Autumn Pose: AIRPLANE ✈️

Picture 1: Children standing in a soccer field surrounded by Fall trees and leaves on the ground. The three children on the left are balancing on one foot with arms outstretched and lifted leg behind them. Two children stand talking to once another on the right side of the picture. Children are wearing various coloured outfits.

Airplane Pose (Warrior III / Virabhadrasana III)

Did you know that November is Aviation History Month? It’s estimated that there are 39,000 planes currently on the planet, and some 150,000 throughout history - that’s a lot of planes! It’s incredible to think that over a century ago, in 1903, the first airplane took flight - so wild! We’ve certainly come a long way since it’s inception by the Wright Brothers, but it still blows my mind to think that somewhere along the way, we learned how to fly. It started as an idea, and eventually became reality. Humans - our bodies and our minds - amaze me each and every day. And though we won’t be jet-setting any time soon, we can use our Yoga Airplane to take us to faraway places, whenever we have the urge for a change of scenery, and that is pretty amazing in itself!

Picture 2: Two children are standing in a field surrounded by Fall trees and leaves on the ground. Both children are wearing various colours of warm clothing. Their arms are outstretched. The child on the left is balancing on one foot, with the toes of their other foot behind them. The child on the right is in the same position, though their back knee is bent and foot is raised off the ground.

We are exploring the element of AIR in the Virtual Studio to kick off the month of November, so be on the lookout for those!

There’s something so magical about being in the air. There’s the anticipation of going somewhere new and different. There’s the physical aspect of defying gravity, a little cheeky moment of what feels a little like rebellion. And there’s the gift of fresh perspective that it brings as you slowly see your familiar home shrink before your eyes. I feel like our yoga practice can also offer us these teachings, maybe in a different way, but our beautiful imaginations can certainly make it happen!

Picture 3: A parent and child are standing in a field surrounded by green trees in Summer clothing. They are holding hands and balancing on one foot, with their lifted leg outstretched behind them. There is another child sitting on the grass and another adult standing in the background.

There are a few different ways to turn our bodies into airplanes - truly, the sky is the limit - but for the sake of simplicity, we’ll focus on virabhadrasana III today! What I love about this pose is that it’s challenging but accessible, and it’s always a fun pose to do together (as in Picture 3) as a family pose. It’s a shape that requires our entire attention, especially when supporting others, but once you find the sweet spot, you really are flying!

Benefits
This pose has a lot going on, even with it’s fairly staright-forward shape. Airplane pose can help to strengthen our ankles, legs abdominals, shoulders, and back; find our balance, stability, and grounding; improve posture; and offers a sense of weightlessness through focus, steady breathing, and determination. It also welcomes a sense of humility, as it’s absolutely okay when we tip over or fall out of the pose, we don’t have far to find our feet back on the ground, and we can get right back into it as we choose. Try the pose with your eyes closed for an extra challenge - that’s a real teaching moment of noticing your body and breath, or in supporting and relying on others when we support one another in it.

Do it!
To take off and catch some air, start in mountain pose or tadasana, standing tall and strong with feet about hip-width distance apart. Reach your arms out wide like a big letter T, and gently lift one foot behind you, tipping the upper half of the body forward as you do so. Allow the back leg and upper body to act as a teeter-totter; as your back leg lifts, your upper body leans further forward, and vice versa. Try it while holding hands or pressing palms together with a loved one for more support, or using a wall or table beside you. It’s important to feel strong throughout the body - I’ve never seen a floppy airplane, and I think we know why! Sometimes we roll our wrists to act as “propellors,” and we make a silly motor sound as we “take-off and fly,” be sure to make it feel as airplane-like as you want to! As shown in picture 2, you can keep your back toes on the ground like the child on the left, or lift them like the child on the right, depending on how you’re feeling that day. As mentioned above, try it with your eyes closed for an added challenge - remember, it’s okay to tip over!

Have Fun!
Airplanes have to be steady to navigate the airways, they balance through the clouds, and they move FAST (passenger planes go up to 500 knots or 930 km/h!) even though it seems quite slow once you’re in the air. So whether you’re jet-setting around the world, traveling across the country, or to an imaginative land far, far away, be sure to include your whole family on your trip! Feel free to tag us in any adventure photos you take on instagram:@appleseedyoga and facebook: @appleseedyogacommunity, and don’t forget to #appleseedyoga!

Happy and safe travels,

Sara

Pose of the Summer: FROG 🐸

Frog Pose (Malasana/Mandukasana)

The nature documentaries in our home are getting a little out of hand. My son walks into a room nowadays and says: "Do you know how many king cobra bites kill people in India every year?" or “Mom, do you know how many lions it takes to take down a cape buffalo?”

We’ve seen docs on every big cat imaginable, elephants, bears, penguins, ants, moose, kangaroos, wolves, and we watched one recently on frogs. Until the last few docs, my partner would watch with the boys so I could steal away for a little work time, but during FROGS I couldn’t leave. Ten minutes in I HAD to pause it to get my class plan book. The content was just so rich! Frogs climbing trees with tadpoles on their backs (hello family yoga challenge!), frogs digging channels through the mud to save their tadpoles, frogs putting on sunscreen (not kidding), frogs falling off mountains like a rubber ball to avoid a predator, did you know certain species of frogs wave? Yes - to their potential mates!

You can expect FROG yoga ASAP in the Virtual Studio, if you hadn’t guessed yet.

All this came about because my oldest caught his first frog the other week - something small that made me proud. And while this pandemic has been excruciating at times, I’m so thankful we are finding more of those pauses where we’re actually quiet enough and present enough to find something like a little hopper. Because that’s what childhood and parenthood is about.

The two frog poses we talk about here: Malasana (pictured above) and Mandukasana (pictured left and below) are brilliant. We also have a version I saw from Christine Ruffolo called “Diving Frog” for if you have a slippery floor in your home. And you must try them as your adult self - on the light side, they’re amusing and silly, and yet on the other end, extremely challenging!

Benefits
The frog poses (malasana and mandukasana) are great for strengthening the back, hips, knees, and ankles, improving digestion, relieving stress and anxiety, and enhancing kidney and liver functioning. Plus more!

Do it!
The malasana version of frog is probably one of the most natural poses for kids and adults alike. For malasana (top picture), bend your knees and bring your hips down, coming into a squat. Adjust the width of your feet as necessary. You can come up on toes or keep your heels on the ground, whatever feels best! We like to bring our hands to the floor in front, or you can have them in prayer. Don’t forget to stick out your tongue for some flies!

For mandukasana, come into hands and knees with your hips over knees to start (pictures above and to right). Walk your knees each out from the centre line of your body inch by inch until you’ve reached a sweet spot! Keep your hands under your shoulders, or bring your elbows and forearms to the floor. Play a little with your hips moving behind and ahead of your knees, or side to side.

Have Fun!
Frogs love to sit incredibly still, can you do that? Can you sit still for longer than your parent?! Is your frog a giant bullfrog in Africa living in a muddy bog? Or are you a tiny thumb-nail sized Radcliffe's Night Frog hopping up a tree in India? Maybe you’re doing frog pushups to get rehydrated in Peru, or sinking down into the mud in Canada to freeze for the winter. Make sure you include your whole family, and be sure to tag us in any photos you take on instagram:@appleseedyoga and facebook: @appleseedyogacommunity, and don’t forget to #appleseedyoga!

Here's to a slow, froggy summer,

Megan

Corona, Kids & Screens

So many parents I know feel like they’re drowning in screens right now, myself included. Maybe it feels like a never-ending battle, or perhaps you’ve completely relented in the face of this extraordinary time. I’m here to say that either way, no matter what’s going on, we will get through this.

How does a conscious parent navigate this sea of media and screen usage with small kids? My solution is to have an incredibly compassionate view, and still remember to pursue presence with your child.

At the onset of COVID-19, our kids (ages 5&3) went from having 30-60 minutes of screen-time a week to that per day. And now it’s more like 90 minutes a day on average, although we’ve been able to cut it down over the last few weeks. My philosophy on screens is that my kids are still incredibly young, and have their entire lives to immerse themselves in screens. During these early years, it’s my hope to instill in them a lack of dependence on screens and a greater dependence on the outdoors, and real life connection. This is rooted in many things, but a big part of it has to do with screens’ natural stress-induction, and nature’s natural stress-relief. In an incredibly over-stressful world, I want my kids to have a deep-ingrained antidote to the harming effects of stress. The best antidote out there, I believe, is connection to nature, which includes the outdoors and their own bodies.

While I strive and maintain pretty strict boundaries around screen-time in our home, the most important thing right now is that we let go of our screen-time shame. Shame for anything on behalf of anyone, parents or children should be forsaken. Glennon Doyle shared about this early on in the pandemic - during such a volatile time as this, we need to simply survive, get done some work, and end up smiling at the end of the day. If MANY hours of screen time for your family is what achieves this, let it be. No shame for it. It won’t be like this forever.

And if you’ve got the resources and ability to keep your screen time minimal, keep at it. Appleseed has a list of Approved screen programs coming your way that keeps our children grounded, supports our family values, and serves to teach them the things that matter! We can’t wait to share these with you.

I leave you with two indelible quotes:

“The world is obsessed with its children. Meanwhile the children want presence. They yearn for face-to-face presence.” - David Fitch.
A little screen time and a little presence, on repeat may be a great way to get through your days.

"Take a deep breath and affirm your intention to be fully present — here and now — at peace with What Is." - Scott Noelle.
Doing what you need to do to take care of yourself and remain present in your home will be the greatest gift you can give your kids - screen time included or not.

Peace and go easy on yourself,

Megan

“The Foot Rub.”

Back in early fall, a friend wrote to me saying she asked her son as she was putting him to sleep: “What was the favourite part of your day?” He responded: “The Foot Rub”.

If you didn’t know already, each and every class at Appleseed ends with foot massages complete with supportive and seasonal essential oil blends in an all-natural cream! These foot massages are always optional, but most of the time I turn around to a number of bare feet sticking out from under the yoga blanket, and even a few in the air, waving me over. “Me next?” the toddlers will say.

Kids love massage. They just do! There’s something about the loving touch and calming effect that just reels kids in. Touch is healing!

This is why I made an appointment for my 5 year old to have his first massage over at Me-Time Massage for Kids with Heidi Bigl, this past July. Heidi started her kids-only massage practice in October 2018 and offers massage therapy to kids from ages 4-17, in Toronto’s Upper Beaches neighbourhood. And if you’re wondering, Heidi indeed welcomes and encourages parents to stay right in the therapy room with their young child.

Heidi claims there are 4 main benefits to massage for kids:

1. Calm - Massage encourages your child’s mind and body to power down and gives it an opportunity to enter into a state of relaxation, leading to better sleep.

2. Replenish - Massage helps to ease your child’s stress and anxiety caused by things such as academic pressures, a busy schedule, or relationship strains with family or friends, thereby replenishing and restoring the body back to balance and peace.

3. Awareness - Massage helps to bring attention, awareness and connection to the body in a positive and healthy way and gives a child a foundation for self-care.

4. Comfort - Massage brings comfort to your child’s body by easing general aches and pains, growing pains, soreness from sports, or tension headaches.

So join us at Appleseed and enjoy a massage at the end of class, AND book in with Heidi! Your kids will thank you for both. Visit metimeforkids.com.

~Megan

Nature Crafts at Appleseed

So, you want a place where your child can connect with nature and continue to be mystified by the scent of a pine needle or the burst of wind rushing through their hair.  You want your child to fully sense the moment in all its complexity, not one who walks through this world desensitized, cut off from what’s natural, and finding the simple brilliance of life mundane and boring. 

When my son was young, I was getting frustrated when I realized that so many of the typical crafting materials on the market were full of so many harmful chemicals and substances.  Since I'd gone through this with our food, cosmetic products, and cleaning products, it didn’t take me long to realize the label “non-toxic” on crafting materials is also a complete joke. Aside from the consumption to make the craft, what do we do about the bins and bins of art and crafts that our children will make over their lifetime? The best will be kept, and the rest left to landfill.

And then I realized quite quickly that we could make very natural, beautiful and environmentally-friendly crafts if we turn toward simplicity and the outdoors. A win-win for us and the environment! The benefits to kids crafting with nature include: broad-range sensory stimulation (we even include essential oils as much as possible), develops fine motor skills, boosts self-esteem, encourages self-expression and enhances decision making skills!

Each yoga camp and yoga birthday party with Appleseed includes a themed nature craft.  Our nature crafts are simple (easy for little brains and hands), chemical-free, eco-friendly, and as earth-focused as possible.  We love and value vegan crafting and also enjoy using organic, fairly traded wool, beeswax, and other animal products when we see fit.

Through nature crafts, we also maintain our corporate commitment to our beautiful Mother Earth as we use less packaging and overall consume less.  Even searching for the craft materials is a mindful and yogic endeavour! We use yoga and mindfulness from craft inception to finished product; choosing where to find the appropriate materials, scouting them out, dreaming up the process of crafting, and assembling the product!

Appleseed loves committing to the things that matter, so the generations after us have a space to do the same. 

With Love,
Megan

{The nature craft pictured is from our latest PA Day Yoga Camp under the theme Winter Wonderland. We made Winter Wonderland scenes with homemade salt dough (salt, flour, water, high-quality fir essential oil for scent), recycled cardboard, and added branches, small wooden animals, second hand miniature animal figurines, pine, cedar and other tree branch/leaf clippings, pine cones, acorn hats, birch stumps, etc.}