Matthew and Sophie's Adventure to India

Matthew and Sophie’s Adventure to India

Matthew and Sophie were visiting Granny.

 

It had been raining for days and days.

Not just soft misty rain. Tapping fingers on face and head. 

But fat, juicy raindrops that formed gigantic puddles.  Pounding feet on the floor while sitting.

The children were usually very good at finding fun things to do in Granny’s big old house but today they were bored and were lying on the floor looking miserable. Sphinx pose – lie on tummy with forearms on ground in front and head/chest lifted.

Matthew started playing with the old Indian carpet he was lying on and rolled it all around himself. All roll 3 times to the left and three times to the right.

Suddenly he could feel the floor vibrating under him and thought it was the heavy raindrops outside. Pounding feet on the floor while sitting.

Sophie said, “Shush Matthew”. Everyone shush with fingers to their lips and sitting very quietly cross legged.  Breathe deeply. “Can you feel the vibrations?” Sophie stood up and looked around the room.  Where was the vibration coming from, not from thunder, or the dishwasher, or even the radio. It was coming from the room. It was coming from … the carpet. 

Slowly the carpet began to make a humming noise. Humming noise. 

Sophie hopped over to Matthew and grabbed hold of his hand. Everyone take hands so that you are a big circle.  

The rug rocked and rolled sway left and right as it lifted into the air. 

It rumbled and then shot out of the door with the children holding onto the sides. Come onto knees and hands and move from this neutral position into down face dog. Repeat a few times. 

The houses and fields became blurry and the wind was whistling around their faces. The children found their flying feet and took a step forward so they could see over the front of the flying carpet. Dancing Shiva – stand on right leg, lift left leg up behind and take hold of left foot with left hand, right arm extends forward.

Far down below them a pod of dolphins danced through the waves. Dolphin pose - forearms on floor, and feet on floor. 

A whale leaped out of the sea. Camel pose -kneeling backbend with hands on heels.

Enormous turtles swam peacefully towards the sand. Turtle pose – sit on floor and spread legs out wide, lean forward and slide arms under legs so chin is almost on floor.

Soon the children realised that they were not at Granny’s house any more but in a bright country, with beaches, tall swaying palm trees, and elephants painted in bright happy colours.  The flying carpet gently sailed down to the beach and the children looked around in wonder. Start to look around in wonder and grow up off the floor to standing.

A little boy in an orange robe can skipping towards Sophie and Matthew. Skip around the room.

“Namaste”, said the boy and he bought his hands together in prayer and bowed his head. Put hands together in prayer pose and bow. 

“Oh hello” said Sophie with an enormous smile, she already liked the unusual looking boy.  

“Welcome to India, my name is Krishna and I have been expecting you”, said the boy.

Matthew and Sophie were so surprised. How could they possibly be expected by Krishna: they had only just met!

“There is a very important elephant, the royal elephant. He has gone missing in the jungle and it’s my job to find him but I cannot do it alone, will you help me?”. Children call out yes!

Matthew and Sophie loved solving problems so they agreed to help.

“Right”, said Sophie, “what does he look like?”

So Krishna stood on one leg to think. Tree pose. 

“He has a long, grey trunk”. Everyone put one arm in front of their mouths and roar like an elephant.

“He has beautiful, giant floppy ears”. Open and close arms.

“He is very scared of mice”. Child pose.

“Well, he is an elephant, I am not sure how else to describe him. Ask children what does an elephant look like?

“Elephant looks like this”, said Krishna. Standing forward fold, holding elbows.

So they three children crossed over the hot sand. Tippy toes across the room.

Splashed across a cool river. Splashing and jumping through water.

And finally stepped into a tropical forest. It was green, and cool and there were lots of unusual sounds that Matthew and Sophie had never heard before.  Like the sound of a monkey. A screechy clattering noise. They children walked towards the sound and found a gang of monkeys playing in the trees. Monkey pose -sitting splits and monkey noises.

“Excuse me Mr Monkey”, said Krishna, “have you seen a large elephant?”. The monkey smiled with sharp teeth and pointed deeper into the forest. “Thanks Mr Monkey”, Sophie said, skipping even further into the tall trees. Stand up and skip around the room.

Soon the children came to a pretty river with crocodiles lazing in the sun. Krishna whispered, “don’t get too close, they are very tricky and will try to eat you up”. 

Matthew, a very polite child, decided to use his best manners. “You are a very handsome crocodile, with very sharp, white teeth and you look ever so strong”, Mathew took a step closer. Take a step towards center of the room. The crocodile smiled at his reflection in the water. Crocodile pose – lie on tummy and stretch out arms in front, snap them together and say snap, snap, snap. 

“Have you seen a large elephant, with a long trunk and floppy ears?”, Matthew asked.

Snap, snap went the crocodile, and pointed his snout towards the beach again. Snap a few more times.

The children headed back towards the beach feeling lucky the crocodile was not hungry. 

They stepped carefully over the bright green frogs. Frog pose and frog jumping – squat with hands on the floor between knees, jump up and back into frog pose a few times.

 

As soon as the children stepped through the trees and onto the hot sand they saw a beautiful elephant playing in the waves. Elephant pose.

“There he is” cried Krishna, running into the waves. The elephant let out a happy roar. Elephant trunk and roar.

And let the children climb onto his back for a ride back to the magic Indian carpet. Happy baby pose - lie on back, hug knees into chest, slide arms through inside of legs and take hold of feet. Rock like a happy baby.

Sophie and Matthew hugged their new friends’ goodbye. Everyone hug.

And took their seats on the magic carpet. Sit cross-legged.

Sophie commanded, “carpet, take us to Granny’s house”. It began to vibrate and in a flash it was zooming above the sea, over the country fields and back to granny’s house.  Open arms to side and fly arms like an airplane. 

But the adventure must have taken longer than the children thought because as the carpet flew gently into Granny’s house and landed in front of the warm, glowing fire, they felt exhausted. Stretch, yawn and lie down.  

Granny tiptoed in with a blanket for each child. She wiped a little piece of sand off Sophie’s face and wasn't surprised at all.  She knew they must have had quite an adventure.