Saturday 17 / 2:10 – 3:10 PM
Group Pink / Ages 15-17
Grief Emotions
Warm-up: Grounding with short breathing/meditation. Notice your feelings like the weather. Now share your weather with a word and a gesture with the group. How often is your inner weather changing?
Tossing the energy ball. Pass an invisible energy ball around the group. Direct the group by changing the kind of ball, heavy, light, slippery, hot etc.
Teens are given different colored tissue paper. Move with the tissue paper in a variety of ways. Move it with force and softly, squeeze it, throw it, tear it, etc. Show how you feel using the tissue paper. Try to lay it our flat after it’s been moved. How has it changed? What is different? How is this like grief?
Using paper towels dipped in water. Find a place possible outdoors, to throw the wet, balled up paper towels. They will stick to the wall. Use whatever words, sounds you like that will enhance your feeling. Then reflect and process that.
Repeat, the exercise again, this time you might want to say what makes you sad, mad, quiet, scared or joyful.
The last time, use water ballons. This time focus on what you want to let go of.
Process, how did it feel to express one of your emotions.
Sunday 18th
12:40 – 1:40
Moving Forward
Grounding with short breathing/meditation. Do a 5-minute braindance or other movements to release energy, stretching, rolling, bending twisting, throwing, shaking.
Notice how you feel and create one movement/gesture to express that. The group mirrors each person’s movement.
Beanie baby toss. In a circle, toss a beanie baby from one person to the next creating an order which is repeatable. Add in more beanie babies one at a time and keep the tossing going. It may feel like group juggling. Have the teens process the experience of handling many things at once. Did you find your rhythm or get in synch with others? Could you rely on each other? How might this apply to your grief?
Calming and centering activities. Finding ways to self-regulate. Using the “Movement Therapy deck of cards- mindful movement exercises to regulate your nervous system”., each teen can choose a card and read it to the group. The group will try out the exercise.
Walking in nature. Go outside and walk with the intention of finding something that represents a strength and a challenge you have. Bring back what you found to the group. Talk about what you chose and create a movement for it. How does it relate to moving on?
Group ends with creating a mandala with all the nature items as a group and sharing a memory of their person which has helped them find ways to move on.
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Dr. Abigail Shabtay, Conference Chair, at ashabtay@yorku.ca,
