exercise · all tools
Human Knot
Also known as: Knuten
The group stands shoulder to shoulder in a circle, everyone reaches in and takes two other hands at random, and the tangle has to be undone without anyone letting go. People can go through, around, over or under each other; the finished circle need not face the same way. The debrief is the point — how did it start, what got in the way, what roles did people take.
Prerequisites
- Sustained hand-holding and close physical contact — not neutral for every body, culture or group; offer a role outside the knot without requiring a reason
- Physically awkward positions; unsuitable where mobility, injury or pregnancy make twisting unsafe
Practical
- Time
- 20 min
- Group
- 6–16 · small-group
- Settings
- in-person
- Materials
- None; open floor space
- Mechanisms
- behavioral-rehearsal, dialogic-encounter
- Change scope
- state · one-off
Instructions
- Where
- cleancooking.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/342-1.pdf
- Availability
- Open online — published at the link, free to read
Source link checked 29 Aug 2026 — reachable
This directory describes and points home; the instructions stay with the people who made them.
Origin
Unattributed — a widely published team game; codified for the Empowered Entrepreneur Training Handbook by Genevieve Smith & Anita Shankar — Drama and team-building game commons; carried into Empowered Entrepreneur Training (SEE Change)
In this directory via SEE Change Initiative (Empowered Entrepreneur/Employee Training) · Improv Encyclopedia · Teater Mila — Övningar
status: checked · added 2026-08-29