by Monica Voss
Young children learn to sort by colour and shape, later by action and meaning. Do you remember choosing which image didn’t fit in? Or playing memory matching games? Finding the monkey in a complicated drawing? In the image above, what links the 4 animals? Making comparisons and noting contrasts, naming and repeating, form large parts of our learning strategies, our maturation and our ability to stay safe.
Use observation games, such as: I often walk down this street and always look forward to seeing…Or, I’ve walked so many times down this street and not noticed…until today. Or, this street is completely unfamiliar – what have I never seen before, ever, in my life?
Having an innocent, inquisitive, even puckish turn of mind opens and releases our younger selves, our unknown selves, our true nature, or another creature’s energy within. Children repeat and repeat gestures and movements and jokes, squeezing all the goodness and fun out of them. Practise yoga this way, too. It’s a beautiful little game and when you are examining, absorbing, improvising, and studying, creativity, pleasure and jollification naturally follow, important antidotes to gloom and sadness as we enter the darkest months of the year.