Yes To Higher Aim…No To Lame
Say Yes to Brightness,
To Certainty, To Health
Say no to dullness,
To doubt, to filth.
Say Yes to Careful,
To Enthusiasm, to Aim
Say no to Careless,
To Backsliding, to Lame.
Say yes to activity,
To Attention, To humility.
Say no to Heedless,
Inertia, Instability.
How to say NO
To such 9 Disturbances?
Create a “no” prop
To play interference.
A block will work wonders
To impede interruptions.
Place between your hands
To help with deductions.
Press your hands in
To fire your inner shoulders.
Breathe your arms up
And become a beholder.
Keep pressing in
To activate what’s dull.
Reach the block up high
As well as your skull.
Hold a block in one hand
Lift up your opposite knee
Tilt to block side
Finding freedom is key.
Place the “no” block
Right between your thighs.
I know it is awkward
May your enthusiasm rise!
Press your thighs back
Keep your shins fixed.
Fold Forward, touch the floor
Breathe steady while betwixt.
Step back into Downward Dog,
Bend your knees a lot.
Press your block up and back
Notice your train of thought!
Shift forward into plank
Lower down flat like a pancake.
Keep shins pressing down
Lift thighs up with a mandate.
Stretch your belly and heart forward,
Hips back toward your toes
Open your shoulders
Like a polyphonic prose.
Press back to Down Dog
Come down to table.
Remove your block
Keep hands and shins stable.
Prepare to find freedom
With boundaries no less.
In this grounded pose
We call “No Table Yes”.
As you stretch right leg back
Exhale Yes to Higher Aim.
As you bring knee to forehead
Inhale No to Lame.
Your spine arches and curves
As you continue 5 times
Try it fast, Try it slow
Switch sides
Cause it’s prime.
Sit is easy pose
Tune into your frame.
Each inhale in
Think Yes to high aim.
Each exhale out
Think No to Lame
May this help you
Up your game.
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.
For many of us, a new year represents a blank slate, a Tabula Rasa. Imagine being able to “refresh” any or all areas of your life. Now visualize this table with two columns, Yes and No. You create your truest life by thoughtfully choosing what goes in the No column and what is a Yes. Everything you say YES to and everything you say NO to matters. What if your yes’s and no’s were tabulated and at the end of a day, week, year, lifetime, you could see how the data, otherwise known as your life, balanced out?