Mindful Movement Practice,
Embodying Native Animals and Habitats This meditation is especially for children,
Inviting you to move your body in a fun way that helps you relax and be present.
For this practice you'll have to remain standing and find an open space where you're not touching anyone else.
You can stretch your arms wide out and slowly turn around in a circle to make sure you have enough room.
Now imagine you're a big tall gum tree and lift your arms up high into the sky,
Stretching your whole body and noticing how tall you can stand.
Can you stretch a little further?
Let your arms branch out to the sides,
Stretching widely and imagining just your fingers are the leaves moving very gently in the wind.
Now imagine your body is the trunk of the tree,
Solid,
Grounded and very still.
Your feet are the base of the tree and your toes are the roots of the tree,
Going deep underground.
Imagine the wind gets stronger and begins to sway from side to side without moving your feet from where they're rooted into the ground.
As your body sways in the wind,
Notice how different parts of your body feel up through your legs,
Hips,
Tummy,
Chest,
Back,
Arms and head.
You might notice sensations of tightness or softening,
Lightness or heaviness,
Warmth or coolness,
Tingling or butterflies in your stomach,
The beating of your heart and the way your chest rises and falls with your breath.
Imagine the wind is slowing down and the body of the tree begins to become still once again,
Noticing how your body sensations feel now.
As you are standing still here,
You may like to imagine you're now a kangaroo with two very big strong legs.
Feel into your new powerful kangaroo hind legs and imagine you have a long tail to help you balance and move.
Begin to move like a kangaroo,
Taking some big bounces forward,
But not backwards because kangaroos only move forward.
Be careful not to bump into any other kangaroos in the area.
How fast can you bounce like a kangaroo?
Now coming to a pause,
Notice you have two small kangaroo paws that hang just in front of your chest.
Start bending down to reach the ground and imagine you can reach all the grasses,
Leaves and flowers you enjoy eating.
Use your little paws to help you eat.
Imagine you have a joey in your pouch and breathe deep into your belly pouch and feel how big it's getting.
Make a clicking sound,
Just like a kangaroo chatting with a joey in its pouch.
Then letting your hands and legs become still again and seeing how your body feels now.
Taking a few nice deep breaths,
Looking up into the tops of the trees and then imagining you're a kookaburra.
Feeling into the large bird shape of the kookaburra in your body.
Letting your wings expand and notice how you can stretch your arms way out wide to the side,
Just like the expanded wings of the kookaburra.
As you do,
Begin to take flight using the space around you and moving from tree branch to tree.
You can begin noticing your flight patterns or the flight patterns of other birds flying around you.
Now imagine you're swooping down to collect some food off the ground and then take flight toward the higher branches of the trees.
Imagine just like the iconic song that you are the merry king of the bush.
Take a deep breath into your body and then start to laugh out loud like the kookaburra.
Letting the bright cheerful feeling fill your body as you continue to laugh like the kookaburra.
Now let's start slowing down our breathing as this meditation comes to an end.
You might like to explore moving like other Australian native animals in their habitats.
See how many Australian animals you can explore with a sense of mindfulness.
