Instructor: Caroline Falcone Goldstone
Community: Grade 4, Classroom Setting?
Plan Creation Date: May 1, 2013
Yoga Calm Principle/Lesson Goal: Community
Lesson Plan:
Calm
- Belly Breathing – Put a large jar of clear water in middle of the circle. Pretend this is our mind. Ask a student to pour a box of baking soda into the jar. This baking soda represents our thoughts and feelings. They can make the mind very cloudy. Hands on belly, let’s do some belly breaths as we watch what happens with the water. Once the baking soda is clear, explain that we gave the feelings and thoughts time to settle and our mind (the water in the jar) is now clear again. Notice that the baking soda is still in the jar, but it is not as cloudy. It took (#) of breaths to calm the baking soda down. Sometimes that’s all we need.
Activate
- Leg Extensions – draw sunshine’s on the ceiling. Switch legs.
- Hug legs in and rock up into sitting.
- Volcano Breaths – hands start at heart, think of someone you want to send a message to from your heart to theirs.
- Placing feet flat on the floor, grow very slowly into upward mountain, using the strength in your legs and torso to bring you up carefully and slowly
- Roots – Let arms float down to sides, activate body, feeling Roots grow from the four corners of your feet down into the center of the earth. As you feel grounded, keep your body straight and begin to circle in one direction like a salad spinner or a top, around and around. Try the other direction. Try tic toc, side to side, like an old grandfather clock. If you feel your feet wiggling off the floor, make your circles smaller and imagine those roots digging down deeper into the earth.
- Tree – Grow into a strong Quaking Aspen Tree, finding your spot to watch, lifting branches up and out, making enough room for the leaves to sprout and shimmer along your branches.
- Tree Circle – noticing those around us, in the group.
- Tree Challenge – a wind blows, let’s support one another! Switch legs and repeat.
- Tree partner challenge – Have three pairs stand face to face, grow into trees
- Gently have hands meet for support. Other students become animals in the forest, trying to distract their focus. As a group, decide on rules for animals.
- Stand in Tree Circle, three animals – Same rules.
- Lead a discussion about which was easier: to stay focused as within tree the tree circle or to stay focused with a partner.
Calm
- Relaxation – Lay on back or stomach: progressive relaxation from head to toes, tightening and then releasing muscles