Instructor: Michele Mayer
Community: Grades 3-6, School Setting, 40 minutes
Plan Creation Date: May 18, 2016
Yoga Calm Principle/Lesson Goal: Grounding
Lesson Plan:
Calm
- Belly Breathing – with Hoberman Sphere – Allowing several participants to lead choosing between 1-10 breaths as well as their counter. Each student will call on two other children for compliments and compliment their counter.
- Pulse Count – Level two. When someone does a really good job have the whole group observe as the instructor tries to distract them. Discuss what the student looked like and let them share how they are able to be successful.
Activate
- Volcano Breathing – Imagine you are a strong tall volcano on a clear day. As you breathe in inhale crisp clean air that really wakes you up. As you exhale breath out all the hot negative stifling air you have been storing up.
- Tree Challenge – Partner children with one other student of about the same height. Have them come into tree and press the palms of opposite hands together fingers facing up. Remind them if they have trouble to try and find a focus point and to ground the four corners of the feet to the ground. Switch sides. Repeat on both sides again but this time gently try to challenge each other by moving hands.
- Partner Pull – Partner children with one other student of about the same height. Step back a few feet and send hips back bending knees until hips are parallel with the floor.
- Shoulder Clock – Partner children with one other student of about the same height. Instruct them to stand side by side about two feet apart. Press hands together palms facing up in the twelve o’clock position. Next have students take a breath into the upper chest and breathe out as they lower hands to the one o’clock position. Continue in this manner until reaching six o’clock.
- Yoga Story – Using a yoga deck have everyone draw a card. Work collaboratively to create a story in which the main character maintains focus on his task. The instructor should select someone with a card that has a strong character such as a warrior to be the main character of the story. After the story has been created the instructor leads the group through a flow using the story, but is able to ensure the theme remains on grounding and focus as they will need to repeat poses that need to be done on both sides. If the instructor doubts the group’s ability to maintain focus as a theme they can simply lead the flow and create their own story.
Calm
- Roots – Instruct students to activate and ground the four corners of the feet into the ground and imagine they have a piece of string coming out of the top of their head helping them to stand up very strait. Next ask them to rock forward and back as far as they can without losing contact with their feet on the floor. Then ask them to make big circles with their bodies and to slowly make the circle smaller and smaller until they are standing dead center. Ask them how it feels to be centered like this in their bodies.