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Making friends in Cambodia. #monkeylove

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Ben's third eye: a very yogi choice for the face painting booth:)

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Ben and daddy doing homework together.

#minchamoment

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Sweet little spot, To read, sit, or cuddle with cats, I’m thankful for you.

#minchamoment

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Today I’m thankful for comfort food like risotto, knowing how to make it, and having two great guys with which to share it.

#minchamoment

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Cat on the table, He refuses to listen, Ah, but that is love.

#minchamoment

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At the Arden

A day together Crisp January sunshine With love and laughter #minchamoment

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Ben reading about the American Revolution.

#minchamoment

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Spin/yoga fusion coming up!

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The Power Breath debacle of 2012

Today was my fifth week of weekly visits to a local first grade classroom to practice Yoga 4 Classrooms with them. The first three weeks went along beautifully -- we practiced different types of breathing, had discussions, practiced poses, and finished with a little guided imagery as I helped transition the students to their next activity with the regular classroom teacher. Then there was today.

When I arrived, the teacher was in the hallway dealing with a situation that involved the principal, counselor, a student and a parent. She had her hands full. She said I should still go in and work with her class. It probably seemed like a break for her while she continued to deal with whatever situation was already at hand. I walked into the room and was greeted with a hug and smiles. I also noticed a high level of excitement -- more than normal.

As we have been building up over the weeks -- more poses, more out of their seats stuff -- today I planned on doing a few very active poses that are accompanied by affirmations. If all had gone as planned, we would have done Warrior pose while saying "I am strong!" together and we would have moved and twisted our bodies while visualizing letting go of stress and tension. We would have done Power Breath.

Power Breath is simple. You raise your arms up, inhale and imagine grabbing good things -- light, good thoughts, energy -- and then you exhale and bring your arms toward your torso with a little power and the sound "ha!". I explained it, demonstrated it, and then when the kids did it, they "HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA'D!!!!!!!" (imagine this going on for 30 or more seconds and loud). I attempted to redirect them but they continued yelling louder and longer. I had to cease and desist Power Breath. In fact, I had to forgo all active movements because the few I tried resulted in children purposely bumping and hitting one another. 

I sent them to their desks, put on calming music and told them to put their heads down, breath, and close their eyes. We've done this before without incident. This week they could not calm down. I minute went by, still noisy, some children were resting but fitfully as their neighbors were flailing and giggling. Finally, against all yoga principles, I bribed them. "If your eyes are closed and you are quiet I will put a gift in your hand. Even when you get the gift, just close your hand but stay quiet and listen to my voice." They wanted gifts so they settled down.

I guided them through a visualization of things and people they love. I put a small stone in each of their hands -- a gratitude rock. The stones had been in my car so they were cold. I told them to imagine warmth and love coming into their bodies and going into the stone. The stone will be a reminder for when they are feeling down or lonely of the people they love and the things for which they are thankful. 

Afterward the children were very pleased with their rocks full of love. They all wanted me to feel how hot they were, how much love they put in them. So, my plan went out the window but I still think something good came of the day. Even if I had to take William's rock away because he kept bouncing it on his desk. 

Oh, and at the end I asked them to draw a picture of something for which they are thankful. They did a great job and William drew a picture of him and his sister sleeping head to foot in the same bed under a sky full of stars. 

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Sorry Tebow

This morning my husband shed some light on the Tebow trademark situation that changes my opinion a bit. Turns out some third party was trying to trademark Tebowing. It seems that Tim Tebow's move to trademark it himself was largely to keep outside people from owning his image. I can't fault the guy for that. 

The larger societal problem we have is that any one of us can make more money exploiting ourselves, religion, others than we can working an honest week at most professions. Still, I may have misjudged Tim Tebow on this count, so for that I offer this correction. 

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Practice with Passion but Less Pizazz Tebow

Sorry Tim Tebow you can't have it both ways. You decided that you wanted to make your faith public by bowing in front of a national audience during football games. I was never one of the folks who had a problem with that. "Good for you!", I thought. Certainly, having faith is nothing to be ashamed about. And, why not be a positive role model/athlete? But, your recent move in claiming a stake to your Tebow is just silly. I am growing increasingly unimpressed with Tim Tebow as a football player and as a Christian. 

Tebow is quoted as saying, "It's something I do that's prayer for me and it got hyped as Tebowing. I think one, more to control how it's used as well. Make sure it's used in the right way.'' 

Well, here is the problem with that -- perhaps Tim Tebow needs to take responsibility for using his faith in the wrong way to begin with. If you are going to make a spectacle of your faith as a person in a position of great exposure and influence, perhaps you need to think through the possibility that what you do will be imitated. After all, isn't that expected of role models? And, OK, fair enough, Tebowing has been parodied quite a bit. But, having a public figure, who makes a big deal of anything, being made fun of has to just be expected. 

I don't see how it is the right of Tim Tebow to trademark a prayer pose. Could someone decide that they disapprove of yogis putting hands in a traditional prayer pose and trademark it so that it can soley be used by Christians as part of Christian prayer? I sure hope not. Maybe the descendents of Rodin should contest this claim and trademark the pose of the Thinker and then sue Tebow for using it and profiting from it -- because he sure has, even if it wasn't his intention. 

It's time for Tim Tebow to take responsibility for this. He made his faith public and added some extra flair by striking a pose to show it. If he feels that the pose is being used inappropriately, he should stop doing it. Then, we people ask why, he can profess his faith, explain why and encourage everyone to follow his new example of practicing his faith with no less passion but perhaps a little less pizazz.

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It's a whola lotta pumpkin!

Every year at this time of the year, everything turns pumpkin. Everywhere you go, there is something flavored like, smelling like, or looking like a pumpkin. Most people seem excited about this seasonal treat. Even people who had been on strict diets will break the fast for a pumpkin muffin the size of a toddler's head. Mmmmm, pumpkin! Except, none of these things actually tastes like pumpkin. 

This is where I start my annual rant of the lie that is pumpkin flavor. Have you ever actually tried pumpkin -- real pumpkin? It's squash. It is not sweet, doesn't taste like cinnamon, there's no hint of the warmth of clove. Not at all! It is a reasonably tasty vegetable -- it's squash for god's sake. All this pumpkin hype is actually about the spices we use with pumpkin. 

I would make a bet that if you used any kind of substance with a similar texture to pumpkin [some other kind of squash maybe] and cooked it with cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmeg sugar, vanilla... you could pass it off as pumpkin pie. What about sweet potato pie -- ever notice how similar that is to pumpkin pie? Wanna bet the ingredients for both pies are strikingly similar? 

Next week I think I am going to rent a table at the farmer's market and just sell things that are actually flavored like pumpkin. Oh sure, I will put a little sugar, I am not evil. But, none of the fancy spices that you are used to. Let's see who really likes the flavor of pumpkin.

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Autonomy vs Shame and Doubt: Teachers

If you have ever taken a psychology course the conflict of autonomy vs shame and doubt will sound familiar. We can thank Erik Erikson for helping us understand how young children develop socially and emotionally. When children are about 2 years old and first beginning to try to take control of their little bodies and worlds, they are confronted with this conflict. I argue that although this is a stage that we typically relate to young children, it is one that is applicable to adults as well. In this short essay I am going to relate this idea to teachers.

Two, three, four year olds are wanting to learn to "go potty", feed themselves, make their own choices about what to wear, what to eat, what to play, etc. This is a stage where you might see more expressions of anger. This is partly due to the fact that children are beginning to understand what they want but not always able to get what they want. This stage poses a particular challenge for parents who want to take care of things quickly. It is much easier to just zip the kids coat up when you are trying to get out the door than wait for their little hands to fumble with it. 

However, when parents jump in and do everything for the child, the child might internalize feelings of doubt about their own abilities. Instead, parents need to support feelings of autonomy so that children feel the successes of exercising their new advanced motor and cognitive skills. 

But enough about little ones -- how does this relate to teachers? For at least a decade we have been hearing about, reading about, and watching movies about the problems with teachers. In March, 2010 the cover of Newsweek featured a chalkboard with the words "We must fire bad teachers" written over and over. Still, there has not been a conversation about what makes a good or bad teacher that has been satisfying to me. I began thinking about what I really want to see in a great teacher. I want to see big ideas in the classroom, teachers who really know their students and how to reach them, teachers who get to flex their creative muscles and apply what they know about great pedagogy. Then, I got to thinking about how schools seem to work these days. I immediately realized the problem.

Teachers don't get to be autonomous. They don't get to flex their creative muscles. Teachers follow set curricular guidelines and are often discouraged from straying from those guidelines even when they feel strongly they are not a good fit for some students. Teachers are told what to do and how to do it and do not experience much freedom to try new ideas in their classrooms. If we treated young children like that we would be teaching them to second guess their ability. We would be encouraging Doubt not Autonomy.

This got me thinking about tenure. For the first three years, teachers do what they are told for fear they won't get tenure. They are trained to doubt their own ideas because if they stray from the program and the children don't do well on standardized tests it will be disastrous. For at least three years we essentially teach them to doubt themselves. Then, they have tenure! The choir sings, the angels appear and creativity should be unleashed with this new freedom. If tenure protects bad teachers like so many seem to think, if you can be awful and not be fired because of tenure, then surely you can be explosively creative and not be fired. But alas, we don't hear many stories of teachers who are using the protection of tenure to reach for the stars in the classroom. Instead, I hear stories of teachers who when pressed say that they "are not allowed" to use certain books, activities, ideas, etc. 

But, "you have tenure", I say, "can't you do whatever you want if you feel it's right?" Inevitably, teachers respond with a great deal of self-doubt. What if they are wrong? What if they stray from the course and the children don't succeed?

"But they are not succeeding now," I sometimes reply. Still, I am answered with doubt. 

I argue that teachers should be given more autonomy to use their expertise in the classroom. The vast majority of our teachers are dynamic, intelligent, passionate folks who want the best for the children with whom they work. Let's trust them, give them the autonomy they deserve and help support the development of a life long expert teacher.

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Chall-ange'!

Last night I curled up with a giant chunk of homemade Jewish Apple Cake and a copy of I Can Make You Thin by Paul McKenna. He said I could read the book in two hours. Take that, McKenna, it's been almost 24! He says I can't listen to his hypnosis CD while I am driving. Well, we will just see if I make it to work in one piece tomorrow McKenna. And, most of all, he says I can lose weight by not dieting. Ha! Sorry for being so pessimistic,  but I just can't see it working. 

I was on my first diet when I was in middle school. I remember going out to skate up and down the block every day for exercise. I stopped eating the Little Debbie Snack Cakes that filled our kitchen cabinets. I limited my raviolis to 4 and my pizza to one slice. I honestly don't remember a time when I was not on a diet. Of course, none of them have worked so the no diet, diet seems just as likely to succeed as anything else. 

Among McKenna's suggestions -- put your fork down between every bite. I don't want to seem cynical, but if you were eating with a person who did that wouldn't you just want to punch them in the face? He also recommends chewing each mouthful thoroughly. I am sure I chew my food thoroughly. I fear slowing down to the point of absurdity. For some reason I can't imagine anything between normal fast eating and insane slow motion chewing. 

I've got another 50 pages or so to read. Let's see what you've got McKenna.