Next week is back to school and for some children this means starting school for the first time or switching to a new school! As my dear 11 year old nephews like to say its a combination of nervousness and excitement! There are several tools that your children can use to help calm the jitters. One of these is called BUG relaxation by School psychologist and certified coach, Zemirah Jazwierski, Ed.S. Here’s a quick bug relaxation routine that gets kids thinking about their day and melting into the practice of letting go. 1. Butterfly: Visualization and Intention Sit in butterfly pose (for specific instructions, please visit stupaul.net/proof/lazylizard/instruction4.htm). As your child slowly raises and lowers her legs, have her breathe deeply. Breathe in as the legs rise up, breathe out as the legs float back down. After a few repetitions of breathing, I ask the child to close her eyes and imagine what her butterfly looks like today. I allow her to share the color of her butterfly. Next, I ask her to imagine that her butterfly is cheerfully flying through the air and lands on a flower. I invite her to hold her hands in front of her and peer into the flower as its petals open up. As the petals open, I have her look inside, seeing that there is a very special word, thought or idea for her day inside the flower. Pausing, we look inside to see what it is and then share what we find with each other. I tell her that this word, thought, or idea is there just for her and will be with her throughout her day to help her remember the special message. Thanking the butterfly we open our eyes and release the pose. 2. Lady Bug: Deep Sensory Pressure and Relaxation Next, I invite the child to get into lady bug pose, which is actually child’s pose, (for instructions on child’s pose, please visit yogajournal/poses/475), and explain that we are going to put on her spots. This is an excellent opportunity for some deep pressure sensory input along the spine. As she is in lady bug pose, I slowly and deliberately press my hand down along the spine, starting at the top of the spine near the shoulder blades and work my way down to just above the waist. With each spot, I count “one spot,” applying pressure and holding, “two spots,”applying pressure and holding and so on. At the beginning, just before the child gets into the pose, I ask her how many spots she wants today. 3. Dead Bug Journey: Progressive Relaxation Next, I have the student lie down on her back with her arms and legs in the air. I explain that we are going on a dead bug journey and that there will be times when we are a fully ALIVE running bug and our muscles must be tight, tense and quick. And, there will be times when we are a DEAD bug, in which we collapse into the floor like a dead bug and let all of our muscles relax and melt. We follow a route from the classroom, out to the playground and back into the school. It goes something like this: Live Bug: Scurry scurry scurry out of your classroom and down the hallway to the playground doors. Dead Bug: Lie down and relax your muscles, melting melting melting and letting go of your muscles. Deep breath in (pause) and out (pause). Live Bug: Run fast out to the playground and up and down the slide! Dead Bug: Relax in the grass on the playground and let your muscles relax in the soft, soft grass. You get the idea. The children that I work with love the scurry throughout the school building running and then collapsing and it allows them to practice noticing and paying attention to the difference between tension and relaxation. Put all three of these together and you have a great way to practice visualization and progressive relaxation and get in some moments of deep sensory pressure–all in one sitting. Relaxation: BUG style. If you would like more tools to help your child manage anxiety and stress please visit my website at andreaaddington/Anxiety-Management-for-Kids.html
Posted on: Fri, 30 Aug 2013 04:05:54 +0000
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