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Snow White and the Seven Chakras
(Inspired by Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra Chapter II, v. 42
samtosad anuttamah sukhalabhah)
From contentment,
Highest happiness is obtained
Snow White’s Seven Dwarfs
Are invited to explain….
Consider us each a chakra
An energy gate of sorts
That we open, clean and balance
For optimal support.
Work on passing through
The seven chakras {or gates}
In order to visit the underworld
And ascend to blissful states.
Let’s begin in MOUNTAIN with SLEEPY,
Awaken abundant roots.
Stand with both feet straight
Ground heavy in your boots.
Each time you inhale,
Think, I HAVE THE RIGHT TO BE HERE.
Each time you exhale,
Root your feet a little deeper.
Reach up high with outstretched hands
FORWARD FOLD and touch the ground.
Prepare to balance GRUMPY
Who needs some healthy bounds.
Whenever you breathe in,
Think, I HAVE THE RIGHT TO FEEL.
Each time you breathe out,
Circle your hips like a water wheel.
Step your right foot back
Into a STRAIGHT LEG LUNGE
Here we balance DOPEY
Soak up power, like a sponge.
Each time you take breath in,
Think, I HAVE THE RIGHT TO ACT.
Each time you release breath out,
Stretch your belly with great tact.
Step your left foot back
Press hips up into DOWNWARD DOG
Open up to HAPPY
Melt your heart free from smog.
Receive your in breath and
Think, I HAVE THE RIGHT TO LOVE.
Give your breath out
Feel Unworthiness? Get RID of!
Shift forward into PLANK
So BASHFUL can get clear.
Soften your throat back
And open up your ears.
Each time you breathe in
Think, I HAVE THE RIGHT TO SPEAK WORDS.
Each time you breathe out
Say, I HAVE THE RIGHT TO BE HEARD.
Lower knees, chest and chin
GRATITUDE for SNEEZY’s insight and vision.
Draw back of eyes toward back of head
To focus on decisions.
Each breath in
Think, I HAVE THE RIGHT TO SEE.
Each breath out
Cross your eyes to a degree.
Stretch your crown forward and up
To balance DOC in SNAKE
Straighten legs behind you,
Connect to what’s awake.
Each time you breathe in
Think, I HAVE THE RIGHT TO KNOW
Each time you breathe out
Stretch from head to toe.
Lower back down
Prepare to pose in reverse
Remember your rights
Remember to immerse.
SNAKE back to GRATITUDE
Breathe into your poses
Up PLANK to DOWN DOG
Your rights are like roses.
STRAIGHT LEG LUNGE to FORWARD FOLD
And back up to MOUNTAIN
Keep moving and grooving
Till your rights flow like fountains.
When we know our rights,
And pass through chakra gates~
We develop a sense of contentment
And more deeply relate.
Happiness is indeed obtainable.
When we follow the path of contentment
Accept the ups and the downs
of our very own presentment.
May we be content with GRUMPY work
Or no work at all~
DOPEY or HAPPY states
BASHFUL or baseball.
May we be content when SLEEPY
Or wide awake~
SNEEZY or Doc
It’s our right~For Goodness Sake!
Reflections after teaching Step 1 Training – See It From My Side
Written by Amy Haysman It’s Monday after 3 days of grounding 17 grown ups in the art and design of teaching kids yoga Grounded style. I lean back in my chair at lunch, unable to carry on a conversation, and say to Sedef “I’m drained.” Instantly, my body recognized this as untrue.
How to Bliss Bomb the World
So you finish your practice~
You feel loving and calm.
There is nothing you dismiss~
You are full of BLISS bombs.
So you finish your practice~You rejoin your family~’
And what do you hear?
Shouts of anxieties~
Blames, Shames, doubts and fears!
Does loving-kindness deflate
As you join the contention?
Or will your blissed state
Transmit without tension?
Each time you experience
The delight of {I AM}
Your bliss will flow forth~
Like a hydraulic ram.
Embody the KNOWING~
Of your inner LOVE state.
So you can keep it safe~
And INTERRELATE.
YOGA says your relationship
between you and your SELF~
can not be diminished,
or put upon a shelf.
You take your SELF
everywhere you GO!
Then everything is spiritual
from Grumps to Sloppy Joes!
Lokanandah Samadhi-Sukham
Shiva Sutra One.Eighteen~
Your inner bliss continues
Like you won the slot machines.
So how do we GROW
In our capacity for such LOVE?
Without mermaids and unicorns~
Blue moons and white doves?
We create an INNER space
Direct love toward KNOWERSHIP~
Call forth our virtues,
Our patience, our grit.
We bridge the gap of difference
SERVE in a profound way~
Not cold duty or bargain~
LOVE is the order of each day.
Become capable with powers
Of WILL, KNOWING, and ACTING
By practicing {I AM}
Without useless distracting.
Place your hand over your HEART~
Feel right beneath your palm~
Towards your back body~
Where this is endless peace and calm.
Allow your attention
To be with your BREATH~
To flow in and flow out
Softly in your chest.
Welcome the BREATH~
Right into your HEART.
Feel a soft golden sun
That is bright, warm and smart.
With each breath IN~
make that SUN glow.
With Each breath OUT~
Expand the warmth to and fro.
As you welcome the breath in
To the vast INNER world~
Invite the HEART to reveal
It’s largeness, depth, and swirl.
Flow in with the thought {I AM}
The mantra of the inner self~
(Not I am Sam~
Or I am a silly elf)
The heart receives the breath
With the recognition {I AM}
The exhalation feels space,
The experience of BLISS BAM.
Practice with eyes open
Practice with eyes closed
Practice often
And LOVE will be exposed.
As you greet those outside~
Amongst the chaotic and mundane~
Stay tuned into your heart
And send LOVE to their pain.
You’ll get glimpses of KNOWING
Your yoga is working~
When outer frustrations
Are shirking, not lurking.
Namaste
Said my young friend who wants a connection:
“I wave. I shake hands, with no objection.
No pain, no remorse, no one intervening
a choice I make without much thought or meaning~”
“…Is there a gesture that honors each other?
That celebrates greeting sisters and brothers?
Can you show me HOW to express happiness
with social and spiritual significance?”
YES, my dear friend, I can show you a mudra~
a gesture of sorts, for kings, friends and sudras.
Place hands together from fingers to wrists~
like a knife, cut through difference that may exist.
This immediately gets you to the shared ground~
of ALL people, of all cultures, of all sound.
It’s a recognition, a united force~
that honors equality of all from the Source.
Close your eyes and tune into your own inner light;
your divine spark that forever burns bright.
That’s the key, my dear friend, you must see your OWN
in order to recognize others’ light shown.
BLEND your five fingers of action on the left~
with five fingers of knowledge on the right~
to achieve the symbol of perfection
the union of opposites; interconnection.
FInd the Connection of your brain and your heart;
your sun and your moon; your stop and your start.
Marry together reason and emotion~
unite thoughts and feelings, stillness and motion.
Join positive and negative; hot and cold~
theory with practice, silver with gold~
Wisdom with Method, intellect with instinct~
talent with genius, and feelings with think!
Exhalation and inhalation, ,brain and heart~
Align in harmony, right from the start!
There is indeed no sphere of our existence
untouched by the symbolic significance~
of Namaste~
Namaste
A Zensational Memory Game
Yoga has become a great way for children of ALL abilities to become aware of their body, in line with their breath, and connected to the beautiful truth and peace within them. As an occupational therapist and devoted yogi, Allison Morgan of Zensational Kids (see www.zensationalkids.com) offers up a joyful and mindful way to facilatate learning yoga with pose chips.