Still the Body, Still the Mind: A Mindfulness Group Activity

Still the body, still the mind….

Sometimes when we become wrapped up in our emotions, we need a quick and effective way to still the mind and get to a more regulated state. In Mindfulness Club, we try to incorporate fun and different ways to do this that are realistic for everyday life.

Recently, we created our own Mindfulness Snow Globes, adapted from Christopher Willard’s book, “Child Mind,” to use in those moments of overwhelming emotions. We created charms using Shrinky Dinks and permanent markers to represent our individual ideas of calm. Words like relax, mindfulness, and love were included as well as images of Buddha, balanced stones, and nature. We used a mixture of water and mineral oil along with glitter in mason jars to create the snow globes.

When shaken, the glitter and charms get jumbled and swirl around chaotically. However, when placed down, the pieces settle and you can see clearly through the water. These snow globes represent our minds, and the charms and glitter symbolize our thoughts, emotions, sensations, and feelings.

We asked participants to shake their snow globes and focus on one piece of glitter or a charm while being aware of their breath. If they were unable to track that piece, we asked them to find another until all the glitter and charms had settled.

With all the chaos swirling around, the snow globes represent us in a dsyregulated state, and this exercise demonstrates that in order to still the mind, we also need to still the body. We can still the body through awareness of breath and focusing on the present.

This practice is one of many ways to assist us in moving from emotion mind to wise mind. Being in a wise mind state can also work to silence our impulsive behaviors that may not be effective for us to act on.

Mindful practices and activities blend the body and mind to be still together, creating a calm space in our day to day living.