Orange you glad you took the time...?

With the fast pace of the American Culture, more times then intended, our nutritional intake takes a hit. We rush around from activity to activity, errand to errand forgetting to slow down and truly take care of ourselves and our nutritional needs. I may go as far as saying we are the generation of "Grab and Go". Too many times we grab what we can and then eat on the run. When I asked the Alluem Kids how often they take time sit around the table and eat dinner together, the consensus was they do more eating on the go. My challenge to the kids was to bring back mindful eating. Take time with your food.

Orange Meditation:

Handing an orange to each child...they held it with both hands, simply being grateful for having that orange. We recognized that there are people in the world without food and that we are lucky to have such an abundance in our lives. We then thought about where that orange came from...how it grew...who picked the fruit...cleaned it...brought it to the supermarket for us to buy. We recognized that a lot goes into getting food from the land it came from to our very hands. Then we smelt the orange - taking deeply breaths in and out. Rolling it between our palms intensifying the scent, we took the time to actually enjoy the yummy citrus scent. We looked closely it each of our oranges, noticing the color, feeling the texture. Oranges are one of the fruits that take some time and effort to get to. Taking the time to peel the orange, feeling the texture of the rind. As the orange becomes exposed, we noticed all the complexities of it - the sections it is conveniently divided into for us to easily peel apart, the tiny seeds and juice compartments that make up this yummy fruit. Yes, we picked apart every detail of this orange which got us to our ultimate goal of staying in the present while we take part in the act of eating. Eating the oranges the kids were able to truly engage all their senses while appreciating every bit of their food - a great experience for everyone!

Yogi, Yogi, What do you see?

Being mindful means engaging the 5 senses that we are born with - sight, smell, taste, sound, and touch. This weekend with the Alluem Little Kids, we honed in on our sight. Kids are often care-free at this age, and as a parent, you'll probably find yourself repeatedly saying - "Watch where you're going. Pay attention to where you're stepping. Look both ways." Kids need those reminders as they are learning to be mindful in their actions, to be aware of what they are doing. A couple of simple games that can aid in the development of really "seeing" are probably some you are familiar with: I-Spy: I emptied my Curious Bag filled with our Breathing Buddies (small stuffed animals and toys) into the middle of our circle and started, "I-Spy with my little eye...something green that jumps!" Herbert, the stuffed frog, of course! We practiced our Frog Jumps. Each child got a chance to "spy" something from the circle and we all did the pose that went along with the item. What's Missing?: Now that they've gotten their chance to really see all of the items in the circle, I spaced them out for a couple rounds of What's Missing?. In this game, the children all come into Child's Pose. Closing their eyes they are instructed to deeply inhale and exhale while I remove one item from the circle. When I've taken the item away, I ask "What's Missing?" and the children must guess. This game usually becomes pretty high energy when they excitedly being raising their hands "I know!! I know!!!!" Having them go into Child's Pose and take a moment to breathe, gives them a chance to regroup, rest the eyes, and refocus before coming up to quickly scan the group of items to see what's missing. And sometimes I take nothing out to see if they are really paying attention - builds character. Breathing Buddies: I reintroduced the Breathing Buddies, as we have quite a few new students this session. Each child picked on of the small stuffed animals to be their Breathing Buddies. Our Breathing Buddies are there to support us while we practice our deep breathing. Lying on our backs, our Breathing Buddies sit on our bellies and get ready for a ride. As we inhale we fill our bellies with air raising our Buddies up to the sky. As we exhale, we pull our bellies in watching our Buddies lower down. Inhaling and exhaling we watch our Breathing Buddy rise and fall. Having a focus on the breath becomes very relaxing and having a Breathing Buddy with us keeps us company. This is a great exercise that is good to do right before bed or if you child has trouble sleeping at night - instead of waking up mom or dad, having a Breathing Buddy can be just the comfort they need. After our Savasana with the Breathing Buddies, we came up to sit for a short storybook that is probably familiar with every child - Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see? by Eric Carle. To go along with our story, I passed out the below drawing sheet "What do you see?". I played off Eric Carle's story writing, "Yogi, yogi, what do you see? I see my breathing buddy sitting with me. Inhale. Exhale. Breathing deeply. Sitting together we are as calm as can be." The kids were asked to look closely at their Breathing Buddies. Looking at the colors first, they picked what they needed from the crayon box. Next they looked at the shape of their buddy and drew that. Finally they added details and color. A still life art project if you will, but an exercise in mindfulness, none the less.

Being Mindful

Tell a 4 and 5 year old to stay still and be quiet, and let me know how that goes. Ask them to be mindful - to listen, to look, to feel - and you may be surprised. I introduced mindfulness to the Alluem Little Kids this weekend. I didn't have to define mindfulness to them, we just kind of dove in. We were finally able to go outside on the patio to enjoy the beautiful weather...a perfect place to take in our surroundings, to take in all of nature has to offer. Labeling the thoughts and feelings with simple words can be a starting point for younger children in the practice of mindfulness. When I brought the kids outside, we took in all of nature. Being outside in nature almost forces us to be mindful...is it hot/cold? Where are we stepping/sitting? What did we see? Blue sky, green grass, flower buds, the river flowing. Then we closed our eyes to block out the visual. What did we hear? Water rushing, birds chirping, cars going by. What did we feel? Wind blowing, sun shining...and then one child said, "My heart." and the other one put his hand on his chest. Beautiful. You can't get more of a mind body connection then that.

A perfect picture book to go with this lesson on mindfulness is Alki's Quiet in the Garden. A young boy ventures into the garden to sit quietly. He knows if he is very still he'll hear and see things that others may have missed. He is filled with wonder as he listens to the animals and the bugs having conversations. The rabbit, the mouse, the snail, and the frog. The fish, the spider, the turtle, and the lizard. All of which make great yoga poses!

Bringing Mindfulness to Children

The Omega Institute in Rhineback, New York has to put together an amazing faculty of leaders in child development for this summer's upcoming Mindfulness and Education Conference - Grades K-12. This conference is open to teachers, administrators, childcare providers, family therapists, and parents who want to bring inner calm, awareness, balance, and a sense of well being to the children in their lives.

"The new field of teaching mindfulness in our nation’s schools is a profoundly beneficial development for the education of children from grades K through 12. Research shows that mindfulness decreases stress, attention deficit issues, depression, anxiety, and hostility in children, while benefiting their health, well-being, social relations, and academic performance. Children can easily learn these techniques, and when learned young, they become lifelong tools."

I'm proud to share that one of the presenters at the weekend conference will be Little Flower Yoga for Children founder and director, Jennifer Cohen. She has experience teaching students from pre-school to high school and working with children with physical handicaps, and developmental and learning disorders. Through the Little Flower Teacher Training, she has taught me everything I know in the field of children's yoga and for that I am forever grateful!

The Omega Conference on August 6-8 is going to be amazing!