Rainbow Dreams and Art Blog

Lisa with Sunflower Mask

I just returned from a magical week of Storytime/Mythic Yoga training with Sydney Solis, in Boulder, CO. It was much more than training, it was a beautiful life experience.

Each day was filled with the most delightful people, stories, yoga, nature, and experiences that I could ever imagined possible. I also came face-to-face with some personal challenges, working through a complex story, experiencing the ups and downs of a challenging mask-making project, and dealing with altitude sickness! Sydney is an amazing and inspiring woman and teacher, a gifted story-teller, yoga teacher, and artist, as well as a wonderful mom and friend. To have an opportunity like this was something I will always cherish. The other women who studied with me were beautiful, brave and amazing women who are now my friends.

I created a mask that at first did not seem like the thing I wanted to create. I battled with the image, wanting instead to do a cute animal or bird, and finally I surrendered to the Sun idea, which turned into a Sun that was also a Sunflower. At one point in the process I felt like giving up or even throwing it away, but with Wendy Rochman’s guidance and encouragement, I stuck it out and finished my art. Later on, I was happy with it, even though it didn’t match up with what I’d thought it would be. In some ways, it was even better than my idea because it was more of an expression of what I was experiencing in my life and my practice.

When I returned home from Colorado yesterday, the first thing I saw was a long-awaited package of Ukrainian books sitting on my bed. I had ordered them a month ago, and now here they were, sitting on my bed. As I opened the package and took out the first book, I fell in love with its beautiful purple cover. I opened the book and on the very FIRST page was the Ukrainian legend, “The Sunflower.” I could hardly believe my eyes. And the story seemed to be the very same thing that happened to me, with my life, my art, the mask…the sunflower was the son of the Sun, it came from the Sun.

Here is the story of The Sunflower:

The Sunflower (from A Garland of Legends and Folk Tales from Ukraine – adapted and retold in English by Oleksandra Stratiy)

In the beginning, none of the plants on the Earth had flowers. Can you imagine? All the plants were just green. One day, the plants decided to make a request to the Sun, their god, and to ask him for flowers of different colors. But the Sun, high in the sky, replied, “I take good care of you, I think. I give you light. I give you warmth. You can live without flowers. Anyway, I am too busy. I have the entire solar system to worry about.”

Their conversation was overheard by the Sun’s son, a golden-haired Prince. He was eager to be of help. “May I go, Father, and do this job? I would be glad to travel to Earth and assist the plants,” said he.

“No, it’s a very long way from the sky to the Earth, and it is dangerous. You may never come back home,” was his father’s answer. Some days passed. The Prince came back to his Father with the same request. This time, the Sun sighed and shook his head sadly, but he agreed to let his son go.

To the Earth flew the son of the Sun. He roamed around the world. Nature trembled in anticipation of the most beautiful miracle. Wherever the Prince went, the Earth bloomed. Beautiful flowers appeared in the jungles and in the deserts, in the forests and in the meadows, in the mountains and on the waters.

Soon, beautiful, colorful flowers of every size and shape covered the planet. On seeing the results of his work, the Prince beamed with satisfaction. He was so proud of himself, so excited to share his happiness with his Father! He was ready to go home.

The Prince rotated his great wings and struggled to rise from the Earth to the sky. But he could not! He had given his power and energy to the Earth. He could no longer fly. He could not return to his Father, the Sun. The weak Prince fell on the ground, weeping bitter tears. His Father cried in the sky.

At dawn, the Prince managed only to raise his head to look at the Sun. He became the Sunflower. Ever since that time, a golden-headed flower raises his head to gaze at the Sun. His Father promised him homecoming in the next life.

My Sunflower Mask:

The Sunflower

Tags: Art, Personal Storytelling, Storytelling, Yoga by Lisa
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It’s a warm, breezy, summer evening, the kind of evening that feels like it will go on forever. As I reflect upon the week just past, I am grateful for the many opportunities that I had to connect with others…my students of all ages, my friends, and my family. It was truly a week of ups and downs, of losses and of gains, of reminiscing, and of learning and looking forward to new discoveries.

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

Tags: Art, Art activities, Personal Storytelling, Storytelling, Yoga by Lisa
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It’s been hot outside this past week here in Michigan! I’ve enjoyed my afternoons at the YMCA where this past week we had a nice “cooling” theme…”10,000 Leagues Under the Sea”…

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!

Tags: Art, Art activities, Storytelling, Yoga by Lisa
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My latest adventure has been with the kids at the North Oakland YMCA in Auburn Hills, MI. What a lot of fun! I’m teaching art class on Wednesday afternoons from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. and Yoga class on Thursday afternoons from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. The kids are GREAT! Most of these kids are kids from the YMCA Day Camp Aftercare Program at the YMCA, though some of them do join in from Child Watch, where parents take their kids while they work out.

What I really, really love is the weekly themes. This summer, the YMCA has the theme: “Map Your Adventure.” This is really nice because the kids basically take a trip around some areas of the country and around the world, learning about different geographical areas, cultures and traditions. I LOVE this idea, because it meshes perfectly with Story Time Yoga and the ideas of learning about other cultures, appreciating the wisdom traditions from around the world.

The first week’s theme was “The Wild West.” On Wednesday we made Totem Poles and on Thursday I told the Native American Tale of Jumping Mouse. The kids love Jumping Mouse, especially since I brought my Jumping Mouse puppet to the class. Kids loved the puppet and are asking for him to come back again. Lots of fun! Kids went home telling stories about the puppet, and many kids came up to me after class to ask and to check to see if he (the puppet) was REAL.

Here is some student art:

Click on images to enlarge.

Then last week’s theme was “The Outback” so on Wednesday we did Aboriginal Dot Art paintings, and on Thursday we did a yoga class surrounding the theme of an Aboriginal tale I found, “Why Crocodiles Roll”. Kids LOVED doing Crocodile pose and we did it again and again and again! They all said they were going to go home and teach their parents.

This week’s theme is “The Far East”. I was gone at a teacher training yesterday so I left the project of making Chinese Parade Dragon Puppets, with one of the staff. I can’t wait to hear how they turned out. Such a fun project! Today we will hear the story of “The Magic Pear Tree” a wisdom tale from China - one of my favorites! I can’t wait to see how it all goes.

So cute, I have gotten to know many kids through these classes. One evening I was at Olga’s Restaurant when I heard small feet running very fast towards me and a little girl was suddenly at my side, hugging me, saying, “I just saw you at the Y!” I love when I can have a positive impact on kids lives.

What I love is seeing how engaged the children can be with the right activities. Kids love yoga and they really enjoy art.

Tags: Art, Yoga by Lisa
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