Grounded Blog

Look at me!
Look at me!
Look at me NOW!
It is fun to have fun
But you have to know how.

The enlightened sage, Dr. Seuss, in the revered text The Cat and The Hat, teaches us how to tune into our Highest Self, listen to our small, limited, fears and even invite them out to play with each other. My intention and desire is for us to value and understand this text in the highest spiritual sense. May this process lead us to a higher capacity for insight, for revelation, for learning at a deeper level, so clarity about our playful selves become possible.

Cat in the Hat begins on a cold and wet day at the house of two sad children stuck inside with nothing to do, until the Cat in a Hat shows up, transforming the dull day into an adventure. As he steps in on the mat, we can relate the action metaphorically to Yoga Sutra 1.1. Now, the teachings of yoga. As he begins to express his philosophy to the children, their pet fish begins to express his hesitation and fears. The Cat reassures him with a simple "Now! Now!" That answer is an important teaching in the whole text, because it teaches us to let go of our old social order, and enter the present, which is new. "Now" in Sanskrit is "atha", signaling the value of what you are about to dive into. "Atha" is also the first spoken word of Yoga Sutra 1.1, its entirety being~

1.1 Ātha Yogānuśāsanam The teachings of yoga, have been presented. You don't need to wait until the sun comes out, an authority figure is watching, or your fear is gone. All that it (Yoga) requires of you is a YES. In essence, then, The Cat in the Hat, just like Patanjali, tells his students to get ready to receive the knowledge on the subject of "yoga".

The fish in the tiny bowl represents our limited, concealed self known as karma mala. He is fear, limiting our ability to act. The cat is a wise trickster. He questions authority, encourages enthusiasm, seeks new experiences, while destroying our old way of thinking. He is our Big-Picture Play of Consciousness. He is our Highest Self. Highest Self is Consciousness. Highest Self is the real  complete you.

Shiva Sutra 1-1 Chaitanyam ātmā. Consciousness is the self.

The children were still able to recognize, the fish's concern. Fear is natural; it's an adaptive instinct. Don't try to squelch it down or ignore it. Without fear, we wouldn't have courage. Without courage we wouldn't be brave. The Cat in the Hat was able to listen to the fish, listen to his fears, and playfully act upon them.
"Have no fear!" said the cat
"I will not let you fall
I will hold you up high..."

Introducing three Tricks to greet your Higher Consciousness (HC)...ie Cat in the Hat  and Small Fish (SF)  i.e Karma Mala, Fear.

1.Listen

Close your eyes. Breathe in through your heart and out through your third eye. Continue to follow your breath. Listen to your heart. Sometimes HC sounds like the whisper of a wise old man. Sometimes HC sounds like a voice you recognize that is playful, friendly, and compassionate.
The voice of your SF is usually scared or angry. It's probably much louder.

2. Look

Invite HC to sit with you and have a conversation. Notice what HC looks like. The Cat in the Hat? Ask questions. When the answers sound wiser or more knowledgeable than usual, you're probably talking to your HC. Just keep talking to this image of your higher self until you've received the answers you need.  Invite SF to the table as well. What do you see? Where in your body do you feel them? Draw your work.

3. Feel

The cat in the hat starts at your spine and goes up to the crown of your head and beyond! Feel your cat getting wider with each breath in and taller with each breath out.

Sit!
     Sit!
           Sit!
                 Sit!

Root your left sitting bone to your left heel and your right sitting bone to your right heel. Thing 1 begins in the lowest part of your left belly. Thing 2 resides in the lowest part of your right belly. Lift Thing 1 and Thing 2, both lowest bellies, straight up like a kite. How high can you lift these things? Can you feel the silly blue hair? Can your left and right side smile like Thing 1 and Thing 2?  Most of our actions conspire to drop our things( lowest abs). The trick is to keep lifting thing one and thing two and root sitting bones to heels at the same time.  The game is to not spill your energy,it must be a conscious effort to get a good thing(s) going!

A Thing is defined as some entity, object, or creature that is not or cannot be specifically designated or precisely described: anything that is or may become an object of thought: things of the spirit. (abdominal muscles and organs and bones oh my!)
things, matters; affairs: a fact, circumstance..so the trick is to LIFT Your Things! Lift your entity, being, matter, act, deed, event, material object, while keeping your sitting bones rooted to your heels. Try this in different shapes~standing, forward folds, backbends, twists, supine..Notice the difference.

Reponses received from our Grounded Kids...

"Thing 1 and Thing 2 teach me I can do it!" Ella, age 7
"My little baby tiny weeny self is in my head. My Huge, humungous ,, big giant Self is in my heart and body." Claire, age 9
"My High Cat knows I can do big things" Madeline, age 5
"My Highest Self stands up for the world. My small Fish gets angry at myself and others." Lauren, age 6
"My High Self is beautiful and colorful." Emily, age 6
"My Highest Self tells me my gift is seeing the future in my sleep." Hunter, age 7
"My Fear is in my foot. My Highest Self is upside down now. It's telling me to pay attention." Dodge, age 9
"Higher Self is standing up for myself. My Little Self is always looking around at others." Amelia, age 8
"My Fear is sliding down a pole. I see that picture (of the pole) any time I get scared." Sarah, age 9

Once you've tuned in to your HC, you'll be able to get some key information about why you're here and where you should go, and who you should go with. Your HC is watching over you and helping to steer you in the highest direction. This playful practice is for each one of us to embody the deep empowerment, the authenticity, and the fullness of who we are.

Please share how it goes. Now~ You've got to have fun, but you have to know HOW!

Said my young friend who wants a connection:
"I wave. I shake hands, with no objection.
No pain, no remorse, no one intervening
a choice I make without much thought or meaning~"

"...Is there a gesture that honors each other?
That celebrates greeting sisters and brothers?
Can you show me HOW to express happiness
with social and spiritual significance?"

YES, my dear friend, I can show you a mudra~
a gesture of sorts, for kings, friends and sudras.
Place hands together from fingers to wrists~
like a knife, cut through difference that may exist.

This immediately gets you to the shared ground~
of ALL people, of all cultures, of all sound.
It's a recognition, a united force~
that honors equality of all from the Source.

Close your eyes and tune into your own inner light;
your divine spark that forever burns bright.
That's the key, my dear friend, you must see your OWN
in order to recognize others' light shown.

BLEND your five fingers of action on the left~
with five fingers of knowledge on the right~
to achieve the symbol of perfection~
the union of opposites; interconnection.

FInd the Connection of your brain and your HEART;
your sun and your moon; your stop and your start.
Marry together reason and emotion~
Unite thoughts and feelings, stillness and motion.

JOIN positive and negative; hot and cold~
theory with practice, silver with gold~
Wisdom with Method, intellect with instinct~
talent with genius, and feelings with think!

Exhalation and inhalation, ,brain and heart~
Align in harmony, right from the start!
There is indeed no sphere of our existence
untouched by the symbolic significance~

of Namaste~

Namaste

On this day, we invite you to practice the Love in Your Head pose gifted to us from Elie, age 6.

"Close your eyes. Breathe and get still. Pour love into the top of your head. Not just one thing you love! Pour everything and everyone you can think of that you love into your head. Keep going until your head feels full of love and joy."

Love is the most powerful activator for positive change to manifest on this planet.

Thank you Elie, for being the light of awareness. You are living wisdom. You are Love.

Four boys, ages 5-8, came together to create a yoga sequenced flow appropriate for when we are in an overly energetic, jumping out of our skin state, but want (or are told) to get to a calm, focused state. They were passionate, patient and proud of their creation and energetically worked together.

Thank you Eight year old Marlie for presenting me with this yoga book you wrote and taught to classes in your school. I appreciate your interesting chapters~

Yoga that keeps me calm
Yoga that keeps me Grounded
Yoga with more than two people
Yoga with two people
Yoga that keeps me happy

and your very helpful notes~
Remember you will not get it the first time
Breathe slowly
Remember to lean

your beautifully detailed art~
and your permission to share your work on our blog~

I am grateful that you have been a grounded student for three years and you continue to serve your school with yoga.

With love,   Cheryl Crawford

Election! Election!
Left Versus Right
Moon Versus Sun
Both shining bright!

We all have a limited, contracted, outer hard surface.  Yoga teaches us to dig deep into our center to know our true, authentic selves. Yoga Teacher Barbie was gifted to me on my birthday and I have chosen to Ground her and help her to expand her consciousness. All of my students are gifts; yet this is my first one who was born in Indonesia and had a non-existent childhood,. No wonder she has restricted knowledge.

Perhaps Barbie's obvious patterns of limitations can teach us how to observe our own stuff.   Barbie has offered her correspondence to her beloved, Ken for you all to witness her progress. I welcome advice on how to help her ground her feet!

Stay tuned for Ken's response...

The Skin Horse had lived longer in the nursery than any of the others. He was so old that his brown coat was bald in patches and showed the seams underneath, and most of the hairs in his tail had been pulled out to string bead necklaces. He was wise, for he had seen a long succession of mechanical toys arrive to boast and swagger, and by-and-by break their mainsprings and pass away, and he knew that they were only toys, and would never turn into anything else. For nursery magic is very strange and wonderful, and only those playthings that are old and wise and experienced like the Skin Horse understand all about it.

"What is REAL?" asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. "Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?"

"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real."

"Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit.

"Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. "When you are Real you don't mind being hurt."

"Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit by bit?"

"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."

"I suppose you are real?" said the Rabbit. And then he wished he had not said it, for he thought the Skin Horse might be sensitive.

But the Skin Horse only smiled

-  From the Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams  -