Connection!

The election is over! and I can breath again. The political escapades remind me that we are ALL connected (although our minds might disagree on some topics). When I think of our interconnectedness I am reminded of the Trembling Giant. Whats that you might ask?...

It is one of the largest single living organism. Nick named Pando it is made up of aspen trees that are connected by one massive underground root system located in South-Central Utah (ahh a local treasure). The Pando is a clonal colony of a single male Quaking Aspen estimated to be over 80,00 years old, spanning over 106 acres and weighing in at 12 million pounds! Within Pando there are around 47,000 tree stems that are continually dieing off as new ones are renewed, the average tree stem is 130 years. The Pando is the second largest organism the first being a mushroom "field" in Washington, this fungus covers 1,500-acres. 

When I think about these astonishing numbers and that are connected I naturally feel my feet on the floor, I stand up taller take a deep breath and expand from the inside out. These are the same actions in  first principle open to Grace:

• Side Bodies Long
• Foundation (4 corners of feet/hands)
• Inner Body Bright
• Outer Body Soft

This morning I talked about the Pando and we did hip openers and vrksasana, tree pose. We did a group tree pose where students lined up, interlaced hands and did a back bend variation of vrksasana. A variation that is much harder done alone and much easier and more enjoyable to access when working with others. We focused on first principle and it was so beautiful to watch the students brighten, lengthen and smile.