As high levels of excitement are still high in the air and campers' energy levels need a boost, some camper's choose to do yoga. As Monica Shuler facilitates a session of yoga, camper's stretch their limbs and test their flexibility. The movement practiced in yoga is not only good for the body but is also a peaceful method to center one's self. Yoga is a perfect moment for peace and quiet. Through the various poses campers have a relaxing fun time!
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Today's spiritual leader was Patrick Rawson, the founder of St. Francis House which is a youth center located in Odell. As he shares with us his faith he invited us all to sing along to "One big family under one sky". With this song he illustrates to us the teachings of St. Francis who focused his teachings on peace and the environment. With the help from Claire Rawson, his daughter, camper's learned the motions to the song and joined him in this beautiful song. Though many campers didn't know the song they were quick to join in on the motions. After the song, the assembly consisted of more fun games with Bill, songs with Chelan, and more great excitement from all the campers to begin another memorable day here at Peace Village!
Today marks the first day of my seventh year of camp, but my very first day as a teacher at Peace Village. In previous years I have been a counselor for all variety of age groups, so many of the campers' faces are familiar as they arrive for their core activity in Non-Violent Conflict Resolution (Theatre!). Along with my fabulous co-teacher, Nicole, we begin by gauging and sharing our "energy thermometers" -- being honest with ourselves and with others about how we are feeling. We move into an activity based on our thermometer readings: does the group need more energy? to build teamwork? to focus together? to be silly?
After focusing on finding our peace within and among, we talk about empathy, and how we can use our bodies to communicate emotions. Nicole uses words like "powerful," "community," and "peaceful" as well as words like "lonely" so we can practice registering body language cues of all kinds and feel those emotions in ourselves. This form of "image theatre" leads us into a brief discussion of how we can communicate stories physically. Our next lesson will focus on social justice theatre -- using theatre to make a world a better place. We brainstorm a list of things that are important to us: "caring for pets/animals," "standing up for others," "being honest," and "accepting differences" among them. These ideas are coming from some of our youngest campers; I am always impressed with the hearts and minds of kids of all ages and I am excited to take those ideas and create scenes to share our passions. As always, looking forward to the rest of the week! - Sullivan theatre instructor |
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August 2018
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