Peaceful Kids

In celebrating Dr. Seuss’ birthday we learned how to work our feet and our hands.  Just as Suess’ Mr. Brown Can Moo!, Mrs. Cat can MEOW!   In “Mrs. Cat Can Meow! Can You?”  A Poem of Wacky, Wonderful Noises – While Clawing the Mat we allowed our inner animal out on the mat while paying close attention to our hands and feet. Are they wacky?  Are they flat?  Are they clawing the mat?  When practicing this wacky flow while making Suesserrific noises you too will learn the importance of clawing the mat.  In playing “Stop Foot, Go” (a zany spin on the all time favorite game, Musical Chairs) and studying the 4 corners of our feet we checked on our left foot and our right foot making sure they were fuzzy fur feet.  While “Roaring”, “split – splatting” and “meowing” along with Mrs. Cat we learned that when our four paws are aligned we feel more steady, more grounded, and in balance with the universe.

(Inspired by Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra Chapter II, v. 42
samtosad anuttamah sukhalabhah)

From contentment,
Highest happiness is obtained
Snow White’s Seven Dwarfs
Are invited to explain….

Consider us each a chakra
An energy gate of sorts
That we open, clean and balance
For optimal support.

Work on passing through
The seven chakras {or gates}
In order to visit the underworld
And ascend to blissful states.

Let’s begin in MOUNTAIN with SLEEPY,
Awaken abundant roots.
Stand with both feet straight
Ground heavy in your boots.

Each time you inhale,
Think, I HAVE THE RIGHT TO BE HERE.
Each time you exhale,
Root your feet a little deeper.

Reach up high with outstretched hands
FORWARD FOLD and touch the ground.
Prepare to balance GRUMPY
Who needs some healthy bounds.

Whenever you breathe in,
Think, I HAVE THE RIGHT TO FEEL.
Each time you breathe out,
Circle your hips like a water wheel.

Step your right foot back
Into a STRAIGHT LEG LUNGE
Here we balance DOPEY
Soak up power, like a sponge.

Each time you take breath in,
Think, I HAVE THE RIGHT TO ACT.
Each time you release breath out,
Stretch your belly with great tact.

Step your left foot back
Press hips up into DOWNWARD DOG
Open up to HAPPY
Melt your heart free from smog.

Receive your in breath and
Think, I HAVE THE RIGHT TO LOVE.
Give your breath out
Feel Unworthiness? Get RID of!

Shift forward into PLANK
So BASHFUL can get clear.
Soften your throat back
And open up your ears.

Each time you breathe in
Think, I HAVE THE RIGHT TO SPEAK WORDS.
Each time you breathe out
Say, I HAVE THE RIGHT TO BE HEARD.

Lower knees, chest and chin
GRATITUDE for SNEEZY’s insight and vision.
Draw back of eyes toward back of head
To focus on decisions.

Each breath in
Think, I HAVE THE RIGHT TO SEE.
Each breath out
Cross your eyes to a degree.

Stretch your crown forward and up
To balance DOC in SNAKE
Straighten legs behind you,
Connect to what’s awake.

Each time you breathe in
Think, I HAVE THE RIGHT TO KNOW
Each time you breathe out
Stretch from head to toe.

Lower back down
Prepare to pose in reverse
Remember your rights
Remember to immerse.

SNAKE back to GRATITUDE
Breathe into your poses
Up PLANK to DOWN DOG
Your rights are like roses.

STRAIGHT LEG LUNGE to FORWARD FOLD
And back up to MOUNTAIN
Keep moving and grooving
Till your rights flow like fountains.

When we know our rights,
And pass through chakra gates~
We develop a sense of contentment
And more deeply relate.

Happiness is indeed obtainable.
When we follow the path of contentment
Accept the ups and the downs
of our very own presentment.

May we be content with GRUMPY work
Or no work at all~
DOPEY or HAPPY states
BASHFUL or baseball.

May we be content when SLEEPY
Or wide awake~
SNEEZY or Doc
It’s our right~For Goodness Sake!

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  –

Yoga is the stilling

of the changing states of mind~

The act and policy of

No chitta* left behind.

Yoga is the re-channeling

of habits of the mind~

Capacity for Contentment grows

And Vrittis* get declined.

Yoga is the resolution of

the agitations of the mind.

A uniting of consciousness in the

heart of all mankind.

Yoga is the settling of the

mind into silence.

Nirodha* the misconceptions,

And ignorant defiance.

Yoga is the deepness

In the lake of tranquility~

Out of the surface ripples~

And into heart’s reality.

Yoga is a gentle

Process of release~

A settling into the

Natural state of peace.

Each inhale think calm~

Each exhale think peace.

Favor these words~

Your distractions will decrease~

Bondage and ignorance and limitation!
Oh my!
We contract like a sneeze~
You want to know why?
These are the roots of our issues,
You see~
Unworthiness, insecurity, feeling un-free.

These deep darkened roots,
known as Anava Mala,
cloak our awareness
like pollen all upon ‘ya.

This pollen of unworthiness
Helps us forget~
How miraculous we are~
We recoil ~we regret.

We regret and we doubt.
We feel separate and small.
Our pimples and frizzes
Keep us enthralled.

How, do we, how do we
How DO we re-remember?
Our goodness, our freedom
From here to September?

Good question, my dear!
So at your request~
I’ll teach you the tools
To elevate your quest!

Your breath is the broom
that sweeps away pollen,
Shines light on the ignorance
Which is hidden and smallen.

Sit tall, close your eyes,
Tune into your spine.
Inhale your breath
Down the left side line

Sweep your breath out~
On the same side,
From bottom to top~
Deep inside.

Sweep your breath in,
Down the right side this time.
Get real close and real low~
To release dust and grime.

Sweep your breath out~
From bottom to top.
Keep sweeping your spine~
No reason to stop!

No reason to stop~
Till you feel lighter and free!
Relieved of unworthy
Pollen and debris.

The pollen of ignorance~
And debris of limitation~
Can be swept to the surface
For expansive illumination.

Each time we remember,
We grow and expand~
We become more real!
And that is quite grand!.

This is a memory game.  The object of the game is to turn over pairs of matching chips. Concentration can be played with any number of players or alone. You will need two tubes of the Grounded Pose Chips. Decide how many poses to include in the game based on the number of players and…