Couple Meditation – Strengthening your connection

Couples Meditation

Couples Meditation- Reconnecting and strengthening your relationship
Couples Meditation- Reconnecting and strengthening your relationship

 

The beauty about meditation is that it can be adapted to suit whatever you are experiencing. The past few months has seen a rise in couples counselling at Hawk Therapies Wellness Centre. We have effectively delivered programs through Meditation, Holistic Counselling and Life Coaching to guide and empower couples to look beyond the circumstances to find balance and to restore their heart centres.

Couples meditation is a great way to combine your healing and to recreate a positive and loving energy as a couple. We all go through tough times and we can inadvertently pick up negative energy from another. However if we adapt a mindful  awareness of how we feel and what it is that we are reacting to, we are able to effectively disengage from the associated stress response, or at the very least reduce it. Applying a meditative approach is an excellent way to do so

Below is a simple and fun meditation by Isabelle Cunningham that you can practice with others. It works in a group but it is especially nice for couples to practice together.

Simply sit opposite your loved one and hold hands. Look into each others eyes and take turns of saying the following three statements.

(First person) I Am Happy I AM
(Second person) I Am Blessed I AM
(First person) I Am Fortunate I AM
(Second person) I Am Happy I AM
(First person) I Am Blessed I AM
(Second person) I Am Fortunate I AM

So the three statements are simply
I Am Happy I AM
I Am Blessed I AM
I Am Fortunate I AM
You just keep saying them in rounds, in that order, so that each person gets a chance to say each one of the statements.

You can even do this while you are taking a walk together.

It can become a trigger for you both if one or the other starts sliding into negativity. So that one partner will simply say “I Am Happy I AM” prompting their partner to reply with “I Am Blessed I AM” and so it goes!

This mantra helps us to focus and tune out of the minds ‘chatter’. It also uses very powerful statements to reprogram the brain with positive mindsets.

Do this mantra meditation as often as you can, together and alone. You could even teach your children to play it with you. Imagine driving along in the car and hearing your children chanting these beautiful words.

It is fun because you have to remember which statement you are up to when it is your turn (as there is a specific order.)

It is a beautiful way to share time with people you love and it has great psychological benefits.

It is also one of those things that gets stuck in your head and so you will find yourself chanting these beautiful life affirming words in all sorts of moments.

This meditation can also be practiced in a group where you go around the circle taking turns to say the statements in order.

I hope you have fun with it!

 

Benefits of Yoga for Teenagers

Reasons why you should encourage your teen to engage in regular yoga practice:

The teenage years set the foundations of behaviours and habits leading into adulthood, therefore it is extremely important for teenagers to connect to themselves and become mindful of what is happening internally and externally, forming an awareness of the mind-body-soul connection. This blog will discuss some of the physical and mental benefits of yoga,how it can counter the stresses of teenage life, improve sleep and performance at school.

Physical Benefits:

Yoga-for-teen-02On a physical level, immense changes take place in the teenagers’ body’s chemistry and physiology, such as more activity in their chakras as they continue to develop. When imbalances in the chakras occur, the chemistry and hormones in the body are altered, often presenting as low energy, increased emotions, and mood swings. This in turn effects all aspects of their lives, from friendships to the ability to study and cope well at school, their self-esteem and self-image, and their general ability to move through life with ease and positivity.

Regular practice of yoga helps to balance the chakras, strengthening the soul and the spirit, and improving health, resulting in huge benefits for the mind and body. The physical component of yoga helps to strengthen and tone the body, increase flexibility (after sitting in a chair all day at school), assist with circulation, detoxify the body, promotes good posture and spinal health, among many other benefits.

Mental Benefits and School:

With a focus on the importance of breath, teenagers soon discover the correlation between correct deep breathing and the associated calmness in the body, which they can apply in all life situations if they are feeling stressed, worried or concerned. This in turn assists by reducing anxiety, depression and overall stress levels, thus further improving the health of the mind and body.

Regular yoga practice for teenagers promotes improved concentration and focus, better sleeping patterns, increased energy levels, and provides a strengthened internal perspective, helping self-image develop free of media and other cultural influences. Research has shown that students who practice regular yoga and meditation enjoy better recall and retention at school, perform better overall in exams, and are better equipped to handle the increasingly high demands of schoolwork during the teenage years. This practice assists with preserving energy levels so that they can better cope with other life areas and commitments away from school without feeling overwhelmed. The importance of maintaining a good balance of school, work, exercise and social connections cannot be understated.

Yoga and Meditation:
yoga-for-teens

Our Thursday evening Teenage Yoga class runs for one hour and incorporates ten minutes of relaxation meditation which deeply assists this highly mentally active age group to completely detach from the busyness in their world, enabling them to self-connect and trust themselves whilst bringing their bodies down from a state of “fight or flight” to a clam and optimal state of “homeostasis.” It is from this place that the body activates its own innate healing process, strengthening the immune system, deterring colds, flu’s and allergies, regulating the digestive system, and eliminating the cocktail of chemicals that are released into the teens body during times of stress.

Sleeping Benefits:

It is common for teenagers to experience issues with their sleeping patterns such as broken sleep, inability to enter a deep sleep, and trouble switching off and falling to sleep; this is a huge issue as it effects their mental and physical health as well as their studies. Yoga and meditation help to alter the brainwave states making for a more effective night’s sleep and a more positive mood the following day.

Teenage yoga is highly recommended by many professionals as a great stress management program in addition to the many physical benefits that this physically sedentary group requires. No phones or texts, no iPads, laptops or Facebook, no beeps or notifications – absolutely no distractions, just one full hour of connecting to yourself, slowing your body and mind down through your breath, working your physical body and releasing stress and tension, creating a lasting state of balance for the week ahead!

So make a difference to the lives of the teenagers you know, share this link and be part of improving the well-being of future generations.

 

Contact Hawk Therapies Wellness Centre via the website enquiry page or email info@hawktherapies.com.au