Sunny days, chasing the clouds away.
There’s just one me.
It’s not easy being green.
Wow – Sesame Street sutras have been right there in front of us on our PBS screens all along!
I woke up Saturday morning thinking about my yoga class and just being me. I didn’t want to channel another teacher or class. I’ve been teaching yoga for a few months and I’m still working on finding my voice and tapping into my intuition.
Then I remembered the past week was the 40th anniversary of Sesame Street.
I was 2 when the show started. Sesame Street was the only program I was ever parked in front of. My baby sitters were Oscar the Grouch, Grover, The Count, Big Bird – the whole gang.
So where does the yoga come in?
I felt playful and always want my yoga students to feel playful and open minded on the mat and into the world.
Voila! Sesame Street had taught me about open mindedness and playfulness. Music and movement. Kindness and compassion.
What better way to learn the ABCs than with monsters right?
And this inner city mixed race kid saw all those muppets and felt OK to not look like everyone else.
Yoga fits right in. I’m sure there have been yoga lessons on the show (but I haven’t watched in a while. Sorry I’m Old School. Not a big Elmo fan. But Roosevelt Franklin? Oh yeah!)
So my iPod playlist pretty much created itself. Besides the songs from the show itself?
“I’ve got to use my imagination” Gladys Knight
“Work That” Mary J. Blige
“I Choose” India Arie
“It’s not Easy (Being Green)” MC Lars
“I got the feelin’” James Brown
“Oxygen” Colbie Caillas
“Being Green” Shirley Horn
The postures were basic (but I did have to throw Frog in there – right?) but fun. The class included lots of laughter along with the sweat. And I started to feel I am finding my voice, the connection between my spirit, my experience and my yoga.
Celebrate your Sesame Street ties. Check in on them now and again and honor how deep the lessons went.
Thank you Sesame Street. Thank you Jim Henson.
Namaste.