Mindful Awareness

In, out

Deep, slow

Calm, ease

Smile, release

Present moment, wonderful moment

~ Thich Nhat Hahn.

 

Remembering to practice mindful awareness, my sadhana & sankalpa throughout the day is often tricky especially on one of those days. Along with little pieces of paper sweetly decorating my home I use jewellery. It is on me so I can simply look down, see it there & remember God. Sometimes I get caught on something.  I stop, reflect, ponder ‘what am I being reminding about?’  I remember the significance, breath & continue. Thich Nhat Hahn calls this a Bell of Mindfulness.

 

 I also use jewellery with the children. It is a wonderful visual way for children to remember to use “gentle hands” & “kind words”.

 

Hand making this jewellery with my children explaining the importance as we go along, is a beautiful way to practise & teach yoga & the Buddha’s Noble Eightfold Path.

 

 A necklace around visshudhhi (throat) chakra reminds us to use right speech (samyag vac) & to listen carefully to what others are saying.

 

 

Bracelets around our wrists are a trigger to do the right things with our hands, being gentle, serving, loving & always giving. The right action (samyak karmanta). The practice of touching love & preventing harm, non-violence towards ourselves & others.

 

Anklets remind us to step out in the right direction. 

Also bindi’s/tikas (literally - dot) placed on agni chakra (the eyebrow centre) can stimulate this chakra of intuition. A reminder to listen to our inner voice & training for the children to hear this voice. During meditation the kundalini (latent energy) rises from the base of the spine towards agni chakra.

We gather string, natural objects, beads & bought jewellery to create our own personal reminders for ourselves & our family. Oh, yeah & tattoos.