Children and nature dancing together

This past month Nitai Deranja was visiting our school. Nitai is the founder of the Living Wisdom Schools and is currently on the faculty at the Ananda College of Living Wisdom in Gaston, Oregon.

 I had asked Nitai to join us, during our afternoon circle time. The children had been practicing a new chant and I wanted to share it with Nitai. 

It was late in our morning and we found the day zooming by.  All the children had not ventured outside yet when I realized we would be concluding our closing circle time outside in the playground  instead.

As a teacher, you try to plan spiritual activities daily for young children to uplift their consciousness and spread joy. Today was one of those times, when  Divine Mother planned her activity for us. We were just a witness to her beauty.

 See the description below written by: Nitai

 We walked out into a beautiful nature area for the close of the preschool session for the day. As we stepped onto the grass, the sun peeked around the clouds to give enough warmth for the children to begin shedding there jackets and sweaters. A slight gust of wind caused one of the trees towering over our heads to shed many of its bright yellow leaves. They came swirling down upon us in great arching circles. The children lifted their hands and began running and laughing in their attempts to catch the leaves. Their faces were lit with a sense of excitement and wonder. When the wind paused, everyone started picking up handfuls of leaves from the ground and tossing them up again over our heads. After about 10 minutes the teacher called everyone over for the closing circle. The children lead a song called “O God Beautiful”, complete with hand motions that emphasized the words, “In the forest, Thou art green. In the mountains Thou art high...” It was the perfect way to acknowledge and celebrate the children’s moment of communion with nature.

We all spotted a Northwest monkey.

 This day will be cherished and etched in my mind for many years to come. The pure joy of children and nature dancing together.