It’s Official-Ignite the Light!

Ready to Ignite the Light?

Hi everyone!

I can’t believe how fast time flies but my new book is being released in exactly ONE week!!! (But you can PRE-ORDER TODAY)

IGNITE THE LIGHT: EMPOWERING CHILDREN & ADULTS TO BE THEIR ABSOLUTE BEST

Whether you are a parent, a teacher, a child-care worker, or just a person who would like to leave this world a little more peaceful than you found it, Ignite the Light – Empowering Children and Adults to Be Their Absolute Best, will give you the tools to educate, enlighten, and empower the children in your life to see that they are perfect just as they are.  What happens in childhood doesn’t stay in childhood, which is why childhood is too precious to ignore.  This book is a practical step-by-step manual for change and message of hope that provides tools from which all children—and all families—will benefit.

Check out the book trailer that was filmed and produced by an 11 year old who shines brighter than the SUN-(how cool is that?)

CLICK HERE FOR BOOK TRAILER

I am on a mission to help children and families be their absolute best by igniting the light within.

In this book, I take the 7 Essentials that I have taught for years to both children and adults and give you a step by step manual to apply to your life and empower the children you serve (whether you are a parent or teacher, you know exactly what I mean by that).

There’s nothing cerebral about it. I keep it simple because I want you to pick up this book, devour the message and apply simple principles immediately so that you can not only be your best self, but more important–ignite the light within our kids!

Top 5 Reasons to Order Ignite the Light today:

1) You will learn 7 simple essentials that can chance your life by helping you to create strong foundations for children and repair and strengthen your own foundation.
2) Your kids deserve a strong foundation that will help them to navigate the waters of life by connecting with their inner power.
3) You deserve a chance to get off the hamster wheel and start living instead of existing.
4) There are tons of tools to help kids believe in themselves and speak their truth, and when this happens our kids excel at school, laugh at bullies and shine brighter than the sun!
5) When we believe in ourselves and speak our truth, we not only create a brighter future for our kids but we live a happier life!

How about some gifts?

Because you have followed my work and are on my super important email list, I want to give you a few free gifts for ordering my book;

1) an automatic download of a typical meditation in my classroom. This is approximately 12 minutes long and can be used with both children and adults, even if you think you have a hard time meditating! I have 1st graders who use this method and believe me it works. Let me teach you how to go to YOUR ‘Happy Place.’

2) I will include you in a free 90 minute group coaching call based on the 7 essentials in the book! (Date in June to be announced.)

How do you get the free gifts?

Simply purchase the book from amazon (click the link below), then send your receipt to zohee@vickisavini.com with “I’m Ready to Ignite the Light” in the subject line and you will receive an email with your immediate download and more information on the coaching call.

Lots of Love & Tons of Light,
Vicki

Teach Them to See Their Own Light

It breaks my heart when I see a child getting a bad wrap because of rambunctious behavior. When a child has this kind of energy there is generally something going on deep inside of them that stems from a belief that they are not good enough.

Tomorrow we begin our camp for boys, “Boy’s Rock.” We have already done our girl camps this year (Girls Rule) and this is our last camp of the season. The boys camp is always different from the girls camp. We teach the same 7 Essentials (TM) in all of our groups but in different ways.

The girls generally need to remember their inner goddess. They need to talk, journal, craft, dance and express their feelings. The boys-on the other hand- don’t like to talk much about their feelings, generally prefer someone else writing for them and want to build and construct with their hands.

Let’s face it boys and girls are different, but one thing is the same-

They all need to know that they are perfect just the way they are!

Lately, my son has had some of that rambunctious energy. He has been sarcastic (he gets that from me unfortunately), inappropriate at times and over emotional. Summer generally brings this out in kids because they are away from their regular routine and even though they think they want total freedom, they actually crave and desperately need structure.

For the past few days I have been watching him and trying my best to guide him to make choices based on how it feels in his heart but he appears to be oblivious. Tonight, while putting him to bed we had a talk and what came out of that talk was truth.

His main concern is that when he says things with the intent of being funny, others don’t find him to be funny. He was teary eyed and visibly upset by this because he’s feeling invisible. We talked about it a bit and then I told him that when he is just being himself and he says something that he thinks is funny, it generally is funny. But when he tries to say something funny to get attention that’s when everyone looks at him like he has two heads and you can hear the crickets. I further explained that it was my greatest hope that he would feel comfortable in his own skin-so that when he thinks something is funny he will laugh whether others find it funny or not.

He looked at me and said, “I just have to be myself then, right?” Of course I replied with a resounding YES. Yet in my heart I’m not quite sure he totally gets it yet.

Our children are constantly comparing themselves to others and looking for approval outside of themselves. We have taught them this in our society without even thinking about it. We ask them to ‘measure up’ in school, we push them in athletics to be only the best and we make too many choices for them instead of with them.

I know for certain that the first thing we will focus on tomorrow in camp is loving yourself because if you can’t love yourself, who can you love…really?

My goal this week for this boys camp is to empower them to look in the mirror (figurative and real) and see the best qualities of themselves. Not qualities in others that they wish they had but instead their very best. My intent is for each of those campers to love themselves and-

See the Light Within!

I will certainly keep you ‘posted!’

Lots of Love & Tons of Light,

Vicki

Choose Love

This morning, while watching my 7 year old voraciously tear through his Christmas gifts I couldn’t help but think of the victims of Sandy Hook.  I saw flashes of each of the innocent victims; especially the children, who were taken from this life all too soon in my head.  My heart was swollen with pain and sorrow while I watched my little guy in all of his joy on Christmas morning.

We have all been so affected by this tragedy for several different reasons; some of us are affected because we are parents of young children, others are teachers who cannot seem to shake the visions and sense of what happened on Friday, December 14^th in a small, quaint community.  And most (if not all) of us have been jolted with utter disbelief at how such a terrible thing could happen.

I’m affected by all of the above, and so much more… 

I was sitting in my principal’s office on Friday, December 14^th when CNN announced the tragedy.  I couldn’t believe what I was viewing on the television.  I, who never watches the news, who was waiting for my principal to review my post observation, was sitting in what felt like a surreal moment.  I was stunned and totally heart-broken by the news that was flashing across the screen.

I tried to stay away from the news because I am truly affected by it, but I couldn’t.   On Saturday, I read that all of the children who were killed were in 1^st grade.  I was completely devastated because not only do I teach 1^st grade, but I also have a 1^st grader of my own.  As tears streamed down my face I knew in my heart that I had to do something.  I sat quietly asking my higher power for guidance and then I remembered Chakra Bear.

Chakra Bear is a small stuffed animal who sits in my classroom and helps my children to feel their feelings and voice their truth.  I bought this little healing bear several years ago in a small book store.  The bear came with a coloring book that told a story of a little girl who was sad and when she held her Chakra Bear she ultimately felt better because of its ‘good energy.’

When one of my kids feels sad, disappointed, or nervous (has a dim light) they go to the shelf to get the bear and hold it at their desk.  This alerts me that they are hurting and I go to them as soon as possible.  I ask them if they would like to talk about it or not.  At that point, they share an ‘I Statement’ with me or choose to just hold the bear.  Either way, their feelings are being acknowledged so that they are not holding it in and burying it.  Oftentimes, my students will get the bear for other students who look sad and this is truly amazing because I am witnessing compassion in action.

When Chakra Bear came to mind as the tears poured from my eyes, I knew that this bear belonged in Sandy Hook!

I immediately Googled the creator and started the ball in motion so that I could get a healing bear out to each of the families who lost a child on Friday, December 14^th.  I was astounded that once the Chakra Bear Project went up on my Facebook page people responded quickly with love.  Within hours we had reached the goal of donating 20 bears to the families and people were asking to send a bear to every child in the school.

I loved the idea, so I researched further and continued the campaign.  With the help of my email list, Facebook and my school community we were able to put together a special care package for each of the 20 families, donate a Chakra Bear for every K-1 student and send another healing animal (Tai Chi Tiger) for grades 2-4.

On Sunday, December 23^rd I drove out to Sandy Hook with a few friends to deliver the healing stuffed animals.  We drove for about 2.5 hours to a quaint little town in Connecticut that reminded all of us on this journey of the small town we teach in.  We dropped off our gifts, attended a service at a local church and then went into town to ‘pay our respects’ at the memorials.

The energy in town was somber.  It felt just like the energy in NYC on 9-11-11; calm, quiet, and loving.  There were bears, candles, pictures and notes of love and support from all over the world.  It was hard not to be overwhelmed by the outreach and love.  We walked through the town and all you could hear was the rushing water from a nearby creek.  I had chills from my head to my toes as we turned to go back up the hill to the church and saw the police cars blocking the road to the elementary school.

On the drive home we were all quiet.  Perhaps we were processing our feelings.  You would think that I would feel good because I answered the call within to do something, even though it was small, it was something and there was loving intent behind the project.  Yet, in the past few days I have felt as if I have been in a daze.

I now realize why…

When I look at pictures of the victims, I see life and light dancing in their eyes.  When I look at the perpetrator’s picture, all I see is total disconnection.  At one point in his life, he too was an innocent child.  He was a child who had light in his eyes and life abounding.  I find myself wondering how he could get to such a point in his life that he could be so totally disconnected from Spirit.  Then, I look around in life and realize that I unfortunately see this every day, and you do as well.

Working in a school, I often see children who lose that light very early.  It’s the saddest sight my eyes have ever seen…a child who loses their spark.  There are several reasons for this; abuse, neglect, emotional trauma, lack of love, etc.  It saddens me that we can allow the light to dim in any child.

My intent with Chakra Bear in my classroom is to give my students an opportunity to feel their feelings, speak their truth and connect with one another.  I never realized just how important this truly is until this very moment.

It takes a village to raise a child, every child, even that child who you turn and judge because of their behavior.  All children need our love and support.  All children are trying hard to communicate with us in some way, shape or form.

I’ve heard several people say, “There’s really nothing we can do.”  I beg to differ.  There is something we can all do.

We can teach our children that we are all connected.

We can teach them that we are all one.

We can BE the change we want to see by simply being present in the moment and acknowledging their feelings, their voice and their very existence.

Today and every day focus on being present in the moment so that you can not only shine your own light that is deep within your heart, but more importantly…

Ignite the light of the children who surround you. 

 

If we don’t want to see tragedies like this again, then we all need to take responsibility to teach our children to connect instead of disconnecting.

When we are disconnected, there is fear. When we are connected, there is LOVE.  Choose love.

The Power of the Present

Hello everyone!

I am sorry that it has been so long since my last post.  It seems like life sped up for a bit and I got stuck in my head instead of my heart!  So, here I am today with a raging headache and feeling inspired to write…who knew?

I am one of those people who believes that when your physical body is manifesting ailments, it simply means that you are not listening to your body and so it turns up the volume a bit so that you will take care of yourself.

Of late, I have been getting these terrible headaches that knock me for a loop and make it difficult to focus.  I almost always feel dizzy when they are present and I feel quite sick to my stomach.  Well, a doctor might say quite a few things about this.  Perhaps it’s a sinus thing or dehydration from not drinking enough water.  Of course, it could be stress or a reaction of some sort from allergies.  Instead of seeing the medical doctor today, I went to my chiropractor, Dr. Nancy Cappiello (that’s my usual route when I’m out of balance).

With a throbbing headache and worry in my eyes I asked her to ‘fix me’ and tell me what I could do to better support my body.  She looked at me with a smile and said, “Are you taking your D3?  You know that D3 supports your immune system?” My response, “Um, well, I have the bottle on the kitchen counter, but no, I haven’t taken it in a good month or so.”  My chiropractor continues, “What about exercise? How much exercise have you been doing?”  At this point she just got a grunt from me because I haven’t exercised in such a long time that I am embarrassed to answer this.  Finally she says, “Stress? Got any of that Vick?”  Um, hello, yes, I am a wife, mother, teacher, business owner, life coach, author (who is currently in the middle of writing a 70,000 word book) head of a gazillion committees at school, organizing a HUGE Christmas extravaganza for the kids at my house on Christmas Eve morning, and the list goes on.  Yeah, I’d say I’ve got some stress!

She stretched my neck out with this amazing cranial thing she does and I left feeling a little bit better.  As I was driving home I felt the tears well up in my eyes and all I wanted to do was go home and snuggle in a blankie.

You see, this morning, I woke up with this terrible headache and I was in slow motion from the get go.  I arrived at my classroom later than usual and just couldn’t get my butt in gear.  I wasn’t fully prepared for my kids as they were walking through the door.  The stress level builds.  I check my email and there are a million things I need to respond to or take some type of action on.  The kids are saying good morning and coming to my desk to ask questions or tell me a story, but I couldn’t even turn to look directly at them because I had to finish the email in front of me.  I continue with my day and my head begins to really throb.  The slightest thing that the kids do now really sets me off.  A tiny little interruption, a tap on my shoulder (the ones who can reach) or following me around the classroom.  My responses to them were a bit curt and totally unlike who I truly am with them and who I always want them to see.  I realize this and try to slow down a bit so I don’t take it out on my innocent little bystanders.  Then they are off to specials, lunch and recess, yet I feel so bad that I wasn’t my best self with them.

I was tearing up as I was driving home because I was replaying this whole morning over and over in my head and realizing that the main issue was that I was not present in the moment.  I started the day behind the eight ball and just couldn’t get ahead of the game.  If I only took the time to center myself before the kids walked in the door and let go of all of the thoughts and worries that were crashing through my brain.

When I arrived home from the chiropractor, I took my earrings and hot mama boots off to lay on the couch with the dog.  I closed my eyes and asked for guidance.  A few hours later, I woke up and reached for my iPhone so that I could look up what headaches mean in Louise Hay’s book, Heal Your Body.  I looked up headaches and what did I see?

Well, that certainly explains it for me!  I asked for guidance and I got it.  Yes, my headache is actually here.  It was throbbing immensely and making me feel sick to my stomach. However, once I was able to realize that I was causing this headache because I was not taking care of myself and most importantly, not in the present moment, I was able to shift my belief and the headache is alleviated.

There is great power in the present moment.  If I was present, I wouldn’t have been carrying my thoughts, insecurities and worries deep inside of me.  If I was present, I wouldn’t have caused myself to have this very unpleasant headache.  Most importantly, if I was present, my students would have felt the love that they normally feel from me when they walk into the room.  I hope that they will forgive my grumpiness today.  I am human.  I’ve learned my lesson; I will take my D3, reignite my yoga practice and drink lots of water. I set the intent to be present in the moment from this day forward. Want to join me?

Five quick steps to getting yourself into the present moment: (Take Five)

1) Sit in a comfortable position.

2) Close your eyes.

3) Breathe deeply, in through your nose and slowly release that breath out through your mouth.

4) Repeat several times just listening to your breath and feeling your breath until you feel your heart rate slow and the mind ease up.

5) Recite this mantra, “I am fully present in this moment and all is well.”

If you start to get ahead of yourself again or you find your thoughts shifting to worry and fear, take 5 once again!

Lots of Love & Tons of Light,

Vicki

The Reflection I See

This past week was truly an amazing week…  I had the distinct privilege of empowering 35 young ladies (ages 7-9), presented a Live Online Hay House Event on the 7 Essentials to Creating Strong Foundations for Children & Adults, and had the opportunity to look in the mirror, at myself, in a very different way!

Every year, I run a few camps in the summer with my good friend and colleague, Stephanie Liberty, to empower children to believe in themselves, speak their truth and be their absolute best.  We started our camps about 4 years ago because we were both teaching 2^nd grade and had a ‘difficult’ class.  Our classes had more boys than girls, several children that needed our extra attention to help with behaviors, and very shy, introverted girls.  Towards the end of the year, Steph and I looked at each other during a conversation about our classes and we got that bright light idea look on our faces.  We both felt that our  ‘quiet girls’ may have been cheated during the year and we wanted to find a way to give them a little extra attention, so GIRLS RULE Camp was born!  The first year, we kept it simple.  We had about 10 girls in the group and we ran the camp at Stephanie’s house.  We did crafts, yoga, meditation, danced till we dropped, and produced our own skit/performance for the parents.  Our intent was simply to give the girls a little extra attention and let them know that they in fact, were very important to us.  What came out of that week was oh so much more…

Stephanie is one of those amazing people who always smiles and says in any crisis situation, “Its okay, we can work this out.”  She’s got a light inside that glows even when she sleeps!  Steph loves crafts and she can choreograph a group of girls to perform like they’ve danced for years like nobody’s business!  I, on the other hand, am a very non-conventional teacher, who believes that it’s critically important to teach kids 7 Essentials to build a strong foundation in life (Sign up for my email list to receive the 7 Essentials in a bookmark).  We both LOVE kids and are feisty when it comes to doing what’s right for them, so when you put us together…FIREWORKS!

There’s nothing more powerful, than watching a child learn to love themselves, speak their truth and believe in their overall power!

Each year, a beautiful theme organically arises as we begin the camp.  This year, it became apparent very early on, that our theme for this year was, I Am Important!  On Monday, the girls and I had a discussion on feeling invisible.  One little girl said, “Mrs. Savini, you’re telling us to feel our feelings, but sometime’s adults tell us we don’t have those feelings!”  I probed her a bit more, and she revealed something that we should all stop and listen to for a moment…

“Well, sometimes, I am sad or upset about something, and when I tell a grown up, they say, Oh, you’re alright, but I’m really not alright in that moment.”  The room fell silent as all of the girls shook their heads in agreement.  I suddenly flashed back to my own childhood when I heard those very same words.  Sad to say, I’ve said those words to kids a few times, but I can guarantee you, that I will think twice the next time those words come to mind.  I then gave the girls a tool for their ‘toolbox’ (an imaginary toolbox we create to help us through life)… The ‘That’s NOT True Tool.’  We decided that when someone else tries to tell us what we are feeling, instead of pushing that feeling down deeper, we would say that’s not true and then use an ‘I Statement’ to tell how we really feel.  For instance; let’s say that the little girl who brought this to our attention were to tell an adult that she was sad, and adult said, “Oh, you’re alright. Don’t be so dramatic.”  She would respond with, “That’s NOT true!  I feel sad when you tell me how I feel, because I know what I feel inside, and what I really need, is for you to NOT tell me how I feel.”  Whoa…EMPOWERING!  That was only one segment…believe me, you have no idea how much inspiration occurred in the last week! It gets better…

As I stated, the girls create a skit/dance performance for their parents every year that illustrates the lessons that we learned during the week.  Stephanie and I allow the girls to choose an empowering song each year (with a little guidance), and this year the song they chose was, “You Don’t Know You’re Beautiful,” by One Direction.  As Steph was choreographing throughout the week in front of the mirrors (we were at a dance center), I kept having this vision.  All I could see was the girls, walking toward the mirror and talking to themselves as they recited the words, “Baby you light up my world like nobody else…you don’t know you’re beautiful.”  I couldn’t get it out of my head, so I asked Steph to put it in.  Sure enough, as I was videotaping the dance and the girls walked towards the mirror saying those words, the tears ran down my face (and several other moms too), because…

I wished someone had taught me to love myself when I was little.

Sure, I got a lot of praise.  I won tons of art contests, singing competitions, and even pageants.  I was noticed, for the things I did, but I never really learned to LOVE myself for just me, without seeking approval, praise, and acceptance from others.  I realized that on Tuesday evening after finishing the LIVE event with Hay House.  I thought I would feel totally exhilarated, but I didn’t.  Instead, I felt let down.  I felt sad.  I couldn’t hear the clapping noises in the audience.  I didn’t receive immediate feedback from others, and then suddenly I realized that I too needed to dance that dance that we taught our girls to dance in the week!

When you look at your reflection, what do you see?  Do you see your flaws?  Do you see what others tell you they see? OR, do you see YOU?  This week shifted my perspective in a way that I cannot explain…

Love yourself…no, I mean really LOVE yourself.  Not, love yourself when others tell you that it’s okay to do so.  I mean love yourself, even when you don’t feel like you’re at your best.  Just LOVE YOU, totally and unconditionally!

With Love,

Vicki