Mindfulness and meditation
Diana Tabar
Time of the course: 21.8. – 27.8.2022.
Location: Reykjavik, Island, PMS Erasmus+ Spain
Day 1
21.8.2022.
It is Sunday and the participants of all courses meet together for the first working meeting. The coaches are introduced to us, we hear interesting facts about Iceland. After that, we tour the city using the app. At each location we find a number, and the numbers eventually unlock the padlock. An interesting way to quickly get to know Reykjavik without a guide.
Day 2
22.8.2022.
The course is attended by 8 Irish, 3 Spanish, 1 Portuguese and 2 German women and myself. At home, we had to prepare a presentation about our country, city and the project we are implementing. The first half of the day is spent on presentations. After the presentations, we get to know the term mindfulness, why mindfulness is important and when and where we can apply it. We conduct several exercises: drawing with classical music. My drawing reveals that I have a connected left and right brain. Our next task was to observe the objects in the room that the trainer then moved, so we had to find out which ones were moved. I didn't really make a name for myself here. We learned that proper breathing is the basis of mindfulness, so we learned to breathe with the diaphragm. Diaphragm breathing helps us calm down. We also watch some videos that we can make easier/explain belly breathing to the kids. It was the turn of the first, very short meditation of 1 minute. We also received some tips on how to achieve some prerequisites for better meditation. Good posture is definitely important for good meditation. However, he does not necessarily have to be in the lotus position, we can also sit or lie down. Finally, we did a 15-minute meditation.
Day 3
23.8.2022.
Now experienced in meditation, we start the day with meditation. After meditation, we talk for a long time about stress, sources of stress, and test our stress level. As a small break from stress, in teams we have the task of making a tower as high as possible from 9 dry spaghetti, crepe tape and 1 marshmallow candy. My group was very creative and determined to make the highest peak. We still think we succeeded, others disagree. After the tower, we turned our attention to adolescence and the changes that occur in the adolescent brain. We learned about some meditations for teenagers, of course we tried them. We talked about accepting change, watched some videos applied to children, and we can use them to introduce the topic of accepting change. We end the course with a 20-minute meditation. After the course, a bus is waiting for us to take us to the Blue Lagoon. Blue water, surrounded by volcanic rocks, 10 degrees outside, and you bathe in body temperature water and it feels great.
Day 4
24.8.2022.
To begin with, of course, meditation. Many photos of animals are arranged on the table. We had to choose two photos. One that mostly describes the past year and one that describes our current state. We all show our photos and explain why we chose that particular photo. We talked about labeling feelings. There are three steps in that. Think, write, say. In order to label feelings, it is important to teach students to recognize and name secondary feelings. The movie Inside Out is great as a motivation for this topic. It is important to make a catalog of feelings and play various games that will make it easier for students to recognize and name various feelings. Of course, we also played all those games. It's time to meditate. After the break, we talk about emotional intelligence. We also fill out a questionnaire on emotional intelligence. We look at the motivational story of Susan David. We are also talking about the regulation of feelings, which is just as important as the labeling of feelings. Meditation.
Day 5
25.8.2022.
Meditation. Empty bottles, glitter, glue and water are waiting for us on the table. Everyone makes a meditation bottle for themselves, which should help them stay focused and calm. We also speak negative thoughts that negatively affect our reality. The fact is that our brain is constantly working, we cannot turn it off, but we must not allow negative thoughts to overwhelm us. We do various exercises: a list of the most important people in life (we all forgot to put ourselves on the list), a success tree (it's terribly difficult to find and write our own successes because nothing is good enough). We are watching a short film about the white and black wolf that each of us has inside. We also emphasize the importance of self-compassion, which we often forget. Meditation. We are leaving for the bus. We visit the Golden Waterfall and geysers.
Day 6
26.8.2022.
Meditation. The whole day is dedicated to assertive communication and empathy. In many ways, we feel how a positive or negative attitude affects our behavior. At the end of the day, we receive well-deserved certificates of participation.
Day 7
27.8.2022.
Excursion organized by the course organizer. We visited black volcanic beaches, a glacier and two more beautiful waterfalls. We saw all this with the constant remarks of the driver that we don't even know how lucky we are to have the sun shining all day.