Instructor: Parker Deen
Community: Grades 3-5, School Setting, 60 minutes
Plan Creation Date: May 1, 2016
Yoga Calm Principle/Lesson Goal: Listening
Setting the Tone: Lights are dimmed, yoga mats in a circle, R. Carlos Nikai flute music playing softly
Lesson Plan:
Calm
- Names Circle – “I’m Parker and I’m here.” “I see you” Let yourself listen to each other’s voices. Listen to your heart- how does it feel when we say that we see you?
- Mindful Bodies – ring chime and let your body be still. If you notice your fingers moving, (etc, etc) let them be still.
- Mindful Listening – Ring the chime and listen to the sound. Put your thumb up when you can’t hear the chime anymore. Introduce listening theme. Wonder about how we listen? How can we listen to ourselves, to our own bodies? How does our body tell us things? Does our heart or mind tell us things? What might our heart or mind tell us? How can we listen to our hearts, minds and bodies?
- Belly Breathing – with Hoberman Breathing Ball- breathe together as a community, notice how we connect by breathing together. Bring your focus to your breath- listen to your breath. See if you can turn your focus inward and listen to your own breath, to your own body. Choose 1 child to lead and have them choose 1 to count; compliments; choose another leader or have the child who lead choose the next person. Teach this if this is the first class, or demonstrate again as needed. Offer time to share about what they noticed about listening in their bodies, minds, and hearts.
- Check In – Did anyone use anything we’ve been practicing in Yoga Calm since we last saw each other? Consider sharing a way you’ve used something from Yoga Calm (like positive self talk, relaxation or energizing activities, etc).
Activate
- Mat 20 – Start with Pulse Count to connect with idea of listening to your body, and turning your focus inward. Choose someone to lead Mat 20 if they would like to (for all or a portion- depending on how long the group has been learning Yoga Calm). Reminders: feel your feet on the floor, activate your muscles, let your muscles “hug” your bones to activate, breathe in poses. Can hold poses for a few breathes or to count, depending on what your group is more responsive to. Bring your focus inward. What is your body telling you? We talk about this each class, to notice what your body is telling you. Have you folded as far as your body wants to fold? etc. How did you know that? What are other things our bodies tell us?
- Exploring Feelings Game – brainstorm list of feelings. How do we know when we’re feeling ____? How might we be able to tell if someone else is feeling ____? Have children come up to the front and act out a feeling from our list. Let the child call on 3 people to guess and if no one guesses, share which feeling they were acting out. If the feeling is guessed- how did you know? If it isn’t guessed, what were you doing to show you were feeling ____?
Calm
- Relaxation – “Listen” relaxation from Ready… Set… Relax (pg. 116). Gently take off your eye pillow, rub your hands together until they’re warm, gently put them over your eyes. When you’re ready, meet sitting up on your mat.
- Volcano Breaths – to close- 2-3 breaths. Picture in your mind, something you’re thankful for in your community (or a way you add something to your community, a way you help your community, a way your community helps you, heart thoughts to someone/something in your community, etc). Fold mats, blankets, put away props and take care of our space.