Instructor: Jeannie Cziesla
Community: Kindergarten, Classroom Setting
Plan Creation Date: March 19, 2013
Yoga Calm Principle/Lesson Goal: Grounding
Lesson Plan:
Props/Music Resources required: Large stuffed dog, “Thundercoat” for dog, large stuffed fawn, custom mix CD, CD player
Calm
- Discussion – Interaction with kids – Talk to kids about what it means to be grounded; ask “When do you feel relaxed and safe?”; Describe how my dog gets nervous during thunderstorms and how we use the Thundercoat to help him feel more grounded, safe and secure; Put Thundercoat on stuffed dog then pass him around for kids to hug; Show kids the stuffed fawn; animals shake after being chased to feel grounded again; Ask kids to feel the earth as they sit; how they can feel connected to it; relaxed and content.
- Breathing and Arm Raises – Seated Arm Raises and Breathing with Hoberman Ball
- Butterfly – Be a butterfly and touch the tips of your wings on the floor to feel the earth beneath you; Simply touching the earth can sometimes help us feel more grounded.
Activate
- Roots Activity – “Mixing Mud” – Draw a big pot around your body; Now dig mud up from the earth and fill up your pot; Mix mud with your body in bigger then smaller circles; Now use your hands to scrape that mud off your body then shake all of that mud off.
- Mountain Pose – Feel your feet rooted to the ground, strong and grounded.
- Tree Pose – Grow up out of the earth; Use our roots to ground us; both sides.
- Modified Hand to Big Toe Pose – “Bear Pose” (One leg raised with knee bent, thigh parallel to floor, grasp knee with hand, other arm overhead, standing on one foot, both sides). Feel like a strong, heavy bear, rooted to the earth; make bear claws with extended hand; Let’s use our deep bear voice and let out a bear yawn.
- Child – Be a bear hibernating and feel your body on the earth resting.
- Alternate Arm/Leg Kicks with Lion’s breath – Come up onto hands and knees with feet and hands rooted to the ground; Stretch out alternate arm and leg; hold for 5 breaths; Lion’s breath on last breath; both sides.
- Mountain Pose – Stand up and feel grounded again; feet rooted to earth.
- Forward Fold – Let go and fold forward; like a waterfall flowing down to earth.
Calm
- Relaxation – Tell Story to kids – Think about being a big bear in the woods. Feel your body, large and heavy with big wide paws pressing into the ground, the soft earth under your paws. Move through the beautiful forest, sunlight streaming in through the trees, fruit and berries all around. Go and get some berries. Taste the yummy berries. Walk through the woods seeing all your friends in the woods (deer, bunnies, frogs). All the walking made your tired. Time to find a warm cave and rest/hibernate.
- Breathing – with Hoberman Ball – One child leads with Hoberman ball; another child counts out 4 breaths; compliments for leaders.