Two weeks ago we did a project that I learned about from The Expressive Arts Activity Book by Suzanne Darley and Wende Heath called "Worry Dolls" where you write down a worry on a strip of paper and wrap it around a twig or popsicle stick before covering with fabric and making it into a doll. I modified it somewhat by calling them "Helpers" who could be dolls or action figures. Instead of writing down only worries, I encouraged the students to write down anything that gets in the way of their well being - it could be a fear, a worry, an anger or upset  or difficult situation.  They really got into writing them down, knowing that they would be hidden away from view.  We talked about how the helpers were designed to hold the feelings or upsets so that they didn't have to carry them around.  Some of them gave their figures names and a character for fun - from superheroes to queens.  A few of the girls even added handbags so they could carry even more!   The figures reflected the unique creativity of each child. The meditation further explored the idea of having a place to put upsetting thoughts and feelings - a worry tree that stands outside a secret garden where you can attach any upsetting feelings and it will hold them for you while you are in the garden.

This week we talked about the idea of prayer and using words to calm your mind.  The children enjoyed talking about what prayer is and what or who was being addressed in a prayer.  We talked about how different traditions use beads to say prayers or mantras that help clear the mind and quiet busy thoughts.  They each created a personal prayer grounded in their own sense of life.  Then we made prayer beads and again, there was such variety in what they created.  One boy made a long and colorful string of beads, another girl made a very small strand out of natural objects like seashells and tiny pinecones, still another made a sparkly, dazzling strand of many different beads and a few made anklets and bracelets.  All of them beautiful!

           

Click here to download:

Helper_dolls_and_prayer_beads.zip (2656 KB)

We're into our fifth week of the winter class series at River and it is going very well. We are focusing on methods for quieting the mind for this Inner Discovery class, but as always, there are lots of fun creative projects as well. We started off by learning to think of ourselves as explorers of undiscovered territory, only instead of journeying on foot or by ship or spacecraft, we are using our inner vision. The students made their own inner vision telescopes and followed a meditation into new and amazing places. For our second class we talked about needing a quiet space to begin exploring and the guided meditation led them to a sanctuary of their own imagining. We used clay, sticks, fabric, feathers and leaves to recreate the sanctuaries we envisioned during the meditation. Our third class was all about words, phrases and poetry that brings us back to good feelings of connectedness. Each student made their own accordion book and filled it with images, phrases and words that are meaningful to them. Wonderful creativity in this class!

         

Click here to download:

Inner_Vision_Sanctuaries_and_P.zip (1607 KB)

This is a nice meditation for a chilly day for children of all ages.  Every child is unique so if there’s anything you suspect may frighten or make your child uneasy, please use your creativity to modify it in order to best serve your child. If you use this meditation with your child, please let me know how it went.  I love getting feedback from parents and children about what works the best.


Take a deep breath inhaling and exhaling slowly a few times....

Imagine you are walking through a forest on a bright, cold day.  Your nose is chilly and your hands are a little cold, so you walk rather briskly.  You come around a bend and are happy to see a very inviting, cozy looking home with smoke coming from the chimney.  The sign on the door says “welcome, please come in” so you walk into the home.  The living room has golden walls and sunlight streams in through a skylight.  There is a fireplace filling the room with a rosy glow and a comforting feeling of warmth.  You take off your winter coat and you see a soft chair near the fire to sit on.  A cute furry creature, your favorite animal comes to sit near you. You close your eyes enjoying the warmth of the room.   Place your hands over your heart and notice how your hands warm your heart.  Take a couple slow breaths here for a moment. Now think of someone you love very much.  It could be a friend, a parent, a brother or sister, a teacher, even an animal - someone who has shown you kindness and love.  Imagine seeing this person comes into the cozy room.  They light a white candle on a table nearby and come to sit next to you. You start to feel the love generated by this person. When you feel loved by someone, you may be able to feel your heart soften, allowing their love to come directly into your heart.  You may also feel your own love for them flowing out of your heart back to them.  Someone once said that confidence is knowing you are loved.  Can you feel how when you’re with someone who truly loves you, accepts you just the way you are and knows how valuable you are, you can feel good about yourself no matter what else is going on around you?  Love gives you positive energy and makes you feel strong.  It brings out the love that lives inside of you.  

Now imagine that your loved one gives you a hug and says goodbye for now.  You are still in the cozy place and it is filled with the glow of the love between you and your special person.  Once again, you put your hand over your heart (in real life or you can imagine it) and you feel it beating softly.  Your heart is the place where all the love that’s inside of you flows from you into the world.  It’s also the place that has information for you that’s important and true.  You hear a voice that is kind of quiet at first and you realize that it is the voice of your heart.  Your heart wants to talk to you here since it is safe and quiet and you are able to listen.  You become even more still and listen to the voice.  Your heart has a message for you. Take another deep breath and listen to the message from your heart.  Now ask your heart what is the best way for me to allow my heart to do what it wants.  Imagine yourself doing it and seeing your heart full of light and flowing with love.  How does your life look when it is guided by the heart?  

Enjoy the feeling of your heart-centered life.  The heart never runs out of love so your dreams can be as big as you want them to be.  Notice how it feels when your heart is flowing.  Take another breath and still keeping your heart open, you blow out the candle and let the fire go out - the light and warmth will remain in your heart.  Slowly, you say good bye to the animal and put on your winter jacket.  You can always come back here, so you scan the space once more to remember it and walk out through the front door noting the house number as you go.  You walk back through the forest, but it feels a little different than when you were walking before.  There is a warm glow around you and sunlight streams down through the trees and you see things more clearly and vibrantly.  All the colors of the trees, ferns and flowers seem to be glowing and more colorful than you remember.  You breath in the pine scented air and you could swear that you feel love coming from the trees, rocks, birds, butterflies and nearly everything you see.  You feel just as safe and loved in the forest as in the cozy home.  So you enjoy your walk and slowly return to the beginning of the path.