Camp Hope America is a national organization that uses research centered around Dr. Chan Hellman's "HOPE Theory" to structure their programing. HOPE Theory uses three main ideas in stoking the fires of hope: goals, pathways, and agency.
Goals are the cornerstone of HOPE Theory. Goals can be short or long-term, but they must be potentially attainable, clearly articulated, and measurable.
Pathways become the "road map" to attain a desired goal. Hopeful people create multiple pathways to get to a desired goal. They can also anticipate road blocks and find ways around them.
Agency is the will power one has to reach a desired goal.
Camp Hope is an intervention for children experiencing domestic violence to increase and sustain hope in their lives, and Mind Move Make got to be part of this magical experience for the summer of 2019.
In Oregon, natural beauty exists in so many places. Children who participate in Camp Hope Oregon spend five days in the foothills of Mt. Hood on the bank of the Salmon River. The land and contact with nature work together as a healing agent, combined with many of the other elements of the experience.
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| The Salmon River near where the Camp Hope fire circle happened every night. |
About a half-hour into my drive to camp I had the nagging suspicion that I had forgotten something. Suddenly I realized I had forgotten my singing bowl! When I arrived, Chelsea and I got creative and asked the kitchen staff if they had anything that I could use as a singing bowl stand-in. The replacement was hilarious; I ended up using a huge three-gallon metal mixing bowl with a humongous whisk as the mallet! I'm actually thankful that I forgot the singing bowl that first day because it was fun to use these new tools to practice mindfulness of sound, and the children were rather intrigued by the unusual and very large musical objects.
In terms of setting up the space, I created a circle using Mind Move Make's yoga mats. I introduced the campers to zine making, so I had a collection of around 30 different zines set up on a table as examples.
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| Here are some of the zines I included. I love Molly the Popsicle! |
I also had several tables set up with art supplies and paper so the campers could create their own zines. When I was planning the art portion of this experience, I wanted to offer the campers something open-ended in which they could explore their individual ideas of what hope means to them, and reflect on where they find hope in their own lives. Zines are perfect for this because they create a tiny container in which images, words, or a combination of both can be used to create a mini-book. I was excited to get started, meet the kids, and see what they would create.
The first week of camp was for younger children, aged 7-11 and the second week was for children aged 12-15. I was there for one day the first week and one day the second week. When each group of campers arrived, I invited them to take off their shoes to participate. Then each child chose a yoga mat and found a comfortable sitting position. The first group of campers was all boys and there might have been a few groans upon seeing the yoga mats, but everyone respectfully participated during the entire workshop. There were spots for the counselors to join in, and the sessions with the most counselor participation tended to be the ones that went the best overall. It is obvious that the children adore their counselors and want to emulate them.
For the first few moments of the workshop I tried to make eye contact with everyone in the circle. Then I told a little bit about myself and Mind Move Make. I introduced the concept of a zine (psst! you can learn more about zines here!) and shared some of the most fun and creative zines from my library collection. Zines are small, self-published pieces of media that are often inexpensively made. Because they are self-published, zines have been used as a tool by many marginalized voices to express themselves. First created in the 1930's, zines were made by science fiction fans. Punk and feminist cultures have also used zines to express different points of view. Because they are mostly hand-made, today they serve as a counter balance to our technology-saturated society.
In the beginning of each workshop I told the campers that everything I offered was an invitation. There was nothing that they "had" to do, and throughout the workshop I gave many alternatives for each activity.
We also talked a bit about what mindfulness is. I asked who had practiced mindfulness before and several children raised their hands. I explained that mindfulness is being aware of the present moment and what is happening RIGHT NOW!
After my introduction, I invited them to take three of the deepest breaths that they'd taken all day. This was a great way for everyone to arrive in the space, and start to notice their breath. Then I introduced the idea of lightning rounds to bring each person's voice into the room. A lightning round is when everyone in the group responds to a prompt in a quick way. For the first lightning round we simply shared our names. For the younger children (ages 7-12), the second lightning round question was, "If you could transform yourself into any animal, what animal would it be?" There were SO MANY interesting responses to this question! One camper wanted to be a mosquito, another chose a moth. There were very few lions, tigers, and bears. Everyone seemed to think of something very original.
With the older students, for their second lightning round share-out I asked them to give me a weather report to describe how they were feeling in that moment. Most of the campers and counselors' weather reports reflected contentedness, many with a chance of rain. Once again, there was a lot of originality from each camper and no two weather reports were exactly the same.
After the lightning rounds, we began to move. First I asked everyone to stand up and feel their feet on the ground. Then we circled our weight around our center of gravity, shifting the weight from one part of the foot to the other and exploring each foot in its entirety. This is a grounding movement practice and allows a focus on the sensations in the feet. A couple boys began to do "hula hoop" hips; I went with that and started doing the motion myself and invited everyone to join in. I thanked the boys for being good teachers and helping us find new ways of exploring the body. I encouraged everyone to come to their center in a standing position and introduced Mountain Pose, or Tadasana. For Mountain Pose, I asked the campers to make their legs as strong as possible and about hip-width apart so they had a stable base. "Find your mountain and feel your strength," I encouraged. With the younger children, I went around to each camper and asked if I could test the strength of their mountain. I would gently try to push each person over, campers and counselors alike. Smiles and gentle laughter filled the space during this part of the workshop.
From Mountain Pose, I invited the students to hold their arms out in a big "T" shape. We stretched out the shoulder muscles by giving ourselves hugs and changing the arm that was on top each time. Then we held our arms wide apart and loudly clapped our hands together. After clapping, we rubbed the palms of our hands together and felt the friction that was created. I asked the children, "What do you feel?" There were many responses: "Heat!" "Tingling!" "Vibration!" This was a way for them to get into the body through experiencing a distinct sensation. It is surprising how much sensation we can notice when we are focused on it.
After moving our bodies in a few more poses, I instructed everyone to balance on one leg and move the other leg around, trying to throw themselves off balance. We talked about how balance in the body is important, and that balance in the body can lead to feeling more balance in the mind also.
After that, I invited everyone to take a seat on their yoga mats. We were headed towards a mindfulness practice, and I wanted each camper to feel as comfortable as possible. I explained that they could sit facing into the circle, or choose to turn around and face out of the circle. Lying down was also a choice. "Take care of yourself in any way that feels good to you," I reminded them. In each group, different campers made different choices. I was overjoyed to see that they were making the experience their own, and doing what they needed to feel at ease.
When everyone was settled in their chosen poses, we practiced mindfulness of sound together. With the younger children, I used the whisk and the huge mixing bowl! And with the older campers, I had my singing bowl with me. I said, "Focus on the sound of the singing bowl, and when you can't hear it anymore please place your hand on your heart. Then, listen to the other sounds you hear around you." After practicing for a few minutes I asked the campers to share some of the noises they heard. With both the older and younger children, I introduced snapping as a way of showing agreement or connection with another person. "If you heard the same noise as someone else, snap to show that!" I encouraged. It was fun to listen to the campers sharing the different things they heard and hearing excited snaps when others heard the same noises.
For the next part of the mindfulness practice, I explained that they would be thinking about where hope lives in their lives, right now. I posed four questions to them, pausing between each question to give space for reflection. The questions were:
- Is there a person, animal, or pet that makes you feel hopeful and happy?
- Is there a place that fills you with hope? Your room, under a tree, a favorite chair?
- Is there an object that brings hope? A stuffed animal, blanket, favorite sweatshirt?
- Is there an activity that makes you feel hopeful? Playing a sport, swimming, dancing?
After that it was time for us to move our bodies again. We played a game that is similar to mindful walking, but a bit more playful. I asked the campers to begin moving through the space and explained that when I rang the singing bowl, they would stop and slowly make their way back to Mountain Pose and take a few breaths while standing. The twist of this game is that I would invite them to move in many different, unusual of ways. "Walk as if you were late for the bus!" was one movement request that I made. During this movement game, the campers, hopped, danced, walked in slow motion, and much more. In this part of our workshop, it was obvious that many of the campers were giggling and enjoying the movement of their bodies. After each unique style of "walking" I rang the singing bowl so that they had time to pause and feel their bodies in stillness.
During the last round of the mindful walking game, I explained that they would find one partner with whom to share. This time when I rang the bell, I invited the campers to partner with the person who was closest to them at the sound of the bell. Then each pair of individuals shared one or more things that bring hope into their lives, whether that is a person, place, activity, or object. Several campers paired with camp counselors. Walking around and listening to the conversations, many were rich with detail, and others were much shorter. It was beautiful to watch them have the opportunity to connect in a more intimate way.
At the end of each session, I invited the campers to participate in one more lightning round, reflecting on how they felt after our workshop. One girl really wanted to ring the mixing-bowl-turned-singing-bowl, so I started passing that around and each person rang the bell after sharing how they were feeling. Many of the campers shared that they felt calm, grounded, happy, peaceful while some individuals chose to pass the question all together.
During the last part of our Mind Move Make workshop, the campers made zines about the hope that exists in their lives right now. After I taught them how to fold a single-sheet zine paper, they began their creations! Some individuals chose to stick with the theme of hope, and some made cool, interesting, original pieces of art about other topics. Below I am sharing several of the different pieces of art they created.
