Mindfulness & Yoga Assignments

Fill in the 8 Limbs of Yoga handout with the appropriate English terms. Handout given during class!

Are you making any assumptions about what someone’s thinking or doing? Can you see how the drama factor can go down *dramatically* (pun intended) if we just have the courage to ask what’s up?

As Ruiz says: “The way to keep yourself from making assumptions is to ask questions. Make sure the communication is clear. If you don’t understand, ask. Have the courage to ask questions until you are as clear as you can be.”

So… Let’s identify where we’re making some assumptions and have the courage to ask them what’s up and get out of the drama of assumption-ville, shall we?!?

List some questions you should have asked before you made an assumption.

We have the tendency to make assumptions about everything. The problem with making assumptions is that we believe they are the truth. We could swear they are real. We make assumptions about what others are doing or thinking—we take it personally—then we blame them and react by sending emotional poison with our word. That is why when we make assumptions, we’re asking for problems. We make an assumption, we misunderstand, we take it personally, and we end up creating a whole big drama for nothing.

Well, there ya go!

The third agreement: Don’t make assumptions.

What is the last assumption you made.

Do you think you can make gratitude a daily habit, why/why not? List the most difficult item on your list for which you are grateful?

How do you feel when you are writing out your lists?  What are you learning about yourself as well as others?

Make a Daily Gratitude List. Appreciate the richness of your life by weaving the feeling of gratitude into your entire day. When you wake up in the morning, make a list of five people or things for which you are grateful. Take a few minutes to think about each entry on your list. You might feel grateful toward a particular person or for a positive event that you experienced. You may feel good about one of your talents or accomplishments. You may simply feel thankful for the sun pouring in your window, or for your breakfast. This simple gratitude practice can set an appreciative tone for how you will move through the world each day.

Honor Yourself Today. Today, acknowledge your achievements and your creativity. Think about what you have said and what you have done that was positive and productive in the world. Look at who you are and how you have grown and changed. With all this in mind, contemplate the complex and unique wonder that is you. Make the choice to fully embrace your body, your mind, and your heart right here and now. Congratulate yourself for all that you have done and been and for all that you will do and be. Think of today as a day of gratitude, by yourself and for yourself. Honor yourself today.

Write out five achievements, positive changes, and/or places where you have shown growth to demonstrate the fact you are proud of what you have done!

The way to your dreams, the way to make your visions come alive is by taking a journey inside your soul.Refer to your entry yesterday about respond to the following today:

When you do, the road will be clear, and you'll be ready to travel the path you desire.

Are you ready, willing, and able? Have you cleared the path you want to travel? Are you ready, willing, and able to do whatever it takes to have what you want?

Watch how you feel when you say what you want. Look for objections, blocks within, obstacles on your path. Look closely at yourself, your fears, your angers, your resistance. Let your inner feelings come up, acknowledge them, then let them go. One after another remove the blocks until you can clearly see your vision and your voice is strong and clear: I'm ready, willing, and able to have what I want and it's in my highest good.

Where you go you will find people lying to you and as your awareness grows, you will notice that you also lie to yourself.

Make a list of people and choices you lie to or about.

How do you feel physically and emotionally about the other person/choice?

If you truly care for these people and/or support your choice fully, why do you lie to them or about your choice?

What is it about yourself or the people in your life that drives you to not be impeccable with your word?

Turn in playlist with your name and a title.

Describe your playlist and explain how it supports one or both of the agreements we have covered thus far: be impeccable with your word; don't take things personally.

What are the 20% of things in your life that cause 80% of your anxiety? (Pareto’s Law)

Who or what is creating 80% of your stress right now? How can you focus on yourself to lessen this stress? List three ways you can change your situation to make it less stressful.

What did you learn about yourself through the meditation experience?

 

Over the weekend, incorporate two 5-minute meditations, which can be:
Guided meditation- this is where you listen to someone assisting you through a visualization process while your eyes are closed
Sound meditation-which is listening to music without words and you focus on your breathing
Silent meditation -with or without a mantra which is sitting or lying in complete silence focusing on your body and breathing; with a mantra is reciting a given statement over and over in your head. Use the following mantra, “Peace begins with me.”
State which meditation practice you used. Describe how you felt before you began each session and then describe how you felt following each session.

Mind-body state means that our thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and attitudes can positively or negatively affect our biological functioning. In other words, our minds can affect how healthy our bodies are! On the other hand, what we do with our physical body (what we eat, how much we exercise, even our posture) can impact our mental state (again positively or negatively). This results in a complex interrelationship between our minds and bodies. One way we can take back control of our moods and feelings is to practice yoga. Yoga practice deals not only with the physical body: its purpose is to work with the mind as well. Some yoga poses both stimulate and still the brain as well as activate and energize the vital organs. It is also known that practicing yoga influences the chemistry in the brain, leading to improved mental health. Yoga also works with awareness. Being aware of the mind and body during the practice helps with the generating the mind and body awareness.
What have you noticed about your mind and body during practice? Which asana (poses) bring your mind/thoughts in focus? How can you use the breathing techniques and asana throughout your day to make a mind-body connection?

How would you describe moods?

Define mind-body state.
What types of moods do you have?
Do you feel you have any control over the? Why or Why not?

Two of our world’s greatest philosophers: Marcus Aurelius (Meditations) reminds us not to worry about the opinion of other people who don’t even have a good opinion of themselves! He tells us: “The approval of such men, who do not even stand well in their own eyes, has no value for him.” And Seneca (Letters from a Stoic) reminds us that the world is so inconsistent in its opinions we should just be done with it. He says: “Away with the world’s opinion of you, it always unsettled and divided.”
Write this agreement on paper, and put it somewhere you must see daily to remind you all the time: "Don’t take anything personally.”

Turn in journals!!

Ervin Seale ( Take Off from Within) reminds us: “There is one recurring, persistent, perennial, and dogging personal problem which, more than any other, steals the force and peace of people and ruins projects and enterprises and careers. It is the habits of feeling hurt because of what others do or do not do and what they say or do not say.” Why is this such a big deal? As Don Miguel Ruiz says: “Nothing other people do is because of you. It is because of themselves.”

Let’s think about it. Imagine interacting with the same person in two different situations.

First: the person had an AWESOME day—they got a great night of sleep, won the lottery and every other thing that could’ve possibly gone well for them unfolded. They’re feeling great. How do you think they’re going to treat us? Probably pretty well, eh?

Now, same person. This time, they got a bad night of sleep, lost their job, got in a car accident, didn’t eat all daylong and every other annoying thing that could’ve happened, happened. Not in such a good mood. How do you think they’re going to treat us now? Probably nowhere near as well as when they’re rested, happy and all that, eh?

The important thing to note here is that WE were exactly the same in both situations, but if we base our opinion of ourselves on how someone else treats us, we’re in trouble.

Describe a situation that you have been in when someone treated you poorly, and you felt like you did nothing wrong.  Did you become defensive, upset, etc?  How did you respond to them and to the situation? Why did you take their response personally?  

2nd Agreement: Don't take anything personally

“Whatever happens around you, don’t take it personally… if I see you on the street and say, ‘Hey, you are so stupid,’ without knowing you, it’s not about you; it’s about me. If you take it personally, then perhaps you believe you are stupid. Maybe you think to yourself, ‘How does he know? Is he clairvoyant, or can everybody see how stupid I am?’”  List and explain one negative comment someone made that you took personally. Why did you? How did it make you feel? Do you really believe you are who/what the person said?

Reflect on your practice of being impeccable with you word. Have you been more aware of what you say and how you say things? Have you given people space to talk as well as "air time" for you to think before responding? Where do you need to focus in order to strengthen this agreement to yourself?

Think of your words as a contract: If you were upheld to the words you use, how would you speak differently? If you tell someone, "I'll be there" but don't mean it, what are the repercussions? People will trust you less, invite you less, think you're a flake or simply not think your words have much value. Practice saying, "I'll try to be there" or "a healthy, no, I won't be able to."

Journal:

Choose your words slowly and carefully: even that few extra seconds can save you from saying something you didn’t mean or doesn’t make sense or perhaps comes across as inappropriate. Really pause and think to choose the right words. You may need to say “just a moment while I think” and notice you will start to say less.  Practice only using words you are comfortable with: again, you may wish to research words you like using more in conversation and words you believe in. This will make it easier to be impeccable with your words. Write out a list of 3 phrases you can use to give yourself time to pause and think before you respond.

Journal:

It is not about me but the person speaking.  All too often we half listen to people anticipating our opportunity to share a personal story, situation, opinion that is often unsolicited.  As difficult as it may be to believe, when people engage us in conversation it really isn't about us! Being impeccable with our word extends to these conversations as well. We need to slow down, remove ourselves as the center of everyone else's lives, and just listen! Learning to listen intently and purposely is one of the greatest gifts we can give to others and ourselves.

  Practice using assuring responses of your own favorite words to show people you have listened: “that’s so interesting”; “Wow, fascinating”; “that’s terrific”; “can you tell me more about ____” or “that’s appalling”; “gosh what a terrible challenge”. Notice these phrases do not launch into a competitive story about yourself. Write a list of 5 phrases you can use in the moment that will direct the focus of a conversation away from you and your experiences to the individual speaking.  Side note: This tool is especially useful when dealing with difficult, irrational, or rude people!

Journal Entry:

Take time to be thoughtful. Try taking at least 5-10 seconds to truly pause and think about what another person has said before responding: this may be difficult, as our culture tends to expect instant responses. Taking too long might elicit strange faces; irritation or people repeating themselves to you. Keep doing so and people will look forward to the fact you take the time to be thoughtful. Describe what you gained by pausing and thinking about what another person said to you. How could this technique help you in all facets of your life?

Journal:

Take time to listen. Try to not be eager to spill out your own thoughts before others are finished (tough one!). Really, tune in which likely means put your mobile down, turn away from the PC, turn the TV off, and look at people while they are speaking. Describe your experience. How did you feel when you truly listened and how did the person talking respond?

Journal Entry:

Look at yourself in the mirror and give yourself 3 complements of which 1 must address a physical trait.  You MUST say the complements to yourself and aloud, and you cannot criticize any part of yourself AT ALL i.e. you cannot say, “I’ve great hair when the weather is great” or “I sort of like my eyes/personality/ etc. when I’m sitting the dark.”

 

Journal Topics:

8-21-19

Believe in yourself to overcome self-doubt

 

8-22-19

What does is mean to be impeccable with your word?

 

8-23-19

"When you are impeccable, you take responsibility for your actions, but you do not judge or blame yourself. If you make an agreement with yourself to be impeccable with your word, just with that intention, the truth will manifest through you and clean all the emotional poison that exists within you" (Ruiz 31-32). Address a time when you were not impeccable with your word. How did you feel? How do you move forward?