Day 8

 On our final day of the Get Grounded by Training the Brain A-Term, we started the day off by naming our favorite anchors that we use to get grounded when we are practicing meditation or just in need of getting out of our head. We then proceeded to meditate with our anchors in mind, using them so that we don’t get swept away by our racing thoughts. After we had discussed how this meditation was for us, Emilio presented his final project to the class, which was a helpful meditation that focused on love and compassion regarding racism and bias.

Next, we moved into our art section, where we reflected on our mandalas and the meaning of them and their different parts before having the dissolution ceremony for them. While destroying something you spent time and energy on might sound odd, this practice is a way to show that everything is temporary and that anything you get attached to will eventually come to pass and you need to learn to let things that you love go. The dissolution ceremony consists of brushing the mandala from the edge to the center in a spiral fashion and then brushing the rest of the sand into a nice pile in the center so you can put the sand in the bag and sprinkle it around the environment. Sprinkling the sand in other places symbolizes the continuation of the mandala and its intentions, even though it is not there physically.

Before we were dismissed for lunch, Jack presented his final meditation project that was focused on reformation/formation of routines. He mentioned the usefulness of routines and how they can reduce stress of what you need to do/plan.

After lunch we started by having Tyler lead us in making intention bracelets before Tyler presented her meditation which tied into the bracelets that we had made. The point of the bracelets was to think of an intention for them, for example you could give them the intention of compassion so whenever you feel that you need to practice compassion, you can reach down and touch your bracelet to remind yourself of what you set your intention to be. Tyler’s presentation mainly focused on stress and a meditation routine to help relieve stress. This included a walking meditation where we walked very slowly and exaggeratedly, focusing on everything that our body was doing to walk and focusing on all of the sensations we experienced.

Then we moved on to our yoga session, but this time was different. For this yoga session we practiced restorative yoga which has more relaxing, but longer poses, and a long savasana period at the end. This was a very relaxing and appropriate practice to conclude our A-Term and everyone agreed that this was a nice enjoyable session of yoga where they felt their other worries and stress dissolve for the moment.

Finally, as a way to wrap up our A-Term, we reflected and then shared with the group what within this A-Term we were most grateful for. This was also a great time to remember all of the great tools we had learned for things like managing anger or relieving stress and anxiety to things like self-compassion or ways to upkeep healthy habits. Within these eight days, we really got to see another side of ourselves and take time to reflect, share and discuss with others in fruitful conversations that widened perspectives and gave everyone a sense of how unique we are, but also how much we can connect with each other through meditation and mindful practices.