‘Its not the mountain we conquer but ourselves’ – Sir Edmund Hillary
Journal entry #6
The theme of this week was outdoor education, and as such we spent the entire class outside. We were so lucky it was a sunny, albeit cold, day! We started the morning by walking to a park near Pacific Spirit forest. On the way there we walked in single lines and played the ‘funny walking’ game. The person at the front of the line would walk in a unique way and the rest of the line would have to mimic them. It was a good way to stay warm and amused. In the park we talked about the readings and then moved into the forest itself.
Having spent most of my school days living in downtown Toronto, I am amazed at the abundance of green space Vancouver has. We are so lucky to be surrounded by forests, the ocean and mountain here on the west coast. I think its so important not to take this for granted. In the particip-action article on outdoor play they outline all the reasons why going outside is so important for children. Climbing, exploring, imagining, getting dirty and taking part in ‘risk play’ is an essential part of childhood.
During our time in the forest we rotated between 3 stations. The first focused on balancing and used logs as platforms. The second was my favourite and there we did mindfulness and meditation. We learned some new types of breathing including flower (where you breath like you are sniffing a flower) and bunny (where you take short, small breaths like a bunny). We also had a chance to do some mindfulness mediation in which we were able to let our minds wander, unlike traditional mediation where you must focus on not thinking. The final station involved us analyzing how we walked and looking at different species of trees.
