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When and Why

If your group needs to stretch or needs a “brain break” in the middle of a class period or workshop, this can serve that purpose while also transitioning to a focus on overcoming challenges and collaborative problem-solving.

How to Facilitate

1. Draw a large, bold, straight arrow on a piece of paper. Stand in a place where all participants can see you. Ask participants to stand, facing you, and spread out enough so they can move their arms.
2. Explain: “Let’s take a stretch break — we’re going to stretch our bodies and our minds.
   • When I show the arrow going left, you say “left” and stick your hand out to the left.
   • When I show the arrow going right, you say “right” and stick your hand out to the right.
   • When I show the arrow going up, you say “up” and put your hands up in the air.
   • When I show the arrow going down, you say “down” and point both hands down or do a stretch downward.”
3. Begin slowly, rotating the arrow around randomly, and gradually speed up.
4. Explain: “Now it gets a little harder:
   • When I point the arrow up, you say “down” and stretch or point down.
   • When I point the arrow down, you say “up”…
     (In other words, participants do the opposite of what the arrow indicates).
5. Begin slowly, then gradually speed up again. For an extra layer of challenge, say: “Here comes the real challenge. Now:
   • When I point the arrow to the right, you say right, but stick your hand out to the left. So you’re going to say what the arrow shows, but do the opposite action. This is really challenging. I will go slow.”
6. Once again, begin very slowly, then gradually speed up until it is clear your group is having difficulty keeping up.
7. There are many ways to go about debriefing this activity, and you can choose questions and prompts to best transition to your next activity. For example:
   • “Talk to a partner about the feelings this brought up for you. Label your emotions. How were your feelings alike or different?” This can highlight how people react differently to challenges, that we should be sensitive to the experience of others as well as our own.
   • “When the activity started to get more difficult, what strategies did you try to keep up?” Ask participants to share their strategies with a small group, and ask for a few of the most effective strategies to be shared with the whole group. This can serve as a transition to discussing the benefits of solving problems with a team rather than as an individual.
   • “Have you ever had an experience where you felt you had to do the opposite of what you were being told, or that you had to do the opposite of what you wanted to do?” This is a much deeper question and not all participants may feel ready to share a response, so invite participants to reflect on their own and invite a few to share aloud if they choose.
   • “What are some tasks that your [friends, students, children, colleagues, etc.] are challenged with? What are their variety of reactions to being challenged?” This question transitions well to a conversation about having empathy for others or seeking to understand others’ perspectives.

Modification

If participants begin to withdraw or have a negative reaction to the increasing difficulty, consider ending the activity by going back to the “simple version” of the activity. Ask participants what this experience tells them about the benefits of including moments of challenge alongside more comfortable routines and exercises where we feel successful right away.