A Workshop Experience With Young Scouts

Yesterday I had the pleasure of working with 2 groups of young Scouts (8-11years ) at a Scout Camp in Kilcully  I was so absorbed that unfortunately I didn't have any opportunity to take some photos, one of the leaders took some and has promised to send them so I'm looking forward to sharing them as soon as they arrive.
Anyway back to the day itself. I started with  the Figure 8 exercises below.


trim.D088F31A-F74F-410A-AE7B-82A36A5AF330 from ann on Vimeo.

This is one of John Kells amazing exercises which has a wonderful effect on our body. It opens us up to new experiences. Just  a few minutes of this exercise changes ones  physiology by causing the brain to release more testosterone ( allows you to feel courageous )  and reduces the production of cortisol ( stress hormone ). Once we had spent a few minutes practising this exercise I explained to the scouts how opening the body up big and wide ( in power poses ) helps in times when one needs courage. Times when one needs to take a test, or speak to a difficult adult, in fact any situation where one needs courage.  I had always intuitively felt the power of this exercise but now I am really grateful to  Amy Cuddy whose research has confirmed my feelings. So I shared her findings with these young people to empower them in life. They enjoyed stretching as high as possible and reaching right down to the centre of the earth.

Then I introduced my ' Sticking ' exercise( below ), this is usually the most popular exercise in every class and it lived up to my expectations.


November workshop from ann on Vimeo.


 I wish that I could show you how they responded to this exercise. Some of them were completely absorbed by the energy sensations and spent the remainder of the Workshop 'sensing' the energy between their own hands and checking it with some of their friends. I think that seeing this type of awakening is what makes my work so satisfying .
As we moved on with a little T'ai Chi Form I could see lots of the scouts feeling for the energy delicately bringing their hands close to sense it's subtle presence. Some had their eyes closed intuitively recognising that this would allow more internal awareness.
  It is really rewarding when people wake up to the awareness that there is more to us than our physical body. Seeing those young sensitive eyes awaken will nourish my practise for a long tine to come.