CHAPTER 11: on THE mAT: foRmAl YogA PRACTICES foR SElf-REgulATIon And EngAgEmEnT • 267Thought River meditation
The Thought River Meditation helps students be more mindfully aware and discerning
about their thoughts. Begin by asking the students to notice if they have many thoughts in
their heads (Harper, 2013). Explain to the students that the brain is like a thought-generating
machine (Harper, 2013). It makes lots and lots of thoughts. Thoughts come from stories
that you have heard, movies you have watched, or things that people have told you. Some
thoughts are important and true. Others are not. Tell the students that it is their job to decide
which of the thoughts they want to keep and believe (Harper, 2013). To guide the meditation,
tell the students this. “As you sit quietly, imagine that as your mind makes thoughts, it drops
the thoughts into the river. You can watch the thoughts float by in the river. As your thoughts
begin to come to mind they fall into the river. You do not need to pick them up; simply watch
them flow by. Notice them. Are they true? Memories? Stories? Are they linked together? Are
they about people? Worries? Plans? Notice as much as you can about them so that you can
describe to your peers what you saw floating down the river.” After 3 to 5 minutes, play a
chime to let them know the time is up (Harper, 2013). Ask the students to journal the types
of thoughts that they saw. Provide time for the students to discuss what they observed. Ask
them how they might decide which thoughts to keep and which to let go.
flow meditation
This meditation is an embodied flow using flowy scarves (Flynn, 2013). It works for students of
all ages especially younger students. Each student receives a scarf or two to hold (Flynn, 2013).
The scarves can become waves, breath, seaweed, wind, or the ocean (Flynn, 2013). This flow
meditation can be paired with music, a poem, a guided meditation, or silence. The goal is the
promotion of mindful movement and it is believed to encourage body awareness and mind-
fulness (Flynn, 2013). Encourage the students to hold the scarf. Play the music, read a poem,
or begin a script (Flynn, 2013). Encourage them to follow the words or sounds (Flynn, 2013).
To integrate the practice with breath, ask the students to sit in a circle. Hold a corner of the
scarf in each hand. Breathe in, lifting the scarf up and breath out, letting the scarf fall. Breathe
together, synchronizing the breath and the movement of the scarves.
Anchor breath
The anchor breath is considered a core concept of mindfulness and yoga (Rechtschaffen,
2014). It is a focusing exercise in which students notice the way their breathing feels in their
bellies (Rechtschaffen, 2014). When there is a lot of chaos and stress in students’ lives, the
anchor breath can bring them back to a calm and relaxed state (Rechtschaffen, 2014). Ask
the students to sit comfortably in their seats. Ask them to place one hand on their hearts and
one hand on their bellies and to breathe deeply. Explain to them that the deepest breathing,
the most effective breathing, goes right to their bellies and will help the hand on their bellies
rise and fall. Remind them that they can always find their anchor breath there. Ask them to
imagine that there are times that all of the stuff they need to do starts pulling their attention
all over, and, like a boat getting tossed around in a rough sea, they need an anchor. Remind
them that as the waves of emotions, fear, anxiety, and sadness come and go, the anchor