Mind Body and Soul Evening

By Shana Owen

During the troop council at the beginning of the term the scouts requested a Mind, Body and Soul night. So to follow with this theme we were very lucky to have volunteer a nutritionist – Tammy Kacev came down to talk to the children. She discussed how many products today have lots of sugar and how fruit juices are really lots and lots of sugar and does not give us the same nutritional value as eating an actual piece of fruit. Tammy showed us a video with different speakers about the different ways sugar is present within the foods we eat; we were then able to have a taste of some coconut water before the next session.

The next session we had a great Pilates instructor came down and also volunteered her time. Caroline Curry was full of energy and really pushed the children to work their core strength using an exercise ball and challenging them even when they thought it was easy… (they were all puffed out after 30 minutes)

For the final session I addressed the soul theme, although it does encompass the mind and the body. Using candles around the hall, calming music and everyone sitting in a space all to themselves we started the relaxation/self-refection part of the night. First asking the children to relax their muscles, starting from their hands and arms, finishing down at their feet and then asking them to focus their attention inwards. I asked them to think about their values and to think about how they may stay true to these values, whether it was honesty or family. After the values I asked them to sit in silence for a few moments thinking about either things they have accomplished in the past; or the things they wish to look forward to in the future. Waking them up slowly muscle by muscle the children were calm and relaxed and had a great overall evening, with special thanks to our two volunteers!

Thank you to Shana for organising this great night!