dreamer2doer

 

 

 

 Begging bowl: 

The facilitator passes around a small unbreakable bowl or basket.  Telling the group that this is a begging bowl, each person is to take the bowl in hand,  give their name and say one thing they want or need.  The bowl is then passed to another person until each person has had a turn.  The facilitator can focus the warm-up, by framing more specific needs or want: “…a need or want during our group today”, or “…from your therapist / life coach”, or “…that you want in this next week.”  With a group that is already familiar with one another, participants can even make specific requests to each other.  “I want you to listen to me without interruption” or “I want you to give me feedback on how I came across in the session before lunch.” 

 

This warm-up is designed to be less physically active. It has the potential to access cognitive as well as some emotional content. By having the group sitting and taking turns, it can be an excellent structure for getting a group quieted or to help contain and mange a chaotic session.

 

 

Aladdin’s Lamp

This is a warm-up suitable for individual therapy or telephone coaching sessions, virtual groups or in a group that physically meets.  When using this warm-up in a physically present group, having a prop can add to the warm-up.  Yard sales, thrift stores and similar sites can be resources for finding small ornate metal or ceramic pitchers, sauceboats or similar objects.  In locating such a prop, be attentive to the feel and texture of it.  Pass this object – Aladdin’s lamp- around and invite each person to rub it and ‘make a wish’. When done by phone, invite clients to use their imagination.  The facilitator can give a specific criterion for these wishes.  The warm-up can be deepened by additional rounds; pass this 'Genie’s lamp' among group members several times with different criteria for each round.  Try asking participants to make three rounds of wishes, since that seems to be the number usually associated with folklore and faerie tales.

Possible criteria for making wishes:

• Make a wish that is just for yourself.

• Make a wish for yourself that includes at least one other person.

• Make a wish for someone else in this group.

• Make a wish for someone outside this group.

• Make a wish for someone else, that does not benefit you at all.

• Make a wish that could come true with effort on your part.

• Make a wish for our collective group.

• Make a wish that is silly.

• Make a wish that could only come true after:  1 year, 5 years, graduation, etc.

   

In a group setting, common themes will often emerge after the group goes through several rounds of wishes.  Drawing attention to these shared values and dreams can help surface some of the tensions, hopes, concerns or values of the participants. In working with an individual, explore together what might be underlying these issues.  Ask what strengths/assets the person has for making these wishes come true, and who might be a resource for your client in getting these wishes fulfilled.  You can use the image of a magic wand instead of a wishing lamp, if you prefer.  Find or create your own wand for participants to hold as they make their wishes, provided it is safe for participants to be passing around a stick.  

 

Time lines

This is a great warm-up to help members of a new group get to know each other rapidly. Draw a line down the center of the room. This can be imagined, or you can use masking tape, yarn, lengths of fabric or scarves.  If you form the line in a curved or wavy shape, it allows more room, and reminds people that life has its ups and downs.  Tell participants that this represents a time line, from birth [at one end of the line] up to the present day.  Give a specific criterion, and ask each group member to stand somewhere on the time line to represent a memory related to that criterion, that they are willing to share with the group.  Often their first memory to surface is a good one to honor, but if they are not ready to disclose this particular story invite them to choose another one.  When an individual is reluctant, sometimes it helps to give an invitation to “Walk along the length of the line; sometimes the body remembers what the mind forgets, and a memory may surface as you are moving.” Once everyone has found a place on the line, individuals share their chosen memory with others in the group.

Any criteria can be used.  It is useful to begin with a positive or resource-based criterion.  Depending on the tasks of the group, criteria can remain positive or can delve into subjects that are more difficult.  Bringing up more difficult criteria is done when that criteria specifically adddresses a goal of the group.  In a Grieving & Loss Group, asking for memories of the peson who is lost can deepen the group's focus on moving through loss. However, it is important to begin at the periphery and move into more difficult material slowly, while gauging the responses of the group.  Often, this action structure results in powerful sharing, and if individuals disclose too quickly, the group can feel threatened, and begin to resist working.

 

Some examples of possible criteria:

• A time you felt intense joy

• A time you felt sadness or grief

• A time you felt connected, with self or others

• A time you succeeded

• A time of unmanageability in your life

• A time you were frightened

• A time you really used one of your resources
• A time you felt at peace

For facilitators who are leading virtual groups [by phone], you can ask each participant to imagine their individual time line. In a situation where participants are not in the same room, it might be prudent to stay focused on positive moments and times of using resources.  Identifying shared difficulties can be powerful and supportive among group members.  At the same time, if someone is deeply affected by their own or someone else's memory, you want to be able to recognize early, often nonverbal, indications that an individual needs additional support.  Working with positive memories will still help group members gain considerable cohesion and warm them up to the group's next task.

The Wind is Blowing: 

This is a wonderful action structure in that it both has containment yet offers considerable opportunities for group members to share among themselves, and with the facilitator.  Form a circle with enough places for the number of group members, minus one.  These can be chairs, but you can also use pieces of colored paper or paper plates taped to the floor.  The person not on in a chair is temporarily ‘It’.  The person stands in the center of the circle and begins by saying, “The wind is blowing and it’s blowing for______.”  The person who is It, then names a criterion that applies to him or her. It is important that the person who is It picks a criterion that applies to him or her; this prevents the group from becoming voyeuristic, or a way to embarrass others.  These criteria can be physical characteristics- ‘This wind is blowing for people wearing blue’, ‘…people with watches’, ‘…people over 30’, or characteristics- ‘…people who attended a 12 step meeting this week’, ‘…were angry today’.  As soon as a criterion is named, everyone to whom it applies has to leave the chair they are sitting in and find another chair.  If the criterion does not apply, those individuals can stay in their place. The person who doesn’t have a spot or a seat is the next It, and identified the next criterion: “The wind is blowing for______.”  

This is a great activity to get a group energized.  It helps members discover ways that they are similar or different. As facilitator, pay attention to the types of criteria that members use.  Groups with weaker cohesion tend to choose very safe criteria.  Safer and more trusting groups will often begin to name more personal criteria.  In a therapeutic group, it can sometimes be helpful, after everyone has found a new seat, and before the new ‘It” brigs out a criterion, to ask for those who changed seats to hold up their hand.  That allows the person who brought up this topic to identify whom might connect with him or her on that issue.

This action structure can also allow for the expression of some healthy competition, as members try to not be ‘It’.  After this part of the group ends, it can be helpful to have the group explore the idea of healthy competition, especially as many individuals have had very negative experiences involving competition. Yet, because of the quick turnover in the person who is It, that position is actually not too threatening nor are people It for more than a few moments.

Emotion Ball: 

The group leader uses a soft ball or small throw pillow. The person holding the ball says, “My name is _____ and today I feel_______.” This person then tosses the ball to another person, who responds in the same way, until each group member has shared her or his name and a current feeling.  This can be energizing for a rigid or less verbal group. Because it allows talking without interruption, it can help quieter members find their voice.  Also, the lack of interruptions can sometimes be used to advantage in a group that tends to be somewhat chaotic. For a group where feelings are too volatile, substitute directions can be given: give your name and a favorite movie, food, color, etc.

 Holiday Gift Box:

Have a box, either plain or decorated for the holidays, with a lid that can be removed.  Pass the box among group members [either around the circle, or let the person who finishes speaking pass it to whoever he or she chosses.]  Each person, in turn, takes the box, reflects for a moment, and then names one thing he or she would most want to receive as a gift.  The facilitator can leave this warm-up completely open, or identify specific criteria for the gift: 

A gift that would help with recovery

A gift from my family

A gift I can share wtih the group

A gift that would grow in importance over the next year

A gift that can't be seen, only felt

As facilitator, it is important to listen for themes that can start to emerge as group members take a turn naming their ideal gift.

 "Show and Tell": 

There are several ways that object choices can be used as a warm-up to a session.  The simplest way is to scatter or lay out a series of objects, and ask each member to chose the one that attracts his or her interest.  Then, in a circle, each person shows the object, identifies why this thing drew his or her attention and became the object of choice.  Holding onto a tangible object helps the group member bring some tactile experience into his or her sharing.  The object gives the speaker a focus, which can lower feeling exposed. And often, once an object is physically chosen, it increases the individual’s warm-up, allowing them more spontaneity in speaking. 

 

The selection of objects can be serious, silly, or sensory, depending on your goals for the warm-up.  A simple tool is to scatter a deck of tarot cards, or SoulCards, as these tend to hold a number of archetypal images.  Photos from picture books, magazines or calendars are also effective.  You can cut phrases or headlines from newspapers or tabloids.  One playful structure that has been successful with adults is to scatter a number of 45-rpm records.  These were purchased at thrift shops and flea markets, based on provocative or thoughtful song titles.  Members will typically not only seek the appropriate title for themselves, but often start making suggestions to one another, if they think a particular song title is a good fit.  One of the simplest structures in the realm of choices is to scatter a box of 64 crayons, and ask people to choose a color that they were drawn to, and to begin to talk about what was underlying their choice. You can use plant materials- roots, leaves, seeds and blossoms to bring up cycles of change.

 

Work with things that will further the goal of your warm-up, or that hold some themes that are already present in the group.

 

Role-reverse with your resources:  This is a simple warm-up, but one that can help a group increase its positive feelings.  This action structure also allows group members to recognize and claim the resources within themselves and within the larger group. 

 

Bring an empty chair into the circle of the group.  Ask each member- who is willing- to think about one asset, strength or resource that he or she brings with them into the group.  Then ask the person to sit in the chair and become this resource.  It can be helpful for the facilitator to talk with the person in that role, and to ask questions; this can help the client deepen his or her role reversal:  "So, Patience, how long have you been in Julie's life?  Is she often aware of you or only occassionally checks in with you?  What is one way you've been helpful to her in recent weeks?"  As an individual warms up to the role of his or her resource, alllow this resource to claim some of the ways it supports the individual.  You can ask the resource whether it will accept questions or coments from others in the group.

 

In ending with each individual, invite them back to his or her chair, ask the person to imagine the resource in the empty chair, and take in what the resource has said.  It can be worthwhile to ask each individual to say one thing to this resource, before moving on to the next person; this supports an additional layer of integration.

 

Spectrums: Although this is a simple action structure, it can be a non-threatening way to elicit information from a group. It is particularly useful in groups with new members, as it is fully inclusive, and quickly shows connections between members.

Ask the group members to imagine a line down the center of the room. If the room is small, consider imaging a line on the diagonal or use a curved line to allow more space. Set the two opposite poles for whatever criterion you have chosen. Standing at one end of the line, describe the one extreme. Walking along the line to the oposite end, describe the other extreme. Then ask all the group members to find a place on the line, that describes their position among all the shades of gray. For example. "On this side of the line, I feel totally safe in this group. I can't imagine any changes that could possibly increase my safety, which is total and complete." Afte reaching the other end of the line: "This represents being totally unsafe in this group. I can't imagine anything that could change in this group that would make me feel less safe than I do now."

After members find their posiiton on the spectrum, ask each one to describe his position in a sentence or two. If there are members who do feel unsafe, you can ask them, "What's one concrete thing that could happen to improve your safety?" for people at the high end of safety, you can ask, "What helps you to feel this safe in our group?"

In using this action structure, be sure to keep both ends non-judgmental. If the majority are at one end, and only a few are at the other end, the facilitator can work to honor these underrepresented feelings as part of the group's diversity.

Criteria can range from innocuous Ice-breakers to surfacing serious group dynamics. It is often helpful to start off with lower wattage choices, and progress as the group can tolerate it: Some examples might be:

• I absolutely love chocolate/I hate and loathe chocolate
• I'm really excited about our current project/I am only here because it's a requirement
• I feel I can say anything in this group/I feel I can't give anything more than my name
• I am fully in touch with my emotions/I feel completely cut off from my feelings
• I am totally satisfied with my life/I am just miserable in my life
• Today, I feel my recovery is incredibly solid and strong/my recovery, just for today, feels really weak and fragile

Depending on the group members, feel free to get playful in describing each end point. Since every person is standing at some point along the line, and each is speaking briefly, this action structure allows the more introverted members to find their voices, while providing some containment for those who might tend to dominate a session. by getting individuals out of their chairs and into action, it can also circulate some energy when a group is lathargic, such as after lunch.

If any group members say that they are unsure where they would stand, it can work to have them move along the line, and ask them to see if their intuition or body knows at which point they should stand.

Empathy Building:  For this action structure, you will want a large selection of images.  These can be photographs, art work, a tarot deck, or other series of visual images.  Ideally, these images with have some abstract qualities to them.  One excellent tool for this action structure is Soulcards. Place these images on the floor or on a table, and allow group members to each choose an image to which they are drawn.  Once participants have each chosen a single image, give the group members these directions:

One at a time, each individual will show his or her image to other members of the group.  As protagonist, you are then invited to freely associate: describe what you notice in your chosen image, feelings it evokes, what specifically drew you to the image, or how the image speaks to you.  When the protagonist is finished, others in the group are asked to step into this person's shoes, and to make statements that validate, deepen or expand the protagonist's perceptions and experiences. It is not a time to impose your own perspective on the protagonist, but to see the image as he or she does and add to this experience. In making empathic comments, brief, concise statements are generally taken in by the protagonist more easily than longer ones.  Group members might speak more than once, either because they have several perspectives, or perhaps another person's comments deepens a response in them. After other members have made their empathic statements, the protagonist has an opportunity to make any final comments.  This allows the protagonist to edit or revise earlier statements, as well as giving an opportunity to incorporate or adapt comments and observations made by others.  Then the protagonist position will move to the next person, who will describe the images in his or her card, and this pattern will continue.

After a protagonist has received empathic comments from peers, it can be helpful to invite the individual to take a few moments to sit with his or her experience before rejoining the group activity. One way of staging this action structure is having the protagonist seated in a chair, with the other group members in a semicircle behind him or her. This allows the protagonist to hear peers, while avoiding visual distractions.  However, some protagonists prefer that others stay seated in their chairs in the circle; this maintains their feelings of safety.  Always be sure to ask members what will be most helpful to them in promoting safety and receptivity.

Having others work to deeply listen and empathize can be a powerful experience, and often deepens trust and vulnerability within the group.  This action structure is useful and designed for ongoing groups, in which some basic trust has already developed. It is also a powerful way to develop and practice doubling skills for students of psychodrama.

 

Soulcards can be found at: www.touchdrawing.com