This game is reminiscent of aikido training. Start by putting a piece of tape in the center of your floor to use as a target. Then spread your group in a big circle around the perimeter of the room. Give them these instructions:
“Your job is to walk across the room by crossing the tape target. Don’t run into one another. Adjust your path to get as close to the tape as possible. Ready, go.”
As will instantly become obvious, there’s going to be lots of congestion in the center. The key is to adjust your speed and your body position to slide past one another. The aikido element here is to turn your body as necessary: either fill up space or create openings for others to fill.
There is huge potential in this game for variation and mastery. You might, for example, direct everyone to keep their hands behind their backs. This makes the game a matter of pure body position. Or, you can allow hand contact to hips and shoulders. In this variation, you can nudge people with light touches as you “swim” through the crowd.
Obviously, the game works best with the right number of people, something that you’ll learn through experience. Also, you can make things more interesting by adjusting the speed. Slow walks are easy and meditative, but when you move to a brisk pace, things get exciting. The stress is higher now and players will have to be alert and integrated.
Naturally, there will be some collisions in the course of this game, but keep moving anyway. There is still plenty to be learned by resuming your momentum after a glitch.
This game has the potential to be immensely rich and transformative. Practice it often.
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