4 alternatives to start your training/session energetically, that are not the regular icebreakers.

Add a little mindfulness and yoga to your facilitator's skill mix and get new and different results with groups. As a manager, HR or L&D professional, instead of the usual introductory round, I invite you to replace the somewhat awkward 'energizer' and experiment by doing things differently.

1. Breathing: Start your session by taking 5 deep breaths. Breath is the tool that brings the energy back to the present. Always. Our breath doesn't live yesterday or tomorrow. It is always present. Do you want the group to focus and detach from what happened before your session? Ask them to close their eyes and take 5 deep breaths in through the nose and out through the mouth. Deep breathing calms the nervous system and activates the parasympathetic nervous system (the resting and digestive system).

2. Movement: Start your session with movement on your chair (chair yoga) or standing. The group can have little energy when you start your session after lunch, during long virtual sessions or as a regular break, movement is a great way to bring energy back into the (virtual) space. How we feel influences how we act physically, but how we act physically also influences how we feel. You can invite movement while remaining seated on your chair by extending the arms, extending the legs and twisting and bending the body forward.

3. Body scan: Facilitate a session that requires creativity and focus from your participants? Invite a body scan. Close the eyes, draw attention inward and scan from the crown of the head to the toes. With control, slowly. Pay attention to your own energy and that of the group to become serene. From this state you can invite creativity and brainstorming sessions to go to the next level.

4. Visualisation: Start a training, summit or session with a positive mood. Invite everyone to imagine something that instantly makes them happy. Stick with that image, make it bigger and add more colors. The group's mood changed after they opened their eyes. The brain does not distinguish between a real and an imagined situation. We can put ourselves in a positive state by imagining or visualizing something. The brain produces the happy hormones (such as dopamine and oxytocin) when we imagine a happy moment. Not just when we're going through this.

Have fun playing with these new tools. Share what you liked the most and what you find challenging.