Youth Curriculum: 9-13-26

Announcements:

Harvest Festival: Help Us Grow the Abundance! Our Annual Harvest Festival is coming September 19th, and we’d love for you to invite your friends, family, and neighbors to join us for this fun community celebration!

Bring the Harvest! Potluck signup sheets are available in the lobby. Let us know what harvest-inspired dish you’ll bring to share. We’ll be accepting donations for the potluck, with proceeds supporting our community programs.

Spread the Word!

Grab a Harvest Festival flyer in the lobby and help us get them posted around town. The more people who know, the more we can share the abundance!

Our Harvest Festival is about sharing the abundance of our whole Community – Let’s invite more Good!

Help Us Celebrate Our Teens! We are so proud of Lia, Zia, and Neviah, who completed their Certificated Foundations Class on Monday!

Their dedication to their spiritual growth is inspiring, and we are proud of the commitment they’ve shown along the way.

Please join us in celebrating and congratulating them! And a heartfelt thank-you to everyone who supported them through prayer, good vibes, encouragement, and financial support. Your love and support helped make this journey possible.

September Theme: Radical Embodiment
Week 2 Value: Inhabiting the Inner Habitat
Affirmation: I love my body and respect the lessons it teaches me about my inner and outer worlds.

Curriculum Overview:

In Week 2, youth and teens continue exploring Radical Embodiment by turning their attention inward. Our bodies are constantly giving us information about how we are experiencing the world. Feelings such as excitement, nervousness, tiredness, calm, discomfort, or overwhelm can provide clues about what we may need.

This week, participants will practice becoming more aware of these signals without judging them or feeling that they need to immediately change them. Through guided awareness, discussion, movement, and creative expression, youth will discover practical ways to respond to what their bodies are communicating.

Participants will also explore how listening to and caring for the physical self can be a spiritual practice. By learning to recognize what helps them feel grounded, comfortable, and supported, they can develop greater self-awareness and compassion for themselves and others.

Spiritual Lesson:

We are not separate from our bodies. Our physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual experiences are interconnected parts of being human.

Science of Mind teaches that Spirit expresses through all of us, including our physical experience. The body can provide valuable information that helps us become more present and aware. Rather than seeing physical feelings as something to ignore or overcome, we can approach them with curiosity and compassion.

Youth will learn that listening to the body is not about judging whether a feeling is good or bad. It is about noticing, understanding, and choosing a supportive response. When we learn to recognize what we need, we become better equipped to care for ourselves and create healthier relationships with the world around us.

Spiritual Practice: “What Is My Body Telling Me?”

Youth and teens will begin with a short, gentle body awareness practice. Sitting, standing, or resting comfortably, participants will notice areas of their bodies that feel relaxed, energized, tense, heavy, light, warm, or cool. They will be invited to consider what messages their body is communicating to them and finish with an affirmation expressing the respect we have for our body’s lessons.

Active Listening: Book / Music / Video

Younger Children (Ages 4–7)

• Book: Listening to My Body by Gabi Garcia
  Helps children recognize physical sensations and emotions while learning that their bodies can give them important information.
• Music: Shake Your Sillies Out
  An energetic way for children to explore how movement can help them notice and respond to how their bodies feel.
• Video: Mindful Breathing for Kids
  Introduces a simple breathing practice that helps children slow down and notice what is happening inside.

Children & Preteens (Ages 7–12)

• Book: Listening to My Body by Gabi Garcia
  Helps children notice physical sensations, connect them with emotions, and identify what they may need.
• Music: Brave New World by Kishi Bashi
  Can open a conversation about noticing the world around us, staying present, and bringing our whole selves into new experiences.
• Video: Body Scan for Older Kids & Adults — Peaceful Kids
  A focus on noticing body sensations non-judgmentally and developing present-moment awareness.

Teens (Ages 13–16)

• Reading: Selected age-appropriate material on somatic awareness, stress responses, and the mind-body connection.
• Music: Keep Your Head Up by Andy Grammer
  Encourages resilience, self-awareness, and moving through challenging experiences with a positive perspective.
• Video: Why Do We Feel Stress? – TED-Ed
  Provides an accessible introduction to the body’s response to stress and creates an opportunity to discuss how awareness can help us respond rather than simply react.

Creative Expression Activity: Personal Peace Plan

Youth and teens will create a Personal Peace Plan that identifies signals their bodies may give them and supportive ways they can respond. They will complete situational prompts about emotional and physical expressions, and then create a plan with choices on how to react in healthy ways.

Connecting: Inner Habitat Circle

Youth will gather in a closing circle and complete the sentence:

“My body helps me know when I need…”

Group Response:

“I listen to my body with curiosity, compassion, and care.”