Instructor: Kim Davies
Community: Grades 3 – 5, After School Group, Girls group
Plan Creation Date: October 17, 2013
Yoga Calm Principle/Lesson Goal: Listening
Lesson Plan:
Goal: Listening to our heart, mind, and body
Props/Music Resources required: Mats, Drum, Hoberman sphere, MP3 player
Calm
- Belly Breathing – Listen to your breath as we are doing the breathing ball today. A student is chosen to lead the breathing and compliments are given to the leader and the counter. What do you notice about your breath?
- Pulse Count – I am going to challenge you guys to do pulse count for 1 minute (last time did 30 seconds). We are listening to our bodies. Ask students what their count is.
Activate
- Warrior 1 – Teach the full warrior pose. Kids had been doing it on their knees. Listen to your body to decide which warrior position is best for you. Listen to your inner strength.
- Rock-n- Roll
- Boat – listen to the leader’s body and follow what they are doing
- Volcano Breath – Put your hand on your heart and listen to who you would like to send heart thoughts to. Lets do 3 volcano breaths sending heart thoughts to whom your inner voice said. Who would like to share?
- Sun Salutation – Student is chosen to lead Sun Salutation while another drums. Students are reminded to listen to their body and do the poses in a way that feels good to their body and mind. Compliments are given to the leader and drummer.
Social Emotional Activity
- Exploring Feelings – Have students check in with themselves quietly to describe how they are feeling. Share those. Then brainstorm more feelings on the board. Kids take turns acting out the feeling and the other kids guess what it is. Discuss how different feelings can look the same so it can be hard to guess what someone is feeling. For example tiredness and loneliness can be hard to tell the difference. Challenge them to go inside and listen to their inner wisdom the next time a friend is upset and see if they can guess what their friend is feeling. Then they can check with their friend to see if they guessed accurately.
Calm
- Back Drawing – Students sit in a circle. I get 3-4 suggestions from them what to put in a story. I make up a story using those suggestions, incorporating a character listening to their body when faced with a challenge.