Rayna: Well, let’s bring our feet about hip-distance apart. Close your eyes if you want, pretend there are roots coming from our feet.

Rayna: When we use mindfulness, it allows us that pause to regulate, to notice how we feel.

Rayna: And rise our hands all the way up.

Rayna: The fact that we can use outdoors, we’re able to spread out more. We’re able to feel the fresh air. Breathing a little bit longer just brings more oxygen into the mind.

Rayna: This time hands come to prayer. We’re going to bring them to our heart.

Jenna: There’s a huge therapeutic quality to being outside. The children are really soothed by our environment. The mindfulness activity, we do it for about seven minutes every day.

Jenna: Put your books away, get yourself nice and comfortable. Soften your eyes.
Hear the sounds around you. Take a deep breath in. Start noticing the feelings at the top of your head. Your forehead and eyes.

Jenna: It becomes a really valuable part of the day. It’s the tool in our toolbox for any kind of stress. This year it’s much more about centering and developing the skills
for anchoring oneself in the time of great upheaval.

Jenna: Going down your chest and your belly, rising and falling.

Jenna: Being seated on the ground with air and trees all around you is very different than sitting even on the floor in the classroom. It’s just this contact
with the elements. The only sound is the wind in the leaves, or a bird.

Jenna: You might bring yourself back now. We’ll give a stretch. So, what do you think?

Student: It feels really calm and like I felt warm.

Student: I think that was one of the like most relaxing times I’ve felt lately.

Jenna: You’re getting a little bit better at understanding how it all goes.

Student: Yeah.

Rayna: Getting out in nature is one of the best ways to connect back to your health. There’re studies that show the more mindfulness, certain areas of our brain that deal with the fight or flight response decrease. And the other areas of our brain that deal with more of the logical thinking, the prefrontal cortex, those areas increase. So, it’s not just a feeling, it’s science behind it, too.

Rayna: How do we feel?

Student: I feel calm and good!

Rayna: You felt some calm and peace? That’s really good!

Student: Like everything just came out of my body and float away!