Teaching Resources

30

11 - 12
13 - 14
15 - 16

Promotion of EU citizenship, EU and democratic values and human rights
Enhancement of empathy outside school (friends, family, strangers
Development of empathic behavior at school

Large space.

Self-regulation

Rationale of the method based on the theatre of the opressed is reconnecting to the body, understanding that we are the thought, feeling and the body - all together. They are not part of us, they are us. It is also a good loosen-up activity and can be used whenever you feel.

Columbian Hypnosis involves students working in pairs to lead one another through a space as one participant follows another participant’s hand. This activity requires trust, awareness, and non-verbal communication as students work together to move safely through the space.

During the workshop activities, participants might feel strong emotions. It is important to have frequent check-ins and make sure that participants’ feelings are not repressed. However, this is easier said than done. It is important to start the debrief by allowing participants to describe what they feel or think. Then slowly move into probing questions and gently help them inquire into the source of such feelings and
thoughts.

Here is one way to do this:
- Start with affective (feeling) questions:
a) What was that like for you?
b) How did you feel when you saw/heard/did that?

Now let the thoughts be verbalized:
a) What came to your mind when you saw/heard/did that?
b) What connections did you see, if any?

Adaptation that you might do in order to strenghten the empathy and emotional
intelligence elements in the activity:
- After students all get a chance to lead or follow, repeat the activity, but this
time encourage the follower to try to take power from the leader (while still
following the rules of the game).

After students all get a chance to lead or follow, repeat the activity and
encourage students to:
- move in slow motion as they begin leading their partner
- think what new ways of moving through the space could they
challenge their partner with
- think how are they keeping their partner safe as they move through
the space

STEP 1
Divide the group into pairs. Ask each pair to decide which one of the participants would play the Hypnotized. The other participant in the pair shall be the Lead. (Pairing: One method is to ask them to spread out in the space and walk. After a couple of moments, ask them to stop. Stand in the middle of the room. And by hand, divide it into two halves such that there are roughly equal number of people in each half. Then, ask them to stand in two lines on either side of the room facing each other.

Then, the proceed towards the person standing directly opposite them. This approach leads to quite good random pairs and can be used frequently.)

STEP 2
Now the Lead holds her hand - palm forward. This is the hypnotizing hand. Ask the other actor to be totally hypnotized by this hand and start following the hand keeping a constant distance (say 15cm) from it. The Lead now slowly moves the palm the way she feels. Up, down, left, right or at any angle. Ask the Lead participants to experiment with different levels. They can do so slowly or fast, smoothly or with jerks, and even stay still. Let the Lead participants move around the room and the Hypnotized ones follow in different body positions, thus loosening up the joints. Ask the Hypnotized to be AWARE of their bodies. Do this for 5 minutes. Swap roles and do this for another 5 minutes.

Variation:
- Divide the group into sub-groups of 4 – 5 participants. Instead of one hypnotized, each sub-group would have 3-4 Hypnotized participants following the lead's hand and/or feet or other body parts.
- Let one actor go into the middle of the circle and be the Lead. Then another person from the group follows and gets hypnotized by a body part or ornament he chooses (e.g. hand, ear, foot, ankle, ear-ring, bangle or head). Then another participant steps in and chooses to be hypnotized by the body part of any of the two participants in the
circle. This continues till the last person in the group is hypnotized.

STEP 3
Everyone stands in a circle holding hands. They make a buzzing sound, similar to that of a bee. Their left palm is facing up and their right palm is facing down - as if they are receiving this energy from the person on the left, letting it pass through them, charging them up and then sharing it with the person on the right through their right
hand. While they do so, you talk about what was done during the session and thank everyone for participating fully in the session. Give encouragement and stress the team spirit. Say that at the count of 3, they will release their powerful energy by freeing their hands, throwing their arms up and saying ZAP. Count to 3 and “ZAP”.

STEP 4
Discussion (see debrief questions below)

To assess the activity, the following questions are suggested:
1. What did this activity evoke?
2. How did it feel to participate in this activity?
3. Was it easy to do? Why? Why not?
4. What did you notice about yourself while doing this?
5. How did you feel when you were the leader?
6. How did you feel when you were the hypnotized?
7. How do you think your parter felt as a leader/hypnotized?
8. Which did you prefer—being the leader or being led? Why?
9. What does this activity have to do with trust? With power? With empathy?
10. How does this relate to our communities (classroom, family, society…)?

https://dbp.theatredance.utexas.edu/node/20#:~:text=Columbian%20Hypnosis%20involves%20students%20working,move%20safely%20through%20the%20space.