Instructor: Rachel Imholte
Community: High School Ages, Summer School Make-up Recovery, 45 minutes
Plan Creation Date: July 14, 2015
Yoga Calm Principle/Lesson Goal: Listening
Lesson Plan:
Calm
- Belly Breathing – Ask a student to lead this piece choosing around 5-7 breaths. Have students place one hand on their belly and the other hand on their chest. What do they “hear” through their fingers?
- One-Minute Exploration – Read the quote below to the students and ask them to silently reflect on it.
“There’s a lot of difference between listening and hearing.” G.K. Chesterton
Activate
Student-led
- Chair 15 – Listen to your inner voice as you flow through the poses. Remember to breathe! Don’t worry if the pose isn’t exactly right. The goal is not perfection. Listen to your inner voice. What is it saying? Is your inner voice competitive? Self-conscious? Angry? Or is your inner voice telling you that you are strong, open to new opportunities, capable, and creative? Do you flow through the poses by listening to your inner wisdom, or do you focus instead on what other voices-either in the past or present-have said or may say about you? What is your heart telling you?
- Trust Walk and Sensory Adventure – Do this once with eyes open, once with eyes closed. What sounds/sensations do you hear/feel that help you trust yourself and the student(s) guiding you?
Calm
- Compliment Game – Have students compliment each other about the Trust Walk and Sensory Adventure. After everyone has had a turn to compliment each other, go around the room again and ask each student what their compliment was and who gave it to them. Did they really listen, or just hear the compliment?
- Child’s Pose – Have them put their heads on their fists and listen to several different styles of music. Ask them to reflect silently on how the music affects them. What emotions came out? Fear, anger, sadness, joy, love, or…? Ask them to share. What someone heard in one piece of music, someone else may have missed.
- Follow Up – Have students journal about what they felt and experienced throughout the whole lesson. What did they hear-really hear- from the music, each other, and themselves?