Landing and Launching: 101 Checkins and Checkouts: Installment #20

46 Four Elements

Preparation Time: Five minutes

Materials: None

l  Earth: Qualities: solid, grounded, permanent, stones, can be static or fluid when combined with fire, shaped by water and air

l  Air: Invisible but important, vital how much or how little determines our health

l  Fire: Can be cleansing or destructive, a warm friend in the cold night or a destroyer

l  Water: hail rain snow spring shower, a gentle brook or a crashing ocean wave, a devastating flood or a glass of water

Procedure: Explain the concept of the four elements

Alternatives:

Notes:  Mastery of the four elements is a standard theme in any initiation story. The Harry Potter movie Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was essentially Harry being tested and mastering in turn each of the four elements. The sweat lodge ceremony of the indigenous people of North America always involves these four elements. The stones (Earth) are heated by Fire. When the stones are brought into the sweat lodge the person running the ceremony pours Water which allows the stones to release the oxygen (air).

Activity Credit: Inspired by Brad Stephens and Buck Ghosthorse

47 Sacred Religious Symbols

Materials:

(a)    Cross or image of Jesus

(b)   Islamic Crescent

(c)    Star of David

(d)   Medicine wheel

(e)    dream catcher

(f)    Lotus or picture of Buddha

(g)   Image of Shiva or Kali

(h)    Rosary

(i)     Eagle Feather

(j)     AA/NA symbol

(k)   pagan oak tree

(l)     Egyptian ankh

Procedure: Prior to this activity instruct participants to refrain from judging or condemning others for their beliefs. My groups are well acquainted with this inter cultural standard of understanding. All (except the facilitator) are welcome to discuss their various faiths in an atmosphere of acceptance and tolerance.

 Using either cards or images of the above symbols ask students to select an image which best represents their spirituality.

Alternatives: Hand out 5x7 cards and colored pens and instruct participants to make a design which best represents their spirituality or higher power 

Notes: I gleaned this idea from a  bumper sticker popular out here on the left coast. It says COEXIST by using various religious symbols. There will often be an atheist who will take offense to this type of activity. I then offer a little education about the 12 step concept of a higher power which need not necessarily be religious or spiritual. There are also sometimes fervent believers of many stripes who cannot refrain from judging or preaching. In those cases I would not do this activity until your group has reached a high level of acceptance and tolerance for each other.

Landing and Launching: 101 Checkins and Checkouts: Installment #19

44 Twelve Disciples

Preparation time: 10 minutes or enough time to familiarize yourself with the characteristics and personality types of the disciples

Materials:

(1)    Peter: Had a temper, founded the Church

(2)    Simon: Sometimes dogmatic and zealous, rebelled against established government

(3)    James: Slow to believe but became a leader of the early church

(4)    Andrew: Something of  a homebody the comforts of home

(5)    John: Favorite, most beloved

(6)    Philip: The organizer, calculating and precise

(7)   Bartholomew-Nathaniel: Tactful, represents innocence and sometimes naivety 

(8)    Thomas: Famous for doubting (perhaps a visual learner), a skeptic but once convinced is firmly on board

(9)    James: A great teacher, took the lessons and  translated them to the masses

(10)                        Matthew: Politically savvy and socially oriented

(11)                        Thaddeus-Jude: An early community organizer who was concerned with poverty and economic justice

(12)                        Judas Iscariot: Universal symbol of betrayal and the consequences: Really the most powerful symbol for kids of short term gain and long term loss.

Procedure:

(1)   Give a brief interpretation using the above guidelines or your own church's understanding of the twelve disciples.

(2)   Ask participants to choose the disciple which is the most like them.

(3)   Participants can share in depth or not at all why they feel the most like that particular disciple.

Alternatives:

(1)   Give participants a little more time after they have chosen and ask them to find Bible verses which show the characteristics of the disciple they have chosen.

(2)   Add New Testament figures to the above list. It is decidedly male. Consider adding Mary the Virgin and Mary Magdalene.

Notes: Some perhaps overarching speculators assign astrological signs and their corresponding meanings to each of the twelve disciples. While this is interesting speculation there is no way to prove or disprove this theory. The personalities and characteristics of the disciples can, however, be gleaned from the New Testament. I provide here my own brief interpretations which are of course viewed through my unique lenses on the world.

Activity Credit: Inspired by Paul Picket

45 PIES and DOMAINS

Preparation time: Five minutes

PIES is a back pocket check in that keeps participants in a grounded state of awareness

Materials: None:

Procedure: Draw a circle on the board and divide it into four sections. Starting in the upper left hand corner label the quadrants as follows: Physical, Intellectual, Emotional and Spiritual

Physical: Are we paying attention to our bodies? How are we eating? Are we getting enough sleep? Are we exercising a little every day? Do we have injuries or diseases that prevent us from living fully?

Intellectual: Are we continually expanding our knowledge? Do we have new hobbies? Are we reading any stimulating books? What captured your attention in school this week? Did you master a subject you're been struggling with?

Emotional: What emotions have run through you this week? What emotions are you still hanging on to? Are you comfortable with how you have expressed emotions this week? Have you suppressed emotions? Have you exploded? Are you storing emotions in your body?

Spiritual: Have you connected with your Higher Power, God, Allah, Creator, Wakan Tanka, Ancestors this week? Have you been to church, synagogue, mosque, temple, long house, the river, the mountain or wherever it is that you find connection? Have you read a sacred book or a daily meditation text. Have you done a selfless act for another creature?

Alternatives: A shorter and simpler alternative is the Mind, Body, Spirit model which can be found in the symbol of Alcoholics Anonymous. 

Activity Credit: Lynn Duus

Landing and Launching: 101 Checkins and Checkouts: Installment #19

42 Dinosaurs 

Preparation time: Five minutes and a shopping trip to the dollar store

Materials: Plastic dinosaurs

Procedure:

(1)   Tell your young audience to close their eyes and imagine they are living in the time of dinosaurs.

(2)   Instruct them to look up and to the right with their eyes closed. This accesses the creative centers of the brain.

(3)   With their eyes still in this position ask them to imagine they are a dinosaur.

(4)   Place your plastic dinosaurs in the center of the circle.

(5)   Ask them to choose a dinosaur which most closely resembles the one they saw in their mind.

(6)   Ask each student in turn to explain how they are like that particular dinosaur today.

Alternatives:

Notes: This is really for my grandson (4 at this writing) and children in that age group. I have noticed for some years that young children are fascinated by dinosaurs. Retailers have also known this for years. Visit any children's clothing store and you will find a plethora of dinosaur pajamas, t-shirts and even underwear. We could speculate on this. New-agers claim these children are reincarnated Lemurians and Atlanteans. They recall their ancient association with the dinosaurs. I think this is nonsense but it does make for a good story.

 Spiritual

43 Angel Cards

Preparation Time: Five minutes

Materials: Angel Cards*

Procedure:

(a)     Place the Angel Cards face down in the center of your circle.

(b)   Instruct participants to turn inward for awhile and reflect on the experience of the last hour.

(c)    After about 30 seconds to one minute of internal reflection ask participants to select the card that most draws their attention.

(d)   One at a time either in the round or “popcorn” style ask participants to share the word they chose and how it reflects on their experience.

Alternatives: Follow the above procedure but have students solicit feedback from each member of the group as to how that word reflects upon them.

Notes: Although more creative types can make their own angel cards I highly suggest purchasing the original set.

*Angel Cards are available at most major bookstores.

 

You can facilitate this check in either with the above handout or images on cards that you make yourself. Since probably few people still practice the old Norse religion anymore you can most likely present this as another archetypal model, Distribute the hand out and give participants enough time to familiarize themselves with the various gods and goddesses. To make this check in more effective you may want to use it several times in a row.

Alternatives: If you are lucky enough to have a group of artistic students, you can distribute art supplies and 3x5 cards and have your group make their own set for your permanent collection,

Notes: It might be said that the old Norse God represented different aspects of the human psyche. There could certainly be found parallels within human society. Maybe they were the saints of a now mostly lost religion. Perhaps they were real Norse interpretations of Archangels. There is of course the possibility they are merely the tales invented by yet another people struggling to understand the mystery of existence. With the large numbers of Germanic people living here on Turtle Island they are now part of our collective heritage. If you use the Bible character as character education and deities and observances from other cultures in  your students will begin to discover that the human tribe has much in common. Loki is the Judas. Our modern culture is much criticized in our quest for eternal youth but the tale of Iounn reveals that humans have obsessed on this for a long time. Like the indigenous people of the northern plains who still sundance yearly, Odin,  pierced in the chest and hung from a tree as a way of praying.

Activity Credit: Inspired by Lynn Duus

Yoga on the Ropes: Yoga Calm Activities

As promised I am offering up a few activities from my last Yoga Calm presentation. Enjoy!

Stress:

•      I use “buzz-rings.” If you do a Google search for “gyro-rings” you can often find them at wholesale.
•      Have enough buzz rings so that there is one for every two people.
•      Allow sufficient time for most of the group to gain some proficiency with the buzz rings.
•      Have partners pass the buzz ring back and forth with the rings still “buzzing.”
•      Ask the group to circle up.
•      The first group task is to pass one or more buzz rings completely around the circle while they are “buzzing.”
•      To add complexity to the task pass an object in the opposite direction through the buzz rings while the rings are still buzzing.
•      To generate more complexity, introduce soft throwables which go randomly around the circle.
•      The highest level of challenge in this activity is to use mousetraps as the object which goes through the center of the circle. A complete explanation of mousetrap activities is found in my book "Changing The Message: A Handbook for Experiential Prevention"
•      The general focus of this activity is to provide an isomorphic positive stress activity.
•      I often debrief this activity by talking about stress and asking participants what their default strategy is for handling stress. In other words what do they most often do under stress?
•      I sometimes talk about the plusses and minuses of the classic fight or flight response mechanism.

Landing and Launching: 101 Checkins and Checkouts: Installment #18

40 Insect/arachnid

Preparation time: Five minutes

Materials:

(1)   Inside version: Plastic insects which can usually be obtained at the dollar store

(2)   Outside version: Students observe (please don't kill unnecessarily) insects while on an outing or extended trip.

You can assign or suggest meanings for various insects:

(1)   Flies: Clean up everybody's messes. Think about this for a moment. Think of all the waste which would be laying around if not for flies to help it decay.

(2)   Bees: All about organization and common purpose. Keystone of the natural world. Harmless unless hassled

(3)   Butterflies: Go through the biggest change. From caterpillars to solo isolation to beautiful flying insects.

(4)   Ants: Again about organization and community. Of course you can't change roles or jobs if you're an ant.....as long as you're okay with that

(5)   Dragonflies: The warriors of the insect world. Ever tried to catch one?

(6)   Mosquitoes: Annoying but they feed bats, birds and dragonflies

(7)   Beetles: The workers of the insect world

(8)   Praying Mantis: Look eerily like aliens. Very patient hunters. Not good to be a male of this species. One of the few insects that stalk and kill spiders.

Procedure:

Prop based

(1)   Ask students to select an insect which is most like them.

(2)   If you have a younger less abstract audience suggest some of the above meanings and some of your own.

(3)   One at a time, students share which insect they feel is the most like them.

No Prop or Outside

(1)   Ask students to close their eyes and lie down if possible.

(2)   Ask students to look and up to the right with their eyes closed. This accesses the right part of the brain.

(3)   Ask them to imagine that they are an insect in the forest, that they have become part of a tribe of insects:

(4)   After a brief period of time ask students to sit up and share which insect they became.

(5)   Ask each student in turn to describe their insect and what qualities they share with that insect.

(6)   Ask each student what they could learn from that insect to apply to their personal lives.

Alternatives: In the same section at the dollar store you will find bags of brightly colored plastic spiders. This is a good option if your audience is not squeamish

Notes: For indigenous people (everywhere) all the creatures in the natural world were teachers to a greater or lesser degree. Exercises like this allow participants to re-establish their connection to the natural world

41 Constellations Stars and Sky Phenomena

Preparation time: Hard to determine. You can go as shallow or deep as you want with this activity.

Materials: The sky: I have included a few of the basics to get you started.

(1)   Big Dipper: Empty vessel

(2)   The Milky Way: The Path through our galaxy

(3)   North Star: Guidance and direction

(4)   Cassiopeia: The Queen

(5)   Pleiades: Where at least one culture thinks we go when we leave this world

(6)   Orion's Belt: Hunter and provider

(7)   Comets: Just passing through

Procedure:

(1)   Explain to participants that the sky was humanity's first television.

(2)   I tell students that as part of my culture I arise before dawn each morning to greet the stars.

(3)   Explain to students that science has known quite for some time that life on earth would not be possible without stardust. Therefore we are all in some way...stars.

(4)   Ask each student to find a constellation or star that they connect to.

(5)   Ask each student to share what qualities they have in common with that celestial object(s).

Alternatives: If you have enough time to acquaint yourself with the mythology surrounding the stars, this deepens the experience for your audience.

Notes: This activity is truly best outside during a summer camp or extended trip. If we do it inside we once again take something natural, beautiful and accessible and make it dull dry and boring. Few people anymore want to rise before dawn to greet the stars but you might encourage them to arise early for just one morning.