OM....

We spent our April meeting on the floor—literally!


We added the study of Yoga into our toolbox of strategies to help us to feel good about ourselves. We met at a studio at the Greenwood Athletic Club, and we sat cross-legged in a circle to talk about a wide variety of ways girls and their mothers use to deal with feelings of anxiety, fear, worry, loneliness, and thoughts of “not fitting in.” We imagined that we had a “self-esteem bubble” around us that was filled with all the stuff that helps us to feel great about who we are. We then filled in our “self-esteem” bubble on paper and shared our strategies. We had a special guest this month at our meeting when Emma Domich brought her grandmother, Glenn Ann, to our meeting. We were so happy to include another mentor in our group!

Moms, daughters and even Emma's grandma, Glenn Ann, had many good ideas: listening to your favorite music, talking to a friend, playing the violin, laughter, meditation, breathing slowly, hugging a pet, playing basketball, distracting yourself, thinking about the things you do well, practicing gratitude, having hope that things will get better, giving yourself a pep talk, watching a movie, and drawing. We learned that the more strategies you put in your bubble, the stronger you are when faced with tough situations.


We then welcomed yogi, Suzanne Matthews, to our group for an hour-long yoga session. She taught us about the power of the breath and how when we’re feeling down, there’s nothing like taking three, deep Complete Breaths to move you into another place of thinking.


We practiced the Complete Breath, the Twinkle Sparkle exercise, the Crocodile Pose and the Release of Fear Pose. She taught us that we have to understand that we can't worry about OPB or Other People’s Behavior, and as soon as we realize that, life will be easier. We ended the session by learning the Child’s Pose and the Warrior Pose. If you're interested in catching an adult class with Suzanne Matthews at the Greenwood Athletic Club or at other studios in Denver, call her at (303) 771-5083.

Next month we take a break during the crazy days of May but we close out our first year of the Spread Your Wings Courage Circle on June 2nd at noon after dismissal from school. We will have a brown bag lunch meeting at Dinosaur Park and recap our journey, and pass out the calendar of events for the upcoming year. Details will be sent in May.

Happy breathing!

SYW March Up the Massey!

For our March Spread Your Wings Circle Meeting, we decided to snow shoe up the Massey Draw Trail in Littleton, Colorado. Believe it or not, it was nearly 70 degrees and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky! Gosh it’s great to live in Colorado!

Our expedition of moms and their daughters headed up for a 2-mile round trip tour of the most popular trail in the Ken Caryl Valley subdivision. It’s popular because you pass through four ecosystems along the way. Luckily, Brooke brought her pedometer so we knew exactly how far we hiked!

And Mother Nature provided not only sun and a slight breeze but about 15 inches of new, wet spring snow five days earlier.

Overall, everyone had a blast, although there were some mishaps along the way: straps that wouldn’t tighten properly on the snow shoes, (if you were in the back of the pack, you witnessed a few pairs of snow shoes abandoned upright in the snow) a few spills in the wet mud (Sue is the best sport!), and a few tired moms, but mostly there were many laughs.

A hearty group of snow shoe enthusiasts trudged upward to the switchbacks into the deciduous forest and then there were others (Ginny and Sue) who took a seat on a log under a tree to wait for the group to head down.

We took photos of our expedition and it looks like we began an annual tradition of snow shoeing for our group. The sun, laughs, camaraderie, and friendship were all good for the soul after a long, cold winter.

We then returned to Ginny’s house for cold lemonade and homemade brownies. As we sat in a circle, we conducted a short feedback session to get input from all our members about Circle activities and the planning of next year’s activities. The girls had some great suggestions such as a weekend overnight Circle meeting, longer meetings for the upcoming year, and they suggested activities such as tie dying t-shirts, doing community service at an animal shelter, and camping.

We talked about putting a blog together so that everyone has a calendar of events for the year and photos of each meeting so we could post them on the Blogspot page. We also talked about what each of us has learned this year and it was fun to hear that moms felt they became closer to their daughters and had more meaningful conversations with them, and the daughters felt as though they learned to think about how their words/actions affect other kids’ self esteem.

Just before we dismissed the meeting, the girls made a human knot and ended up surprising everyone! TWO knots??? Oh, my!!!

All in all, it was a great day!