We finally have new DVDs for the YogaKids who have grown up with Silly to Calm and the ABCs. They are fantastic. Fun, imaginative, easy to follow and definitely enhance the fitness, fun and feeling great that all youth need.

Check em out on this reel player link: HEREl

You can buy them at the YogaKids Store or on Amazon.

I’d love to hear from you, your children and students. Please let me know the favorite parts of your kids. Thanks. Namaste.

Is your brain happy? If so, what makes it so….. If not, what can you do? Meditate.

This simple solution begins with a desire to calm yourself down and find just a little bit of peace. Who couldn’t use that? In a study of meditating monks published in Time magazine several years ago, the area of the left prefrontal cortex showed that our brains are changeable, malleable. Even if you think you were born with or living in a state of gloom or anxiety, your brain’s samskaras (grooves) can allow a happier state of existence. The neurological circuitry can be rewired to bring about optimism and serenity. Compassion is be a learned skill and has uncovered ways to clear the emotional spiral downward and create new pathways to positivity. Most of us believe and know that regular physical exercise is a good idea for life. So how about accepting the idea that mental exercise can do the same for a mind that is jumpy, scattered or depressed. Says Richard J Davidson, “happiness is a skill, like tennis. If you want to be a good tennis player, you can’t just pick up a racket–you have to practice”.

So….just begin with just 5 minutes a day. Change a fretful and frightened mind into a happier, healthier, more holistic and unharried outlook on life. Try a mindfulness practice of non-judgement. Sit still and become an impartial witness to whatever thoughts come up. Break out of the habitual ways of categorizing and judging expereinces and just watch the meanderings of the mind. As the Dalai Lama says “that is the nature of mind”. Ask questions. Are you thinking the same negative thoughts and outcomes continuously as automatic resposnses and reactions? Be patient with yourself. Everything unfolds for each of us at our own pace. Be a beginner. Come to each experience as if is is the first time. Free yourself from preconceptions, prejudices and biases so that you may have the opportunity to witness things in a new light.

Try this song or mantra From Thich Nhat Hanh’s “I Have Arrived”

I have arrived, I am home
In the here and in the now

I am solid I am free
In the ultimate, I dwell.

Repeat as many times as you need too. Smile. Be blissful. Enjoy

Yumi Hasegawa is a certified YogaKids teacher, CYKT, who lives in Mayangon Township, Yangon, Myanmar. Upon the tragedy that struck this country recently, Yumi reached out to our YogaKids community for help. I want to thank all of our YogaKids International community effort who reached out to supply the demand of goods and services that are needed. We have been able to help through the generosity you have suppled.  There is still great urgency to help get food to the babies and children in her community. We couldn’t provide the services that Red Cross, UNICEF or the US government can but Yumi is there, right now and with our money she has been able to buy baby food, water and other staples to help the families in her community make it through. She now has support to get food  to children who she, her husband and friends can reach out to right now. She has money to buy supplies. YogaKids Bridge of Diamonds is sending everything we can raise.

Yumi’s yoga and YogaKids classes in her area is grateful to be able to bring relief to the children, their parents and neighbors to soothe body, mind, sould and hearts, just a little to break through the fear, upheaval and confusion to help provide a few moments of peace for those in her tragically torn community. Through the “YK Bridge of Diamonds” we have fortunately been able to offer food and clothing in a time of such great need. Our doing a little means a lot to the homeless children suffering in Myanmar today.

You can make a credit card contribution by visiting the YogaKids website www.yogakids.com and follow the “Help Yumi” link. You can send checks to YogaKids International, 1714 A street, LaPorte, Indiana USA payable to the YogaKids Bridge of Diamonds Foundation, side marked Myanmar.

The Bridge of Diamonds Foundation is a 501c3. Your donations will be tax deductible. Your contributions will go directly to help Yumi feed the children of Mayangon Township, Yangon, Myanmar and as far as her community can reach.

Please forward this appeal on to all of the yogis you know and any other friends or contacts who might be able to make a difference and help Yumi feed so many children.

May all be filled with loving-kindness
May all be healthy and strong.
May all be free from suffering.
May all be healthy and happy.
May all be filled with peace.

Thanks for bonding together to make a difference in the world.

Infinite Blessings…Thanks and love for your support

Don and Marsha Wenig
Please pass this email on…..
 
Address any questions to info@yogakids.com
calendar of events. Provide some general information about the events they will be viewing below. Build up the anticipation for what will be coming in the days, weeks, and months ahead.

 

The town of Garissa on the Tana River near the border of Somalia, Africa is home to the world’s only camel borne library. 12 camels and librarians move across arid, undeveloped land in temperatures above 100 degrees to spread a love of literature and bring the joy of reading to children and families. Books cannot feed the tummy, but can certainly warm the soul. This camel caravan brings awe and inspiration to people of all ages. Bringing books across borders to inspire new possibilities and bring hope. With knowledge and solutions that inspire ideas, possibilities and solutions. To donate to this special library go to camelbookdrive.wordpress.com.

I would love to hear from anyone who could possibly explain or justify the recent print ads that show a can of Diet Coke and call it a Yoga Class? It’s obviously not a joke, yet I find it laughable and depressing. I challenge their corporate executives and advertising agency to substantiate this claim……

As I get older, Thanksgiving becomes less of a meal, and more of finding the beauty in everyday life. In each moment. I do my best to see the light in all things, all being and when I my eyes don’t see and my heart feels faded I turn to poetry. So I wanted to share the following deep thoughts and words one of my favorite contemporary poets, Mary Oliver. Here are two of hers. Enjoy your holiday this week. May it be lovely, fun and gratitude filled. Namaste, Marsha

Praying

It doesn’t have to be
the blue iris, it could be
weeds in a vacant lot, or a few
small stones; just
pay attention, then patch

a few words together and don’t try
to make them elaborate, this isn’t
a contest but the doorway

into thanks, and a silence in which
another voice may speak.
Mary Oliver

Wild Geese

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
For a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
For a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about your despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting –
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

Mary Oliver

Do you complain, yell, scream or put others down? Probably now and then. Some of us more than others. I feel very confident in saying that we’re never proud of it, nor does it ever really make us feel better.

Think about it for a minute….. Who are your targets or dumping grounds for the emotions of blame, anger, frustration, disappointment, etc?

Why is that when we don’t feel good emotionally, we want someone else to fix it. Does releasing anger and spouting negative words onto someone else ever really feel good? No, never.

Often times our spouses, loved ones or our children may be our ‘targets’. Maybe as the saying goes, familiarity (the family) breeds contempt. If someone is really close to us and we love them, we release our ’stuff’ on them because we can? Does that make sense? No.

Are we just magnifying onto others and the outside world what we feel inside? When we point a finger at someone else and tell them what’s wrong with them perhaps we can stop, take a breath and remember that we have 4 other fingers pointing back to ourselves.

So the truth seems to be that what we pick on or rant against in others is really about ourselves. When I point out your faults perhaps the truth is that the mirror is really closer than I think. In fact, it’s right in front of me. I can only realize them in you if I already feel it in me. Polish up the mirrors and reflect your light. “Untainted happiness is the inner journey and it is that inner journey that really matters. Yoga takes you there.” 
BKS Iyengar

This holiday season let’s clear our thoughts, gut reactions, souls and make our time together sweet. What goes around comes around. The laws of karma.

Relationships provide a powerful and immediate mirror that invite us to see ourselves more clearly. In fact when we are observant and reflective, we increase our potential of self awareness and reflection. Breathe before you speak. Keep it high. Make it loving. Enjoy each other and all our blessings.

I started using yoga with children in 1986 in elementary schools in the LA Unified Schools from South Central to Westwood to Long Beach, CA. At that time I had just started my serious practice of yoga, although I took my first class in 1972 at my alma mater Rutgers College in New Brunswick NJ.

At this point in time, we have reached millions of children around the world with our educational yoga tools and products and introduced them to yoga at an early age. Our seminars have grown from 3 hour lectures to 1 day Tastes to Intensive yearlong trainings. We have Certified 170 instructors across the US and around the world. Since 2006 we have graduated stellar teachers in new locales such as Russia, Germany, Mexico, Sri Lanka, Greece, Bermuda and Myanmar. If there aren’t any YogaKids Teacher Trainers in your area, please consider a new life path and join us. Educational enhancement, fitness fun and feeling great are available to you and the children in your hearts and lives. Breathe life into learning and join us. Hope to meet you soon. I will be in Keene, NH this week and at the Grand Beach Inn, New Buffalo, Michigan Nov. 30-Dec. 2. Come enjoy learning and this fall. Namaste, Marsha Wenig and all of our YogaKids Family

“THERE WAS ONCE a town in the heart of America where all life seemed to live in harmony with its surroundings…” said Rachel Carson in her eco-book, Silent Spring, written over 40 years ago.

What has changed?

On Earth Day in 1970 President to be Gerald Ford said “We have come tardily to the tremendous task of cleaning up our enivronment. We should have moved with similar zeal at least a decade ago…we must now address ourselves to the vast problems that confront us.”

Please believe that it is never too late……

What do we do? Where do we go from here? In a recent survey of the Environmental Working Group the following statistics were published:

*287 chemicals found in umbilical cord blood taken from 10 babies born in August and September 2004

*212 of the total number of chemicals found were banned or severely restricted in the US

*47 were common consumer product chemicals such as pesticides and fire retardants.

As Chief Seattle said over 100 years ago, “What we do the earth we do to ourselves.”

What’s a mother to do? Read labels. If you don’t what an ingredient is, or it sounds like a chemical compound, don’t buy it. Don’t eat it. Support organic farmers and sustainable agriculture. Make fewer choices based on convenience. Think of the next generations and the effect on the Seventh Generation from today.

I find this concept wonderful for several reasons. Firstly: When I was growing up in Ridgefield, NJ, my older sister Gladys had a friend named Wayne Mellow. All of her friends in high school would constantly tease me. “If you marry Wayne Mellow” they would lovingly yet tauntingly say, “your name will be MarshaMellow, ha, ha, ha.” NOT. As a 7 year old, I would look downward with embarrasssment, and roll my eyes as I thought–not again.

So, as a yoga instructor and child advocate, I was delighted and amused to come across Kelsey Bowman, now 18, who invented a ‘marshmallow launcher’ at the age of 11, with the help of her mom Pat, to help increase the breath capacity of children with leukemia.

The 12 inch acrylic tube that Kelsey and her mom designed helped her and thousands of children, physically, emotionally and socially to receive the life giving gift of being able to strengthen their lung capacity by breathing mini-marshmellows through the tube, as a game, instead of one more therapy have to. To purchase one go to www.kelseyskids.org

Breathing fully and regularly is so crucial for everyone–from newborns to elders. The breath is literally under our nose, and yet, or maybe therefore, we don’t usually pay attention to this life giving sustenance. So when teaching yoga to children in hospitals, schools or at home, we use fun and playful techniques like “Bunny Breath”, “Dizzy’s Trumpet Breath” and “Peace Breath”.

Breathe in. Breath out. Blow out kisses and marshmellows. Enjoy this beautiful day.