Stretching Exercises

Adapted from Five Minute Massage by Robert Thé (Sterling, 1995)

Exercise 1: Begin by stretching your face. Gently rub small circles all over your face with both hands. (1 min.) Softly pat your face all over. (1 min.) Feel the color come to your cheeks as the muscles and blood vessels respond. Now relive your childhood and make some funny faces: Here’s one to try: Scrunch up your forehead and try to wiggle your nose. What other funny faces are in your repertoire? Then open your mouth wide and say, “ooh-eee-ooh-eee-ooh-eee”! a few times (1 min.) And finally, with both hands, caress every part of your face. (1 min.)

Exercise 2: Take a deep, slow breath. Stretch wide your arms out to the side, being careful not to whack your neighbor! Feel your chest expand and stretch. Now , gently tap your chest and sides using a soft fist. (1 min.) It is said that this exercise helps your immune system.

For Next Time

1. Bring a special object that is meaningful in relation to your inner strength.

2. Read Handout 2, UUA Pamphlet - All Our Losses.

3. Take your Life Map or Lifescape home with you and add happenings as you come to remember them. Bring the Life Map or Lifescape back for the last workshop, Workshop 6.

4. Remember to bring your lunch, your mug, your Journal, and your Art Toolkit.

Future Workshops

[Date] Workshop 4: Creating New Visions – Building on Experience

[Date] Workshop 5: Making Friends with Mortality

[Date] Workshop 6: Hindsight, Humor, and Hope

Find Out More

Consider the following books for further reading about coming to terms with events in our lives:

• Kushner, Harold H. Overcoming Life’s Disappointments (Anchor Books, 2007)
• Sewall, Marilyn, ed. Breaking Free: Women of Spirit at Midlife and Beyond (Beacon Press, 2001)
• Sheehy, Gail. Understanding Men’s Passages: Discovering the New Map of Men’s Lives (Random House, 1998)