Peaceful Kids

Often people tend to pull us into their drama. Our awareness can get overwhelmed. What if we allow them time for self-correction? What if we don’t always comment about what we are critical of? What if we focus in a positive way and offer love with enthusiasm?

I invite you to practice the zip mantra (influenced by the brilliant Paul Muller-Ortega ) on your mat space as well as in your life space. Do tell us how it goes!

Last night felt surreal.  I was standing in my kitchen with Lee, Amy & Cheryl when they handed me a single piece of cardstock with the words ‘Certified Grounded Teacher.’ I felt my throat clench and my heart skip a beat.  Though I have been teaching Grounded Yoga for over a year, it was this small piece of recognition that let me know that I am now officially recognized as part of one of the greatest movements of my lifetime.

Once I received my 200hr teacher training in 2012, I had begun leading my daughter’s classes at school once a week and eventually took over the Tween class at my studio.  I pulled resources from all around- other teachers, online sites, books, games…everything I could find to help create a well-rounded class.  It was a year of growth and some things worked and some failed miserably.  What I did know was that I loved teaching children- their honesty in their bodies and mouths and they way it was starting to create a shift in their perspective. My dear friend and teacher, Lee introduced me to Grounded in early 2013 when she came home lit UP from Level 1 training.  I watched her do Go To Your Room and that’s literally ALL it took!  I knew that something special was going on with Grounded…something that hadn’t been done before…something that was about to change how the world looks at kid’s yoga.  We put a plan together to “sell” our yoga program to our school as a full-time yoga curriculum.  And it WORKED!  I decided to take the Level 1 training just after school started so we could teach the same material and use each other to bounce ideas and begin to try to understand the huge undertaking we’d just landed.

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.

Charlotte’s Web is a celebration of the quiet virtues. It reminds us to keep a soft tender heart, accept our true nature, and value the unique gifts of our friends. The two main characters of Charlotte’s Web, Charlotte and Wibur, highlight the awareness of our own unique inner story.

Charlotte, the spider, represents our highest self who provides wisdom and help from above. She reminds us that we are never alone. She provides a higher, bigger perspective from her vantage point high up in the rafters. She brings a calm wisdom into an anxious situation, bolstering Wilbur’s self image by spelling out his best aspects. She represents our INHALE.

Become sensitive and aware of your breath.

Wibur, the pig, represents our vulnerable self that is at the center of our awareness. Wilbur is consistently caring and engaging. He forms a bond with Charlotte because he sees her beauty. He is accepting and compassionate and joyfully celebrates life. He represents our EXHALE.

Unlieable – To be filled with ones own truth, to the extent that no lies can enter ones being, either form within or without

Meet Ben. While working on an exercise to illustrate what we stand for, Ben introduced me to a new word… unlieable.

When I asked Ben what this word meant, he said, with complete assurance, that to be unlieable is to not lie…. Duh

 Part of my practice is to create sacred spaces where I honor my guides, my teachers, a theme, what I am manifesting, what I am inspired by, and what I am teaching.   This ritual helps me remember my intention, connect to the deeper teachings which I take quite seriously, and to myself {which I…