OUR PROGRAM INCLUDES:

BREATHING AND RELAXATION EXERCISES:
Teaching the children breath-work allows them to have control over their own feelings and fears. The fight-and-flight response, which is part of the stress response that grief produces, can be moderated by the use of breath-work to elicit the relaxation response. Children learn valuable self-soothing methods through breath-work and muscle relaxation, which can aid in better sleep especially in the case of nightmares or sleeplessness through fear.

YOGA:
Breath, life force, body and mind are connected and yoga is a way of uniting these parts of the human being. Improper breathing creates less life force and energy, which results in poor health and an unsteady mind. Yoga helps increase muscular coordination, maintain flexibility and good health and calm the mind. Standing postures stabilise and contain energy. The mountain and the tree yoga poses are designed to ground the children and help maintain stability when change happens. In indigenous cultures, trees are the medicine people of the plant kingdom and we are aiming to produce healthy children who are rooted and contained, flexible and bending to life changes yet stable and grounded.

STORY TELLING:
Sharing stories is a universal part of being human. Through stories about grief and loss, anger and hardship, and the overcoming of them through personal resources of courage, wisdom and supportive community the children learn that change and loss are universal processes. They learn that they are not alone and that other children have shared their experience. This helps to normalise the feelings of confusion and aloneness that arises through loss of any kind.

MOVEMENT:
Healthy human functioning involves kinaesthetic awareness including movement. Movement helps to dissipate and disperse the chemicals caused by intense feelings evoked by grief. Children learn that movement can be a form of relaxation and meditation, such as running, jumping, tearing up paper or hitting a pillow, and that feelings are in the body and can be released through movement.

ART AND MUSIC:
Art and Music, including the sound of tones and bells, helps the child enter a place of awareness that transcends words. They can access feelings and develop listening skills, and art and music can be a heart-opening experience. They relax and develop creative potential. Different types of music can evoke different emotions and help to bring them forth as art that comes from the deepest self.

MEDITATION AND VISUALIZATION:
These increase awareness, still the chattering mind and allow the child to reflect on life from an altered perspective where they might find peace and calmness. Meditation and visualisation allow for contemplation on life experiences to unfold and also serve as a response to life in the present moment by allowing for awareness to emerge with new experiences.