Finding the Fun in Movement

Which sounds like more fun: relaxing quietly in lotus pose on a yoga mat or gliding smoothly above the clouds on a magic carpet? Performing Warrior 3 pose or spiraling through deep space in an X-Wing Fighter?  Reaching towards your toes in a seated forward bend or steering a speeding Jamaican Bobsled through an icy winding track ?

Most adults give up exercise after an enthusiastic start simply because we are bored. Sure, we know its good for us and it helps us stay strong and healthy. We tell ourselves its because we just don't have time/money but the real reason we give it up is because its not compelling, interesting nor is it any fun.

At our deepest core, we don't want to work hard at exercising & staying healthy. We literally want our cake and to eat it [all] too. If we knew we could stay healthy, build muscle, reduce cholesterol and lose weight by posting jokes on Facebook, or Re-Tweeting a flour-less brownie recipe, or "Pinning" a photo of our kid's dance recital, well then we'd do it all day long, because what we all really want is to have it easy, to play, to laugh & to be entertained. Yet, when our children don't want to eat 'healthy' foods or do their homework, or 'exercise', we get frustrated and scratch our heads as to why. We don't need to wonder. Its because they want the same things we do: to not work hard, to play, to be entertained & to have fun!

When we tell our children "Time to exercise," it sounds too much like a threat to their fun-and suspiciously like "work" so they will do everything in their power to avoid it. But if you tell them you are going to see how good they are at playing "Simon Says"-now they might sense the implied challenge and take you up on that. So now as Simon you can direct their activities-hopping 10 times on one foot, swaying like a tree, jumping like a frog as high as they can, etc. The "exercise" is now hidden in the game and games=fun.

Finding the fun in movement is not difficult. It requires that you know and understand your child and children in general, and it requires a little bit of being like a child yourself. Be willing to be silly, creative & vulnerable by taking a few minutes to not take yourself or exercise so seriously and just play with your children.

Teachers & therapists can incorporate movement into any classroom or lesson. I know there are core standards and lesson plans and procedures and policies to follow, but find a way to work the fun into what you are already teaching rather than feeling like you have to squeeze in a completely new & unrelated activity. Yes, the kids get gym and recess (some do) but they still need to move throughout the day. Movement improves learning readiness by releasing stress and tension, integrating the senses and strengthening the connections in both sides of the brain for better concentration.

So how do we find the fun and easily incorporate it into our day?

Easy Ways  to Incorporate Fun Movement Activities into a Child's (or Your) day:

• Simon Says: Play just as described above. Each day allow a different student to be "Simon". No one gets "out". Its just for fun!
• Leap Day: Have a fun and friendly competition to see who can Leap the farthest. Place a piece of masking tape on the floor or carpet (or make one outside with chalk) and mark off in 1 foot increments. Mark off a starting line and have them each take turns and leap! (best out of 3 or just one big leap. ) Give them cloth tape measures to calculate how far each student has leaped. Give a prize for the longest and shortest leap,or give a prize to the class for cooperating. (If you do this, be sure each student gets a prize and no one gets left out "because you were talking" or it defeats the whole purpose of the cooperative activity.) *(With this activity you just taught math concepts, teamwork and helped release muscle tension.)
• Hopscotch: You can again use masking tape if you don't have access to an outdoor play area. Have the children make chalk hopscotch boards. Use stones or pennies for markers. Each child completes the game by moving their marker to each block. *( You just reinforced counting & math skills, concentration, turn taking, visual processing, hand-eye coordination and helped release muscle tension.)
• Hooping: Lots of ways to use the hoop. The regular way we hoop, or rolling the hoop to a classmate and back again. You can also have the children jump in and oput of a hoop in patterns (left, right, forward, back, one foot, etc.). , My favorite way is to make a large circle with many hoops. (Preferably outside on grass)  Play some music, and have children move from hoop to hoop. When the music stops, everyone must be inside a hoop. Remove one hoop and play again. each time the children must "share" a hoop with the classmates so no one is "stuck" out of the hoop. Continue play until there are only 3, 2 or 1 very large hoop left and every child has at least one foot inside the hoop. Children must not push or shove. *(You just taught motor planning, balance, sharing, cooperation, body awareness, how to stand still in a group, listening skills and problem solving.)
• Interactive Storytelling: Take a few minutes and read (or tell) a story to the class and have each student "act out" a character or a action in the story through movement. Many stories, myths, legends and fables exist about animals and have many opportunities for yoga postures or creative movement to be incorporated. Not only is this a fun way for children to remember a concept or a story sequence, but it is also a good way to start introducing new science concepts. Yuo can even apply some of these concepts to video games scenarios to make it more relevant to what children are familiar with. *(You reinforced literacy and language skills, listening /auditory processing, helped with learning transitiining skills, released stress and engaged the whole child in learning.)

NASPE ( National Association for Sport and Physical Education ) recommends that school age children get at least 60 minutes of movement each day, and do not sit for periods of more than 20-30 minutes. (I know there are second graders expected to sit for periods of 80 minutes and listen!)  If we lean to use our children's natural enthusiasm, movement rhythms, imaginations and energy cycles, we can harness this energy properly and direct it in postive and effective ways for everyone. It does not have to be difficult nor over-structured. All we have to do is find the fun in movement

*What are the ways you make exercise/movement fun for you or your students? Leave a comment below!

Moving Mountains (Mountain Pose)

"Tall Mountain" Pose

Earth and sky, woods and fields, lakes and rivers, the mountain and the sea, are excellent schoolmasters, and teach some of us more than we can ever learn from books.   ~John Lubbock

What do earth, sky, lakes, rivers, mountains and the sea teach us? Or more accurately, what do they teach us about our own nature?

My OT partner Lisa and I recently selected  mountains as a teaching imagery for our Thursday night yoga therapy group.

One 9 year old student was having difficulty standing still in line during dance recitals and practices and was given constant reminders to stop fidgeting. This made her anxious and she would forget her routine. It was a cycle that was becoming very stressful for her and she could not enjoy her dance events. We wanted to give her a useful tool so she could self-regulate while waiting for her turn to dance or in line at school or anywhere she felt fidgety.

We selected "Mountain Pose" because of the versatility, adaptability & ease of execution. Most children can learn it quickly & practice the posture with success. The posture is a transitional pose, easily executed. Its benefits & effects are immediate and yet so underestimated.

Lisa has a huge photographic mural of a lake surrounded by mountains so we showed the group one evening and asked them each to give a brief description of how the mountains looked to them. Some words they used were: tall, strong, large, quiet, pretty, snowy (at the top) graceful, peaceful and green. We gave our own descriptions, and pointed out that the mountains were all of these things, and also very sturdy and stable at the bottom (the 'base') and very light and graceful at the top. The middle was just right-nice and strong holding the top and bottom together.

We demonstrated to them how to "be like a mountain in [their] bodies" by showing them "Mountain Pose". As each of them practiced Lisa used their descriptive words for reinforcement & pointed out key areas for them to think of:

• *feet slightly apart and even with each other toes pointed straight ahead
• spine straight
• tummy strong
• head lifted high
• eyes facing forward
• arms at sides
• heels and toes pressing down into the ground

*(Normally the pose is done feet together. However, the adapted version,  feet slightly apart, makes it easier for children with poor balance. Feet are gradually moved closer together as the student demonstrates he or she is ready.We use 15" diameter circles cut from regular yoga mats and have the kids place their feet on either outer edge of their"Peace Circle"). 

We had the children practice while on their mats. The mats gave them a boundary to work within. Then came the test to see which mountains were 'sturdy'. I walked around to Lisa then to the students and stood behind each to gently push the upper arms sideways to see if I could "Move the Mountains" left or right. As I began to apply pressure, each student responded by "pushing" back equally to stabilize against the amount of pressure I was applying. We used this opportunity to get feedback from the children themselves asking:

• Could I move them or Were they sturdy/stable/strong?
• If they moved when pushed, what could they do to be more sturdy?
• How could they put their feet (their 'base")  to be more sturdy?
• How could their arms help to be more stable? etc.

If they didn't know the answer then we made suggestions. The kids were aware and insightful with self-evaluation & did well with adjusting their own postures to be stronger immovable mountains. We even showed them how to practice "Mountain Pose" while seated in a chair.

Breathing was emphasized. "Breathing into your feet" and "back out your nose again" reminded the children to keep their breath flowing and be aware of their feet (sturday base) connecting them with the ground.

'Tiny Mountain' Pose

We talked about examples of when to use this posture, such as in line for the bus, in the cafeteria, at the grocery store and of course we specifically addressed dance recitals. (I said that my daughter used it when she got really nervous and it helped her stay calm and feel confident.) We reminded them that each one of them had a strong, beautiful, peaceful mountain inside and could remember to be like it whenever they needed to.

Our relaxation that evening reflected a "Peaceful Mountain" themed imagery for reinforcement.

Last night, our student's mother told us that this simple imagery and posture tool was a very useful one for her daughter and that she remembered to use it unprompted during a dance event last weekend. It kept her calm, focused, less nervous and able to stay in line waiting to perform. She made the connection between the strong peaceful nature of a mountain, and that of her own strong peaceful self  & she really enjoyed herself at the event.

The students continue to use the tools we give them and to teach us different ways to apply them in everyday life. Each class as I learn more about the group, I learn more about myself too.

I learn to be as trusting & willing to try new things as they are.

I learn that the analogies & words I use to teach them are also ones that I need to hear and remember for myself.

And I learn how to move mountains.

Or not.




.