Sun and Moon dance - on rhythm and repetition

The Dance of Life
The Dance of Sun  and Moon
Of the Day and the Night
The dance of Life
Of the four Seasons
And of brighter light
The dancing Sun
Shining, lighting the way Summer  fire  all  around us,

And within us

The rhythm of the heart

The pulse of Life

Breathing in and out

With the Universe

The importance of Rhythm and Repetition

Rhythm means repetition with variation, and it is vital and healthy for living organisms. Our bodies dance to the tune of many rhythms, all of which harmonise into one vast symphony when we are healthy. Our internal organs have a rhythm of their own but we are all in tune with our environment, the elements and the natural rhythms of life.

Children need a healthy rhythm in their lives in order to maintain their own inner rhythms.

Daily routines create in the child a sense of security and belonging; children thrive on rhythm in their lives. A rhythmic home life in the years of childhood and rhythms in their life of learning will give them something of inestimable value for life. From the basic first rhythms such as eating and sleeping to daily patterns, centring around meal times and bed times; as long as the rhythm is a familiar one, the child feels relaxed, confident and secure. Also, the transition from one activity to the other has to be gentle and slow so not to cause a sudden change.

Like the seasons, we breathe in and out and children live at the same pace and more in tune with nature than us adults. Children need to experience the qualities of the natural rhythms to build a stronger connection with nature and with themselves as individuals.

So let the child experience each waking hour of the day and the sleeping time, and the buzzing activities and the quiet times, and the day and the night, and the days of the week and the months and the seasons and the years…let the child flow between these and live and play in freedom; let the child remember and learn; let’s enrich the children’s souls.

Let the children feel safe and let them trust themselves. This will bring self confidence and support learning.

And in Life's noisiest hour,
There whispers still the ceaseless Love of Thee,
The heart's Self-solace and soliloquy.

You mould my Hopes, you fashion me within;
And to the leading Love-throb in the Heart
Thro' all my Being, thro' my pulse's beat;
You lie in all my many Thoughts, like Light,
Like the fair light of Dawn, or summer Eve
On rippling Stream, or cloud-reflecting Lake.

And looking to the Heaven, that bends above you,
How oft! I bless the Lot that made me love you.

The Presence of Love
Samuel Taylor Coleridge