CHAPTER 11: on THE mAT: foRmAl YogA PRACTICES foR SElf-REgulATIon And EngAgEmEnT • 265Now, bring your awareness to the crown of your head. Breathe as if you could breathe into the
crown of your head. Notice if you feel any tension in your muscles. Breathe into the tension and
bring a softness, a letting go, into the muscles. With each inhalation, bring awareness and with each
exhalation, bring relaxation and softness. As you relax the crown of the head and the muscles of your
scalp, be aware of your breathing and bring attention back to deep, diaphragmatic breathing when
necessary. Breathe here and relax (pause).
[Continue this same process through the rest of your body pausing to relax at each of
these points: crown of the head, forehead, temples, eye area, nose, cheeks, jaw, mouth, chin,
throat, neck, shoulders, arms, hands, fingers, palms of the hands, back up the arms, shoul-
ders, chest, rib cage, spine, heart, belly, sides, lower back, hips, gluteus region, thighs, knees,
calves, feet, toes, and the soles of the feet. Pause at the feet and reverse the order going all
the way back through the body to the crown of the head.]
Bring your awareness to your whole body. Breathe as if you can breathe into your whole body
for three cycles of deep, diaphragmatic breath. Allow your breath to return to normal. Continue with
10 breath cycles. Slowly bring your awareness back to the room, bend your elbows and your knees.
Roll to your right side, the softest side for your heart. Slowly come to a seated position. Cross your
ankles and bring your hands to touch in front of your heart. Slowly open your eyes.
Source: Cook-Cottone, 2015; informed by Anderson & Sovik, 2000; Flynn, 2013; Gillen & Gillen, 2007;
Walsh, 2008).
guided Visualization
Guided visualization is imagery to create calm and relaxation (Harper, 2013). Take the
students on a journey to a relaxing place with lots of smells, sounds, and sights to imagine.
I have a guided relaxation I use called the Worry Tree. It helps students let their worries go
for exams, school, work, or performances. Gillen and Gillen (2007) suggest the following
topics for guided relaxation: student riding on a magic carpet, a teacher doing something
silly or funny, a boat with cozy pillows floating down a river, riding a dolphin in the ocean,
and a garden with giant-sized flowers (Gillen & Gillen, 2007;).
PRACTICE SCRIPT 11. 4: THE woRRY TREE
(Approximate timing: 20 minutes for practice)
There is a tree called The Worry Tree. The Worry Tree is strong. It grows strong from the honor of
holding people’s worries. People go to The Worry Tree and leave their worries for safekeeping. You
want to go see The Worry Tree and leave some of your worries there for her to hold.
To get there you must walk through the fields of sunflowers and corn. You must hike into
the forest over rocks and down a lightly traveled path. As you walk, you see densely grown trees.
You see waist-high ferns and foliage all around. There are beautiful colors including all shades of
PRACTICE SCRIPT 11.3 (continued )
(continued )