Next Step Adventure :: mindful, creative, fun approaches to help people and organizations reach the next level
With multiple talents and skillsets, the Next Step team collaborates with schools and organizations to help kids and grownups get excited about learning new stuff.
Whether it’s a special yoga class for a targeted population, a workshop at a conference, or an ongoing series of classes, our team confidently steps into the seat of the teacher and facilitator. We start our planning with insight into where the group begins.
To teach is to bring a group along in knowledge or skill. To facilitate is to make something easy. We teach so that learning comes easy, and we make it exciting and satisfying for our learners.
Art is unique in requiring that hands and mind be in the same place. Distraction and anxiety are at the forefront of challenges for Des Moines Art Center Outreach students. Art class provides opportunities for quiet, focus and mindfulness.
I’ve worked with Des Moines kids since 1980. Sometimes it’s hard to be optimistic when the challenges seem to multiply each year. But this article and the statistics it uses to illustrate its points provides some tangible examples of progress.
This morning I taught art to half a dozen boys who attend a group home for various problems they’ve had at home. We start each week with an art journal. Today more than one boy started their journals with, “I hate my life.”
I gradually introduced different media, first crayons. I asked the boys to experiment with using different pressure, and mixing different colors. Then I passed out watercolors and had them paint over their crayon drawings and see what happened.
They really got excited when I put their watercolor paper under the faucet and told them to go experiment with putting watercolor on it. They tried brushing, splattering, dripping. Their attempts produced a variety of results, but the product isn’t the point with these young men.
The point is building self confidence and a sense of mastery. Using simple tools and media gives these boys a chance to succeed, to produce something they’re proud of, whether it’s for the spring show or to take home to decorate their rooms.
Last week we built structures per Andy Goldsworthy. First we watched the movie Rivers and Tides as well as a satire my cousin created. The idea of just creating a piece of art was a little too abstract, so I asked them to build structures. They learned collaboration, creativity, perseverance and problem solving through the activity.
They climbed trees, got dirty and wet, and came up with several different approaches. Today when we walked back to the woods, their shelters were still there. And they crawled into them.
While I was in Akumal I dreamed I gave birth. Don’t worry; someone whisked the baby off before I could do any damage. But dreams of giving birth are really about transformation and creation.
Vacations are for getting away from routines, exploring places that are a little uncomfortable. This trip especially gave me a chance to question my “way of life,” to reflect on my addiction to “busyness,” my hesitation to have down time.
So I came home and changed my calendar.
Changing your calendar doesn’t seem like a very big deal. But you haven’t seen my calendar! Seriously, every journey starts with a single step. I changed my calendar to give myself space for reflection, mindfulness and a new routine.
Over the last year, I’ve begun teaching art classes for the Des Moines Art Center Outreach Program, and I’ve become a certified yoga teacher. Teaching five or six classes a week wrought havoc with my old routine where I usually spent mornings working at my desk or in art class.
Now most of my mornings I’m out and about so when I got home I set aside three afternoons a week for “office time.” Sometimes that will include a power nap, reading, yoga or time in the garden and art work.
The real thing I’m transforming isn’t my calendar. I’m creating space in my life for reflection, planning, playing art, moving my body, making a home and other adventures.
Remember! Having an adventure means you don’t know how things will turn out.
Akumal is a sleepy little resort just about an hour south of Cancun, Mexico. It’s the perfect place to relax, do some yoga, go snorkeling and explore the underground–the cenotes.
I fell in love with Akumal last February. It’s kind of an old hippie village, friendly to those of us who have un piquito Espanol. Or none at all. The restaurants are international and the fish is fresh as can be. After a week, I could totally see returning for more. More sightseeing, more time sunning on the beach and of course more time doing yoga!
As fits the setting, Akumal has a more relaxed and musical approach to yoga than you may be used to. However, it’s founded on strong principles of alignment, and the teachers are very knowledgeable about anatomy, sequencing and philosophy. I got some excellent feedback on the mysteries of my bodily misalignment.
Michael J. Stewart is master teacher at Yoga en Akumal, and during the off season he teaches across Europe, Russia and Morocco. I just happened to get to Akumal when Michael was teaching a workshop. It was a lovely adventure, and we celebrated the closing with a group dinner where I found him to be an engaging spirit as we discussed everything from Hindu philosophy to John Friend.
Michael quotes Patanjali who said ‘to perform the yoga asana “boat posture” simply to get a flatter tummy is indeed, missing the boat.’
GO TO AKUMAL AND CATCH THE BOAT!
Find your true nature. Then resist it. We’ve been exploring this concept in yoga lately, and often the question is why? Another is how? Here’s a story that answers both questions.
Back in 2004 (thanks Beth!) we built the Adventure Learning Center. We scheduled training with Junior from Wisconsin. I loved Junior. I probably owe him my life. I certainly owe him insight into my true nature.
I spent the first two days of training on the ground. This was possible since we started on the low course where elements are only twelve to eighteen inches high. To be honest, I was actually a little scared of those!
When we did play around on the highs, I carried ladders with my friend Jeff who was also determined to remain grounded. We learned to belay really well. Then at the end of Day Two Junior told us the last three days of training would be exclusively on the high course, 40-60 feet above the ground.
I lay awake Tuesday night, filled with fear. Some people dream of flying. I dream of falling. One thing you do with fear is look for ways to avoid doing the thing you’re afraid of.
I decided I’d “experience” the high elements, but not set them up. I could stay on belay and I wouldn’t have to set up the belay system that could mean life or death to a climber. Seemed reasonable to me.
Until that morning when we got to the ALC. Junior put us into four groups of three and told us our first task was to climb a pole, set up and take down its element. I could no longer see a reasonable way to avoid climbing and setting up.
I don’t ask others to do things I’m unwilling to do myself. So, climb I would. The tower held a cargo net and a giant ladder as well as the climbing wall. Setting up meant fastening the belay system to a cable running above my reach around the perimeter of the tower.
We set a ladder against the northeastern telephone pole and lashed it to the pole with bungee cords. I don’t know who went first, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t me. I believed my true nature was to stay on the ground. I had a visceral, palpable fear of heights. When we took our kids to the Rockies, I spent a good deal of time pulling the boys back from the edges of cliffs.
Making it to the top of the ladder wasn’t so bad, but then finding the giant staples sticking out of the pole, getting a purchase on them and figuring out where my left foot should go was another huge challenge. Especially since I was shaking.
Not only was the footwork challenging, but I was using lobster claws for the first time (I was also on belay thank god). By the time I got to the top and locked the carabiners on the cable I was shaking AND crying.
I had bruised and cut my legs and arms reaching for staples and navigating the railing, but there I was at the top with task accomplished. Cheers came up not only from Eric and Corinne but from the whole group. I had done what I never expected to do. I had resisted my nature.
Over the next two years I gained confidence in my ability to set up the belay system correctly, keep at least one lobster claw clipped to my harness and one to the pole. I learned to love being perched at the top of a gently swaying telephone pole, just a little closer to flying in the clouds.
“Your body is a temple of the holy spirit,” I think that’s one of the few catechism teachings that made a real impact on my life. It’s made me hesitate to get tattoos, though I do have some “nasty piercings” as my daughter calls them. Since I started practicing yoga about four years ago, that catechism passage has become more meaningful to me.
We are embodied beings. The path to harmony with nature and fellow humans is at least in part through physical discipline. To create serenity and contentment, we must nurture and respect our bodies. Too many of us (some say 90% of women) do NOT respect our bodies. We think we’re too fat even when we’re too thin. We yoyo diet and don’t get enough exercise.
“Be the Change in Your Body” is part of a series of Thursday evening dinner discussions at Christopher’s Restaurant. Join us on January 2, 2014 for a discussion on changes that happen to our bodies, with or without our permission. What it takes to accept those changes and the power they have over our self confidence. We’ll explore what it means to be embodied beings, to nurture our spirits by keeping our bodies healthy. We’ll discuss our relationships with food, and the ways we move our bodies to enhance our lives.
“This body of ours is a temple of the Divine”
Next Step Adventure is offering “Be the Change,” a loosely connected series of Thursday evening dinner discussions at Christopher’s Restaurant beginning January 2, 2014 with “Be the Change in Your Body.” Register here for one event at $30 or register and prepay for all five events for just $125 ($25 discount).
Our February 27 session will focus on mindfulness. The more formal aspect of mindfulness is meditation. To be honest, I do better in moving meditation.
Walking, swimming and art are three of my favorites. In Sweat Your Prayers, the late Gabrielle Roth reflects on her nearly forty years of teaching personal and spiritual development.
Since I’ve been practicing yoga, seated meditation comes easier to me. Breath is one key. Observing your breath leads to managing it, then moving with it. Finally in savasana, we let our breath breathe us.
I’m excited to be making some progress in seated meditation–I can now sit comfortably for 20 minutes or so, without getting squirmy or falling asleep. Quite an improvement. So what?
So, it turns out meditation not only helps us handle stress but actually changes our brains and our bodies. As I age, I become more and more committed to maintaining my mobility, both physical and mental. My mom spent the last three years of her life literally vegging out in front of Animal Planet.
At her graveside service, I imagined God requiring a certain amount of stillness. Because she never stopped working, being busy, she had to make her quota all at one time. I plan to get my sitting done in a less painful way.
I just learned from Jill Bolte Taylor’s My Stroke of Insight that staying in the present moment happens in the right side of the brain. “We are the life force power of the universe.” That’s what this neuroanatomist learned from having a major stroke in the left hemisphere of her brain. She believes that through focusing in the right hemisphere of our brains, we can project peaceful energy into the world. Talk about an idea worth sharing!
We’ll touch on all of these aspects of mindfulness, and some others as well on February 27 at the “Be the Change” dinner discussion. We’ll focus the discussion on being fully present in life through meditation, putzing, art and yoga. Whether through formal or everyday practice, mindfulness improves mental health.
Next Step Adventure is offering a series of dinner discussions called “Be the Change” on Thursday evenings beginning January 2, 2014 with “Be the Change in Your Body.” All of the events will be held at Christopher’s Restaurant in Beaverdale. Register here for one event at $30, which includes a healthy dinner of fresh, seasonal ingredients. Or register and prepay for all five events for just $125 ($25 discount).
Many a conversation ends with a statement something like, “Well now that we’ve solved all the world’s problems…” Then we go on to the next discussion. I often feel more overwhelmed by the issues of the day at the end of the day than I did at the start. But Rachel Naomi Remen says something like, “What if you’re exactly what the world needs right at this moment?”
I love that, and I work to keep it in mind as I go through the happy and sad events in life. A dear family member was killed in a car accident a week ago, and it feels pretty hard to believe that all is right with the world. I know death is part of life. As Thich Nhat Han says, “We need to see the garbage as beautiful because the garbage is in process of turning into the flower.” So, I’m looking for peace and understanding.
Would you like to get some clarity and support for being the change you wish to see in the world? Then join us for a series of dinner discussions at Christopher’s Restaurant. Here are the topics for the five sessions:
ALL PROGRAMS WILL INCLUDE HANDS-ON ACTIVITIES, RESOURCES to TAKE HOME AND LIVELY DISCUSSION FACILITATED BY:
Attend one or all discussions at Christopher’s Restaurant, 2816 Beaver Avenue, Des Moines (Wheelchair Accessible). Register here for one event at $30, and includes a healthy dinner of fresh, seasonal ingredients. Register and prepay for all five for just $125 ($25 discount). Please send a check or money order to Next Step, 3615 Adams Avenue, Des Moines, IA 50310 by November 18th, or pay by credit card the night(s) of the event(s).
Questions? Ask Kyla at Blueheron38@gmail.com or 515-689-7255
When we were little, my brothers and sisters and I used to sit on the floor under our big square kitchen table and draw on its underside. Thirty years later when I took my daughter back to see our old house, that art work was still there. Something akin to cave drawings.
Art has been part of my life as long as I can remember. When my brother Leo and I were teenagers, we took oil painting classes together. Since I got back into painting as part of my “year of good health“, I’ve modified two of the paintings I did in that class. That’s a detail of one of them at the top of this post. It’s been fun to reconnect with the 15-year-old artist I was.
The Monks of Meteora
Now art is about to become an even bigger part of my life. I met with Dawn Martinez Oropeza and Vince Lewis to plan for a project with the Whyld Girls and Backyard Boyz at Ritual Café. The installation will celebrate Latino culture and Dia de Los Muertos. We’re talking skeletons, skulls, banners and masks. This is exciting stuff!
I’m also going to be helping out with the Des Moines Art Center Outreach Program. I’m excited to reconnect with my refugee art class at Lutheran Services in Iowa in mid-October. My students are from Bhutan and Burma and have very little English. Most of them never had the chance to go to school in their own countries and they are passionate students now. We’re doing clay, collage, tangle webs, circular weaving and painting, but this time each student will combine most of these media into one “self-portrait”. The Art Center will hang a special show to include these pieces and other work.
Tangle Web
So, why am I so pumped about these developments? Because art is soooo important to spiritual growth, to critical thinking and decision making, to seeing the world as it really is. As I developed Teachers Going Green, I found the Four Keys of Character Education—self study, other study, public performance in a supportive, challenging community. All of these things are such integral parts of the process of creating art.
John Dewey asserted that art is proof that people use materials to expand their lives and communicate their emotional experiences to others. Janet Heinicke shares this view, “Art isn’t about creating something beautiful; it’s about expressing yourself and communicating what’s inside to others.” We ALL need to do that. Starting with those cave drawings on the underside of our kitchen table.
Triangle Tag is always fun, but especially when you play in the water. It wears you out too. Wearing people out–the main objective of parenting, puppy raising and camp. Not sure how you’d play Triangle Tag game with a puppy, but I think we could figure it out. On this hot September day it’s appealing to think about.
The Triangle Tag game I remember best was in the pool in Sun City, AZ when my folks lived out there. My brother and I took our kids; Kate and Theo were little and our cousin John was there too. He was the prime candidate for wearing out. He always had soooo much energy. The game only takes four people to play, so Dave and I must have taken turns sitting it out. It may have gotten too intense for Theo too, like the time he got shaving cream in his eyes when we played Bunny Tail Tag. But that’s another story.
To start the game, three people hold hands to make a triangle. One of these is the target. The fourth person is it, on the outside of the triangle. Their job is to tag the target. The two “guards” in the triangle do their best to keep the target from getting tagged. When the target does get tagged, they’re it and the original “it” becomes part of the triangle. I like to play at least long enough for everyone to be it.
When you play in the pool, there’s a lot of splashing and laughing, and it’s harder to move quickly than on dry land. If the target is a small person, they can just kind of pick up their feet and get pulled around by their two guards. This works best in the water; on land it can result in dislocated shoulders and skinned knees.
I’ve used Triangle Tag to divide large crowds groups and make them more manageable. It’s a good mixer if you play People to People first. By the end of People to People, partners usually don’t know each other very well and you can combine pairs and go right into Triangle Tag.
Triangle Tag is a nice warm-up for trust activities. I like to lead into partner games and stretches with it, and then initiatives that require more trust. It will definitely energize a group and get a laugh.
Triangle Tag was a hit in our pool when the kids were little. It’s hard to believe there was ever a 10′ by 30′ pool back there, complete with pond, decks, hammock and swing. Oh, and a hot tub. I believe we used to play Triangle Tag in the hot tub. I don’t recommend that. That’s our pool in the picture at the top of this post, taken the summer of 2007 right before we took it out and turned the back yard into a wildlife refuge. If you want to play Triangle Tag back there now, it will have to be on dry land.
