yoga for children

Play and exploration: Creating a solid ground for kids to develop their self esteem!

Continuity and a solid ground for exploration and play will provide a safe space for children to become familiar with Yoga and its benefits. Offering Yoga to children in schools as part of their main curriculum as in Public Prep Network Schools is a great way to introduce new knowledge within a familiar framework such as the school system to them. Being able to participate in a Yoga class with the same group of peers throughout the year, creates a tangible support system between the students through group activities and play.

Learn Play Practice:Yoga Book for children was written to encourages children, with guidance from a parent or teacher, to develop their own practice and to further explore and practice Yoga.

Learn, Play, Practice: Yoga Book for children workshop in Uruguay

Learn, Play, Practice: Yoga Book for children workshop in Uruguay

Spanish and German editions also available.

Changing fate in kids life through education

I recently watched the The Revolutionary Optimists as part of the Anima Film Fest from Fundación Columbia de Conciencia y Energía in Buenos Aires. It was amazing to see how positive social change can be brought through children’s education and their actions within their local communities. If we just give them the time and space they need to explore and expand their possibilities, lives can be transformed deeply and dreams can become real for everyone. Yoga is a way to offer children to expand their creativity, confidence, self esteem, communication skills and courage! That was the inspiration to write Learn, Play, Practice: Yoga Book for children. To give them the tools I discovered as an adult so they can benefit form it at a young age

Mondays 530pm Kundalini Yoga class for children in Buenos Aires, bring your child!

 

 

Argentinean and starting to dance tango in New York?

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Tango in Union Square, New York

Little did I know that my last visit to Buenos Aires would lead me to start dancing tango in New York. And even less did I know that this trip would be the one that would answer my question about how to spend more time there, close to my family and friends, in my birthplace, which had called my heart during my last visit in 2011. First let me tell you some details about how I got here.  I have lived in New York since 1999 and in 2009 I traveled India for  six months. This deep and far away  inward and outward journey transformed my life completely. Yoga was a big part of my life even before then. I have always wanted to got to India and I didn’t really know I was going there. I was originally hired with a three year contract as the head of Fashion department at Academy of Design, in Sri Lanka, but I left. Only once I spent two weeks in Sri Lanka I came to the conclusion that I would had to deviate my spiritual path for this job to later come back to the path where I left it, very difficult decision to make, but I quit. At the stage  I was at in my spiritual path back then, I was not strong enough to withstand peoples criticism about the lifestyle choices and eating habits I had.

The mother Ashram

The mother Ashram

And anyways, for whom was I there? For my self, my higher self or for the image that this prestigious position would gain me in the world?

I had closed shop in New York and didn’t really have any reason to come back. India popped up in my head, but where would I start the trip without prior planning or preparation? I traveled there anyways, and had the most amazing trip of my life. I connected with the land to such an extent that I didn’t want to leave when my six month visa expired. Smriti Chackravarti , the beautiful yogini and teacher I studied Yoga and Pranayama with in Varanasi sent me back.

Smrit and I in Bodh Gaya, India

Smrit and I in Bodh Gaya, India

She said it was time to depart India, otherwise I would never leave. Smriti sent me back to absorb the teachings I had received, and asked me to share them with people in my own way. My heart felt so big and warm from this experience that I had the urge to share it with the whole world in a creative way. I focused on sharing the wisdom with children. If only I could have had this wisdom accessible to me on a daily basis  as I was growing up, what a fortunate blessing for my life, even if not recognized consciously at that time. That is how I was inspired to write Learn Play Practice, a Yoga book for children, their parents and teachers to explore the techniques of Yoga in a safe, fun and artistic way.

Yoga book for Children cover

Yoga book for Children cover by David Sepulveda

It was a great collaboration with my friend and Yoga teacher Beth Maderal, my Yoga Smriti Chakravarti and Girls Public Prep, the school where she developed a Yoga program for the core curriculum.  Spanish, English and German editions of the book are available online and we offer workshops in schools and studios.

Upon my return from India my values and priorities had change drastically and during my visit to Argentina in 2011 something unexpected happened. For the first time in 13 years I felt my heart and my land vibrating together. My land called me to come back, spend time with my family, share the wisdom with my people and reconnect with my roots on a deeper level. But HOW? No idea, really no-idea. The question was out there tingling in my auric field, tapping in my head once in a while with no answer for it. My antennas were up, internal communications connected to my energetic ears and eye. The answer had to appear around me at some point, I hoped. In the meantime I decided to stay in New York and build my base there. It took me 18 months to completely, physically and spiritually arrive from India, and a total of two and a half years to settle back in New York. For the first year I missed that land and my teacher so much, I would sob only from reading Indian biographies or stories. I was in pain and confused for some time, but something was clear: I had the mission to share the wisdom I had acquired in India in my own way. And that has been my focus and commitment while in New York, until the answer I was looking for came to me last June when I was in Argentina.

Before I continue revealing the story I want to make you aware of the word that inspires me the most these days: INTEGRATION.  After presented with the answer to my question: How to spend more time in Argentina? I came to decode the fact that there is a maturity point in our spiritual path when it is the right time to integrate  insights from within into our outside realities on a deeper level. Almost like a mirror: going from deep within to deep without.

Yes I found the way , or better said it found us, and as a result of it I am moving to Buenos Aires February 5th. Upps, my flight to Puerto Rico is about to land and I have to turn off the computer for now. I will carry on later, no pun intended.

For now enjoy this meditation which has helped me connect with the flux of my heart and once connected to it the answers I am looking for become more lucid. ENJOY!

Sat Kartar Kriya

Sit in an Easy Pose, with a light jalandhar bandh also known as neck lock. Bring your chin slightly back and down, extending the neck so the natural curve in the back of your neck straightens up

Eyes: The eyes closed, looking up, focusing at the Brow Point.

Resource from Kundalini Research Institute

Resource from Kundalini Research Institute

Mantra: SAT KARTAAR As you say SAT, the hands are pressed together in Prayer Pose at the center of the chest. As you say KAR, the hands are extended out from the shoulders, half-way towards the final position. Fingers are pointing straight up. As you say TAAR, the arms are fully extended out to the sides and parallel to the floor, fingers pointing up. Make the transition from step to step a flowing movement.

You can view this video that has the Adi Mantra to tune in and the track fro the meditation.

 Time: 11 MINUTES

Comments:

If you feel your heart is closed and there is no flow of love, and you want to open your heart, do this meditation.

Resources and credits: Meditation KRI, video form Spirit Voyage

FREE!! Safari Family Yoga and Life Musical Journey with Patricia Buraschi and Beth Maderal
Saturday, October 20th 2:30-4:30PM
At NYC Public Library 66 Leroy Street, in the Children’s Room
Downtown Manhattan (1/9 train to Houston Street) in collaboration with The Children of the Light Series.

**The Children of the Light Series is made possible by Cubraiti, Inc. (501-c3 organization in consultative status with the United Nations), Casa do Brasil, Inc. and the New York Public Library.**