Instructor: Maria Drennen
Community: Classroom Setting??, Ages/Grades??
Plan Creation Date: December 4, 2009
Yoga Calm Principle/Lesson Goal: Stillness
Lesson Plan:
**Each of my lessons will begin before the youth arrive with the creation of a supportive environment. By creating a calm, safe setting that honors well being, the children will enter a space where they feel an internal shift of peacefulness that supports health and wellness. By calming and centering myself, I prepare myself to focus on the health of the children and leave all other worries out of this sacred place and time.
**Dim the lights or turn them off to create a relaxing mood.
Calm
- Pulse count – Ask the students to turn inward and get in touch with the rhythm of their body. Have them close their eyes and shut out the rest of the world, becoming still and in touch with themselves and the life beating through them.
- Hoberman Sphere – Explain that this simulates their lungs. Ask them to breathe in through their nose, hold, and exhale slowly, taking as long as possible to release the breath and slow their heart beat. Encourage them to hold the breath a little longer each time, as well as lengthen the exhalation.
- Belly Breathing – As they place their right hand on their chest and their left hand on their belly, ask them to turn inward again and notice the rhythm of their breathing. Create a picture in their mind of a wave filling the bottom of their lungs and rising until their upper chest is filled with air. Encourage them to feel the wave roll gently through their lungs.
- Windmill breathing – As they listen to the music, the focus will be on slowing the exhalation. Tell them to let go of any stress, tension or worry by releasing it into the breath and cleansing the body with new air. In doing so, they are creating stillness in their mind.
- Back Breathing with a partner
- Cactus pose —2 minute exploration with a Mindful Moments card — “Listen to your heart and body for messages they have for you.”
- Floor twist
Activate
- Mountain – As they stand in mountain, ask them become as still as possible by rooting their feet into the ground and activating their core muscles by drawing into the center of themselves. Picture a strong, still mountain in your mind. Take deep, slow breaths to become as still and strong as that mountain.
- Upward Mountain
- Forward Bend/Downward Dog
Calm
- Child – While resting in this pose, picture yourself as a sleeping child in your mind’s eye. Notice how relaxed your face is – free of any tension or worry. Notice how safe, and warm, and peaceful you feel. As you relax deeper into your inner child, focus on becoming still in mind and body.
- Progressive Relaxation – Go deeper into stillness by releasing any left over tension in all parts of the body. Relax the body until it sinks into the floor.
- 2 minutes of Stillness – Stay in stillness for 2 more healthy minutes. Afterwards, stretch and notice how calm and relaxed your body feels. You make take your pulse to see that you have the power to relax your heart and mind when it is your intention.