It has only been about a week, but a month of ups and downs, leaving old things behind and finding new. Old friends reappearing and some newer friends disappearing. These changes bring with them both joy and sadness. But today, the warm sun melted away any sadness, and I felt as though I could begin anew. There are SO many new opportunities each day when I awaken.

I am back to painting window murals at the North Oakland YMCA, a project that doesn’t pay anything but satisfaction. Sometimes for me, meeting the challenge and having it turn out the way I want is the best payment there is. I can only hope the work I did has been a great advertisement for our upcoming YMCA Halloween events! We will see! Today I also began painting aliens on the windows at the Y, with more alien invaders on their way…fun! Our theme for HAY (Halloween at the Y) this year is Alien Invasion! Any day that I get to make art, is a wonderfully satisfying day for me.

The best part of my day was spending at least a good portion of it with my girls. I know they enjoy being with people their own age, but today we seemed more like girlfriends and it was fun. We met at the Y after my volunteer work (and their volunteer work) was finished, and we went and had an early dinner. We came home and did some much-needed work around the house and the yard. Then we all went on a bike ride which turned into a real adventure (for me). For some reason they took me on this adventure into a world I didn’t know existed, until now, and it was cool. Also, it was a nice workout! We also saw deer galloping all around us, rabbits, birds, and many wonderful autumn colors. The weather was perfect and the afternoon felt perfect. We laughed together and I wanted to write it all down, or paint it in a picture.

At last we came home and worked on our Halloween decorations. We had a nice time doing that as well, as our Golden Retrievers, Comet and Chili, supervised our work. Then, we had to go to Van Huessen Farm, where the girls had volunteered today, to see the jack-o-lantern display there in the evening. They had carved a pumpkin as well, so we got to see it on display with the others. There were hundreds of glowing jack-o-lanterns lighting up the dark night. It was breathtaking. We walked around looking at the pumpkins, and waited until 9pm had passed so we could take their jack-o-lantern home. It was so much fun. I loved seeing how children and adults had created their beautiful and expressive art on pumpkins! SO many creative ideas.

The funniest part of our evening was our trip to Party City to look for witch capes for the girls. There were these two young guys working there who were dressed up in these outrageous costumes and they followed us around the store, flirting with with the girls the entire time. The one guy had a skirt on, and was asking us if skirts were always this uncomfortable to wear. What a perspective you get shopping with your teenage daughters when there are young men around. So funny. Halloween seems to bring out the creativity and adventurous feelings in people. I love Halloween!

Speaking of Halloween, I am looking forward to telling/singing the poem, The Skeletons’ Ball, translated from Spanish by my teacher, Sydney Solis! I will begin practicing it and my plan is to tell it at the HAY event, Halloween at the Y! I received it this weekend, and it sounds great!

Lots of new experiences to share, for sure! First, about Eischens Yoga! This past weekend, my teacher, Kari Tomashik was in town, and I went to her workshops on Saturday in Ferndale. What an amazing experience I had! It was awesome to learn so many new things, and to leave there feeling light as a feather, yet grounded and peaceful. I learned how working in the standing poses and getting my legs working really helped me to feel more comfortable when seated. I actually did not have to use my neck and shoulders to hold me up when seated! I also learned some things about myself, how I try to use my neck muscles to make my legs work in downward dog. Currently those two parts of my body are connected. I began to learn to allow the muscles in my neck to relax. It is a process. It is about me getting out of my head.

Equally rewarding was seeing several of my students who were able to attend Kari’s workshops as well! It was wonderful to share the experience with them, and to see how it supported and nourished their own practice.

More new experiences. I began teaching kids classes again this week, after several weeks off. I love the time I spend with kids of all ages! My newest job is at the Auburn Hills Community Center. What a beautiful facility it is and I get to teach in a really warm and beautiful studio. I loved the kids who came to my first class yesterday. It is a small class right now, but I believe it will only continue to grow. Storytime Yoga
is a wonderful method for sharing the beauty of yoga, story and art. I am finding these techniques continue to become more of a resource to me. I am looking forward to sharing this with more children, their parents, their caregivers.

This week I began with my favorite story, The Peddler’s Dream. What a fun and lively tale it is to tell! In my class at Auburn Hills, we also created books to record our own dreams, our favorite yoga poses, whatever we wish! Already one of the older girls in the class was recording her favorite pose. It made me feel great!

This morning I taught in ChildWatch at the North Oakland YMCA. I currently do half hour classes there on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. The kids are much younger than I usually get a chance to work with. They are preschool, but most are very young. Today they looked as if they did not want me to leave!

On my art project ideas pages, I will share with you the projects we do in my classes for the next 6 weeks! It should be a LOT of fun! Many adventures to be had!

Happy Autumn!

Lisa

This week, while the losses got me down, I rejoiced in the new connections. While I grieved for my cousin who died this week, and for her family who will miss her, I found hope and joy in being reunited with relatives separated by time and distance. While I felt the loss of a favorite supervisor leaving, I was met with the promise of bright, new opportunities ahead of me. It is all life; of beginnings and endings and in betweens.

The Dog Days of summer continue, even as I know they are coming near to an end. Each week, I enjoy my kids in the YMCA Day Camp, and I get to know them better, to watch them grow as they create amazing things. Often there are new faces, or the reluctant kids join in when they see the fun we are having. This week’s them was Jungle Safari, and on a whim I decided to try our hand at the same Animal Finger Puppet project I did with my teens in our home school group. It was a great success, as the kids came up with the most creative ways to express themselves with clay and the many goodies I brought with me. It was interesting to watch how they learned from each other and began adding accessories to their animal puppets, such as hair, capes, hats, guitars, bows, and cups. Very cool!

Here are some images of our art. Click on thumbnail images once or even twice to enlarge!

On Thursday afternoon, we did a fun yoga session where we began with a Seashore Warm-up, and ended up crashing our boats on a Jungle coast. We each had a favorite jungle animal and we made up our own tale using those animals, and inventing poses for our animals. Of course we included some old favorites too, such as cobra pose, lion’s pose and crocodile pose. We had a great time – the kids have such great imaginations! We ended with an activity for meditation that the kids really enjoyed. I brought in fabric, and we created Yoga Animal Flags. It was a lot of fun to come up with symbols for our flags, and show the animal friends we wanted to represent on our flags. We simply used permanent markers on fabric, and the results were very nice. This was a project that seemed to appeal to all ages and to boys as well as to girls. As always, the time seemed to go by way too fast.

Finally, as the week came to a close, I truly enjoyed my adult classes on Thursday. We have so much fun in our Thursday evening class at the YMCA, and it feels so sincere and heartfelt that we not only learn and grow together, but we share so much of ourselves in the process. It is the most joyful yoga class I have ever taught. I leave there feeling so uplifted that it stays with me, and I think again and again how lucky I am to be there. We have a recent Gulf War veteran in our midst, and it brings to my heart how much this person was willing to give for us all, and how he now needs to be cared for and to feel safe and that he can at least relax. When you see first-hand what war does to our bodies and minds, it makes you realize how precious is PEACE. In my heart I dedicate my classes and my teachings to this man, to my cousin Audrey who died a week ago, and to us all, that we can at last know peace.

May we all know peace,

Lisa

Although we were not exactly 10,000 leagues under the sea, the thought of the sea, the cool ocean water and the creatures who live there was a refreshing thought for a hot July afternoon! On Wednesday afternoon it was Art Day. I really love how the kids who are there each week look forward to my arrival. And there are always a few new kids who join in for the fun. We began with sheets of black construction paper, and “drew” our undersea designs with glitter glue, and then once the glue was dry we colored in with oil pastels. It was a really cool affect that we achieved – almost like a stained glass window. Many of us created fish, sea turtles, dolphins and other sea creatures. I thought the finished art was outstanding, as it truly expressed a love for nature. I enjoyed how many children overcame their self doubts about their own drawing abilities, as when you try to draw with glue, you have a chance to try something new and unfamiliar. You stop judging as much and become less concerned with erasing lines. It frees you up to become more expressive and honest with your art, and it is more about creating and less about “trying to be something”. Some children tried to say they “messed up” again and wanted new paper. Of course I gave them more paper, but I took some of the pieces that would have been discarded and said, “there are no mistakes in art!” I created pieces out of what would have been thrown away, and showed them how some of my best work comes from a line or a mark that I at first thought was a mistake. The kids were amazed at how that was true. I am hoping they learn not to throw away their art, but that they see mistakes as opportunities to create something even better.

On Thursday, we had yoga class and we began with our sea theme, doing the Seashore Warmup that Sydney Solis has in her book, “Storytime Yoga – Teaching Yoga to Children” and it was the best Seashore Warmup ever! The kids came up with some awesome, creative poses for all the sea creatures we could think of. We did move on to Sun Salutations, and it was a hot day, even at the YMCA, so we cooled off with a longer story. The kids were ready for a rest! I told the Ukrainian tale of “Honesty and Dishonesty.” I was impressed with the way the kids attended, even amidst the chaotic nature of Aftercare, with kids coming and going all the while. Again, the few remaining children came up with some great pose ideas for some of the characters. It is so difficult to take resting pose of any kind in the chaotic room, so lately I have been ending with a centering mandala art activity instead. It is very calming and meditative and the kids love it. On Thursday, it was Rainbow Handprint Mandalas. I have some nice photos of a few of the works they created. Most of the kids again chose oil pastels on black art paper. Very nice, bright rainbow colors were achieved. One girl who had come to class for the first time, told me she was going to ask her mom if she could come to the YMCA EVERY Thursday! I am SO grateful for being able to connect with children in such a positive way, I feel so lucky and blessed by these children. Some of the kids who joined us for art this week were teens, and so I enjoyed the wide range of age and how the art was a universal connection – great for any age!

See Art Projects Page – Rainbow Healing Handprint Mandalas

Love to all,
Lisa

Click on images below to see a larger view!

Then, I ended my time with them by doing some more body painting as I had done the day before. On Wednesday we had made Fireworks paintings in our art class, followed by me creating original Fourth of July tattoos on their hands or arms. Some of the kids wanted the same tattoo again. It was red, white and blue stripes with a white star, kind of like a shooting star! Some kids wanted their ankles painted and most of them wanted their faces painted. I painted a red, white and blue butterfly on one girl’s face. All were red, white and blue, and they went home looking really awesome. What was SO cute was hearing them all talk about how they were NEVER going to wash these off, and how they hoped their moms would not make them take a bath that night or they would have to take it with a bag on their arm or hand. So very sweet. A couple of the little girls came up to me and hugged me and snuggled against me, thanking me for what I had done. It was a joy and a pleasure to spend time with them, and to see them so happy.

This week at the Y, the theme is King Tut’s Exploration. Yesterday, Wednesday, I brought a painting project for us to do for Art Day. We painted a King Tut’s death mask, but we could do it like a self-portrait if we wanted to. We left borders around the edges of the page to write our names and other messages in hieroglyphics. Our paint was gold, blue and red metallic paint. I loved the look of the metallic paint! Some of the kids even used silver. These turned out WAY better than I could have expected and the kids were all so absorbed in their work that when their parents came to pick them up, they wanted to stay and finish their paintings. One girl wrote, “I love Lisa” in hieroglyphics on her painting. When she told me this, I felt happy and grateful to share this love and positive experience with her. I can’t really describe that moment in words, of feeling that connection, that appreciation of one human being for another, except that it was mutual. It felt as though we had known each other all our lives. She is a sweet and appreciative child, as are nearly all of the kids that come to this program each week. I adore them! So many kids thanked me for coming to spend time with them each week that my heart felt very full. They are so special to me and I appreciate THEIR time. Their love makes me want to do many special things for them, to try even harder to tell wonderful stories and come up with amazing art projects.

All of this abundance that I’m feeling, is so striking in contrast to what I feel about the job situation and how the economy is heading here in Michigan. Many companies attempt to cut costs by cutting pay and benefits and then we all suffer. So many of my friends and families have been getting laid off or losing benefits. The stinginess flows all the way down to the kids, who feel it too. I try not to let financial pressures affect the way I approach my life with my own three children, or with my children at the YMCA. If we skimp on kids, they feel it and how can we expect their hearts to be in it? My prayer is that somehow I can support myself and find income from other areas in my life, in order to keep doing the work I love to do with these kids. I am breathing right now, praying and calming my mind and my heart so I can continue to create abundance in the life of my own children, and those whom I spend time with each week at the YMCA.

With love and gratitude to ALL my kids!

Lisa

This afternoon they were SO patient as I described our art project to go along with our weekly theme: Independence Days. We did a fun painting project called Fireworks painting, where the kids and I used some water-based paints (glittering Red and Blue of course!) on paper and our BREATH through a straw to blow the paint around to look like Fourth of July fireworks! These kids were so awesome and so patient as they waited for me to pour out their paints. Many of them had seen the Rochester Hills fireworks the night before, so I listened to them describe to me what fireworks looked like.

After this, I did some body paints for them, creating Stars and Stripes tattoos for their arms and hands. It was a lot of fun for us all, and again the kids surprised me with their patience in waiting their turns, and looking out for the younger kids.

Happy Fourth of July! May God Bless America!

My skills and my connectedness with others, has blossomed since I began my Mythic Yoga studies this past October.  All of my interactions are improving daily.  Disappointments arise but seem more to be a part of the plan, destined to redirect me, to open me up to new possibilities.  Today, I had an unusually sad and unpleasant day, full of upheaval.  It was a day that strained my parenting skills, and highlighted my own insecurities about being a capable parent.  Just one of those days you wonder how you will get through.  As everything seemed to feel like it was falling apart around me, there was a certain destruction that was taking place.  At some point, I remembered what I had learned about myself and I am still learning throughout my mythic yoga studies, about how we need to let go. How we transform through difficulties and challenges.  I remembered how during our course, when I had also talked to my priest, he had mentioned those same word to me and it was like I heard it for the first time!  He said that when we pray to God for greater patience, we should be careful what we wish for!  He said that patience isn’t just “handed” to us, that when we ask for it, we are given the challenges required for us to grow in patience.  It was at that moment I remembered that I had kneeled down at the end of liturgy this morning, and prayed repeatedly to become a “better mom”, to have more strength as a mom!  Wow, I never knew prayers were answered so quickly!  My challenge came hurtling at me the moment I walked out the doors of the church!  And then, a sense of peace came over me at some point today, that this wasn’t the end of the world, and everything was going to be ok.  Once I felt that, things began to slowly improve.  I believe I have learned something, and my prayers, well, they have been answered!

Currently, I am busy preparing for my special needs yoga workshop coming up in May, and things are moving along.  I already have four people signed up for my workshop and I am very excited!  I have much to do, but feel that all of my work from the past several years is coming to fruition in the form of this workshop.  

Unfortunately, my Auburn Hills community center classes did not make it – no one registered!  Not a single soul!  That, I have to admit was a hard lesson for me.  I was SO excited to be slated to teach a Teen Yoga class, and another Family Yoga class, but it was not to be.  At first I was disappointed, and I guess I still have that feeling of missing what “could have been” but I know there was some greater purpose in all of this.  Now I have decided to spend the time learning more about teens and how to guide them effectively.  It seems to be working!  I am reading a wonderful book called, “The Good Teen.”

My greatest success of the past week, were all of my classes on Friday, at our home school group, in Warren, MI.  As I had mentioned in my previous blog post, I had an unexpected 2-hour art class land in my lap for Friday!   Sooooo, I decided to take my finger puppet idea a step further.  The ideas were flowing from me.  What happened was, two teachers could not be here today for classes, so I was asked to fill the time.  I had two hours to fill and thought, what to do? Then it hit me!  More about that in a moment…

When I arrived at school on Friday, two other home school moms were there talking, and one is a massage therapist.  She was about to go off and give her friend a massage when I walked in.  She mentioned that she wished the friend could also give her a massage in return.  I said that I would love to help, but massage therapy was not my area of expertise, to which she responded that I could do a yoga class! What a brilliant idea! Sometimes the best things happen spontaneously.  I was glad she asked, because yoga was not popular in our group last school year, so I didn’t even offer to teach it as a separate class this year.  So, we set up a time, and to my surprise the two women showed up and brought their two “tweens” into the room as well.  I had not even thought about teaching a Family class, and now, here was the perfect opportunity!  The kids did NOT want to do yoga, they wanted no part of it and were very, very resistant, complaining.  Their moms kept telling them it was good for them and they should at least try it.  The whole atmosphere felt negative – and I understood it – I have “been there done that” with my kids.  I could see the kids were getting more uncomfortable by their mom’s insistence, so I kind of took over.  The kids know me, so I joked with them about yoga, made it a light and fun interaction and saw they were trying to relax.  

I said to the kids, ”I often tell kids to join in when they feel they are ready, and that the rest of us are just going to get started.  You feel free to join us when you are ready.”

Of course when they see we are having fun, they join right in.

Well, I asked the moms if it was ok to do a “fun” practice, since I had originally thought we’d be doing an adult practice.  I was thinking therapeutic, but of course, fun can be therapeutic as well!  IN this instance, it was!  They were game, so we got going.  We did a greeting and then my favorite warm-up, the Seashore warm-up, which the kids LOVED, it took about 2 seconds and they were totally into it.  They loved the crab especially.  After that, class flowed smoothly and we had a blast.  They couldn’t believe how fun yoga was.  The best part was how the parent-child team began to listen to each other.  How they interacted in a more positive way, how they felt each other’s breathing.  We did many partner poses, and you could see the parent-child teams growing more harmonious, more peaceful.  Plus we laughed a LOT.  It was beautiful.  My only disappointment, was that the class got interrupted rather abruptly, but this was an opportunity to show how yoga helps us to adapt, be more flexible.  One child had to leave the room, because her piano teacher arrived (and I had no idea this was going to happen) and then her mom had to leave because her daughter couldn’t find her piano.  I was just about to tell a story.  But that’s ok, the young boy who was left liked the very active yoga poses I began teaching next: I taught him bakasana and L-handstand, etc, and he was VERY excited.  Again, I reached into my bag, and pulled out another “trick”. Sydney has given me SO many tools to be prepared and teach what I need to teach.  By the time the other mom got back, he was able to show off his new skills, and then we all did some inversions and resting pose, since I had to get out of there to teach my art class!  The rest of the day, the parents and kids were talking about how they had NO idea yoga would be that much fun! 

Art class, was beyond my wildest dreams.  I took several huge risks.  Well, for me they were huge.  First, I knew they had all just had a very long, lecture-heavy class (sorry, don’t want to offend anyone who enjoys lectures!) for Biology class, and that was just after eating lunch when they were full of energy and some of them full of caffeine as they often walk up to Tim Horton’s for lunch.  

I said, “SO - who besides me has a lot of energy right now?!”

And almost every single hand went up.  I told the teens that I can’t sit down and make art for two hours if I’ve got this much body energy going on, if I feel hyper, I need to turn it into a calmer more creative energy.  

So, I then asked, “who likes to make noise?!” 

Again, nearly every hand went up.  My own kids were a bit embarrassed (but they will just have to get over it!)  I knew I had to make this a creatively energetic class.  So, I opened up my Music Bag, and let them reach in and pull stuff out.  Here, these guys are teens and many of them even liked my animal shaped tambourines!  I have some cool drums and stuff, and they began jingling and making a TON of noise!  It was awesome. 

I said, “OK!  Now we are going to move!”  I was like a cheerleader.  The kids also have spring fever, and though it was wet outside, it wasn’t too cold, so I announced that we were going to play the instruments and proceed outside.  

Some of them were incredulous, “We are going to take the instruments OUTSIDE?!” 

To which I responded, “sure, why not?”  Next thing I knew, we were heading outside, and making noise all the way.  A long line of teens with me leading and my assistant following.  Everyone was wondering what we were up to, and that was the fun of it.  Once out the door, I said to my student, Andrew, who is turning into a real leader, “You are the leader!”

Andrew asked if we were going around the building, to which I said YES.  It is a huge building, and goes along a freeway service drive.  I mentioned to everyone that walking was also a form of meditation, and that got a few smiles.  Most of the kids were glad to get outside, it was a bit chilly, but it at least it is spring in Michigan!  We were still jingling and playing drums, and the next thing, Andrew turned our lively walk into an all-out RUN!  Soon, we were all jogging around the building, through the grass, the mud, the fresh air, it felt amazing.   When we made it back inside, everyone proceeded into our classroom, where I wordlessly collected my instruments.  It cleared our minds…it was like taking a shower.  We were ready to create!

NOW, I could launch my finger puppet ideas.  I wondered how teens would react to this, but once they got their hands into the clay, they were excited and engaged.  I made the method super-simple, so they could focus on creating.  I had tons of stuff to embellish their creations, and what is most amazing was the creative ways they all came up with to use the materials.  What could be hair? What could make wings?  What about the eyes?  What kind of coverings did the animals have?  Mythological, or real?  What could they use for supports?  For beaks?  For noses?  They each used things in ways I had not even envisioned using the materials.  When technical difficulties arose, they came up with stronger supports, and they also pitched in and helped each other out.  It was absolutely the BEST art class I had all year, any year, and it wasn’t even my regular art class.  I made the class open to anyone, so other kids whose teachers were not there on Friday, were able to try the class.  It was great.  Everyone was successful.  I had someone take photos for me, and will have them next week.  I absolutely HAVE to share these!  So, our next step is creating cards.  We got some fun photos of the kids with their puppet creations, and then our puppets had their own photo shoot. My idea was to turn them into cards, such as ATC’s (artist trading cards) and then put sayings on them that the kids come up with – so they will be relevant to teens – and then creating a design for the other side of the cards, and then printing them out so we can all have a set with everyone else’s card.  I told the kids if they turn out well, perhaps they can sell them.  I mean, how do any cards get created?

Anyway, the project evolved as we went along.  It was SO cool.  If nothing else we have a great display for their end of the year talent show.

Next, I was to face my big art adventure at the YMCA on Saturday.  And more ahead!

Stay creative!

Lisa

My Family Yoga class is small this time, it has two families.  I have a family of five and they are so cute together!  I see them coming into class with all of their stuff!  A baby carrier, coats, toys, diaper bag…it is a big undertaking!  There is a baby girl, just over a year old who doesn’t yet walk.  She climbs on the others and tries to do what they are doing, she wants to be a part of everything.  Now, we could see this as a distraction or an annoyance, but it is a gift.  How to be open to allow her to do what she needs to do, and to be a part of what we are doing when she is able.  Mom and Dad take turns caring for her if she needs to be fed or her diaper changed, and it works.  They are a real team.  There is an older sister who is about three, and an older brother who is eight.  They interact in some interesting and fun ways.  The three year old girl carries a pink “tea” basket around ( a tea set used to be inside) with her in her hand almost the entire time.  She sets it down to do some of the poses.  Every week, she does more and more of the poses. The eight-year-old boy loves yoga, knows all the answers to my questions, and is very energetic.  My second family is a mother and daughter team.  They are truly a team.  The mother is positive, enthusiastic and accepting.  Her daughter is a 4th-grader with Downs syndrome.  Her mom brought her to the class so she could learn how to breathe and to try to control her anger better.   Her mom is an inspiration to me, very accepting, and being able to see her daughter’s strengths.  Here we have two families with considerable challenges just getting to class!  I see how much they value their time together as a family, and I value them taking the time to be with me.

Last night I told the story of the Turnip.  It is a Ukrainian tale that is about a poor family who faces the challenge of having enough to eat.  They find a tiny seed and plant it, and it grows into a GIANT turnip!  The entire family, including their pets have to work together to harvest their giant turnip!  I believe they all saw a bit of themselves in that story!  We did a fun and for me an adventurous art project.  We created finger puppets!  Wow, I wanted to see what it would be like to do it at the end of the yoga class.  I simplified it a bit to make it work, and it did.  The kids had a great time, and all were able to get involved in it.  We all created our favorite animal.  The youngest girl made a hippopatamus!  The boy made a lion and another animal.  I was so pleased their parents told them what a great job they did, and did not try to make the animals be ”perfect.”  It was each child’s vision of their animal.  The most fun part for me was that I created a bunny puppet for the little girl, and her older sister took it and “modified” it withher own creative touch.  Believe it or not, it was better than what I had made.  Dad liked it so much that he decided to take it to work with him for his desk!  I was able to let go of my creation, being “MY” creation.  When you give your art, your teaching, your gifts to another, they will take them and integrate them and make it a part of their artistic vision.  Once it leaves our hands, it keeps something of us but it becomes something new and is reborn!  The kids left the class saying how much they love yoga, and we were all smilng and laughing together. 

Today I must spend the a part of my day preparing for an unexpected extra high school art class on Friday!  At first I panicked.  How could I teach an extra two-hour art class?!  But I will!  In fact I now see that something amazing will come from what at first appeared to be an insurmountable challenge.  As the day has gone on I’ve become filled with ideas.  I will be sharing those, as well as the results, whatever they may be!

Namaste and Happy April Fools Day!  Stay Creative!  Lisa