The Teen Scene is hosted by Inward Bound Mindfulness Education (iBme), a non-profit dedicated to helping young people experience a deeper sense of connection and belonging with themselves, others and the natural world. The Teen Scene Lounge provides teens with a place of their own on the festival grounds that is comfortable, safe and fun. This is an environment for young people to experience being present for themselves and for being seen and heard authentically by others.
Teens can participate in a number of activities, including:
- Authentic relating games, in which teens play games that connect them to one another in ways that explore and reveal their authentic selves.
- Collage journaling, a unique tool for self-expression, which gives teens the opportunity to discover their inner creative voice. Details below.
- Drum & rap workshops, featuring FloydFest Teen Scene veteran Charisse Spencer.
- Upcycle T-Shirt Workshop on Friday
- Chill zones with couches and snacks where teens can create their own space within the busy-ness of festival life.
- A presentation and facilitated discussion on Natural Highs and Happy States of Mind by licensed addictions counselor and mindfulness educator, Joe Klein.
- Mindfulness activities, such as Qi Gong and meditation, to get the teens’ day started well.
Collage Journaling: Express and Savor Your Life and FloydFest Memories
This year we will have visiting artist Josh Copus leading daily sessions on collage journaling for teens, many of whom have grown up attending FF most years of their lives. Blank journals, magazines and art supplies will be available for teens to create a visual record of their life and their FF experiences through the years. Teens will be encouraged to bring pictures of their childhood and favorite FF memories to be added to their collage journals.(a printer will be available for pictures to be downloaded from cell phones, FB pages, etc). Floyd native, Josh Copus, has used this creative method of mixed media journaling to process and chronicle his life experiences since he was a teen and will have many of his over 25 journals on hand. He will guide teens in learning to express, reflect and creatively encode their experiences in journals they can take with them and continue using at home.
“A couple of the really cool things about Collage Journals are: a lot of kids don’t think they’re artistic, because they are scared of not being good at art. Since the journaling methodology is largely based on collaging images, most people lower their defenses about it. Another thing is the written component. I spend a lot of time writing in my journals and then immediately gluing something over what I’ve just written. Initially people don’t understand this, because our culture tends to be product not process driven. The journals are primarily process based. When I write something down on the page and glue over it, it doesn’t mean it’s gone. It’s still there, it’s just underneath but I never cover it fully, because I want to leave that little glimpse as a reminder of those feelings. For me it’s no less important. I went through the process of getting it out and most of the time that’s all I needed from those words. Sometimes it feels even more important. The words underneath make the page what it is, like how my experiences make me who I am. When someone meets me, they don’t see all of that, but in a way they do without fully knowing it, because it’s what’s underneath that makes me who I am. I think that part of it will be appealing to teens, because they can say what they feel, get it out, and then cover it up. They know what they said, but they don’t risk someone else knowing. Like your own private confessional. Mainly, it’s just a lot of fun.” ~ Josh Copus
About iBme
Joe Klein, is the founder of Inward Bound Mindfulness Education (iBme). He has over 20 years experience working with youth as an educator, counselor and soccer coach. Joe brings playfulness and a whole body experiential integration to his work with young people. He is a Licensed Professional Counselor, Certified Substance Abuse Counselor and a long term practitioner of mindfulness meditation, yoga and Chinese internal martial arts. Joe teaches a graduate level course on mindfulness and social emotional learning (SEL) for teachers, social workers, nurses and counselors at Radford University and also co-leads retreats on “Mindfulness as Self-Care” for parents, students and helping professionals in Southwest Virginia.
Inward Bound Mindfulness Education (iBme) is dedicated to improving the lives of teens, parents and professionals through mindfulness retreats and outreach programs. What we do can be described as inner education. On retreat and in school and community settings, participants learn life-long skills that help them gain a deeper awareness and understanding of their mind and body. Our participants learn to cultivate more kindness and compassion towards themselves, others, and the natural world. These are skills that have many proven benefits, and most importantly they teach us how to embrace and enjoy our lives.