Instructor: Jacquie Atherton
Community: Grades 2-8, 30-40 minutes
Plan Creation Date: January 13, 2016
Yoga Calm Principle/Lesson Goal: Stillness
Lesson Plan:
Calm
- Belly Breathing – with Hoberman sphere – 3 breaths with eyes open – feel the stomach expanding and contracting. Have a student come up and lead the class for the next part – 3 breaths with eyes closed – listen for the stillness of the breathe for 30 seconds.
- Stillness – Sit in stillness for one minute after the Belly breathing.
Activate
- Mountain – Stand feet with apart, pointing straight ahead, and press your feet down into the earth. Hands can be alongside the body, or palms together at the heart. Can you be a beautiful for handsome strong mountain. Shut your eyes and imagine the wind blowing through the trees. Can you feel the wind blowing through your branches.
- Warrior I – Stand with legs hip-width apart and right leg back. Can you feel the strength in your body as it grounds in. Go back into Mountain and then to left leg back in Warrior I. Repeat Mountain and Warrior I on both sides.
- Tree Pose – Let the wind blow through your branches, then return to stillness, feeling the contrast between windy and still.
- Warrior II – Mountain Pose to Warrior I to Warrior II – from Warrior I to Warrior II – Breathe in as you take your arms down with keeping the torso equally long, with shoulders directly over the pelvis. Exhale and extend through the top of head, feet and arms.
- Past, Present, Future in Warrior II – The back hand represents the past and the front hand represents the future. We want to be aware of the past and the effects it has on us, and also aware of our future goals. Our eyes are looking in the direction of the future, but we keep our awareness of and respect for the past. We keep our weight balanced in the middle to be present in the moment.
Calm
- Past, Present, Future Worksheet – Ask the students to sit in silence and fill out the past, present and future worksheet and share their results.
- Personalized Relaxation – Have the students lay down on their mats, if they would like a blanket then do so before we start. Incorporate their results from the worksheets into the story. You can use this as an opportunity to give them their own images through animals, warriors and other ideas from their experience.