Grounded Yoga at Refuge Coffee ~ Clarkston, GA

 

 

Hi, I’m Lillarose Hardin… You may remember me from my last post here.  April 28 was my 11th birthday.  I asked my mom if I could celebrate at Refuge Coffee in Clarkston, GA by teaching yoga and running their fun run race.  When my mom asked the owner, Kitti Murray if I could teach she said yes!  So, the next step was to gather friends who would like to teach with me because teaching with friends makes it more fun.  My mom asked Lead Homeschool students if they would be interested.  The class is on the Quest of Elevation and so a community class was the perfect idea.  When everyone agreed the next step was planning a lesson.  I found out on my actual birthday Refuge Coffee was hosting their 4’th Annual Coffee Run.  Perfect!  So, at 8:15 AM on a Saturday morning my friends and I lead a grounding yoga practice for the community.

Supporting Our Community

While We Explore Our Feet And Light Up The Streets.

“Place one hand on your heart and your other hand on your stomach.

Close your eyes and prepare to explore more while we lead with our feet.

Take a deep breath in to prepare and exhale when you hear the chime.”

-Lillarose, age 11

My mom taught the Solid Ground Flow…

This is me!  We offered a 30 minute class, so I was checking the time.  Perfect for waking up our feet!

“For Three Legged Dog come into Downward Dog.  Close your eyes if you feel comfortable and choose what kind of dog you are for today.  When ready, bring one leg up to the sky and breath in. Lower your leg to the ground and switch out legs by lifting your next leg.  If you feel up for it, bark!”

-Pippa, age 13

“Please go down into Forward Fold and step one leg back into Lunge.  From here go into Downward Dog and take your right hand and place it on your left thigh.  Stay like this for 3 to 5 seconds and then put your hand back down into Downward Dog.  Rest for a second then take your left hand and place it on your right thigh.  Stay like this for 3 to 5 seconds and then put your left hand back down on the ground. Step one leg forward into a lunge and then put the other leg forward into Forward Fold.”
-Alex Benton, age 13

Prepare for Wake Up Mountain by “making a tall mountain then lower it to your heart.
Then inhale and get ready to uppercut with both hands. Then exhale and reach up to the sky. “
Grayson, age 8

“Put both hands on your heart and then put them above your head and back on your heart again.

Put them on your knees and back up to your heart.”

Odin, age 11

To prepare for Get Up pose stand with your toes pointing out, then squat down and touch the ground with your spidey hands.

“Breath in and stand up.  Breath out and sit down’

– Ian Rose, age 11

“Go into forward fold and grab your ankles.  Stomp the ground with your feet forward and back.  Squat and remove all your anger and frustration by slamming your imaginary door. “
-Lila, age 10

“Everyone please gather in a circle and put your hands up.  Connect hands with your partner.  Take a deep breath in to relax, then exhale and greet your neighbor.  Close your eyes and tune into the energy of your friends around you.  Without speaking send out a wish into the community…

“Allow your entire body to relax by breathing in.  Hold for the count of 5.  Exhale when you no longer hear the chime.”

-Lillarose, Age 11

“May you have peace in your thoughts.

Peace in your hearts

And peace your words.

Namaste”

-My mom, Kelley Sue

More to Explore

  • A Sutra a Day Keeps the Doctor Away

    What are these sutras
    You speak so about?
    Are they stitches like sutures
    With some sort of clout?

    Good question, my friend~
    Why, yes, yes indeed,
    These sutras are potent
    In times of great need.

    In times of great need,
    And in times of great bliss,
    These highly condensed words
    Should not be dismissed.

    The most essential core thread,
    Of deep subtle meaning,
    That runs through the fabric~
    It supports out of gleanings.

    Gleanings of insights,
    And wisdom fused pearls~
    From the direct experience
    Of wise boys and girls.

    Sutras express so much
    In so very few words.
    With vast significance,
    It’s not for the birds.

    Sutras are formulas
    To be memorized and studied.
    To solve the perplexities~
    Of minds getting muddied.

    So chose your text wisely~
    Yoga, Shiva or Seuss,
    Buddhist, Tao, Platform,
    Tripitaka or Mother Goose.

    Then write them in BOLD~
    Where you’ll see them each day!
    Melt their magnificence
    In every which way.

  • Namaste

    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