Living My Yoga
In 2006 I arrived on my first yoga mat during my pregnancy of my daughter. A year later I was teaching preschool and fitness classes to children as way to continue to be with her on a daily basis. Last January I showed up to my first Grounded Yoga experience with Level 1, and I have now come full circle with my passion for my family, yoga, and teaching children. On my journey for self-discovery, I have found that even though I face bumps in the road…I am meant for this, to be a Grounded Yoga Teacher.
This past year I have had the incredible opportunity to be the lead teacher for both music and yoga at my girls’ Montessori school. I teach 7 Preschool Music classes, 7 PreGrounded classes, 3 Toddler Yoga classes, and 5 Lower Elementary (1st-3rd Grade) Grounded classes per week. I added up the numbers once and it was around 290 students each week with at least 4 different lessons running at one time…when we are all in sync. It has been my most challenging and rewarding year so far!! I mention these facts because there are times that these numbers seem overwhelming, even though it’s my dream job.
When I arrived at my Grounded Level 1 Training, I was asked to pick one word to put on the inside of my name card. A word that described what I wanted to evoke in my own classes. My word was “Fun”. When I find myself coming up against obstacles in my teachings or classes, I try and go back to this word. One example of this is bringing the Chakra Beatbox song by MC Yogi into my Lower Elementary (LE) classes. As a part of our Tune In ritual we chant this song, with music, while placing our Namaste hands in front of each body part that is represented by each Seed Sound. (Lam, Vam, Ram, Yam, Ham, Om, Silence) The students are able to use their voices, bodies, and energies, and connect to our space and to me. I am able to connect to my students in an important way. All elements can find their place in this chant…Earth~ sit strong and grounded, Water~ be creative and move, Fire~ be loud and boisterous, and Air~ be vocal in their words or sounds.
Click HERE to view Lee’s video clip of her class chanting these seed mantras.
Each week I am challenged by the fact that not all my students love nor even care to be in yoga each week. I am constantly looking for ways to keep things both powerful and engaging. I struggle with 2-3 students in every class, and this week I decided to put our mats into a circle formation, rather than rows. It was incredible. It changed my own perspective, and the perspective of the whole class. We still had some issues, but I felt stronger in my own energy to stay calm and address each issue.
Completing Level 3 this weekend, and receiving my RCYT certificate from Grounded is exhilarating, however, this is not the end. Rather a new beginning; a new way of being; a knowing, that I have the skills and training to be able to truly listen to my own instincts and follow my heart.
Bondage and ignorance and limitation!
As 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.
