Kids’ movies always have the best lessons. One of my recent favorites is McKenna Shoots for the Stars, which is the latest American Girl movie. It’s about a girl who struggles through a gymnastics injury as well as learning difficulties at school to achieve her goals of successfully reading and comprehending non-fiction as well as making the regional competitive team in gymnastics.
One of my favorite parts of the movies is when her tutor, Josie, reminds her to breathe “Blue Skies In, Grey Skies Out” as she prepares her post-injury dismount from the balance beam during the gymnastics meet that determines whom the members of the regional competitive team will be.
The practice of yoga teaches us that proper breathing is the key to stress reduction and relaxation and that the breath controls our state of mind. Hence, the premise in the movie is to take a deep breath in and nourish your mind, body, and spirit with the blue skies (the positive energies in your life), and exhale and push out the grey skies (all the negative energies) that are adding stress to your mind, body, and spirit.
As you probably can predict, the breathing technique works for McKenna to help her clear her head, regain her focus, and eliminate her fear of falling on the dismount. She sticks her dismount and, of course, is one of the three gymnasts chosen for the regional competitive team.
If it works for McKenna, it can work for you, too! Yes, it’s Hollywood, but art emulates life, right?
Whenever those moments strike that you feel stress, anxiety, imbalance, negativity, or similar feelings, you can use this technique to restore your sense of balance and control over the situation. Whether you are at work, amidst an argument with a spouse, attempting to discipline your child, addressing a classroom of students who have gotten a bit unruly, preparing to walk down the aisle and meet your mate at the altar, or walking into a very important job interview, take a few moments to breathe deeply and state your mantra. It can be the same “blue skies in, grey skies out” mantra, or whatever other mantra you’ve adopted.
Before my illness/injury when I was a runner, my mantra was “You finish and you win”. I said that knowing I would not be the first or even the tenth or hundredth to cross the finish line in races, but just completing the grueling task of running 10 or 13.1 miles was winning in my mind (and body!).
If you have a little more time than just a few moments, take a few minutes and go outside and cloud watch. In doing so, you can envision your tribulations drifting away with the clouds. Throughout the process of cloud-watching, continue to breath deeply and repeat your mantra. Of course, you can repeat it to yourself within your head so people don’t look at you as if you’re a little loony.
Perhaps you can’t get outside to cloud watch live and in-person. You can cloud watch at your computer by viewing a meditation video like this one. Better yet, if you’re the slightest bit tech savvy or know someone who is, you can make your own video for a fully personalized experience.
Whether you take one breath, take 5-minutes to cloud watch, or watch a 10 minute mediation video, I am confident you will begin to feel a sense of restoration and balance within your mind, body, and spirit.
Nourish your soul! Namaste!
Photo Credit: http://janeannethorne.wordpress.com
