Hello Hello! Maggie here 👋
As January nears, I always set aside time to set myself up for success in the New Year!
While most people’s goal-setting starts (and sometimes ends) with setting a resolution, I like to do things a little differently.
I dedicate a day to reflecting on the past 12 months by reviewing my notes, calendar, goals, successes, and of course my missteps as well.
This reflection process helps me to take a step back and see the bigger picture that frames the moments that make up our every day.
Once I’ve wrapped my head around the past year, I start thinking about the future.
How can I use this fresh start to bring out and highlight the best parts of myself? Who do I want to be? How do I want to show up? What is my intention?
From there I find one word that summarizes my answers to those questions.
I allow that word to act as my center of gravity, always keeping me grounded and moving forward towards my goals.
This year, my word (my intention) is SHINE!
When I am shining, I am being my truest and most authentic self. I am present and focused on my goals. I show up as the best version of myself for my family, my business, my community (that’s you!), and myself. I bring light and joy to all that I do and am committed to creating space to help others shine too.
What better way to start on my 2021 mission than to spark a shining light in you too!
Set yourself and your students up to shine by integrating moments of mindfulness into your day.
The key to bringing out the best in yourself is to turn your attention inwards. This might sound too deep for kids to grasp but in my experience, children’s’ limited life experience makes them uniquely equipped for understanding and incorporate these self-management exercises.
Breathing exercises are one of the easiest and most effective ways to help you tune into your body and your mind to help you gain better control of your mindset.
Whether you are looking to calm down or regain focus these breathing exercises are easy to do from anywhere: your desk, your floor, or even your kitchen table!
*Watch these three exercises in action in the video at the top of this blog post.
Flower Breath
Take your hands together in the shape of a flower. Hold your flower up in front of your face. Picture your flower being your favorite color and smell. Hold your hands up breathe in through your nose. When you blow out, imagine blowing the petals off the flower and slowly letting them float to the ground.
Candle Breath
This one takes a little bit more coordination and focus and helps to bring you and your students into a more focused state of mind. Cross your fingers with your two pointer fingers and pretend like it's a birthday candle on a cake. When you blow out, try to get your fingers to go down at the same time. Practice makes perfect.
Finger Tracing Breath
Hold one hand up. Use your other pointer finger to trace each finger up and down slowly. With each trace up you breathe in, with each trace down you breathe out. Go all the way across the hand and make your way all the way back to where you began to complete 10 total breaths.
Use these breathing exercises often all throughout your day. Breathing exercises are refreshing and rejuvenating breaktime activities that help you stay focused and present especially when you are changing pace switching from one activity to another.
Breathing exercises help you and your students’ shine by helping you to calm your energy and focus on your breath. They help you to tune in and become aware of what is going on in your body and in your mind.
Whether you are at school or at home, life is full of stimulation. Being able to take a moment to refresh and plug back into ourselves helps us to be aware of where we are, of what we need so we can shine a little brighter in our day and for all those around us.
Did you love these exercises? I want to know! Send me an email or DM on social media at @mindful.classroom on Instagram. Share your stories and your photos with us and you could be featured on our page or in our blog!
