Enjoy,
Cezarina
From: http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/11/13/kids.yoga/
Decatur, Georgia (CNN) — Gigi reaches up into her sun salutation. She steps back into her high lunge and kicks her legs straight into plank pose, a push-up she holds without wobbling for 10 seconds before looking up impatiently at her yoga teacher.
It’s close to 6 p.m. She’s had a long day.
She collapses on her mat, rolls on her back and closes her eyes. And then sends one finger digging up her nose.
What? C’mon, she’s only 5.
This is yoga for kids. Once an oddity reserved for only the crunchiest communities, downward dog for the grade-school set is now being taught in studios from Minnetonka, Minnesota, to Moscow, Russia. And educators, including Chicago’s Namaste School, which serves mostly poor kids who speak a language other than English, are turning to yoga to connect with a generation that many say has been dismissed as deficit this or hyperactive that.
At Decatur Yoga and Pilates studio, just outside Atlanta, Georgia, Dylan Laakmann, sits quietly next to his mother. The lanky 12-year-old whose fashionably shorn hair hangs in his face, describes himself as a “downer” before he started taking yoga two years ago.
“I wasn’t really that happy a kid, I guess, and my grades, they weren’t that good,” he says, his taut mouth easing as he relaxes in conversation. “I wasn’t that joyful.”
Dylan goes to an Atlanta school known for its highly serious curriculum that offers German to first graders and lessons in “circle games” and “beeswax modeling.” His mother, Hanlie Laakmann, wanted her son to get involved in something and thought his sensitive nature might take to yoga. She’s been especially glad about the move lately since she and her husband told Dylan that they are divorcing.
“Like, it’s hard, with the divorce,” he says, sitting on a yoga mat, replying to a stranger asking him to open up in front of a television camera. He tunes it all out for a moment, crosses his legs and closes his eyes. He begins to breathe deeply and then slowly lifts himself into a headstand. When he comes down, he’s ready to answer more questions.
Dylan’s stoicism is broken for a moment by a dozen miniature yogis who’ve been unleashed in the studio. Kids like Gigi, some as young as 3, can take seven-week long sessions with names such as Charlie and the Chakra Factory and the Wizard of Ohm.
Video: Pint-sized Yoginis
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Watching a class is like watching puppies. It’s adorable. They bark in Downward Dog and hiss on their bellies in Snake pose. They imagine aloud what color their gum would be while repeatedly breathing deeply for “Bubble Gum Breath.” They act out “Go To Your Room” by bending over, grabbing their ankles and stomping backward, squatting down and mimicking slamming a door.
Except for a few tears and a brief tug-of-war over a mat, it all seems nothing more than cute until this stunning moment: Many of these first and second-graders remain completely still and quiet, in a meditative pose, for nearly five minutes.
“It’s just incredible,” Al-Yasha Williams said, shaking her head in disbelief when her 6-year-old daughter Sole Williams-Brewer walks out of class much more dialed back than when she bounded in. “My daughter has a lot of energy and this has channeled it.”
Marsha Wenig saw the calming effect yoga breathing gave her young students more 20 years ago when she taught in a California school. “I thought, yoga calms me so why wouldn’t kids get the same thing out of it? Yoga works for people willing to open their minds and you don’t get anymore open-minded than a child,” she said.
“Parents heard about it and wanted to know what I was doing. I just invited them over, shoved the furniture aside and showed them some poses they could do with their kids.”
Though radical at that time, teaching yoga to kids still isn’t entirely free of controversy. A Baptist minister complained a few years ago that a public school in Aspen was teaching a form of Hinduism.
But the objections are rare and don’t appear to be hurting business. Wenig’s company YogaKids has sold millions of how-to flashcards, books, DVDs and board games — think Twister with a Yoga twist — and hosts training seminars ($849 for four days) to certify instructors in its 200-pose practice.
At least 150 U.S. schools follow YogaKids’ extensive lesson plan. For example, “Polar Bear” — sitting on the heels, knees apart, chest to the floor — can lead to discussions about where polar bears live and why they hibernate. The balancing pose “Flamingo” asks children to calculate how the bird’s wingspan in feet and meters.
There are several other entrepreneurial kids yoga endeavors — the Decatur studio teaches a style called Grounded Kids that offers bandanas much like karate belts for students who master increasingly difficult poses. But though styles differ, they stay faithful to one tenet: There is no baby talk in kids yoga. If a pose is meant to stimulate the thymus — like Tarzan’s Thymus Tap, a light tapping on an organ in the chest cavity that regulates immunity — then that anatomy is explained.
Lynda Meeder appreciated that directness. She quit her job as a guidance counselor in the Boston, Massachusetts, area to teach yoga to children and teens in a studio and the classroom.
“The older a kid gets, 13, 14, 15, we all know how hard it is for them to understand their bodies. It’s especially difficult when you have a child that’s been told they have ADHD, they’ve been told they cannot because that’s the way they are,” she said. “I’ve seen yoga give kids their control back. They feel like they’re taking it and they can steer again.”
In Columbia, Missouri, mom Sarah Wells Kohl heard about yoga for kids and enrolled her 9-year-old, Dakota. She had been struggling for months, trying every alternative arts program she could find, to address her son’s exceptionally high energy.
“He couldn’t settle himself, he was just very high-strung and bored with everything,” she said. “But, wow, yoga opened something in him. Pranayama breathing (slow, steady deep yogic breaths) put him in his space. When things get too tight, rough and crazy, do his own little Eagle pose.
“I once found him in his bedroom chanting,” she said. “It almost seems like we put him on a yoga mat instead of putting him on medication
Personal Reflections from Cezarina’s Website
Life is a meditation of Love…
In each breath I am uncovering new Layers of Possibility
within myself. I rise up to meet the need of this one moment.
I do not know what comes next, but I am ready for whatever life brings my way in its magnificence. This is my gift: cultivating total compassion, the joy of forgetting the self and seeing my reflection in others…
It doesn’t matter if others know or not who you are, but it is of extreme importance now that you truly know your Self.
External change becomes evident when inner growth and transformation have started taking place.
It is only through self-inquiry and introspection that you can dig your own shadows up and start bringing them out into the light of a higher vision for humanity.
Practice correcting your mistakes each moment. Make it your goal every day to work on each little part of yourself that needs to be polished more until one day you become as brilliant as a diamond. The world will then know that you truly know
your Self.
As you wake up each morning, go in front of a miror and look at your own reflection. Take a few minutes… waiting there to meet your Self. Say to yourself, ‘I am a brilliant, fearless and compassionate Being. Everything that I need for my growth and self-empowerment comes to me easily. I am the positive change I want to see in this world today.’
SHIFTING into GRATITUDE
(From: http://www.dailyom.com/articles/2009/20749.html)
The Question of Worthiness
We all know what it’s like to finally get something we want, only to find ourselves feeling as if we don’t deserve it. Whether it’s a car, a new job, or a date with someone wonderful, we suddenly feel as if we are not up to it. Something in us wants to reject this gift from the universe, perhaps because it requires that we think of ourselves in a new way or makes us question why we should have something that others don’t have. If these feelings of unworthiness are not consciously acknowledged, they can lead us to sabotage ourselves out of the gift being offered. Perhaps the best way to avoid rejection and sabotage is to simply shift into a state of gratitude, bypassing the question of worthiness altogether.
The question of whether we or anyone else deserves something is not really in our jurisdiction. These themes play themselves out in ways we can’t fully comprehend—on the level of the soul, over the course of many lifetimes. What we do know is that the universe has its own way of shifting the balance over the course of time so that all things are ultimately fair. We can trust in this process and understand that when a gift comes our way, it is because we are meant to have it. Otherwise, it would not be available to us. Accepting the gift with gratitude and using it to the best of our ability is true humility.
When we receive a gift and find that feelings of unworthiness crop up, we can simply acknowledge the feelings and then remind ourselves that they are beside the point. We might say to ourselves, “I am meant to have this.” As we allow ourselves to accept the gift, we might feel tenderness in our hearts that naturally shifts into a deep feeling of gratitude. As we sit for a moment, consciously holding the gift in our hands or in our hearts, we say “yes” to the universe’s many blessings, and we also say “thank you.”
ENJOY this beautiful message from the DAILY OM Website ( http://www.dailyom.com/articles/2009/20524.html)
“When it comes to our families, we sometimes see only our differences. We see the way our parents cling to ideas we don’t believe, or act in ways we try not to act. We see how practical one of our siblings is and wonder how we can be from the same gene pool. Similarly, within the human family we see how different we are from each other, in ways ranging from gender and race to geographical location and religious beliefs. It is almost as if we think we are a different species sometimes. But the truth is, in our personal families as well as the human family, we really are the same.
A single mother of four living in Africa looks up at the same stars and moon that shine down on an elderly Frenchman in Paris. A Tibetan monk living in India, a newborn infant in China, and a young couple saying their marriage vows in Indiana all breathe the same air, by the same process. We have all been hurt and we have all cried. Each one of us knows how it feels to love someone dearly. No matter what our political views are, we all love to laugh. Regardless of how much or how little money we have, our hearts pump blood through our bodies in the same way. With all this in common, it is clear we are each individual members of the same family. We are human.
Acknowledging how close we all are, instead of clinging to what separates us, enables us to feel less alone in the world. Every person we meet, see, hear, or read about, is a member of our family. We are truly not alone. We also begin to see that we are perfectly capable of understanding and relating to people who, on the surface, may seem very different from us. This awareness prevents us from disconnecting from people on the other side of the tracks, and the other side of the world. We begin to understand that we must treat all people for what they are—family.”
The HeartMath Institute (www.heartmath.org) has brought out a HeartMath system offering an innovative view of psychology, physiology and human potential to provide a new model for efficient living in the modern world.
With trainers around the world and a strong scientific backup, their research has made pioneering inroads into the fields of neuroscience, psychology, physiology, biochemistry, bioelectricity, and physics.
Today we will look at a SIMPLE, yet POWERFUL coaching exercise called HEART LOCK-IN, taken from their book, ‘The HeartMath Solution: The Institute of HeartMath’s Revolutionary Program for Engaging the Power of the Heart’s Intelligence.’
PRACTICING HEART LOCK-IN:
- FIND A QUIET PLACE, CLOSE YOUR EYES AND TRY TO RELAX.
- SHIFT YOUR ATTENTION AWAY FROM THE MIND OR HEAD AND FOCUS IT IN THE HEART AREA. PRETEND THAT YOU ARE BREATHING SLOWLY THROUGH THE HEART FOR TEN OR FIFTEEN SECONDS.
- REMEMBER THE FEELING OF LOVE OR CARE FOR SOMEONE WHOM IT’S EASY FOR YOU TO LOVE. ALTERNATIVELY, FOCUS ON A FEELING OF APPRECIATION FOR SOMEONE OR SOMETHING POSITIVE IN YOUR LIFE. TRY TO STAY WITH THAT FEELING FOR A TIME FROM FIVE TO FIFTEEN MINUTES.
- GENTLY SEND THAT FEELING OF LOVE, CARE OR APPRECIATION TO YOURSELF AND OTHERS.
- AS HEAD THOUGHTS COME IN, BRING YOUR FOCUS GENTLY BACK TO THE AREA AROUND THE HEART. IF THE ENERGY FEELS TOO INTENSE OR FEELS BLOCKED, TRY TO FEEL A SOFTNESS IN THE HEART AND RELAX.
- AFTER YOU’VE FINISHED, TRY TO WRITE DOWN ANY INTUITIVE FEELINGS OR THOUGHTS THAT ARE ACCOMPANIED BY A SENSE OF INNER KNOWINGNESS OR PEACE TO HELP YOU REMEMBER TO ACT ON THEM.
“Jennifer Weil, a middle school teacher, tells how the technique helped ensure that her English honor students would be able to demonstrate their knowledge on an important exam. Jennifer’s twenty high school students were assembled on a hot afternoon to take the English placement exam for honors English. They had only one hour to compelte the essay they’d been assigned, but Jennifer took more than five those precious minutes to do a HEART LOCK-IN with them.
‘During the hour’, Jennifer said, ‘I watched as several students closed their eyes again, placed their hands on their hearts for a moment, then continued their essays. Every student finished calmly and easily, and all but one was accepted into the honors program on the basis of their work that afternnon.’ (The HeartMath Solution, by Doc Childre & Howard Martin –Harper Collins Publishers, 1999)
Filled to the brink
is my cup of sweet communion…
Life spills over orange sand piles
and beckons me to sit for a while
in the darkness…sit with my sisters,
my bright-eyed children of Africa
with the goats laying around on dirt piles
in a blissful state of surrender…
True love is the only language spoken here.
‘WE MUST BECOME THE PEOPLE WE WANT OUR CHILDREN TO BE.’
–(Joseph Pearce, author of Magical Child)
http://heritagemontessorischool.net/
ENJOY this information and REFLECT nicely on the truth and meaning of RESPECT…Cezarina
“ Treating children with respect requires a change of heart that comes only from a major shift in how we view children and how we define respect. Modeling the behavior we want children to learn is the respectful way to teach them. If we expect children to have manners, to share, to apologize, to be honest, kin, respectful and loving, we must do and be those. Learning to teach children through conscious, intentional modeling takes time, practice and our willingness to see and change our behavior.
Parents are the primary models in the early years. Children need adults who model the behavior they expect. When a child doesn’t behave in ways we expect, we ask ourselves, ‘Am I providing a model of behavior I expect and will accept for my children?’
Remember: Our children record and imitate all that we say and do. Learning to teach by intentional modeling is simple, but not easy. Stopping our old tapes from playing is difficult. While we are training ourselves to be as respectful to children as we are to adults, our buttons will get pushed. Our old disrespect tapes will play and create disconnection. But we can reconnect by using the TOOL ‘Rewind, Repair, and Replay.’
Saying ‘rewind’ is an acknowledgement that we caught ourselves communicating in a disrespectful way. We repair by apologizing. Then we replay the scene by treating the child respectfully.
When we model correcting our behavior with rewind, repair, and replay, then we can remind children to ‘rewind’ when they speak or behave in disrespectful or unacceptable ways. They will know from our example that they, too, can reconnect by rewinding, repairing, and replaying their way of speaking or behaving.
When we give children the same respect that we expect, we model respect and we maintain connection.”
(Pam Leo, author of ‘Connection Parenting’)
THE FOUR AGREEMENTS - DON MIGUEL RUIZ’S CODE FOR LIFE
agreement 1
Be impeccable with your word – Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love.
agreement 2
Don’t take anything personally – Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won’t be the victim of needless suffering.
agreement 3
Don’t make assumptions – Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness and drama. With just this one agreement, you can completely transform your life.
agreement 4
Always do your best – Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse and regret.
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