Welcome UVM Yoga & Mindfulness Students!
Here is the class syllabus — Mindfulness Syllabus, Spring 2013
Please bring a journal and pen to the first class (and all classes after that).
Look forward to seeing you in class! John
Week 10 (March 27-29nd)
This week we talked about the movie Kumaré. For extra credit, you can watch the movie and send me a couple paragraph review. I watched it on Netflix, but it’s probably around other places as well.
Have a good week!!
Week 9 (March 20-22nd)
*This assignment is to be emailed to me after you finish the last entry. So, I should be getting 7 entries**
This week was about the Yamas — considered the ethical rules in yoga. These apply to all aspects of the Self; body, mind and heart. Here they are:
- Ahimsa (??????): non-violence
- Satya (????): truth in word and thought. absence of falsehood
- Asteya (??????): non-stealing
- Brahmacharya (??????????): moderation on levels concerning sex, food and all aspects of daily life
- Aparigraha (????????): non-possessiveness, not being greedy
ASSIGNMENT: Contemplate these Yamas and decide on ONE that is difficult for you. (If you were in class you already have this!) Think about why it’s difficult for you, and each day take steps to work in a positive way with the yama. For instance, if you are working on Ahimsa and you find yourself feeling violent and argumentative, see if you can walk away from the situation. Write a paragraph or two in your journal each day about the yama and it’s going.
*This assignment is to be emailed to me after you finish the last entry. So, I should be getting 7 entries**
WEEK #8: March 13th-March 15th
This week in class I talked about my experience on my vacation of seeing new people at where I was camping, making up stories about them, and then meeting them and finding out the depth, interest and goodness in them. We talked about how we can do that to ourselves as well — make judgements instead of seeing the good within ourselves.
ASSIGNMENT: Be aware of making up stories and/or judgements of yourself or other people. Try to catch yourself as you are doing it, and instead look deeper into the good of yourself, or into the good of the person you are thinking about. Make one journal entry per day about this.
WEEK #7: February 27th-March 1st
No homework with Spring Break!
WEEK #6: February 20th-22nd
ASSIGNMENT: Get a small pad, or make your own, that you can carry around in your pocket (or write in at the end of each day…it’s good to have it with you, though). Doesn’t have to be fancy unless you want it to be. From now until the next class I want you to fill it with everything you are grateful for each day. You should easily get a dozen or more things a day – it could be 100s. When you come to class next week please bring this to class so I can see it, and I’ll give it back by the end of class. Remember…THIS IS NOT YOUR JOURNAL…YOU NEED A UNIQUE PAD OR ANOTHER UNIQUE WAY OF DOING IT….CREATIVITY IS ENCOURAGED. 🙂
WEEK #5: February 13th-15th
WEEK #4: February 6th-8th
This week we talked about the idea of creating resistance to who you really want to be. My example was that I really want to get up early in the morning. I set the alarm really early, and then when the time comes to get up, I keep hitting the snooze button. So, I know I want to get up. I know I’ll be happy if I do it. But, I get in my own way. I’m creating resistance to move forward with the person I want to be.
ASSIGNMENT: First, I want you to email me all your journal entries from this homework assignment. It’s due the night before or morning of next week’s class (so, if you are in the Wednesday class either Tuesday night or Wednesday morning).
Email needs to be in this format:
“Wednesday Yoga & Mindfulness – Assignment #1” (or Thursday or Friday)
The homework is to come up something you want to change in your life, and then take a minute or two and quickly write down a bunch of actions you could take to move beyond that resistance or change — don’t worry too much if they seem like crazy ideas. (if you were in class you already have this). Then, each day do one of the ideas (or if you come up with other ideas during the week that’s fine) and see if you can break down the resistance a bit and move closer to the way you want to be in regard to that one thing you chose. So, it’s basically about finding something you’d like to change about your life and spending the week working on that. Make a journal entry each day about what you did and how it went.
WEEK #3: January 30th – February 1st
This week we did a mediation exercise feeling the breath move across the anapana spot (the space right below the nostrils on the upper lip), while simultaneously listening to sound was far away as we could hear. The idea was to both be able to focus on your own experience as well as the experience around you.
ASSIGNMENT: Acts of Kindness. Consciously do at least one kind act a week for someone, and make a journal entry about it. Of course, you can do 100 acts a day if you want (which would be awesome), but just write about one. Have a great week!
WEEK #2: January 23rd – 25th
We talked this week about taking action to make a difference. So, instead of just having awareness of your external or internal world, you take action to make a change. For today, we are talking about changing your internal world by taking deep breaths to calm the mind, relax the body, and soothe the heart.
ASSIGNMENT: Be mindful of when tension or stress comes up during the day, and take five 3-part breaths (breathing into the belly, mid-chest, upper chest). Notice any difference in you mind, body, and emotional self after you take the five breaths. Write a short journal entry each day from one your experiences (you can do this exercise 10 times a day, but just journal about one time).
Week #1: January 16th-18th
This week we worked on the three part breath. Breathing in the belly, followed by the mid-chest, the breathing into the upper chest. We noticed how sometimes when you breath your breath is lower in the belly when more relaxed, and moves up to the collarbones when more anxious.
ASSIGNMENT: Journal about one situation a day when you noticed where you were breathing — belly, mid-chest, upper chest, and what the situation was. This exercise helps to see for yourself where you breath in your body under different situations.