Dear Yogis,

Thank you so much to those who came to our yoga lunch.  It is not once a week so I am surprised that you didn’t diarise it.  The Sangha is an important part of our yoga practise – supporting each other, and the lunch (surprisingly) supports us.  ZOOM GITA THIS EVENING AT 6.30!!!

Also thank you to students who call on me to help IN THE STUDIO with their philosophy studies.  I love our weekend teachings. Thank you, thank you, thank you.  It is a two-way learning.  You learn and I learn.

SUMMER/WINTER PREPAREDNESS.

I am harvesting honey at the moment – so if you want some please contact me.  You will have to collect, I don’t post honey.  $5, $10 and $20 depending on the size of the jar.  

I know that we are entering our summer months (not that you would know this morning – its cold) as you can see from the fabulous Star of Bethlehem flowers I had this year…. however,  I belong to a Canadian herbal group, and this morning they sent out a reminder in their newsletter of things that could be done (that they are doing) to prepare for a winter in which most anything can happen.  No electricity, frozen in, etc etc….

FROM CANADA – We had our first ❄️snow on Wednesday and the weatherman predicted 🌡️20F (-7 C) for Thursday morning — a hard frost.  So for the last few days Mr. Joybilee and I have been trying to ⏲️ beat the clock, planting our seedling trees into the ground, from the pots they’ve been in all summer, and mulching fruit and nut trees to protect their roots from the frost heaves and the pocket gophers. Apparently gophers and voles dislike wood chip mulch.  I even found two 🌱seedling apple trees to transplant.  (See last Monday’s newsletter for the scoop on apple seedlings.)    Darkness comes early so we are planting some with head lamps on, trying to get just one more planted before we quit for the day.  Have you ever tried to beat the darkness? (Hmmm. Deep question!)

What does getting ready for winter look like on a zone 3/4 homestead, in Canada? 

• Woodshed is full 🪓with 8 cords of split Larch (the best wood for cooking fires here)
• Chimney is cleaned
• 🌰Nuts, fruit, and 🎃winter squash are stored
• Potatoes are stored
• Canning and dehydrating are finished (jams, jellies, apple sauce, peaches, pears, relish, chutney, tomato sauce, salsa, etc.)
• Freezers are full
• Fruit and 🌰nut trees are mulched, protected from sun and varmints with tree wraps (In process)
• 🧄Garlic is planted
• Garden tools are put away (not actually — but soon)
• Garden hoses are drained and rolled up (not actually — but soon)
• The drip-faucet is turned on with a steady drip, at the bottom of our water line to ensure that our pipes don’t freeze in our gravity fed water system.
• Beehives are winterized and the 🐝bees are tucked in with straw bales for extra insulation
• The heated cat water dish is placed beside the 🐈cat food dish for the outdoor cats
• Chicken coop has deep bedding with lots of straw
• Extra 🐓roosters are going to freezer camp (soon) – note to self, don’t tell Katie!!!
• The compost bins (3 — 4 x 4 x 4 piles) are full and will be ready in spring for the new garden
• The garden beds are mulched with straw to protect the soil from erosion
• Inside the house the bedrooms windows are covered outside with greenhouse plastic to retain the heat.  (still to do)
• The carport is cleaned up of garden tools and pots so that the car can be moved back in for winter, close to the plug in for the block heater. (still to do)
• The generator is fueled and ready in case of long term power outages
• Beeswax candles🕯️🕯️🕯️ are stored and ready for hygge ambiance and emergency lighting
• Herbal remedies are strained, labeled, and stored for the winter season (herbal teas, salves, tinctures, oxymels like Fire Cider, syrup like elderberry).

…. and you thought you had a lot to do!

YOGA CLASSES AND STUDIO TIMES…..

ZOOM GITA this evening at 6.30pm and for the next 4 weeks.  Although there is no charge, if you can, I would appreciate a small donation (or a big one!).  To donate go to the web site www.yogabeautiful.com.au and click on PAY VIA PAY PAL

Windarring Yoga –  Tues. x 2 +Thurs. x 1. (some Fridays)

STUDIO YOGA WOODEND: Monday Hatha 1pm (full) Mon. 2.15, Wednesday Restorative 1pm

NEW:  CALM AND CLEANSE YOGA:  No takers on Thursday and Saturday so I get to paint!!!  thank you.

THE YOGA LUNCHEON:  As always the last Saturday in the month.  The next (our Christmas Luncheon)  at 12noon the 25th November – PUT IT IN YOUR DIARY NOW.. I have booked for us to go to  “The Full Moon” in Woodend.  Warm, “homey” and great food. I love the Nachos – with chicken – with prawns – vegan, or Mexican.  Any of them are great.

SEE YOU IN THE STUDIO (and at the yoga lunch at the end of the month)

NAMASTE – JAHNE

Dear Yogis,

Don’t forget that our yoga luncheon happens this coming Saturday at 12 noon.

THANK YOU FOR THOSE WHO GAVE ME FEEDBACK FOR THE LAST NEWSLETTER,  I have followed here in the same vein.

DELVING INTO THE SANSKRIT GITA..  During covid we wandered through the Bhagavadgita TWICE by popular demand, but I have not heard a whisper about it since.  Well, I have not forgotten and i keep reading, remembering.  Sanskrit is the language of the Vedas, the largest body of teachings devoted to the attainment of self-knowledge and is more easily available by studying Sanskrit, even the baby steps as you start learning.  I studied Sanskrit years ago, and i suppose if i  started again it would still be in my mental library somewhere.  If you want to learn find  good teacher, or learn via Oxford University on line – I am sure they have a course.  I studied the Gita with them and loved it although it was difficult..

The opening words of the Gita in English are “On the sacred fields of Kurukshetra….”  In Sanskrit the opening words are two compounds Dharma-kshetre, kurukshtre making Dharma the first word of the Gita.  Dharma – right living – is the key to the whole of the Gita.  What is the last word of the Gita? Mama Dharma, my decree, my law, my religion, my morality, my order that sustains and holds up everything.  In the 700 verses between these two words we find the essence of Vedanta.  Kshtre means “in the field” and the third word “kuru” carries the sense of “the doer”, making the Gita’s opening words “in the field of dharma, in the field of doing…”  Working with these words kshtre, kshtre dharma kuru  means “.. in field after field act righteously..”

The Gita encourages us to ask “how did my battle to live righteously go today?”  The word yoga then has the meaning “to prepare the mind”.  Until your teacher appears, follow the Gita path and live well: “kshetre kshetre dharma kuru…”.

GITA ZOOM STUDY: Mondays on zoom at 6.30, starting this coming Monday –  please let me know your interest so i can send you the zoom ID.

 

YOGA CLASSES AND STUDIO TIMES…..

Windarring Yoga –  Tues. x 2 +Thurs. x 1. (some Fridays)

STUDIO YOGA WOODEND: Monday Hatha 1pm (full) Mon. 2.15, Wednesday Restorative 1pm

NEW:  CALM AND CLEANSE YOGA (Monday. one vacancy in the 2.15 class) Thurs. 10am and Sat 2.30 starting the first week in November (next week!) 

ZOOM STUDY – Monday 30th October, 6.30.  I have been asked to play again in the Gita, so we will.  

STUDIO SEWING BEE – Sundays at 2.30

TAROT READINGS AT THE STUDIO – Look forward to hearing from you.  You can even come on the weekends, and I can do “doubles” – you and mum, maybe you and a friend. BRAILLE Tarot deck and usb – a course on tarot reading for the blind is on the way…

THE YOGA LUNCHEON:  As always the last Saturday in the month.  The next at 12noon the 28th October – PUT IT IN YOUR DIARY NOW..you are all welcome.   I have booked for us to go to  The Full Moon in Woodend.  Warm, “homey” and great food. I love the Nachos – with chicken – with prawns – vegan, or Mexican.  Any of them are great.

 

SEE YOU IN THE STUDIO (and at the yoga lunch at the end of the month)

 

 

 

 

Dear Yogis,

A lovely sewing bee as usual.  It is interesting that no matter what the class is – yoga, sewing, meditation, tarot anything –  people come if they feel that can GET something.  They rarely come in order to give – give time, companionship, skill, healing…..  we missed your company.  

NEW YOGA CLASSES STARTING IN THE WEEK.  SEE BELOW.  All welcome.

Maybe you thought that because I had many interests, my yoga is being drowned… not so.  I sit and I draw and sew and paint – all the while I think! With all that is happening in the world, I thought I would bring your mind once again to THE YUGAS, in particular the age that we are living through at the moment, THE KALI YUGA.

THE AGE OF DARKNESS:  In the Hindu traditions it is said that existence moves through cycles of increase and decrease, expansion and contraction.  These cycles are divided into four eras or yugas.  The first, THE SATYA YUGA is the longest – a time of beauty and harmony, purity and perfection when desires and fulfilment arise simultaneously – This era is said to last 1,728,000 years.  The next is the TRETA YUGA of 1,296,000 years.  In this era,  perfection wanes slightly,  longing, paths and goals begin to unravel.  In the DVATPARA YUGA which lasts 864,000 years, desires, classes,  action and intentions get more and more varied.  Then we come to our era THE KALI YUGA. Kali Yuga (Sanskrit: कलियुग, romanized: kaliyuga or kali-yuga) means “the age of Kali (demon)”, “the age of darkness”, “the age of vice and misery”, or “the age of quarrel and hypocrisy”. A complete description of Kali Yuga is found in the Mahabharata, Manusmriti, Vishnu Smriti, and various Puranas.

In the Kali Yuga, desires and the objects of desire have been separated.  We struggle to bring them together but our attempts at best are temporary.  It is a time marked by anguish, longing and rage.  In this time spiritual, moral and ethical life degenerate, material life becoming the only motivator and goal.  Pollution, corruption, disease degeneration and violence fill our mind and poison the world.  The only useful virtue that can be practised is COMPASSION. We are moving inexorably towards the end of time as we know it.  We feel the end approaching.  The tempo of mass destruction has increased, dread and a sense of unreality now pervade the midstream of the modern age.

Yugas and Human Consciousness.   The solar system with the Sun and the planets around it is moving in the galaxy. It takes 25,920 years for our solar system to complete one cycle around a larger star. From the effects upon the planet, we believe this big star or big system that our system is going around is not located in the center of the orbit but somewhere to the side. Whenever our solar system comes closer to this big system, all the creatures living in our system rise to greater possibilities. Whenever our system moves away from it, the creatures living in our system come to the lowest level of possibility – we say this is Kali Yuga.

When our solar system is closer to the “Super Sun,” a Satya Yuga will begin. The human mind will be at its highest capability. People’s ability to know life, people’s ability to communicate, people’s ability to live joyfully will be at its highest. Or in other words, we will have sensible people. All it takes to live well on this planet is a bunch of sensible people.

We can set the foundations and have the joy of creating an atmosphere for a stretch of thousands of years of golden time upon the planet. This is not all predictions and conjecture – this is based on a deep-rooted understanding about what happens with the human mind in relation to the planet on which we live. We do not only live on this planet – we are the planet. If you do not understand this today, you will understand this when you are buried. The planet understands that you are a part of it – only you think something else of yourself.

 

BACK TO BASICS – IGA VS COLES:  We all have to eat and we have these two stores in our town.  I love Croissants, and IGA have recently introduced a pack of 6 for $3.  They are individually wrapped, they are made in France, and they are quite the best croissants in a supermarket around this price….  Coles have frozen French croissants for $6 for 6, but they are not as nice.  Try IGA’s.

 

YOGA CLASSES AND STUDIO TIMES…..

Windarring Yoga –  Tues. x 2 +Thurs. x 1. (some Fridays)

STUDIO YOGA WOODEND: Monday Hatha 1pm (full) Mon. 2.15, Wednesday Restorative 1pm

NEW:  CALM AND CLEANSE YOGA Thurs. 10am and Sat 2.30 starting the first week in November (next week!) 

STUDIO SEWING BEE – Sundays at 2.30

TAROT READINGS AT THE STUDIO – Look forward to hearing from you.  You can even come on the weekends, and I can do “doubles” – you and mum, maybe you and a friend. BRAILLE Tarot deck and usb – a course on tarot reading for the blind is on the way…

THE YOGA LUNCHEON:  As always the last Saturday in the month.  The next at 12noon the 28th October – PUT IT IN YOUR DIARY NOW.. I have booked for us to go to  The Full Moon in Woodend.  Warm, “homey” and great food. I love the Nachos – with chicken – with prawns – vegan, or Mexican.  Any of them are great.

SEE YOU IN THE STUDIO (and at the yoga lunch at the end of the month)