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August 6, 2018

Last Days of Summer and a Celebration!

Walking Meditation Summer time and the living is easy! Well, not always, as the days seem to slip by so quickly.   We start to worry about summer ending too soon. We wonder how will it be when the children are back at school?  In being in the past and future, we miss the moments of being here now.  This practice will bring you to the present moment. It helps unite the mind and body through the breath and feet.  You can do it alone or invite your children and loved ones to participate. Hopefully there are a few minutes when you can get out and go for a walk.  Children can learn to walk mindfully and in my experience, love the peace that it brings.  Often I will take my students on a silent walk through the woods.  In the beginning they resist and want to chat and run around.  Some of them have never taken a silent walk.   I Invite Them To Do It Anyway After walking silently and observing the feeling of their bodies, the air on their skin and the pressure of their feet on the ground, they report they feel deeply happy that they did the practice. […]
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April 7, 2018
Note:  This is a post I wrote last year but as I see the first sprouts of green poking their heads up in my garden, I am reminded that it is time to plant seeds again. Planting The Seeds of Love for our Planet and our Bodies Children will eat what they grow   On Friday, the Bright Lights chard in our little school garden plot had reached heights of over two feet. It has been a very hot week and the chard was bolting. The sun shone through the stalks stimulating curiosity among the children I was sitting with at recess. “What is this plant, Ms. L?” “Can we eat it like kale?” The children in the school had nibbled the kale down to bare stalks and were looking for more greens. They are like deer! Having overwintered, the chard was a little tough. It was a moment for me of clearing the daily schedule and revamping the day…. with surprising ease.   I had the children collect the greens, wash them in our tiny sink and chop the stalks up for a panfry.  The whole group took turns two at a time and after a half hour we […]
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September 14, 2017

Back to school and self care.

Most parents have now let go of the lazy days of summer and are full on into the new school year.  This is the time of year where things seems to speed up faster and faster. Teachers are settling new classes and families are getting used to routine.   Take deep care during this month.  Partake in  naps and slow down.  It will pay off in spades.   Below are a few excerpts from my book with James Baraz, Awakening Joy For Kids, that will give you a few more ideas on ways to simply be present to yourself and your children. I just spent a week at Spirit Rock Meditation Center in California with James Baraz, Howie Cohen and Sharda Rogell.  What an absolute delight to access my inner quiet again.  In the quote below, James shares how to come back to our center. “The Gift of Your Beingness One of the great benefits of accessing the joy of being is that you not only find peace inside of you, you also affect everything and everyone around you. By accessing that calm center, you remind others that it is there in them as well. Think of the most centered […]
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January 22, 2017

Chores: The Inside Scoop

I asked my grade threes the other day if they did any chores.  Guess what?  Fewer than half of the kids said they did any regular chores.  I told them when I was a kid, 100 years ago, everyone had chores; at least, the children I knew did.  I had a list to do every week and I knew it was a contribution to the running of our home.  Did I like it? NO!!! But I did it. What I didn’t know at that time was my parents were instilling in me a deep sense of contribution, competency, maturity, and the awareness of others’ needs. Is it sometimes easier as a parent to just do the job yourself?  Of course it is.  Who wants to hear, whining, excuses, and resistance? If you can hold in your mind, that in the long run you are doing a SERVICE, to your children by having regular chores, you may find the whole exercise much easier. Research indicates that children who have a set of chores have higher self-esteem, are more responsible, are better able to deal with frustration, and can delay gratification. They are building GRIT.  Wow!  That is a full line up […]
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