Haiku Loop Group
1. Opening Check-In (5–10 min)
Prompt:
“What’s a mood, image, or phrase you’ve been stuck on lately—like a record skipping?”
Let folks share single words or short phrases. Bonus points for metaphor.
2. Quick Teach: What’s a Haiku? (3 min)
A haiku is a 3-line poem:
5 syllables
7 syllables
5 syllables
Traditionally about nature or emotion, but today? About loops.
Examples:
Spinning thoughts again
Like laundry tumbling too long
Same shirt, still not dry.
I say “I’ll be fine”
Then cancel plans, stay in bed
“I’ll be fine,” I say.
3. Main Prompt: Write Your Loop as a Haiku (10–15 min)
Prompt:
“Think of a loop you’re stuck in right now—emotional, mental, behavioral, relational.
Now try to write that loop as a haiku. Keep it honest, weird, playful, or abstract.”
Optional add-on:
Write a second haiku as a response or glitch—a way to break the loop.
Or write a haiku from the loop’s point of view.
4. Group Share & Loop Reflections (15–20 min)
Let people share their haikus aloud (only if they want to). Ask:
“What do you notice about your own loop after writing it this way?”
“What did it feel like to shrink a pattern down to 17 syllables?”
“Did anyone discover something funny or beautiful in their loop?”
“Any surprise ‘glitch’ haikus show up?”
5. Optional Creative Twist (if you have extra time)
Pair up and write each other’s loop haikus from a different angle
Write a group haiku together, line by line
Illustrate the haikus with a single image or doodle
6. Closing Prompt (5 min)
Final go-around:
“If your loop had a season, what would it be?”
or “One word you’re taking with you today?”
PLAN B: De-Cricket the Haiku Loop Group
Pre-empt awkward
Right up front, disarm the pressure with a tone like:
“This group is low-stakes, no one’s getting a poetry prize. If you want to scribble nonsense, write a haiku in the voice of your inner critic; or just say ‘pass,’ it’s all good.”
Normalize disengagement as one valid way to participate.
Use a “Loop Buffet”
If no one wants to start from scratch, offer pre-written loop ideas for them to pick from.
Examples:
Procrastination
“I’ll do better tomorrow”
Avoid-implode-apologize cycle
Same fight with my mom
Doomscroll → guilt → doomscroll
Say:
“You can use one of these as your loop, or remix it into your own version.”
Use Collective Haiku Building
Instead of individual sharing, do this:
“Let’s write one group haiku. I’ll ask for just one line at a time. You don’t even have to explain it.”
Bottom Line
Participation ≠ performance. If no one writes or shares a haiku but the group walks away thinking about their patterns differently? That’s a win. Creative therapy often starts in silence—what feels like nothing is sometimes just the soil getting ready.