A Compendium of Icebreakers, Energizers and Introductions

2

Active Relaxation

Summary

This is an exercise in which participants practice a variety

of

ways

of

releasing tensions quickly.

Objective

Energizer.

Materials

None.

Time Limit

25 minutes (depending on whether the whole range

of

exercises is used).

Procedure

Explain that active relaxation is a way

of

interrupting muscular tensions.

This can be useful in the context

of

the training event currently under

way as such tensions interfere with learning. This kind

of

activity can be

used during a normal workday, or anytime, since no special equipment

is required.

Chin wobbling

1.

Explain that jaw muscles can become readily tensed up and that you are

going to show one way

of

checking on and releasing such tension.

Remind them that the chin is hinged on the jaw and can move inde-

pendently.

2.

Tell participants to allow their heads to hang down and to open their

mouths and shake their heads from side to side. Demonstrate this your-

self, as this produces laughter, whether you can do it or not.

Show how

letting the breath out at the same time helps and that some lip-trembling

noises are likely.

If

the chin moves with the rest

of

the head instead

of

wobbling, this is a sign

of

muscular tension.

3.

Invite participants to try the exercise several times, encouraging laughter

and telling them that this is a valuable help in relaxation.

17

A Compendium

of

Icebreakers, Energizers

and

Introductions

Alexander neck release

1.

Tell the participants that the neck is a prime area for muscular tensions.

Invite people to gently press the back

of

their necks with both hands and

to note how the muscles feel.

2.

Ask participants to stand with both feet flat on the ground and their

weight balanced evenly, hands hanging loosely by their sides when in a

resting position. When a disability makes standing difficult, encourage

sitting in as balanced a position as possible.

One way

of

testing this is

for them to sit on their hands and feel

if

the weight is evenly balanced on

the two hands.

3.

Announce that the activity to be done will help to release tension in the

neck and enable the head to be more freely balanced on the spine. It con-

centrates on working the muscles where the head balances on top

of

the

spine.

4.

Demonstrate to participants where the head balances on the spine by

having them run a finger up their own spinal column to feel where it

enters the skull. Ask them to imagine their head floating on top

of

their

spine at the point where the skull starts. A further useful image is having

the top

of

the head attached to a balloon which is gently tugging up-

wards. Pushing the nose or the chin up is to be avoided. This can be

helped by having the eyes look straight ahead comfortably at right

angles to the face.

5.

Make sure they have found this point

of

balance. Then ask participants

to begin gently rocking the head forward and back with very slight

movement

of

the nose up and down, thinking

of

the pivot as being the

topmost vertebra

of

the spine. Check how much they are moving their

head and

if

they are having difficulty producing only a small movement

ask them to put the fingers of both hands symmetrically on either side

of

the spinal column

of

the neck so that they can check that only the top

of

the spinal column is involved.

6.

A further exercise is to have them tum their heads very slightly to the

right and to the left. The movement will involve the second vertebra

only and should not twist the neck any lower.

7.

When these two movements have been established ask participants to

repeat and feel how hard their neck muscles are again. Most

of

them will

report that they feel much softer, indicating that some degree

of

relaxa-

tion has been achieved.

8.

Inform participants that relaxing the neck muscles encourages other

muscles

of

the body to relax, particularly

if

care is taken to achieve a

balanced body position.

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