Little Miss Muffett

Election! Election!
Left Versus Right
Moon Versus Sun
Both shining bright!

Feeling like a troubled, tuckered out muggle? Want to enter the wizard- like state of clarity, and focus? Choose to ground your outer body to create the conditions for a vast inner freedom. You need space inside for the magic to do its work. Albus Dumbledore teaches us… “It is our choices Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.”

Each pose has a corresponding spell for you to breathe into your structure. The more you breathe with awareness, the more potent the spell becomes. With each inhale; drop the spell into the space between your eyebrows. With each exhale; drop the meaning of the spell into the same space above your nose. Say the word to yourself as you drop it into the window to your heart.

The charm Duro is used to keep objects still. Seen in Deathly Hallows, cast by Hermione while escaping from Death Eaters in Hogwarts.
Stay balanced in each pose by softly gazing at an immobile object. Inhale DURO, EXHALE FREEZE to keep the object still.

“Words are, in my not so humble opinion, our most inexhaustible source of magic, capable of both inflicting injury and remedying it.” — Albus Dumbledore.

Spell: Rennervate Pose: Wake Up Mountain

Rennervate is a charm that awakens and energizes whomever the caster’s wand is pointed at. It is accompanied by a flash of brilliantly colored red light. Harry uses it to attempt to revive Professor Dumbledore after Dumbledore has succumbed to the potion guarding the locket in the lake.

Stand with your feet parallel and evenly rooted to prepare for WAKE UP MOUNTAIN. Exhale as you reach up high with outstretched hands and take hold of the universal energy. Inhale and pull the power into your core. Each time you exhale stretch out higher. Each time you inhale, bend your elbows and pull in deeper. Visualize the movement of energy around and inside your body. Accelerate your breath to accelerate your movement.. Then decelerate your breath to slow your movement. When your movement follows your breath, you feel more alive. Inhale RENNERVATE, Exhale WAKE UP!

Root Tree Rise
Mobiliarbus lifts a tree a few inches off the ground and levitates it to where the caster points his or her wand. In Prisoner of Azkaban, Hermione uses the spell to move a Christmas tree beside her table to hide Harry.

Ground your left foot to prepare for ROOT TREE RISE. Place the sole of your right foot inside of your left thigh or shin. Reach your right hand behind your waist between your shoulder blades. Lift your left arm overhead, lowering your hand to interlock with your right hand. Rise up inside with each breath as you open your shoulders and stretch your branches. Exhale, expand and explore. Root into the earth and into your own center. Experiment with gazing both outward as a tree rising up toward the sky and inward as the same tree roots down into the earth. Inhale MOBILIARBUS. Exhale RISE. Ground your right foot and repeat on the other side.

“It matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be.”~ Albus Dumbledore

Flap Eagle Fly
Avis. This charm creates a flock of birds from the caster’s wand and is shown in Goblet of Fire, cast by Mr. Ollivander to test Viktor Krum’s wand.

Ground your feet to prepare for FLAP EAGE FLY. Inhale; lift your arms. Exhale your right elbow under your left one-twisting to bring your palms together. Steady your breath for balance. Lift the right leg up, over and around your left leg. Center your wrists, elbows, knees and ankles in one line. Slowly untangle your right leg and extend it behind as you hinge forward. Stretch your crown, fingers and elbows forward. Inhale AVIS. Exhale FLY. Flap for stability and fly with freedom. Ground your feet and repeat on the other side. Let your brilliance soar.

Playing With Fire
Incendio produces fire. It is first seen in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone when Hagrid (nonverbally) produces fire out of his umbrella in the little house the Dursleys took refuge in (from the Hogwarts letters). In Half-Blood Prince, this spell is used several times in battle, for instance when Hagrid’s hut is set ablaze.

Ground your sitting bones to prepare for PLAYING WITH FIRE. Lift your legs and rub the soles of your feet together. Balance and rub your palms together. Create friction. Generate heat by scooping your tailbone until your lower belly fires up. Draw into you internal fire to provide energy and fuel your focus. Inhale INCENDIO. Exhale FIRE.

I Am What I Am
Revelio will reveal to the caster whether any other (presumably living) humans are within its area of influence.
In Deathly Hallows, when they first arrive at Number 12, Grimmauld Place after leaving Bill and Fleur’s wedding, Harry, Ron, and Hermione are concerned that there may be Death Eaters lurking. Hermione casts Homenum Revelio to determine that the house is, in fact, empty.

Sit in Easy Pose. To prepare for I AM WHAT I AM. Press thumbs into each of your fingers in the following order. Say “FOCUS” and press thumb and first second together. Say “CLEAR” and press your thumb and third finger. Say “CERTAIN” and press your thumb and ring finger. Say “BRIGHT” and press your thumb and little finger together. Repeat out loud for a minute. Whisper for a minute. Hear it inside while you silently keep moving your fingers for one minute. Do another minute of silence, then one minute of whispering, then one minute of saying it out loud. Close your eyes. Inhale REVELIO. Exhale REVEAL.

Lighten Up
Lumos creates a beam of light. First seen in Chamber of Secrets and then constantly throughout the series.

Lie on your back and press the back of your head into the ground to prepare for LIGHTEN UP, keeping your chin level. Exhale as you lift your legs to a 90-degree angle, making an L shape with your body. Inhale; root your upper arm bones down and back by your sides. Exhale, spread your toes and extend your flame. Soften your back body into the earth. Inhale LUMOS. Exhale LIGHT.

“Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light. ” – Albus Dumbledore

Just Breathe
Quietus makes a magically magnified voice return to normal.
Sonorus magnifies the spell caster’s voice, functioning as a magical megaphone.
These charms counter each other and were used by Ludo Bagman and Cornelius Fudge in Goblet of Fire to commentate at the Quidditch World Cup and during the Triwizard Tournament. Also used by Dumbledore to silence everyone in the Great Hall in Goblet of Fire. Used by Voldemort several times during the Battle of Hogwarts in Deathly Hallows.

Roll up into Easy Pose to JUST BREATHE. Close your eyes and tune in to your own internal magic elevator. Visualize a silvery white light beginning at the base of your spine and flowing upwards, reaching your head and spilling out from the top of your head like sparkling stars soaring upwards into the universe. Through your nose inhale a spacious breath into your basement, up into your atrium and toward the roof of your mouth. Exhale the breath from your roof all the way down into your basement. Establish a steady rhythm of your breath. Inhale QUIETUS. Exhale Quiet.
The quieter you become, the more you can hear the quiet whisper of your heart. Listen. Magnify your heart’s voice so it functions as a magical megaphone. Inhale SONORUS into your heart. Exhale Magnify. Listen. That’s the magic.

“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?” – Albus Dumbledore

So you finish your practice~
You feel loving and calm.
There is nothing you dismiss~
You are full of BLISS bombs.

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.

Inspired by Yoga Sutra 2.16 Heyam dukham anagatam

Avoidable is the suffering
that has not yet to come~
That feeling of shame
That sticks like chewed gum.

How do we get through places
That are stuck deep inside?
Where the holdings, the collections
The patterns reside?

The patterns of feeding
Our suction cupped shames~
With secrets and silence
And judgements and blames.

Attract the energy of movement~
And comfort with movement~
Comfort with change~
Comfort with improvement.

Create space between impulse
And action that binds~
The stuck feelings that resists
Our meetings of minds.

Space is the experience
Of minds open and bright
The Wisdom of Grace
Is filled up with light.

Grace is the knowing
Our mistakes serve an aim~
Instead of allowing
Our mistakes to serve shame.

So to prevent future suffering~
And the feeding of shames~
Create a steady practice
Of breath work and aims.

Here’s a mantra for you
To embody and embed~
Press thumb into each finger
And say in your head~

{I inhale to prepare~
I exhale to share~
I inhale to release blame~
I exhale to transform shame~*}

{Repeat 11 times}~

Keep your sitting bones rooted.
Slowly rotate your core ~
Counterclockwise 3 rounds
Your breath? Don’t ignore!

Inhale going backwards,
Exhale going forward .
Your movements ride on your
breath~

It’s pretty straight forward.

Pause and move clockwise.
Repeat 11 times.
Close eyes and listen.
To your heart beat like chimes.

Find someone you know,
You love and you trust
Show them your shames
And watch your blames turn to dust.

May we have what it takes
To transform all our shames~
To allow our mistakes
To serve our Great Aim~

  Want to build your positive mind? Feel bright in every which way? Breathe in BIG and stretch real wiiiiiiiiide Exhale a Yippee Ki Yay!

Oh Ethiopia, how quickly you stole my heart! I originally set off on the journey to Africa to provide art therapy based art classes through a local non-profit in Atlanta called drawchange. The goal was to expose a group of impoverished children to art and allow them to express themselves through a variety of art…