Each week, the Mindful Minis classes end with the following mantra:
I am kind
I am calm
I healthy and strong
I am important
This week we focused on the last line “i am important” when we looked at the next colour in the rainbow – yellow. In yoga, yellow is associated with the Solar Plexus which is found just above the belly button. Physically, the Solar Plexus is the largest nerve centre in the abdomen with nerve fibres radiating to many vital organs. The Solar Plexus chakra is considered to be the Core Self, the center of the energy associated with the ego. Therefore, yellow can often be used to represent self-esteem and self-worth.
Self-esteem is a hard one. A low sense of self-worth can often go unnoticed. It is not always easy to gauge whether a child (or an adult for that matter!) has a true and genuine belief that they are important.
Genuine self-esteem grows when a child feels that they matter. Not because of what they can do well or because of what they look like or because of their family name, but because of who they are at their core. When the spirit of a child feels accepted and loved, when they feel that the essence of who they are belongs and matters, then their self-esteem can grow in a lasting way.
In the classes this week we spoke about self-esteem and feeling important. I explained in simple terms that self-esteem is how we feel about ourselves. Whether we love ourselves and feel good about ourselves. I asked the children if they thought it is important to feel good about themselves. In all the classes, the answer to this was yes! I then asked the children what things they felt proud of or good about themselves and my heart was saddened when a number of children said “nothing”. They may really not have had anything that they feel good about or it might be that they were embarrassed to share or felt that, in some way, it meant they were arrogant. It left me feeling sad that somehow, they felt it was wrong to share the things they like about themselves. Hopefully the lesson this week gave them a sense of how vital it is to feel good about ourselves – for our own sake and for a healthier society. For each one of us to have a true sense of self.
A main portion of the classes this week was artwork. The children made some colourful “Mandala Mirrors”. We used an old cd as the mirror part in the centre of a circular piece of cardboard. The children then traced circles around the mirror and add in different patterns (such as zig zags, bunny hops, dots, stripes, etc) with a black marker. And finally, they added colour! I had bought some neon sharpies a while ago so the kids had great fun trying these out on the “mirrors”. There were some beautifully creative results and hopefully each child walked away with a reminder to tell themselves how important they are when they look in a mirror.
While the children were busy with their mandala mirrors, I read them the wonderful story by Dr Seuss “My Many Coloured Days”. Truly a fantastic book about feelings and the roller coaster we sometimes find ourselves on.
The guided visualisation this week was a track called “The Magic Mirror” from my new CD “Mindful Moments for Minis”. It is a lovely, gentle meditation to help increase and grow the self-esteem and self-worth of a child. Many of you have been asking where you can by the CD. If you would like to purchase one, please send me an email (bianca@mindfulminis.co.za) and I will let you know when it is available – hopefully later this year still, otherwise definitely January 2018.
And then we ended off the classes with the Mindful Minis Mantra, saying with added gusto the last line “I AM IMPORTANT!”.
I leave you this week with the following quote from one of my all time favourite poets, Rumi:
“Let the waters settle.
You will see stars and moon mirrored in your being.”
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