JulyFish 17. The 3 Benefits of Micro-cising

The Owls take a Micro-cising Break

There I was standing in a classroom collecting test papers from a weary bunch of 9 year olds. They had been grinding their way through yet another torturous math test. Why teachers leave sub plans that include Friday afternoon exams is beyond me. Anyway, they survived, looking rather beaten and worn out. Time for a break and they needed to move, but how to do it in a crowded room with 29 desks?

Air swimming.

The previous afternoon, I was out running errands and drove past a newly cut field covered with birds. Since the large tractor I was following was slogging along at slow speed, I was able to have a good look around. Several large birds were standing in the grass, wings outstretched, sunning themselvs.

Back to the classroom. To get the kids all moving and loosened up again, we did Air Swimming. I had them start like the field birds, arms outstretched. Next, we moved our arms up and down, as if flying. After that, we went through a series of swim moves with our arms, doing the breast stroke, crawl, butterfly, and backstroke. I repeated all of these a total of 5 minutes, scrambling the order. Just enough to do the trick, upping the energy and relaxing a lot of tense little people.

Next time you need a quick wake up, do the Air Swimming micro-cise, a mini version to get you back on track. The benefits of doing this?

1. Quick
2. Easy
3. Effective