Goal
Crazy Eights is a physical warmup. It loosens our bodies and simultaneously our minds.
Level of Difficulty
Beginner
Participants
Individual or in groups
Instructions
Please note, individuals should feel free to adapt this exercise to accommodate their comfort and abilities. Please comment below how you have adapted the exercise, or what other activities you use to separate our mental selves before, during, and after meetings.
If alone, stand in a comfortable space with some room around you. If in a group, stand in a loose circle.
Start with your right hand raised above your shoulder and shake your wrist eight times, counting backwards. Shift to your left hand and count backwards from eight. Now shake your right foot eight times. And lastly your left foot eight times.
Return to your right hand and shake/count down from Seven down to one. Repeat with each limb.
Return to your right hand and shake/count down from Six down to one. Repeat with each limb.
Repeat this cycle, going from 8-count to 1-count with each of your limbs in turn. When you get to one, make a noise of success!
Alternate Ending
During the June 11 Improv Jam, one participant suggested an alternate ending to Crazy 8’s which I really like. After going 1-1-1-1 with each limb, inhale deeply, pause, and exhale making some sort of sound. Wether as an individual or in a group, this is a nice way to tie a figurative bow on the exercise and doesn’t require any loud noises. Thank you Jen for introducing this addition.
Practical Application
How can we use this to remove some pre-meeting jitters? Acknowledging that everyone has different physical capabilities, what other type of activities can we do either individually or in groups to separate our personal selves from our work selves?
What is the value in warming up before a meeting?
What is the value in an exercise like this after a meeting to return to our day to day lives?
See More General Warmup Games
- Yes-And
- Word-At-A-Time (Single Word Sentence)
- Crazy Eights
- Everybody Let’s
- Red Ball, Thank You
- Knife, Baby, Angry Cat
- World’s Worst Disco
- Mind Meld
- What’s in the Box
- Rock-Paper-Scissors Thunderdome
- Zip Zap Zop (Zip Zap Zop New Rule)
Collaborative Improv 