Introducing Charlotte, Certified Grounded Kid…and her yoga perspective

I introduce to you, Charlotte, Certified Grounded Kid. This is her fifth year in the Fernbank Elementary after-school yoga club and is one of my greatest teachers.

Yoga

Charlotte 1 My name is Charlotte Walker. I have been taking yoga since I was 5.

It’s always been fun but I didn’t realize how important it is to me, until this year.

Most girls around the age of 9 start to notice things getting complicated especially in friendship. 

Even if it’s not happening specifically to you, you still see other girls getting teased or left out for the strangest reason. 

But yoga is a place where people can be theirselves not worrying about what others think.

It’s also where you can simply relax and think of the positives.

Overall to me yoga is a place where I can go, even after a rough day, to just breathe.

 

Charlottes Bio:

Charlotte portraitCharlotte Walker is your average fourth grade girl. After school she does gymnastics, reading bowl, and of course yoga. Charlotte lives in Atlanta Georgia with her parents, her brother, her sister, her dogs, and her rabbits.

{editor note: Charlotte wrote this. We do not find her ‘average’ at all but admire her humility. 🙂 }

 

More to Explore

  • Peace On Earth Puzzle

    earthday_1As 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.

  • Meet Keira and Kendall

    Hi, my name is Keira and I have been doing yoga for 4 years. It has been a great experience. Yoga has helped me calm down when I’m mad. Yoga makes me feel peaceful. Practicing yoga has helped me a lot by calming me down and making me more flexible. It’s fun learning new poses and helping others earn their bandanas. I wish I had started earlier. I had fun earning my bandanas, and if you do yoga, I hope that you’ll have fun earning yours.

    Kendall Kiera
    Hi! My name is Kendall, I’m 12 years old, and I have been doing yoga for four years. In these four short years, yoga has become a huge part of my life.
    From taking a deep breath before yelling at my mom or sister, teaching friends for my green bandana, to even making up flows of my own, I love every part of yoga. I especially enjoy the way I feel after class and the feeling I get from helping younger kids earn their own bandanas.
    Yoga has been a steady part of my life, always helping me through a difficult week, a bad grade, or friend and family problems. I hope to continue to practice and learn as I get older.

  • OM is a Magic Word

    We chant OM in order to ground our energy in the present moment. When teaching kids who are brand new to yoga, I am determined to invite them into the wondrous world of all that is yoga without pushing them into a place of spooky sounds, weird ways and stuff completely unrelated to anything they’ve ever known. This mantra is a mode of transportation from where we were in our individual lives moments ago to where we are now – together in yoga

  • Snow White and the Seven Chakras

    dwarves
    (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.

    Mountain SG1 big

    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.

    Forward Fold Orange

    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.

    straight leg lunge yellow

    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.

    Down-Dog green

    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.

    Plank Blue

    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.

    Gratitude Indigo

    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.

    Snake Purple

    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!