"To err is human, but to forgive, well that's right on!"*

This month's theme is forgiveness. An act that we often forget about, but makes the biggest difference in our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well-being. Practicing forgiveness means releasing unwanted hurts, grudges or judgments from the past, providing freedom, love and peace in the present. When we think forgiveness we often think of other people, but the practice of forgiveness is most important with ourselves. We often react and say things or do things we do not mean and later make ourselves wrong for it. We forget that we are doing the best that we know how each moment and we can only learn from those moments to better ourselves.

The same goes for those you may feel hurt you in the past. They were only doing the best they knew how with the resources and knowledge they had at that time. The reason we may not want to forgive is because we’re holding onto anger, resentment or personal pride. When we forgive another person for harm we feel they caused we are not accepting the behavior we are just no longer allowing the anger and resentment towards them rule our life. The person we may feel a grudge towards does not feel our anger, often they do not even know we are holding the grudge. The anger or grudge is something we hold inside our bodies and causes stress to our systems, so when we forgive it releases that tension and anger allowing greater health in our bodies. Practicing forgiveness with another does not necessarily mean that we need to speak with that person. Rather it is something we do on our own either silently or through journaling.

Practicing forgiveness is an act of self-love. Here's what it takes to practice forgiveness and open your self to greater love, peace, healthy and well-being:

1) open heart, 2) open mind, 3) willingness to let go, 4) desire for mental, emotional and spiritual freedom, 5) letting go of the judgments we hold towards ourselves or another.

*The quote is from Starsky & Hutch movie (2004)

Pose of the Month - Owl Pose

Owl Pose

Start sitting cross-legged with a straight back. Place the left hand onto the right knee, then take the right hand and place it behind the back on the floor, twisting the body to the right and looking over the right shoulder. Be sure to keep your back straight and shoulders down. Take a few breaths. Then switch taking the right hand onto the left knee, place the left hand behind the back and twist the body to the left looking over the left shoulder. Take another few deep breaths. The close the hand is to the tail the straighter the back and deeper the twist.

Tips for Kids - Practicing Forgiveness

Forgiveness is letting go of pain or hurt we feel toward ourselves or other people.

You can practice forgiveness when...
* Your brother, sister, friend or cousin breaks or takes something of yours
* Someone says something mean to you
* Your mom or dad get angry and it hurts your feelings
* You have done something you weren't supposed to
* You get a bad grade

How you can practice forgiveness:
Say this to your self when you want to forgive your self for something: “I forgive myself for thinking ______.” Or “I forgive myself for saying ______.” Or “I forgive myself for doing ________.”

Say one of these to your self to forgive another person: “I forgive ______ (mom, dad, friend) for saying ______ or doing ________. “ Example- “I forgive my brother for taking my favorite game and breaking it.”Or "I forgive my mom for getting angry with me."

YogaBuddies at Camp Woodland Hills

August 6, 2009
We taught to 70 kids, two separate yoga classes for Camp Woodland Hills. Both groups were very sweet and LOVED the yoga class! Compliments even came after from 8 and 9 year olds, "I've gone to yoga classes before, this one was fun!" We love that!!

All we need is just a little patience...

It’s summer, and not only are temperatures rising but so can tempers. With summer comes family vacations, trips to theme parks and trips to visit other family. The saying “patience is a virtue” could never be truer.

Things requiring our patience include: waiting in a long line; traffic; visiting family; waiting for an important call or email; waiting for a late friend or business associate for a meeting; waiting for a delayed plane, train or bus; waiting for a child to express what they want or finish what they are saying; and managing a child that does not want to go to bed or take a bath or eat their food.

Research supports patience is not something we are born with, rather it is something we learn.

Yoga has been a tremendous vehicle for me to learn patience in my life. I still remember my first yoga class- my feet, hot and sweaty, were slipping on the mat in a yoga pose in which I was trying to look good. As I followed the instructor’s many verbal cues: “square your hips, turn your back foot at a 45 degree angle, make sure your front knee is not over your ankle, reach your arms up... and breathe”, I really wondered when I was going to experience the calm everyone talked about!! After ten years of practice, I feel I’ve come a long way and I still find patience is the key to my practice.

I find the patience I practice in yoga follows me off the mat and in the grocery line, in traffic, waiting for someone to get back to me or even teaching a yoga class with several chatty kids.

Here are some ways to practice Patience:

• Take deep breaths.
• Count to ten.
• Practice patience in small increments (either by time such as 5 minutes, the drive from home to office (one day), and/or standing in a line). As you reach those milestones you can gradually build on them.
• Practice empathy. Depending on the situation, imagine yourself in the other person’s shoes. This is a good one to practice with family.
• Notice how your body feels when you are not experiencing patience as well as when you are. Use this information as cues to practice patience.
• Resist the impulse to finish another’s sentence. By listening fully we show our respect and let the other person know they are worthy of our time.
• Give yourself plenty of time to get somewhere.
• Read a magazine instead of watching the clock when at a doctor’s appointment.
• Only do one thing at a time.

Patience is a change in attitude and without patience we experience frustration, become easily annoyed, bothered, irritated and angry. With patience, we become more accepting of what is and we experience ease and a sense of peace.

Pose of the Month - Clam Pose

For Clam Pose sit with legs extended out in front of the body and feet are flexed with toes pointing toward the ceiling. Try to have a straight back and inhale the arms up overhead, slowly exhale pulling the chest toward the knees and reaching the fingers towards the toes, if able, grab onto toes.

This pose requires patience as it is not one most people can easily do. As I say in class, "we are reaching our fingers TOWARDS our toes, if we are only able to reach our knees, that's okay!" The key in this pose is to use the breath ti take you farther, releasing and relaxing into the forward bend and allowing the back of the legs (the hamstrings) and the lower back to stretch. Try holding the pose for 3 breaths (long inhales and exhales), then 5, and 10 breaths. See if you can practice patience in moving farther in the pose.

5 Tips for Kids to practice Patience

Patience means keeping peace when something is not moving as fast as we want it to. Practicing patience helps you to be calm and peaceful. Times and places you can practice patience: - With a younger brother or sister - Waiting in line at a theme park - Waiting to hear back from a friend - With a parent, grandparent, cousin, friend, pet, or teacher - Leaving to go somewhere - Driving or flying somewhere you are excited about.

Ways you can practice patience: (tips from students in YogaBuddies classes)
☺ Taking deep breaths
☺ Sing or hum a song
☺ Look at or read a book
☺ Find something else for your mind to think about
☺ Talk to someone else

Mom Blog Giveaway provides cute video!

The Not So Average Mama blob is doing a giveaway for YogaBuddies Bedtime Stories DVD. They have reviewed the DVD on their blog and has a posted a very cute video of her kids doing yoga to the DVD. Check it out http://tiny.cc/tdayB

YogaBuddies receives front page coverage in the Daily Breeze

We are super excited to have received front page coverage in the Daily Breeze on Monday, July 6, 2009. The article shared about our classes, our newly released DVD and the benefits of both.
Here is the link to check out the online version and some extra pictures! http://bit.ly/jFzZE

YogaBuddies on the front page of Yahoo!!

If you were a Los Angeles South Bay local you could see "Youngster Yoga" in the headlines on the front page of Yahoo's news on July 6, 2009!! This was an article written about YogaBuddies in the local paper!