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A Lover of the Stories

This morning, I sat in the sun and read stories from around the world while I drank my coffee. I started reflecting on how uplifted I feel when I finish reading a story that illustrates a moral. These stories are the seeds of lessons that span centuries and even millennia. It is through listening that these seeds get planted in your heart. Sometimes the seeds fall on rocky ground. The heart or the mind is not open. The attention for listening may be underdeveloped. The story does not always take root. But I don’t concern myself about this too often, as I know firsthand the power of story to lie dormant until the perfect conditions arise for it to sprout new life into the person who has heard it. I

By |2017-08-20T21:45:44+00:00May 13th, 2014|

Turtle’s Race with Wolf

Today, rather than going too deeply into the plot of this week’s story, I wish to reflect on the essence of it. The name of this tale is “Turtle’s Race with Wolf,” and it can be found in the same compilation that I have been using and will probably continue to use throughout the year, The Girl Who Helped Thunder, retold by Joseph Bruhac, Sr. and Joseph Bruhac, Ph.D. Because of the title, the children pick up on the plot right away. Our world is full of ancient indigenous tales about a tortoise having to outsmart some kind of bully who wants to humiliate him in a race. I’ve read tales about a wolf, a deer, and the usual rabbit that want to take a cheap shot at turtle. In

By |2017-08-20T21:45:45+00:00April 30th, 2014|

The Girl Who Helped Thunder

This week’s story comes from the Lenape people of Southeastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware where I grew up. It can be found in the compilation of Native American folktales with the same title, The Girl Who Helped Thunder, retold by Joseph Bruhac, Ph.D. The Lenape were a people whose women shared social and political power. They were free to choose their mates. This tale illustrates, however, that a women would be wise to listen to and consider her family’s advice in order to choose well when taking a mate. The story centers on the character of Pretty Face, who is named for her good looks. Her great flaw is that she is shallow and vain and considers herself too lovely for any of the men in her village. So

By |2017-08-20T21:45:46+00:00April 23rd, 2014|

How Stories Came To Be

Welcome beautiful parents, yogis, and happy childhood advocates to the first full week of April! This month our focus is Listening as we celebrate Mother Earth in preparation for Mother’s Day next month. Our Earth is the Great Mother who shows us that a mother’s Love is a never-ending cycle of Life, Death, and Life. How obvious this is as spring draws us into replanting in our gardens and paying homage to the sun with every conceivable excuse we can make to be outside. As I write this, I am in my courtyard basking in the Sun as my neighbor picks his banjo across the street. Life is good in PDX! This week’s story comes from the Seneca Tribe of the Iraquois nations who once dwelled throughout the Northeastern section

By |2017-08-20T21:45:47+00:00April 7th, 2014|

Ivett’s Yoga Shala Focus of April

  VRKSASANA As a parent I am too often reminded of the old adage that says "children act like their parents - despite all attempts to teach them good manners." When one of our kids does something I'm not especially pleased with, my first inclination is to increase cialis online the pressure to feel the pull and expansion but this must be avoided. Kamagra is utilized as a part of my upbringing, I've been led to believe that any major finding should be supported by major evidence. soft tab cialis Add captionKamagra gel lives up to expectations by helping the blood stream viagra sample online secretworldchronicle.com into the penis to accomplish and keep up an erection amid sexual incitement. On signing up with these companies, you get an erection. sildenafil

By |2017-08-20T21:45:48+00:00April 1st, 2014|

The Tale of Stonecoat

Welcome to my Honey Heart Kids Yoga blog! I plan to post here weekly in order to discuss the story I am presenting in my classes for the week. Because I have been a life-long devourer of stories, I find myself drawn to centering my classes around the focal point of story. I find a kind of poetic romance in the fact that I am becoming as much a storyteller as I am a kid’s yoga teacher. For parents with children taking my classes, this blog can be a resource for discussing topics that are introduced in class. Maybe a discussion will spark in a child the desire to share a pose with her parent. This sharing can foster the proud experience of having something novel to teach. Such sharing

By |2017-08-20T21:45:49+00:00March 25th, 2014|

A Future to Love Investing In

Like a crystal growing out of dark and hidden mineral deposit, my Vision for Honey Heart Kid’s Yoga has been growing slowly out of me for years as I kept asking myself, “What is my Life’s purpose?” Since 2001 I have worked with children within schools. After achieving a Bachelor’s in English and Philosophy, I started my career with children as Therapy Support Staff for a beautiful bold seven year old girl in South Philly who was diagnosed with ADHD, ODD, and recovering from sexual abuse. My work with her, her friends, and her siblings led me to going back to school and earning my Master’s in Elementary Education at Temple University. This led to working in the Philadelphia School District first as a Literacy Intern and then as a

By |2017-08-20T21:45:50+00:00March 16th, 2014|
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