If you have ever visited or lived near a river, lake or marsh on North America, you have seen herons.  With snaking necks that snap up prey, you never know when they will strike. All the while they manage to look so graceful and calm. 

Most of their time is spent waiting. They don't rush, they don't run, they simply lift up one leg at a time to walk to fertile territory. With precision and a sword-like beak, they grab a fish, eat and walk away. 

Few of us can wait as patiently as the heron. This week, we will explore some of their teachings as we sit, write and move in a real or imagined waterside habitat. 

Be like the heron. Wait. Make a move. Walk away. Repeat. 

WRITING YOGA® PROMPT #2010: Writing Meditation to Feel Graceful and Calm  

LUMI SIT:  Be the Heron

Set aside 5-10 minutes for this mindfulness activity. Find a quiet place to sit. If you have access to a park with a lake or beach, try this prompt in that setting. Close...

Who was the best writing teacher you ever had? What did they do to inspire you and get your thoughts onto the page?  

A classroom community can elevate your thoughts, synchronize ideas, and produce profound writing. As educators, we have to work hard to NOT interject what we think. The best teachers are facilitators. 

Does holding class outdoors make nature the true facilitator? Yes. If you are a teacher, leave the desks inside, grab some clipboards, unplug and write. 

If you are not a teacher, leave the office at least once a day. I know you are busy, but nature has a way of making us more productive. City parks count as nature, so no excuses. If you find this to NOT be the case, I'll buy you a cup of coffee. 

WRITING YOGA® PROMPT #2008: Your Mindful Writing Coach is Not in the Office or Classroom 

SIT:  The Air in the Outdoor Classroom 

The majestical poet and professor Marie Howe took 100 of us outside at the...

If you know me well, you know I am a tropical climate kind of human. You don't see turtles and egrets walking in snow. My family has been coming down to Florida for decades, not in a fancy kind of way, but in a swim in the gulf, grill some veggies and walk on the Pinellas Trail kind of way. 

On a walk in this breezy easy part of Southwest Florida, a turtle blended in with the grass. Unexpectedly large, totally still, and hanging steady on the lawn, we watched her for a while. Was she alive? Where did she come from? How did she get here? 

While we studied her shell, she suddenly turned her head at us and ran away.

Great to meet you turtle, glad you are on your way to bigger and better things.  

WRITING YOGA® PROMPT #2005: Keep Going, Turtle

SIT: Be the Turtle 

Turtles can remain still for a very long time.  How long can you sit before you need to adjust your shirt, scratch an itch or change your posture. In Transcendental Mediation, a...

Much of the year, most of us live and work in climate controlled environments. Bugs are not welcome. Spring invites us to get outside and create.

In the school where I work as a librarian, the kids are developing a native pollinator garden.  I didn't even know it was a thing! The idea is to plant native flowers and hopefully attract native insects and birds to pollinate them. It involves dirt. The delicate among us might complain, but we will work together as a community to make it happen. The majority of my students do not have ancestors who know what the soil looked like 500 years here. Nature returns to Long Island. 

Our students are anxious to plant, but the soil needs to be prepared. We are turning over grass and putting down organic mulch. The hardest part of it all is being patient! The ground is ready but the air is not.

What are you preparing for now? How do you stay patient when all you want to do is get close to the ground and plant?

WRITING YOGA®...