Another Everyday Bodhisattva

I have never met Victoria Soto.  Never shaken her hand.  Never laughed with her.  Never worked with her.  Never laid my eyes upon her aliveness.  Yet I am moved to a deep resolve by her bravery.   It is my hope and belief that in a moment like that I would do the exact same thing.   In that terrible moment in time she demonstrated presence, and compassion, and incredible heroism to hide the children in her hands in closets and cupboards, and put her body between them and that of the madman with his finger on the trigger.  Surya Das talks about the power of the ten enlightened principles. One of those is the Power of Heroic Effort.  It is my belief that as a human being, a spirit and soul that walked this earth in physical form Victoria, in that moment proved her metal as a person. She will be remembered as a hero in my heart and in the hearts of the children that she saved and those of their families.  May her name, and the names of all those who were so senselessly gunned down, may them and their story live much longer than the memory of the name of the shooter. May it outshine the terror and the violence as a beacon of hope and heroism to those who in her shoes would believe that they would do precisely what she did.  We never know when we are going to face those moments.  None of know when we wake in the morning whether or not we will be alive at sunset.  May we all believe that in those moments where we are tested we would put ourselves between innocence and violence, that we would shield that which is new and growing in this world from the blind crosshairs of violence, anger and hatred.  May we all nurture the hero within ourselves, and within our children.  As was made abundantly clear at Sandy Hook Elementary on Friday, the world needs more heros. 

Let there be peace on earth.  And let it begin with me.  And you. 

A Page Turner

Here I am.  I’m at a new page.  That is what life is after all, page after page of new fresh white open expanses to fill.  It’s how we fill them.  That is the art.  Whether we choose to fill each new ( ) with stories of darkness and fear we tell ourselves to “keep ourselves safe”, because after all we have learned haven’t we? The stories we have told have taught us the hard way that life has rough edges.  It’s not the pretty place we imagined then. So we continue to fill each new page with our fearful stories of what happened then, warning ourselves to stay home now and do nothing for fear of the frightening and failure filled world that lies beyond that front door.  We fill reams of paper with reasons why we stay, why we can’t turn that page and embrace the opportunity of a new start.  We have filled volumes with our closeted skeletons and boogie monsters that hide under our beds.  We are so busy, most of us, composing these stories and heeding their wisdom that we fail to even notice when we turn a new page.  Our obsessive, fevered composition is so deeply consuming that we are aware of little else in the room around us, or inside of us other than our stories.

Turn the page.

There are other kinds of stories we can tell.  In failure and pain are deep wisdom. Perhaps our inattention is our worst enemy. Perhaps it is that inattention that causes us to miss key moments, of connection, of grace, of kindness on which new stories can be built.  It is my experience that from each new connection grows the potential to spring into an all new storyline.  If we are too focussed on our fearful stories of what happened then we miss those moments happening now, those new pages waiting to be filled, offering endless potential for growth and change. We have learned that it is painful.  We have learned that it is hard this life we have.  What we have also learned is that it simply continues to continue.  No matter what we say or what we do or how we try to hide from it with our hero’s and grand tales of hope and glory life still continues to continue.  And we are all too busy with our fear that we miss it.  The very moments we look for, the fairytale that we seek to write, it’s all in front of us just waiting for us to turn the page and look up and see the beautiful story around us waiting to be lived now.

Little Monkeys & Sun Salutations

Does your little monkey know how to do a sun salutation?

Mine do :)

For the past couple of months I have been facilitating yoga classes with a hoard of about 200 little monkeys. Each time I come, once a week for each class I teach, we start out with the same warm up every yoga class starts with - Sun Salutations. For weeks it has been circus of trying to ensure that they don't step on each others head while they hop back into downward facing dog. Today, well, today was a little bit different.

Today I stepped back and watched 3 classes of about 25 kids each, flow through sun salutations on their own steam. Led by their breath, and awareness of their surroundings and a jazzy little song by Kira Willey called Dance for the Sun. these kids flowed right through two series. (Props to you Kira! Thanks for the great resource!)

I was so proud.

As a growth out of this I have been invited to facilitate workshops for other little monkeys in a couple of other locations through the city. Please check out the Facebook page that I have created for this new adventure :) Please give it a "like" and maybe a share with your friends. Help us grow!!!

Namaste blog-friends!!

Oh! Just as a quick, very adorable aside, yesterday when I was coming home from one of the other locations that I teach at I put on the same song in the car and then looked at the backseat....... weren't my kids doing their best Sun Salutations while buckled into their carseats!!!! AH-DORABLE!!

A quick drop by to let you know.....

...that I have been featured on another site! Woot!

One of my lovely fellow bloggers does a thing she calls Yoga Tattoos-day. I stumbled across this one day while I was poking around on Elephant Journal. So I of course sent her off a picture of my fab yoga tattoo and the story behind it.

She posted it!

And not only that, gave me a little link lovin' to go along with it :)

You can find the post here

Thanks Birdie! You are one yogini in a million :)

My Girl and Her Store :)

I went on an adventure today :)

My girlfriend Margaret owns a great little store called Sweetheart Diapers down in Riverside. She just opened it this year. The horrid friend that I am, I have not yet been to visit her. So, today on the spur of the moment I packed up Ella and took a bus to her doorstep.

I walked into her shop and was greeted by the most cheery bright space. Her walls are painted a gorgeous sunshine-y yellow and all her shelves and displays are beautiful and white topped with colourful diapers and toys. She carries a variety of locally made products including slings, toys and jewelery. Her main product line is of course DIAPERS.

Beautiful, organic, eco friendly cloth diapers :)

She carries a variety of popular brands including Bum Genius and Monkey Doodlez and of course will lead you through your cloth diapering experience with skill and compassion.

And her awesome smile : D

And this fabulous, green, locally owned store is NOT in London, and it is NOT in Toronto... it is right here is our evolving little city :)

Check her out here :)

Lost in the Space Between My Thoughts

Blog friends, this is what I have been.

Totally lost.

Truth is things have changed a bit in my life the last little while and I am lost in my own ability to simply be peaceful and strong within it all.

Some of the changes have brought me back into my own personal home practice. I have reconnected with my Yoga Journal practice podcasts and have been creating practice space in my life as the kids play around me or as the house is quiet at night. In my other moments I am listening to the audio version of "A New Earth" by Eckhart Tolle. I am feeling an awakening, a flowering of some part of me that was closed before. And within it I have been feeling lost.

Lost in the space between my thoughts.

In my heart it has been a very profound expansion and acceptance of everything around me. My physical habits are still feeling the change, but it is beginning within me.

....and Blog Friends, it is really deep, cool, profound, FAR OUT stuff :).....

So this is why I haven"t been posting, because my mind has been busy being all yogic. I do want you to know however that I have a file full of open ideas that are blooming too. So there is some cool stuff coming :)

Stumble back soon :)

The Force is Strong with Me

Lately I have been trying to create opportunities for myself that will create income for my family. I have a variety of training and a world of experience. I have taught so many different young people so many different things.

Coming back to my hometown after we had children was a balanced decision. On the positive side we have so many pairs of hands here to help us with our children. On the other hand, I gave up a secure teaching job at an elementary school. A secure teaching job in my hometown has not been forthcoming. Hence the trying to create opportunities.

I had a gig this morning at a local Montesorri school to teach kinder yoga to all of their classes. Definitely a different experience. I felt it was successful as a first day but that I could definitely outdo myself next week when I go in.

So I hit Google and found the most wonderful artist. Exactly what I was looking for. Kira Willey created a cd called Dance for the Sun. When I checked out the sample previews I was amazed. This is exactly what I am looking for!

Check out the song previews.... definitely a great resource for anyone wanting to bring yoga into their classroom or share yoga with children in any capacity.

This seems to be just one more step on the path the universe is leading me down. :)