The Case of the Missing Teacher

A true story by Cezarina Trone

January 5th, 2010

A new year and a new life adventure to grow into… I must have been ready for it came as a powerful force dedicated to expand my own inner learning as a life coach, as a lifelong learner and as a K-1 teacher trying to get back to my school children in Niger after a sweet memorable winter vacation in Romania.

I got off the plane in Niamey early Saturday morning on January 1st, 2010 together with a few friends and Ms. Debba, my school director. I was as eager as everyone else to get back to my bed and lie down to get some rest and be ready for school on Monday morning. The K-1 bunch would be waiting for their Ms. Trone, I thought to myself.

Yet, life had a different idea in mind for me that early morning. It allowed me to touch the Nigerien ground for a few minutes before I was told to get back in the next plane flying out to Casablanca due to my expired visa to Niger. Although this one moment of initial shock to my system felt like the end of something, it was only the beginning of yet another amazing journey. I am now in a holding place in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso and my heart is filled with much gratitude for my gracious hosts, Glen and Michele Jones.

Before you start wondering yourself about life’s great gems of wisdom popping up everywhere, read on a bit about my hidden story that comes before the real story of the missing teacher.

Well, a couple of months back I had started to use some of my life coaching sessions ( as a life coach, I have my own life coach) for the exploration of my inner framework of archetypes from the work of Caroline Myss (see her book ‘Sacred Contracts’) when I have uncovered a missing link in my inner mechanism of being: since childhood I had carried an exciting storyteller archetype figure on my shoulders and ignored it all along my life journey up until it started to bug me again not long ago. The art and science of transformational life coaching had to burst open for me in an unexpected way to fall in love again with this inner storyteller self who was ready to gather some great stories right away, it seems. But first, I had to really give myself permission to feel free to share the magnificence of each of my life’s moments being infused with metaphorical storytelling flavors for everyone’s delight and soul upliftment.

Part of my whole process of getting ready for 2010 was my preparation to embrace a new perception of life and an enhanced way of being that allowed me to greet each waking moment with a sense of aliveness as if it was the only gift I was given, the only chance for uncovering magnificence and divine connection to all life around me.

My preparation process consisted in designing a short winter trip to my Romanian birthplace and co-creating a joyful and loving family reunion with my life partner James. The plans included the idea of celebrating fourteen years since my last winter holidays with my family in the snow- covered countryside and the creation of a small engagement ceremony to surprise my parents and sister and share our joy and love with them.

Sharing now the essence of my winter vacation story in words and pictures will guide you to unveil the greater meaning behind the story of the missing teacher in Niger.

I left Niamey on December 18th to go meet James in Paris for the weekend. As I landed in the Orly Airport, I instantly felt lost as if I was in another world due to increased noise, overwhelming sensory stimulation compared to my simple life in Niger and then I found myself wondering about James’s whereabouts as I knew he had arrived in the Charles de Gaulle airport earlier and was going to try to communicate with me somehow and find me there sooner or later. We had agreed on a waiting time period no longer than 2 1/2 hours before I was going to try to find our hotel in Paris on my own. I wandered around the airport looking for an online connection and finally found an Internet machine. I connected for 30 minutes and wrote several messages to let James know where I was located and what I saw around me at the exact spot in the airport. I knew he had brought his itouch phone with him and assumed he would get my directions soon. I waited and realized that it was getting late, so I decided not to leave the airport at all and just wait there for him. Twenty minutes later, James appears in front of my bench showing great relief on his face. This was our first miracle before Christmas, and you can call it a miracle, a synchronicity event or just being attuned to the inner wisdom, any of these labels would work for me.

I was in awe as I heard James’ story of arriving late in his airport, then not being able to find a wireless connection to get all my messages and deciding from there to simply focus his mind and energy to finding me no matter what. He took the chance of coming to the Orly Airport much later than the time period we had agreed to wait for each other and he was grateful beyond belief when he was able to walk up right to my bench. After all the detailed directions I had given him through emails, I finally realized that he had found the best solution in the end just by listening to that little voice inside. And who knows, he may have actually gotten lost if he had read all my emails.

The freezing weather in Paris during the weekend prepared us for the Romania trip and the snow covered countryside as I remembered it from my childhood. I hadn’t seen Romania in winter time since I had left the country fourteen years ago, so I was in for a treat enjoying the stillness of nature, the walks to the river with James and Mura, our family dog.

My family was in for a big surprise right after Christmas. They had no clue that we had prepared a special moment for them, co-creating a spontaneous engagement ceremony out of pure joy and love in order to celebrate soul oneness. On the 27th of December, we asked my sister to keep the parents out of the living room area until we were ready. We went into my grandparents’ old house and carefully removed their big pictures from the walls to bring them in and place them on chairs around the Christmas tree. We lit candles in their memory and brought in some fresh river water from the village. I will never forget the look on my mother’s face as she entered the room, looked around and saw us dressed up, wondering what was to happen next. I was supposed to translate what James is saying and I tried to do so although tears filled my eyes, but my sister finally stepped in and played two roles: that of a photographer and that of a translator. James started by asking me to marry him, expressing his wish to include my family in this process; his simple, yet powerful words created that sense of timelessness once again for me. I stood there and saw my mother and father in a state of shock as if they were watching reality TV. We continued by offering each other a necklace of prayer beads until we would find the right rings in Niger. I read a poem to James and translated it for everyone in Romanian and then we asked my mother to bless us. Feeling at loss with words, she kneeled down before us, held our hands and gracefully said a prayer. Her magnificent gift of being and acting in the moment was divinely orchestrated this way. Next, we asked our father to take some river water and sprinkle it on our heads as a blessing. Our engagement ritual ended with a nice family meal and a renewed sense of joy for everyone.

I was still holding the sacredness of this moment within me as we traveled back to Paris on December 31st and as we got ready to part again to enter other life adventures on our own for a while. On the plane back to Niamey, I quietly meditated on the beautiful idea that existence itself is infused with such divine intelligence that is ever amazing me. I also reflected upon my own life journey thus far in dealing with inner resistance to life, and how I ended up creating a life coaching tool during my certification training and I called it “Resistance Vs. Acceptance of What Is” just because I knew that I needed first to become clear mirror for all my clients, to embody those life lessons myself before I can reflect back to them the deeper learning.

Yes, life still had a different idea in mind for me that early morning on January 1st and now I smile because I was asked to give it permission to take me to a new place.

The subtle changes of inner transformation are fascinating to me. As soon as I had let my mind soak in that new awareness of flowing with life effortlessly, then the opportunity arrived to test my ability to do so. Of course I was a bit shocked on that Saturday morning because I knew I was almost home (a few minutes away from my bed in Niamey) and being told to get back on another plane was not what I wanted to hear. But then the gentle inner reminder came, ‘Have you not asked for a new way of being, letting go and letting life through?’ I knew that all I could control was my own reaction to this event, nothing else. I was not responsible for anyone’s reaction around me. So I took a deep breath, I smiled and followed the officer to the airplane. Everyone who could have helped me in Niamey had already tried their best. If this was the life flow, I just needed to follow it. As I embarked on the plane to Casablanca, I explained my situation and asked the plane personnel to consider letting me out in Ouagadougou so I can get visa help. I was told to wait until the plane stopped in Burkina Faso and then I would find out if I could get out or not. Another gentle reminder spoke from within my heart to reassure me that all was well no matter what happened in the end. I had finally surrendered to what was before me: a new lesson in surrendering to what is…

As I am writing these story lines from Ouagadougou, sitting on the peaceful porch at Glen and Michele’s house, I have yet to find out if I leave for Niger tonight or not. I was told to wait by the phone and I have been faithfully waiting. I cannot seem to find any trace of worry in my mind at this point. The missing teacher from Niger will eventually come back when the time is right, I know that for sure.

I do want to take the next few minutes to THANK all my friends and family for waiting with me wherever they are, for reading the story behind the real story of the missing teacher in Niger. I am grateful beyond belief for feeling their support and prayers, for knowing that my own experience brings hope to all of us in the midst of apparent life chaos.

We all need to know that ALL IS WELL and WE ARE LOVED.

Mystical Poems by Hafiz

Enjoy,

Cezarina

CNN Article: Yoga helps even little ones channel energy and emotion

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

What Lies beneath the Make Up of Ordinary Existence?

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.’

Inspirations from the DAILY OM

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.”

We Are FAMILY

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 Solution for Your Well-Being

 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:

1. FIND A QUIET PLACE, CLOSE YOUR EYES AND TRY TO RELAX.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. GENTLY SEND THAT FEELING OF LOVE, CARE OR APPRECIATION TO YOURSELF AND OTHERS.
5. 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.
6. 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)

a night poem…

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

‘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’)

A BEAUTIFUL Song 4 the Ocean…