Instructor: Kate Somerville
Community: Grades 2-6, School Setting, 35-45 minutes
Plan Creation Date: January 10, 2015
Yoga Calm Principle/Lesson Goal: Listening
Lesson Plan:
Calm
- Belly Breathing – Play a recording of ocean wave sounds. Pass around a small basket of shells and have each student quickly choose a shell. Lying on their backs, place the shell on the belly and move the shell up and down with their breath and the flow of the waves.
- Seated Volcano Breath – (set the shells to the side of the mats) Come up to a seated position and continue breathing with hands at heart. “As you practice your breathing, listen to your heart and imagine a journey you’d like to take” Fill your lungs as you breath and raise your hands above your head. As you exhale shower yourself with the image of your journey. “ Students can share where they’d go on their journey, and can send heart thoughts for each other.
Activate
- Leg Extensions – Do two rounds first using foot circles, then they can write their names (for younger students) or name the place they would like to journey to (for older students).
- Bridge – Practice drawing the four corners of the feet. Keeping all four corners of the feet on the ground breathe out, lift tailbone, and press down through the feet and shoulders to lift hips and heart up to the sky. Activate arms (robot arms) by pressing shoulders and elbows toward floor. Repeat three times.
- Rock and Roll – Gently massage your spine by rocking up and down, and then side by side. Without touching feet to the floor roll up to sitting bones and balance into Boat.
- Boat – Lift low back, heart, and head. Pull shoulders back and breath. Practice with knees bent, with hands holding backs of legs for tight hamstrings or rounding back. Add a challenge by keeping legs straight and arms parallel to floor or overhead. Hold for one minute.
- Child Pose – Student leads class in this pose. Come to a squat, keeping your hands on the floor and straighten your legs into a forward bend.
- Forward Bend – Hang arms, head and spine toward the floor. Breathe into your back. Keeping your fingers on the floor, inhale, lift head and heart, then exhale and lower back down. “While you are in your forward bend, it is important to turn your focus inward and listen to your body and your heart” What is it saying to you? Can you hear it?
- Upward Mountain and Crescent Moon – Rise up from forward bend and stretch your arms straight up overhead. Palms facing each other and fingers extended toward sky. Press your feet down, lift belly, head, heart, and shoulders back and down. From Upward Mountain breath in, press feet down and stretch to the right slightly, curving into the shape of the crescent moon. Lengthen and on exhale come back to center, now stretch the left side.
Calm
- Forward Bend – Bend at the hips and hang arms, head and spine toward the floor. Breathe into your back. Listen to your body and your heart while you enjoy this pose. Relax Bend your knees and come down to your mat in kneeling position.
- Child Pose – Touch your big toes together and sit back on your heels. Stretch your arms out in front of your on the mat,or pull arms alongside of you. Breathe and relax your hips, neck and back.
- Back Breathing – Stack your arms under your head to make a pillow. Find your breath and breathe slowly. Watch the person next to you and try to synchronize with their breathing.
- Relaxation – Students lie on their backs, return the shell to their belly and listen to The Boat Ride by Lynea Gillen. Post a photo of Lynea on the wall so students can place a face with the storyteller.