[currentuser role=”instructor_level”]
Instructor: Katelyn Liebe
Community: Grade 7, School Setting
Plan Creation Date: April 1, 2014
Yoga Calm Principle/Lesson Goal: Grounding
Academic/Therapeutic/Other Goals: Creating a sense of community through group yoga activities.
Lesson Plan:
Calm
- Belly Breathing – Students begin lying on their backs doing belly breathing with their eyes closed.
- Roots – Imagine that you are a strong oak tree. Before you can grow tall into the sky, you must first root yourself into the ground. Shift you weight without picking up your feet. Shift to the right, to the front, to the left, to the back of your feet. See if you can shift your weight with your eyes closed. Imagine yourself growing deep into the ground. Now switch directions.
Activate
- Cat/Cow – Feel your knees and hands rooting into the ground. Now breathe out and arch your back into the sky. Breathe in and let your belly drop towards the ground while you reach your hips and head up to the sky. Repeat this 3x.
- Downward Dog – Feel your hands and feet as they press into the ground. Do you feel how rooted into the earth you feel with your fingers and toes but at the same time you are reaching up into the air with your hips? Think about how that makes you feel. Do you feel pulled in two different directions? Is it okay to feel this way?
- Chair Pose – Feel your feet rooted deep into the ground. Bend your elbows so your hands are on your hips. Feel your strength as you straighten your legs and stand tall on your mat.
- Tree Pose – Can you pretend there is wind blowing through your branches? Try to return to stillness. Bring your thoughts back to your breath. Breathe into your belly and make it grow.
- Tree Circle – Do you feel the strength of the group? Do you feel how much easier tree pose is when we all rely on one another to stay tall and ground into the earth? What would happen if one member of the group decided to just leave or tried to knock over his or her neighbor?
Calm
- Back Breathing – Very softly and with the whole group quiet, put your hands on the middle of your partner’s back – the rock’s back. Feel your rock’s breath and match your own breath to your rock’s. Move your hands just a little bit lower on the back and feel the rock’s breath there. Keep breathing with your rock.
- Relaxation – Final resting pose – Lie on your back. Imagine you are melting into the ground. Every part of your body rests completely. Feel how supportive the ground is on your body. Let your body go.