In my yoga class for senior citizens, it is so nice to see how much they appreciate their practice, and how they are grateful and happy to see me.  Just the same way that I feel about them.  I love all of my students and I love seeing them feel better and more at peace.

I have so much to be thankful for!  Happy Thanksgiving!

Lisa

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!

I am now teaching Storytime Yoga in our North Oakland YMCA Child Watch, three times per week. I love it. These are children who are at the perfect age to realize there’s more to life than watching cartoons on TV. I love the time we spend together, and I look forward to it each week. I do leave exhausted, but it is worth it! The kids need to feel that they are WORTH spending time with! Learning should be fun. Adults should enjoy them and nourish them rather than tolerate them or babysit them. I am excited this week because I am bringing in my magic wand which I believe they will LOVE. I will give them each some Storytime Yoga Magic with my magic wand before I leave. I believe they will get a lot of joy from it!

On Wednesdays and Thursdays, I am really enjoying my longer Storytime/After School/Tweens Yoga at the Auburn Hills Community Center. I have a nice group of children. Together we are sharing so much. What I love is how they are opening up to me and sharing things that are not always easy to share. We also made our own journals to keep and use for our classes. I think that will be something they will always enjoy having. We are learning some wisdom stories, we are learning some challenging poses such as L-handstands, and we are also learning about poetry. I am going to post our art projects/journal projects in the Art Ideas section so that anyone reading this blog can get some ideas on how to do the great activities we are doing in class. So stay tuned!

Another great love of mine is working with Senior Citizens. I adore seniors as much as I love kids. They are another wonderful part of our society that, like kids, we don’t spend enough time nurturing them and loving them. I love my time with my seniors. I now teach a class that is called Golden Yoga, at the North Oakland YMCA. It has become so popular that they want me to teach a second one beginning in winter. I love that I am finally able to spend time with this wonderful group of individuals. It is so much fun.

So the fall continues, and Halloween is coming. I am hoping to bring many more art ideas to my blog here, to inspire yoga, art and story in your lives too!

Lisa

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

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

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!

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.