I spent the night at a Buddhist temple and practiced meditation, mindfulness, and chanting. Mindfulness is when you focus on the present moment. A mindfulness exercise would be using your five senses to see what you are feeling right now. What do you smell? What do you see? What do you taste? What do you feel? What do you hear? See, you are practicing mindfulness!
I was the only foreigner at the temple so I had a lot of time to self-reflect and think. I enjoy journaling my thoughts and feelings and it helps me process things that are going on in my life. The temple was also off-grid in nature, which was a wonderful break from the hustle and bustle of the city.
This week, I read the book You Are Here. The temple had a small library with many books written in both English and Korean. The book was written by the famous Zen monk and activist, Thich Nhat Hanh. It offered advice for handling hard emotions like regret, grief, and jealousy. When you find you are feeling stressed or overwhelmed, think about your breath! Breathe in....and breathe out. The past no longer exists and the future is not here yet. The only moment we have is the present!
This week I played charades in my classes! I taught my students how to talk about health and fitness for World Health Day. We played charades with different fitness vocabulary like soccer, swimming, riding a bike, dancing and more. My students loved the game and it let them take a break from all the intense studying they do!
