How Yoga Works

Thoughts after reading How Yoga Works by Geshe Michael Roach:

p.284, A pose is perfect only when you are doing the very best you can--gazing steadily, breathing sweetly, and thinking of how it will help someone else.

It's comforting to me when Ajit teaches Busuku's boys.  He is not handicapped, but handicapable!  I cannot do many of the yoga postures but I am doing the best I can and that's "good enough" or even better--that's the goal.  The opportunity to build strength or improve through practice is exciting but where I am today is PERFECT.  I also think I am helping others through my "weaknesses."  If I am comfortable with where I am today, I invite others to feel "good enough" too.

p.284,  instant brilliant faith of the young
p.213, "I love to teach children," I said.  "They are wonderful students.  Very open-minded to new ideas, even very big ones."

I have worked professionally with children for over 20 years, and I am so excited to teach "how yoga works" with kiddos for my next adventure.  This endeavor will build a better world.  Much like the vision of the Crown Prince and Queen Mother in rearing the Prime Minister with the common people, I too believe what kiddos learn in youth they carry into their adulthood, influencing their decision-making and priorities. It is a wonderful opportunity to work at the ground level.  To help establish a strong foundation for future structures.  A school system recently allocated personal handheld devices for high school students and then  middle school students.  I wonder if these devices had been first shared with elementary students if there would be as many issues with the implementation process?  Primary teachers may have laid a foundation for students to incorporate this tool in their learning in a more responsible and productive way.  Building a house from the ground up seems common sense, but sometimes we go for a more glamorous, quick fix, an achievement of a short term goal.  The building process takes perseverance, dedication and commitment   It may be costly in time invested .  .  . but I think it is an investment well worth the effort.

p. 38, You can't rush it, you see.  Fixing your back is not like fixing a broken chair--just pop in a new piece and sit on it.  It's more like straightening out a young tree that's been growing a little crooked.  

I liked this illustration of "cultivating your practice over an extended period of time."  With the advent of the microwave oven, ATMs, fast food restaurants, and other technologies, we are groomed to be impatient and not-so-good at waiting.  We also tend to look at a problem singularly instead of wholistically--I'm not sure if I'm making up words here--but we do not address the connectedness or the worldview.  If I am working with a kindergartner who is having difficulty listening and following directions in class, and then I hear his single parent works before he goes to school and is too tired to do more than put the child to bed when he gets home .  .  . I've got more to work on than helping a child be successful at school  .  .  . I like the idea of starting small, planting seeds, holding steady, watering, weeding, practicing patience and contentment, building and growing over time.

p.247, "These ideas--I can't accept them.  I mean, they go against .  .  . they go against what well, just what everybody knows; and what everybody says.  And of them, they are just, you know, old-fashioned, I mean.  Modern thinking has gone way beyond them."

Now this totally cracks me up since the setting for this story is 1101 A.D. .  .  .

p.366, It is a commitment to be content with what we have .  .  . None of the great ones who followed this path before us--none of them, over the centuries--possessed perfect circumstances either.  And so they just worked hard with what they had available to them, and they reached their ultimate goals."

I remember a Bible song from my childhood, "well, it was different back them .  .  .  remember they were only just men!"  There are no perfect circumstances.  We have to start right where we are, making the world a better place, one seed at a time.  We are each uniquely designed to garden in a way only we can do it.  Finding balance in all parts of us, our physical and emotional states, our work and play.  Cleaning up, moving on, letting go and being content with today.

I appreciated the style of this book because I think we learn best through story.  Although, I don't understand everything I've read, I know the seeds are planted.  I know that continued practice, study and helping others will nurture what's been planted.  I am thankful and contented.  I am sitting on my front porch, breathing, soaking in the sun, enjoying the journey and the miracle of the garden.    

Meditation Journal Entry #4

After a "quiet time," I feel calm and relaxed.  It is difficult to to quiet the mind when thoughts are flying .  .  . but the investment has a BIG pay off .  .  .

Gratitude for--
breathing, I am especially thankful since my nose has been stuffy
a working mind that I have to slow down, dementia is cruel
legs that can get me from here to there, sometimes my knees work better than others
comfortable bed, it makes it hard for me to get out of it!
family that is loving, husband that peels a clementine for me when I'm not feeling my best :-)

Optimism -- trying hard to find the positive, the "sunny-side"

I am my own worst enemy.  I AM enough, I HAVE DONE enough, I HAVE enough.  It is a journey and I will NOT "arrive" .  .  .

Meditation Journal Entry #1

My daughter and I started on Monday having a little quiet time, a little stretching together in the mornings.  Being she's in the 10th grade, it's a very special 15 or so minutes together, and we do a little devotion to prepare and strengthen ourselves for the day.

In my quiet times, it's becoming increasingly important that I think of the tasks at hand, not the task "list."  The "list of what to do" is created by me.  The "tasks at hand" are divine.

People first--ALWAYS before "stuff."  We are designed for relationship.  It's relationships we take with us when we leave this world.  "Stuff" will burn.

I have enough.  I do enough.  I am enough.  Enough is enough.

The awareness that I am causing most of my trouble is alarming.  God wants me to be with him.  Do His will.  "Men tend to multiply duties in their observance of religion .  .  . lulling the soul into a comatose condition."

It's not about me .  .  .

Words are important.  What I say does matter.  We taught kiddos the "Kids at Hope" pledge today:

I am a Kid at Hope.

I am talented, smart & capable of success.

I have dreams for the future and I will climb to reach those goals & dreams everyday.

All Children are Capable of Success, No Exceptions!

Something great is on the horizon.  Everything's fixing to bust wide open!  It's joyous, expectant.  Healthy Play, Kids at Hope, Love and Logic, school experiences (gradual release of responsibility, choice, movement, leadership skills) and family experiences, the yoga training .  .  .  May God Bless or Block these thoughts.   

Janet said i need a business license and GG's house inspected.  

Zipadeebee Balanced Kids?  Glorious Marks?  Health Heroes?

Little jumping men .  .  . a trademark will finally mark a trade?

This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine!

Breathe

Breathing is a natural "reset" option that we don't nearly explore often enough .  .  .

This past week my daughter was upset when transitioning from one responsibility to another and my husband said, "breathe."

I was upset about a family squabble, and I was getting louder and louder as my emotions escalated and my husband again said, "breathe."

A parent at school stopped to share something, and I could tell she was trying to share something big. I gently said, "take a deep breath."

A kindergartner lost her head today and hit another child trying to do "her job."  We talked about impulsivity--how do you stop yourself when you have a bad idea?  We reviewed the breathing toolbox, and tried some choo choo breathing. 

I try to incorporate breath work in every lesson, and I'm always amazed how the entire class, the physical space, seems to calm with the deep breathing.

What an amazing tool in your toolbox?!  Breathe.  You can think more clearly.  Your body can work more efficiently.  And the price is right!

Sesame Street has a great Belly Breathing Song out on youtube!  My kids love it, and I love sharing. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mZbzDOpylA

The Breathing Toolbox -- https://sites.google.com/site/mrsbroam/home/breathing

Balloon Breath

Bees Breath

Breath of Joy

Bunny Breath

Candle--Flower

Choo Choo Breathing

Cooling Breath

Darth Vader Breathing

Dragon Breath

Flower Breath

Hands Flower Breath

Humming Circle

Square Breathing

Switch Breath

Ocean Om Yoga

I've enjoyed "Ocean OM Yoga" with Deni Ashby at Edisto Beach this month! If you are visiting Edisto, be sure to attend an 8:30 class on a Tuesday or Thursday morning at the Pavillion Tap Room.

Family Fun Afternoon

On Sunday, November 20, four Pleasant Hill Elementary Families gathered for Thanksgiving Fun!

https://sites.google.com/site/mrsbroam/home/yoga/family

We are thankful for:

• our families


• opportunities to move and breathe


• techniques to manage anger and stress


• good stories and good times!

Storytime with Yoga

Requirement for Home Study, p. 43

https://sites.google.com/site/mrsbroam/home/yoga/2nd

https://sites.google.com/site/mrsbroam/home/yoga/4th

Here's one more story by a 4th Grade:

It was a crazy day on the farm! Pig was rolling in the mud and Dog was sleeping on the couch. Dog woke up and chased Pig up and down the mountain. These crazy animals woke up the sleeping warrior during their chase! The warrior joined the chased. These three ran into a monkey who then also joined the chase. The monkey started throwing bananas. Everyone started throwing food! FOOD FIGHT!

Mrs. Broam then introduced "chair" pose for everyone to have a seat after having so much fun!

I was amazed at the creativity of the students! They had no problem whatsoever knitting a story together with the variety of poses I introduced.

I altered the sequence of characters in one class created story to flow more smoothly when I shared the story with another class:

Dog, Cat, Rat, Pig, and Cow to Cat, Cow, Dog, Rat, and Pig