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Read the press release here.

Greenpoint 'Fairy School' Will Teach Kids to Connect to Nature

By Serena Dai | November 12, 2014 4:31pm
 Maha Rose Center for Healing is starting a fairy-themed after-school program.
Maha Rose Center for Healing is starting a fairy-themed after-school program.
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Facebook/Maha Rose

GREENPOINT — Tinkerbell has nothing on Greenpoint.

A new fairy-themed after-school program debuting in the neighborhood plans to harness the creativity, imagination and "magic" of children to help them embrace fairies, which organizer Lisa Levine describes as spiritual beings that connect people to nature.

Not everyone who attends the Fairy School, run at Levine's alternative health business Maha Rose Center for Healing, is required to believe in fairies when they join, Levine said.

Instead, the program — which includes activities like astrology, tea leaf reading and guided meditation — will ask questions to help children connect with nature and, in turn, beings of the spiritual world, like fairies.

"Fairies do exist, even in cities," Levine said. "It's about listening to the subtler realms, the quieter beings that we don't always hear. You might see flashes of light. You might just feel a presence."

Levine and the program's co-organizers were inspired to start the school after attending a reiki healing retreat in a forest upstate. Surrounded by nature for a week during meditation, "the fairies really spoke to us" about a school for children, Levine said.

The modern focus on technology and analytics has led to less "magic" in people's lives, Levine said, referring to spontaneity, fun and a spiritual connection to realms beyond the physical world.

And the decrease in art in schools today means that fewer children have the opportunity to use imagination and creativity, she said.

Levine hopes that the after-school program, available to children ages 5 to 12, will nurture participants' natural inclination to engage with the spiritual world.

"It's a place for children to talk to their imaginary friends and connect," she said.

Despite the founders' professed connection to the energy of fairies, they maintain that they're "very grounded" and won't be teaching children to "do something crazy related to fairies," said organizer Elyssa Jakim.

It's more about the spirit of fairies — and discussing how believing in fairies could impact a person's spiritual life, the organizers said. Just the process of looking for fairies by paying attention to trees, plants and flowers connects people to nature, they said.

Other activities like playing theater games, storytelling, singing songs, art and crafts and planting herb gardens also encourage creativity, they said.

"It's grounded in reality and creativity and love," Levine said. "And fun."

Fairy School at Maha Rose, located at 97 Green St., has sessions open to 4-to-8-year-olds and 9-to-12-year-olds. Classes one day a week for 10 weeks cost $450. Classes two days a week for 10 weeks cost $800.