Did you know that bees are integrative and essential component for our food and environment?
Did you know that 1/3rd of the honeybee colonies in America died last winter?

What can we do?
1. Reduce the use of pesticides.
2. Control air pollution– Pollutants in the air can destroy the fragrance of flowers as well as curtail the bee’s ability to follow trails of scent.
3. Fruits, nuts, berries, almonds and watermelons depend on the pollination of honey bees. Researchers estimate that “one of every three bites of food rely upon the pollination of bees.”

Bees perform an important function of our food chain. Beekeeper VanEngelsdorp of Pennsylvania explains that a hive in his backyard that once held 12,000 bees dwindled to less that 100 in 3 weeks. “Bees are a vital and necessary part of the food chain and our environment. An ugly phenomonen called “Colony Collapse Disorder” has become a major concern of researchers nationwide.

Let the Bees Be. Please. Namaste.

Years ago, when my YogaKids Kiva and Dakota and I took long car rides we used to play what we called the Dirty Alphabet. We would use naughty words and embarrassingly but shamelessly let loose with wry little smiles and laughter as we giggled and sang A is for ass, b is for butt, c is for caca, d is for doody. The variation on A is for Apple, B is banana, C is for cat.

Have you ever heard of aerial wolf hunting? It’s a brutal practice. Wolves are shot from low-flying aircraft or chased to exhaustion, then shot and killed at point-blank range.
Governor Sarah Palin, the Republican nominee for Vice President, promotes this barbaric practice, exploiting a loophole in the Federal Airborne Hunting Act to allow private wolf killers to shoot down wolves using aircraft. We have to get the word out about this!
Please watch this powerful video by Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund, and then share it with every wildlife lover and conservationist you know:
http://actionfund.defenders.org/palinvideo

Obama and The Palin Effect
 From: Deepak Chopra | Posted: Friday, September 5th, 2008
 
 Sometimes politics has the uncanny effect of mirroring the national psyche even when nobody intended to do that. This is perfectly illustrated by the rousing effect that Gov. Sarah Palin had on the Republican convention in Minneapolis this week. On the surface, she outdoes former Vice President Dan Quayle as an unlikely choice, given her negligent parochial expertise in the complex affairs of governing. Her state of Alaska has less than 700,000 residents, which reduces the job of governor to the scale of running one-tenth of New York City. By comparison, Rudy Giuliani is a towering international figure. Palin’s pluck has been admired, and her forthrightness, but her real appeal goes deeper.
 
 She is the reverse of Barack Obama, in essence his shadow, deriding his idealism and exhorting people to obey their worst impulses. In psychological terms the shadow is that part of the psyche that hides out of sight, countering our aspirations, virtue, and vision with qualities we are ashamed to face: anger, fear, revenge, violence, selfishness, and suspicion of “the other.” For millions of Americans, Obama triggers those feelings, but they don’t want to express them. He is calling fo r us to reach for our higher selves, and frankly, that stirs up hidden reactions of an unsavory kind. (Just to be perfectly clear, I am not making a verbal play out of the fact that Sen. Obama is black. The shadow is a metaphor widely in use before his arrival on the scene.)
 
 I recognize that psychological analysis of politics is usually not welcome by the public, but I believe such a perspective can be helpful here to understand Palin’s message. In her acceptance speech Gov. Palin sent a rousing call to those who want to celebrate their resistance to change and a higher vision. 
 
 Look at what she stands for:
 
 –Small town values — a denial of America’s global role, a return to petty, small-minded parochialism.
 
 –Ignorance of world affairs — a repudiation of the need to repair America’s image abroad.
 
 –Family values — a code for walling out anybody who makes a claim for social justice. Such strangers, being outside the family, don’t need to be heeded.
 
 –Rigid stands on guns and abortion — a scornful repudiation that these issues can be negotiated with those who di sagree.
 
 –Patriotism — the usual fallback in a failed war.
 
 –”Reform” — an italicized term, since in addition to cleaning out corruption and excessive spending, one also throws out anyone who doesn’t fit your ideology.
 
 Palin reinforces the overall message of the reactionary right, which has been in play since 1980, that social justice is liberal-radical, that minorities and immigrants, being different from “us” pure American types, can be ignored, that progressivism takes too much effort and globalism is a foreign threat. The radical right marches under the banners of “I’m all right, Jack,” and “Why change? Everything’s OK as it is.” The irony, of course, is that Gov. Palin is a woman and a reactionary at the same time. She can add mom to apple pie on her resume, while blithely reversing forty years of feminist progress. The irony is superficial; there are millions of women who stand on the side of conservatism, however obviously they are voting against their own good. The Republicans have won multiple national elections by raising shadow issues based on fear, rejection, hostility to change, and narrow-mindedness.
 
 Obama’s call for higher ideals in politics can’t be seen in a vacuum. The shadow is real; it was bound to respond. Not just conservatives possess a shadow — we all do. So what comes next is a contest between the two forces of progress and inertia. Will the shadow win again, or has its furtive appeal become exh austed? No one can predict. The best thing about Gov. Palin is that she brought this conflict to light, which makes the upcoming debate honest. It would be a shame to elect another Reagan, whose smiling persona was a stalking horse for the reactionary forces that have brought us to the demoralized state we are in. We deserve to see what we are getting, without disguise.
 

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From Stephanie Meyer’s bestselling serial novels for teens about a love triangle between 17 year old Bella, vampire Edward and Jacob the werewolf, to HBO’s latest foray from Six Feet Under’s darkly creative mastermind Alan Ball, True Blood, the sexy and macabre find homes in the hearts of our youth.

I was quite shocked to see this new series open with strong intimations of oral sex. Then go on to see the brilliant Anna Paquin of The Piano and other fame– a bold, brilliant , brilliant character whose psychic powers are a titillating contrast to the vampire who enters her restaurant on the first nite of this brilliant, yet disturbing debut.
Stay tuned to both.

Transfer to Transylvania and beyond.

Yoda, a four eared cat, has a rare congenital defect that made his earlobes split, which produced two normal ears and middles ones that look like horns. He is anything but a Satan, in fact quite a sweetie and adorable too. Check out the Yogic Yoda on You Tube.

I thought his was a wonderful YogaKids pose to teach children with, especially those with special needs. How can we recognize their specialness without trying to change the unchangeable, and accept what is. Love abounds everywhere….

So….how do you do the Devil Cat Pose and why? Here’s my take….

Instead of doing Cat and Cow like we normally do, back and forth with moos and meows….try this:

1.Show the children the picture of the kitty/gato named Yoda.
2. Let them express their opinions and discuss all their takes and viewpoints on the situation.
3. Then do the cat pose. Meow, purr, rub up against each other. Scratch each other behind the ears and under the neck. Make nice. Very nice. 30 seconds-1 minute.

THEN……

4. Give them the freedom to turn into the devil cat. Play it out…. howl, raw, scratch, snarl, etc. for just 30 seconds.
5. Go back to the Angel Cat. I see this technique as allowing them to express aggression, anger, let out yucky emotions and then come back to love.

Please share with me the responses you get and additional ideas you might have.

How can we do the Talking Turtle with 2 heads pose?

Purrfection in imperfection. Namaste.

We finally have new DVDs for the YogaKids who have grown up with Silly to Calm and the ABCs. They are fantastic. Fun, imaginative, easy to follow and definitely enhance the fitness, fun and feeling great that all youth need.

Check em out on this reel player link: HEREl

You can buy them at the YogaKids Store or on Amazon.

I’d love to hear from you, your children and students. Please let me know the favorite parts of your kids. Thanks. Namaste.

Is your brain happy? If so, what makes it so….. If not, what can you do? Meditate.

This simple solution begins with a desire to calm yourself down and find just a little bit of peace. Who couldn’t use that? In a study of meditating monks published in Time magazine several years ago, the area of the left prefrontal cortex showed that our brains are changeable, malleable. Even if you think you were born with or living in a state of gloom or anxiety, your brain’s samskaras (grooves) can allow a happier state of existence. The neurological circuitry can be rewired to bring about optimism and serenity. Compassion is be a learned skill and has uncovered ways to clear the emotional spiral downward and create new pathways to positivity. Most of us believe and know that regular physical exercise is a good idea for life. So how about accepting the idea that mental exercise can do the same for a mind that is jumpy, scattered or depressed. Says Richard J Davidson, “happiness is a skill, like tennis. If you want to be a good tennis player, you can’t just pick up a racket–you have to practice”.

So….just begin with just 5 minutes a day. Change a fretful and frightened mind into a happier, healthier, more holistic and unharried outlook on life. Try a mindfulness practice of non-judgement. Sit still and become an impartial witness to whatever thoughts come up. Break out of the habitual ways of categorizing and judging expereinces and just watch the meanderings of the mind. As the Dalai Lama says “that is the nature of mind”. Ask questions. Are you thinking the same negative thoughts and outcomes continuously as automatic resposnses and reactions? Be patient with yourself. Everything unfolds for each of us at our own pace. Be a beginner. Come to each experience as if is is the first time. Free yourself from preconceptions, prejudices and biases so that you may have the opportunity to witness things in a new light.

Try this song or mantra From Thich Nhat Hanh’s “I Have Arrived”

I have arrived, I am home
In the here and in the now

I am solid I am free
In the ultimate, I dwell.

Repeat as many times as you need too. Smile. Be blissful. Enjoy

Yumi Hasegawa is a certified YogaKids teacher, CYKT, who lives in Mayangon Township, Yangon, Myanmar. Upon the tragedy that struck this country recently, Yumi reached out to our YogaKids community for help. I want to thank all of our YogaKids International community effort who reached out to supply the demand of goods and services that are needed. We have been able to help through the generosity you have suppled.  There is still great urgency to help get food to the babies and children in her community. We couldn’t provide the services that Red Cross, UNICEF or the US government can but Yumi is there, right now and with our money she has been able to buy baby food, water and other staples to help the families in her community make it through. She now has support to get food  to children who she, her husband and friends can reach out to right now. She has money to buy supplies. YogaKids Bridge of Diamonds is sending everything we can raise.

Yumi’s yoga and YogaKids classes in her area is grateful to be able to bring relief to the children, their parents and neighbors to soothe body, mind, sould and hearts, just a little to break through the fear, upheaval and confusion to help provide a few moments of peace for those in her tragically torn community. Through the “YK Bridge of Diamonds” we have fortunately been able to offer food and clothing in a time of such great need. Our doing a little means a lot to the homeless children suffering in Myanmar today.

You can make a credit card contribution by visiting the YogaKids website www.yogakids.com and follow the “Help Yumi” link. You can send checks to YogaKids International, 1714 A street, LaPorte, Indiana USA payable to the YogaKids Bridge of Diamonds Foundation, side marked Myanmar.

The Bridge of Diamonds Foundation is a 501c3. Your donations will be tax deductible. Your contributions will go directly to help Yumi feed the children of Mayangon Township, Yangon, Myanmar and as far as her community can reach.

Please forward this appeal on to all of the yogis you know and any other friends or contacts who might be able to make a difference and help Yumi feed so many children.

May all be filled with loving-kindness
May all be healthy and strong.
May all be free from suffering.
May all be healthy and happy.
May all be filled with peace.

Thanks for bonding together to make a difference in the world.

Infinite Blessings…Thanks and love for your support

Don and Marsha Wenig
Please pass this email on…..
 
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