Why HAMILTON Yoga?

Why practice yoga to the soundtrack from the smash Broadway Hit Alexander Hamilton?

Why not trade all original thoughts to Hamilton lyrics?

In Hamilton, there are 23 songs in Act I and 23 songs in Act II. There are 23 pairs (half from mom and half from dad) of chromosomes in our body; the DNA in the chromosomes acts as a source for our bodies.
Here is our chance to literally bring the Hamilton story into our bodies!

Lin Manuel Miranda (LMM) states in the book Hamilton: The Revolution, "'I know how deep in the DNA musicals get because they're deep in my DNA'...he evoked Les Miserables, the first Broadway musical he ever saw: 'I know that show like I know my family tree.'" (160)

On page 196 LMM "felt, when he wrote Hamilton, that it could legitimize hip-hop in musical theater...If you look at half the scores on Broadway today, they use rock - it's just in the DNA now. And this was my injection of hip-hop into the DNA."

Y'all, it's in our "dunnah" (shout out to Zootopia).

HERE WE GO.

Five Themes:
I. Hamilton's Relationships (piloted at The DF on 9/6/16; We Will Repeat!!)

II. A. Ham v. A. Burr, sir. (Tuesday, 9/27/16 at Hwd Parks and Rec)

III. Alexander Hamilton: War and Politics (about to announce date and time!!)

IV. Hamilton's Ambition...Beware: It Goeth Before the Fall... (Set for October!)

V.  TBA


LMM, the scribe and creative genius behind the Broadway Hit, is a cultural icon. I send him immense gratitude. He took a load of facts and dates and names and places and made the story - Our Story - accessible to those who learn in different ways. He used motion and music and puns and rhymes to invite ALL people to fall in love with the story of the beginning of our nation - with all of its flaws and mishaps and rule-making and rule-breaking. My 10th grade American History curriculum came ALIVE through this narrative.

So THANK YOU, LMM, for the story, but even more - THANK YOU for reminding me that I love learning.

Now I want to LEARN.




Come learn with us on the mat. You can rest and sing. You can sleep. You can engage in asana and connect your pose with the story's themes. You can quit, you can achieve.
Just show up.



*Disclaimer: We are bringing Lin Manuel Miranda's artistic representation of the Alexander Hamilton biography by Ron Chernow into our yoga practice, understanding that creative license allows Miranda to translate history into story using rap and hip-hop as tools for teaching and learning. I do not claim to be a historian. I will happily engage in conversation with you about the Truth and the truth in history, biography, music and yoga. LMK.

Dear Henry, XC

Dear Henry,

You just completed your first Cross Country (XC) meet.

When we (your family) pulled up to the meet, I hid behind your sisters and my camera and sunglasses. I KNOW = SO EMBARRASSING.

Then my Eyes burst into tears! My Brain and Heart were all like, "What is wrong with you????" but my Eyes kept spewing.



Then my Heart started racing, and my Eyes and Brain were all like, "Dude, for real?"



Then my Brain started calculating distance and times and elevation and traffic and nutrition and digestion and my Eyes and Heart were all like, "Not important, MOM. That's what Henry and the coaches DO, like for their JOBS."

So I was a mess.
And you were amazing.
And I hope you get to do races like that which bring you joy and challenge all in a messy bundle and remind you what it feels like to be ALIVE.

Choose life, buddy.
Run hard.
You got this.
Even off the trail and track.

We love you, Boo,
Mom

Svea's Baptism

Tonight, Svea went to Confirmation which is a class some 6th graders in some Methodist (hopefully most) churches spend some months learning Why Be All Methodist.

I found this blog post from Svea's baptism and I was all verclempt. (Spelling is hard.)

Then I remembered I had to write her a letter about her baptism (not really my department in the parenting gig). But I tried and then I sealed the letter. Then she lost it. True to character. I'm glad I took a picture of it.

That girl teaches me and amazes me every single day. And on THIS day I am so very grateful to have so much community surrounding her...as baptism promises...