Squish
Squeezing your muscles tight and then letting them go loosens a tight, tense feeling
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Squish is a friendly octopus with eight soft arms, and Squish has a favorite way to feel calm: squeeze, then let go. Squish curls all eight arms up tight — tighter, tighter — holds for a moment... and then whoosh, lets them flop loose and floppy. "When a feeling makes you all tight and clenched," Squish says, "you squeeze on purpose, then let go, and the tightness goes with it."
Squish's friend Bram the badger is trying so hard not to cry that his whole body has gone stiff. His fists are balled, his shoulders are up by his ears, his jaw is clenched tight. "I'm all... tight," Bram says through gritted teeth. "Everything's squeezed up and it won't let go." Holding the feeling in has turned Bram to stone.
"Then let's squeeze on purpose first," says Squish gently. "Make your fists as tight as you can — tighter — hold it... and now let them flop, all floppy and loose. Feel that? Now your shoulders — scrunch them up to your ears — hold... and drop them down. And your face — scrunch it small — hold... and let it go soft." Bram squeezes and releases, part by part.
With each squeeze-and-release, a little of the stiffness melts away. Bram's fists uncurl. His shoulders come down. His jaw goes soft. The tight, stony feeling loosens and drains right out of him. "I feel... floppy," Bram says, and a wobbly little laugh slips out. "Like a noodle." The feeling that was locked up tight has finally let go.
Bram wiggles his loose, floppy arms and feels the last of the tightness leave. He didn't have to force the feeling away — he just squeezed, and let it go. A warm, loose, unclenched relief settles all through him. And Squish, all eight arms drifting soft and easy, gives Bram a gentle, floppy hug.
The CalmCubs ensemble
Squish is part of CalmCubs's distributed-narrative cast. Each character embodies a different curricular primitive; together they teach the full subject.
