Hauora

Centring Exercises 
Good for posture, releasing tension, develop focus, concentration, belief.
Use stillness, controlled movement, isolate body parts.
Eg: Spine Roll, Pendulum, Zen Rock Bottom

Why is laughing good for you?
I personally think it helps you live longer.

Visualisation
Is using the power of your imagination everyday.
Say if you were a bit tense, you could imagine your floating on a cloud. 

Improvisation 
Coming up with creativity everywhere anywhere! 

Taha Hinengaro

                         Taha Hinengaro

Taha Hinengaro will be the last dimension out of the four I will be doing. Taha Hinengaro means mental well-being, meaning a good positive mindset. This means being able to control your emotions and feelings and if you need someone to talk to there is always someone there no matter what the problem may be.


           How do I control my personal emotions?

If I was asking or wondering this question I would have to say you don't always have to, you don't have to control your feelings if they are getting in the way of tasks or commitments you can talk to someone maybe in your family or even your friends. I tend to talk to my friends about these things as most of the time there involved around school and my family would not understand as much as my friends would. But I would still try going to your family if its a personal matter.
           How do I keep a positive mood?

Sometimes you just need to feel like your in a positive place when there are tough matters going on, like moving somewhere or just having a tough time finishing something. I am not the best at this and normally stress out all the time but lately I have found my balance my being patient with myself and excepting what I have to do or finish because it feels better, when you do achieve something you've been stressing about.

Taha Wairua

                            Taha Wairua 

Taha Wairua is the Spiritual dimension! Taha Wairua means a good balanced mind set. Say you know what your doing in life and you know what your chasing, and your also making sure your looking after yourself as well as others. A good Taha Wairua is having a balanced mind set/life, meaning you don't take to many opportunities, in case you can't keep up with them. Instead you choose the right amount to keep you steady.


         How to keep a balanced life for yourself!

Keeping a good solid life comes into play with not taking on to many commitments, as this can get too much for one person to handle and it happens to a lot of us because we cannot handle the amount of work we have been given but we never want to let that team or group down!

            How to keep a steady friendship!

This is often what most people need a little bit of help with. A good spiritual mind set can often lead to a good life and friendship with everyone around you, sometimes being really busy, you can often get into a bad mood and sometimes you would take it out on someone around you. That someone was probably trying to help so, that's why I think people should take one commitment at a time and ease into other activities if they think there ready for that.

Taha Tinana

                                       Taha Tinana

Taha Tinana is your physical well-being. This dimension is all about health, strength and things like getting active. I will be telling you how to get more active with family, maybe even how to get out of bad moods because getting active can also help with things like that! 

                       How to keep a good healthy life!

I personally know I need some work on this as I am not very good at getting enough sleep! Getting a good amount of hours of sleep is one of the important things to keep a healthy life as this helps you have a good mood towards people. Some other things you can do is keep a healthy diet and try only have a treat during the weekend, and I assure you that you will be living a happier life by doing these steps!

     What else comes into play with this dimension?

Personal hygiene can actually be a big problem for some people and can also make a big difference to. I suggest showering each day and if your a girl just washing your hair every two days! Personal hygiene can make you feel much cleaner which starts leading to being healthy and active. As you get older a lot of the time once girls and boys start getting more mature they start to think about being healthier. 

Taha Whanau

                            Taha Whanau

Taha Whanau is one of the four dimensions of Hauora, Taha Whanau mean's family well-being. Such as relationships, friendships & things like compassion and caring. Taha Whanau is based all around feelings and emotion. This dimension is about looking after your family when in need. To lead to a good life is to have good positive people and vibes around you. Which first already is your family!

  How to keep a positive relationship with your family

Too keep a good positive relationship with your Whanau all you have to do be be grateful for what you have and appreciate your loved ones that are still with you till this day. If you help them out a lot more around the house as well you will start building a strong relationship with them, which also helps with any sort of advice you need or feedback!

    Where do you find Taha Whanau besides home?

Taha Whanau can be found at sports club, business, schools and places like elderly homes as well! Taha Whanau is literally found anywhere and everywhere. You can even show Taha Whanau by looking after friends maybe when there sick!!

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Drama

                    The purpose of warm-ups

Prevent injury's

Relax mental and physical tension

Prepare physically and mentally for performance work

Help you be more expressive with your body

The results I found for more drama games!

Moving Name

Difficulty: easy
Age Range: all ages

So this, in my opinion, is the best game to start with when working with a new group. I’ve seen it work with university students as well as with six year olds.

1. Get your group into a circle.
2. Say your name with a matching gesture and vocalisation. Samuel for instance could be signalled with two punches and spoken in a high pitched voice.
3. Once you have performed your name, the whole group mimics you. They must try to copy the way you said your name as well as the physical movement.
4. Continue this around the circle till each person has said their name.

Tip: the more whacky you set the standard the better result you’ll get from the students.
Tip: encourage the students not to think too much, but to jump straight it – looking stupid is mandatory.

Whether you’re a drama teacher, director, or running a course, acting games are a fantastic tool. They help students get comfortable, warmed up and focused. Acting games also develop important skills required for acting and performing. Below is a number of my favourite drama games. For each game or exercise I have given a difficulty rating and a recommended age range. I have split the acting games into six sections to make it easier for you to find the appropriate games for your group/situation.

Moving Name

Difficulty: easy
Age Range: all ages

So this, in my opinion, is the best game to start with when working with a new group. I’ve seen it work with university students as well as with six year olds.

1. Get your group into a circle.
2. Say your name with a matching gesture and vocalisation. Samuel for instance could be signalled with two punches and spoken in a high pitched voice.
3. Once you have performed your name, the whole group mimics you. They must try to copy the way you said your name as well as the physical movement.
4. Continue this around the circle till each person has said their name.

Tip: the more whacky you set the standard the better result you’ll get from the students.
Tip: encourage the students not to think too much, but to jump straight it – looking stupid is mandatory.

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Name and Go

Difficulty: easy
Age Range: 8 and above

I typically use this game after playing Moving Name. Hopefully the students have learnt a few names and it is a good way to solidify names for you and the other students.

1. Get your group into a circle.
2. You must make eye contact with someone in the circle, say their name and move to take there place.
3. The person whose name you called must pick another person in the circle, say there name, and take there place in the circle.
4. Continue this until each student has had a turn.

Tip: encourage students to relax and focus. If they get flustered and panic it disrupts the flow of the game.

Me to You

Difficulty: easy
Age Range: all ages

This is a really simple exercise for a large group which encourages connection and focus. It requires students to be hyperaware and really focus.

1. Get your group into a circle.
2. The person starting must make eye contact with someone else in the circle (working across the circle is best).
3. They then must gesture to themselves and say “me” followed by a gesture at the other person in which they say: “to you”. It should seamless.
4. If you are targeted you then accept the offer and continue in the same way to a new person in the circle.
5. Once this has gone around the circle a few times, lose the words and get your students to simply use gesture and eye contact.
6. If they are successful at this then drop the gesture and simply use eye contact.

Tip: encourage your students to be clear and direct. Also make sure that all the students get a turn.

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Word Association with Clicks

Difficulty: medium
Age Range: late primary/high school

This game is played by professional theatre companies, and can also work really well with late primary and high school kids.

1. Get your group into a circle.
2. Firstly, teach your students the rhythm which they will make with their bodies: thigh slap, clap, then click (right hand), click (left hand)
3. Get the group comfortable with this rhythm.
4. When clicking with the right hand the student whose turn it is must say the persons before them’s word and then a new word that associates with that word when clicking with the left hand.
5. The next person in the circle (work in a clockwise motion) must do the same. They must repeat the last persons word with the right click and then think of a new word when they click with the left hand.
6. The thigh slap and clap gives the game a steady rhythm and stops students panicking.
7. Continue this until you have done a few successful laps around the circle.

Tip: Stress the importance of keeping the rhythm steady. Groups tend to naturally speed up quite quickly. Students often find this game particularly funny, so try to keep them focused.

Tip: If the rhythm is too confusing, try a simple game of word association around the circle instead.

Add a Freeze

Difficulty: easy
Age Range: all ages

This games works as a great warm up for more extensive improvisations.

1. Get the students into pairs.
2. Student A must create a pose (a frozen image with his or her body).
3. Student B must then, without thinking about it too much, create their own pose that compliments Student A’s pose. For example Student A may have posed doing a karate chop, and student B may then freeze in a scared/defensive pose.
4. Student A then unfreezes and creates a new pose that compliments Student B’s pose that they are still holding.
5. This then continues in the same way until you feel the group begin to tire. I have noticed that it works very well with high-school kids and older.

I would want to do more film work in drama and learn how to edit a video to make it more official as a film!