by Cynthia Calhoun | Sep 25, 2018 | News
Opening the Heart – Reflection and Centering
At a recent admin meeting, Cynthia shared a centering designed to bring awareness to, and open the heart. Renee asked her to share it on the Director’s Blog for others to enjoy, as well.
Point to yourself
Take a moment to close your eyes and relax into the rhythm of your breath. When you feel more relaxed, go ahead and point to yourself.
Notice where you are pointing. Chances are, you’re pointing toward your heart, or somewhere near your heart chakra.
This is on purpose. We humans point to the heart because we intuitively know our truest selves are not the brain, but the heart. The heart serves as a secondary brain and even has its own magnetic field.
What we do with the heart
We do a lot with the heart. We have heart-to-heart conversations. When we’re happy, our heart swells. When we’re sad, we’re heartbroken.
In the presence of beauty, we say we’re heartened. When we like someone, we say that they have a kind heart. A trustworthy, well-meaning person has a heart of gold. Conversely, a cold, unforgiving person has a heart of stone. When we feel bad for someone, we say, “bless their heart.” When we experience surprise, our heart skips a beat.
When we see someone’s heartfelt actions, we know it’s them expressing their truth. Furthermore, we send heart emojis when we mean to send loving thoughts.
Some of us wear our hearts on our sleeve.
Caring for our “heart self”
Our culture values the relentless pursuit of knowledge. We feed the mind. We feed the brain. We spend decades educating ourselves. But how often do we remember to feed the heart? How often do we remember to care for our heart self?
When we focus on the heart, our communications improve. Our relationships flourish. Still, our hope for the world turns rosier, as if we put on rose-colored glasses.
Pink and green
The color pink is the representation of the heart and a symbol of romantic love. On the other hand, the heart chakra is green. It’s the opposite of rose. Green is a color of expansion, growth, openness and unconditional love – love for self and love for others. The heart chakra sits in the center of the chest, not at the heart as many believe.
As a centering, we can do a little care for the heart – the heart itself, and the heart chakra.
A heart-centered breath
This is a practice that you can do at any time: while going about your day, while meditating, while exercising, or wherever.
Sit with your feet flat on the floor, or in a comfortable position. Hands can rest on your lap.
Relax your body. You can keep your eyes open, capped (open half-way) or closed.
Bring your attention to the breath as you breathe through the nose. Feel the cooler air as you inhale, and warmer air as you exhale. Don’t control or regulate your breath. Just observe.
Focus your attention…
Now bring your gentle attention to the rise and fall of the chest. Gently move your attention to the heart. Visualize your breath moving in and out of your heart space, filling it with soft green light and exhaling that same green light into the air around you.
Move into silence for three or four breaths, with each inhale and exhale taking in the easy green light and filling your heart space. Your exhale fills the air with this same light.
If you notice your thoughts wandering, just bring them back to the heart, and the light. Be kind to yourself.
After a few moments, bring your attention back to the breath. When you’re ready, open your eyes if you had them closed or capped.
by Admin | May 31, 2017 | Blogs
As we get ready to celebrate our K-8 graduating students tonight let’s not forget our Preschool friends, who graduated a week ago in a lovely ceremony held in the auditorium. This rite of passage began, as all things at Rainbow begin, with a centering. Four eager preschoolers lead the whole community in mindful listening, deep breathing, and a blessing of compassion. What followed was the sweetness of young children as they received their diplomas one by one, and then finished the ceremony with a celebratory song led by music teacher, Sue Ford. Our youngest Rainbow students then took a few moments to have one last closing circle with their teachers, before they ran outside to play with their parents at the picnic. Congratulations to all our Dragonflies and Turtles for a year of stupendous growth and heart-warming transformation.
by Admin | Apr 11, 2017 | Blogs
School for the First Grade Jellyfish began as usual this morning with stations of building blocks, coloring sets, puzzles, and games neatly contained on each of the four-person tables. Bowie and Judah were busy building extraordinary creatures that turned effortlessly into whirring machines, a forrest of trees, and then finally into the flying contraptions pictured below with their amazing ability to land upside down and hang from the “ceiling”. Next came a special centering. Every first grader grabbed their sturdy sketch book and a pencil on their way out the door, as they prepared to spend some quite moments centering with their tree. Children drew the images that came to them in the silence as well as creative representations of the trees they’ve been tracking throughout the changing seasons. As soon as she had sat down at the base of her tree, Jett sprung back up and ran to her teacher. “My tree is flowering, Ms.Itiyopiya! Look!” she said. After ten minutes of relaxed mindful presence with their trees, the First Grade Jellies gathered around the candle Ms.Itiyopiya had lit in honor of nature and waited ceremoniously for their teacher to blow out the candle, signaling the end of centering and the beginning of a bright new spring day.
by Webmaster | Aug 27, 2014 | Home Page News, Student News & Accolades
We are thrilled to have our K-8 families back on campus!
Tomorrow, our Pre-K families return to campus.
What a glorious first day it has been!
Making Friends
Returning and new students were glad to see each other. Some had met only days before at their class pot luck, and others have known each other for years. We know one thing is for sure: all our students and families have become part of the Rainbow family.
The First Day…
Students in all grades showed how much they remembered in classroom activities in every grade. Some completed forms that were about what they did over the summer.
Others created artwork, joined a Centering Circle, and others engaged in Imaginative Play.
Some classes took tours of the campus to familiarize themselves with some of the new changes – such as our expanded campus.
We had lots of wonderful photo ops for the first day, coffee for parents. The energy on campus was just glorious.
Take a look at our 2014 First Day photo gallery – you can click on each image to see a bigger version.
Photo credit: C. Calhoun
by Webmaster | Oct 21, 2010 | Director's Blog
When I dropped by our second grade classroom this morning, I was invited to stay for Centering. For a moment, I hesitated to accept the teacher’s invitation, then did. Slipping off my shoes and sitting down between two children, I noticed the wall clock read 2:00, not the appropriate 8:45. “I’ll have to bring her some batteries,” I thought.
But as we closed our eyes and took our first slow breath together, I found myself offering an appreciation for that little clock. “Oh good,” I thought. “Since I won’t know the time, I won’t feel rushed to get back to the office. I’ll be able to relax and enjoy this!” Inhaling and exhaling together for the second time, I smiled to myself, realizing I’d just been given a gentle reminder. A reminder to stop, breathe, and be – existing totally in the present moment.
On our third in and out breath, my appreciation shifted from the clock to our teachers – my own son’s teachers. Over the past eight years, their ability to be present to him and to all our children has been one of the things I have been most grateful for – something I’m sure doesn’t appear on any of their resumes. “I need to tell them this,” I reminded myself as I became present to the teacher’s words.
Slipping my shoes back on and hugging a few children goodbye as I left their classroom, I found myself wanting to leave that little clock just as it is. ~ Carole
