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.

More to Explore

  • Belmont Abbey College RA’s Get Grounded

    IMG_8508.JPG.scaled1000The week before college life officially started at Belmont Abbey College, the Student Life department held one of its biggest and most important trainings of the year for its Resident Assistants. “RA’s” are some of the most influential student employees on campus. They represent the college in helping new students settle into resident hall life, assist in planning social events, lead discussions, report maintenance concerns, serve as a resource to campus information, lend a listening ear and comforting shoulder to cry on, perform room checks, work in the hall office and much more.

    Needless to say, the RA position entails a great deal of responsibility, but these students are ready and capable of giving even more light and love back to those they serve. With all of the trainings, seminars and long check-lists to prepare the resident halls for new student orientation, the RA’s wanted one more important thing to prepare them for this celebratory new year of college. . . to get GROUNDED!

  • Fear On The Run

    Dont-FeedFound: This Fear escaped from a very Grounded 9 year old’s first chakra. Her thighs were rooted and her connection to the earth was solid. She faced her fears, and actually whispered to herself, “I have the Right to be Here.” After the Fear escaped she felt even more Grounded and Elevated and aware of where she was in space.

  • Harry Potter Magic Yoga Sequence

    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