Face your fears

[foofighter]

Hi!

I recently heard about an exercise at a childrens camp which they called "face your fears". Basically, from what I could understand, the child (10-15 years old) was blindfolded, then moved around in complete silence, the leaders would simulate wind on them, and then finally the leader would say "don't be scared" and remove the blindfold.

What do you think would be the point of such an exercise, and is it something that you could relate to its name?

 

[the rabbit]

in theatre workshops the use of the blindfold is not unusual for depriving the sense of sight so as to heighten other senses , and within this age group and beyond.

Usually when including such an excercise / game a little talk on the senses , or why you are including a particular excercise is sometimes included. You don´t mention if one was given or not.

Their are various exercises which include using a blindfold , some include becoming more aware of sound , or sounds created via the group , or individuals. Ones where partner "B" who is not blindfolded will lead the Blindfolded person around , which develops trust within a group , and so on.


To the blindfolded person these excercises can be quite unnerving , but fun , so the confront your fears name given to the exercise does not seem out of the ordinary to me.


Unless you can provide more information it sounds like a bit of fun to me.

Things like jumping off small walls , even say 12 inches from the ground while being guided by partner "B" is wild and fun.

 

[Gawan]

in theatre workshops the use of the blindfold is not unusual for depriving the sense of sight so as to heighten other senses , and within this age group and beyond.

Yep, I also know blindfolded exercises from, for example theatre workshops.
And it is also used to remember the emotions you are getting (how your body is reacting, how are you moving…) in the specific situation: fear for instance, and then to make it usable on stage.

 

[GRiM]

I think the key to the fear in the exercise is its duration.
I have tried such a exercise (no wind,loud music,standing still and very exhausted before it started) for 12 hours and it was psychologically very stressing, I lost track of time and had such vivid visual 'awake dreams' that they seemed very real apart from being so illogical that I did not accept them as reality.

The search results I got from google only led me to various trust-building exercises or memory related (like blindfolded chess), however this relates somewhat to fear.

"I found the blindfold exercise to be difficult, as I had to fully immerse myself in my auditory senses and touch. I am so used to seeing, that I couldn’t really imagine what it would be like to be to be blind. I will admit, it was frightening. I was thrown completely out of my comfort zone."

_http://performanceartlab.wordpress.com/2008/02/04/response-to-the-blindfold-exercise/

 

[eliansito]

In one of the many thai buddhist monasteries there is a variation of this exercise called the FOX WALK, participants are blindfolded and barefooted and are instructed to follow a sound which is 'intermitently calling' at the other end of a bit of forest. As one can imagine the awareness sharpens up and each step and movement needs to be totally conscious or else!

I have personally tried a walk on the beach, those long low tides dessert like extensions kind of beaches just closing my eyes by myself and also once guiding my partner at the time first by the hand and slowly letting go and just correcting her direction with minimal touch necessary to keep her on track if she was to be harmed ( stones, holes..).

She reported afterwards that it was like a very deep meditation session and that my touch ended up being a disturbance and that she had the feeling that she would go on forever, in an ecstatic trance. She was also put off when I ended up the walk, should I've known better, I would have continued until she'd 'come back'. Her face gave some clues that she was kind of gone but I didnt suspected how deep.

It was a good experience.