Peaceful Heart Yoga

  My 5 year-old loves making books, and she recently started writing many of the words herself.  She calls from the living room, "how do you spell..." and I attempt to give her the accurate letters while cooking & cleaning with my 2 year-old attached to my leg.  The other day we had a miscommunication and she wrote an H instead of an R.  She had tried to change it from an H to an R, but didn't like how it looked, and was really upset.  I did what most of us grown-ups do - I tried to console her.   It looks just fine!  Anybody would know that's an R.  It's ok!  And then we were arguing about whether or not it was, in fact, ok.   I wasn't winning.   I finally remembered that this is not effective, or wanted, communication, but instead a product of my own anxiety of wanting my child to be happy and easy.  Eek.  Also by overmanaging her "problem", and attempting desperately to help her feel better, I'm sending her the message that I don't thi

  Art credit: borrowed from https://mamaowlsjourney.com/ Much of our western culture can be a bit overwhelming to those of us who are "sensitive".   But did you know that within the "ailment", lies a "cure"?   As an incredibly sensitive human myself, I've been studying this concept in adults and children and from many different lenses, and I've come to love and honor the deep awareness and ACCESS we have to our inner world, thanks to our sensitivity.  If you would call yourself or a child of yours "sensitive" - or any other term that resonates - you may also be diagnosed from the medical model with anxiety or adhd.  Maybe trauma heightened your nervous system responses. You might consider yourself a "vata" person - high in the wind energy in Ayurveda.  Maybe you are an HSP (highly sensitive person).  Or an empath.  Or an intuitive.  Or an introvert.   There are so many "lenses" with which to view anything.  None of the

Mindfulness for Parents My favorite aspect of yoga recently has been mindfulness.  Mindfulness is this sweet side of yoga (also taught as a separate framework outside of yoga) that's all packaged up for us to take with us wherever we go.  No mat or special scheduling required.   We can employ mindfulness while in traffic, under stress, waiting for a child to look at a worm in a puddle, while listening to a co-worker...  Any time you want to learn a bit more about being human, try on mindfulness:  paying attention to sensations and everything that is happening, on purpose, with an open mind and heart.  We just notice and observe, like a curious scientist, without the need to like, dislike, label or fix any of it.  I especially like this for parents.  We spend a lot of time WAITING while we are with our children. Waiting for your adorable toddler to do something on their own, like put on their boots or crawl in the car ("do by my elf !!" says my 2 year old). Or stop to watc

Art Credit:  taken from a piece in the New York Times May 25, 2021 Every morning I get dressed, brush my teeth, comb my hair, wash my face...  you know the routine.  Oh, and I say "I should take a little time to do yoga..."   Well, that's about as far as that goes.  Confession:  I am a 500hr certified yoga teacher who has been doing yoga for 15 years and owns a yoga-based preschool and a yoga studio, and I don't have a morning practice.  Eek!   Well, let me explain.  I'm a mom of two young kids, with said business, and my husband works 6 days a week for 12 hours or more at a time.  Now, I am NOT one to throw around the excuse of "I don't have time", but I (sort of) don't.  I say "sort of" because it's always a choice.  What is true is that I choose to use my morning kid-free time for reading and working which are two things that cannot be done with two littles around.  I'm efficient, so I intend to do yoga (and here, by yoga, I