Sometimes I'm Bombaloo!

At the beginning of every Mind Move Make class we start with a minute of mindful breathing.  During our very first class, the students learned what a mindful body looks like, feels like, and sounds like.  We practice finding our mindful bodies, focusing on our breath, and listening to the sounds around us.  Afterwards we talk about if mindful breathing was easy or hard that day.  The students' responses to this question change during every class, just as the experience of mindfulness changes each time you practice!

After our mindful breathing work, I explained that we'd look at the emotion "anger" again this week.  I read them the book Sometimes I'm Bombaloo by Rachel Vail.

Sometimes I'm Bombaloo is about a girl named Katie who describes herself as a "really good kid".  She picks up her toys, brushes her teeth, and "gives excellent hugs".  But when her baby brother destroys a castle she worked hard to create, she becomes uncontrollably angry and turns into "Bombaloo".  She pushes her little brother, smashes things, and throws all the clothes out of her drawer.  After she calms down and becomes herself again, she says, "It's scary being Bombaloo".  I think we can all relate to that!  Being angry can feel very scary.

I asked my students if they had ever become "Bombaloo"; if they had ever done something they regretted after becoming very angry.  I told them about a time that I yelled at Harlow, my two-year-old son, when I became angry.  Afterwards I felt awful.  Becoming angry is part of being human, but it can be frightening.  Mindfulness helps us by giving us space between the thing that is making us angry and our reaction to that thing.  Even taking one breath before reacting when we're angry helps us to calm down and gives us space to make a good choice.

I explained that we were going to create masks depicting our inner "Bombaloo".  "What does your Bombaloo look like?" I asked them.  I also asked them to think about the colors they would use to show their angry side, along with the facial expressions.  During our movement time, they had the chance to become "Bombaloo" on their yoga mats.  They made Bombaloo-esque noises, Bombaloo faces, and moved like their version of Bombaloo.  It was fun watching them channel this part of themselves!

During the art portion of the class, the students started designing their masks!  All of them are extremely different, just as our experience of anger is different from anyone else's.  We used pencils to start the design, then we used oil pastels to add color.  I explained that next week I'd bring watercolor paint so that they could add a paint layer.

Here are the artists at work, along with some of the works in progress!