Now that your children are off to school, you may have more time to yourself, which can be a bit of a downer at first when you have been so busy and accustomed to being with your children during the summer months.  Other parents are more rushed because they now have their kids’ school and after school schedules and homework monitoring to support as well as their own work and home routines.  Either situation can be unsettling.  So what can you do about it?  Here are a few ideas to help you in your daily life.  Read through them and decide which  2 or 3 ideas you connect with and try them out. Figure out what works and when.

Summer vacation time is almost here for most educators, and for some, it may have already arrived.  It’s a time to rejuvenate body, mind, and spirit.  Certainly, being removed from the day-to-day pressures of getting projects completed, report cards done, and your materials packed away for the summer is an immediate  help in de-stressing.   (Non-educators have their own set of work place stressors and can benefit from rejuvenation time too.)  But what else can you do that will help you unwind?

I just returned from the Yoga in the Schools Symposium at the Kripalu Center in Lenox, Massachusetts.   Some amazing people from around the country and Canada met to discuss how we might expand the yoga in the schools movement.  We heard from researchers, school superintendents, principals, classroom teachers, yoga teachers, ocupatinal therapists, and program directors all interested in helping our school communities become places of peace and compassion where everyone is able to live their lives from a place of  greater at-easeness, so that there are  better interactions and improved performance by all.

The new year is fresh, just begun.  For many of us it came in with great gusto and record breaking temeperatures.  For some of us, it comes with the making of new year’s resolutions such as:  I’m going to start that long, overdue diet this year; I’m going to ask for the raise I didn’t get this past year;  I’m going to spend quality time with my family ths year.  I’m going to . . . .  I’m sure that you can fill in the blank.  I’ve never been one to really make new year’s resolutions.  The times I have, I failed miserably.  So, this year, I’m taking a new approach to the new year.  I’m going to “reflect” upon the year that has gone by.  How does that sound?

Wonderment.  That is exactly what I saw in the face of my little grandson as he sat in a pile of leaves and explored them.  He crinkled them between his hands, picked them up and let them go, studied the stems, and as you might guess, tried to put them in his mouth.  Leaves are new to him, a wonder to look at, touch, smell, hear, and taste.  (No, he didn’t taste them on my watch.)  His wonderment got me thinking about my own sense of wonderment. . . .

How many of you find it hard to “make time” for yourselves?   Yes, there is work, the kids’ activities, the grocery shopping, taking the car to the garage, any number of chores that must get done.  Our lives often seem to lack space for us to care of our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual selves.  But it’s important to know or remember that you deserve the same attention you give to others and other things in your life.  How can you turn the tide and create space to care for yourself?  Let’s take a look at this dilema.

As some of you may know, I love to replicate the shape, form, and energy of sculptures.  This large, strong sculpture at Storm King Sculpture Garden along the Hudson River in New York state caught my eye.  I loved its largeness; its heaviness; its strength; its connection to the earth, to the sky, and the world around it.  And so, of course, I just had to be photographed with it to try and capture its qualities through my posture.  But there was more going on for me than just attempting to capture those qualities . . . .

The end of the school year is a time of disequilibrium  for teachers, students, and parents.  The weather is warmer and our classrooms often become stuffy and uncomfortable.  Thoughts of summer fun flicker through our students’minds as well as ours making focus and concentration hard for many.  Our students often become more active, difficult to manage, or they become lethargic due to the heat and disinterest.  We teachers often become more revved up with so much to accomplish before the school doors close for the summer, but at the same time, we are wiped-out.  It’s been a long year.  Our once eager learners have all but checked out.  We wish we could check out but can’t.  There’s still work to be done.  How can we handle  our students’ lack of interest in learning?  How can we quiet our and our students’ energies so that we are all more at-ease and  they are more engaged?  Read on for some tips to make the end of the school year easier  for all of us. . . .