Release Pent Up Energy: The 30 Second Cycling Trip
24 May 2012 Leave a Comment
in All Relaxation Activities, Family Relaxation, One Minute Relaxers, Relaxation Practice, Relaxing/Balancing the Body Tags: calming technique, creative relaxation technique, energy management, kids relaxation technique, one-minute relaxation for kids, physical body relaxation, relaxation, relaxation tool
Ever need a quick tool to help your child release energy to re-focus in the moment? This one-minute relaxer is fun, engaging and does the job to get that excess energy OUT while activating the imagination at the same time. I use it with my girls at home and in my office at school to help kids relax and release unwanted pent up energy.
Remember your last exercise class where you leaned back on your elbows, raised your feet up two feet off the floor to pedal the air bicycle? This is the same, except you get to make it super fun by traveling in your imagination. Set the timer for 30 seconds and get started. (It is possible to experiment with differing time increments that fit the energy level and the amount of energy that needs to be released). Next, while you are pedaling, begin to tell a little story and to journey in your imagination. Pedal super slow up hills, coast down narrow garden paths, swerve around trees and run away dogs, turtles, and surprise apple carts along the way. Enter a dense rainforest, listen for the toucan’s call, and screech to a sudden stop on the beach to listen to the waves hit the shore. The more abstract, the more imaginary your journey, the better. See just how interesting and creative you can make it. As your child if he sees what you see along the way and ask him for suggestions for additions to your imaginary travel plan. Always finish by getting off your bike and lying down in the soft green grass or warm sandy beach to relax for a moment. Breathe deep, let go of your wild ride and say to yourself, repeating three times, “I am re-focused and calm.”
Happy cycling away! Practice transforming from tense to calm in 60 seconds flat!
Biodots!
22 May 2012 1 Comment
in Educator Resources, Parenting Resources, Resources, Stress Management, Uncategorized Tags: biofeedback, children's stress reduction, mind/body awareness, stress management, stress management for kids, stress reduction
Looking for a way to help your child monitor stress/ tension and to increase body awareness? Biodots are a great way to begin.
Biodots measure stress in the body by monitoring blood flow. Put them on the back of the hand to sense body temperature. The more blood flow through the body, the more expanded blood vessels, the less stress. The less blood flow, or colder body temperature associated with blood vessel restriction/contraction, the higher the stress response or greater level of stress the individual is experiencing. The dots change color depending on the body temperature. A color coded key accompanies the dots and explains the color associated with each stress level.
These little dots are not only fun, but are an excellent biofeedback visual tool to help children monitor their stress response. As you repeatedly use these dots at varying stress levels, children begin to gain a deeper understanding as they tune into the physical sensations that are going on as they are feeling stressed or tense. This enhances mind/body awareness.
To get you started, visit the following website: http://freebiodots.com/ to receive 25 free biodots (no shipping!).
Ideas for Use:
Show your child the biodot color key and explain how they work.
- Begin by measuring a moment where your child is feeling calm and collected.
- Next, wait for a time of tension, measure using the biodot. Practice a calming tool, then re-measure to compare.
- Use the biodots to measure the effectiveness of the calming techniques you are practicing and discuss why or why not the response was obtained. Maybe it will help to determine which tools work better for your child.
Practice some of the activities found on this site, and watch the impact!
I’m a Little Teapot http://wp.me/p11MDD-D
I’m a Little Steam Engine http://wp.me/p11MDD-dg
The Melt Away http://wp.me/p11MDD-9N
Your Mind is Your Playdough!
10 May 2012 3 Comments
in All Relaxation Activities, Positive Self-Talk, Uncategorized Tags: neuroplasticity in children, positive thinking for kids, positive thoughts for kids, power of positive thinking
What if we gave children the analogy of likening the mind to big hunk of playdough? Essentially that is the case. Brain research is exploding with tales of neuroplasticity and our awareness is expanding with the knowledge that our brains are continually developing and changing based on what we are programming them to do. Therefore, we have a giant opportunity to be very mindful, pun intended, about what we are putting into both our own and our children’s minds.
So, I encourage you to remind your child this week, that they are the masters of their thoughts. They have the power to program their minds for feeling good, for feeling calm and relaxed whenever they want to. And it is as simple as differentiating the feel good thoughts from the ones that don’t feel good and making a choice to practice the feel good thoughts if they want to feel good. In my house, when we entered a period of negative thought, we would say, “no more stinking thinking, I choose to feel good.”
Because the concept of positive thinking is often a little abstract for children under the age of six, you can make it more concrete by creating fun activities around planting positive thoughts. Here is one idea:
Get out your colorful playdough and shape it into little brains. (This can be an excellent opportunity to discuss cerebral anatomy as well). Take a toothpick and carve in little grooves so it will look like a real brain. Then talk about how our brains respond and are shaped around the thoughts we have. The more we think calm, relaxing, feel good thoughts, the more we feel calm, relaxed and actually feel good. The brain is trained by what we think. And our feelings are related to how we think. If we think lots of stressful thoughts and repeat them over and over, our brain will be trained to think stressful thoughts and then we will begin to feel more stressed a lot of the time. But, if we catch our brain thinking stressful thoughts, we can say “STOP” to our brain and give it a better, more positive, feel good relaxing thought to think. If we practice these relaxing thoughts over and over, then we will begin to feel more relaxed. Here’s an example of a relaxing thought: “I remember to take a deep breath and count to three when I feel angry.”
Discuss how we can pay attention to our thoughts and shape our brains around positive, feel good thoughts. Have some little slips of paper with both positive and negative thoughts written on them. Pass some out to each person and share how you would feel if you were thinking that thought. Your mind is your playdough! Feel good as you shape it around positive, calm, relaxing, feel good thoughts!
An excellent book that addresses the difference between positive and negative thoughts, is Meet Thotso, Your Thought Maker by Rachel Robb Avery, Nancy “Fern” Bennett Phillips, and Rebecca Davie Hazen. You can buy it on amazon or visit their website at www.smartthot.com. Kids love the interactive nature of the book and the fun way it depicts sunshine thoughts, boo boo thoughts, and bandage thoughts.
Dragonfly Relaxation
02 May 2012 Leave a Comment
in All Relaxation Activities, Guided Imagery, Uncategorized Tags: children's meditation, children's relaxation, dragonflies, guided imagery, peaceful moments for kids, relaxation activity, relaxation script
10 Mindful Minutes–Review
30 Apr 2012 1 Comment
in Educator Resources, Mindfulness Practice, Parenting Resources, Uncategorized Tags: 10 mindful minutes, children and mindfulness, inspired parenting, mindful educator, mindful parenting, mindfulness practice in education, mindfulness practice with children
Check out the new mindfulness book from Goldie Hawn, 10 Mindful Minutes, (http://www.amazon.com/Mindful-Minutes-Children—Ourselves—Emotional/dp/039953606X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1335817284&sr=8-1). This book does a nice job of explaining mindfulness, new brain science research, and ways to incorporate this information into your parenting life. She provides mindfulness activities for exercising the senses and activating gratitude, optimism and happiness. Diving deeper at times, she weaves tiny ideas as to how daily events, such as listening to the radio, can be used to draw attention into the present moment, bringing mindfulness practice effortlessly into life as you already know it. Light, playful, and inspiring reflections from Goldie’s own experiences are delightfully sprinkled throughout the book, making it an enjoyable, feel-good read.
For additional information on Mind Up, the signature educational initiative offered by the Hawn Foundation, please visit: http://www.thehawnfoundation.org/mindup.
I’m a Little Steam Engine
27 Apr 2012 Leave a Comment
in Deep Breathing, One Minute Relaxers, Uncategorized Tags: breathing games, breathing practice for children, deep breathing activity, deep breathing for kids
Want a quick way to practice deep breathing with your child or in your class? Here’s another one-minute relaxer that is easy to practice. The goal of this activity is to make the exhale twice as long as the inhale. Also, to allow the inhale to naturally expand. Make sure you have explained to children what “inhale and exhale” mean so that they understand what you are asking them to do.
Steps:
1. We are going to play a game called “I’m a Little Steam Engine.” You get to pretend that you are a steam engine and I am going to listen to the steam that you make.
2. Imagine that you are a steam engine. You can be as big or as small of an engine as you would like. Decide what color you would like to be. Maybe you want to look like Thomas the train? Maybe you are a big black shiny engine. You decide.
3. Sit up straight.
4. Allow yourself to inhale, let it come naturally, no need to force, push or take a big breath, just allow it to be natural.
5. As you exhale, you are going to make a “shhhhh” sound, like steam coming out of a steam engine. The steam from your engine comes out long and slow. See if you can send your steam across the room. Let’s see how long you can make your steam. As you steam move your arms like the wheels of the engine. Chug chug chug along as you exhale and see whose engine goes the farthest.
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Experiment in Thought and Word
24 Apr 2012 Leave a Comment
in Mindfulness Practice, Positive Self-Talk, Uncategorized Tags: children and positive thinking, positive perspective, positive self-talk, positive self-talk for kids, positive thinking, positive thinking for kids, positive thought experiment, positive thoughts, power of positive thinking, power of positive thought
We’ve been acting as thought scientists in my office at school. Studying the power of our thoughts and how they make us feel. Studying the power of the words that we tell ourselves and how they make us feel. I came across this experiment by Dr. Masuro Emoto, a Japanese scientist that studies the effect of words, thoughts and prayer on water, (http://www.masaru-emoto.net/english/e_ome_home.html). What he has found, although his experiments are controversial, is that water responds to thoughts and words upon freezing by forming more pristine beautiful crystals or by forming yucky-looking blob-like formations. He also reports that water is affected by words. When words of hatred and negativity are placed on water, it forms yucky-looking, asymetrical blobs when frozen. When words of love or positivity are placed on water, it forms beautiful symmetrical crystals when frozen. Given that we, as humans, are 80-90% water, it can be extrapolated that we are affected in similar ways. Regardless of the science, the basics are this: think positive=feel better, think negative=feel yucky.
I wanted to see it for myself. Therefore my students and I followed an experiment created by Dr. Emoto and tried it out for ourselves these past few weeks. In early March we set up our experiment. The pictures posted here were taken today, April 24th, 2012.
Here’s what we did. Following an experiment included on Dr. Emoto’s site or found on the site listed here, (http://www.positive-thinking-principles.com/positive-thinking-power.html), we cooked some rice. Next, we placed equal amounts of cooked rice (we used approximately 2 tablespoons) in each clean, glass jar and placed a lid, tightly sealing the container. To the outside of the jar we added sticky notes that read “you fool” and “thank you” and placed one sticky note on each jar. We placed the jars side by side on the counter in my office. Each day for a week, we took turns directing negative thoughts and comments towards the “you fool” jar and directing positive, loving thoughts towards the “thank you” jar. Nothing happened, i.e. we noticed no visible change in the rice, for the first week. We went on spring break and the rice jars sat in my office without any attention for the next 10 days. Upon return, we noticed that the “you fool” jar had a green, gray mold growing on top of the rice and the “thank you” jar had only a yellow/orange mold growing on it. Over the next few weeks, the “you fool” jar’s green mold grew very fast. The “thank you” jar continued to look the same, with a light yellow/orange color growing on top. The rice in the “thank you” jar continued to look like rice. The rice in the “you fool” jar began to clump together under the foamy green/gray mold. It was obvious that the “you fool” jar’s mold was growing and fermenting faster.
We studied the progression in awe. It was amazing to see that the simple power of words appeared to be impacting the rice inside, regardless of our attention or not. I even moved the jars to a closet for a week and gave them no attention, thinking that maybe the “thank you” jar would begin to follow the “you fool” jar’s fermentation pattern. No effect was observed. The “thank you” jar appeared to be almost “protected” so to speak from rapid fermentation simply by virtue of the fact that “thank you”, a word of gratitude and love, was attached to it.
I took the results to a staff meeting, using the visual to remind all of us that our words carry power. We have the ability to choose to show up with love or negativity and notice how it feels inside based on our choice.
As the students and I marvel at our results, we have begun to pay extra attention to our thoughts and the words we share with others. Every day, they rush into my office to see if anything has changed in the jars. I will have to throw it away someday soon. What a wonderful activity to try out within your own sphere of influence. See what happens and let us know! Regardless of the results, it is a powerful way to increase awareness of and to begin to really pay attention to the thoughts we think and the words we use when talking to ourselves and others and to notice the power thoughts and words carry into the internal world within ourselves and the external world we share with others.
Have a Kaleidoscope Day!
19 Apr 2012 Leave a Comment
in All Relaxation Activities, Family Relaxation, Uncategorized Tags: acceptance, adjustment to change for kids, positive perspective, positive thinking, relaxation, stress management
When I was a kid, I used to love to play with my dad’s kaleidoscope. As I peered inside, a whole new world, a whole new view of the world appeared. It didn’t matter what I was looking at, in what direction I faced. There was always a surprise in the view. A slight turn of my hand would magically create a whole new experience. Any direction you faced gave you a beautiful glimpse of another possibility. Infinite ways of seeing things, infinitely changing. The kaleidoscope had a way of transforming anything you were looking at into something beautiful, if not at least interesting.
Life is like that. Every day is the opportunity to experience things as if for the first time. Everyday we have the choice to look for the beautiful in the mundane, the enchanting in the ordinary. What if we encouraged our kids to do the same? We could all practice together having kaleidoscope days. Starting each day with the idea that everything is brand new, a fresh new beginning. Every day is full of constant change, which we get to accept or resist, our choice, but it is always there. Stress, at its origin, is simply resistant thoughts. When we are thinking “not okay” and “needs to be different”, we are creating resistance. The body starts to respond by contracting, holding, pushing against what IS. Having a kaleidoscope day involves the following:
*Today I decide I want to feel good
*Today I accept that my world is constantly changing
*Today I look for beauty wherever I can, in whatever I see
*Today I go with the flow and say “okay” (doesn’t mean that I like it, just means that I accept it)
*Today I am flexible. I challenge myself to look at every situation from multiple possible points of view
Have a kaleidoscope day with your child today! Start by doing your favorite deep breathing exercise. Get a kaleidoscope and practice looking and sharing what you see. Then talk about the agreements listed above. Create little cards or sticky notes to remind yourself and collect your kaleidoscope moments throughout the day. Breathe, relax, enjoy.
My dad is still creating kaleidoscope images through photography, such as those seen here, and sending them to me. He has a photography program that will translate “normal” photographs into these beautiful images. You can snap a photo of virtually anything and then transform it into a kaleidoscope image. These shots are constant reminders for me to approach life as if I were looking through a kaleidoscope, pointing my attention in the direction of things I find interesting and allowing the picture to fall into place, infinitely creating, changing and showing me endless points of view.
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Butterfly Moments
14 Apr 2012 Leave a Comment
There’s a student I work with every day. Each time we meet, we start our time with butterfly moments. This is our way of connecting, bringing our energy into the present moment and relaxing into our interaction. It is a way to practice mindfulness and getting into the heart space, bringing intentions for the day into focus and awareness. I begin each time by asking, “What color is your butterfly today?” Let’s close our eyes and see. That is when we get into butterfly pose, (http://www.yogitimes.com/article/sitting-butterfly-purna-titali-asana-pose ),and begin to flutter our wing legs. We close our eyes, flutter our legs like wings and look closely at our butterfly of the day. ”Mine is blue with purple spots today,” I say. He replies, “Mine is going to be orange and black.” Then I take him on a quick journey to a flower for the following quick relaxation script:
Oh, I see your butterfly landing on a flower. It is so beautiful! Can you see what color the petals are? (Pause) What color are the petals? You can see that as your butterfly lands on them, the petals begin to open. As they open you can see right into the heart of the flower. It is opening to show its pretty colors to the world. Inside there is a very special message just for you about your day. If you listen closely you will hear a word that you need to know for your day today. Can you hear it? Wonderful. (Pause) What is the special word for your day today? Watch as your butterfly lands on your flower. You can open your eyes when you are ready. 
Afterwards you can have a discussion about the activity, asking your child what the word means to him and what it means about his day. Remind him that his butterfly is ready to carry his word to him whenever he wants, he just has to pause for a moment and listen for it. As you go about your day, you might look for ways to incorporate the word or its meaning. At the end of the day, it is often helpful to ask how the word impacted his day, why it was important, if it was important. Keeping a butterfly journal, like a net to capture the daily butterfly moments, can be a fun way to watch how they change or what the experience is like over time.
Calm and Focus: The Potential Effects of Deep Pressure Touch
10 Apr 2012 1 Comment
in All Relaxation Activities, Educator Resources, One Minute Relaxers, Relaxing/Balancing the Body, Uncategorized Tags: calming techniques, deep pressure touch, focus, grounding activities, one-minute relaxation, quick relaxation activities, relaxation techniques, relaxation tools, self-regulation, sensory exercises, sensory integration
Deep pressure touch has been found to be very calming to the nervous system. I work with many students who struggle with sensory integration and moderation and sometimes deep pressure touch works to help them focus and/or calm down. Please use this technique with caution, starting with a very non-evasive exercise such as the finger squeeze and then moving to the other exercises once you have made careful observation of your child to see if she appears to like it and/or experiences benefit.
Guidelines for the use of deep pressure touch as a calming activity:
- apply steady, gentle, consistent and firm pressure
- always communicate with the child as you are applying pressure, check in frequently to ask how it feels
- always stop if the child reports that it hurts or is uncomfortable in any way, that means that the desired result is not happening
- the desired result is that the child experience increased calm, focus, and feelings of being “in your body”
DEEP PRESSURE TOUCH MENU
Arm Squish—Adult firmly squeezes arms to body, starting near the shoulders and working your way down to wrist level
Shoulder Push—Firmly push straight down on top of shoulders (not squeeze, simply push down)
Hands on Head—Instruct student to interlock fingers and place on top of head, pushing down firmly
Hands Together– Place hands together, palm to palm and press together
Knee Push—Place hands on knees, making sure knee is directly over ankle and feet are on the floor, and press down
Feet into Floor—Push feet down into floor
Finger Squeeze—squeeze each whole finger one by one
Individual Finger Squeeze– knuckle by knuckle squeeze each part of the finger, working through all of the fingers individually
Thumb Massage—Find the soft squishy part between the thumb and the hand and massage it
Self Hug—wrap your arms across the front of the chest and “give yourself a firm squeeze”
Hands Under Chin—interlock the fingers of the hands together to provide a “platform,” place under the chin and push gently up while the chin is pressed down
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