Youth Curriculum, 11-5-23
Announcements:
You can order your beautiful local holiday wreaths at Lynch Creek Farm, get free shipping anywhere in the US through Nov 10th, and support CSL Olympia Youth! Go to the CSLOlympia.org youth page, where you will find a link to our fundraising campaign, or pick up a flyer in the lobby with easy shopping directions. Thank you for supporting our youth and teens!
Curriculum Overview
This November, our lessons and activities come from the book Planting Seeds by Thick Nhat Hanh to experience Mindfulness as a way to find meaning in the mundane, notice the sacredness of all things, and invite Oneness by practicing inclusiveness.
2023 Theme: Living Out Loud!
November Monthly Theme: Finding the Sacred and the Divine in Everything
Week 1 Value: Breathing with a Bell – the not so Mundane
Affirmation: I listen to the bell, breathe, and it takes me back to my true home.
Spiritual Lesson: Breathing with a Bell – the not so Mundane
Mindfulness is increasingly recognized as an essential education tool. It develops attention, emotional and cognitive understanding, and bodily awareness and coordination, as well as interpersonal awareness and skills. – Thick Nhat Hanh
We work with colorful sand and water to learn about mindful thoughts, learn breathing songs, and practice mindful phone calls.
Active Listening: Book/Music/Video
Video: Inviting the Bell – Thich Nhat Hanh
Book: Planting Seeds by Thick Nhat Hanh
Music: Follow My Breath, Listening to the Bell, The Island Within – Planting Seeds
Creative Expression – What’s so Interesting about Breathing?
Youth will be introduced to the meaning of the bell with the breath and learn a Gatha song about listening. Youth take turns introducing the breath with the bell as a Bell Master at different times throughout class as a reminder to be mindful of what we are doing.
Bell Masters invocation:
“Body, speech, and mind in perfect oneness. I send my heart along with the sound of this bell. May the hearers awaken from their forgetfulness and transcend the path of anxiety and sorrow.”
Connecting/Spiritual Practice: Choosing with Intention
Youth get creative with sand in a bottle and learn how to choose thoughts with intention. Everyone is invited to bring something from home that helps them feel peaceful to place on our meditation altar for the month.