As I sat before the circle of wide eyed children singing and gesturing to the tune I saw the beauty and possibilites before me. As we chatted about the meaning of the song - as it is partially in Gurmuhki - I asked them what the teacher within says to them. A blonde headed girl across the room from me says 'that I am a fairy'.

Indeed, our teacher within SHOULD stoke the flames of our imaginations, the inherent magic in our being. What can we dream, how can we shape our lives, create who we become in the world without the inner inspirations?

Finishing our discussion about our inner teacher we touched on love, kindness toward others and our selves.

Yoga keeps the magic alive in all of us! Call in prana, chi, energy, chakras, nadis ....I'll just call it being a faery.

This week I was talking about vibration in one of my preschool classes. We listened to a tibetan bowl ring, we felt our voice boxes...then I asked the kids to listen for anything they heard vibrating and making sound. After a little while I went around the room and asked each child what they heard - I heard the air conditioner, I heard people talking, and then stop me in my tracks - a 5 yearold little girl said...I hear the sound of war. I hear the sound of bodies dying and hitting the ground. Quite frankly I was astounded. I don't know exactly what I said to her - something like 'Wow - you heard all that?' She said yes that it what she heard.
Just take a mooment and let that sink in.....

Why bring your kids to yoga?

So many families are busy busy busy...running from one activity to the next with their kids. I often hear the question - why should I bring my kids to yoga?

As we move through this fast paced life we live it is inevitable we suffer the consequences of doing too much. Coming to yoga is an opportunity to slow down, to let the body rejuvenate itself, to pay attention to ourselves.

This same is true for kids. When they learn pranayama (breath awareness) they stop...all their focus is on the breath - whether we are blowing out our 'finger' candles, blowing up our balloons, or watching a feather move from our breath. They are still - for a brief moment.
We all can benefit from stillness. And with what we know about kids that they are sponges absorbing everything around them...we have the responsibility of role modeling a healthy lifestyle for them. That includes slowing down and noticing the breath.

(http://slowfamilyliving.com/family-mission-statement/)

There are many other benefits to yoga - body awareness, building muscle strength, coordination, balance, fun!! Better digestion, easier sleeping patterns, stress relief, and creativity.

None of us practice yoga for what we do on the mat - we practice yoga to create a resonance in our lives from what we do on our mats. When we balance in tree pose we create a place in ourselves that is rooted and yet flexible so the next time an aggravating situation presents itself we can stay grounded and flexible in our response. We take our kids to yoga to share this gift with them. To give them every tool we can to meet the challenges of life with grace, beauty, and a secure sense of themselves.

When we do yoga with our kids we create a bond between the student of life and the teacher of life. Question is - which one are we?

Imitation

So, my Mom sent me this video with the baby dancing to Beyonce. I watched and laughed and thought how cute. As time passed I recgnized again the importance of imitation in developing beings. We are the gift- givers as adults. We can consciously choose what our kids have access to imitate - through our words our actions our thoughts - and yes which videos we show our kids. This makes crystal clear the impact every little interaction, every everything we expose our kids to.

Pause and consider .....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikTxfIDYx6Q

Surrounded

At class last week as I brought out the singing bowl I was surrounded by sweet souls - beginning their journey through life. I looked around and saw the expectant glow around the kids waiting to ring the bowl, waiting to have a chance at doing something fun...at being successful. All in a flash of seconds this ran through my head and I considered the idea that they are living
ONG NAMO GURU DEV NAMO.....

At the beginning of class we chant Ong Namo Guru Dev Namo. The kids are hanging out - sitting in Mom's lap...doing whatever. So they hear and see us do this - week after week. One little girl (who came to class last week in full ballerina garb) told a relative "I say Ong Namo Guru Dev Namo when I don't feel good - and then I feel better". She is three years old. In class I let them know when we say those special words it is a way to feel better if we are sad or scared or frustrated. Ong Namo....is magic! Seriously!!

It is the key to the naad. (http://www.devsuroop.com/naad.html)

Kids are innately in tune with the Divine. Somewhere along the line it is us who lose our key and have to re-find it. Kids are right there. Once again - I am teaching the class but I am the student learning to live in the naad from my teachers - the little ones surrounding me waiting their turn to ring the bowl and say Ommmmmm.

The Language of Yoga

A mantra is a syllable, word or phrase in one of the sacred languages (like Sanskrit and Ghurmukhi), and sometimes in English. Mantra is "The Yoga of the mind".

Sanskrit is a classical language of India. Major modern-day languages of India are derived from Sankrit, and many Sanskrit derivatives are found in other languages, including English. Punjabi is an Indian language which belongs to the outer-circle of the Indo-Aryan languages and is distantly related to English - being a member of the same Indo-European language family. It is a modern Indo-Aryan language spoken mainly in the Punjab states of both India and Pakistan.

Remember this - Punjabi is language (what we speak). Gurmukhi is a script (how we write punjabi). I teach Mantra in ALL my classes. Now the 'meaning' of mantra is offered differently for children - to serve them at an age appropriate level. We sing a song (I am Happy - by Shakta Kaur Khalsa see Radiant Child.com) in my classes that includes English as well as Sanskrit. I let the kids know the Sanskrit comes from India and I let them know the 'meaning'.

So this morning one of the Moms sent me a message on Facebook which let me know the message behind the mantra made its way into Daniel's reality. As I have said before often times kids come to class and do not participate so it looks like they are not doing anything. Daniel has been coming to my class for years - not doing anything. But when the water hit the wheel Daniel looked within and relied on his own budding moral compass.

Here is the message from Miriam:

Thursday night Daniel found a bell from a cat toy and put in his mouth. I told him to take it out and he said he swallowed it. I called the doctor to find out if we should take him to the ER. While I waited for her return call I found the bell. Larry sat Daniel down for a conversation about lying to which Daniel replied, "and Wahay (sp?) Guru means I love the teacher inside of me." Larry looked a bit confused so Daniel told him, "Sat nam means I tell the truth and wahay guru means I love the teacher inside of me."

Sat Nam is a frequently-used mantra for meditation exercises and has become popularized by Kundalini yoga instructors. In Sanskrit, "sat" means "truth" and "nam" means "identity". There are many differing interpretations when you put the two together- some have given the following interpretation: “truth is my identity”. Other common interpretations include: "express the truth within you," "in name there is truth" and "the light shines in you"; light being a metaphor for truth. The words themselves have a soothing and centering quality due to their monosyllabic nature, similar to sounds made by babies.

Aum (or OM) is a mantra, or vibration, that is traditionally chanted at the beginning and end of yoga sessions. It is made up of three Sanskrit letters, aa, au and ma which, when combined together, make the sound Aum or Om. It is believed to be the basic sound of the world and to contain all other sounds. It is said to be the sound of the universe. What does that mean? Somehow the ancient yogis knew what scientists today are telling us–that the entire universe is moving. Nothing is ever solid or still. Everything that exists pulsates, creating a rhythmic vibration that the ancient yogis acknowledged with the sound of Aum. We may not always be aware of this sound in our daily lives, but we can hear it in the rustling of the autumn leaves, the waves on the shore, the inside of a seashell.

Chanting Aum allows us to recognize our experience as a reflection of how the whole universe moves–the setting sun, the rising moon, the ebb and flow of the tides, the beating of our hearts. As we chant Aum, it takes us for a ride on this universal movement, through our breath, our awareness, and our physical energy, and we begin to sense a bigger connection that is both uplifting and soothing.

Who Am I?

I went to teach a class at Starbright Preschool (http://www.starbrightpreschool.com/) last week. I teach the little ones (18 months to 3 yrs) first. They are so precious! Quite often in classes with little kids they sit through the whole class - watching and absorbing what is done.
I have had kids in my classes for years and I have never seen them do yoga - but their Moms post pics of them doing the yoga at home! This always reminds me of the importance of being our radiant selves while in the presence of the kids. They form themselves from what they are exposed to in their worlds. I want to be grace-full and bright in their company...reflecting their essence back to them.

After the little ones, I teach the older kids (3-5 yr olds). As we shared our practice one little girl raised her hand and proceeded to tell me she has a REAL yoga teacher at home that wants to teach her yoga all the time. I responded with - that is great! I then offerred them a chance to look through their their 'wise-eyes' (gyan mudra around the eyes) to see what they could see.
We became dogs, bugs, snakes, and trees through our 'wise-eyes'.

Later as I drove away from the school I contemplated the opportunity to look through MY 'wise-eyes' to uncover what I could in the little girl's comment...I have a REAL yoga teacher at my house....
am I a REAL yoga teacher?
am I Real?
who am I?
Each question gave me a path deeper into myself. Over this week these questions have floated in and out of my consciousness, each time giving me the chance to know myself better.

And that is all yoga really is - a chance to know myself better.