Simply Marlie

The Book of Marlie

Simply MarlieThank you Eight year old Marlie for presenting me with this yoga book you wrote and taught to classes in your school. I appreciate your interesting chapters~  Yoga that keeps me calm Yoga that keeps me Grounded Yoga with more than two people Yoga with two people Yoga that keeps me happy  and your very helpful notes~ Remember you will not get it the first time Breathe slowly Remember to lean  your beautifully detailed art~ and your permission to share your work on our blog~  I am grateful that you have been a grounded student for three years and you continue to serve your school with yoga.  With love,   Cheryl Crawford

Marlie 1

Marlie 2

Marlie 3

Marlie 4

Marlie 5

Marlie 6

More to Explore

  • Fear On The Run

    Dont-FeedFound: This Fear escaped from a very Grounded 9 year old’s first chakra. Her thighs were rooted and her connection to the earth was solid. She faced her fears, and actually whispered to herself, “I have the Right to be Here.” After the Fear escaped she felt even more Grounded and Elevated and aware of where she was in space.

  • Certified to Teach Kids Yoga in Middle School

    Last night felt surreal.  I was standing in my kitchen with Lee, Amy & Cheryl when they handed me a single piece of cardstock with the words ‘Certified Grounded Teacher.’ I felt my throat clench and my heart skip a beat.  Though I have been teaching Grounded Yoga for over a year, it was this small piece of recognition that let me know that I am now officially recognized as part of one of the greatest movements of my lifetime.

    Once I received my 200hr teacher training in 2012, I had begun leading my daughter’s classes at school once a week and eventually took over the Tween class at my studio.  I pulled resources from all around- other teachers, online sites, books, games…everything I could find to help create a well-rounded class.  It was a year of growth and some things worked and some failed miserably.  What I did know was that I loved teaching children- their honesty in their bodies and mouths and they way it was starting to create a shift in their perspective. My dear friend and teacher, Lee introduced me to Grounded in early 2013 when she came home lit UP from Level 1 training.  I watched her do Go To Your Room and that’s literally ALL it took!  I knew that something special was going on with Grounded…something that hadn’t been done before…something that was about to change how the world looks at kid’s yoga.  We put a plan together to “sell” our yoga program to our school as a full-time yoga curriculum.  And it WORKED!  I decided to take the Level 1 training just after school started so we could teach the same material and use each other to bounce ideas and begin to try to understand the huge undertaking we’d just landed.

  • The Okey Dokey Yogi

    On The Path2

    inspired by Dr. Seuss’s Sutra: the Zax and Patanjali’s Sutra: yatha abhimata dhyanadva (Chapter 1, v. 39)

    One day, making Okeys
    In the mountain of Dokey,
    Posed a West-Going Yogi
    And an East-Going Yogi.

    {See, an Okey is approval,
    An endorsement as such.
    Each yogi seeked okeys
    So very much.}

    And it happened that both of them posed in a place
    Where they bumped. There they stood.
    Foot to foot. Face to face.

    “Look here, now!” the West-Going Yogi said. “I say!
    You are blocking my mind. You are right in my way.
    I’m a West-Going Yogi and I always think west.
    Get out of my way, now, and let me do best!”

    “Who’s in whose way?” snapped the East-Going Yogi.
    “I always think east, making east-going okeys.
    So you’re in MY way! And I ask you to move.
    And let me go east in my east-going groove.

    Then the West-Going Yogi puffed his chest up with pride.
    “I never,” he said, “take a step to one side,
    And I’ll prove to you that I won’t change my ways
    If I have to keep posing here thirty-nine days!”

    “And I’ll prove to YOU,” yelled the West-Going Yogi,
    “That I can pose here in the mountain of Dokey
    for thirty-nine years! For I live by a mantra
    that I learned way back in West-Going Tantra.
    “Still the mind! That’s my mantra. Still the mind is the best!
    I’ll pose here, quite still! I can and I will
    If it makes you and me and the whole world stand still.

    Hey… said East-Going Yogi
    I learned that as well.
    Let’s check yoga sutras
    Won’t that be swell?

    Chapter1, verse 39
    to be quite exact.
    Focus on things that
    you won’t find distract.

    There are numbers of ways
    For the mind to become still.
    Focus on what you please
    To Fulfill!

    It is the process of focus
    Which makes us a yogi
    Not the specific practice
    You see, Okey-Dokey?

    Patanjali says to practice
    Right from the heart
    Allow this to deepen,
    For that is the art.

    Fix the mind!
    Any object you choose,
    As a focusing prop to
    Fully fix and bemuse.

    Get absorbed in your focus,
    Without distraction.
    You can attain stillness
    And sweet satisfaction.

  • Snow White and the Seven Chakras

    dwarves
    (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.

    Mountain SG1 big

    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.

    Forward Fold Orange

    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.

    straight leg lunge yellow

    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.

    Down-Dog green

    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.

    Plank Blue

    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.

    Gratitude Indigo

    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.

    Snake Purple

    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!