Animal Yoga: A Different Perspective

If you want to use the poster differently, you can use the yoga poses on the outside of the disc, the balloons on the border of the poster or the coloured circle with repetitions (see variations).

This game is part of the Trauma-Informed Youth Work toolkit, which is designed to create a safe, supportive environment for all participants by acknowledging the impact of trauma on young people and fostering trust and empowerment. By incorporating activities that use indirect methods to explore emotions and behaviours, the toolkit makes sensitive topics more accessible and less intimidating, especially for younger audiences. The teamwork aspects of these activities foster collaboration and support, aligning with trauma-informed principles. This approach promotes healing, resilience, and positive development in every youth engaged, while emphasizing emotional awareness and understanding.

• Different yoga poses are depicted outside the disc. Turn the arrow and imitate the animal pose it points to.
• On the border of the poster, you can find a breathing exercise that corresponds with the yoga poses. You can use the balloons to guide the inhaling and exhaling of breath. Begin from the bottom left and indicate the balloons with your finger in a clockwise direction, modelling how the players should breathe (deep and slow inhale - hold the breath - slow exhale - hold - repeat). For each step, you can count four balloons (4 for inhaling - 4 to hold - 4 for exhaling – 4 to hold).
• If you would like to level up further, you can play with repetitions. Spin the arrow a second time and look at the number of dots shown in the coloured circle. Then, starting from a standing position with the hands on the side of the body, the players repeat the position, finishing by returning to the starting position and repeating as many times as indicated by the dots.

Enhance spatial awareness and visual perception skills