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Sun vs. Moon….YOU Decide!

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Election! Election!
Left Versus Right
Moon Versus Sun
Both shining bright!

What serves, what honors
the United States of YOU?
Tune into your breath~
Tune into your view~

Do you need more strength?
more power? more fire?
Then, Sun is your canidate
you most admire~

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Or more sweetness?
More flow? More balance
and wisdom?
Moon is the vote to
cast for your system~

Sun represents your right,
and Moon, your left~
Both equally qualified
to heal and heft~

Each one has a Salutation~
a platform of poses
Practice each one
No need for opposes!

Decide on your term;
May be minutes or years!
and what gets to vote!
Chakras or Ears?

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Who has a voice
in the United States of YOU?
Muscles or bones~
Organs or goo?

And where is the
capital of your nation?
Your Heart? Your head?
Third Chakra vibration?

Choose what qualities
serve your union as a whole~
What is right for your body,
your mind and your soul?

Fernbank Yoga Club voted today. 43 unions saluted the Moon. 27 unions saluted the sun. The rest are undecided. 

“It was interesting to watch the grounded students take their time in each posture of the sun and moon salutations. This fact-finding process took longer for some than others, and a few students needed to revisit certain postures to see what their body thought. The votes were taken, first internally, and then announced to the group. I look forward to hearing how the first days of each parties term goes. Term lengths varied from one week to one year. The excitement was palpable as the students began to brainstorm their new nations flags and colors.”

Mary Quinn Templeton, Elevated Grounded Teacher

More to Explore

  • Grounded Defined

    Through our programs, we endeavor to “ground” kids, teens, and adults via yoga, laughter, and elevation.  But what exactly does it mean to be grounded?  By formal definition courtesy of the Merriam-Webster on-line dictionary….

    grounded [ˈgraʊndɪd]

    adj

    sensible and down-to-earth; having one’s feet on the ground: mentally and emotionally stable : admirably sensible, realistic, and unpretentious <remains grounded despite all the praise and attention>

     

  • 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!

  • Roadmap to Lucidity

    Or
    The map to LUCIDITY
    Inspired by Yoga Sutra 1.33 which reads:

    maitri karuna mudita upeksanam sukha duhkha punya apunya
    visayanam bhavanatah cittaprasadanam

    The map to LUCIDITY?
    YES! Have you heard?
    Takes four states to get there~
    Not that absurd.

    The first is of FRIENDSHIP
    toward those who are happy.
    Even when you feel distant,
    resistance and slappy.

    The second is of COMPASSION
    toward those in distress.
    Tough when annoyed,
    imposed on and stressed.

    The third is of JOY
    toward those who are good
    through roadblocks of useless
    and misunderstood.

    The fourth is of EQUANIMITY
    toward those who are foul
    who are lacking in virtue,
    and react with a growl.

    Here in our mapping
    Four residents are mentioned.
    How we perceive them
    Is our fierce contention.

    Our attitudes we go for
    From composure to kind~
    Get us closer to LUCIDITY
    Where we STABILIZE our mind.

    Memorize these four~
    And observe in daily life.
    During times of quiet,
    Noise, and even strife.

    So buckle up~
    And prepare for a ride~
    To align your attitude,
    And try the untried.

    Close your eyes~
    Feel the state you are in~
    Soften your heart~
    your throat, and your skin.

    Drop your breath
    right into your heart~
    It’s made up of LOVE~
    And that’s where you start.

    Inhale with the thought~
    May I be friendly~
    Exhale with the thought~
    May I give friendship.
    .

    May I be COMPASSIONATE
    with your next inhale
    May I give COMPASSION
    with your next exhale.

    Inhale with the thought~
    May I have JOY~
    Exhale with the thought~
    May I give JOY.

    May I have EQUANIMITY
    with your inhale.
    May I give CALMNESS
    with your exhale.

    When someone comes to mind
    Offer these prayers
    No matter their issues,
    Their stains, or their stares.

    May you be LOVING~
    May you be LOVED ~
    May you be PEACEFUL~
    May you give PEACE~

    Your states of envy and mean
    Get smaller each time~
    Intolerance is removed
    You get closer to SUBLIME.

    Once your mind is CLEAR,
    And you’re CENTERED and FREE
    Skillfulness in ACTION
    Will be … Will be~

  • 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  –

  • Grounded In Fluffiness

    Three years ago…a five year old Grounded Kid said her favorite pose was “Flat Like a Pancake” it was actually not an official pose, but rather a transition from Gratitude and Snake.  To honor the wisdom and innocence of this child, we decided to make “Flat Like a Pancake” a pose that’s part of the Grounded Elevator Series.  Read on to see how to griddle some pancakes the Grounded way.