Garden Theme August 13, 2007

Today we planted a garden in yoga…

I gave each child a magical pretend seed to plant in the ground. This magical seed can grow in just a few minutes!

Then each child became a seed in Child’s Pose. I gave each “seed” a spritz of water with my spray bottle, and then out came the sun and we grew and grew. Each child got a turn telling me what they grew into- here are some of the amazing things we had in our garden:

Purple Flower

Tree

Sunflower

Roses

Ava Flower

Corn plant

This magical garden was planted to the song, Inch by Inch/Garden Song from the Tajar Tracks album with DEBBIE DEBORD WITH SOL DRIVEN TRAIN AND GWYNN VALLEY CAMPERS. You can listen to it and buy it here:
http://cdbaby.com/cd/soldriventrain2

We also were different critters that you’d find in a garden-
Ladybugs, Bumblebees, Butterflies, Dragonflies, Turtles, and Birds.

If we’d had more time we could have planted actual seeds in a cup, or walked partners around in Wheelbarrow! Next time…

Serendipitous moment of the day: I was lucky enough to receive a gift of a cucumber and a bell pepper from the school’s actual backyard garden!

Flowers June 1, 2007

Today I taught a FUN class with flowers… It was in honor of my friend Corey who moved to Canada this week- she loves flowers, so the theme of today was flowers and gardening.

I brought a Gerbera Daisy in for each child in the class, and we used them for lots of fun things…. We used them for meditating (“notice the color, the shape of the petals, the smell, the beauty…”). We used them for stretching (“lift your flower up in the sky, now reach to one side and the other with your flower.”) We used them for balancing (“focus on your flower on the floor”). We also talked about watering flowers, and how they get droopy if you don’t water them- then we talked about how our bodies get “droopy” if we don’t give them water too.

W e also planted some seeds (Child’s Pose) in our garden and grew into beautiful flowers and plants with a little water and sunshine. We became snakes, bees, butterflys, and frogs- all sorts of wonderful things that you find in a garden!

We ended with a poem and flow:

From the Ancient Chants of the Anasazi by Mary Summer Rain:

Give-Away Dance Song
This day (Namaste),
each day (Mountain Pose),
Rain (Run in Place) and sun (Reach up for the sun),
Snow Moon (Crescent Moon to the Right), Warm Moon (Crescent Moon to the Left),
Nighttime (Crescnt Moon Center) and noon (Mountain Pose),
We share ourselves (Hands circle out from heart out into room),
We give ourselves (Hands circle out again),
We are all ones of One. (Namaste Hands)

Give-Away, Give-Away. The joy of Giving Away (Toss imaginary things away from your heart).

I give to you (Hand to heart and hand out to group).
You give to me (Hand out to group and hand back to heart) .
We give to them (Hand to heart and hand out to group).
They give to us (Hand out to group and hand back to heart).
We share ourselves (Hands circle out from heart out into room).
We give ourselves(Hands circle out from heart out into room).
We are all ones of One. (Namaste Hands)

I sent them all home with their flowers…

Namaste,

Carolyn
http://www.sdyogakids.com