Instructor: Jamie Sheppard
Community: K – 5 ages, Classroom Setting?
Plan Creation Date: May 1, 2013
Yoga Calm Principle/Lesson Goal: Stillness
Lesson Plan:
The Hummingbird
Academic/Therapeutic Goal: Self-Control, Focus, Attention
Intro: Yoga Mat Tag
Calm
- Belly Breathing – Lie on your back, eyes closed, belly breath. Imagine yourself in a meadow of wildflowers. Send heart messages to all the animals that live in the meadow and nearby stream. Imagine yourself in a meadow of wildflowers. You are surrounded by flowers of every color and variety; poppies, dandelions, daisies, orchids and lilies. Have you ever wondered which flower has the sweetest nectar? Let’s see if our friend the HUMMINGBIRD can help us solve this mystery!
Activate
- Stretch – Arms overhead, point toes, reaching away from each other. Twirl one wrist, then next, one ankle, then next. (Repeat) Hug in tight and sit up.
- Butterfly – (Come into butterfly pose). As we are laying there a beautiful butterfly lands on a blade of grass in front of us. We ask her if she knows where to find the HUMMINGBIRD and she says she has indeed seen her hard at work collecting nectar. She warns us the she startles VERY easily so the only way we will be able to get close enough to her will be to stand very still and shows us how by stopping her fluttery wings. We practice. Then the butterfly flutters away with a “Good Luck!” Have students practicing sharing greetings and reason for our adventure with the animals we encounter.
- Rock n Roll – Hug into tight and then roll up into standing.
- Sun Salutation – We know we must have a strong body for any adventure. Two rounds of sun salute. (Upward mountain, forward fold, plank, belly, cobra, downward dog.)
- Active/Relax Walk – Start wandering through the meadow in search of the elusive HUMMINGBIRD. Practice walking relaxed and then activate on “Hummingbird.”
- Bunny – Come across a bunny rabbit. We say hello and introduce ourselves and tell him about our adventure. He is hopping around (Puppy dog pose, kicking up legs). We explain our search and ask the bunny if he has seen the HUMMINGBIRD? Bunny says, “No but I can hop really high and see if I can see him flitting about! First we must be very still to see if we can hear her hum!” Freeze in “Bunny (Puppy Dog) pose” The bunny hops up very high and points us towards a big Oak tree.
- Tree – Come into tree pose. Branches grow wide. We don’t see her so we decide to climb up.
- Blue Jay – Partway up the tree we see a beautiful Blue Jay. Come into Blue Jay pose (One legged airplane, with flapping arms). Get very still and the Blue Jay says he sees the HUMMINGBIRD over by the stream.
- Hummingbird – We can see the HUMMINGBIRD flitting from flower to flower along the stream. She looks very hard at work. (Drinking Bird Pose)
- Frog – We climb down from the tree and skip on over the stream. We don’t see our HUMMINGBIRD but found a jolly frog. Go into frog pose. Hopping up and down. He says she just flew by and we stop to listen to see if we can hear her humming. She was on the other side of the stream.
- Boat – We find an old boat along the shore and decide to row it across the stream. (Go into boat pose. Rowing back and forth.) We see something up ahead and wonder if it’s the HUMMINGBIRD. We pause.
- Heron – We come across a Heron in the middle of the stream. Come into Heron pose (Dancer). He tells us that yes, indeed, the HUMMINBIRD flew over just a few minutes before. We continue rowing across the stream.
- Hummingbird – We see the HUMMINGBIRD again, still hard at work, flower to flower. (Drinking Bird again)
- Grasshopper – A friendly grasshopper is hopping along and greets us. (Grasshopper Pose) He pauses as we stop to listen for the HUMMINGBIRD. She has already flown back across the stream! Doh!!
- Bridge – The grasshopper points out a bridge we missed so decide to cross the bridge. (Bridge pose) Mid-way across the bridge we decide to stop for a rest because a rainbow has crossed the sky. The colors of the rainbow remind us of all the beautiful flowers and again we wonder which color is the best.
- Hummingbird – As we’re standing on the bridge, looking at the rainbow, we look to our left and see our lovely HUMMINGBIRD drinking nectar from a flower on the water’s edge.
Calm
- Relaxation – We ask the Hummingbird our question and hold very still as she flits about and comes to rest on the railing on the bridge. She seems to be thinking long and hard about how to answer our question. She tells us to close our eyes and imagine that WE are a HUMMINGBIRD; flying from flower to flower. She tells us to pretend like we just had a delicious meal of yummy food and now it is time for dessert. Your favorite dessert. And just after we take take our first bite we open our eyes and look at the most beautiful flower you’ve ever seen. She asks us, “What does that flower look like? What color is it? THAT is the flower with the most delicious nectar! Just as is my things in life—beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” Allow students to share what their flower looked like.