How yoga helps make 11 year old certified grounded Clare feel like a better person
How Yoga Makes Me Feel Like a Better Person
Yoga makes me feel like I’m fearless, more important to this world than I thought I was. It teaches me to be proud and positive, to respect others and understand what they may be going through. It tells me to do what I need to do instead of holding it in~such as crying.
Because of yoga, I know now not to let people judge me, to listen when someone is speaking to me. Instead of hiding in my own world I should shine but with confidence.
I don’t know what my life would be like if I haven’t done yoga, but I know I have become respectful, thankful, loving, friendly, and fearless.
My name is Clare. I am in the 5th grade. I work hard in school thinking about my future. I have a learning disorder that makes it hard for me to learn fast, but I only study harder because I’m not going to let a little devil saying, ” I can’t do it.” hold me back.
Next year for middle school I’m going to Druid Hills. My best subject is math. I’m interested in animals and nature. I want the earth creatures to be respected.
My favorite color is red. Some people say that red shouldn’t be my favorite color because it means stop, but I think of it as stop disrepect.
My name is Clare. I am 11 years old, and I do yoga.
Editor/Teacher note: Clare has been in yoga club since she was 5 and has had all these heart virtues all along. She just didn’t see it. Her perseverance, her loving family, and her open-hearted school environment, and of course her mindful breathing have helped clear the dust covering up the real Clare.
More will be revealed, I’m sure.
I feel so lucky to have witnessed her transformation and am delighted she wanted to share her journey with you.
During a class at a metro Atlanta shelter, we opened hearts, softened with “heart-melting” poses, and repeated “Inhale I AM, exhale OK.” Sixteen children settled into Resting Pose and fell sound asleep. Here’s what that moment taught me about safety, breath, and the healing power of Savasana for kids.
You’re Up Then You’re Down is in the Twist and Shine sequence of our Grounded Elevator Pose Series. In this sequence, the focus is on the Third Chakra located in the solar plexus, the core of your body. These poses challenge you to exert your personal power and strength of character. Self-esteem is born out…
Thank you Eight year old Marlie for presenting me with this yoga book you wrote and taught to classes in your school. I appreciate your interesting chapters~ Yoga that keeps me calm Yoga that keeps me Grounded Yoga with more than two people Yoga with two people Yoga that keeps me happy and your very helpful notes~ Remember you will not get it the first time Breathe slowly Remember to lean your beautifully detailed art~ and your permission to share your work on our blog~ I am grateful that you have been a grounded student for three years and you continue to serve your school with yoga. With love, Cheryl Crawford
We all have a limited, contracted, outer surface. Yoga teaches us to dig deep into our center to know our true, authentic selves. Yoga Teacher Barbie was gifted to me on my birthday and I have chosen to Ground her and help her to expand her consciousness. All of my students are gifts; yet this is my first one who was born in Indonesia and had a non-existent childhood,. No wonder she has restricted knowledge.
Perhaps Barbie’s obvious patterns of limitations can teach us how to observe our own stuff. Bring It On! Barbie has offered her letters to her beloved, Ken for you all to witness her progress.
inspired by Dr. Seuss’s Sutra: the Zax and Patanjali’s Sutra: yatha abhimata dhyanadva (Chapter 1, v. 39)
One day, making Okeys In the mountain of Dokey, Posed a West-Going Yogi And an East-Going Yogi.
{See, an Okey is approval, An endorsement as such. Each yogi seeked okeys So very much.}
And it happened that both of them posed in a place Where they bumped. There they stood. Foot to foot. Face to face.
“Look here, now!” the West-Going Yogi said. “I say! You are blocking my mind. You are right in my way. I’m a West-Going Yogi and I always think west. Get out of my way, now, and let me do best!”
“Who’s in whose way?” snapped the East-Going Yogi. “I always think east, making east-going okeys. So you’re in MY way! And I ask you to move. And let me go east in my east-going groove.
Then the West-Going Yogi puffed his chest up with pride. “I never,” he said, “take a step to one side, And I’ll prove to you that I won’t change my ways If I have to keep posing here thirty-nine days!”
“And I’ll prove to YOU,” yelled the West-Going Yogi, “That I can pose here in the mountain of Dokey for thirty-nine years! For I live by a mantra that I learned way back in West-Going Tantra. “Still the mind! That’s my mantra. Still the mind is the best! I’ll pose here, quite still! I can and I will If it makes you and me and the whole world stand still.
Hey… said East-Going Yogi I learned that as well. Let’s check yoga sutras Won’t that be swell?
Chapter1, verse 39 to be quite exact. Focus on things that you won’t find distract.
There are numbers of ways For the mind to become still. Focus on what you please To Fulfill!
It is the process of focus Which makes us a yogi Not the specific practice You see, Okey-Dokey?
Patanjali says to practice Right from the heart Allow this to deepen, For that is the art.
Fix the mind! Any object you choose, As a focusing prop to Fully fix and bemuse.
Get absorbed in your focus, Without distraction. You can attain stillness And sweet satisfaction.
Grounded Kids Yoga 115 Milton Park Court, Alpharetta, GA 30022
Based in Atlanta, Georgia, Grounded Kids Yoga provides in-person and online training, professional development workshops, and ongoing support for educators, parents, and clinicians. We specialize in kids yoga, mindfulness, social-emotional learning (SEL), trauma and pain management, emotional regulation, and impulse control for preschool through high school students. Each year, we serve thousands of children and teens through school programs, after-school enrichment yoga clubs, summer camps, Girl Scouts, 4-H conferences, and yoga studios across Atlanta, the Southeast, and nationwide.
How Yoga Makes Me Feel Like a Better Person
We all have a limited, contracted, outer surface. Yoga teaches us to dig deep into our center to know our true, authentic selves. Yoga Teacher Barbie was gifted to me on my birthday and I have chosen to Ground her and help her to expand her consciousness. All of my students are gifts; yet this is my first one who was born in Indonesia and had a non-existent childhood,. No wonder she has restricted knowledge.
