Horde Raid on the Knights

The Horde Raid on the Knights is one of the exercises I developed for the wonderful World of Emotions training. An exercise, lively, bright — and well complementing the line of exercises aimed at developing internal stability, the ability to maintain a calm presence even in a situation of serious emotional pressure. Interestingly, this same exercise helps to relax, to begin to express your emotions more freely and creatively.

This exercise game requires a group of 8 to 40 people. Preparation for the exercise is simple: the entire large group is divided into 4 subgroups. One group becomes the Knights, the rest — the Horde.

Task for the Knights:

You are the Knights, three other teams will now attack you. They are the Wild Horde, and their task is to get you (mentally), to evoke any kind of living emotional reactions in you. And your task is to protect your inner world from intrusion from the outside, to remain in a calm presence. Accordingly, now your task is to renounce any external influences, to freeze internally and externally, not to succumb to provocations.

Knights, you stand in a circle facing inward. At the signal of the leader, you will turn around to face outward, and at the same moment, three external teams will swoop down on you like a Horde. A game of honesty: if you got sick, you even smiled a little — you turn inward again, get ready, come to your senses, after which you turn around to face the Horde with renewed vigor.

Order for the Horde:

— Horde! Your task is to break through the emotional protection of the Knights, to evoke any reaction in them, first of all — a smile. Remember, you have only two restrictions: you cannot touch the Knights and you cannot yell in their ear. Everything else, any provocations — everything is possible. If a person blinks, this is not considered, this is a physiological reaction, not a mental one. But if you tell him: “You blinked, that’s it, come out!”, And he answers you: “But you can blink!” Then he comes out, because you caught him.

Horde, you are advised to work in creative groups, so it is easier to bring out even the most persistent ones.

Knights, you have no right to hide your eyes: you must look straight, so that any Horde could be in your physical field of vision. How to internally defend the Knights? If you are weak, you can try to disconnect from the outside world and occupy yourself with internal pictures, actions and experiences (counting sheep, seeing yourself burning at the stake, seeing the face of your beloved, etc.). If you are stronger, you will not leave the situation and will stay here and now, seeing everything and perceiving everything — but not reacting, not responding.

So, the Knights are turning. Horde — forward!

The game-fight goes on for about 2 minutes with peppy music. Then the groups switch roles. The end is the host’s whistle and his questions: how many knights broke at once? How much during the game? How many remained persistent? Who was having a hard time? Who was it easy for? And applause!

Comments

I must say that in reality the more difficult task is not for the Knights, but for the Horde. Indeed, like this, for no apparent reason, to arrange a joke from scratch and make the Knights laugh — it is very difficult, here you need emancipation, imagination and powerful energy. That is why we have created a situation where the battle between the Vityaz and the Horde is not one-on-one, but three-on-one, with the majority of the Horde. In this case, the Horde have good chances and the game is really successful.

Good luck to you!