Theme Two – When Might I Need Help? – Keeping Balanced
Activity 7: Balance Ball Activity (10-20 minutes depending on conversation)
You may have already used the balance ball activity to explain the concept of homeostasis (balance) but
here we suggest its use with a specific focus on mental wellbeing.
Consider the varying ways a person experiences a difficult emotion, such as anger. Some people will have
a sensation of tummy ache or butterflies, some may feel nauseous if they become very agitated; a
headache may develop soon after an episode of anger as may tearfulness; sweaty palms or general
sweatiness is common, as is flushing of the cheeks or neck. A person’s physical response to anger may
have lots of similarities with any other difficult emotion such as fear or anxiety. Our bodies ready
themselves for a suitable response to the stimulus - the classic fight or flight type responses. These may
not appear entirely logical in some contexts but then they come from a part of our brain that focuses on
survival rather than reasoned judgement.
Invite the group to suggest how best we might manage the emotional state in ourselves or when we meet
it in others. Discuss what may help to soothe these responses and promote recovery from, or better
management of, the experience of the difficult emotion. Now consider the physical portrayal of positive
emotions such as joy, excitement, amusement (laughter). Reflect on the unavoidable bodily
representation of internal feelings.
Over time, we generally learn how to be more measured in our outward representations of emotions e.g.
a young child won’t hesitate in flying into a full screaming fit whereas an adult is more likely to keep a
handle on their difficult emotions; usually!
www.facts4life.org