Instructor: Jenifer Trivelli
Community: Grades PreK – 5, Community Setting, 45 minutes
Plan Creation Date: October 24, 2015
Yoga Calm Principle/Lesson Goal: Stillness
Lesson Plan:
Calm
- Hoberman Sphere Breathing – teacher leads with demonstrating deep breathing four times. Direct students to notice the pause between the in-breath and the out-breath. Students take turns leading with the sphere and choose a counter for 5 breaths.
Active
- Mat 15 – Invite a student leader to the front. Students hold each pose for an in-breath and an out-breath. Closing with Mountain, beat the drum for 8 counts and spend a few moments noticing where stillness resides within. Allow students to share by inviting them to point at the place on their body they noticed the stillness. Allow time for compliments.
- Windy Trees – have students hold Tree on each foot for 8 breaths. On the next round, have them extend their arms and gently sway as they breathe in and out. Close in Mountain and again, invite students to point to the places that feel still.
Calm
- Seated Twist – spend a few breaths noticing where the sit bones connect with the mat, and feel how the mat supports you. Before each twist, imagine shooting roots down into the earth. Expand from this grounding into the twist.
- Relaxation Story – Peaceful Piggy Meditation
- Guided Relaxation – lead students in journeying from the solid ground up through the drifting birds and the puffy clouds into the sky. They can imagine a rope tether if they like, to maintain that grounded connection. Tell a story of a loud and active storm that passes underneath, using a drum, and reinforce the idea that they are above it and safely watch as it goes by. The sun returns to warm the land and they return to their mat on the earth, keeping their sky awareness handy for anytime life gets a little stormy.
- Reflection & Chime Closing – spend the next 30 seconds noticing where stillness resides, and invite students to place their hands on those places.