Five Mindful Practices you are going to want to know before planning your next class!

​5 Mindful Practices you need to know before you plan your next class! I wanted to share with you my five favourite mindful activities, I think your class will love them as much as my little Yogis do! 

1. Mind Castle 

​This practice is a good one for developing our concentration skills. Take an easy seat or lay down. You may choose to close your eyes or take a soft gaze in front of you. Take five deep breaths. Imagine a castle in your mind. How does it look on the outside? Is it big or small? What colour is it? Does it have a drawbridge or a moat? Head inside the castle now. What do you see? What can you smell? What sounds are in each room? Take the time to explore your castle and anytime your mind starts to think about something else, just take a deep breath and bring your focus back to the castle. When you have finished exploring your castle, take a few deep breaths and think about what you discovered. Gently come back to the room by taking a few deep breaths and wiggling your fingers and toes. You may like to journal or draw a picture of your experience.

2. The Click and Wink

​This is a fun exercise for focus and gets both sides of the brain working. It is a great one to do before homework or when you need to concentrate on something.
Start by winking your left eye while you click your fingers on your right hand. Now wink your right eye while clicking your fingers on your left hand. Continue to switch back and forth at least ten times.

3. Tracing Hand Breath

​Bring your hand out in front of you. Bring your pointing finger from the other hand to the base of your thumb on the outside of your thumb. As you inhale bring your finger up, tracing its way to the top of your thumb, on the exhale bring your finger down, tracing the inside of your thumb. Carry this on for your whole hand, inhaling to come up and exhaling to bring it down. 

4. Colour your thoughts

​Art is such a great way to express ourselves. Ask the class to sit for a moment and just bring an awareness to how they are feeling. With paper ready in front of them and pens or crayons of different colours ask them to use different colours to show how they are feeling. Allow them to express their thoughts however they feel called to do so. Letting everything come flowing out from their minds on to the page. There are no expectations for it to look like anything or be a certain way. There is no wrong way to do this. 

5. Listen Like and Elephant

​Elephants have such big ears which allow them to hear well (as well as using their ears to keep cool). Let’s sit comfortably and listen like an elephant. You may even like to close your eyes for this activity. What can you hear that is far away? No need to answer out loud, you don’t even need to name the sound, just observe. Next, what can you hear that is closest to you? Are their any sounds coming from you? Can you hear your breath, your heartbeat? Bring an awareness to these sounds without trying to attach too much meaning to them, just allow them to be. There is no need to rush through this exercise, take it nice and slow before opening your eyes and coming back to the room. 

Need a Lesson Plan full of fun, Yoga and Mindful activities? 

Check out my new lesson plan here on etsy. 
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What is your favourite mindful activity to practice with the children? Comment below!