Keys to Your Wellbeing V: Movement for a Better Brain

For the team work I wanted to have groups where there would be both familiar and unfamiliar faces. So I asked the students to form groups of three and write down their names on a piece of paper. I collected the papers, combined each group with another randomly, and put each pair of papers on one desk in front of the class. Then the students came, searched for their own paper, and introduced themselves to the three new group members. 

- Frank Martela, University lecturer, School of Science

If the learning facilitator remembers mindfulness, or cues it into the contact session, some mindful movement, and a mindful invitation to the students to feel into and manifest what their bodies need in the moment, is all that is required.

 John Millar, Senior University Lecturer, School of Electrical Enginee

Usually, in universities students usually sit and listen to lectures using their brains to focus and learn the content. However, our rational mind is only a small part of our being. Without creating a connection between the body, emotions, and rational mind, we will feel detached from ourselves. Our Good Life Engine course touches upon all three layers. 

At the Good Life Engine course alongside multiple concepts and exercises to work on our rational mind to improve our well-being, we ran workshops that help students to connect with their body, such as Wim-Hof breathing, Japanese Butoh dance, and energy training exercises (see the photos attached). Energy training exercise (workshop at Good Life Engine course on 1.03) includes 12 exercises to activate energy in your body. The beauty of exercises is that all of them are easy to do in any setting and don't require special conditions or equipment. They derived from the Chinese traditional medicine and the concept of meridians in our body

- Lidia Rauramo, Educator, Aalto Ventores programme 

The students form a circle and in that circle you can do anything. The calculation always works: the first round is just ordinary numbers in numerical order, the second round can be backwards, the third with the previous one added etc. The possibilities are endless. Changing numbers divisible by 3 to clapping and changing numbers divisible by 5 to stomping your foot are a bonus. You can learn each other's names, practice showing different statuses, body language, whatever. Toothless animals in the ring have also been fun. The teacher is of course involved in the activity.

- Jaana Suviniitty, Post doctoral researcher/pedagogical specialist, School of Engineering