1. “Mirror, mirror on the wall”: Enhancing emotional awareness through DMT inspired activities.
Age Range or Target Group| This workshop is appropriate for all age groups, it isrecommended however that participants of the workshop are at similar developmental stages. In regard to target group, as the projects depicts, both EU citizens/natives and immigrants/refuges/asylum seekers can participate in the workshop. The workshop is open to people from any socio-economic background.
Number of participants| 10-15 participants. If the workshop is happening with more than 15 participants, more time should be given for each activity and maybe the help of another facilitator will be needed.
Duration| 45m- 60m
General Aim- Objectives| Aim of this workshop is to provide an opportunity for the participants to explore their emotional worlds. Through the activities of the workshop, participants will be able to see their movement, actions and reactions in the body of another person and they will position themselves in imaginary scenarios that will allow them to express their emotions in terms of motion. This expression through movement, repetition and rhythm helps participants to neutralise emotions and to channel energy and thoughts that are bothering them. Ultimately, this greater emotional awareness can contribute to personal growth and build more resilient people with better self-awareness and self-esteem.
Key Words & Phrases |emotions, movement, empathy, tolerance, resilience.
Instructions (Step by Step Process) |
A. Greeting and Introduction to the workshop (5-10 minutes)
B. Warm-up (10-15 minutes)
B1. Move across the room: The participants are asked to spread out and start walking across the room. They walk at normal speed across different directions. Advise them to be careful not to use repetitive partners or to move in circles. Use the whole room, all the directions. Go between other participants, walk backwards, sideward etc.Following, the participants are instructed that when someone stops walking, everyone should stop walking as soon as possible. When they feel it, a person initiates walking and then everyone starts walking. They can gradually speed up and do it while running.
B2. Name and movement: Participants come in a circle. Each participant is asked to pronounce their name accompanied with a movement, any movement they want. Then the whole group repeats the name and the movement. Then move to the next participant. The activity can be repeated 2-3 times.
C. Main part (15-20 minutes)
C1. Mirroring: Participants go in pairs. Partner A starts moving, and Partner B acts like their mirror, repeating their movement as similar and simultaneously as possible. Explore the idea for a couple of minutes and then switch roles. The participants are able to see themselves into another person’s body. The game is then developed into mirroring the dance. Partner A starts moving to the music being played and Partner B follows Partner A, mirroring their movement. (switch roles again).
C2. How does it make you move? Participants are spread in the room. The facilitator asks them to start moving and dancing freely, however they want. While everyone is moving, gently, the facilitator then, proposes that participants start moving the way they would move if they were supposed to be experiencing a feeling or situation. For example: “imagine that you are now feeling very angry” or “imagine that you are in an argument with your mother because she does not let you go out tonight with your friends” or “you have just met a person that you have felt in love with” etc. The facilitator can give one proposal and let the participants start moving and exploring their suggestion. While everyone is dancing, the facilitator can then instruct theparticipants to choose one of the movements they have been doing and start repeating this movement however they want with a certain rhythm in it. They can do it slow fast, moving, standing, sitting etc. After sufficiently having explored one scenario, they can now explore another scenario. After exploring 2-3 emotional states, decreasingly bring participants to calmness and a standing position. Allow a couple of seconds for everyone to readjust.
D. Closure/Calm down (15-25 minutes)
D1. Group balance: The whole group comes together in a circle and give hands to each other. All of them exhale together while going to the floor, bending their knees. Maintain hand contact, exhale again while standing up. Repeat a couple of times, emphasising on breathing.
D2. The group remains in a circle. They relax and try to synchronise their breathing as a group. Inhale from the nose and exhale from the mouth, not afraid to make the natural sounds of breathing. They can lift their hands up, from the sides, in inhaling and slowly put them back while exhaling. Repeat a couple of times. Maintaining the synchronised group breathing rhythm, they now give hands to each other, continue breathing and while inhaling they walk towards the circle and lifting their arms up. During exhalation, they walk back and slowly put the arms down. Repeat a couple of times. They take a moment, to look into the other participants’ eyes and smile at each other.
D3. Debriefing- Suggested questions for initiating the debriefing section of the workshop:
- How did you feel during the workshop? Can you describe your experience of mirroring/being mirrored?
- What did you realise about the way you move during this exercise?
- How, do you think, this could affect your personal life in general?
- Was there anything that made you feel discomfort or comfortable? What was the most enjoyable moment for you?
- Can you relate any of your feelings stemming from the workshop with your daily life?
Desirable Outcomes and Competences| Desirably, the workshop will help the participants become more familiar with their emotional worlds and understand howtheir body and mind works in certain situations. This will happen during working on their creativity and imagination. Additionally, the “mirroring” and “how does it make you move” exercises, through their improvised character and the use of repetition and rhythm, they can shed light to fixed behaviours that participants are following and provide space for reflection on them and for potentially addressing them. Moreover, through the collective character of the workshop, participants will be working onempathy and perspective-taking skills. They will be able to observe and try to understandthe behaviours of others. All these, construct people with better communication skills and better interpersonal relations.
Photos and Videos deriving from the workshop’s applied process|
The videos are uploaded as unlisted in youtube website and their goal is only to provide educational material for this output. Please use the videos only for your own personal understanding of the workshops.
Materials| No special material is needed for this workshop. Facilitator could arrange for some music to be played in the background for some activities.
Resources| Please refer to the general resources of the DT workshops.
Media and Techniques| The workshop was based on activities from DMT workshops, the theory of Intergroup Contact, and articles and books about DMT.
Tips for the educator| Please refer to the general tips for the educator of the DT workshops.
Questions for Evaluation|
1. How did you find the exercises of the workshop?
2. Are there any suggestions/comments/questions you would like to make?