What a peaceful week we’ve had in the forest. As part of our “wintering”, we are learning how to calm our minds and bodies and trying different ways of slowing down when our bodies need it. The forest is so peaceful in the morning when everything looks fresh and dewy and the air smells fresh and clean. It feels so calming and peaceful to have breakfast in quiet conversation with our friends and teachers.
As more of our friends arrive, we feel our energy levels pick up as we take part in fun games like racing, “What time is it Mr Wolf?, or playing hide and seek. Sometimes, when it’s particularly quiet, we like to peer around the meadow looking quietly for slugs, snails and mushrooms. This week, we were surprised to find small white flower buds that will bloom into snowdrops and crocus. We were reminded that spring is around the corner and the forest will start coming back to life with new growth.
We had quiet times in the forest where we could have space to relax and calm down when we felt too busy. Some of our little ones prefer to read a book and go on exciting adventures in our mind. Some of our children prepared a mat to lay on so we could watch the clouds. We also played with “snow” using gluten free flour. We pretended to be clouds and dusted snow all over the celery houses. Some of us made igloos and snow salads.
We also had a visit from our friends The Feelings Monsters, and they taught us new words to describe our feelings. The Red Monster described how frustrated and scared he felt. The Green Monster described how calm and peaceful he felt. The Grey Monster talked about how he felt agitated and confused. Some of our friends had the same feelings as the Blue Monster where they felt tired. But we all felt loving and content like the Pink Monster!
Finally, we had an amazing yoga session where we learned to quiet our minds, breathe deeply and concentrate on the movements of our bodies. We learned how to twist our bodies to look like different animals and we enjoyed stretching our muscles to relieve tension and laughing a lot when we lost our balance and fell down.
It’s been so soothing to discover there are many different things we can do to give our bodies and mind a break when we need to. We’ll be back next time with more stories of our adventures.
Little Forest Folk
Twickenham