My Daddy is a Pretzel

My Daddy is a Pretzel — page 1 — When I was a boy the adults in my life helped me to ﬁnd ﬁgures who possessed qualities worth striving for athletes and explorers with exceptional powers of perseverance and self-discipline martial artists who had mastered both body and mind politicians and other agents of social change who dared to face the unknown standing up for what deserved to be loved and protected and spiritual leaders who possessed the traits of character we most admire honesty compassion and courage As I grew older I learned that noble people heroes could be found closer to home too among my friends and family members in fact my own parents were courageous pioneers in helping to establish yoga in America Looking back I see how lucky I was that my parents and so many of my teachers thought it was worthwhile to pursue yoga to meditate and to pay attention to their physical and spiritual health Their commitment gave me a picture of what vitality and virtue looked like and showed me how I could apply these ideals to my own life Now as a parent in turn I set out to pass these same ideals down to my three sons sharing yoga with them and encouraging them to do their best and achieve their potential With this book I hope to help you too The practices here give children and adults alike targets to aim for and examples to follow while the storyline shows how the beneﬁts and inner meanings of the yoga postures relate to the way we live whatever our profession or status in life As every parent understands children imitate what they see hear and feel They naturally look for examples to follow Although children have an inner compass that points them towards a true

My Daddy is a Pretzel — page 2 — north they do not know the difference between habits that give life and habits that take life away They simply imitate and do what they see hear and experience So it makes a big difference when we adults make efforts to give direction and show what habits lead to a vital healthy and happy life In this book I set out to share with you the time-tested task of training the hearts minds and bodies of the young This task involves explicit training in good habits and it involves the example of adults who through their daily routine show children that they take spiritual virtue and physical vitality seriously but not without losing their sense of fun The message and the activities in these pages will help children to enjoy the beneﬁts and rewards of yoga practice It is never too early to start These postures and the philosophy behind them have the power to impress themselves upon young minds and to remain as lifelong guides as tools for practice and signposts that point the way My goal is to present health and virtue not as something to possess or to have but as something to be as the most important thing to be As we read this story to our children and share the postures we begin to acquaint them with the idea that the life of good health and the life of virtue and vitality is worth living We invite them to lift their young eyes to reach up and to grow into brave and powerful young people For it is by striving for the best in ourselves that we empower our children and show them that they too can live with the nobility of heroes BARON BAPTISTE

My Daddy is a Pretzel — page 3 — Today in class we’re going to say What jobs our parents do each day

My Daddy is a Pretzel — page 4

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