Mind-Body research suggests that there is a distinct link between our mind and our body. The human body happens to be a perfectly tuned early warning system to keep us in touch with our emotional state. Through increased awareness comes increased self-regulation. Helping young children through a difficult emotional experience starts by asking "Where do you feel it in your body?"
What will students Learn and Do during this Lesson?
Students will develop a better understanding that we can feel our emotions in our bodies and that we must listen to how our bodies feel and think about why we might be feeling that way (awareness). They will be taught how to scan our bodies for emotions and how to use progressive muscle relaxation to let go of some of our unwanted emotions.
Body scan script
Put your hands on your head. Close your eyes. How is your head feeling? Do you see any colors? Is it feeling heavy? Are your thoughts swirling around or settled?
Keep your eyes closed. Now let's move our hands to our hearts. How is your heart beating? Fast? Slow? Does it hold any happiness or sadness right now?
Hold out your hands so that they touch (open eyes to see how I’m doing it) Now close your eyes. How are your hands feeling? Cool? Warm? Soft?
Rub your hands together. Slowly, Now quickly! Stop! How do they feel?
Put your hands on your belly. Big belly breath in. Big belly breath out. Are your hands moving up and down? How does your belly feel?
Put your hands on your knees. Give them a little squeeze.
Wiggle your toes. How are they feeling?
Let’s all take one more big belly breath together and then open our eyes.
A short discussion will take place about our Body Scan.
Once we start to notice where we feel certain emotions, we can recognize these signs early and calm ourselves down before having a tantrum or getting angry. For example; if I notice my fists clenching up, that can be my signal to take a break and cool down.
Students will be introduced to Muscle Relaxation via the Melting (Mindfulness) Video from GoNoodle.com https://app.gonoodle.com/activities/melting?s=category&t=Practice%20Self-Control.
Progressive Muscle Relaxation
Take notice of how your body and muscles feel.
FACE – squeeze or scrunch your face as if you smell something bad
NECK- swirl from one side to other
SHOULDERS – up towards ears and down
ARMS- squeeze into body and release
HANDS – squeeze as if squeezing juice from oranges and release
BELLY – tighten as if something was going to step on you
LEGS – squeeze legs together and release
FEET – curl feet in and release
FEET – press down to make footprints in mud and release
FULL BODY SQUEEZE – Say squeeze, squeeze, squeeze and release. Take a deep breath and notice how your body feels.