We’ve just finished day 2 of the 6-week program and it has been so much fun and so rewarding for all of us participating. Together, the kids have unveiled the concept of tension and release, conflict and resolution. We’ve explored these concepts musically as well as the prevalence in our lives, and the world around us. The kids all shared great insights and revelations.
Trust and confidence - As we’ve engaged in music making and play, we’ve been learning to trust our peers and to embrace our own roles within the shared music making experience with confidence in order to support the whole, developing more comfort with being whimsical and having fun, learning how to be more present and attentive to our own needs, our own emotions and actions, and how that may help us show up.
Through group drumming we’ve been somatically processing the idea of expectations to perform in our communities (in school or family life, and among peers) and the pressures that surround this expectation and how it impacts both ourselves and also how it impacts working collaboratively as a team. Challenges like having anxiety or OCD have come up during reflection and discussion, and peers were able to share in relating to one another in this regard, while others were able to observe and begin to develop empathy. We’ve also been engaging in brief breath work practices between music making experiences to help co-regulate and invite greater mindfulness and focus.
Each session thus far has begun with participants more withdrawn and detached, and by the end of the hour the kids were all smiling, laughing and relating to one another while having fun in group drumming and musical play, developing socio-emotional awareness and exploring the challenges and wonders of teen life.
I am looking forward to continued opportunity for growth and FUN! Stay tuned for more community and youth offerings at this amazing space, Warm Springs Care Farm!
In Music and Breath, Ian Wilkerson
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