More to Explore
Zip the Lip…Potato Chip!
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!
Inspired by the Velveteen Rabbit…How Teachers Become Real.
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 –
A fifth grader practices yoga at a Men’s Night Shelter
Community yoga at Central Night Shelter invites Atlanta neighbors, families, and guests to move, breathe, and connect. Sunday sessions from 5 to 6 pm build calm, compassion, and strength through accessible partner poses and simple breath cues. Come practice together and share what you experience.
A Poem of Wacky, Wonderful Noises While Clawing The Mat, CAT!
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.Grounded Knick-Knack
Want movement, sequence and rhyme at the same time?Incorporate this Grounded Knick-Knack Alignment into your daily Solid Ground Flow.
Meet Keira and Kendall
Hi, my name is Keira and I have been doing yoga for 4 years. It has been a great experience. Yoga has helped me calm down when I’m mad. Yoga makes me feel peaceful. Practicing yoga has helped me a lot by calming me down and making me more flexible. It’s fun learning new poses and helping others earn their bandanas. I wish I had started earlier. I had fun earning my bandanas, and if you do yoga, I hope that you’ll have fun earning yours.
Hi! My name is Kendall, I’m 12 years old, and I have been doing yoga for four years. In these four short years, yoga has become a huge part of my life.
From taking a deep breath before yelling at my mom or sister, teaching friends for my green bandana, to even making up flows of my own, I love every part of yoga. I especially enjoy the way I feel after class and the feeling I get from helping younger kids earn their own bandanas.
Yoga has been a steady part of my life, always helping me through a difficult week, a bad grade, or friend and family problems. I hope to continue to practice and learn as I get older.
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.
Want movement, sequence and rhyme at the same time?
