Body Rock
30 Dec 2011 Leave a Comment
in All Relaxation Activities, Bedtime Relaxation Activities, Family Relaxation, One Minute Relaxers, Relaxing/Balancing the Body, Uncategorized
Body rock involves gently rocking the body back and forth to calm the nervous system. Have your child lie flat on the floor. Use a yoga mat or lie on a soft carpet for increased comfort. Don’t use a pillow to obstruct air flow or to place the neck in an unnatural position. Play soft music, dim the lights and use aromatherapy to prepare the environment for relaxation. Begin by inviting your child to take a couple of deep breaths. Tell your child to simply allow his body to melt into the floor and prepare him that you are going to gently rock his body back and forth to calm down his muscles and nerves. Share with him that the more he can be like a rag doll and let go, allow his body to relax, the more powerful body rock will be. Then gently begin to lightly rock his body back and forth, alternating sides. First give a gentle push on the left and respond with a gentle push on the right. Use very gentle touch, as light as using one finger to move. Apply a relaxed, gentle, steady rhythm. Imagine that your hands are carrying on a very sweet relaxation conversation. As one hand moves on one side, the other gently responds. Allow the body weight to help carry the momentum of the rock back and forth. Move slowly up and down the legs and then to the torso, gently pushing on each arm. Allow the head to remain relaxed and lying on the floor. Be as gentle as possible, and increase in lightness of touch as you continue. As time passes, you will notice the body begin to let go and relax more and more, as evidenced by its effortless motions. Simply allow it to rock, back and forth, back and forth. Check in with your child to make sure he is doing okay or to ask if he needs anything. Complete this for a couple minutes the first time and begin to increase the amount of time spent rocking as your child adjusts to it. Place a blanket over your child for added security and warmth to support further relaxation. He might fall asleep, this is a natural response. If not, allow him to rest in silence for a few minutes when you are finished to allow him to integrate the experience and to become fully aware of the relaxed sensations.
At a later time, discuss with your child how his body felt before, during and after the body rock experience.
Cat Cow Desk Stretch
22 May 2011 Leave a Comment
in All Relaxation Activities, Educator Resources, Relaxing/Balancing the Body, Uncategorized
This is the time of year when educators and students alike can feel stress, stress from the looming changes associated with wrapping up the year and preparing for the less structured summer months. Following are a few simple stretching activities that teachers and students can do right at their desks.
Remember: make it fun and playful. And challenge yourself, see how many times a day you can integrate it into your schedule.
Advanced Preparation: Place a different sticker on the right and left side of each desk (e.g. right cat, left cow). Discuss with students that each of their hands is associated with one of the stickers. The hand closest to the cat is your “cat hand”. The hand closest to the cow is your “cow hand.” If you want to include added novelty, make class relaxation hats to wear as you are practicing relaxation.
Begin by leading students in practicing a deep breath, fully engaging the diaphragm. Place one hand on the tummy. Inhale through the nose and blow out through the mouth. As you breath in, feel the hand on your tummy push out. As you breathe out, feel the hand on your tummy float in. Make sure that the exhale is longer than the inhale. It helps to count slowly to 5 on the exhale in order to guide the length of student exhales. Pause. Repeat. Now you are ready to begin the desk stretching activity. Introduce the activity, by saying that we are going to practice Desk Stretching. Get ready by resting your hands lightly on the desk in front of you.
Begin and guide the students in the actions listed below. Say “Inhale” before each of the actions on the left, then say say “Exhale” and follow with the corresponding action on the right.
Inhale, scrunch your shoulders to your ears. Exhale, roll your shoulders down your back. Inhale, scrunch your shoulders to your ears. Exhale, roll your shoulders down your back. Inhale, sit tall. Exhale, put your chin on your chest. Inhale, sweep your chin and look at the cat. Exhale, put your chin on your chest. Inhale, sweep your chin to look at the cow. Exhale, put your chin on your chest. Inhale, put your hands on your desk and push your back out like a cat. Exhale, let your body go and relax. Inhale, put your hands on your desk and arch your back like a cow mooing. Exhale, let your body go and relax. Inhale, sit tall. Exhale, relax your body. Inhale, raise your cat hand up high. Exhale, swing your hand/arm across your chest to point at the cow. Inhale, catch your shoulder with your other hand and give a hug. Exhale, put your hands on your desk. Inhale, raise your cow hand up high. Exhale, swing your hand/arm across your chest to point at the cat. Inhale catch your shoulder with your cat hand and give a hug. Exhale, put your hands on your desk. Inhale, stretch both hands up over head. Exhale, bring your hands quietly to your desk and say, “I am ready to learn.”
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.
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.
The Massage Snake
05 Feb 2011 2 Comments
in Relaxing/Balancing the Body, Uncategorized
When our bodies are feeling tense and we need to take a break, it is fun to build a massage snake. Instruct everyone to sit in a “curvy snake line” and place your hands gently on the shoulders of the person in front of you. Then guide the “snake” participants in the following massage activities:
1. Knead the shoulder dough. Gently show children what it is like to knead bread and then alternate squeezing and releasing the shoulder muscles.
2. Itsy Bitsy Spider. Walk your fingers up and down the person’s back gently along the spine, walking deliberatly on the spine path which is the “water spout”. Sing the song softly while you do it.
3. Wiggle Tickle Fingers. Wiggle and tickle your fingers all over the person’s back–moving up and down and all around.
4. Raking the Garden. Make your fingers into rakes and move them in a downward motion down the back from top to bottom. A little more pressure can be applied.
Teach the children to always ask your partner if their touch feels okay or not. They might like you to touch them a little lighter or a little stronger. Start with a demonstration in front to show each of the moves and support children with moderating their touch to match their partner’s preference. If needed, introduce a “stop sign hand” that signals the person to stop if the touch doesn’t feel good or needs to be adjusted.
Brain Gym Activities for Stress Reduction
22 Dec 2010 Leave a Comment
in All Relaxation Activities, Relaxing/Balancing the Body
The brain is made up of two hemispheres that are responsible for different functions. When the right and left hemispheres are communicating competently, we experience integrated thought related to higher level thinking, problem-solving and creativity. When we are under stress, our brain functioning becomes unbalanced. In addition, when under stress, depending on whether we are right or left-brain dominant, we will experience symptoms such as losing the ability to reason well, reduced joy, reduced understanding, reduced comprehension, increased mechanical response, increased insensitivity, feelings of overwhelm, difficulty expressing , difficulty remembering details, increased emotional response or an appearance of being “spaced out”. There are many strategies to promote brain integration, however without proper attention to stress reduction, the strategies might not work or will not work to their maximum potential. I have found that the Brain Gym activities included in the Edu-Kinesthetics work by Dr. Paul Dennison and Gail Dennison are helpful in both reducing stress while simultaneously increasing bilateral brain functioning. Please visit www.braingym.com for further information. Some of the brain gym activities that I have found to be especially helpful in stress reduction include: hook ups and brain buttons.
For more information on determining your brain dominance profile and how it is related to your learning style, please see the book The Dominance Factor by Carla Hannaford, Ph.D.
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