A Poem of Wacky, Wonderful Noises While Clawing The Mat, CAT!
In celebrating Dr. Seuss’ birthday we learned how to work our feet and our hands. Just as Suess’ Mr. Brown Can Moo!, Mrs. Cat can MEOW! In “Mrs. Cat Can Meow! Can You?” A Poem of Wacky, Wonderful Noises – While Clawing the Mat we allowed our inner animal out on the mat while paying close attention to our hands and feet. Are they wacky? Are they flat? Are they clawing the mat? When practicing this wacky flow while making Suesserrific noises you too will learn the importance of clawing the mat. In playing “Stop Foot, Go” (a zany spin on the all time favorite game, Musical Chairs) and studying the 4 corners of our feet we checked on our left foot and our right foot making sure they were fuzzy fur feet. While “Roaring”, “split – splatting” and “meowing” along with Mrs. Cat we learned that when our four paws are aligned we feel more steady, more grounded, and in balance with the universe.
To push ourselves farther and to study our hands more thoroughly, we used a block in forward fold
throughout this silly flow and colored a Feet and Hands coloring page inspired by Grounded teacher, Vanessa Braun’s Mandala picture.
Mrs. Cat Can Meow! Imagine That?! ~ A Poem of Wacky, Wonderful Noises – While Clawing the Mat
by Kelley Sue Hardin
(Inspired by Dr. Suess’ book “Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You?”)
Oh, the wacky, wonderful sounds
Mrs. Cat can make!
She can sound like RAIN
Dibble, dibble
Dibble, dop
Dibble, dibble
Dop, dop, dop
She can sound like a LION
In Pride Plank while clawing the mat
“ROAR!”
She can sound like a DOG
In Down Dog
Ruff! Ruff! Ruff!
She can whisper, whisper
In Dark Seed Light
Like the soft whisper of a BUTTERFLY
She can hover over her mat
And spread her wings
FLAP!, FLAP!, FLAP!
While lying on her belly
In Flat Like a Pancake
With fingers spread wide
And her back puffed up
She can HISS!
She can CLAW!
She can stick her tail up in the air
And MEOW! MEOW!
She can sound like a HORSE
KLOP! KLOP! KLOP!
In No Table Yes
Imagine that?!
She can sound like THUNDER
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
In Go To Your Room!
She can even slam the door
SMACK!
She can sound like a CLOCK
In Do The Twist
While moving her hands
Just like this… Tick, Tock
Tick, Tock
Tick, Tock
She can SPLIT!
She can SPLOT!
She can sound like a BUG
In Baby Got Back
Oh, the wonderful sounds
Mrs. Cat can make.
All while clawing her mat.
Why don’t you try them out?
So you finish your practice~
Your inner bliss continues
As Earth Day approaches this year, I am struck by what it means to truly foster Peace on this planet. I remember as a child, learning about anti-nuclear protestors who chained themselves to fences and were forcibly removed and jailed. These brave souls became my heroines and heroes in the late 1970’s and 1980’s. I was moved to tears singing Dylan’s “Blowing in the Wind” and hearing stories of civil disobedience and the message of non-violent resistance. Later in the 1990’s, when I danced barefoot on my very first Earth Day, a lump would form in my throat when I celebrated each small victory (and the Gigantic Hearts) of environmental protestors who sacrificed so much to save a single tree and worked to preserve open space for our children’s children. Peace.
