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Classroom Teachers

  • Namaste

    Said my young friend who wants a connection:
    “I wave. I shake hands, with no objection.
    No pain, no remorse, no one intervening
    a choice I make without much thought or meaning~”

    “…Is there a gesture that honors each other?
    That celebrates greeting sisters and brothers?
    Can you show me HOW to express happiness
    with social and spiritual significance?”

    YES, my dear friend, I can show you a mudra~
    a gesture of sorts, for kings, friends and sudras.
    Place hands together from fingers to wrists~
    like a knife, cut through difference that may exist.

    This immediately gets you to the shared ground~
    of ALL people, of all cultures, of all sound.
    It’s a recognition, a united force~
    that honors equality of all from the Source.

    Close your eyes and tune into your own inner light;
    your divine spark that forever burns bright.
    That’s the key, my dear friend, you must see your OWN
    in order to recognize others’ light shown.

    BLEND your five fingers of action on the left~
    with five fingers of knowledge on the right~
    to achieve the symbol of perfection
    the union of opposites; interconnection.
    FInd the Connection of your brain and your heart;
    your sun and your moon; your stop and your start.
    Marry together reason and emotion~
    unite thoughts and feelings, stillness and motion.

    Join positive and negative; hot and cold~
    theory with practice, silver with gold~
    Wisdom with Method, intellect with instinct~
    talent with genius, and feelings with think!

    Exhalation and inhalation, ,brain and heart~
    Align in harmony, right from the start!
    There is indeed no sphere of our existence
    untouched by the symbolic significance~

    of Namaste~

    Namaste

  • Pre-Grounded In Pre-School: Tips, Clips and Real Yoga Sips

    It’s summer break for College Heights Early Childhood Learning Center in Decatur where I’ve been teaching Pre-Grounded Yoga classes to the entire school, ages 1 – 4. Being the official yoga teacher is an honor, very rewarding, and a whole lot of work. Stephany Fair (co-creator of Pre-Grounded) and I agree that being the very first person to introduce yoga to someone is a priveledge we hope more people willexperience. Here are some practical pointers based on my time teaching little ones to breathe, meditate and move their bodies in such a way that they are grounded, connected and peaceful. {“video”:”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NCqkJx3-SE&feature=youtu.be”,”width”:”400″,”height”:”300″}

  • 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 –

  • Cat Yoga for Kids: Building Strong Hands, Steady Feet, and Mindful Movement

    In celebration of Dr. Seuss’s birthday, our young yogis stepped into a world of imagination, movement, and mindfulness inspired by the playful rhythm of “Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You?” Together, we explored a creative cat-themed yoga adventure that helped children develop body awareness, balance, strength, and focus while making plenty of wacky and wonderful…