As I listen to the words of “Dear Jessie” by Madonna (one of my all time favourite songs as a child) it reminds me of the adventure I held inside my heart of a magical place where there’s a golden gate, where the fairies all wait and dancing moons. Where the mermaids sing as they comb their hair, like a fountain of gold you can never grow old where dreams are made”.
I asked the question, "Why did I love this song so much?" and "Why now when I listen to it does it sparks the inner child within me?"
Simple! Listen to the words, it symbolises all that we believe when we are a child, that life is sweet, that their are magical places and fairies do indeed exist. I remember spending much of my early childhood seeing and feeling magical things, I would play for hours in this magical place. I still see this in the children today when they are out amongst nature or at a playground. Full of happiness, joy, laughter and excitement. Living in the moment.
So I asked my self the hard question a few months ago, "Why are you teaching children yoga? What is your intention? Why teach children yoga?" As the saying goes never work with children or animals and I can say there has been days I have walked away from a class nearly crumbling at my knees with fear and disappointment that I didn’t do enough in the class, it wasn’t fun etc etc.
Other days I've walked away, with a smile ear to ear having a sense that I created a class that was fun, educational and team building. But their is no “I” in kids yoga, no room for ego as your ego will bring you crushing down. My friend and theta healer Liz would also say in times I doubted myself “ you got this, Kids yoga is your path” and sometimes I think her vision and words is what kept me going. It was not about me but about the kids.
In this day and age children need yoga and the life skills they learn from it more than ever as we are faced with higher incidences of depression, anxiety and social isolation in children. Plus I wanted my children to grow up with yoga being a way of life, the norm. I thought in that moment, I can’t sit back and just hope that someone else teaches my children these life skills, it’s my role to teach them. Were all instilled with the virtues of compassion, love, generosity, kindness,
I realise now why I had difficulty in the early days teaching kids yoga. It was because I was approaching it from an adults perspective. The words would echo through my heads it must be educational, I must stick to the yoga template I was taught in my course, I must ensure the parents are happy. "But what about asking the question what do the kids want?" and listening to their response, I herd that they wanted to learn about lost cities, through stories and play, to learn poses and display emotions through music and dance.
So that what we did, we drew, we played games, we danced to music and made up new names for poses, we had loud expressive times coupled with quiet time lead by group meditation and breathing techniques. We gave children the permission to be children.
You see I had I had lost my ability to be carefree like a child. So I took a different approach, I got
Just the other day I was telling my good friend Maz (who comes to my yoga classes ) what we get up to in our kids yoga classes and she asked when "Can we bring it into the adults classes, it sounds fun?" It made me realise that so many of us want to re connect with our inner child, we just are looking for the permission to do so, well I’m saying go for it. Find what it is that made you happy as a child and take it back up. I loved to sing and dance when I was a child so I made the decision to sign up for singing lessons, and chose to become a Chakradance facilitator, so that I could not only get my dance back on but to help others to tap into their inner child through dance. It makes me smile from within, when I’m at my signing lesson or in my dance class. I’m free and happy. And you have the choice to be as well.
Point of the story is find your inner child and let it come out, and make the choice to let your child do the same. As the song states “baby face don’t grow so fast, make a special wish that will always last. Rub this magic later he will make your dreams come true for you”. And who knows, we may just be introducing children inspired adult classes sooner than you think .
"Dear Jessie” by Madonna
Baby face don't grow so fast
Make a special wish that will always last
Rub this magic lantern
He will make your dreams come true for you
Ride the rainbow to the other side
Catch a falling star and then take a ride
To the river that sings and the clover that
Brings good luck to you, it's all true
[Chorus:]
Pink elephants and lemonade, dear Jessie
Hear the laughter running through the love parade
Candy kisses and a sunny day, dear Jessie
See the roses raining on the love parade
If the land of make believe
Is inside your heart it will never leave
There's a golden gate where the fairies all wait
And dancing moons, for you
Close your eyes and you'll be there
Where the mermaids sing as they comb their hair
Like a fountain of gold you can never grow old
Where dreams are made, your love parade
[chorus]
Your dreams are made inside the love parade
It's a holiday inside the love parade
On the merry-go-round of lovers and white turtle doves
Leprechauns floating by, this is your lullaby
Sugarplum fingertips kissing your honey lips
Close your eyes sleepy head, is it time for your bed
Never forget what I said, hang on you're already there
Close your eyes and you'll be there
Where the mermaids sing as they comb their hair
Like a fountain of gold you can never grow old
Where dreams are made, your love parade
[chorus]
 it reminds me of the adventure I held inside my heart of a magical place where there’s a golden gate, where the fairies all wait and dancing moons. Where the mermaids sing as they comb their hair, like a fountain of gold you […]){kind=link}