Becoming the Little Engine That Could: VRVRoom To Accomplishment
25 Mar 2011 Leave a Comment
in Positive Self-Talk, Uncategorized
This week I will be reading the classic, The Little Engine That Could, with the children in my groups at school. In this classic edition retold by Watty Piper, the author states, “She was a happy little train for she had such a jolly load to carry. Her cars were filled full of good things for boys and girls.”
The little blue engine chugs up the mountain, pulling the little train and all the toys and goodies to the children on the other side of the mountain, chanting “I think I can, I think I can, I think I can,” all along the way. The thoughts propelled this little engine to meet her goals, to accomplish something that she hadn’t done before and wasn’t sure she could do. We can become little blue engines this week. I will ask the children to tell me one thing that they would like to accomplish this week.
Then I will instruct them to VRVRoooom their way up the mountain to accomplishment.
Here is the formula for VRVRooom:
Visualize: See yourself doing the thing you want to accomplish. For example, if it is falling asleep on time with ease and grace, then see yourself calmly getting into bed, closing your eyes, filling your thoughts with peaceful thoughts, and falling asleep.
Rehearse: Practice this picture once in the morning, whenever you remember to throughout the day, and then once when you get home from school. Practice, practice, practice. This will train your brain for success.
Vocalize: As you are doing the thing you want to accomplish, become the little blue engine and say to yourself over and over again, “I think I can, I think I can, I know I can, I know I can . . . . (fall asleep easily and feel relaxed).
Realize: Add to your picture and your thoughts anything that you might need to reach your accomplishment. If it is falling asleep easily and feeling calm at bedtime, think about what you might need to do or to prepare in order to make that happen. Maybe a new bedtime routine would help. Read a sweet, calm book. Put a lavender smell under your pillow. Listen to some calming music. Notice how you are feeling when you are practicing the picture and the thoughts. Pay attention to any changes. Soon you will VRVRooom forward and your accomplishment will be reached.
In Breath/Out Breath
23 Mar 2011 Leave a Comment
in Deep Breathing, Uncategorized
This activity is based on the renowned teachings of the Vietnamese Buddhist teacher, author and Nobel Peace Prize nominee, Thich Nhat Hanh. Breathing in with focused awareness is a simple way to integrate mindfulness practice into daily life. Take a couple of minutes each day to simply breathe with your child and feel how your energy will calm and focus.
Here are some thought suggestions to practice as you are mindfully breathing with your child:
Inhale think” breathing in I listen to my heart.” Exhale, think “breathing out I send love to me,” (or fill in the blank with someone you want to send love to).
Inhale, think “I hug myself.” Exhale, think “I hug myself.”
Inhale, think “I care for me.” Exhale, think “I care for me.”
Pay close attention that the exhale is slightly longer than the inhale. State the phrases out loud for your child as he/she practices. Then switch roles and have him/her state them for you as you practice.
For additional teachings from Thich Nhat Hanh, please visit: www.plumvillage.org, or watch the film Peace is Every Step by Gaetano Kazuo Maida.
Relaxing with the Labyrinth
21 Mar 2011 Leave a Comment
in All Relaxation Activities, Relaxing/Balancing the Body, Uncategorized
Last weekend, as the weather turned into spring, I turned my back patio into a labyrinth activity center. My children and I created a heart-shaped spiral and a simple circular spiral labyrinth with sidewalk chalk and began to walk. Paying attention to our in-breath and out-breath, we walked and walked until our bodies and minds felt in synch and connected. We walked slowly, thinking a peaceful thought. We walked briskly, thinking of a problem we wanted to solve. Then we shared our experiences. It was an excellent way to be outside and simultaneously practice our relaxation activities.
The labyrinth is a powerful tool. Unlike a maze, it has one course that travels in and out to the center. From wherever you are, en-route to the center, you can always see the center. As you walk the path to center, with mindfulness activated, you will undoubtedly walk to the center of yourself simultaneously. Walking the labyrinth can be a fun, interesting way to practice patience, planning, and mindful attention, while enhancing the body/mind connection and awareness at the same time.
We can introduce the labyrinth to children in a fun, playful manner. There are many different activities that can be associated with walking the path to center. I find walking the labyrinth to be a very peaceful and calming activity. Here are some of the ways that I have used it in my work with children:
Mindfulness Activity: Labyrinth Construction
You can choose to build the labyrinth out of stone or simply draw an outline in the sand or dirt. Either way, it can be an opportunity to practice mindfulness. There are many materials that can be used in your construction. I’ve seen some by painting squares on an old tarp. It is also possible to build using stones, colorful foam blocks, styrofoam floral blocks, yarn, colored squares of paper, or other multiple items. First map out and outline your template on the ground or floor. Masking tape and sidewalk chalk work very well since they are temporary. Experiment with different designs. Start with a simple circular or heart-shaped spiral pattern and build more difficult designs with experience. Engage your children in the construction. With every stone, place it and think of peace, or joy or love. Breathe in, place the stone say the word “calm”, breathe out pick up the next one. Repeat as you are building to center.
Relaxation Activity: Walking the Labyrinth
Labyrinths are fabulous support for setting intentions. Play some soft music. Light a candle if you are at home. Walking the labyrinth before bedtime is an excellent Before entering the labyrinth, talk to your child about what he/she would like to feel. Tell them that as they walk, they can breathe and focus on that feeling. If it is calmness, breathe and focus on calmness.
Some Ideas on Introducing the Labyrinth to Children
Place a toy or favorite stuffed animal in the center of the labyrinth. Tell the child that the idea is to walk the path to get to the toy and bring it back out of the labyrinth. Explain that the path connects to the center and there is no possibility of getting lost if you stay on the path, just keep walking until you get to center. Walk together the first time to assure understanding. Explain that the pace can vary. Sometimes our bodies need a quick, steady pace, other times our bodies want to walk slowly and take our time. The key is to listen to your body and to find out how it is feeling and to sense what it wants to feel.
Elephant Hands
16 Mar 2011 1 Comment
in All Relaxation Activities, Relaxing/Balancing the Body
I tell children when they are feeling overly stressed and tense, that it is just a sign that we need to release some stuck energy and re-establish calm feelings. One way to do that is through hand yoga or mudras. These are easy hand signals that can be used at any time, even inside your pockets to help you feel better. Hand yoga is especially easy to do when you are taking some time to yourself. It doesn’t take very long and you can do it anywhere. The ancient science behind mudras suggests that placing our hands in these positions stimulate meridians in the body that in turn help us to optimally balance our energy. By doing these simple poses our energy is naturally balanced. We can’t get too much energy or too little energy by practicing hand yoga. Homeostatis of energy always occurs when we practice.
Activity: Elephant Hands
1. Place your left hand in front of your chest, palm facing out.
2. Face your right palm in front of the left facing inward.
3. Connect the two hands by clasping the fingers together.
4. Breathe out and pull the hands apart without releasing them. (This tenses the arm and chest muscles).
5. Breathe in and relax the pull, allowing the tension to melt out of the hands.
6. Repeat this tense/pull six times then reverse the hands and repeat an additional six times.
I call this activity elephant hands because the mudra is in honor of the hindu elephant god Ganesh. Ganesh has the body of a boy and the head of an elephant. Ganesh is known as the remover of obstacles. While practicing elephant hands, think of anything that you don’t want in your life or something you would like to move out of your way so that you can experience more success. Imagine that this obstacle is evaporating as you hold the elephant hand pose. For example, if you are feeling nervous for a test, imagine that your nervous thoughts and feelings are simply floating away out into space as you are holding the hand pose. Remember to replace the nervous thoughts and feelings with powerful, strong thoughts about how calm you feel about the test and how easily you will remember what you need to know. Hold the pose until you feel better.
Books to Support Your Relaxation Routine
14 Mar 2011 Leave a Comment
in Educator Resources, Parenting Resources, Uncategorized
Mind Coach: How to Teach Kids and Teenagers to Think Positive and Feel Good by Daniel G. Amen, M.D.
http://store.amenclinics.com/professional-education-resources/parents?p=2
From the introduction, “How your mind works determines how happy you are, how successful you feel and how well you interact with other people.” The Mind Coach book offers a brilliant explanation of the connection between neurochemistry, the brain and thinking patterns. It overviews all of the steps involved in the thinking process and then shows children the effects of negative thinking over time. Dr. Amen presents the information in an easy-to-understand manner. He identifies several species of “automatic negative thoughts” or “ANTS” and then suggests that we “talk back to the ants” in order to “kill them.” While I find killing ants to be overly harsh, I value the creative approach Dr. Amen takes to present the information in an interesting way. In my work with students, I prefer to “re-locate” the ants instead of kill them. At school I have started an ANT relocation program. In my groups, we practice “talking back to the ANTS” and select a different ANT species every week to talk back to. We easily made paper ants and posted them on a bulletin board to remind ourselves of the different ANT species and strategies to re-locate them in order to practice more positive thinking.
The Mindful Child by Susan Kaiser Greenland
http://www.susankaisergreenland.com/book.html
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=The+Mindful+Child
This is a beautiful book, filled with a multitude of mindfulness activities for parents, families, educators and children. Addressing the many characteristics of mindfulness, Greenfield makes infusing mindfulness practice into daily life effortless and full of grace. From zipping yourself up and sending friendly wishes to teaching children what it is like to have a beginner’s mind, Greenfield takes the reader on a very thorough and joyful journey into mindfulness practice.
Self Care Tags
07 Mar 2011 Leave a Comment
in All Relaxation Activities, Emotional Regulation
All of our clothes have them–tags that explain exactly what is needed to take good care of the cloth. A beautiful activity, created by my good friend Tajali Teresa Toland, co-founder of the Children’s Global Peace Project (www.cgpp.org), includes creating your very own self care tag. Imagine exactly what you might need to take extra good care of yourself. What helps you stay in balance? What supports you in feeling peaceful and relaxed? If you were able to tell someone else, even yourself, exactly how to care for yourself so that you felt wonderful all the time, what would the instructions be? Use this activity to help your children to remember to take very good care of themselves, to do something each day that feels good and supports feelings of wellbeing and relaxation.
In my girls group at school, one of the very first things we do at the beginning of our time together is to write our self care instructions on paper hearts, share them with the group, and then post them in our journals for reference, particularly in times of stress. We design one for the entire school year and then create one for the day, recognizing that each moment is unique and that we need different care at different times.
Here is an example of my self-care tag for the year:
Handle with care, Give hugs often, Smile at me, Send me kind thoughts, Speak to me using soft words, Don’t iron out the wrinkles, Lay me flat to dry when feeling stressed, Sit me in soft light in a quiet space when I feel overstimulated, Send me lots of love and positive energy daily, Hang me out in the sunshine and fresh air often, Stretch my limits, Give me loving thoughts and repeat them often.
We discuss in our group that each of us is in charge of making requests to honor our self care and to get our needs met. I remind myself that this is a tag for me, to remind me to treat myself with loving care and to give myself beautiful attention and love every day. It can also be a tag that I can share with others when I want additional support. Referring back to my self-care tag renews within me a sense of beauty and feels good. I remember also to refer to my self-care tag to practice moments of relaxation. Self-care tags help me to effortlessly infuse relaxation practice into my daily activites.
Beans for Thought
04 Mar 2011 Leave a Comment
in All Relaxation Activities, Positive Self-Talk
The latest brain research tells us that our biochemistry is affected by the way we think. If children spend all day thinking stressful thoughts, their biochemistry will align to feel more stress. However, if they spend all day thinking relaxing, peaceful thoughts, their biochemistry will also align to feel more peace and relaxation. One of the ways we can begin to relax is to re-structure our thought patterns to align with relaxing thoughts or thoughts that feel good to think them. If we practice relaxing or feel good thoughts over time, we should begin to feel more peaceful and relaxed.
Try this activity with your child to help rehearse relaxing thoughts:
- Assemble two bowls, one empty and one filled with beans, buttons, colorful fluffy balls, or other item of choice that can be easily counted.
- Take a deep breath and check in with your body to see how it feels. Notice if your muscles are tight, if your hands are relaxed, how your face and eyes feel. See if you feel tense or calm, if you are feeling good or not.
- Begin by select one bean. As you pick it up, state the relaxing thought out loud and place the bean in the empty bowl. Move slowly and with a steady rhythm. You might want to add more or less beans depending on the amount of time you want to practice. (For relaxing thought ideas, please see the Relaxing Thought List that follows)
- When you have moved all of the beans from one bowl to the other, have a relaxation celebration. Check in with your body to see if it feels any different. If you are feeling more relaxed and calm, celebrate!
Variations:
- Pick up the items using tweezers or kids’ chopsticks (www.perpetualkid.com) for an added element of concentration and focus.
- One day per week, use a food item (such as grapes, dried cherries or raisins). Each time you eat the food item, pause to pay attention and really taste the item and swallow it. State your thought out loud before picking up the next item and eating it. Think about how you are filling your body with those relaxing thoughts and how good it feels to send it throughout your body.
Relaxing Thought List
I like myself just as I am
My body feels calm and free like a fluffy cloud
I breathe in and smile
I relax and feel good inside
I see pretty things everywhere
I feel beautiful inside
I am free to be me all the time
Floppy Noodle/Carrot Stick
02 Mar 2011 Leave a Comment
in All Relaxation Activities, Relaxing/Balancing the Body
Teaching children to relax begins by helping them to understand the difference between feeling tense and feeling relaxed. We can do this by playing tense/relax games. Showing them the difference between being very relaxed and very tense can be fun and engaging.
1. Start by saying that we are going to understand and practice the difference between being relaxed and being tense. Explain that when our bodies are tense it is difficult to feel good, to play easily with friends, to learn and to sleep well. It is important to check in often and see how we are feeling so that we know how to help ourselves feel better when we aren’t feeling good.
2. Today we are going to play the tense and relax game. First we will play with food. We are all going to pretend that we are carrot sticks. What does a carrot stick look like? It is very straight, tall, and stiff. Let’s make our bodies into carrot sticks. As the teacher or parent, do a quick check by gently trying to move the child’s arm or a leg. Explain that if we are very very stiff, we shouldn’t be able to move the arm or leg very easily.
3. Next, we are going to be a floppy noodle. How does a floppy noodle look? Maybe it hangs over at the waist with arms flopping by the sides? Demonstrate some possible floppy noodle poses. Then do a check in to see how floppy your noodles are.
4. Finally, play the carrot stick/floppy noodle game. Call out “carrot stick” and everyone has to become very stiff and tense all of their muscles. Call out “floppy noodle” and everyone must relax all their muscles and become limp and droopy.
Variation: use a nature theme and play the same game while becoming strong mountains/flowing rivers.
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