Instructor: Janice Jordan
Community: Ages/Grades?, Therapy for children, Setting?, 60-75 minutes
Plan Creation Date: June 15, 2013
Yoga Calm Principle/Lesson Goal: Grounding
Lesson Plan:
Class Intention: Grounding, Introduction to Yoga Calm.
Notes: Pull curtains in room, each participant has candle and rock by mat. Use terms like feeling the earth support you, gratitude for all things coming from the earth, feeling on solid ground.
Calm
- Belly breathing – with hand on belly; connect to waves, body connection to mat/earth. Awareness of filling and emptying lungs and expanding and contracting ribcage.
- Opening Remarks – Rules of yoga practice. Concept of gratitude for grounding.
- Child’s Pose – Grounding posture
Activate
- Yoga-Based Activity/Alignment – Explain and demonstrate the balancing pads on feet and hands.
- Roots – Demonstrate and practice roots. Have Children find theirs.
- Mat Flow 20 – Demonstrate and assist student alignment.
- Tree Pose – and explaining connection to earth. Pick a student to demonstrate.
- Social Emotional Activity – Gratitude brainstorm using ball to toss or stuffed animal to pass. Pass out journals.
- Write in journals – I am grateful… be specific to things from the earth such as specific foods, building we are in is grounded to the earth, etc.
- Discussion – Why be grateful? Learning to use/accept emotions in healthy ways. Gratitude has the power to elevate to calmer level of emotions.
Calm
- Relaxation – Progressive muscle relaxation (Short version from Yoga Calm for Children), and building of room under tree meditation. – This is my own story created years ago when I first began meditating to listen to my inner voice. What follows is a brief outline: You are walking on a beautiful day toward a favorite tree. Picture the tree’s trunk big and round and solidly in the ground. As you approach there is a door just your size. Go through it. Now there is a staircase into the ground as you count down each step you relax even more deeply. You reach the bottom and there is a room (Direct children to look at different parts of imaginary room and design to their own specifications.) Focus on lounge chair theirs to design. Sink into chair, notice buttons to lower viewing screen and/or turn on speakers. A wise voice in form of favorite animal on screen. Listen to what the animal has to say. Reverse all directions.