Emotions

In mindfulness practice it is important to notice feelings.  I try to remind students to check in with how they are feeling several times throughout class.  At the beginning of one class I asked each student to use one word to describe how he or she was feeling at that time.  Most students found it very difficult to use only one word.  They had a story to go along with their feelings and most wanted to share that story.  One boy talked about being angry with something that happened during a kickball game at recess.  Another girl said she was happy because she was with our Mind Move Make group and it only happens once a week.  Two girls identified that they were not happy and not sad, just "normal".  It is very beneficial to check in and notice emotions because this is part of what makes up our present moment existence.  It also allows us awareness of how quickly our emotional state can change throughout the day and the impermanent nature of our emotions.  All of this helps to build emotional intelligence.

After warming up the body with some stretches and a few Down Dogs, I introduced the students to three of the Warrior poses.  We discussed how in yoga the warrior is not necessarily about fighting, but about finding your best self.  We moved through Warrior 1, Warrior 2, and Peaceful Warrior (or Reverse Warrior).  As we moved into Warrior 1 I had the students repeat, "I am strong!"  For Warrior 2 they said, "I am powerful!"  And for Peaceful Warrior they said, "I am kind and peaceful!" which was a great place to end our movement practice.

During the art part of our class, the students practiced figure drawing in their sketchbooks.  We talked about proportion, or size relationships between different parts of the body.  While standing, I asked the students to feel the size of their neck compared to their head, to feel their shoulders and how wide they are, to feel where their arms hit on their legs to think about how long their arms are.  Our hips are just about the midpoint of our bodies, so the legs are almost half of our height!  I provided students with some visuals with examples of figure drawing in relation to proportion.  I also brought in my wooden figure model which bends into all kinds of movement-oriented positions so the students could see proportion and movement in 3D.

I explained to the students that today we were practicing figure drawing in our sketchbooks, but this practice was leading to drawing themselves as an Everyday Superhero!  The students will be inventing themselves as an Everyday Superhero character.  Stay tuned to see what happens!