Melt the Grumpy

1043 20161017 125639 Melt The Grumpy Somatic Activity
"Melt the Grumpy" is a somatic activity to help shift your emotional state with physical movement, breathing and imagery.

When you are feeling irritable, or just not happy, swing both of your arms at thigh level one side to the other across your midline. This motion helps break up postural patterns and muscular tension.

Using the momentum of swinging your arms with trunk rotation creates fluidity, neck rotation, visual cues and orientation. The rotation movement reinforces the somatic experience of the spine as the body’s central axis, helping to distinguish and connect both sides of the body.

As you continue the exercise, the breath further moves you from "grumpy" to “emotional neutral” and over the threshold to the embodied present moment.

This trauma informed approach encourages you and/or your client to find their own breathing, pace, duration and movement rhythm. When doing this activity, find an individual duration and intensity that's comfortable.

Now allow yourself to get playful as you imagine the grumpiness melting like cheese. This visualization of a melting image is a great tool for helping young clients do a body scan. Have your clients complete the scan by telling them to pretend the cheese starts at their head and melts down their body carrying away the grumpy mood inch by inch as they let go. 

I hope this exercise helps you and your clients pour happiness into your body, wash away the cranky parts and nourish you with joy.




Barbara Neiman OTR/L

Barbara Neiman, OTR, is an Integrative Occupational Therapist, Yoga Teacher 200RYT in Embodyyoga®, a coach for professionals seeking a holistic practice and a National Seminar Presenter. She teaches courses on Yoga and Mindfulness around the country. She created her company, Health Discovery, in 1988, to provide services for infants through school age children. As a Certified Practitioner of Body Mind Centering since 1989, Barbara has taught experiential hands on, movement, and meditation classes to hundreds of students.

Resources include coaching, trainings for yoga in the schools, private yoga sessions, a downloadable webinar, “Integrating Mind, Body, Spirit Medicine into your Practice,” and professional manuals and journal articles. Blogs on her website include posts about digital detox, executive function skills for teens, sensory integration, wellness, etc. Barbara has several DVDs available on Yoga and mindfulness at www.PESI.com. She is also the author of the practical book Mindfulness & Yoga Skills for Children and Adolescents: 115 Activities for Trauma, Self-Regulation, Special Needs & Anxiety (PESI, 2015) and the co-author of the My Calm Place Card Deck: Yoga, Mindfulness & Meditation Strategies for Children (PESI, 2016).

 

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Barbara Neiman maintains a private practice and receives royalties as a published author. She receives a speaking honorarium and recording royalties from PESI, Inc. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Barbara Neiman is a member of the Body Mind Centering Association and of the Yoga Alliance.
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