesson 11: Finesse part 2

Today in class we practiced these yoga tools:

• Humming breath, to time in and tune into ourselves
• warm up poses: spinning top, seated spinal flexing, downward facing dog
• review of Sun salute C series
  
• Partner game:balancing straws
  
• cool down poses: seated bent leg stretch, staff pose, river, plow, shoulder stand, fish

Journal entry # 11: Heart Mail
write out the letters and/or questions that you found in the mailbox and sent back to your heart. if you recieve an answer to your mail back again record that in your journal too.

Lesson 10: Finesse vs. Force

Today I showed you the spine on the skeleton, and pointed out the structural parts of the skeleton we focus on a lot in class:
the sacrum, sit bones, ball joints of the hips and shoulders.
Especially notice that the body naturally reduces forces between the spinal vertebrae with the disks between the bones, what I like to call "jelly donuts". These flexible disks can squish in many ways to give us the ability to move gracefully and with finesse!

Here is a couple good sites to learn more:

• http://www.back.com/anatomy.html
• http://www.spineuniverse.com/displayarticle.php/article1286.html
  

Our practice today involved a focus on moving between poses with gentle ease and finesse, instead of plopping and forcing ourselves to go places that our body didn't want to go. We can use the breath to help our mind relax and let us put our bodies in new positions.

We did sun salute C, with three different sequences,boat, partner boat, flower, and daisy chain.

Journal entry #10: Finesse vs. Force
Write a description:
Think of a time when you weren’t getting something that you wanted, maybe you had a tantrum and tried to force things to go your way, maybe you were sad inside and felt like no one cared. Think of a way, or ways, that you could have done things differently, or looked at things differently so that you could have left the situation happier.

Here's an example:
You made a plans with a friend and while you are together she gets a text from someone else. She makes you stop what you are saying to text this person back. This happens several more times. You are not happy, you feel ignored, like whoever is texting her is more important than you. What would be the best way to handle this so that you feel OK? How could you react with finesse so that you both get what you need from the friendship?

1. grab her phone out of her hands and yell at her
2. stomp your feet and walk away in a huff
3. wait a bit, get her attention and tell her how this makes you feel