Dear Yogis,

FRIDAY:   NEW. ZOOM TAROT READINGS – “CONNECT WITH SPIRIT” 6.30pm to 8pm (see details below).
SATURDAY: ZOOM 2pm Tarot and Art.
SUNDAY: 10am GITA and 2pm YOGA TEACHER TRAINING IN THE STUDIO (Yes, its the 1st Sunday in the Month)

MORE ZOOM TAROT READINGS:  Connect with SPIRIT:  I am starting a regular Friday Night Zoom Group 6.30 to 8pm, where I will be doing readings.  These are like my one-on-one readings which have taken place with clients from all over the world during Covid – now it’s your turn.  It is a reading intensive for almost the whole of the 90 minutes. I will only be taking  maximum of 5 persons at this event so if you want a reading the cost is $75 per person (normally $125). To book your spot please email me in the first instance yogafirst2@bigpond.com.  Then payment can be made as usual through PayPal.

PRIVATE ONE-ON-ONE ZOOM (or studio) READINGS…
Private (one-on-one) readings with Jahne are done over ZOOM (can be in the studio if you prefer).   Payment must be made at the time of booking. Private readings are approximately 1 hour – $125 per reading…. If you are a regular “zoom Reading Client” with private or group sessions,  there is a 10% discount.
To request a private reading please email yogafirst2@bigpond.com

 

“THE MIDNITE DARNER”

Thanks for the feedback and thumbs up in the last email about mending/darning.  Today my Australian Yoga Journal arrived in the post, and guess what….there was an article on pages 24 and 25 in that journal by well known yogi Cyndie Lee (founder of OM YOGA in New York City) on mending and darning.  Apparently Cyndi is another darning afficionado.

Darning is not just about darning.  We have to connect with the damaged item, search in our stash for the perfect patch, or the perfect wool match – right colour, strength and size.  In my house as in Cyndi’s, no fabric gets thrown out.  We repurpose even the smallest piece.  The actual act of darning takes me back to my mother and father who both encouraged me in re-puposing garments.  I learned to sew by hand and then by machine with lessons at The Singer Sewing Centre on the corner of Swanston St. and Lonsdale Streets in Melbourne (probably before most yogis reading this were born).

In the same way I learned to read the tarot and tea leaves, I learned to embroider from my father, and knit, darn and mend from anyone in the family. It was almost by osmosis.  Learning without learning – just doing.   I wish I had learned to mend shoes – my dad had lasts and used to do that too.  There were NO shops in our district for years.  Everything was delivered by horse drawn carts, and then by small rickety vans.   The milk delivered into billy cans hung on the fence, ice in chunks for the “ice-chest” (before refrigeration) the bread a couple of times a week, vegetables and fruit from the Chinese Market gardeners (plus we grew our own), and household linens and stuff from the Jewish travellers who even took Lay-by.   It was a different life.  Covid has had me focus more on those times.

Because I learned to be self sufficient in my youth,  Covid was just a reminder of how things were way back then.  I felt comfortable there.  Now, I had another skill I could bring to the mix – YOGA.  The idea that mending is a meditation, and like working in a garden,  is the opportunity to slow down, think (meditate) and give thanks.  The patience comes from hours on the mat.

THE YOGA OF DARNING

Mending, Sewing on a patch, and darning socks or sweaters is like practising yoga – The word Vinyasa comes from the Sanskrit which means “Placing in a special way”.  Each yoga movement is in three parts –  arising, abiding and dissolving.  Both the movement of the needle and the ageing of the garment all have these elements.  The arising, the abiding and the dissolving which allows another arising and so on.  Stitch by stitch,  breath by breath the garment is made whole but only in the moment.  As soon as it is mended, once again it is moving through time to its dissolution.  Nothing is forever, nor would we want it to be.  Honouring each thing and loving it whilst it is in our care is an important aspect of personal responsibility.

I also repurpose jewellery from the op shops.  Cleaning and repairing so they can sell the good bits, breaking into groups what is left to be given to schools for their craft classes… nothing is wasted.  Nothing is landfill.  Everything can be used again (and again).

Whether we are speaking of sweaters, socks, shoes, jewellery, whatever personal items come into our hands, I am aware that they belonged to someone who loved them – and I feel the vibrations of that person.  They may not have understood who grew the fibre, dyed it, made it up or sold it, but the important thing is I DO.  I honour those makers when I mend something and I honour the garment or article by giving it a new life.   A beautiful, careful mend done with love is a badge of honour.

For me mending, darning, doing more with less, re-using,  re-purposing and recycling –  is an art form and an aspect of MY YOGA PRACTICE.  If we all supported this attention, this interdependence, it could create a global awareness and activism towards a more sustainable way of life.  

All you need to start is a needle and thread.. and please teach your children.

 

I will meet you on the mat.

Namaste – Jahne

Dear Students

Another week has rolled around..  whatever else you choose to do, please support ‘REAL YOGA’ (the kind that is not about the perfect pose).  We miss you, and I am sure your other teachers do too.

MONDAY.  1pm Studio Yoga, 6.30pm TEACHER TRAINING (zoom) – “Forgiveness Pt.3. This is a free session.
TUESDAY. 7.30 RUMI (zoom)
WEDNESDAY. Studio 5.30 Yoga.

We have had wonderful classes, especially the Sunday morning Gita.  We are nearly to the end of the Gita readings, and are considering an ongoing class which will compare THE TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEAD to the Ancient Biblical Scriptures…  I am looking forward to it.  Whilst most students were reluctant so speak of or read about God, quite a lot of interest has grown around this subject, and I would like to continue.  If you would like to join us on a Sunday morning you are more than welcome.  If you are serious about your studies I would suggest it is something that you need.  This also applies to the FREE Teacher Training Classes we have on a Monday at 6.30pm.  If you want to progress you should join us.  At the moment we are exploring forgiveness.  You may think this is not yogic, but we disagree.  There is a lot we have to forgive ourselves (and others) for – on and off the mat.  Of course, if what you are looking for is a fitness class or to teach a purely fitness class, well, we have never taught that, and we won’t be in the future.

 

THE MIDNITE DARNER

The last few nights I have been catching up with my darning (I call myself “THE MIDNITE DARNER”).  It is the best time of the day for me, and I get heaps done at this time.  The rest of the day is just a practice run.  You may think of darning as a waste of time.  For me it is like yoga teaching, those people who don’t think they are worth my effort, are probably the ones who shine once I have “darned” their yoga souls. Teaching, darning, gardening, mending – they are all the same.  Making something when nothing was there.  Manifesting.  The question is – WHAT ARE YOU MANIFESTING?

If you want your precious items mended or darned, please email me a picture of the problem, I will give you a quote – yes, mending is an art and is not done on a machine in 5 minutes –  and then you can post it to me,  and I will post back on completion.  In Japan, darning is recognised as an art, and darned items are precious.  The darn is a badge of honour and often done in a contrasting colour to show it off, and to recognise the value and esteem in which you hold the item.  Like my hat which is almost all darn now, but there is no way I will throw it out – I will wear it until it is absolutely falling to bits  with no rescue possible, and then it can live on the hat rack after a life of good service.  ART.

Darning is a way to help the world.  A lost ART FORM and way of re-using and honouring your best pieces…  Even Vivienne Westwood celebrates (and has spoken openly and often) about buying less and loving our items of clothing more….  Look at your wardrobe, and send me things to darn that need help being beautiful once again.. Even jeans. 

I am going to start accumulating jeans and other discarded items from the op shops, mending them – making them better than they were in the beginning without the badge of honour,  and having a monthly sale and demonstration.  I will have lots at the upcoming “RESCUED – THE LOST ART OF DARNING DAY….” wait and see.  

Darning is like yoga.  I take an article has been discarded, forgotten, relegated to the back of the wardrobe.  Perhaps a garment that has a big hole.  I darn and blend it once again into the fabric of the garment – It is a long job that takes time and patience…however,  if the damage was recognised and caught whilst it was a small hole not yet a threat to the whole garment, energy,  time and money would have been saved.  The garment made new, sometimes better than it was originally.  

See you on the (mended) mat

NAMASTE.  JAHNE

 

 

 

 

Dear Yogis..

Just a reminder.

Saturday afternoon ZOOM class at 2pm and the Sunday Gita at 10am.

THE VORTEX…

I am sure you all know the channellers of Abraham – Esther and Jerry Hicks.  (Jerry of course has passed over).  They did quite a few programs on the idea of being IN THE VORTEX.  If you are in the VORTEX, that place where intention and belief and “doing-ness” all meet up and you operate effortlessly doing what you were meant to do –  you can just feel it.  That super-happiness that comes when you realise the universe is open for you.   I had one of those days yesterday – no matter where I went,  I was meant to be there..

At Bunnings I got the last one of the items I went there for, at the grocery store the exact items in the quantities I wanted were there bagged and ready.  I did want a yellow sharps disposal container..I had searched on line,  but in Victoria it seems there is none to be had..  At Bunnings I was directed to Chemist Warehouse – result, none, but the Chemist there did spend time with me, (not just dismiss me), he gave me aa few ideas.  I think I got the last one in Victoria, certainly in Woodend,  hidden behind other things in a store cupboard….The staff were bewildered but searched because I asked…. and voila, a result.   Thanks guys.

This had taken more time than I thought,  so for the first time in about 4 months I went to Chambers for a coffee and met three clients who have been absent since covid who had been wanting to meet me, and I made contact with a new tattoo client.  I had missed lunch and was thinking about it when the owner of the shop came over with a beautiful bagged muffin for me to take home.. a gift (one of their muffins last 2 days for me!).  It went on and on like this for the rest of my time in Woodend.  I even was able to purchase a tiny, tiny Gita (4″ x 4″) printed by the Indian Gita Press I have been looking for for a long time – they just happened to have one at Woodend Books – how unlikely is that!

These synchronicities can happen if you are operating from inside the vortex.  There are no questions about what you should be doing or where you should be going.  It is all perfectly obvious – Just walk forward and everything is waiting for you.  However, in order to walk forward you do need to have a clue where you are going,  faith that God has got you, and you need to give thanks when these wonderful things work out for you.  As the Buddha Said – “do what you can with what you have, where you are”,  and then move forward….

 

FESTIVAL OF TIBET.

Every little thing was just for me.  Even the radio.  As I was driving home there was an interview with my friend Tenzin Choegyal, who has stayed here and entertained us over a number of visits.   Totally untrained in the Western sense, he learned his craft starting when he was a child in Tibet and in India.  Music, sound, chanting was always his highest pleasure.  He is now HH The Dalai Lama’s personal musician and plays at most of his gigs, has collaborated with Phillip Glass, and many other notable International musicians (and recently won a Grammy)….  This May,  Tenzin is heading up the FESTIVAL OF TIBET in Brisbane. He is the founder and every year it gets bigger and better.    There will be an opening concert, and then about 10 days of on-line programs, including a short introduction by the HH the Dalai Lama .  If you live in Brisbane, please attend.  Tenzin’s voice  and playing is unbelievable (he even has his own hand made “guitar”)

13th FESTIVAL of TIBET, 24th April – 4th May 2021
Proceeds go to the Tibetan Children’s Village, India.
“Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.” – HH the 14^th Dalai Lama
Presented by Tenzin Choegyal with Perfect Potion

The Festival of Tibet 2021 will start with a special in person concert ‘Prayers for Peace – Brisbane Sings for Tibet’ at Brisbane Powerhouse Arts on 24 April and will be followed by ten day online virtual program of events through stories, panel discussions, music, poetry, workshops and films, and will focus impact of  Climate Change in Tibet and ongoing plight of Tibetans.

All funds raised will be donated to the Tibetan Children’s Village, India to support the education of Tibetan refugee children.

On the radio program I was listening to (Radio National),   Tenzin was speaking of his love of the TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEAD.  Not “The Book of Living and Dying” which is a very Westernised Translation.  Tenzin is of course fluent in the Tibetan language and has translated several parts of the original book which he has set to music in his CD,  “MEDITATIONS ON THE BARDO”.  Please listen to it if you have not already done so.  I also am very fond of his previous CD on The HEART SUTRA, which he sang to a class here in the studio and nearly lifted the roof off… it was amazing.  It was interesting to learn that Tenzin reads the Bardo every day, as it is a guide to help us become unattached, a guide to this life preparing for death.  Not just for when you are actually in death.  No time to loose.

The Bardo Thodol (Tibetan: བར་དོ་ཐོས་གྲོལ, “Liberation Through Hearing During the Intermediate State”), commonly known in the West as The Tibetan Book of the Dead, is a text from a larger corpus of teachings, the Profound Dharma of Self-Liberation.

I look forward to your comments on this book.  Please find a copy and start reading – don’t wait, don’t leave it for later – we are all dying.  Like The Gita,  it is a lifetime’s worth of inspiration and profound teachings.

 

MEET ME ON ZOOM SOON.

NAMASTE.   JAHNE