Dear Yogis,

There are some students who have put aside yoga and yoga teacher training particularly with me because I WORKED OUTSIDE OF THE BOX.  They wanted their yoga to be PURE.  What is that, especially now in the “time of Covid”?  Their peers were annoyed because I was not establishment either in medicine or yoga (or spirituality).  I wasn’t Pure.  I am not, and I  encourage my students to strike a path of their own.

Like you I am a seeker.  I not only started by being a nurse, I then moved on to Scientific and natural Science illustration (which I worked in INTERNATIONALLY at major tertiary institutions – Major hospitals, the Smithsonian DC, The Steinhardt.SF.).  My discipline was the old kind where we were in the operating theatre, at the operations gloved, masked, and gowned.  We looked and the body or the slide,  and we drew what we saw.  BC = Before Computers.  We experienced the work at a deep level.  All the while, yoga was there.. the constant thread through my life.  Luckily, I had teachers who encouraged me to look into every aspect – not just asana.  Seeing the body as it is was an intrinsic part of this learning process.

 

I am in awe of the human body and  I totally love working with anatomy and physiology which I hope I pass to you – however, that does not mean for one minute that I don’t believe that it is intuition that rules the roost!  We disregard it at our peril.  Yoga is not about asana.  It is about the mind.

I believe that disease  is due to certain states of mind and these moods or states of mind  interfere with the normal happiness of the individual, and if these moods, feeling and emotions are allowed to continue,  they lead to disturbance of the function of the body.

I do the tarot, I use Bach therapies, I have certificates in philosophy and counselling, and meditation and yoga, so that when a client stands in front of me in a yoga class,  or comes for consult, I am not just looking at statistics (or their lycra – their label), I am uncovering the whole person. You think I am chatting, or teaching yoga, or reading the tarot – In fact, I am deeply  looking at stretch, movement, stance, emotions, features, speech, excuses and so on.  Small things, big things, in order to be the best teacher, and the best healer that I can be.  That is why I use the skills I have – especially the Bach herbals… because they work in uncovering the REAL person.  The unsaid, maybe unknown person.

One of my students calls me “Tottie” = “Tough Old Tart”.  I won’t always agree with you. I am not in the “pleasing business” I am in the “truth business”.   I won’t always say, do or be who you want me to be, but I am always looking for the best in you.  How to bring you to the point where you can be the best you can be.   What are you looking for? What are you working for? Who are you aspiring to be? What do you want and want to be and why do you want to be that….?  Be all these things for your students.  Study deeply to help deeply, and teach deeply.  Yoga  is not just asana.

Let me know how I can help you.  I am your teacher.

By the way, I am offering a scholarship or two in BACH HERBAL THERAPY.  Level 1 and 2.   It is absolutely The YOGA OF HERBS. (www.bach.moonfruit.com)  Please email if you are interested.   yogafirst2@bigpond.com

Have a wonderful day.  Keep happy – it leads to health.

Namaste – JAHNE