Be Like A Madonna.

Be Like A Madonna...Those were the words that brought it all together for me. I had just ended a two week initial training for the Sophia's Hearth Nurturing the Child and Family in the First Three Years 13 month training course in Keene, NH. All the Speech work, the gesture games, the Spatial Movement Exercises, the lectures on child development....all came down to one phrase...Be Like A Madonna.

Funny .. I used to be infatuated with Madonna the singer when I was a tween. Well this Madonna is nothing like that Madonna...or maybe she is...Hmmmm. Food for thought.

Enough of that musing...here are a few photos of Madonnas:

See the head space on these photos. These ladies are not crunched or hunched up into themselves. They have an upright head and serene expression. Just looking at them creates a feeling of serenity and calm. See the gesture of their hands...cupped to gently form to the contours of the child. See the gaze of the Madonna...not wide-eyed staring at the baby..but a low lidded, soft gaze upon the beautiful being who is so close to the threshold of the greater source.

Interestingly enough...the first week of lectures also had an exercise where the students gazed at various prints of Madonnas. I am trying to remember some of the comments from the class. I believe some one brought the eurythmy gesture of "B." An embracing type gesture.

I have been trying for two years now in my Work in the Nursery to find some image, some phrase, some teacher to mimic or hold as an ideal to strengthen my center and hold my etheric forces so as to best support the children....I have found her ... in the Madonna.

Now.. how to become her?