No Sticks. No Stones.

Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me! We've all been insulted and called a name or two, and I'm sure many of us have chanted this phrase back at our bullies. I know I have! Nobody likes being picked on, but it happens everyday - in schools, at home, amongst friends - and now more then ever are we taking a stand against bullying!

This coming week is officially "No Name Calling Week". "The project seeks to focus national attention on the problem of name-calling in schools, and to provide students and educators with the tools and inspiration to launch an on-going dialogue about ways to eliminate name-calling in their communities." Whether you're a parent, teacher, or work with children in any capacity, I urge you to visit http://www.nonamecallingweek.org/. There are a plethora of resources from lesson plans and art projects for a variety of classroom levels, to a complete guide for parents on what to do if your child is being bullied.

So what are we doing in yoga this week? We'll be learning about the principle of Ahimsa. Ahimsa is a term from the ancient Sanskrit language meaning "to do no harm". Ahmisa means to be kind to yourself and to others including animals and nature. It is a belief that all living things are connected and should therefore be respected. We are all one - children and adults - all here to love, serve, support one another. When we bully, whether it's verbal, physical, emotional, or more recently, cyber bullying, we put up walls. The walls we put up are anger, fear, sadness, and hurt. And when it comes to children, rarely do they know how do deal with these feelings in a healthy manner...their walls will keep rising until they learn how. We act out, we shut down, we internalize, we wind up separating from one another and the bully wins. We move further way from the true meaning of yoga - union - to come together. When we understand and practice this concept of oneness, we can move toward a more peaceful world...a world without bullies.

Take the pledge today!

I ________________________ believe that bullying and calling other students hurtful names is wrong. I pledge to do
my best to:
• Not bully other students or call them hurtful names.
• Intervene, if I safely can, in situations where students are being called names.
• Support efforts to end bullying and name‐calling.