Dear Yogis,

ALL ON ZOOM
FRIDAY:  11am Zoom Cafe. All welcome   5.30 RESTORATIVE YOGA with bands and weights
SATURDAY:  12.30 RESTORATIVE YOGA  2pm MAKE YOUR OWN TAROT DECK
SUNDAY: 10am YOGA TALK. Topic – The Bhagavadgita and YOGA.

THE TAO OF WATERCOLOUR:  Next Tuesday 1.30pm

Yesterday was my day off and I did something I rarely do – I watched a movie -“MY OCTOPUS TEACHER”.  It is an amazing film about a man who finds his way back to life and his family through an emotional bond he forges with an octopus.  He visits HER every day for a year and the film documents the amazing bond that grows up between them.  If an Octopus can fall in love, this one does – and he with her.

I studied octopus for years and have always considered them to be extraterrestrial. This film demonstrates how different, and clever they are (we have four lobes in our brains, they have nine!) – they can even grow limbs back, and you can see it documented in this film (the first time I have actually seen this filmed), but more beautiful than that are the tender moments between these two unlikely beings.  Her habitat, the underwater kelp forest is breathtakingly beautiful.

PATIENCE

When I am moving into a new pattern, a new place in my mind and experience, I paint in the zen way, Sumii, (“Brush painting” as it is called in the West although I don’t know what kind of painting is done without a brush?).  In order to let the paint flow, the mind has to step back.  On the way, when we do meet impatient thought, we  are able to step through the ego, step back. We learn to FLOW with the moment, become the ink, the brush, the paper. The painting becomes a mirror that reflects back to you what you are looking for.  It is a meditation.

However, when mind (the inner critic) gets involved, the ink globs on the page and the painting is ruined. Creativity needs love but it also needs freedom.  The thought that is about to be translated into an image may be too original, too creative,  too ugly, too mysteriously fragmented and the mind given control can deny it, and thus this new freedom never makes it to the page, and when it does “IT GLOBS”.

It is like walking the labyrinth.  I built one on the farm… I used the dimensions of the “Grace” Labyrinth and it was  transformational experience to walk it.  At night sometimes it was visited by Min-Min lights, and on that path I felt surrounded by the holy.  I could see and accept my struggles, although it was harder to accept that we are living on a planet in transition.  Once we can feel and accept change we can become wise leaders and agents of change.

That is what happened to the man who formed a relationship with the octopus.  He learned to stand back, to watch and accept what was happening in the underwater world around them both without expecting anything.   He learned to just “BE”, without needing to win, or be the best, or the be the protector. Just loving. In doing this he learned to love, to love himself, re-connect with his own family, and then form a community to protect the Kelp Forest inhabited not just by the octopus but by skilled predators.. a balanced,  if dangerous ecology.

He learned to differentiate between flow and force.  He just turned up, ready to release whatever came up and love unconditionally.

SEE YOU IN THE KELP FOREST.

NAMASTE. JAHNE

 

 

 

 

 

Dear Yogis,

A couple of you have said that there has been no newsletter for a couple of days… well, I have written them EVERY DAY but our friend mail chimp has had a glitch and without notifying me was not delivering the news to everyone.  This is problem – as this is the main way I can get news  to you.

ZOOM DIARY:
FRIDAY: ZOOM CAFE 11am.  Everyone welcome -The more the better and its FUN/free. 5.30 RESTORATIVE with weights.
SATURDAY: 12.30 RESTORATIVE YOGA,  2pm MAKE YOUR OWN TAROT
SUNDAY: 10am. THE BHAGAVADGITA (and yoga).

We will be having a Watercolour Painting Class starting Tuesday at 1.30, but that will not be the only class.  Another class will be organised in the evening – not sure the day until you let me know your preferences.  In the meanwhile book for the watercolour class. The photo to the right is a pic of a set of four cards I am playing with.  Just doodles.  Easy, and you can do it too.  NO ART EXPERIENCE REQUIRED.  All the details are on the HOME page of www.yogabeautiful.com.au.

REGISTRATION:  At this time of the year it might be a good idea to glance at your registration papers.  Is your membership still current?  Everyone who re-registers between now and the end of October will receive one of my beautiful Small Pendulum Charts (17cm x17cm)  and a Purse size chart FREE.   That is two charts FREE so you will never be without one.  I wasn’t sure how useful they would be, after all we have the large one, but these are perfect.  I have the medium one near my computer and the tiny one in my purse with my travelling pendulum.  If you use your pendulum as a friend, and have it near you all the time, you will use these charts often..  REGISTER TODAY.  Email me to get your application for re-registration. yogafirst2@bigpond.com

YOUR TO-DO LIST.

Here’s a thought.  Like the plastic wrap you use to keep your celery fresh, your to-do list is IMMORTAL.  Mine will live on even when I die.  My daughter will get to read it and think I am nuts..  Every day we get a chance to drive ourselves crazy with the thought that we are “lazy”, not good enough, or not doing enough.  Every day you have the opportunity to practice stress or practice PEACE.   Keep in mind you have a CHOICE.  All it takes is a willingness to change and some common sense.  There are only so may hours in a day, we all have the same.  Use them wisely.  My garden (which is therapy) is the photo below. Bluebells, blue hyacinths, borage, tulips, forget-me-nots, violets, daffodils, jonquils, mint, chocolate mint, agapanthus and so on….  I just put them in and stand back.

We live in a very worried, stressed culture and Covid is making this worse.  Prior to the pandemic 70% to 90% of visits to primary care physicians are attributable to stress.  When I first came to the Macedon Ranges there were few doctors, one or two for each of the little clusters of communities.  Not only could you easily get an appointment, the doctors and their small staffs had time for yoga.  Now there are 20 and more doctors where there used to be one or two (multiplied by medical offices springing up all over the Shire, plus specialists etc.).  In spite of the huge increase in doctors and support staff, you can’t get an appointment, hardly anyone values yoga, and fewer come to class.  New practices are springing up all the time.  It is not about how many offices you have, it is the time you can give to each client.  There are many who go to the doctor who just need comfort, not medication.  People who need someone to talk to, something to give meaning to their day. The doctors themselves need to de-stress.  You can help.

 

Today I am going to paint, and take my time.  It’s my day off….  See you at ZOOM tomorrow.

NAMASTE – JAHNE

Dear Yogis,

ZOOM
WEDNESDAY (Today): 12.30 RESTORATIVE,  5.30 RESTORATIVE weights optional, 6.45 MINDFULNESS MEDITATION
FRIDAY: 11am YOGA CAFE ZOOM  5.30 RESTORATIVE with weights and bands

What a strange morning… there is so much confusion in the atmosphere.  Not relief, not gratitude but confusion and anxiety are ruling the airwaves.  Remember, we are all connected.  More news coming out of England, Europe, South America and so on, then we have the American Elections which are decided in November but are happening right now – People are voting…  We shouldn’t be surprised that we are all feeling slightly off centre, off course.  Good job we have yoga and meditation to keep us centred.

ART CLASS – THE TAO OF WATERCOLOUR (ZOOM). ($50 for a series of three classes).

TURNING YOUR DOODLES INTO ART.  I have been painting.  Doing small pieces that I can teach to you.  We even have interest in our classes from the USA.  I haven’t decided on a class time – I am waiting to see how the class pans out, but if the American interest grows it will be a morning class.  It has to be because of time zones.  We can always have a second class. I would love to hear from you.  Please email your interest at yogafirst2@bigpond.com.

The painting above is two of a series of four to an A4 page,  each painting card size.  When you come to class you will learn to handle the brush, the water and the paint.  The actual painting will take no time at all.  It is about how to make the most of your doodles.  Once you have got a little confidence and can chase the paint around the page, you will be able to make your own cards for any occasion, or expand your skills to larger and larger works. They don’t take any time at all – just relaxation and entering.  It is like magic.

My own skills are based on Chinese Brush Painting training.  I learned for years with some wonderful teachers… (Andre Sollier was just one) and I did some huge works.  Then the yoga became the central part of my life and I didn’t have the time for painting that I like to have.    It’s always about balance and choices.  I never stopped my art, but the works became smaller and different.  I am liking the “accidental” feeling that Chinese work gives me.  Chasing the paint, rather than forcing.  Breathing rather than concentrating and constraining.  Meditation with paint.  No expensive kit is required.  We can use almost anything.

An example?  The artist Sam Byrne from BrokenHill, was never formally trained in art,  used Dulux and cockatoo feathers as his equipment mainly because that was all he had and didn’t know he needed to buy brushes etc.  Today his paintings are in museums.  He wasn’t a yogi,  but he was yogic.  He painted to record scenes for others because he wasn’t much good at writing.  It was his service. He only had one idea – he painted as a gift to his children and community.

For those who think that you should concentrate on one thing – Sam Byrne worked as a miner, Andre Sollier was an artist,  a poet, a martial artist, and a Zen Archer.   We also have the example of Patanjali – Yogi, doctor/surgeon, philosopher, dancer, poet…etc.

Don’t be intimidated….just be one thing at a time.  Put all your effort towards what is in front of you.  “Do what you can with what you have, where you are” (the Buddha).  It is all about balance and following your dreams.  “Just one dream” for me would be a nightmare, and might be for you.  Thanks to Covid, you have been given time and space to explore new directions.  Embrace the gift and go places you have always wondered about.   “if only….”.  If Only is TODAY.  Do it.

Remember.  Whether we are painting, doing yoga, or parenting,  we are not looking for perfection.  As with anything, small steps will get you to where you are going.  If you take honest, small steps in the direction of your dreams, I am sure you will get to places more extraordinary than you can imagine.  There is a Divine hand guiding you, working unseen.  If you take a step towards the Divine (painting, yoga, meditation, loving, serving),  that energy will be pulled towards you.  New worlds and new possibilities will open up and synchronicities will appear that will surprise and delight.

SEE YOU IN CLASS.

NAMASTE. JAHNE