A tale of kindness
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| Roaring Lions |
Once upon a time in a deep, dark forest there lived
a ferocious lion. All of the forest creatures cowered in fear whenever he came
near. His might was renown throughout the land… The Lion and the Mouse, an Aesop fable from the 5th
century BC with many a moral lesson.
Moral guidelines help us to live well in the world.
The yamas are yoga philosophy’s moral guidelines. The yamas are restraints,
they teach us self-control. They are the first step
on the yogic path and we develop self-control through self-awareness.
Providing children with an early start on healthy mind body practices can
develop habits that contribute to learning, health, and well-being, which
progresses to self-awareness. And how do we do introduce children to mind body
practices? Through story and yoga of course.
Storytelling is an art we all respond to. It offers a means of
communicating thoughts, images, and emotions recognized throughout the
world. We hear the words, see the images
in our mind’s eye and feel them within our hearts. The powers of these timeless
tales lend themselves to effective yoga instruction. The characters and actions
speak to the lives of children today. Children
are able to learn valuable lessons within the safe environment of a
story. One of the first things we must learn if we are to get along well with
others is non-harming (ahimsa). So what does non-harming mean? It simply means to be kind.
Our story
opens with a mighty, ferocious lion.
Ferocious is defined as being fierce, cruel or violent; no wonder poor lion
doesn’t have any friends. He needs to
learn how to get along with others. He needs to learn to be kind. Thus we began our yoga storytelling adventure
with roaring lion pose. This pose offers numerous physical, psychological, and emotional
benefits; these are merely a few,
- stimulates the muscles of the eyes, face and throat
- removes tension from the body
- supports the thyroid gland
- strengthens the voice and will power
With my personal all-time favorite being laughter, I
laugh every time I practice! The kids had a blast with this one naturally.
Roaring lions became laughing lions. It
tames the ferocious lion transforming tension into happiness. Happiness is our
essential nature. Through the practice of yoga we awaken to the realization
that we choose to be happy.
Each
day we have countless opportunities to choose. We make choices in how, what, and
where to focus our attention. So what kinds of choices make us happy? Personal pleasures do increase our
happiness but only for a short while. Choices that really make us happy are
those that allow us to express our creativity or encourage the happiness of
another, in other words being kind. Kindness is the first step on the path to
happiness, and its effect is long lasting. Kindness opens
our hearts. Giving our attention, affection, acceptance, and appreciation to
others is one of the most powerful ways to awaken happiness in our lives.
To give our attention to someone we must
listen. We come into the present moment and focus on understanding the other
person’s perspective. We give our appreciation to someone when we let them know
that we value them and are thankful they are in our life. We express our
affection through our thoughts, words, and deeds, letting them know that we
care for them. Acceptance is one of the deepest human needs, we accept someone
even with all of their imperfections. We all want to be accepted.
Throughout our story various circumstances
lead lion to choose kindness. In doing so he opens his heart and gives the
gifts of attention, affection, acceptance, and appreciation. And in the end we find the mighty lion
bounding away taking pleasure in the day, thankful for small things.
Moving Tale: Kathe and
Melanie, tandem yoga storytellers
