We are the lucky ones.

According to Celtic tradition, a shamrock is said to represent "Belief in your heart. Faith in your mind. Trust in your body." When I read that this week while preparing for class, I thought - this is yoga. Yoga is "union" - union of the heart, mind, and body. What an awesome way to tie in the upcoming St. Patrick's Holiday!

This weekend at the studio we focused on all the symbols of St. Patrick's Day. With the Alluem Kids 4-7yrs, we focused on rainbows and the pots of gold that we can find at the end. Gold is great, but today we filled our pots with more then just gold. After reading "Lucky Tucker" by Leslie McGuirk, we find that after rolling in a bed of shamrocks, Tucker has a very lucky day! And at the end, he's happy to follow his rainbow to a pot of dog biscuits! Oh, btw, Tucker is a dog. I asked the kids if they could fill their pots of gold with anything in the world, what would it be? They colored in their pictures with everything from family members and friends, to sunshine, flowers, shamrocks, to hearts representing love. It was really beautiful.

With the Alluem Kids 8-12 yrs, we went even deeper. Beginning our class with a 2 minute meditation, we focused on the word "Luck". What does it mean to be lucky? And what are we lucky to have in our lives? At this age, kids can start thinking about the bigger picture. There are people in the world that have less and at times we may forget that and take what we have in our lives for granted. I wanted the kids to think even about the obvious things - a roof over our heads, food on the table, a bed to sleep in, clothes to wear....even family and friends, love and support, health, education. These are things some people don't have the luxury of having. We are the lucky ones.

Of course the kids got to let go and have fun, too, today! (As one of my 9 year olds told me, "You come up with some really fun games!" I take that as a huge compliment!) Today we played Clover Patch with the Parachute. Chanting "1,2,3,4 Pick a clover off the floor! 5,6,7,8 Hurry up before it's too late!" One at a time, the kids dashed under the parachute, picked a clover, and scurried out. Then one at a time, they taught the pose written on their construction paper shamrock. It was a bit of a pop quiz of poses as the others had to guess what pose each kid was teaching. Always a good time - body, mind, and heart!