All's Well In The World

Let me just say it again - Partner Poses

Over these four days I am treating myself to a Thai massage training. It just happens to be presented by the coolest man on the planet, my man, so that is a super huge double extra bonus.

I did however sneak out a couple hours early today to go teach my Thursday class. After a day of this awesome training, I walked in to class with my love light on. What a difference it makes. The kids were swooning over me. They were SO happy to see me and were waxing poetic about their love of yoga. Even so this is a rambunctious class, to say the least. These kids are like bumper cars with each other - constantly dissolving into one pile up after another.

I am feeling calm -our training began with a practice focusing on the root chakra - and I am surveying the scene like a traffic control pilot. What is needed here to change this energy? I calmly ask myself. They clearly need some kind of body contact, some kind of sensory feedback. Partner Poses! Yes, this turns out to be just the ticket.

I ask the reigning king of today's demolition derby to be my partner and demonstrate to the others with me. The moment we connect hands and eyes it’s another world. The dust and burnt rubber of the derby dissolve into fresh grass and birdsong. The king smiles at me and says, “I’m doing it!” He feels good. He’s ecstatic, but in the most serene way. The other kids get involved in a series of partner poses and it’s a new class.

It makes me wonder why I don’t do partner poses every week.

What got you into yoga?

This question was posed to me while practicing with a 14 year old boy.  It was in the middle of an asana so I asked him to let me think about it and when we sat back up (we were lying on the floor) I would answer.

It was a good question.  A big question.  I told him how I first found yoga as a physical practice upon the advice of a chiropractor I was seeing as a result of a fortunately minor car accident. I told him how I then traveled in India and came to love the philosophy, the way yoga supports all aspects of life and is a practical guide to living.  I told him how I had always worked with kids and found yoga to be a safe, organic way for children to be well and that anyone, anywhere could benefit from practicing.

He listened and then said, "Okay, what are we gonna do next?"

Who knows what resonated with him or why he asked in the first place.  This is where the farmer analogy comes in.  We sprinkle seeds, ideas, practices, not knowing what will take root or what will grow. 

I will keep this in mind as we drive through the farmlands of Northern Illinois and Iowa this weekend looking into land and visiting relatives.

Our workshop: Games, Games, Games -yoga based games for kids of all ages, was fun, informative and inspiring

Thanks to everyone who contributed to make this a very fun day.  The evaluations were filled with "excellent" and "fabulous".  Since it was our first time presenting this, I wasn't sure how many games we could play in 6 hours.  There were about 40 games in the manual and we did skim past a few.  There was plenty of time to get a good feel for the infinite ways in which we can engage children through yoga based games while instilling the practice and philosophy of yoga.

I appreciated having a few experienced children's yoga teachers present to contribute their ideas and perspectives.  It was reassuring to me that both those with much experience, and those just beginning to share yoga with children got a lot out of this day of fun and games.

It was such a success, we hope to offer this workshop again in the spring.

And, now that I have revealed the deck of GFY yoga playing cards we are creating, there is great demand to get them produced and out into the hands of the teachers and students.  I'll get right on it!

Do you float?

While teaching a yoga class yesterday to a group of 9-14 year olds, a younger student and another teacher came in to interrupt with a burning question.  "Do you float?"  She asked me earnestly right there in the middle of class.  "I do" I replied, "when I am in water."

She had been sitting out on the play ground in the Lotus Pose, hands resting on her knees in chin mudra, eyes closed, intently attempting to float.  She somehow got the idea that this was the way to make oneself float, or "levitate" as is known in the yoga community and described in the Yoga Sutras in the chapter on "accomplishments"  or "siddhis" (Supernatural powers).  They are seen as merely a diversion, sure to develop as a result of steadfast practice but not the aim of yoga.   

I told her I was currently working on becoming invisible.  If you were to take a picture of the room I was in, of course I would show up on the film.  But I was practicing making myself so still and so quiet that no one would perceive me being there.  She was awed. 

After class, I was out on the play ground and an older boy came up to me (also not having taken any classes with me) and said,  "I heard you meditate."   Hmmmm.  I wasn't sure how to respond to that.  "Um, ya."  It's cool because they are clearly intrigued. 

Partner yoga poses turned it around for an irritable 11 year old

I was up in Lake Forest yesterday with the lovely family I have had the pleasure of teaching yoga to for about a year and a half now.  There are three kids and each one likes to have their own session with me.  The oldest boy, 11 years old, arrived home after school in an irritable mood.  It was a warm sunny day and I had the mats spread outside in the grass overlooking the lake.

He sighed, moaned and rolled his eyes.  I suggested everything from breathing to meditation to vigorous vinyasas.  He said it was, "torture" and "boring".  Trying to think of a way to engage him, I suggested partner poses.  This was the ticket.  We did Suspension Bridge, Fountain and Backpack.  His mood immediately lightened.  He smiled and became animated, we laughed.  After several partner poses, he asked for more.  We did a few more seated poses together then he had a nice long relaxation at the end.  He loves it when I gently pull his head away from his shoulders when lying in Savasana.  At the end of the session, he popped up, shared a generous smile and offered me his hand to help me to standing. 

He then trotted off to play.

I sat in the grass marveling at the dramatic turn around he experienced in just 20 minutes.  While he was still rolling his eyes and telling me how boring this all was, I explained to him that we have a control knob on our moods and can often times dial it in one direction or another, just with our intention and choice of perspective.  It's good to know we have all these tools available to us to help refine our control of the mood knob.

Yoga for Children Workshop was fun, engaging and inspiring

We had a delightful one day workshop yesterday on teaching yoga to children. It was an introduction for those interested, to find out what this is all about. Everyone had a great time. They had a chance to create their own class plan and facilitate it right there. They appreciated the chance to put into practice what they were learning and get feedback as well. They also commented that they had a lot of fun!

Our participants left feeling inspired and motivated, just my intention. I am really thankful to have the opportunity to share my experiences of teaching yoga to children. The more people out there supporting the innner and outer development of children, the better!

I think we will be seeing many of these folks again in our upcoming trainings as their interest has been piqued. One woman drove from Detroit to join us. Another, who has a physically challenging body, participated a lot more than she thought she could. It was sweet to see her face light up as the possibilities with in herself began to emerge. What a great format for her. Children are so wide open and accepting. She will have so many opportunities to further support the children she is already working with as a social worker in Chicago Public Schools with the tools she is now discovering through yoga.

This was our first one day workshop and we intend to offer many more. The next one is in August and will be all about games, games, games.

Mom is still here for a couple more days and we are now off to ride the big Ferris wheel on Navy Pier. I believe that Ferris' invention was presented at the same world's fair, in 1893, that Swami Vivekananda presented yoga to the west. I guess this was a very notable World's Fair in many ways. I'll research and tell the story.

Truth or Dare?

Anyone living in Chicago knows the weather here has been cold and rainy. Yesterday, at our after school arts program, the kids were disappointed they couldn't go outside. We tried to have fun indoors by playing a card game called Truth or Dare. This spilled over into our yoga class when one girl suggested we try "Truth or Dare yoga style." This turned out to be a very cool game and this is how we played it:

Each kid gets a turn to choose "Truth" or "Dare".

"Truth" will garner a yoga question. How old is yoga? (several thousand years) What does the word "yoga" mean? (to join or union) What does Namaste mean? (the light in me honors the light in you) Is yoga good for asthma? (yes) Show me a back bend (Bridge, Cobra)...etc.

"Dare" gets a yoga challenge. I tried to choose something that would be challenging for them but not frustrating.

This was good fun- very successful and engaging for the kids, aged 8-14.

Now that this is my new favorite game, I am already thinking of modifications.

Truth, Dare, Double Dare.

This variation includes a "Double Dare" which would be a challenging pose. Dare then just becomes something a little more silly, like: hop around the room in eagle pose, howl while in tree pose, sing a song while rocking in the bow pose, etc.

After this great yoga class, we all went to an Earth Night event held in the Edgewater neighborhood. The evening started off with a collective OM, led by these yoga students. This group also had a chance to show their chops with traditional Mexican dance and board breaking Tae kwon do style.

The highlight of the evening for me was the fire spinning. The show included the familiar poi and staff and two fabulous hoola hoopers. This is a fun new thing in which wicking is wrapped around short metal sticks coming out the sides of the hoop. These women definitely knew how to belly dance. They really kept the hoops going with all kinds of fancy tricks. Except for this fun new toy, I have all the equipment myself; poi, staff and ropes, but have not spun fire for a year or so. Maybe I'll dust off the gear and get back out there...if it ever gets warm outside.

Let the children lead the way

Children are the source of unlimited joy, wonder and inspiration. I feel deeply blessed to be among them on a regular basis. In my yoga class yesterday at Yogaview, I gave the instruction in down dog to look at your belly button. This helps to lengthen the spine and it's all about awakening the spine... (I could go on for days with this little nugget). Anyhow, the class is for 4-6 year olds however, several younger siblings have protested waiting outside the room idly while they know much fun is being had inside the yoga room and are now class members as well. One of these younger siblings, not quite 3 years old, shouted out with glee in response to my instruction, "It's under my shirt!". She was thrilled at the discovery of this familiar body part seen from a new angle. This same tini yogini responded to a prompt to take her turn in the name game, where we say our name, what we love about spring and show a yoga pose we had made up during the week (a regular occurance at this age) with a long pause and then, "I'm thinking."

Here is a segment of a talk given by Maria Montessori in 1937:

Why do not triumphant bands of children appear at meetings where the problems of peace are discussed? If processions of children appeared among us we would have to welcome them reverently and bow down before them in admiration. The child would appear before us as the teacher of peace. We must gather around the child to learn the mystery of humanity and to discover in the child the mystery of a fundamental goodness that our lives and acts belie. If we truly yearn for brotherhood and understanding among people, there must also be brotherhood and understanding between the adult and the child.