Buddhist Drama - Sitting About

A C T I V I T I E S 렁 D R A M A

Sitting About

A great deal of our time is spent indoors - sitting about - and this is no less so with group meetings and activities. This selection of activities are largely just fillers. They can fit into those spaces where everyone is just sitting about and the thread of discussion is resting or there is a block or a knot in the flow of ideas or feelings or thoughts. Some of the Just Fun ideas could also be used but it may be more useful to contain the group energy a bit. There is every reason to just sit with empty space and wait but sometimes a change of mode can refresh a situation and allow new possibilities to open. These are mostly word games and there must be many more like this to be found - please let me have any favourites you have.

ON THE LEFT

One or two people agree to leave the room - they are the detectives. When they come back they have to deduce 'who dunnit.' They can ask anyone any questions but will only get a yes or no answer. The answers given by those in the know are always relative to the person on their left. That's who it is 'The person on the left.' It is a bit of a trick but can get quite hilarious as the answers appear to get more contradictory.

SCISSORS

You need a pair of scissors or two sticks will do. They are passed around the circle and as each person passes them on they have to state whether they are crossed or uncrossed. The group leader knows that it has nothing to do with what is being passed but that what is being referred to is the persons legs - crossed or uncrossed. Another trick but as one or two people catch on there is enough confirmation to keep those that haven't, wanting to.

TENNIS ELBOW

Simple word association. There can be a theme or it can be completely random: tennis - elbow - foot - shoe - horn - cape - rider - horse - hunt -

ONE WORD

Group listening, sensitivity and collective accountability.
With the group in a circle each person adds one word to continue a story. This can be on an agreed theme or completely random.
• It could be a memory exercise with each person having to repeat everything that has gone before - and then add their word.
•A sentence could be added each time instead - this can be a bit more creative.
• It could be restricted to no words being repeated - or other qualifiers; no words starting with 'P' or, alternating letter in the alphabet before / after the word just used, etc.

ALPHABET

In small groups or pairs. Each group presents a discussion or dialogue using only letters of the alphabet. The idea is to try and convey either a story or emotional situation with little more than tonal inflection. Some letters have inbuilt meaning - T, U, R, P, S (yes?) - and arm waving is fun.

MEETINGS

Hold a 'public meeting' about some topical, political, religious, moral, etc. issue. An alternative is that someone, or a group, has been charged with - tree sitting, euthanasia, heresy, etc. and a trial is being held. Counsel for the defense, the prosecution, the judges - a variation on having a debate.

WATCH THIS

Memory, clarity, communication:
• You need two sets of assorted things with pairs of everything. People pair off (if you have enough sets) and sit back to back. One is the builder the other copies - it is all done verbally. "Put the red square next to the long rectangle that is standing up on the disk that you just put down....". The resulting copy is rarely identical.
• On a similar note try Chinese whispers - and why they should be blamed I can't imagine. Asentence is whispered from ear to ear around the group - once only per person. The sentence at the end is often hilariously dissimilar.
• Or, an easy oldie: Place a range of objects on a tray. Everyone gets to view it for a limited time and then has to write down as many things as they can remember. Or, each person could say one item until everything has been accounted for.

2X VOWEL

Another little trick based on words that have a double vowel.
The leader will start by introducing the riddle something like: "I am in school but not in university, in book but not in novel. What am I?"
More 'clues' can be offered according to the group response: "I am in fool but not in Jester - in Buddha but not in god. In compassion and in kindness but never in cruelty ...What am I?"

EMOTIONS

A sheet of paper divided into a grid of 4 or more. In each space put a drawing, words, colours, shapes, etc., that represents one emotion. Show, or show and share, or burn, or keep for later.
The smile links to a page of simple faces which could be used with younger children.

DETECTIVES

Little stories with a 'who dunnit' twist. The scene is set and the solution must be guessed by deductive logic.
      A large barn, a suicide?, hanging by a rope from a high cross beam several feet above the ground which is very wet. How did they do it?
A: By standing on a large block of ice.
      A dead body in an apartment on the 13th floor. How did they die and why?
A: The person was a midget who couldn't reach the elevator button for the 13th floor so had to run up the stairs - and finally had a heart attack.
      Two dead bodies in an apartment on the 13th floor. Window open (no balcony or fire escape), broken glass on the floor, no blood but some water. Who are they and how did they die?
A: They are dead fish (Romeo and Juliet?). The window blew open and knocked the fish bowl over, it breaks, they suffocate.