Firmness in my body

Introduction 

To stand strong in life it is important to have a good body posture. A good body posture ensures that a person looks confident and strong. Your surroundings will response to this in a positive way by approaching you as strong and confident person. To explain this principle to the children, we will compare 2 body postures with one another. The 2 body postures in this case are: the tunnel posture and the beach posture. You as a mentor will use the following exercise to give the children insight into which position they should best adopt. First, I briefly outline the difference between a tunnel and beach position. Afterwards you can see the step by step instruction where I explain what needs to be done.

Tunnel posture vs beach posture

Tunnel posture: the chin has dropped to the chest, you often face the ground, you’re taking small steps at a slow pace, your shoulders are dropped and your arms are stiff. This body posture will give your surroundings the impression you don’t like contact and gives you a stamp of weakness. With this body posture it’s hard to stand up for yourself. 

Beach posture: the chin is facing upwards, your chest is outwards, your shoulders and arms are relaxed. With this body posture you look confident and approachable towards your surroundings.

Here you can also find a detailed video which explains the exercise.

Step 3: Afterwards you can do the exercise standing up. Make the children walk crisscross through each other. When you clap your hands 1x, the children walk into the tunnel posture. When you clap your hands 2x, the children walk into the beach posture.

The moment you do the explanation, you can also do a demonstration. This makes it visually clearer for the children.

Points of attention:

- As a mentor make sure you keep an eye on the children 

- When you notice they don’t adopt the posture make sure you tell them in a positive way. Also emphasize when they are doing     well.

- Make sure the children have done 3x the tunnel posture and 4x the beach posture.

Here you can also find a detailed video which explains the exercise.

Step 4: Make them stand in a circle. Briefly discuss which posture felt best for them. Afterwards, explain how important it is to maintain a good, upright posture.

Warm-up

During warm-up it’s important to warm up your whole body. This whole session is about the solidity in your body. You can achieve this by doing a good warm-up of your body and muscles. Read the following step by step instruction where I explain what needs to be done.

1. Place the children in a circle

2. Explain the exercise to them.

The intention is that the children's body is warmed up and that they learn to move their bodies firmly. They do this by means of movements with the separate body parts. You as a guide will show the children how to make powerful movements with their body parts.

Step 1: You start with your feet gently on the ground to the rhythm of the music.

Step 2: When you feel that all children are stepping to the beat of the music, start stamping your legs vigorously.

Step 3: After a while, stop stamping the legs.

Step 4: Then you will gently swing the arms to the rhythm of the music.

Step 5: When you feel that all the children are waving their arms to the beat of the music, make the swing actions of the arms more powerful.

Step 6: Over time, you and the kids will do the arm and leg movements together. In concrete terms, this means powerful stamping with the feet and powerful swinging of the arms.

Step 7: when they are done with this you can mix them up and wave them to the rhythm of the music.

Core

During the core of the session the children will really learn how to stand firmly. You teach the children how to stand firmly (grounding) by doing exercises in a playful way. Read the following step by step instruction where I explain what needs to be done.

Exercise 1: how to ground yourself?  

1. Let the children spread themselves across the room.

2. Teach them how to stand firmly.

Step 1: stand with feet hip-width apart

Step 2: bend slightly through your knees

Step 3: relax the shoulders, pelvis and thighs

Step 4: feel your feet on the ground. Your attention goes to your feet and you make eye contact with the floor.

Step 5: breath gently in and out. Additionally you have to pay attention to your breathing that must be centred in the abdomen.

- Have the children extend their right arm relaxed in front of them.

- Explain to the children that they have to make a firm fist with their hand as soon as you count to 3.

- Count to 3.

- The children make a clenched fist with their hand.

Step 6: Make this posture clear by using this metaphor. You tell the children that they are a tree with its roots deep in the ground, making them very sturdy.

Step 7: reflect

- Ask the children what happened to their bellies? What did they notice?

- Explain to them that their bellies were tightening and that this made them a lot firmer.

3. Video

Below you can find a detailed video about the explanation of the exercise.

Exercise 2: exploring solidity in space

1. Make the children spread themselves across the room.

2. Explain the exercise.

The intention of the exercise is that the children move around crisscross through each other. As soon as the music stops, they will apply the assignment of exercise 1. (how to ground)

Step 1: put on rhythmic music and let the children move freely in the room.

Step 2: when the music stops the children have to stand as firmly as possible. You as a mentor have to go around and test whether the children are standing firmly. Don't push them too hard, but see whether they can keep their balance or not.

Step 3: give them an additional task by letting them move freely with firm and powerful movements.

Step 4: Again you should turn off the music and let the children control their grounding techniques. Go check again if the children are standing firmly or not.

Exercise 3: 1,2,3 stand still

1. The mentor stands on the other side of the room

2. Place the children in one straight line on the other side of the room

Tip: If there isn’t enough space inside you can do the exercise outside.

3. Explain the exercise

The intention is that you as the mentor will say 1,2,3 stand still and then turn around. Meanwhile this is said the children have to make it to the other side of the room. When you turn around facing the children, they will have to stand as firmly as possible. As a mentor you will always check if their actually standing firm. If someone is not stable and falls over, he / she must start again from the beginning. The winner of the game takes over the place of the mentor. You will also participate afterwards. As a result, the children will also be allowed to check whether the mentor is standing firm or not.

Exercise 4: a clear head

This is an additional exercise that can be performed. If you think the children are losing their attention, you can leave this assignment out. You can also decide to do this exercise outside the sessions as recreation.

1. Place the children in pairs. Decide yourself who goes with whom so that no time is lost and nobody is excluded.

2. Explain the exercise

In this exercise relaxation, flexibility and concentration are central. Children learn to respond to situations in a relaxing way without any judgement. In turns two opponents try to tap each other on the shoulder. The other tries to avoid this by turning his shoulder away. This will only work when the child is standing firmly and not guessing where the tap on the shoulder will be. Too much thinking blocks a coming response. By being too busy with your thoughts, we hear and see less, and are less aware of our environment. We cannot respond optimally to our environment and communicate less fluently.

3. Video

Below you can find a detailed video about the explanation of the exercise.

End  

During the end of this session it’s important that the children experience the function of the lesson one last time. That’s why we do one more exercise. Read the following step by step instruction where I explain what needs to be done.

1. make the children spread themselves across the room.

2. Explain the exercise:

The intention is that the children will do a little competition: stand on one leg for the longest time

Step 1: count to 3 and make the children stand on 1 leg.

Step 2: if the game is taking too long, try to unbalance the children.

- Make crazy faces

- Maybe try to poke the arms, shoulder or stomach of the children

Step 3: give them tips on how to stand longer on one leg.

- Search a focus point

- Engage your abdominals

- Stand firm on the ground (like the roots of a tree)

3. You can also play a variation on this exercise called roosterfight

The intention is that 2 children will stand in the middle of the room and that the others will watch. Both partners stand on one leg and hold each other by the wrist. They try to get their opponent out of balance by hopping, pulling and pushing. The one that puts their other foot down first loses.

Below you can find a detailed video about the explanation of the exercise.