Welcome UVM Yoga & Mindfulness Students!
Here is the class syllabus — Mindfulness Syllabus, Fall 2012
Please bring a journal and pen to the first class (and all classes after that).
Look forward to seeing you in class! John
Homework..each week you are required to:
• meditate 10 minutes each day and make a short journal entry about the experience
• practice yoga for 30 minutes once a week (twice if possible) and make a short journal entry about the experience
Week #12 (Nov 14th – Nov 16th)
This week I talked about a happiness video I saw on Ted by Shawn Achor. In it one of the things he talks about is the need for gratitude to be happy…hence the homework (and it’s Thanksgiving break, after all).
HOMEWORK
Get a small pad you can carry around in your pocket. A small notebook or whatever you can find, or make. Doesn’t have to be fancy unless you want it to be. From now until the next class I want you to carry this around with you and write in it as often as possible things you are grateful for. You should easily get a dozen or more things a day – it could be 100s. When you come back from break 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 NOTEPAD FOR THIS.
HAVE A GREAT THANKSGIVING BREAK!
Week #11 (Nov 7th – Nov 9th)
In class this week I talked about the election, and how in politics (as in regular life) opponents will find small differences and focus on those. We talked in class about being open-minded to other people’s views, and open-minded to who we are as well.
HOMEWORK
1. Do your best to be open-minded this week. Do your best to ok with other people getting their way, and to removing conflict as opposed to creating it. Do all you can to focus on the things to really connect us all, instead of the thing layer of things that separate us.
2. Make a journal entry about the experience and how it went for you.
3. Continue your home physical and meditation practice, and journal about it.
Week #10 (Oct 31- Nov 2nd)
This week we thought about all the different webs of community we have — from close friends and family to passing interactions each day.
HOMEWORK
1. Contact a friend or family member you haven’t been in touch with for a while. You can write, call, email..
2. Make a journal entry about the experience and how it went for you.
Week #9 (Oct 24-26th)
FIRST — please email the homework about everything you put in your body before next class for me to look at.
This week we focused on finding space at the top and bottom of the breath. The idea is that there is always space in things, even in your breath. It’s a great way to find calm during your day.
HOMEWORK — use the space between your breath to find calm during your day, as much as possible. Also, try to find space between experiences as a way to find calm during your day. Make a journal entry each day about it.
Week #7 (Oct 10-12th)
This week we did a mediation in class where we focused on being really aware of ourselves and our surrounding. Then we “zoomed out” from that to witness ourselves being aware. Maybe you’ve had that experience of seeing yourself doing something — playing music, exercising, having an intense emotional experience.
HOMEWORK
Two Parts::
1. Write down everything you put in your body from right after class until before the next class. This means everything — food, drink, smoke, any kind of drugs…everything. Have fun. 🙂
2. Before you put anything in your body, take a moment, “zoom out”, and see yourself in your situation. Contemplate what you about to do, seeing yourself from this alternate perspective. The point of the exercise is to be aware. If that awareness leads to different choices then that’s great.
Write a daily journal entry about this awareness practice.
NOTE: This will be an assignment I’ll have you email me at some point in the next couple weeks. I’ll let you know.
Week #6 (Oct 3-5th)
In class we did a meditation exercise where we focused on the breath moving across the upper lip, and we simultaneously focused on open up our senses to what was around us – even beyond the room. This practice is a way to find your personal grounding and also recognize you are in the world. It It’s a practice that can be helpful when you are over stimulated with external sensations — like to much noise. Instead of turning away from it you listen to it as if each sound is an opportunity to be more focused. While you do that you also find your breath.
HOMEWORK
4 or 5 times this week take a walking meditation and do the meditation exercise of feeling the breath on your lip, and being open to the sensations around you. Write a few sentences in your journal about each experience.
Week #5 (Sept 26-28th)
No homework this week. 🙂
Week #4 (Sept 19-21th)
We talked about “resistance” in class. The idea that there are things we know we want to do, or ways we want to be, but for one reason or another we resist change and just keep on keeping on. My example was that I really want to go swimming more – I really love swimming. But, every time the opportunity comes up I easily create some reason not to do it…even though I know in my heart that’s really what I want to do. Someone else mentioned wanting to be more in the present moment. Or, wanting to do homework earlier so you don’t cram right at the end. There’s lots of possibiliites.
HOMEWORK
First, I want you to email me all your journal entries from this homework assignment. It’s due by the end of the day of next week’s class (so, if you are in the Wednesday class it’s due by the end of Wednesday).
The homework is to come up with one thing that you are resistant to that you want to change in yourself. Then take a minute or two and quickly right down a bunch of actions you could take to move beyond that resistance — 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 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.
If you have questions let me know.
Week #3 (Sept 12-14th)
This week we focused on compassion, and I read a quote about it:
Our hatred is our own Osama Bin Laden, hiding in the mountains of our hearts. If we can begin to consider hatred as the enemy, as your and my enemy, then we can begin to transform our anger into compassion.
– Rimpoche Nawang Gehlek
HOMEWORK:
Be compassionate this week in whatever way you can. Whether it’s being super-nice to your roommates, and listening to a friend, or helping a neighbor, or holding the door open for stranger…
This week is your opportunity, as much as possible, to practice compassion. Each day write about one of these experiences in your journal.
Week #2 (Sept 5-7th)
This week we talked about how the it’s easy to get caught up in stress or to jump to reactions to things. And, how where we breath reflects our mental/physical/emotional state – we breath in the high chest in more stressful situations, more in the mid-chest or belly when we are relaxed.
We worked on taking the action of deep breathing to change our world and makes life better.
HOMEWORK:
Pay aware of the instant you notice anxiety or tension – with it getting out of control or having a quick negative reaction, take 5 deep full breaths. Each day write about one of these experiences in your journal. I want you to say what caused the tension and then write about how breathing make a difference (or not) in your reaction.
Week #1 (Aug 29-31st class)
So wonderful to meet everybody – I’m really excited about the upcoming semester!
Please be sure to look at the syllabus – particularly about expectations and grading.
This week during class we focused on how the breath, mind, body and emotional/spiritual self are all connected. We did a meditation exercise of finding the breath in the belly, chest, and collarbones and noticing how that effected the other aspects of ourselves.
HOMEWORK
(along with meditation & asana practice) Please make one journal entry per day in regard to what is happening with your mind/body/breath/spirit in a particular situation. For instance, you are stuck and traffic and start to get stressed out — a perfect time to notice your breath/mind/body/spirit and then write the whole experience later. By next week you’ll have 7 different experiences. Pretty simple. 🙂