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Mindfulness in the Making
RECONNECTING TO YOUR LIGHT

By: Jocelyn Kay Levy   |   October 5, 2022

Eek…it’s already October! The swirl of September still has me feeling a little loopy! Seriously—as soon as I had made big fall plans to jump headfirst into teaching tons of yoga classes and really getting into work, the Universe had other ideas for me (of course). In one fell swoop all my plans came tumbling down when I came down with the waiting-in-the-wings sickness of back-to-school-kids-germs-blues!

 

Yep, sadly all of us parents know it well. We get secretly excited to finally send our wee ones back to school after a looooong summer, to happily reunite with their friends, all huggy and kissy, and run free of mommy and daddy for a few sweet hours a day. But all it takes is one free-flowing snotty nose and dozens of little hands touching just about everything there is to be touched and, like a domino effect, all the kids are suddenly sick including your sweeties! How is it that I’m still surprised when I find myself sick, every…single…time!?

 

Then I’m surprised—no, shocked—again when life my spins into chaos. Suddenly I have to cancel everything and go back to the drawing board to rearrange everyone’s schedule because the kiddos are back home in our little sick nest and I’m beyond exhausted, sick of being sick and so far from my best self that I don’t even know where I begin and the chaos ends.

 

As the days and hours slowly pass, I start to emerge from the fog and I’m reminded of the very first line of a universal Yogi prayer: “Om Asatoma Sadgamaya”, which translates to “lead us from ignorance to knowledge, from darkness to light” and for me this means ‘get me the heck out of this freakin’ fog so I can reconnect to my true self.’ That is self that emerges in those moments of my yoga practice when the outside world doesn’t exist and I’m in a state of pure peace.

 

I would love to believe that I’m not alone in this. Not that I wish ill upon anyone else, of course. I’d just like to know that I’m not losing it, drowning alone in my own stormy sea of parenting, and that this is all normal! All parents, especially us mamas, get a little flipped upside down when trying to get back into the flow or un-flow of Life’s School of Parenting: kids’ schools, kids’ activities, and the bittersweet sadness of the ending of summer. Oh summer! How I’ll miss your warm sunshiny days and being able to walk around in a sarong and flip flops feeling healthy, alive, and warm.

 

As fall shines its orange light upon us, I guess the biggest work for all of us right here and now is to simply become aware when we find ourselves in the swirl and fog. To recognize and even accept it as part of this life and to do the work to get grounded again. To trust that if we do this work, we will be led from ignorance to knowledge, from darkness to light, and from the fog and chaos to sunshine and peace until the cycle begins again. Om Asatoma Sadgamaya.

 

Yoga Exercise for Parents:

 

Now that there are shorter days and less sun, I’d say it’s time for some Sun Salutes to keep you energized as the weather changes! You don’t need to jump into a full yoga flow practice, you can simply try a half Sun Salutation. Here’s how:

• Start standing tall in Mountain pose with feet together or hip distance apart and bring the palms together at your heart
• Take a deep inhale, stretching each arm out to the side, and reaching your arms up to the sky with palms facing one another
• As you exhale, fold your torso forward by bending over at the hips
• On an inhale, place hands on shins and gaze forward so you have a neutral spine
• On an exhale, fold forward fold again, relaxing the neck and shoulders
• On an inhale, again stretch arms out to the sides and reaching them back up to the sky
• Another exhale brings the hands back to your heart, with palms together and feet together or hip distance apart in Mountain pose

The important thing to note about Sun salutations is to try to sync up the breath with the movement so that it becomes energy in motion. We usually practice this as the sun is rising.

I know that not everyone can practice first thing in the morning. Heck, on cloudy and rainy days there is no sunshine to be seen or felt. Still, whenever you are able to practice Sun Salutations, I invite you to hold the intention of honoring the warmth and life-giving energy of the sun through your breath and movement. When you breathe in, envision yourself inhaling the light of the sun and its beauty. The sun’s light is a beautiful reminder of the light within us. The light being our true self, inner teacher or inner guide. This exercise is a fantastic way to literally move fog and heavy energy out of our bodies and fill ourselves instead with radiance and light. Try it!

 

Yoga Exercise for Kids:

Kids are all about sunshine and rainbows and happy things and their bright energy has so much to teach us especially on our dark days. I have a funny song for the kiddos on my 1st album “Wee Yogis Play” entitled “Sun’s magic”. Head outside to the sunshine if you can and play this song for your kids to follow along to. It’s a great way to allow kids to joyfully learn Sun Salutations. All while pretending to be different animals like cats, snakes, and dogs. They will have a blast learning to honor the sun while stretching their bodies and shining their souls! 

 

Community:

Join me at Energy Flow Studio in San Anselmo Saturday, October 22nd 2pm - 5pm, for the 10-year anniversary celebration of my kids yoga musical, Wee Yogis Play! This is a free event for families! Kiddos will have the opportunity to dress up, watch the musical, practice yoga, and hear and sing along with their favorite Wee Yogis Songs!

 

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