Irresistible #renewal

Renewal, for me, is #return, a bold necessity in all facets of life. I am a proud #unionist and public school educator, attending National Education Association Representative Assembly. As a member of the largest labor union in the United States, this is my first opportunity to be immersed (from the safety of my home) at the national level. I am able to listen to all the debate, share my voice and experiences, and vote on policies that seek to address the many, multifaceted challenges in public education (and greater society) today. There are voices here from at ALL levels of #publiceducation even amidst continuing gun violence in Chicago.

Today, I am no longer in survival mode as the pandemic goes into its 3rd year. I am learning to become an armed educator with a whole new set of skills (and self-care tools). I am NOT, however, nor do I wish to be armed with a gun. I would be understating to say my classroom and my community has been touched by ALL of the issues presented in the first half of Day 2. These eighteen years as an educator have been marked with gun violence and its aftermath: from the tragedy at Pulse in my childhood and adult neighborhood to the unannounced weapons search in a small, sleepy, masked first period during the height of a hybrid (face-to-face and virtual classroom) to the myriads of lockdown drills , as well as teaching Civics on January 6th, to being verbally assaulted by chants of “baby-killer” because masks were mandated across my district (the 9th largest in the United States). My classroom has been affected by #censorship and grass-root movements to shut down learning. I have been called names, been targeted, and threatened. So, too, would I be understating the impact these challenges have had my health. Not only have I sought other employment in another field, I lost my passion and energy for this good work.

And #goodwork it is. I told myself this through the challenges of the past few years, which were exponentially intensified and personalized in #publicschool unfriendly Florida and its convoluted, ill-conceived evaluation system and unsustainable practices. I did not know that I was in need for renewal, but here I am being renewed. And with this renewal, comes commitment. I am renewed by the #democraticprocess here, and the passion of my Brothers and Sisters. And it has been a much needed change from the constant onslaught of the new American nattering nabobs of negativitism.

Irresistible #sunfish

More of this…

The Master Maker appeared today. He’s the master of the forge upon which We craft Our #future. I have been warned since I was a young thing that #fire is dangerous, especially when flames #sing to Me, and sometimes I act too #young, I’m told. Nonetheless, The Master Maker reminds Us to #utilize Summer’s heat along with Our own #burning passions to bring about alchemical change for this is the dance of life; the spontaneity of Our organic movement (in words and actions) with that of the Universe brings Us into this #moment. We decide each #day in Our practices, what will I make of #today? And, knowing Our successes (as well as, being present to Our Own undoings), The Master Maker reminds Us that Day is, truly, a labor of #Love. We may get burned by The Queen of Hearth and Home, or Our bare bums roasted by The Queen of Laughter, but We are protected and given strength by His teachings. And if one thinks upon this for not-so-long, We feel oh-so-lucky that We received this #wisdom here as The Master Maker is a strict task-master, and only Our best will do. This means that We will enjoy Our Summer days, taking advantage of the sudden rainstorms and the splash of Sun for #wild thought soon to be transformed with The Master Maker’s experienced and skillful hands. He practices all the time, rarely taking a break. His work breathtaking, no? And, here, We are, inspired by the the Sunfish leaping! And, like the Earth, like the Sky, like a wave on the Sea, remember that Your very best work is most principled and most applicable to Us all, to Us all. So says, The Master Maker, and so say the Sunfish.

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Irresistible Circumstances and EMYoga are expanding. Please like, subscribe, share, comment, and enjoy Our content on the platfom(s) of Your choice, and thank You!

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Please check out The Heart of Faerie Oracle by Brian and Wendy Froud and The Faeries’ Oracle by Brian Froud with text by Jessica Macbeth at https://www.ferniebrae.com/brian-froud. Thank You for reading and receiving a full moon in Sagittarius’s blessing (& You definitely have Mine, too!). May Our #practice together be a catalyst and the healing itself.

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Irresistible #mudra

Young Pine, December 2021

As in the writing of this blog, I am very mindful of the new year. School is a tough place to be during the continued pandemic. As such, I plan and practice in 2022 with the intent to engender and model compassion for both to myself and others, as well as seek out and build relationship with other-than-human entities without attachment to nostalgia and antiquarianism (Rasmussen, p. 21). As such, my experiences with yogic traditions and practices and its internal and external dialogues are nourished and refined infusing and cultivating these relationships through the language and process of Nonviolent Communication (#nvc). Further, compassionate communication does not occur in a vacuum, nor requires a certain religiosity or ideology or refutation, as consciousness and intent can be expressed through silence and our quality of presence (Rosenberg, p. 7). As such, I strive to cultivate this awareness and connection to moment in community as both the catalyst for and the #healing itself in all interactions and situations.

The simple ways to cultivate connection daily becomes the practice itself; these include, but are not limited to the following for me:

  1. Dancing
  2. Playing xx (e.g., music, music, climbing up a tree)
  3. Learning (e.g., a new languages, skills, perspectives)
  4. Sharing

Today’s first practice of 2022 utilizes mudra, affirmation/mantra, pranayama, movement/asana, and visualization. Please feel free to explore the readings that inform this practice and explore other offerings in platforms listed below. As always, I invite you to practice in the spirit and intention using the processes and language of nonviolent communication (more details below).  You can find a link to January’s first LIVE practice here.

Mudras in Today’s Practice

Kalesvara Mudra is dedicated to the deity, Kalesvara, who rules over time.  In this mudra, we place our middle fingers together, touching the first two joints of the index finger and thumb tips.  Bend the fingers not touching inward with the thumbs pointing toward the chest and spread your elbow widely to the outside  (Hirsch, 134).  

Benefits:  This mudra is said to strengthen memory and concentration as well as calm agitation.  It can also support new habits (like those many new year resolutions wish to encompass), helping change character traits, supporting memory and concentration, and/or eliminating addictive behavior; with this in mind, it is recommended that it is practiced 10-20 minutes each day for this intent  (Hirsch, 134). 

Suggested Affirmation:  I enjoy being xx [this] or xx [that] (Hirsch, 135).

Visualization:  Imagine a situation or scene in which you act and react in a new way. 

Pranayama:   Take 10 long deep even breaths, listening and observing your breath, and lengthening the pause after the inhalation and exhalation evenly as we progress (Hirsch, 134).

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Nonviolent Communication (also called Compassionate Communication) carries the assumption that we have a shared desire to give and receive from the heart.  Thus, even yoga practice can cultivate compassionate communication which fosters listening, respect and deep empathy and engenders this mutual desire to give from the heart (Rosenberg, 12) both to ourselves and the greater world (when we are ready).  Whether this meets you in disbelief or in possibility, I invite you to explore the process through our practice together or further reading.  The four components are::

  1. Observation
  2. Feelings
  3. Needs
  4. Request

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References for this practice:

Hirschi, G., Grimm, C. M., & Ito, J. (2016). Mudras: Yoga in your hands. Weiser Books. 

Rasmussen, Rune H. (2021). The Nordic Animist Year. Nordic Animism.

Rosenberg, Marshall B. (2015).  Nonviolent Communication:  A Language of Life. PuddleDancer Press.

We invite You be part as #EMY expands.  Please visit us on our new platform or YouTube channel (links below).  Your support has made this possible, and We appreciate You!

EMY on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvMnkeD2ZpGCszoQte51a0A

EMY Blog:  https://atomic-temporary-69597897.wpcomstaging.com/

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Please explore more of the beautiful music (and inspiration to stay strong) on Fred Altensee’s Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4RM

Irresistible #Connections

November Garden 2021

https://youtu.be/mTEdTbYa0I0

This 50-minute practice is the first of three in a series as the Northern Hemisphere moves into the winter months and busy holiday season.   November’s theme on EMY is connection to #moment through practices using visualization, movement in and out of familiar postures, and breathwork using the language of nonviolent communication (#nvc). Be blessed in your abundance and practice.

November 1, 2021 – Connection to #moment

#irresistible stories


It’s a humid Monday morning, the week before Halloween. I’ve been toying with new ideas in the classroom in my head all weekend. Our big district shared a “retelling” of Rikki-Tikki-Tavi to teach author’s purpose and comparing and contrasting the presentation across multiple mediums. I’ve never been a huge fan of this narrative, mostly because of its origins and underpinnings, but our class will get a chance to see Nagaina and discuss her character traits. And I, the teacher, may get to hear those robust ELA words like “cold”, “capricious,” “calculating,” and “cruel.”

The thing about stories is that they retell all on their own through what we read, hear, and tell. To adequately improve reading comprehension, one reads. It helps to have a guide, and thanks to the Internet and the fabulous watered down curriculum, I have everything I need to teach: links, 100 page guides, teacher guides, powerpoints, and a sad, sad retelling. A retelling that no student or teacher would parse those robust ELA words like “cold”, “capricious,” “calculating,” and “cruel” from the district’s retelling of the “epic” battle of Rikki-Tikki-Tavi and Nagaina. Maybe that’s the point (to not replicate another feminine demon?). And after three days of graphic organizers and questions that loop about the point in the roundabout, convoluted way, I told students to submit their work. Let’s read the actual story.

It’s a humid Monday morning, the week before Halloween. I’ve been planning the stories I wish my students to read, hear, and tell, so that maybe one day soon in discussion I’ll hear those robust ELA words like “cold”, “capricious,” “calculating,” and “cruel.” And I’ll be able to counter them–as Nagaina would do for her children. Or better yet, my own students will counter them with new words of their time, place, and setting; but that’s another story.

irresistible #algorithm

October 2021

I’m working on this complicated algorithm in my head. It fits not the rhyme or measure of my #thought and current realities, but patterns itself in #memory: the phases of the moon, the rising and setting of the sun, the taste of the morning breeze, the call of birds in neighboring trees, the traces of summer last in the garden, the footstep of my lover, and the scratch of the cat on the front mat. I can almost, almost hear this algorithm, maybe a frequency undiscovered? There’s a heaviness to it, like gravity or dense matter, but there is infiniteness, too, within its formulas. I’m working on this complicated algorithm in my head and how to write this in symbols and letters and numbers.

irresistible #planning

Elijah Clarke, October 2021

It’s Saturday, and I’m sitting down to plan. I had the opportunity for a planning day at school yesterday, away from the constant hums and bangs of the classroom; this being one of the first ones in 5 years or so that involve me carving out personal time, which–since Covid–has seemed so precious. Planning next steps felt a little easier than during the huge uncertainties of 2020, the election of Biden, my husband’s retirement, and hybrid digital format, but the “survival” line of thinking habit is so hard to break. It’s hard to shut down the necessities, self-created in a bygone error for a system that wholly operates digitally now. Learning is, indeed, all about connections, inter- and intra-personal ones. Learning with “survival” thinking–for both the student and teacher–is fodder for getting the same results, declining test scores, especially now that 2021 has brought a new set of uncertainties.

To break out of survival thinking and #moveforward, I’ve been setting myself up with a new set of skills, trying to think away from the idea of higher certifications (although I am pursuing them currently) and into other realms. I learned to do this fluidly last year, creating realities (in this crazy hybrid virtual and realtime, synchronous S&#! show) where there were none for #compassion and #listening so #needs and wants could be heard. I also learned what NOT to repeat from face-to-face past school years, and carry this into planning for the academic school year and retiring common core standards (more to come after training on the NEW new standards once again–my third cycle).

Teachers know the realities of any regular year–the traumas we experience or observe in others, but try to ignore. Once you are aware of an injustice or a circumstance, how can we just ignore it away? The public school systems of the United States have perpetuated many injustices, which cannot be ignored or silenced. Covid laid to bare this at an alarming rate, and we just didn’t have time to argue too much about academic excellence and dress code. Nor plan.

This greater issue for me personally was, and still is, sustainability. I’m constantly looking for an even #exchange of energies here, and constantly reminded we are a business transaction, a human resource (which is smaller in my district than the money dedicated to digital infrastructure). Yet, too, as a teacher and learner, I’m reminded here that I have agency. I try, instead, to learn new skills and explore outside of the box, moving forward. We have to learn how to give and take ourselves, and how to model this #balance in a world under great change. It’s a huge step forward for me to carve out time to plan, to understand its importance, and to be focused in something I once felt a great deal of #passion for, even though its #burdens are not sustainable.

Skill-building is just a fancy way of saying #practice (in my opinion) with a little planning. Here’s some actions I’m currently using as I #plan for opportunities:

Planning – Dream, List, Break apart, Chew On, Brainstorm, Revise, Reflect, Analyze, and Stick To

Getting outside – Camp, hike, sleep, hang out, take pictures, watch the skies, dream

Building intra and interpersonal skills with the goal to be connected to others. To hold and be held in their love. There’s sustainability in this :). What’s your attachment style? – One survey for this here.

Learning a language (or two) – I wrote my first one in German (it’s Haiku–the structure provides me much without getting into my own inner patriarchy) – might share it here.

Reading, writing and creating – A blog, a book, a poem, a video, a website, a masterpiece, a doodle.

Moving – move earth, pick up things, move air, flow like water, breathe the sky, dance, shimmy, move

Learning – Take a class (even if you don’t want to) – Anything! Today’s for me are mostly for professional development but I believe there’s always something to learn and #practice. I practice #NVC in those times of ennui and complete disbelief (there are times when a sense of humor comes in handy and #abandonment is a better course of action).

Practicing with awareness, #NVC, Yoga, Meditation. Turn it into #daily #ritual.

Putting myself out there – EarthmotherYoga is transforming into a business.

Listening without Judgement and Teaching with that in mind and #heart

Here’s one of my favorite videos on how to make #connection and building skills of #listening. May we all be blessed in our #abundance and #practice done and shared in Love.

irresistible #rebellion

Elijah Clarke, October 2021

It’s Wednesday. I am already feeling the pull of rebellious #aquarius, providing plenty of #excuses for Thursday. I look to the #skies for #signs. Wonder about the weather, even though I’m indoors all day long. I look to the skies for signs. Wonder about the weather. And begin #practice.

To embrace the darkness, I focus on the horizon. Night distinct from morning, which creeps even now at 4 a.m. Night is set apart by urban lights, twinkling awake, like the quiet stars hidden from the moment by this process. I draw a #rune, consider the whole and then the parts. Like the #night, there is #wisdom there for me. I embrace this #stillness and say a #spell, words falling deliberately and intuitively, like the quiet stars illuminated in the moment by this process.

Wednesdays bring an awareness of how far I’ve come and how far I have yet to go. It’s a campfire kind of day; I want to sit around and stare into a fire, not really doing anything (because you know you must do something, most preferably, sooner than later).

It’s Wednesday. I am already feeling the pull of rebellious #aquarius, providing plenty of #excuses for Thursday. I look to the #skies for #signs. Wonder about the weather, even though I’m indoors all day long. I look to the skies for signs. Wonder about the weather. And begin #practice.

My Wednesday practice is full of #learning. I listen to podcasts, music, catch up on lessons in classes I’m taking, and focus on hearing other #perspectives. Like Wednesday, this reminds of how far I’ve come and how far I have yet to go.

Here’s one of my favorites. Enjoy! May we be blessed in our #abundance and practices. #loveisall #loveislove #nvc

Irresistible #water

Did you send the #pain to hobble me
Take my word for what i see
Read my face, and you will know
 our ocean tide does ebb and flow
Where one begins, one dissolves;
in pain of #change, our world evolves
You watch it now, you know who
does my pain still strengthen you?
Take my word, it's mine alone
I'll claim this pain as my own.

We began summer school in a hurry this year. I took the four days off and went to the beach just about every day, washing myself of the Covid-19 school year in the beautiful elements at Canaveral National Seashore. During the last few weeks of school, I was fortunate enough to complete a long-awaited PD on Restorative Practices (https://www.iirp.edu/) and expand upon this through classes and continued learning at Embodied Philosophy (see below).

As the circle is an indispensable tool for restorative practices, I begin my 10-week, 3rd grade summer camp with a circle, a safe container. I’ve been out of the 3rd grade classroom for about 6 years now, and got my one-year stint at Civics teaching (a very interesting and polarizing subject with the events of January 6th). Civics is a difficult subject for adults, let alone adolescents. The switch to third grade was welcome, and needed as I will the 7th grade English language arts teacher next year.

This summer, circles are more of a tool for me, a common ground where this new class could establish dialogue and safe sharing. Throughout June, I will weave mindfulness practice into this school world. As predicted, there are many obstacles and challenges with cultivating a space of equanimity and compassion. I continue to work on these through unexpected (but not really) outbursts and tears (there have already been a lot of them). Bandaids and ice are wonderful in the moment, but the real work starts in circle.

This blog is a place to reflect and regroup, as well as practice words of NVC. From what I have experienced in 7 days, we can all still use more compassion and time to build trust before tackling learning challenges. There is strength in our differences of #perspective. Irresistible Circumstances was (and still is) inspired by my dear friend and extraordinary teacher, Danielle, who left this world 6 years ago. Her sweet, yet fierce, perspective has sustained my professional passion in any classroom or grade level. Her friendship was and is still a precious #gift, as her work touched so many students and colleagues. Irresistible Circumstances is a blog to share #perspectives and #goodwork which bring about positive change and healing.

Below is the first in Earthmother Yoga’s June 2021 series, inspired by readings, study, and practice of NVC and restorative practices during this summer, post-Covid-19 school year, Yay, for being without the onerous and mind-frazzling requirement of hybrid learning (no live and face-to-face synchronous learning)! June’s focus continues practices for #connection drawing on the elements based upon work of Marshall Rosenberg and his student, David Weinstock (links below), and their exemplars of grounding and mindfulness practices to cultivate and sustain the language of nonviolent communication (NVC).

Last week, we began with Earth (video embedded below), our home with present, familiar footing. Here we will continue to find common ground with ourselves and others. Today, we will expand and explore Water through our #practice of stepping into the deep waters of our emotions, and then returning to common ground in continued awareness of movement and breath. Today’s practice will be posted on Youtube following our live session.

Please help EMY grow by enjoying, sharing, and subscribing my channel. And, thank you!

For more on NVC and June’s practice series:

David Weinstein on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Becoming-What-You…/dp/1973115492

Classes with David Weinstock (and so much more) https://www.embodiedphilosophy.com/

More about NVC, Marshall Rosenberg, and the Center for Nonviolent Communication

https://www.cnvc.org/node/243492#abundance#earthmother#yogawitch#safeschools#irresistiblecircumstances

Earthmother Yoga on FB:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/669774807091487/

Please help our musicians and artists, by supporting and sharing. Here’s a favorite new discovery!

Beautiful music to #practice with:

Irresistible #simplicity

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