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.

 

Since explaining the true meaning of OM may not put all kids at ease, one way to make it less ominous is to give each letter a familiar association. When chanting OM, let O represent the past. The One Outcome that Occurred each instant of your life to lead you to where you are and who you are at this exact moment in time. In other words, once something is in the past, it boils down to the One thing that was, out of all the things that could have been. Let M represent the future. The Many experiences that have yet to unfold. The Mystery of life. When put together, they create the magical moment of NOW. Chant OM and the kids will feel the magic. They will know what we seekers read books about, study philosophy to understand and practice yoga and meditate to experience. That is the truth that the instant you connect to the present moment,  you are plugged into the source of unlimited possibilities and power. When you harness this power you are not held back by what you have done in the past or restrained by the expectations you construct for the future. You exist in the magical moment of NOW. This is the juncture where the singular outcomes of the past meet the infinite potential of the future. There is nothing magical about living life based on what you already know. When you ground yourself between the knowledge of the past and the openness of the future, you are free. I believe we embody freedom by fully expressing our individual authentic unique self with absolute awareness that honors the Universal source of our personal manifestation. The magic of being grounded in the moment is that we become the conducting wire through which the intelligence of the universe flows. We are supported, creative, confident, courageous, intuitive and conscious. We are open to the mystery of life because we know we can handle each moment with grace. After all, we know a magic word to invoke the power of the Universe and embody it through our own voice. Take a deep breath and join in. 

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    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!

  • Inspired by the Velveteen Rabbit…How Teachers Become Real.

    horse

    The Skin Horse had lived longer in the nursery than any of the others. He was so old that his brown coat was bald in patches and showed the seams underneath, and most of the hairs in his tail had been pulled out to string bead necklaces. He was wise, for he had seen a long succession of mechanical toys arrive to boast and swagger, and by-and-by break their mainsprings and pass away, and he knew that they were only toys, and would never turn into anything else. For nursery magic is very strange and wonderful, and only those playthings that are old and wise and experienced like the Skin Horse understand all about it.

    “What is REAL?” asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. “Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?”

    “Real isn’t how you are made,” said the Skin Horse. “It’s a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.”

    “Does it hurt?” asked the Rabbit.

    “Sometimes,” said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. “When you are Real you don’t mind being hurt.”

    “Does it happen all at once, like being wound up,” he asked, “or bit by bit?”

    “It doesn’t happen all at once,” said the Skin Horse. “You become. It takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.”

    “I suppose you are real?” said the Rabbit. And then he wished he had not said it, for he thought the Skin Horse might be sensitive.

    But the Skin Horse only smiled

    –  From the Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams  –