The Art of the Protection Story - an Introduction part 1
We, dear friends, who have a love for stories and the visual puppet show, know they can be a healing gift for the children. However, children and their parents have become increasingly overwhelmed and anxious in a very unpredictable world. Breathing deeply and rhythmically, the basis for our inner balance and equilibrium has become endangered. As we confront this ‘shallow breath’ epidemic, a child’s knowing that the world is a good and safe place has become threatened.
We can help by telling them stories that intentionally bring back a sense that ‘all is well in the world’. I have been developing stories for many years that specifically hold children in the metaphoric ‘mother’s arms ‘. I call them Protection Stories.
This story direction began for me when people started contacting me, asking me to suggest a healing story after 9/11, after Katrina, after the great Tsunami, after the continual violence and mass shootings in this country. I increasingly thought, all children need a story that will make them feel safe, that will surround them with story pictures, like layers of gentle sheaths of protection. This kind of story would give each listening child extra ‘skins’ to meet the world of today.
We tell healthy stories and little tales all the time, but we can make our intention more conscious. A deeper understanding will guide us in how we hold this kind of story inwardly, how we speak it aloud, and how we reveal it through visual images in puppetry.
For instance, Mama bird is making a nest, she carefully weaves in twig and moss, grasses and leaf. She is wise in her creation of a home for her baby birds that will withstand wind and rains. The nest is nestled on a sturdy branch up high in a tree, hidden safely by leaves. If she is lucky she has found some thistledown or sheep’s wool to make the nest soft and warm.
You see, layer after layer of protective story sheathing is already established, even before the little tale begins. Then Mama bird sits on the nest, the warmth of her plumped up feathers along with her wings, like a blanket, warm the eggs and later the wee baby birds.
Mama bird sings a sweet melody, the warm rays of the golden sunset, a gently rustling of a brejoeze through the leaves saying, ‘shhhhh, shhhhh, time to sleep little ones’, add more picture layers that offer a soothing quality. Our own observations of the listening children will tell us what is needed. The children’s breathing becomes rhythmical and deep. All is well in the world.
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Join us in our online 10 day challenge course on Writing Protection Stories for Children is available now - no writing experience needed! You may take the course at your own best schedule! Details - Click Here for details
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