We journey within

BLANKETS and blankets of SNOW! Layer upon layer, a little thaw, a little freeze, another dusting of powder. BEAUTIFUL and silent, or impossibly frustrating, what will this next snowfall bring? Our inner emotional life is often compared to the weather – and for good reason! FEELINGS come, and go, and sometimes pile up, making it very difficult not to get stuck… or carried away. Digging out fixed or HABITUAL thought patterns, and reigning in overblown REACTIONS, often requires careful honest reflection, and it begins deep inside. Last Sunday we began our INNER investigation, here is some of what we did…

Our MUSIC is beginning to take on a creative life of it’s own! A CIRCLE of sound is a lively way to gather and connect with each other in the moment at hand. Last Sunday we experimented with separating sounds, highlighting SOLO moments, and intentional LISTENING, alert eyes watched the “conductor” for musical cues. This will be fun to build on.

Swiftly moving from one POEM and STRETCH to the other, we practiced both the “Waking Up” & “Feelings” gathas, back to back… this week we will create our own mini mindful meditation! Dividing into groups, each will come up with a line or two of poetry & coordinating movements about the snow. We will attempt to share and shape our reflections into a new seasonal reminder. I can’t wait to see what we come up with.

Although we had planned on The Three Questions by Jon J. Muth, we’ll look forward to that later in our season…  we shuffled a few things around last Sunday, and settled instead on DAY & NIGHT by Teddy Newton. We wanted a story illustrating inner exploration both visually & figuratively and the adorable "cartoonification of Day & Night", in this book, did both beautifully.

Our Story prompted a lively conversation furthering our exploration of feelings. We began with the question “what feelings are inside of me, & how do I know?” Our first two sharings, were feelings of “freedom”; “when I ride my horse” and “when I climb trees”. Feeling “funny” when “with the sheep”, “sleepy when I am cozy at home” and “painful when my dog died” helped us realize just how alike we all are. No matter what feelings our neighbor might be expressing at any given moment, chances are we’ve experienced them too – at some time or another. This realization builds understanding and tolerance - good conditions for our kindness to grow.  

The Seven FOOD Contemplations introduce our snack, and encourage us to think about our food in a meaningful way. Colorful, abundant, and “quite a smorgasbord” are all good descriptions of last week’s BOUNTY, and all were very grateful. During snack, we invited the bell, and continued eating in silence for its duration. When it ended there was lots to share, as so much was noticed…

"the POPCORN tastes cheesy", "the crunch is noisy"

"the APPLES are noisy too", "the apples are wet and loud"

"the CHOCOLATE crackers are gooey, and get stuck in my teeth"

Thank you to Burt, Rhea & Stashu for the secret ingredient popcorn… D-LISH!

Our ART project, and story went hand in hand, as we began our life size self-PORTRAITS. Using large paper rolls and thick sharpies, we got down on the floor, and traced around our body, creating an outline on the paper, along the lines of those depicted in Day & Night. This week we’ll begin to fill in our blank outlines, with all sorts of images and ABSTRACTIONS. Using drip paint, marker, collage, and chalk, the idea is to reflect our INNER landscape of feeling. Come join us, and we’ll EXPRESS ourselves together!

This SUNDAY we will continue to celebrate our inner LIFE with Nancy Tillman’s The Crown on Your Head, whose imaginative dreamlike images mirror the PEACEFUL place of power we all carry within. Her rhythmic verses AFFIRM and echo a reminder that this magical place is our birthright, and we can CONNECT here whenever we “believe”.