The Relaxed Gingerbread Man written by Emma Quick Once upon a time there lived a lady.
She was a very kind lady,
But she was also a very busy lady.
She was always running around in a fluster,
Here and there,
To and fro.
But the one thing that the lady loved to do,
When she had time,
Was bake.
One day the lady decided to bake a gingerbread man.
She mixed all the ingredients in a bowl,
But her mind was off thinking about other things,
So she wasn't concentrating and she used salt instead of sugar and then because she was rushing about she added too much flour.
The lady felt a bit sad about this,
But decided to pop the gingerbread man in the oven anyway and headed out to the lounge to start tidying up and build a fire.
Time passed and the lady had forgotten about the gingerbread man baking in the hot oven.
But in the kitchen something very magical was happening.
The door of the oven opened up and out popped the little biscuit.
He hopped out of the oven and started to wander around.
Suddenly the lady realised that she had left the gingerbread man in the oven.
But as she rushed to the kitchen she saw that the oven door was wide open.
When she turned around there she saw the gingerbread man.
He was relaxing on her sofa.
Oh my!
Exclaimed the lady.
The gingerbread man looked up to the lady and with a big smile replied,
Crunch,
Crunch and crumble as slowly as you can.
Then you can be as relaxed as me,
The gingerbread man.
Oh!
Said the lady.
That sounds rather nice.
The gingerbread man moved over and invited the lady to relax on the sofa.
He gathered her a cushion and a blanket too.
As the lady got comfortable the gingerbread man spoke again.
Right,
Let's start by taking three button breaths,
Said the gingerbread man.
Then he pointed to the three chocolate buttons on his chest.
He pointed to the first button.
Breathe in slowly and breathe out slowly.
He pointed to the second button.
Breathe in slowly and breathe out slowly.
Then he pointed to the third button.
Breathe in slowly and breathe out slowly.
Right,
Now we're ready to start.
First we're going to crunch and scrunch our toes as tightly as we can.
That's it,
Really squeeze them.
Then relax them as if they were a crumbling biscuit.
That's it,
Give them a little wiggle.
Then we're going to crunch and scrunch our legs.
Make them as tense as you can.
Now relax them.
Let them crumble like a biscuit.
Now for our belly.
Crunch and scrunch your belly in as much as you can.
Give it a good squeeze.
Then relax and crumble like a crumbly biscuit.
Then we'll crunch and scrunch our arms,
Our hands and our fingers.
Squeeze together as tightly as you can.
Then relax,
Release and crumble.
Give those fingers a little wiggle.
Now for our neck and shoulders.
Scrunch your shoulders up to your ears.
Give it a good scrunch and a crunch.
Now let your shoulders fall like crumbs and let your neck relax.
Now for your face.
Scrunch your nose,
Crunch your eyes,
Scrunch your mouth and then let your whole face crumble.
Let it relax.
Give it a little wiggle.
Now if you'd like,
You can close your eyes and then tense up your whole body.
Scrunch and crunch.
Imagine that you are an overbaked gingerbread man,
Just like me.
Very,
Very crunchy.
That's it.
Crunch and scrunch your legs,
Your arms,
Your face.
Then crumble.
It's time to completely relax.
Relax your whole body.
Let your legs crumble,
Your arms crumble,
Your whole body crumble,
Crumble,
Crumble,
Crumble,
Crumble.
After a few moments,
The lady slowly opened her eyes and to her surprise there was a big pile of gingerbread crumbs on the floor.
She thought that the gingerbread man must have relaxed so much he crumbled himself.
She felt so relaxed.
She decided to just sit for a while and not rush about cleaning up the crumbs of the poor old gingerbread man.
Later that day,
Feeling very thankful to the gingerbread man for helping her to learn how to relax,
She decided to make a new batch of gingerbread men.
This time she took her time and she didn't rush.
The mixture was just right and she baked the biscuits until they were perfectly golden brown.
When the gingerbread men were ready,
She took them out,
Let them cool,
Popped chocolate buttons on all of them,
Put one to the side and then the rest into little bags.
On each bag she added a tag that said,
Crunch,
Crunch and crumble as slowly as you can.
Then you can be as relaxed as me,
The gingerbread man.
After she's finished,
She sat down with a nice cup of tea.
She had her biscuit,
She practised her button breaths and her gingerbread man relaxation.
Then she headed out to town and delivered all the gingerbread men to all of her friends,
Explaining to each one how they could learn how to relax too.
The lady felt very happy and very relaxed.
The end.
Why don't you try out the gingerbread man relaxation?
And how about the button breaths?
You could even make some gingerbread men biscuits.
Eat one yourself and share the rest with friends.
Take care,
Goodbye.
