Blog – Page 255 – Yoga Beautiful

Dear Yogis,

I think in these tough times, it is a good idea (well I think so), to indulge ourselves, but always with goodness. No cream, no buns, not an emphasis on wine, but how about MEAD! Sometimes described as a straw-coloured liquid which foams into the glass – the one that I made months ago and decanted today filled the bill. It was gorgeous.

Mead is a drink made with honey, older than the wheel, and often called THE DUID FLUID.

“The juice of bees, not bacchus here behold,
Which British Bards were won’t to quaff of old,
The berries of the grape which furies swell,
But in the honey comb the Graces Dwell”.

Mead is one of the ancient alcoholic drinks made by our ancestors, but sadly few of you I think will have tasted it.

This is a special mixture known as metheglin or in the ancient tongue medcylglin – medicine. It was known as the nectar of the Gods, and the Greeks called it ambrosia or nectar. It was known to have magical properties, a sacred brew a drink of the Gods which was made of the heavens dew gathered by bees. It is said to prolong life, bestow health, strength, virility, creative powers, great wit and poetry! I believe it works. I am still 21 on the inside. No that is incorrect – I am healthier than I have ever been and 21 holds no joys for me. I don’t look backwards.

It is said in Celtic law that there is a river of mead running through paradise. The mythology has not died. Even the word HONEYMOON is all about the ancient custom of giving the bridal couple a moon’s worth of mead, which was said to be enough to ensure a fruitful union. You can be sure that the mead maker was given a large tip when a child soon arrived into the family. The magic medicine had borne fruit, it even smells and tastes magical, mysterious.

The bee keeper knows that the “The Path of Pollen” contains a hidden universe.

This covid isolation has brought to the front of mind things that we can do for ourselves to care for hearth and home. What better than to have a bee hive in the back yard. If you can’t do that, at the very least look after the bees that come to your garden. plant crocus (they flower in the cold), snowdrops, bergamot, forget me not, hyssop, sage, mignonette, daisies, lavender, mallow, rosemary and broom. Hawthorn and lime (linden) were grown for their high yield of nectar.

The Aborigines have a very clever way to follow the bees to the wild hives. They wait by the waterholes where bees gather to collect water. Then they use a special feathery, sticky weed to flick a piece of feather fluff onto the back of the bee. This slows the bee and weighs it down so that they can easily follow it back through the bush to the tree where the wild hive is located.

Remember, proximity to the sacred will itself provide answers.

Get into the garden on these sunny days, and plant a garden of bee desire, and don’t buy cheap, “fortified” honey. Go to your local Farmers market and buy from the bee keeper direct.

SEE YOU ON ZOOM. LOOK AT “CLASSES”, THE “HOME PAGE”, OR “BLOG” FOR ALL THE DETAILS. IF YOU WANT MORE INFORMATION ON ANYTHING, EMAIL ME AT yogafirst2@bigpond.com

NAMASTE. JAHNE

Dear Yogis,

If you didn’t read to the end of yesterdays newsletter, you missed the bit where I said, ALL OF MY YOGA CLASSES, TEACHER TRAINING, TAROT – EVERYTHING – ARE NOW ON LINE. The times and details are under classes, the blog, and yesterdays newsletter. Please go there. There are classes Mon, Wed, Fri, Sat and every second Sunday Teacher Training.

BUDDHAS TEACHINGS.

Every time I read the complete story of the Buddha and his times, I am surprised by the closeness of the story to the Biblical stories . Jesus a simple carpenter was the feminine energy speaking to the people. Buddha the son of a king, was the masculine energy teaching, informing the educated – he never anticipated his words being taken up by the lower castes.

In India, at the time of Buddha’s birth (yesterday?), the peoples’ assumptions about reality, could not have been more different than ours. According to the Vedas, every being was born with a debt to the Gods, other men, to the Holy men, to his ancestors, PLUS their Karmic load. More than anyone of his time, Buddha appreciated these debts, stored up by one act upon another. He realised that perfection is achieved when someone is ready to put an end to the long series of actions. When they achieve that perfection they are overtaken by a splendid lightness, and emptiness that is not empty.

When the Buddha was born he came to realise that he was here to “finish what had to be done”. His whole life was about that, played out against a hazy background. Mother, father, wife, child all barely sketched in. They do what they have to do and then are gone. Maybe that is why in ancient depictions of the Buddha he is the empty space in the centre of a scene, or at best represented by his attributes.

From his first teachings in Varanasi his words are easy, repetitive so that we can understand. Everything is numbered. The FOUR noble Truths, the Eightfold Path. A single word Dharma is now used to describe the LAW and the ELEMENTS. One word that is missing is SACRIFICE. before him this word dominated; after his teaching it was minimal. He understood that the strongest form of denial is NOT TO GIVE VOICE, not to mention something.

The Buddha untied the knot that tied the victim to the sacrificial pole. Whilst he was showing us the way he explained that everything is a knot. In treading His path we are untying one knot after the other. It is our responsibility alone, no-one can do it for us and we can’t do it for others. He saw things as so many aggregates and encouraged us to dismantle them.

We become what we cling to, what we grasp. “Men become like unto that to which they become intoxicated” were Buddhas words. We seek to know the world by being posessed by it. There is a risk here. We are like monkeys in the fig tree. The one who reaches out, always grasping, never having enough. Tied to the fig tree by the fear of leaving. Posessed by the possession.

To overcome the world we have to see it, the mind must gather itself up the way we gather a clump of grass before we use the shears and cut it. The shears are “wisdom” (prajna) and the hand that gathers up is attention.

Revised back design

Click on the link above (“revised back design”), to see the reverse of my new Tea Leaf Reading cards being printed…

HAVE A LOVELY DAY (Camelot here – rain at night, sunny days). I WILL SEE YOU NEXT WEEK AT ZOOM YOGA.

NAMASTE. JAHNE

Dear Yogis,

As I said to my last nite’s class , yesterday (Tuesday the 4^th August correct- astrologically if not by date) it is believed that The Buddha was conceived.

The most beautiful telling of the tale can be found in “THE LIGHT OF ASIA” by sir Edwin Arnold. It is in verse, but don’t be put off. It casts light on the whole of Buddha’s life and is very beautiful. Once you have got with the mood and the music of the words you won’t be able to put it down.

“That night the wife of King Suddhodana,
Maya the Queen, asleep beside her lord,
Dreamed a strange dream; dreamed that a star from
Heaven –
Splendid, six rayed, in colour rosy pearl,
Whereof the token was an Elephant
Six tusked and white as milk of Kamadhuk
Shot through the void, and shining into her,
Entered her womb upon the right.
Awaked, bliss beyond a normal mother filled her breast,
And over half the earth a lovely light forewent the morn.
The strong hills shook; the waves
Sank lulled; all the flowers that blow by day came forth
As’t were high noon; down to the farthest hells
Passed the Queens joy, as when warm sunshine thrills
Wood glooms to gold, and into all the deeps
A tender whisper pierced. “Oh ye” it said,
Uprise and hear, and hope! The Buddha is come!”

It is suprising how closely this resembles in image the conception and later the birth of Jesus. The details are different but the idea of the “immaculate” conception is common to both. In the Jesus story Mary was told by an Angel she was “special”, “chosen” among women for this task. She was asked by an angel if she would agree to the transaction and made pregnant by “God”. In the Mary story the community where she lived was less than pleased, and Mary banished herself to her cousin Elizabeth’s house until everything cooled down. Only John the Baptist (who was still a feotus in Elizabeth’s womb) “jumped for joy”…. But essentially, it is the same story.

I am moved by both stories, and in this time of isolation and strangeness, it is still an idea I like to think about. Believe or don’t believe it, it really doesn’t matter… just open your mind to a few new possibilities.

Also this week Adhe Tapontsang passed away aged 92 in Dharamsala. Beloved by Tibetans, she was one of the most well known Tibetan activists and was imprisoned by the Chinese for many years (27?). I don’t put in the number because it is hard to believe, but true. Many reading this will be 27 years old or younger. Imagine being incarcerated for your entire life. (Nelson Mandala was also imprisoned for 27 years…)

All in all a very “interesting” time we live in.

ZOOM:

*Tuesdays 7.30 to 9pm. THE HYPERMOBILITY LECTURES. $35 for 3. This coming Tuesday is the last in our series. The next series will follow from 18^th 25^th and 1^st September.

*Saturdays 2pm to 4pm TAROT TRAINING. Join the course (see the menu on the web site landing page “tarot”). Also available $50 to join in for three 2 hour refresher sessions once you have completed the course and received your tarot cards which are included in the course cost.

*Sundays (every second Sunday 10am starting 16^th August) TEACHER TRAINING. $20 per session. This used to be monthly at 2pm, but because of overseas students joining in, we had to change the time and everyone asked for more.

RESTORATIVE YOGA SESSIONS These will start NEXT WEEK (from the 10^th August)
If you have a class pass you can use this, otherwise it is by the month. Based on the current pass holders $75 per month (or 4 mixed classes) Monday 1pm, Wednesday 12.30 and 5.30

RESTORATIVE YOGA WITH WEIGHTS AND STRAPS (from the 10th August)
Mondays at 5.30 and Friday at 5.30 (price as per Restorative Yoga Session above).

If you are interested in any of these. Please email me at yogafirst2@bigpond.com, and I will give you the Direct Debit number, log you into the class, and give you the zoom link.

PLEASE TAKE ME OUT TO COFFE AND CAKE: We are still managing to do daily newsletter, take on more classes, do our lectures at a very economical price – but they don’t do themselves. I do them. I don’t have a “staff” and in these “interesting” times it is difficult. If now and again you can shout me to the equivalent of a cup of coffee and a cake, pop the equivalent amount in our “DONATE” box on the front page of our web site.. it would be hugely appreciated. www.yogabeautiful.com.au

HAVE A (SUNNY) LOVELY DAY – Live long and prosper.

NAMASTE. JAHNE