Aline VaMo
I loved the horse check-in used by (CoLab member) Jyo last year in a session, where there were various pictures of horses in funny poses, and we had to explain which one summed up how we felt.
If time is tight, work with hand signals, ask for energy levels, or ask for a one-word meteorological phenomenon that describes how you feel.
Aimee Fenech
My favourite check-in is “the body of water”, where you get to pick which body of water you feel most like at that moment, I always find people’s answers fascinating. I could imagine other check-ins similiar to the water one, for example, an air one (breeze, gale, tornado) a type of seed (soft, sprouting, hard shell), or even a landscape (mountain, valley, seaside).
Circle rounds are useful in large groups where the facilitator may forget who has already spoken and who has not. I find silence and grounding moments great tools to give a break between topics and give people time to process what’s being said.
Another good tool is speaking into embodied feelings which may be informing decisions, for example, encouraging “I feel…” statements tied to the body that are similar to those used in Deep Relating practices. “As I hear you say that….. I feel… warmth around my chest / my hands have gone cold / my eyes light up / a pain in my stomach, etc”. This helps to bring attention and understanding and is useful for conflict transformation processes or understanding concerns and objections.