Instructor: Katie Kurmis
Community: School Setting, 30 minutes
Plan Creation Date: April 1, 2016
Yoga Calm Principle/Lesson Goal: Listening
Theme: Mindfulness is paying attention to your life, here and now, with kindness and curiosity.
Lesson Plan:
Calm
- Mindful Listening – Sit up like a tree-reaching for the sun. Let your body become relaxed and still.
- Chime – I’m going to ring this chime, listen until you can no longer hear the sound, then put up a thumbs up finger when all is quiet. This time, I will ring the chime again, but I want you to close your eyes-again put your thumb up when all is quiet.
Have the group sit quietly for 5 to 10 minutes just noticing and counting the number of noises they hear in and around the room. Have each group member describe how many they noticed, label sounds that surprised them and how it felt to just sit and count. - Still Quiet Place Relaxation – Hi, today I would like to share one of my favorite places with you. It is called Still Quiet Place. It’s not a place you travel to in a car, or a train, or a plane. It is a place inside you that you can find just by breathing. Let’s find it now. If you feel safe, close your eyes. Whether your eyes are open or closed, take some slow deep breaths. See if you can feel a kind of warm smile in your body. Do you feel it? This is your Still Quiet Place. Take some more deep breaths, and really snuggle in.
The best thing about your Still Quiet Place is that it’s always inside you. And you can visit it whenever you like. It is nice to visit your Still Quiet Place and feel the love that is there.
Activate
- Roots – listen while being rooted to the sounds around you.
- Crescent Moon – notice what you are experiencing right now through three senses – sound, sight, touch. Take a few slow breaths and ask yourself: What are three things I can hear? (clock on the wall, car going by, music in the next room, my breath); What are three things I can see? (this table, that sign, that person walking by); What are three things I can feel? (the chair under me, the floor under my feet, my phone in my pocket).
Calm
- Compliment Circle – Each student gets an opportunity to be in the center to receive a compliment from each person. Make eye contact and listen to the person as they give a compliment.
- Personalized Relaxation – Ask students to name something that makes a soft sound, listen for any soft sounds in the classroom.