Thursday, 4 September 2014

Peer Massage in America

My friend and colleague Thea Blair from the U.S.A. reports that she recently held her first whole-school Peaceful Hands (peer massage) training a a Waldof charter school near Denver, Colorado.
There were 23 teachers  19 were quite enthusiastic, 3 were doubtful and one was outright antagonistic. One of the teachers complained that this kind of touching was not like a game of tag or a clapping game between children - it was "intimate".  Thea agreed with her and started a conversation on the topic of what "intimate" means and how it is that there are certain words are off-limits now because society has placed a sexual connotation upon them. Words like "passion" and "pleasure" and "deep" and "intimate".
After the first two sessions the teachers who clearly did not want to practice Peaceful Hands in their classroom were excused. After that they had a blast! The teachers are eager to begin a pilot program at their own school.

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