MCM College: Body-Mind-Spirit Well-being Series II – Mindful Yoga
 
 
 
In order to promote body-mind-spirit well-being to our students and staff at UMAC, Moon Chun Memorial College held a mindful yoga workshop on 22nd March 2019. We were pleased to invite Dr. Wong Yiu Kwong, the President of Hong Kong Mindful Yoga Association to lead the workshop. This workshop attracted a total of twenty participants who brought their own yoga mats to learn mindful yoga together.
At the beginning of the workshop, Dr. Wong introduced the concept of “Mindfulness” to the participants and explained that mindfulness means being awake in the moment. He mentioned that in recent years, the mindfulness revolution has been spreading over America, Europe and Asia. In February 2014, mindfulness was the subject of TIME Magazine cover. The Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (RBSR) Programme has gradually become a formal training for American and European top corporations, schools and professional sports etc. In addition, mindfulness has been proven to have a number of health benefits for students, e.g. increasing attention and memory, lowering stress levels and improving sleep quality. After the introduction session, Dr. Wong started to guide the participants to practice mindful yoga. Mindful Yoga is different from many traditional yoga practices in that there is less of a focus on the exact posture achieved and more focus on body/mind awareness rather than the ‘perfect’ pose. Bringing mindfulness to any form of activity brings an alert focus to what is actually happening in the moment and how you respond to it. This mindfulness transforms movement and yoga into a form of meditation. Through mindful yoga, participants learnt to practice proactively rather than reactively. This means listening carefully without judgement, simply what is there, hearing the calling of the body, mind and spirit.
Bringing awareness to our body and how it moves in a yoga workshop can have an immediate affect on our mental and emotional state. This awareness transcends to the language of our body. The body records our life experiences and it reveals our attitudes and feelings as it move and as we practice yoga if we pay attention. The alchemy of weaving the breath, posture, movement and mindfulness is a truly wholistic approach to body-mind-spirit well-being.
滿珍紀念書院：身、心、靈健康系列 (二) ─ 正念瑜珈
為向澳大的師生推廣身、心、靈健康，滿珍紀念書院於2019年3月22日舉辦了一個正念瑜珈工作坊，並邀請香港正念瑜珈學會會長黃耀光博士帶領工作坊。此工作坊吸引了二十位參加者，他們各自帶了瑜珈墊來一起學習正念瑜珈。
工作坊開始時，黃博士向參加者介紹「正念」的概念，並解釋正念意指活在當下。他指出近年「正念革命」已遍及美國、歐洲和亞洲。於2014年2月，正念更成為了美國時代雜誌的封面故事。正念減壓課程已逐漸成為歐美頂尖企業、各級學校以及職業運動領域的正式訓練課程之一。此外，正念亦被證實對學生有很多健康益處，如提昇專注力和記憶力、減少壓力以及改善睡眠質素。短講結束後，黃博士開始帶領參加者練習正念瑜珈。正念瑜珈與很多傳統瑜珈的不同之處在於它較少專注於完成指定姿勢，反而較專注於身心的察覺多於「完美」的姿勢。帶著正念進行任何形式的活動能夠讓人覺醒此時此刻所發生的一切，以及如何作出回應。這種正念將動作和瑜珈轉化成為一種冥想。透過正念瑜珈，參加者學習主動進行練習，而不只是作出反應。這意味著留心地聆聽，純粹地聆聽著身、心、靈的呼喚。
在瑜珈工作坊中，當我們將覺察帶進身體並留意著身體如何流動時，它能夠對我們的精神和情緒狀態產生即時的影響。這種覺察超越了我們的身體語言。當我們不帶批判且專注地進行瑜珈動作時，身體會記錄我們的生活經驗，以及反映我們的態度和感受。這種結合呼吸、姿勢、動作和正念的神奇力量確實是達致身、心、靈健康的整全方法。 |