Mindful Walking and Manners
Last week we read another book about Ahn, and how he takes care of his anger. In the story Steps and Stones, by Gail Silver, Ahn finds himself sad and then very angry when his friends choose not to play with him and say unkind things to Ahn. Ahn’s anger appears again, but this time to control his anger Ahn practices taking deep breaths while walking slowly and counting his steps. As he breathes and counts his steps, Ahn notices his anger getting smaller and smaller until it goes away… until next time.
After the story we took a short walk to the library, and counted our steps the whole way. Everyone came up with a different number, and that’s okay! Once in the library we practiced walking slowly and deliberately on a circle taped to the floor. I asked the kids how our slow walking made them feel. The kids answered relaxed and calm. We brainstormed other places we could count our steps: walking to the bathroom, the playground, walking from our bed to the door, the list goes on!
Mindfulness at Home
Practice mindful walking. It feels funny to walk so slowly when we are use to a faster pace. Notice how it feels to pick up your foot slowly, and then place it down gently from heel to toe. With one step inhale, and then your next step exhale. If you and your child need some visual cues you can make footsteps to follow, put tape on the ground, or even a rope to walk on will do. Mix up the design that you need to follow. A spiral is a fun place to start, but you could also create your own!
Manners and Safe Mindful Movement
Today in Mindfulness we read the story Say Please, Louise: A Cautionary Tale. The story is about a girl who never uses her manners, and how it effects her friends and family around her. We talked about what manners are, and how easy it is to fill someone’s bucket by being polite.
Then we moved on to the safe bodies challenge! A series of games where the kids needed to concentrate and have calm bodies to complete a task. The first game we balanced a marble in a spoon, and then passed it carefully to our friends around the circle. The second game we passed around a stuffed animal only using our elbows. The third game we passed a balloon around the circle with only using our feet!