But All They Want is Sugar!

Sugar, glucose and intake are all related when it comes to diabetes. Step one of diabetes prevention: balanced eating and sugar intake must be maintained.

Kids tend to need some sugar, but they should be getting the right kinds of sugar, which mostly means avoiding simple sugars like brown sugar or soft drinks. In general, you may just want to avoid soft drinks all together. Fruits and vegetables are key to getting kids eating healthy, but how can parents do that when all they want is a chocolate bar? The trick is to be tricky while also setting the example. There are tons of recipes out there for tricking kids into eating mashed cauliflower instead of mashed potatoes, etc.

Show Kids How It’s Done
Without question, kids learn a lot from what adults are doing around them, so if you start cooking and eating healthier foods, it can have a great impact on your child. You can teach your kids how to make real fruit smoothies for drinks instead of fruit drinks or soda. You can make cooking together a regular event. Kids may be resistant at first, but there are ways to get them involved that are fun, like teaching them neat ways to cut vegetables, making food “pretty” or “funny,” and just showing them that eating right is not a punishment. You definitely don’t want to scare kids when you talk about Type 2 Diabetes, but it’s essential that kids know the simple facts about eating right and why you can’t always eat Mac and Cheese, despite it being the cheesiest!

Hitting Home Runs with Exercise

The third part of diabetes prevention involves activities; particularly exercise activities. Even if a child is already overweight, there are low impact and soft cardio exercises that they can do to start, and then work their way to more exertive activities once they build their stamina.

Resistant Training
Resistance training is one exercise regimen that adults and kids can do together. While some lift weights to build strength, you can also do wall sits, lunges, push-ups, pull-ups and other exercises that don’t require any lifting of actual weights. However, even if you don’t have weights, filled water bottles work just as well as small weights for kids to use. To make things fun, challenge kids to do exercises with you, take them to playgrounds with jungle gyms and monkey bars, and keep track of their progress just like you would with their height.

Yoga
Yoga is a great exercise that’s low impact and peaceful. For kids with lots of energy, this is a natural way to teach them how to focus energy and also build strength.

Yoga is a great starting point for overweight children as well. If you don’t have a gym nearby with yoga classes, you can actually find many child-friendly yoga videos online or even use video games like Wii Fit to give it a try.

Sports
Sports are always an amazing way for kids to have fun and also challenge themselves to be more active. Most schools have after school sports programs, but you can also find intramural sports programs at community centers and churches. Sports also teach all kinds of life-lessons, such as team building and leadership, which are key things to developing healthy life-long habits.

Although it is scary to think about, there are very real consequences to children developing Type 2 Diabetes. Cardiac surgeons perform hundreds to thousands of surgeries on adults with heart disease issues each year. The longer someone has had Type 2 Diabetes only increases their chances for developing heart disease later on in life. So even though it’s frightening, it’s up to the parents and caregivers of today’s children to educate and keep kids accountable for developing healthy habits to try and ward off the development of this horrible disease.

Guest Blogger Bio:  Carolyn Fallon is a 20-something year old with a passion for life, fitness and overall well being. She is an avid cycler, golfer and has known to bust some serious moves on the dance floor. Check out Carolyn’s blog at http://fullonfit.blogspot.com/

Janet Williams – Kids’ Yoga Teacher

I had the honour of being interviewed by Aruna Kathy Humphrys of Young Yoga Masters.  She was curious about how I, Janet Williams, as a certified Primary/Junior teacher and Registered Yoga Instructor, recommend that yoga be used in the classroom.  These 5 Tips give you the  Who, What, When, Where and Why of Kid’s Yoga.  I am proud to announce that I am joining the Young Yoga Masters Registered Children’s Yoga School Faculty and will share more great tools for yoga in classrooms, studios, and beyond in the What I See, I Can Be Module on Nov. 17 – 18.

Questions 1: Why Do Yoga with Kids?

Young Yoga Masters: Janet, you’ve been a school teacher and a yoga instructor for almost 20 years so you know what’s up with yoga in the classroom. What is your experience of the benefit of bringing yoga into the classroom? Give us one of your favorite stories of how children change after doing yoga.

Janet: One of my favorite stories is one I received in an e-mail – unsolicited. Here’s what she wrote me:

As an experienced Supply Teacher, I know that it can be a challenge to get children to listen during Physical Education because of the less structured format and the high excitement level. The first class that I tried “What I See, I Can Be” with, were a notorious Grade 2/3 split. They were known as a difficult class to control and all morning they acted up. When we got to Gym Class, I put on the CD and had the children follow along with the yoga book. The results were amazing! To my delight, the yoga book and CD captured their interest and attention. The children who had been uncooperative all morning settled down and remained settled down for the rest of the day.

This letter from this teacher came right after I published my book, and confirmed my mission to bring yoga to children.  She so clearly describes the benefits of bringing yoga into the classroom, to settle kids down and bring them health at the same time.

Question 2: Who Can Teach Kid’s Yoga?

Young Yoga Masters: Can anyone bring yoga into the classroom?  A lot of people think you need to be “really into yoga.” Do you?

Janet:  No, not at all.  You don’t have to be really into yoga or a yoga teacher to bring yoga to children, although it can help in providing confidence in teaching.  With the right resources and training, you can learn a number of routines that pretty much all kids love, routines that motivate children to do yoga.  I’ve had many people, like one Phys Ed Consultant at a School Board, who didn’t know about yoga but was sold after just one yoga class after seeing how much the kids loved it. Teachers can pick up a few good routines and start with those in the classroom.

Question 3: When to do Yoga with Children?

Young Yoga Masters: Teachers are already overloaded! What can teachers do to get kids doing yoga when they already have so much curriculum to cover?

Janet: It’s true, teachers are overloaded. There’s not enough time in the day to do all the things they are expected to do.  So I suggest two things, the first is what I call “2 for 1.”  Any time a teacher can teach two things at once, it is a good thing.

I’ve filled two Teacher Training manuals with 2 for 1 ideas.  So for example, in Math, when the kids are learning angles, one child measures the angles of another child’s arms using a protractor.  It is a great physical, hands on, healthy 2 for 1.
I also think it helps kids better remember the lesson.

The second way is for a teacher to bring a Children’s Yoga Teacher into the classroom. This way the teacher can do some prep or marking while they keep an eye on the yoga class.  If they get a Kids Yoga Teacher who knows how to handle children, it gives them an opportunity to prep for the next lesson.  That’s why the practicum is so important in Kids Yoga Teacher Training, so the Kid’s Yoga Teachers can deliver a good class.

Question 4: Where to hold a Yoga Class at School?

Young Yoga Masters: How can a teacher find space for yoga at school?

Janet:  Being able to do yoga in the classroom means choosing the right yoga poses. I chose the poses in the What I See, I Can Be book, so that could be done beside a desk.  Of course when you have a gym or playground you have less restrictions, but when I developed the yoga flow in my book, I made sure all the poses could be done anywhere.

For example, in the worst case scenario, when the desks can’t be moved and there is no carpeted area we just go ahead and do yoga right beside the desk. Even a pose like the final relaxation, we do on the floor beside the desk. Kids usually don’t care about it - they are all over the playground anyway.  But if the floor is really unsuitable, we just lay our head on the desk.  All 13 yoga poses in my book were very purposefully chosen for classrooms, so kids could do all the yoga beside the desk.

Questions 5:  What Gets Kids Motivated to do Yoga?

Young Yoga Masters:  What is the best way to get kids who are new to yoga to give it a try?

Janet: If I’m going into a new class I make sure I go in with visual aids.  As all good teachers know, you want children to HEAR the instructions and SEE the instructions.  This helps all the different types of learners. I bring in my book and my poster to every class, so the children can see and do.

Over the weeks I incorporate other props to engage their imagination. This helps them hold each yoga pose for longer times.  Plus I am fully engaged as a teacher, by walking around the room and providing positive feedback to boost their self-confidence and self-esteem.  Yoga is a time to empower children.  Of course I make corrections when the children could potentially hurt themselves, but I encourage the effort that they put in, rather than criticizing them for not being perfect.

One Bonus Tip

Young Yoga Masters:  Do you have one final tip for a new teacher who wants to bring yoga to kids.

Janet: Kids get bored of stuff very quickly, so as a Kid’s Yoga Teacher you need to have a very large treasure chest of visual aids and props.  Having a lot of training and resources means you have back-up ideas when something isn’t working.

I’ve thought up many ideas on my own, but it was also really nice to just get ideas that work by taking Kids Yoga Teacher Training.  That’s what I want to give teachers in the Registered Children’s Yoga School, so teachers don’t have to come up with everything on their own. That can be exhausting, plus you don’t know if it will work until you try it. So it helps to have experienced mentors to guide you when you’re filling your treasure chest.

Young Yoga Masters: Thank you Janet for these wonderful tips for bringing yoga to children.

Join Janet in the What I See, I Can Be Module of the Kids Yoga Teacher Training on November 17 – 18 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.  This Module includes over $200 in resources for you to take home.  Young Yoga Masters  recommends this Training Module for those looking for new resources for their kids yoga classes.  You’ll also get tons of ideas for bringing yoga into the classroom.

Details of the training are available in this PDF What I See, I Can Be Kids Yoga Teacher Training Module and on the Home Page of www.ChildrensYogaBooks.com

All these resources, including the Teacher Training Manuals Volume 1 and Volume 2 are included in the What I See, I Can Be – Kids Yoga Teacher Training Module.
More information is available on the Home Page of:   www.ChildrensYogaBooks.com

Children’s Yoga Books is committed to providing high quality Kids Yoga Resources and Training. If you have any questions for Janet, please leave them in the comments or contact Janet at info@ChildrensYogaBooks.com

My Iyengar Yoga Teacher in Australia Shandor Remete, always told the class - as we were holding a pose for 3 minutes or more and muscles beginning to shake- that pain was an illusion and that only Love was real.  It always got a laugh out of the group and helped distract our minds from the intensity of holding a pose like Warrior.  Even the most gentle posture in yoga, if held long enough, the muscles will begin to talk to you and sometimes loudly.

In the summertime, it is not unusual for children to run into (or rather run around) unsuspectingly into poison ivy.  Unfortunately, for my husband this summer, he was practically rolling around in it and didn’t know until 2 days later.  Poison Ivy has a wonderful way of ‘keeping you in the moment’ as all you want to do is scratch the incredibly itchiness away.  Again, unfortuatnely, itching only makes the situation worse.  After trying drug store cortisol chemical solutions it was clear that the store bought options were not bringing any relief.  Talking to friends, I learned about the “Old Wives Tales” or is that “Old Wise Tales” that say Oatmeal brings relief.  After doing some research on the internet, we learned that Oatmeal helped a lot of Poison Ivy sufferers.  My husband had a very bad case as it was on both arms, both legs, and on his torso.  This is the natural approach that worked the best that would be safe to do with your children.

A cool bathtub of water and put in the following:

• Oatmeal
• Milk
• Honey
• Aloe Vera Gel

A measuring cup of each of these were put into the tub.  The itchiness feeling would subside for about 2 hours and then my husband would have to take another Oatmeal bath.  It will probably save your drains from clogging, and also make it feel less like sitting in a bowl of porridge, if you grind the oatmeal flakes in a coffee bean grinder.

This is a wonderful teaching opportunity to talk about “Mind over matter” and the fact that “pain is an illusion”.  Clearly, any distractions from the itchiness is a good thing too!

I hope you enjoy a wonderful summer and that it is itch free!

Yoga Journal Magazine provided a wonderful review of the book in October, and “What I See, I Can Be” was a prize winner at the 2011 Living Now Book Awards in New York.

I love what Nugglemama does and I was thrilled to be invited to guest blog about my favourite topic regarding the state of children’s health today and the current children’s health crisis:  http://nugglemama.ca/2011/03/children%E2%80%99s-health-crisis-%E2%80%93-what-we-can-do/

It is always delightful to receive positive feedback, as I did with Nugglemama’s post about her experience with her own 5 children of varying ages.  She also did a video review!  The children responded in a wonderful way to the book and DVD.  Check out these kids in action. http://nugglemama.ca/2011/03/what-i-see-i-can-be-yoga-flow-for-children-review/

Just recently, Nugglemama did a review of our new game called “Yoga Match”, which is a fun Memory & Movement Card Game.
http://nugglemama.ca/2012/06/yoga-match-fun-and-fitness-rolled-into-one/

Nugglemama’s Children Doing Yoga

With the intention of using the book as a resource in schools and homes, I also created a series of tools to help teachers, parents, and grandparents.  Resources include an interactive DVD, Colouring & Activity Book, Posters, Blackline Masters for teachers, and a fun memory and movement card game called “Yoga Match”.  These have all been consciously produced in Canada, with FSC certified environmentally friendly paper.  Kid friendly Yoga Mats are coming, which we are really excited about!

One tip for helping keep kids active and moving this summer, is to incorporate yoga into their daily routine.  Just as we have taught them to brush their teeth everyday, repetition works well with exercise also!

To learn how you can easily incorporate yoga into your child’s daily schedule, visit our Facebook Page www.Facebook.com/ChildrensYogaBooks and “Like” us  and receive a free gift for you, called “Discover 12 Simple Ways to Incorporate Yoga into Your Child’s Everyday Life” AND a free gift for your child!

Follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/childrens_yoga

Follow me on Pinterest at www.pinterest.com/childrensyoga

YouTube Channel at www.youtube.com/childrensyoga

To see more and order products, visit us at www.ChildrensYogaBooks.com

Happy Canada Day!

Janet Williams

Bio: Janet Williams is a certified Primary/Junior School Teacher, Yoga Instructor and Author of the award-winning book “What I See, I Can Be: A Guided Yoga Flow For Children”  www.childrensyogabooks.com

Raffi has been working tirelessly on his mission to make the world a better place through his Child Honouring organization www.childhonouring.org 

As part of that initiative, he is also bringing awareness to non-violence in sports and has created the song “On Hockey Days“.  The song focuses on having fun and being a good team player who respects others.  Check out the song here:  http://www.childhonouring.org/onhockeydays.html

The song is for sale on iTunes.

Find Raffi on Twitter at:  @Raffi_RC
Find Raffi on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/#!/Raffi.Cavoukian

Yoga Match

The cards can be used the same way as the game Concentration works, except that when the kids turn over a card, they each do the pose that they turned over.

When they turn over matching cards, they both do the Victory Pose.

Teachers in classrooms can empower children to choose 4 poses to build a Yoga Flow.    Here is a great flow to take the kids through:

This flow is great because it gets the heart rate up, moves the spine, and energizes the arms, legs and hips.

Yoga is all about self-empowerment, so by allowing the children to choose 4 poses they like and sequence those poses in a way that works for them,  it gives them an incentive to do the practice and make it their own.

Give it a try and let me know how you made out!

Click HERE to buy it now!

For those unfamiliar with Yoga, there can be a perception that Yoga is about turning into pretzels and doing gymnastics. But as this report shows, and as Yoga Instructors know, Yoga is about tuning into the body and focusing the mind. Concentrating the mind on the breath, the movement, and the poses helps children become more centered and relaxed. With all of the slow, deep breathing, more oxygen is going to the brain, making children more ready – and most importantly – more able to learn.
For those schools who have implemented Yoga, being able to track the
concentration ability in kids and seeing how it manifests in excellent grades,
must be very satisfying to the teachers, parents, but most of all to the
students themselves.

The students in this video are in their middle school years, a timeframe fraught with hormones and wild emotions starting to kick in. Hearing so many of the students talk about how Yoga helps them manage their emotions, giving them a clear mind, having the ability to reflect on themselves and their past actions, and helping them look wisely at choices to move forward, is a wonderful benefit of Yoga. For those who practice Yoga, they know that “This is what Yoga is all about!”

The teacher in the video said it beautifully when she shared that “Yoga is about learning the process for internal listening”. She also said that “She hopes each child can become a person who makes good choices – even when the choices are challenging and the answers aren’t clear.” Clearly, we need more inspired Teachers in schools, who are willing to give children the powerful tool of Yoga to their children, to help them deal more effectively with the pressures of their daily life.

If you would like to become an inspired teacher and offer your children yoga in your classroom or daycare, we have easy to use resources for Teachers in our Teacher Value Pack and a Self Guided Children’s Yoga Teacher Training Course that gives you everything you need to start your yoga program quickly and easily.

For more informtion about the Teacher Training click here.

For more information about the Teacher Value Pack click here.

National Attention is being given to this Current Health Issue.

On August 31, 2011 President Barack Obama declared September as “National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month”.  It is wonderful that national attention is being given to this serious issue and that positive steps to change have been introduced.

Children’s Yoga Books supports that President’s initiative and his Proclamation which can be read here:   http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/08/31/presidential-proclamation-national-childhood-obesity-awareness-month

On the website “Healthier Kids, Brighter Futures” they explain http://www.healthierkidsbrighterfutures.org/
that -
“More than 23 million children and teenagers in the U.S. are obese or overweight, a statistic that health and medical experts consider an epidemic. Childhood obesity puts nearly one third of America’s children at early risk for Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and even stroke – conditions usually associated with adulthood.

It’s not too late for our children. The first-ever National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month in September 2010 drew important public attention to the issues surrounding
childhood obesity and made an impact in reducing the prevalence of the epidemic. This year, we’re doing even more to spread the word to communities throughout the U.S., and President Barack Obama has lent his support to this important initiative through his recent proclamation.  But we can’t do it without you. We need your help to spread the word to encourage children to be active and eat healthy.”

So, we here at Children’s Yoga Books are doing what we can to get children moving in classrooms in schools and living rooms in homes.   We have helpful and easy to use resources for parents and teachers and a yoga program that children find fun.

Receive your free copy of the “12 Ways to Incorporate the Yoga Lifestyle into Your Child’s Daily Life”, by entering your name and email on the right hand side of the page.

Happy Yoga-ing!

The Creativity of Children and Yoga:  How We Started with “Sea Shells” and Ended Up with “Going to the Beach”

I teach yoga to children ages 4-8, on a weekly basis, at a local yoga studio and I have used many of the activities from Donna Freeman’s fabulous book “Once Upon a Pose”.  I also teach parents and teachers how to do yoga with children and I wanted to share how effective and fun “Sea Shells” has been with my students.

One of the children’s favourite activities is the “Sea Shells” game, which they request on a weekly basis.  I always encourage creativity in my yoga classes and I enjoy empowering children and fostering self-confidence within them by letting them ‘direct’, ‘lead’ and ‘teach’ the class through a yoga pose or share an idea that we all can try.

I have also been blessed to teach highly intelligent, fun and inventive children, so when we started playing “Sea Shells”, I started with having them run to the Sea and to the Shore and then calling out “Sea Shells” and having them do a Yoga Pose.  They loved it and we played it so often that I started adding distinctions like Deep Sea vs Shallow Water, and Shoreline vs Shore.

Each part of the story has a different area of the room that the movement or activity has to be performed in.  We ended up with so many movements and activities, that I created a map.  We also used some of the poses that are from my book “What I See, I Can Be:  A Guided Yoga Flow for Children”.  This is a wonderful activity because children like to run, which gets their heart rate up, they find it fun wondering what will come next that they have to dash off to, and they get to incorporate yoga poses into a story.

When I call out “Sea Shells” they choose which yoga pose they are going to do.  I encourage them to choose a different yoga pose every time that I call out “Sea Shells”.  I also leave the “What I See, I Can Be” Full Size Poster in a place that they can easily reference, in case they need an idea for a yoga pose.  This helps alleviate any potential stress for young children who may not be able to remember all of the poses or think of a new yoga pose to do in the excitement of running from place to place, and allows it them to focus on the fun aspect of the game.  This is also an excellent activity because other than the poster, no equipment is required and every one is a winner.

Click here to purchase “Once Upon a Pose”: http://www.childrensyogabooks.com/products.html#Item_701

Click here for the “Going to the Beach Game and Map”:  http://www.childrensyogabooks.com/pdf/how-to-play-going-to-the-beach-yoga-game-and-map.pdf

The story goes like this:

1. “All the children get into the car – mom and dad are taking us to the beach”. – The children then do an excellent abdominal yoga pose by sitting on their bottoms, bend their knees, put their feet in the air and press on the imaginary gas pedals, and their hands are on the steering wheel straight out in front of them.  They drive the car to the beach and I call out – “Faster, Slower, Turn to the right, Turn to the left, Stop at the light, Go again, See the Beach Entrance, Find a Parking Spot”.  This encourages them to hold the pose longer, as they pretend to drive their cars.

2. “Everyone we have arrived.  Time to get out of the car”. – The children stand up.

3. “Run to the Shoreline and put your toes in the water.  Check the temperature of the water”. – They go to the shoreline.

4. “Swim to the Deep Sea” – Using their arms they swim as they run to touch anywhere on the back wall.

5. “You see Dolphins swimming and playing. Go in and join them” – They do the Dolphin Yoga Pose, by placing their hands and forearms on the ground
and with their feet behind them, they push their bums into the air as they
would in Dog Pose.  Then they make their heads move in a circle by coming forward with their body as far as they can go (usually just passed the fingers) and then they swoop back as far as they can go (usually around the elbows).

6. “Sharks are Circling” – They run in a circle.

7. “Children in the playground” – They go to the back corner and pretend to be in a playground.

8. “There is a Large Boat in the Deep Sea” – They do the Boat Pose from the book “What I See, I Can Be”.

9.“There are large butterflies on the beach.  Join the Butterflies” – They do the Butterfly pose from the Yoga Match Game.

10. “There is a Row Boat in the Shallow Water” – They get up and go to the Shallow Water and they sit on their bottoms, raise their legs in the air and balance in a V pose and move their arms as if rowing the boat.

11. “Time to Fly a Kite” – They do the Triangular Kite Pose from the book “What I See, I Can Be”.

12. “Time for a healthy lunch.  Join Mom and Dad on the Picnic Table and have a Picnic.” – front wall in the middle – sitting down pretending to eat.

13. “Have to wait after eating before going swimming – Put on sunscreen and Sun tan on the Beach to catch some sun rays”.  – They do the Meadow Pose from the book “What I See, I Can Be” on the beach.

14. “I see Oysters on the Beach” – They do the Oyster Pose from “What I See, I Can Be”.

15. “Trees in the Forest” – they do Tree Pose along the front wall.  (Chairs in a Circle in the Forest – If there are enough children, they make a tight circle with their left shoulder facing into the middle of the circle and their right shoulder on the outside of the circle, and slowly and carefully, they can squat down, until everyone is sitting on someone else’s knees and then they raise their hands in the air.  This is known as the Yoga Chair Pose, but in this case, with some support from each other.  Again, everyone is a winner.

16. “Making Sand Castles on the beach” – they use their imaginations and build sand castles.

17. “You found a 5 pointed Star Fish on the Beach.  Be a Star Fish” –the children lay down and make 5 points with their 2 arms and 2 legs and 1 head.

18. “It’s finally time to go swimming.  Splash in the shallow water”. – the children pretend to splash around.

19. “Lily Pads in the shallow water” – the children do Full Lotus Pose or Half Lotus Pose, with legs crossed.

20. “Frog squatting on the Lily Pad” – the children do the Yoga Squat Pose, with knees bent, feet apart and pointing at 45 degrees outward, bum close to the ground, back straight and head pointing to the ceiling.

21. “Frog jumping off the Lily Pad and eating flies” – the children jump up out of the squat pose and stick their tongue out to catch flies.

22. “It was a great day and it is time for a photo.  Take a picture” – Children pretend to take a picture.

23. “Smile and Do Your Favourite Yoga Pose for a Group photo” – children smile and freeze in a Yoga Pose as I pretend to take a group photo.

24. “Catch the last rays of the sun before leaving” – children do the Meadow Pose from “What I See, I Can Be”.

During these 24 steps, I will call out Sea Shells randomly 6-7 times as we are going through the story and the children then choose a yoga pose to do.  We hope you have as much fun playing “Going to the Beach” as we have!

This is our free download for you to enjoy.
Just click here for the PDF of the “Going to the Beach Game and Map”:  http://www.childrensyogabooks.com/pdf/how-to-play-going-to-the-beach-yoga-game-and-map.pdf

He is playing the guitar, but you can see in the clip here that “something” is playing through him.  His hands and fingers seem like they are operating beyond conscious control.  He seems to be stepping aside in some way and allowing himself to be used as the instrument, thus making space for a sublime performance, which never would have been possible if he had really been trying hard.  He is literally becoming the music and inviting us, through our ears, to join him.  A sublime form of Ear Yoga!

This experience was a wonderful reminder of how we literally become our Yoga practice on our mat.  We step aside in some way to drop the mind-chatter with the lists, plans, and worries to become one with the breath, to become one with the pose, everything around us dropping away and we surrender into a sublime experience on our mat.  We are listening to the breath and listening to the heart beating, as these sounds create our own unique symphony inside.

Celine Dion sings “I’ve Got The Music In Me”, and it is a great line because we all have it in us!

Everyone attending the concert felt compelled to sway and dance with Jesse Cook’s music, the chords resonating in deep places that only music can reach, getting lost in the sounds, allowing ourselves to be moved by the melodies.

It reminded me of watching young children dance to music, seeing how they naturally allow themselves the freedom of expression to move, without inner criticism, without inner judgment.  It is beautiful to witness how this freedom comes through when they practice Yoga.  It is a wonderful experience to practice Yoga with children as they haven’t yet developed a strong ego that needs to step aside in order to have something express through them.  They effortlessly become the pose, without any self consciousness, as Jesse Cook effortlessly becomes the music.  Through this concert Jesse transported us back to that child-like experience.

After the concert, there was a feeling of elation, of an experience that was special and exciting and transcendent.  It was an encounter that really was beyond words, and yet we spent the rest of the night searching for the right expression to describe how we were feeling.  This is exactly what happens after a great Yoga practice!

But for all the sophisticated expressions of delight we can come up with to describe a fantastic experience, the best one is from one of the children in my class, who said with bright eyes and a wide smile, “Janet that was so much FUN!”

Jesse that was so much FUN!  Thank you!