Out On A Limb: Practicing Mind-Body Integration
Andrea stepped up and reminded the parents gathered for the membership meeting to breathe. She also told me to let them breathe, but I couldn’t, just wouldn’t stop, I kept going…something very important had happened earlier during the school day and I needed to share it. It was so relevant to the evening’s topic, “Mind-Body Integration” (see note below). The problem was I had not fully processed it, or more specifically, had not worked it through with the children, so it was just coming out scary rather than instructional.
The Campfire Arc
It was the magic of Jiffy Pop that changed the whole thing.
It has been my experience that a campfire at school is one of those activities that does not require an anticipatory set or a bunch of “Hey, won’t this be fun!” We do go over safety and the co-oping parents know about our fire safety kit, what’s in it and what to do in case…, but with those gathered, there is an instant quiescence that settles when the first flame makes its appearance.
COLLABORATIVE RISK ASSESSMENT
She climbed up fast…it took her only seconds to reach the domed top of the “nature den” the Tink children had built. And in this case, built actually means wedged and woven. The builders had propped and pushed branches upright and once a number of the larger branches were leaning and wedged just so against the chokecherry tree, they began weaving in smaller branches.
YOU WON’T GET LOST. JUST FIND THE SCAT.
“How will you find your way out of the forest? You already know the signs! You have the directions! Remember the deer scat? If you find it, you won’t get lost!”
“What’s scat? Do you mean the deer poop?”
YOU HAVE TO KNOW IT’S THERE (THE FOREST PROVIDES)
On our way back from our hike, just as we were leaving Sligo Creek, we heard the kee aah call of a red shouldered hawk calling to his mate. She flew ahead with grasses collected in her talons. He continued his swooping arcs probably looking out for crows. We stopped, turning and looking up — their habitat is one of tall trees and water and that’s where we were. Behind us was the creek, edged by trees, and ahead of us was the Parkway and the hill that would take us back through the apartment complexes to our school.