Dear Yogis,

Last night, Tuesday night, we considered IDA, PINGALA, AND SUSHUMNA.  Not to define or describe them fully (who could???), but to develop an understanding.

To do this we have to look at the chakras and we will be hovering over all things chakra for some time.  We started with the physical – the cerebrospinal system (Hypermobility), now we are looking at the nadis, and these are linked to the Chakras.  I was not sure which to study first, but I am happy we chose the nadis.  Especially as we consider them in the course under the name meridians, and also as the three spinal nadis.

So, if you want to know more about the “mystical” aspects of your yoga, you might like to make Tuesday evenings a priority.

Awakening the chakras is a process which must be experienced if the soul is to evolve and enlightenment is to be reached.  One of the Upanishads says that one cannot reach enlightenment without understanding and recognising the chakras, and my experience bears this out (although. I am not enlightened).

Whichever chakra awakens first differs from person to person.  This is due to our karma, our nature, and the difficulties we have. Over-activating or overworking  the paranormal abilities by concentrating one one chakra is likely to cause disease in the internal organs associated with that chakra.  In all things,  BALANCE.

Satyananda recommends that the yogis first attempt to activate AJNA before any other chakra.  His reason for this is that Ajna has the ability to dissolve karma, in this way it lessens the the possibility of danger which may arise when the lower chakras are activated.

Originally the Sanskrit root of AJNA means “to command”. I have always been taught that Ajna is the command centre.  It is located where the three nadis join to form a single passage which continues up to the Sahasrara.  Part of the life force collects there, the rest is dispersed throughout the physical, astral and causal bodies.

To find out more, enrol in our Tuesday evening sessions.  They are “enlightening”.

Please mark in your diary the Sunday morning 10am repeat of our lesson on the PURUSHATRAS.  Two hours is not nearly long enough, but I am sure is enough to get you off the sofa and at the very least into Dr.Google.

I do really have to charge for our sessions (wish I didn’t). However,  I try to keep the cost down.  My charges are $85 for a tarot or other consultation of 1 hour duration,   and $75 for 4 yoga sessions.. The lectures are $20 for a two hour teacher training and $35 for three shorter Tuesday night lectures.

WHAT YOU CAN DO?  If you are working, or “independently wealthy”, or just want to help, you could purchase an extra seat in yoga or the lectures for a friend, or one of the students who is doing it tough, and there are students out there you could assist.

I LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU IN THE ZOOM STUDIO.

NAMASTE – JAHNE

 

 

Dear Yogis,

Inadvertently Covid has brought me back to the yoga school I used to have and love.  Lots of people, lots of classes, lots of lectures.  Lots of doing it my way – very philosophical, very “Jo March” (Louisa Alcott’s Little Women”).  We do yoga (asanas) to prepare the mind.  The perfect asana is not the goal.  

You might want more philosophy in the mornings, but for the time being, this newsletter is the main way that I can let you know what is happening day-to-day.  We do now have our Sunday morning Teacher Training (every Sunday at 10) which is jam packed full of philosophy (and students), then we have Tuesdays teachings at 7.30pm.  This week we are starting with IDA/PINGALA AND SUSHUMNA.  There is no repeat of this and no recording….. this is an ongoing series of lectures, three at a time.  We have just finished considering Hypermobility. Look at the home page of the web site to see all the classes and times.  There is so much to do.

Payment is easy peasy.  We have PayPal –  just go to the Home Page on the web site, click on Donate at the bottom of the page, and make one-off payment for the amount of the course.  PayPal very cleverly sends me a receipt.   We even have PayPal credit (for 50 years I personally have provided this facility and it’s time for a change).  So you can pay for a course, and when necessary organise to pay over time with PayPal..  Handy for even our shorter courses.  You don’t even need a PayPal account.

On Fridays we have CAFE YOGA.  This is a surprising success.  A ‘girl time”.  You can bring tea (“hard tea” as the ad says), something to nibble and something for “show and tell”.  Knitting, a book, a craft.  Anything.  We only have an hour.  Last week when I said I knitted on toothpicks people didn’t believe me, but I do, and I can show you the tiny T-shirts I knit as egg cosies.

ZOOM RESTORATIVE YOGA – Gentle , or with weights and straps.  I now have eight classes a week.  Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Your choice. I would love to see you there.

BHAGAVADGITA.

One day not far away, we are going to consider the Bhagavadgita together.

The word actually means “The Lord’s Song”, and around the world about a BILLION people accept this to be so.  This ancient text looks at the eternal questions – Who am I? How can I be happy? Where does everything come from? Who are our real teachers and where do they come from?

A brief(?) Sanskrit text of seven hundred verses, the Bhagavadgita forms a part of the Bhisma-parva, the sixth book of the Mahabharata – a vast and complex sacred history.  Widely recognised as a work of spiritual and philosophical genius which I began exploring it in my early (unfinished)  years with Sanskrit, and with my teacher Margrit Segesman. I have all but forgotten my Sanskrit, but I remember Margrit every minute of every day – without her I would not have found my true purpose.  It was she who introduced me to the Gita and real yoga.

The great mathematician astronomer Arya Bhata concluded from archaeo- astronomical data in the middle of the Mahabharata that the Kuru-kesetra War, the setting of the Bhagavadgita,  took place approximately 5,100 years ago.  Modern scholars disagree and doubt the historical accuracy of most Mahabharata events.. but east or west,  all accept their history and antiquity – who is right?  We do know that the ‘Gita has inspired and illumined a huge and growing number of souls.

Let Us take advantage of its profound wisdom.. The Gita shows us that God’s relationship with fallen souls is mediated by the laws of karma.. and it is said that awakened souls approach and relate to God through Yajna Yoga– devoted offerings.  Let us go on this journey together.

Get out your text books, clear the decks – this is a biggie.

Live long and PROSPER.

NAMASTE JAHNE

 

 

 

Dear Yogis,

What a fabulous yoga philosophy class we had  this morning.  I was worried that I would not able able to see, or speak to the students because of the number – but it was fine.   If you were not able to be here, and would like to catch up with it,  I am repeating today’s talk on the Purushatras again next Sunday at 10am.  So every week we will have a class at the same time, but repeated twice.  That will mean if you can’t come to one, you can come to the other.  The class is $20 same as in the studio.  Go to the front page of the website, click onto DONATE and make a one-off payment for the amount of your class.  EASY.  You don’t have to have a PayPal account.  You can pay by debit or credit card, or if you have a PayPal account you can use that..

I am also introducing two YOGA NIDRA MEDITATION CLASSES.  One at 5.30 on a Tuesday and the other 3pm on Friday. They will run for 45 minutes and cost $57.50 for 10 classes – one or two per week. If anxiety or depression are an issue for you, then this might be just the classes you are looking for. Everyone welcome.

The RESTORATIVE YOGA CLASSES are progressing well.  They are so satisfying and I get so caught up in the teaching that the other day I found myself sanitising my hands after class!!!

If you would like to join us at the ZOOM YOGA CAFE on Friday at 11 (no charge) please bring your (strong) tea and maybe your knitting.  I knit on toothpick needles and have promised to bring my work to class.  “Show and Tell” all over again. Please let me know to expect you – email me on yogafirst2@bigpond.com

My potential “BUILD A HERB BUSINESS”  classes I have left a space for on Mondays at 6pm.  If you would like to do this class, but the time is wrong –  let me know and maybe we can adjust.  You really can create a beautiful business, or tart up your pantry, with a small amount of herb knowledge in a short time.  You just have to want to!  In this time of shortages and plain “not there’s”, you can even assist the family and fill the pantry with little or no cost.

WHAT YOU CAN DO IN COVID…

A very “easy” thing is to get the handyman in your life (or you if you are handy) to make a STREET LIBRARY/PANTRY to put near your front fence in an accessible spot so that the passing neighbours can access or leave  your “donations”.   A box with a lid, a window in the front and a roof with eaves to keep the rain off.  People can give or take food from your “pantry”, (and books after covid).

I have always considered community gardens and pantries  to be valuable – never more than at this time. It could be a fabulous mum and kids project.

MEDITATIONS

You are made of the stuff called GOD.  Of course you are rarely aware of it, but that makes no difference at all.  Whether you are aware, or unaware, asleep or a wake – you are still DIVINE.  Those who are asleep one moment can be awake the next.  Better not to judge.  

If we understand even one drop of water, we can understand the entire body of water on the planet.  We can understand any water existing anywhere. We are a raindrop of God.  If you understand you are a raindrop and made of the same reality of the whole of existence then there can be no death, no fear, no greed, no lust. Then (as I have teaching my Sunday students), one lives in absolute freedom, and bliss.

ENJOY THE WEEK.  I WILL SEE YOU ON ZOOM.

NAMASTE – JAHNE