Kindness Action Ideas

A student playing our singing bowl

To begin this class I gave the Mind Move Make students a chance to share one or more of their Kindness Action Ideas with the other members of our group.  I explained that these actions should be things that they can accomplish in their lives.  A boy in the class raised his hand and asked if he could talk about actions he and his sister are already taking to make the world a better place.  He explained that they donate part of their allowance to a charity of their choice.  His sister donates her allowance to help children who have been impacted by the Ebola epidemic.

Other Action Ideas students mentioned included cheering up friends and family members when they are sad.  This is an action all of us can take in our lives, and it is an important one.  Showing compassion and empathy toward others is valuable and appreciated by people of all ages.

Two girls in our class talked about helping homeless people as an action idea.  I asked them to elaborate on what specific actions they could take to do this, and they didn't have any ideas.  Another girl in the class shared that she has done several things to help the homeless.  She said she once left a loaf of banana bread for one homeless person she sees often.

After this discussion it was time for relaxation.  It is interesting how when we first started engaging in relaxation, many of the students were restless and talkative.  Now most of them sit or lay down on their yoga mats in a comfortable position and take advantage of this valuable time to reconnect to the body and the breath.  I always start by reminding the students to actively think about their breathing.  Then I play the singing bowl for them as they settle into this part of the class.  For the past couple classes I've told them a story, very similar to a guided meditation.  I took a poll of our class members to see if they like the story-oriented guided meditation best, or quietly contemplating their own breath.  Almost everyone voted that they enjoy the story paired with relaxation best.  I'll include the story from this session at the end of the post.

During part of our movement activity I introduced the students to Drinking Birds, a different type of Vinyasa experience.  The students started low to the ground in Chair Pose with their arms swung behind their backs, then they lifted up to standing with their arms above their heads.  We repeated this motion many times.  We also added a pause in Chair Pose with their arms behind their backs and balancing on their toes.  This collection of movements feels a little like flying, and when we finished all the students had smiles on their faces and many were laughing!

For the past several classes we've ended the movement portion of the class with Bhramari, or Bee Breath.  Making a humming sound, the room seems as if it is full of tiny bees!  This is a great way for the students to connect to their breath one last time at the end of our movement work.

Art-wise we had several things to complete!  The ceramic pieces we created during the first class were fired and ready for paint.  Many thanks to Sarah Harpole, the TIS Art Specialist, for firing our ceramic artwork in the kiln!  I decided to try a new technique with the clay artworks; we used  metallic watercolor paints to add color.  The metallics worked best with the pieces that had a lot of texture.  The pigmented golds and silvers settled into the recessed places in the clay and accentuated the textured areas.  The children were excited to take these works home as gifts for family members for the holidays.

This student created a ceramic sculpture of herself with her baby brother

Many students also had to finish their hand drawings from the previous class.  We also used high-quality watercolor paper and prepared the paper for paint during our next session.  The students created a composition using tape in the background of their paper.  After the paint has been applied, we will remove the tape.  The design created with the tape will remain as fields of white with color all around.  In these white areas the students will write their Kindness Action Ideas.  I'm excited to see the artworks when they are completed!

One student using tape to mask the paper so that that portion remains white when we paint with watercolors

Here is the guided meditation story from this class:
Imagine you are walking along a path and you come across the most beautiful lake you’ve ever seen.  The water is any color you can imagine it to be.  Slowly you take off your shoes and feel the sun-warmed ground under your feet.  You step to the edge of the lake and jump in!  Once you are underwater, you discover you can breath!  Feel the water all around you as you swim without worrying about coming up for oxygen.  After a while you come upon the most interesting fish you’ve ever encountered!  What does your fish look like?  You and the fish silently swim along together.  After a while you hear your mom calling you from the edge of the lake, so you know its time to return.  You slowly swim back to the surface, to the edge of the lake and get out of the water.







   

A Helping Hand

We began this week's class by reviewing our central idea, Humans can choose to cultivate kindness and make the world a better place. We also took another look at My Hands Are My Heart by artist Gabriel Orozco. Then I asked if any of the students either saw the movie or read the book The Hobbit. A few students raised their hands and briefly explained the plot of the story to everyone else. Then I read the following quote from the wizard Gandalf, a character from The Hobbit:

"People believe it is only great power that can hold evil in check, but that is not what I have found. I found it is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay. Small acts of kindness and love. Why Bilbo Baggins? Perhaps because I am afraid, and he gives me courage."

We discussed that Bilbo Baggins is a Hobbit, a very ordinary being without obvious extraordinary powers.  But armed with kindness and caring for his friends, he saves the day again and again.

I asked the students to brainstorm in their sketchbooks three to five ways they can "grow" kindness in our world.  Here are some of the kindness action ideas that they came up with:

• Showing kindness by being a good friend
• Being kind to myself by practicing yoga
• Donating to those less fortunate than we are
• Being kind by spending time with my family
• Maintaining a neighborhood community garden
• Helping others feel better
• Showing kindness to the earth by recycling

What a great start in developing ideas to cultivating kindness in the world!

Here is a picture of one student brainstorming kindness actions in her sketchbook!

After that I asked all students to find a partner and we practiced Secret Message Back Writing!  This activity develops concentration, engages students in positive touch, and builds spelling and literacy skills (from Lisa Flynn's book Yoga for Children).  To play the game, one student either draws pictures or writes words on the back of his/her partner, then the person receiving the touch has to guess the shape or word.  I encouraged the children to start with simple shapes first and build up to writing words on one another's backs.  In order to correctly guess the shape or word being written, the students must be fully present and focused!

Two students practicing Secret Message Back Writing.

After participating in a guided meditation during relaxation time, the students were ready for some movement!  On Monday I attended a yoga class with Simon Menasche, one of my favorite teachers.  His class gave me a few ideas for the movement portion of the class.  One movement activity involved slowly unfolding from seed posture into standing with our arms above our heads, using the breath to guide us.  Our class ended the movement practice with Tree Pose, and I was impressed that the students chose to help each other maintain balance.

All the students in the back row were helping each other in Tree Pose

   

During the art portion of the class students focused on drawing their hands!  Drawing the human hand is a difficult task, but these students were up to the challenge.  I asked them to really exercise their skills of observation while capturing their own hand.  Eventually we will cut out the drawings of our hands and incorporate them into a larger piece of artwork.  The drawings will be combined with writing we've done around kindness.

Here are a few of the drawings so far!

My Hands Are My Heart

It was wonderful to get started with Session II of Mind Move Make! I was excited to see many students from the last session and to welcome one new student to our group. 

For this session we will work with the following central idea throughout all twelve classes:

Humans can choose to cultivate kindness and make the world a better place.

We will reflect on kindness to one's self and kindness to others, along with contemplating kind actions we can take in our own lives to improve the world around us. To start the first class, I posted the central idea in a prominent place in our classroom and asked a student to read it out loud to everyone. I wanted to make sure all of the students understood the word "cultivate", and when I asked who wanted to define the word only two students raised their hands. I chose a student to explain the word to everyone, and he did a better job than I could have! He said, "Cultivate usually refers to agriculture, but it can be applied to many different things. Basically, to cultivate means to grow something". Wonderful!  

Humans can choose to "grow" kindness and make the world a better place

Once I was sure everyone understood the central idea, we went around and shared one kind thing we've experienced recently, something someone else has done for us. Something that made our world just a little bit better. I mentioned that my partner, Seth, makes coffee for me every morning before he leaves for work; this simple action dramatically improves my morning!  

My Hands Are My Heart by Gabriel Orozco

After the discussion I introduced students to My Hands Are My Heart, a piece of art by Gabriel Orozco. In the piece, there are two images of Orozco. In one image his hands are closed over a piece of clay that was used to create bricks in Cholula, Mexico. In the second image, he holds his hands open to show the imprint his hands have made on the clay. I asked them to look at the image, think about the title, and try to connect both back to our central idea. I broke the students into three small groups so they could have a conversation about the artwork. For this session I created sketchbooks for everyone, so they also reflected on the ideas in their sketchbook.  

I was impressed by the ideas they generated after looking at this piece of artwork and connecting it to the idea of "growing" kindness! Many students connected the shape of the clay to the shape of a heart. One student wrote, "My hands are my heart because they do so much for us and our heart does so much for us too." A third student explained that our hands are what we use to DO kind things while our heart is what we use to THINK and FEEL kind things. When everyone was finished discussing and writing about the work we came back together as a group to share ideas. If you'd like to hear Orozco speak about this piece himself, here is a link to an audio file of him describing the work.

Then it was time to move our bodies! Once again this session I will start each movement portion of the class with quiet relaxation so that the children can decompress after a long day at school. We listened to the soothing sound of the singing bowl and paid attention to our own breathing. After this, we engaged in more active movement with an assortment of yoga poses the students were already familiar with, along with one new pose: bridge or Setu Bandha Sarvangasana.

After that I introduced them to the art project, which was inspired by Gabriel Orozco's work. Using terracotta earth clay the students formed their own representations of how their hands and their heart are connected. Many of the children created miniature sculptures to represent their families. It was interesting to see what was important to them through their artwork. When the students completed their sculptures I photographed them individually holding the artwork. Here are some of the photographs!

~A special thank-you to Shannah, the art teacher from New City School! I borrowed some of her ideas while developing this project.

Last Class of Session I!

 What a fantastic last class for Mind Move Make's first session!  At the beginning of the class I asked the students to share the thing they liked the best about the class, along with an improvement that they would make.  In art class we called these Stars (positive comments) and Wishes (constructive comments).  Each student got to ring the singing bowl one last time as they announced their Star and Wish for the class.

I came away understanding that the students truly enjoyed working together over the past ten classes.  Some students liked the yoga portion of the class best, and others loved creating the artwork.  It was wonderful hearing all of the students' ideas about the class!

After that, I explained that I created a large piece of artwork and cut it into ten different pieces.  Each student would receive one piece of the artwork along with a note that I wrote especially for him or her.  I told them the only way the artwork would be whole again was if the students worked together to reassemble the pieces to create the whole.  The artwork is a symbol of our shared experience during the classes we've spent together.  I gave them five minutes to reassemble the artwork; they busily collaborated and got to see what the whole piece of artwork looked like.

Here are all the cards that I created by cutting up a larger piece of artwork.

These are the same cards from the view of the notes I wrote to the students.

Here the students are working together to reassemble the artwork.

The students were appreciative of the mini pieces of artwork I gave them, along with the notes.  One child even made me a thank-you card when she was finished with her own artwork!

We had to scramble to complete the sock puppets we started.  One class was missed due to a snow day, so the children had less time then I planned to finish their puppets.  They worked really hard and everyone got finished, except one student who needed to leave class a little early.

After finishing their puppets, many of the students began putting on an impromptu puppet show!  They used chairs from the art room to construct a miniature stage, and fabric to decorate it.  When parents arrived to pick up their children, two girls began pulling chairs out for them to watch the show.  It was so fun for me to see them use their imaginations and develop a performance.

I am extremely grateful to each child who participated in Mind Move Make's first session, and I'm really looking forward to starting Session II!

Impermanence

As a teacher I enjoy bring challenging material to my students, even when I am unsure if they will be able to meet the challenge or fully understand the concepts discussed.  It is extremely rewarding when my students exceed my expectations!  This is what happened during this week's Mind Move Make class when I introduced the idea of impermanence.

To start our class, I asked the students if anyone knew what the word "impermanence" meant; none of the them were familiar with this word.  Then I asked if they knew the word "permanent"; one girl raised her hand and said, "Permanent is when something won't come off your skin!"  I love this definition of the word.  After a few more children chimed in with their ideas of permanent, we decided it meant something that lasts and doesn't change.

From the context of the word "permanent" the students worked together to figure out "impermanent".  We defined impermanent as change, when things don't last forever.  I asked them to apply the idea of impermanence to the book we've been reading over the past few classes, Annie and the Old One.

One student, in a vivid and articulate way, connected the concept of impermanence with Annie's conversation with her grandmother at the end of the book.  Her grandmother talks about how time cannot be halted.  She also explains that good things come to humans from the earth, and eventually humans will return to the earth.  Annie looks around and remembers how the blossoms fall from the cactus when they are finished blooming.  She connects this with the knowledge that her grandmother cannot live forever.  It is a great lesson in both death impermanence.

These ideas prompted a rich and interesting conversation.  One boy brought up that if all insects on the planet died, life on earth would end.  He added that if humans were absent from the earth, all other forms of life would flourish.  We discussed that music is impermanent because as soon as the sound is created, it disappears.  Lastly, we talked about how movement is impermanent, so we are engaging in an activity of impermanence every week.

With that, we began our movement practice!  I introduced the students to a classic Sun Salutation this week.  We practiced Trikonasana and Malasana.  Two new poses I introduced were Salabhasana  and Navasana.  At the end of our practice the kids had a lot of fun creating Bee Breath, or Bhramari.  All of us created a humming sound, which made it seem as if the room was filled with a swarm of bees!

For the art portion of the class, I taught the students how to take their weavings off the loom.  They

were excited to bring these beautiful creations home to show their family members.  Several students told me that they have already created cardboard looms to make weavings at home!

We also continued designing our sock puppet creations.  Most of the students had time to make a mouth for their sock puppets.  Some even got the chance to draw a picture of what they want their puppet to look like when they are finished with it.  It will be fun to see how these artworks evolve.

 

Circle of Trees and Sock Puppets (oh my!)

Upon arriving at TIS to teach the eighth Mind Move Make class, I realized something different was in the air.  There was a palpable excitement that I just couldn't put my finger on, plus there was absolutely no parking anywhere around the school!  When I saw the Assistant to the Head of School and the EMT both dressed as Starbucks cups, I realized that today was the Halloween celebration and parade.

Between the candy consumed and the costume wearing, the Mind Move Make crew was a bit more energetic than usual.  We started the class by creating a Circle of Trees, something I've wanted to try for a while now.  Standing in a circle, with the palm of one person's hand pressed to his or her neighbor's, we helped each other in tree pose.  The students who were focused found tree pose to be easier with help from the people standing next to him or her.

Because of all the Halloween enthusiasm, the movement part of our class was shorter than usual.  We warmed up our bodies and went through two sun salutations before I decided to make an early transition to the art part of the class.

Art-wise, today we started creating sock puppets!  I showed the students many pictures of amazing

sock puppets before we started.  After thinking about and brainstorming ideas of their puppets, the students used paint to add color to their creations.  I explained that this was only the base color for their puppet, and that we would layer fabric and other materials on top of the puppet to make it more creative and interesting.

At the very beginning of class several students asked if I brought the book Annie and the Old One so that I could finish reading it to them.  When the students were settled and ready to work, I engaged them in a discussion about the book so far to see what they remembered.  I was really impressed by their recall of many details from the book as well as their understanding of the message.

As they worked on painting designs onto the beginnings of their puppet creations, I finished reading Annie and the Old One.  It was wonderful that they enjoyed the book so much!  I'm planning on bringing another book to read during the art portion of our next class.

Annie and the Old One

Last week during relaxation time the students contemplated someone they are grateful for, along with thinking of a kind action they could perform to demonstrate that they care for this person.  This week we began our seventh Mind Move Make class by sharing the thoughts and ideas they had the last time we met.

I started the discussion by sharing that it was my husband's birthday and he is the person for whom I am grateful. My kind action was going to be surprising him with Thai food from his favorite restaurant.  The singing bowl was handed from one student to another as the students either shared their ideas or chose to keep them to themselves.  Most of the students are getting really good at playing the singing bowl as they like to practice if there is time at the end of class.

One student shared that he is grateful for Mahatma Gandhi.  This student is Indian and explained that without Gandhi his family wouldn't be the same.  He asked the other students in the room if they knew who Gandhi was, and most of them said no.  The student went on to give a great explanation to his peers of Gandhi's role in helping free the Indian people from British rule through non-violent means.  Another student connected these actions to Martian Luther King's leadership of non-violent protest in the United States.  It was a great conversation.  After everyone had a chance to share, we warmed up with a few movements and played our last round of Yogi Says.

This week I demonstrated the dovetail weaving technique to the students.  We also experimented with weaving other materials like ribbon or fabric onto our looms.  As the students worked I gave them the choice to either talk quietly together or for me to read a story.  Almost everyone voted for me to read a story; I was surprised and a little flattered by this because they enjoy each other's company so much.  The book I read is called Annie and the Old One by author Miska Miles.  The book is about a ten-year-old Navajo girl, her family, and their connection to weaving and the earth around them.  At the end of class we were a little more than half way through the book, so I promised to bring it for the following class so they could know the ending.

Gratitude

To start our sixth Mind Move Make class, the students gathered their rock pouches and I explained that I wanted them to think of someone for whom they are extremely grateful.  During relaxation time I asked my students to hold a rock in his or her hand while keeping this special person in mind.  I wanted all of them to contemplate WHY they are grateful for this important person along with one way to express this feeling of gratitude through a kind action.  We will discuss the students' thoughts and ideas about this at the beginning of our next class.

After that we started the movement portion of our class.  We warmed up our vertebrae

by cycling through cat-cow poses, then began moving through a few sun salutations.  After warming up I taught the students Sphinx Pose.  Then I turned the class over to the students and we began our second round of Yogi Says!  Four more students got to choose their favorite pose for everyone to try.

The students were excited to get back to the weavings they started during the previous class!  I taught them Pick and Pick, a new weaving technique.  The Pick and Pick technique alternates between two colors of yarn to create what appears to be stripes in a section of the weaving.  This is a much more complicated technique to master, but many of the students were successful.  

Weaving is such a contemplative art form; it helps students connect with the fiber materials at their fingertips.  During this class, most of the students chose to work on their weavings while sitting together on the carpet instead of using the tables.  They shared stories with one another while their fingers entwined the colorful pieces of yarn together into a new work of art.  

   





  

Warp and Weft

During each Mind, Move, Make class we discuss how focusing on the sound and the feeling of our breath can help cultivate a sense of internal calm.  I asked my students if anyone had used his or her breath in a helpful way since our last class.  One student shared that she remembered her breath when she felt she was going to get in trouble at school.  Breathing mindfully took away some of her nervousness in a stressful situation.

I also let the students know that we are halfway through all of our classes for the first session.  I asked them to share what they've enjoyed most about Mind, Move, Make so far.  One student said she likes the  creativity she experiences during both the movement and art parts of the class.  Another student likes practicing yoga poses she already knows and learning new ones.  A third student enjoys the art portion of the class best.  It was interesting to hear their thoughts and ideas about the class.

Many of the students reminded me that I said we would play a game called Yogi Says; they were

curious and excited to get started.  I created a sign with all the yoga poses we've learned so far so that they could reference it when selecting a favorite pose.  After warming up our bodies with some initial movement, I chose the student who was showing the most focus start the game.

The first pose chosen was Pigeon, and I quickly realized only a few students would get to share their favorite poses this week if we were going to also have time to create artwork!  We will play Yogi Says for three classes so that everyone gets a chance to share his or her favorite pose.

Today we began weaving on a cardboard loom during the art portion of the class.  The great thing about this project is that the students can continue making looms and weavings at home because the materials are easy to find around almost any household: cardboard, string, and yarn.  This is empowering to the students because they can explore this process on their own and make gifts for friends and family.

I taught my students how to prepare and string their cardboard looms and explained the difference between the weft and warp threads.  We began with a basic weave, but over the next few weeks I'll teach them three more weaving techniques.  The children were pretty giddy about this project; in fact a couple students didn't want to leave at the end of class because they just wanted to keep weaving!

A wave and an ash tree

If you could weave something into yourself, what would that be?

This is the question I posed to my students during our fourth Mind, Move, Make class.  I almost told them what I would want to weave into myself, but stopped to hear their ideas first.  One girl said she would weave the qualities of a wolf into herself.  Another girl wanted to weave a rainbow into herself, and when she smiled her teeth would be multi-colored.  Finally, I told them that I would love to weave the flight of a bird into myself so that I could soar over the landscape.  Two other qualities I'd love to entwine within myself are humor and kindness.

While the students were laying on their yoga mats relaxing and following their breath, I read one of my favorite poem by W.S. Merwin.  It is called "Recognitions" and I'll share it here:

                                    Stories come to us like new senses

                                    a wave and an ash tree were sisters

                                    they had been separated since they were children

                                    but they went on believing in each other

                                    though each was sure that the other must be lost

                                    they cherished traits of themselves that they thought of

                                    as family resemblances features they held in common

                                    the sheen of the wave fluttered in remembrance 

                                    of the undersides of the leaves of the ash tree

                                    in summer air and the limbs of the ash tree

                                    recalled the wave as the breeze lifted it

                                    and they wrote to each other every day

                                    without knowing where to send the letters

                                    some of which have come to light only now

                                    revealing in their old but familiar language

                                    a view of the world we could not have guessed at

                                    but that we always wanted to believe

After that, we started to move!  I explained that next week we would play the game "Yogi Says" and they would each need to remember what their favorite movement pose is so that they can share it with the class.  When I explained this, one student asked, "Can we ONLY choose one pose?  I like so many of them!"   During this class I taught them several new poses, such as Warrior II (Virabhadrasana II), Triangle (Trikonasana), Pigeon, and Dolphin.  I'll be interested to learn everyone's favorites next week!

During the art portion of the class we returned to the idea of weaving qualities and characteristics that they admire into themselves.  I printed a self-portrait photograph of each child in black and white and intended for them to draw a picture on a separate piece of paper and weave that drawing into their portrait.  One student had the idea to use oil pastels to add color to her self-portrait directly on the photograph, and all of the other students loved this idea!  Most of the students spent the rest of the class adding vibrant color to their portraits and didn't have time to weave anything into the photograph.  The idea of weaving other traits into themselves was not lost, though, because most students transformed themselves into whatever it was they admired using color.  We had some very interesting results!

We also completed the fabric rock pouches that we started the first class!  Each session we use the rocks to help us focus during balancing poses.