Instructor: Anne Uphoff

Community: Grade 2, School Setting, 30 minutes

Plan Creation Date: April 17, 2016

Yoga Calm Principle/Lesson Goal: Community

Lesson Plan:

Calm

  • Chime – Sit cross-legged on the floor and listen to a chime. Have students lift up their thumbs when the sound of the chime is gone.
  • Volcano Breath – Stay seated (or stand) and place palms together at the heart for VOLCANO BREATH. Tell the students that we are thinking about connecting as a community, so they should think of a good thought that they want to send out to our school community. Take a slow, deep breath through the nose and pause when the lungs are full. Hold the pause and bring the arms up over the head. Exhale and slowly “explode the volcano” moving arms out to the side and then back together at the heart. Send the good thought out when “exploding the volcano.” Have students share their good thought if they want.

Activate

  • Partner Pull – Pair up for PARTNER PULL. Have partners hold each other’s right wrist with right hand. Step back 1-2 feet, bend knees and sit back until thighs are almost parallel to the floor and the back is flat. Stretch the right hip back gently from shoulder to hip. Take a couple deep breaths here. Come up together and repeat on the other side. Emphasize balancing and trusting each other.
  • Upward Mountain and Crescent Moon – Continue standing side by side, each partner on their own mat. Stand with feet hip-width apart and arms straight up overhead for CRESCENT MOON. Palms up in UPWARD MOUNTAIN, then stretch away from your partner slightly, into the shape of a crescent moon. Lengthen both sides of the body. On exhale, come back to center. Next, stretch into Crescent Moon toward each other. Tell each other, “Thank you for being my partner.”
  • Tree Circle – Next, have students make a large circle for TREE CIRCLE. Raise both arms and stretch them out, fingers pointing up. Place hands together with the person on each side and lift right leg up into TREE pose. Press into each other’s hands for support. Remind the group that they are united with one purpose . . . to learn. Teachers have things to teach students, but they have something to teach others. We are all connected, we are all learners at our school. Students even teach their teachers about things like hard work, kindness, and wisdom!
  • Compliment Game – Do the COMPLIMENT GAME by putting a student in the center. The rest of the group sits in a circle around the student and holds unto a long rope, showing how they are connected to each other. Each person on the outside looks at the center person and gives them a compliment. The center person looks back at the speaker and appropriately says, “Thank you.”

Calm

  • Back Breathing – Get back together with their earlier partner and do BACK BREATHING. (Ask permission first.) Have one child go in child’s pose while the other puts their hand on their lower back. The student in child’s pose breaths slowly into their low back/partner’s hands, feeling their hands rise and fall. Have students accept the feeling of being supported. Have them think about who supports them, and how they support them. Switch positions. If they want, let them share their ideas about who supports them and how. As we end, have them share an appreciation with their partners.

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