Lightness in my body
During the previous session we focused on grounding and standing firmly. Sanding firmly in life is necessary to be able to stand up for yourself and handle difficult situations. On the other hand, it’s important to be able to relax, which enables optimal functioning of the body. For this reason we will learn this session how to find the lightness in our body, but on the other hand learn how to alternate between firmness and lightness in our body. Through exercises children shall learn how to lighten their body while also getting the addition of having light thoughts and emotions. This lightness in your body and spirit will undoubtedly encourage a positive feeling of self-word. Below you can find an additional quote that clarifies the theme of this session.
“ Life is like a music instrument, you have to tighten and loosen the strings to make it pleasant”
Goals
- Learning the children how to relax and find lightness in their body
- Alternating firmness and lightness in the body
- To create amusement for the children
- To create amusement for the children
Essentials
- Music installation
- 8 Balloons
- Yoga mats or towels the children can lay on
Introduction
To relax it’s important to control your breathing. In certain situations breathing deeply in and out can work already very efficiently. During the introduction you will teach the children how to control their breathing in a playful way. They will do this based on an exercise that will be done with one or more balloons. Read the following step by step instruction where I explain what needs to be done.
1. Let the children spread themselves across the room.
2. Explain the children what is planned for today.
In this case: start with a short exercise, warm-up by relaxing ourselves and warm up our whole body, exploring the movements of different parts of the body, finish with a story.
3. Tell the children we will be doing an exercise with a balloon.
4. Explain the exercise to them.
The aim of the exercise is to keep a balloon in the air.
Step 1: give a balloon to each child
Step 2: turn on the music (this can be any music of your choice)
Step 3: The children need to keep the balloon in the air. The way how doesn’t matter. Let them play a couple of minutes then turn the music of.
Step 4: give them an additional task: keep the balloon in the air by blowing on it. They can only use their breathe to keep the balloon in the air. Turn the music back on and let them try this a couple of times.
Step 5: after a few minutes when the exercise is done successfully you can give them another additional task: give the children several balloons that they have to keep in the air with the whole group, rather than individually.
5. Video
Below you can find a detailed video about the explanation of the exercise.
Warm-up
During the warm-up, we will do a body scan. A body scan is a relaxation exercise that initially teaches the children to relax and on the other hand provides a warm-up.
The aim of the exercise is that the children attentively examine all the separate parts of their body and find out which parts have tension and where it’s possible to let the go of the tension. Read the following step by step instruction where I explain what needs to be done.
1. Place the mats/ towels on the floor.
2. Let the children spread themselves across the room.
3. Have the children lie on their backs, tell them to lie as flat on the ground as possible.
4. Tell the children to close their eyes.
5. Explain step by step what the children have to do.
Step 1: tell the children to put their arms loosely at the side of their body.
Step 2: tell them that their legs should be stretched and relaxed on the mat
Step 3: tell them to leave enough space between their feet
Step 4: tell them to focus on their feet
- Let them tighten their feet: they do this by stretching their feet like a ballerina.
- They must continue this tightening for 1 min. Afterwards they can relax their feet again.
- Afterwards they have to flex their feet: they do this by actively pushing the heel away from the body as the top of the foot pulls up.
- They must continue flexing their feet for 1 min. Afterwards they can relax their feet again.
- Emphasize that the feet now feel like 2 heavy blocks.
Step 5: tell them to focus on their lower legs now
- Let them tighten their lower legs for 1 min.
- Then let them relax their lower legs again.
- Emphasize that the lower legs feel like 2 heavy blocks.
Step 6: Like this you go over all the body parts with the tense-and-relax principle. Next will be:
- The upper legs: by tightening them.
- The bottom: by contracting it.
- The back: by tightening it. This one is a little more difficult but need to be tried as well.
- The shoulders: by pulling them up.
- The arms: by tensing them.
- The hands: by making fists.
- The head: by lifting it up.
- The face: by making crazy faces.
Points of attention:
- If the children find it too scary to close their eyes, they can also do the exercise with their eyes open.
- Make sure that the children keep their attention during the exercise.
- Optionally you can play relaxing music: An option can be found in the link below:
Core
During the core of the session you and the children will learn to adopt a good basic posture. First a relaxation exercise will be done, here the children can learn how to adopt a relaxed basic posture. Afterwards they start working with this basic posture. During the end of this session the children will look back to the previous session and try to vary the firmness and lightness in their body.
Exercise 1: relax exercise
1. Place the children in a circle.
2. Make them stand in the firm posture they learned in the previous session. If necessary you can ask them what they remember about this posture. Then repeat the steps on how to stand in this posture.
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
3. Afterwards explain the exercise to them.
The intention is that with a metaphor we ensure that relaxation occurs in the body. Working with metaphors will create different images and thoughts by the children which leads to free movements. The metaphor we are going to use is an energy ball. The energy ball is a virtual ball that every child owns. They have to make the energy ball move which eventually will make the children relax. Read the following step by step instruction where I explain what needs to be done.
Step 1: ask the children if they know what an energy ball is.
Step 2: explain to them that an energy ball is a luminous ball that everyone owns.
Step 3: As a mentor show your own energy ball. Make a circle with your hands and show them your virtual energy ball.
Step 4: let them copy the same movement you did so that they also own their virtual energy ball.
Step 5: explain to the children that this ball can make you relax. For this you have to do the same movement a number of times.
Step 6: show the movements to the children and let them participate.
- Make the ball move from right to left.
- Make the ball move from top to bottom.
- Make the ball move diagonally and make a cross in front of you.
- Bring the ball above your head. Then inhale and exhale.
- Then drop the ball to the ground. The arms fall down alongside the body.
- Now that the arms are relaxed and "the energy ball is on the floor, into the earth", you relax yourself towards the ground and the earth. You drop your knees, the torso bends forward and the arms follow.
- Then roll up until you stand straight again.
- Repeat this a couple of times.
Points of attention
- Let the children imitate you, but don’t let them focus on the details. The children can explore their own fantasies and use these to make movements with their virtual energy ball.
- Maintain a good basic posture, as described in step 2
- Optionally you can play relaxing music: An option can be found in the link below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnPmoG8Zd78
- Video
Below you can find a video where I explain the exercise again.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnPmoG8Zd78
4. Video
Below you can find a video where I explain the exercise again.
Exercise 2: I have both firmness and lightness in my body
1. Let the children spread themselves across the room.
2. Explain the exercise to them.
The intention is that the children explore with the previous session. Music will be played of your choice. The children are allowed to move freely in the room. Afterwards they will alternate firm and light movements. Read the following step by step instruction where I explain what needs to be done.
Step 1: turn on music of your choice.
Step 2: let the children move freely to the music
Step 3: then let the children make firm movements with their body. Let them dance like this for a few minutes.
Step 4: then let the children make light movements. Let them dance like this for a few minutes as well.
Step 5: repeat this a couple of times
Points of attention:
- Occasionally you give compliments to the children and tell them what they’re doing good.
- If the children have difficulties to understand what to do, you can use the previous metaphor of the tree. The firmness in our body stands for the roots in the ground, the lightness stands for the leaves and the crown of the tree.
Exercise 3: firmness in life
1. Place the children in pairs. Decide yourself who goes with whom so that no time is lost and nobody is excluded.
2. Ask the pairs to spread themselves across the room.
3. Explain the exercise to them.
The intention is that the children have to stand in a good relaxed posture (see relaxation exercise point 2). Then one person of each pair should close their eyes. This person will have to remain alert. The other person has to give a small push to their partner. When the person receives the push, they have to use the power and movement to then change it into an soft and continues movement. Then let the pairs alternate. Let each child close their eyes for about 3 minutes.
Points of attention:
- Optionally you can play relaxing music. An option can be found in the link above.
4. Video
Below you can find a video where I explain the exercise again.
End
During the end of this session a story will be told that will improve the children’s self-control. The story goes about a little turtle who gets angry at everything and gets furious very quickly.
1. Place the children in a circle.
2. Let them sit down in a relaxing posture.
3. Tell them the story.
Once upon a time there was a little turtle who always was angry with everything and got furious very quickly. One day he was in the park and was of course angry like always. Another turtle passed by and said, "Hey turtle, you very sad is there something wrong" Little turtle replied, " I am angry, angry at the whole world. No one ever does something good for me. ". The other turtle replied, "Why are you always angry?" Little turtle replied, "There are always little things that make me sad and then angry. I can never relax. ". The other turtle said, "I know a trick to control yourself when you get angry." To which little turtle said, "Ah yes, which trick?" "When you are angry you should sit down for a moment, try to stop your thoughts by relaxing and counting to 10. You will notice that it will lighten you up very quickly, 'said the other turtle. Little turtle wanted to try this trick. He relaxed by lying down on the floor, closing his eyes, focusing on his body and counting to 10 (you do this with the children). He quickly noticed the difference and was suddenly very happy. He thanked the other turtle several times. To which the other turtle replied: "Now you see how easy it is to go through life relaxed and happy." The End.
Points of attention:
- Together with the children you try the trick from the story above. This way they learn how to relax in the above situations.
Complete
When the exercise is completed and the children relax again, you can tell them that the session is finished.
Points of attention:
- Focus on the positives
- Tell them how much you enjoyed the fact that they co-operated so well and that each of them did well individually.
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