Dear Yogis,

Another reminder – some of you have not changed my email address.  Please change  it today to yogafirst2@bigpond.com

August already.  The garden is bursting into life, and portends a glorious spring.  I have all kinds of flower bulbs – Star of Bethlehem for the first time (a Bach Flower Remedy), bluebells, jonquils, daffodils, grape hyacinths (the first to burst forth) and of course tulips, but not many of these I am afraid.  Right at the moment my garden is GARLIC CENTRAL.  My clients brought me garlic which I planted, and I think they have all sprouted as well as onions, and my interesting “travelling garlic”.  I am really looking forward to spring.

OUR DOLL/BEAR MAKING WORKSHOPS.  1. AT THE STUDIO AND 2. ON ZOOM.
Start saving socks (2 longish ones needed) for a sock doll/Bear, or download the fabric pattern for a fabric bear.  I am going to devise a pattern to make a GANESHA SOCK DOLL, but this may be a way down the track – we shall see.  There is so much to do, and so little time.

Melvyn to the left was made out of two socks.  I have another which I call VERA (WANG) made out of two white, fur lined socks (so gorgeous to hug).  I will show you when I am finished – but I think that “Vera” is spoken for. They sell pretty fast.  I seem to be able to make easy monkeys, but GANESHA? We shall have to plod along with that.  NEEDED: Socks, long socks with designs … leave them in the letterbox – cheaper than posting.

I did pick up a pair of very large denim trousers from the op shop today which will become a bear (or two).  If you want to join me in making bears, save your old denims, download the pattern,  (www.myyogabooks.etsy.com) and get to it.  As I keep saying, Christmas is coming faster than we may like, and what with the cost of everything rising, being ahead of the gift giving with some bears may save quite a few dollars.

THIS IS MARMADUKE.  He is the bear that I will be making for you in kit form – Marmaduke here is tweed, but i will be making him a denim kit.  It will contain everything (and a template) except the sewing cotton, needles and the stuffing.    If the other bear was easy, Marmadule is super simple.  It will be one you can run up in an hour, or take an afternoon off and make one with your children )or a group), which you can pass along to a charity.The paper pattern is already and waiting for you on etsy.

If you need the complete kit with materials, that will be up there this week.  www.myyogabooks.etsy.com

Please keep checking in at the web site for when I put this up.  Yesterday afternoon when I was going to do this, I was engaged sewing together squares into blankets for the homeless through Rotary and the church, it was great fun and an opportunity to get together.

CIDER VINEGAR fruit CORDIAL .. Another way to save your dollars in a sea of rising prices.
Benefits

We make our own cider vinegar, and you can too.  I always have a mix bubbling away in the dark.  Check out previous Blogs or contact me for the recipe.
This cordial recipe, based on cider vinegar, herbs and fruit, is cheaper and better for you than even Bickfords Cordials.  And cheaper.

• Lowers blood pressure by promoting vasodilation (widening of blood vessels)
• Improves overall gut health and supports good bacteria
• Provides live enzymes that markedly improve digestion
• Promotes gentle systemic detoxification daily – an important function because of the daily pollution we are exposed to
• Stimulates circulation – effective for cold hands and feet
• Boosts energy and decreases fatigue
• Slows down aging by speeding up toxin removal and improving skin health

Fruit and Herb Drinking Vinegar Cordial recipe:   I have lots of dried fruit, and plenty of rhubarb that gives me harvest all year.    Fruit adds vitamins, minerals, flavonoids, and antioxidants to this beverage – along with flavour. You can substitute honey, maple syrup, coconut sugar or syrup or even molasses for the organic sugar in this recipe.

• 2 to 3 cups of raw fruit
• 2 sprigs of herbs such as peppermint,  lavender or rosemary
• A 2-inch piece of ginger and/or turmeric
• 1 cup of organic sugar or maple syrup
• 1 cup raw apple cider vinegar, with the mother

Directions:

1. Start by making syrup. Mix the raw fruit, fresh herbs, and sugar in a Mason Jar. Cover this mixture with a lid and place it in the refrigerator for 4-5 days. If you cook or boil it you will destroy many vitamins, especially C, that’s why we do it this way.
2. Shake the jar to distribute the sugar and herbs with the fruit, as often as you think of it. After 5 days, remove the syrup from the fridge.
3. Strain the juice and solids through a sieve or cheesecloth, pressing down hard on the solids to retain as much juice as possible.
4. Mix the equal amounts of fruit syrup and apple cider vinegar and pour it into a fresh, sanitized Mason jar with a lid. Label and date.
5. You can use this herbal syrup Cordial immediately, but letting it sit for a week will allow the flavours to deepen, meld and harmonize.
6. Add by the tablespoon to cocktails or sparkling water.  Try 2 tablespoons of this syrup (or your own mix) to 12 ounces of sparkling water for starters.  Add more or less to taste until you get it exactly as you like it.
7. This sweet vinegar cordial will keep up to a year if kept refrigerated.

How to use this sweet vinegar cordial to make inspiring summer drinks.  Use 1 to 2 tablespoons in a glass of sparkling water or plain water (Gin optional!)

Try these flavours:  blackberry,  balsamic vinegar, rosemary,  blueberry,  thyme,  cherry, lemon balm, rhubarb, ginger,
At the moment I have a jar of dried apple, rhubarb, dried cumquat and ginger at stage 1 in the fridge (soaking in coconut sugar).

Dear Yogis,

PLEASE CHANGE MY EMAIL ADDRESS IN YOUR CONTACT LIST.  IT HAS BEEN CONFIRMED, MY NETCON ADDRESS IS FINISHING IN A WEEK OR SO, Chariot my ISP is closing its doors.  Technology has overtaken them.  They have struggled to supply a service all this year (it has been patchy) and they can’t keep going.  I have been with them for 30 years, so there are some changes I will have to make.  A nuisance and time consuming!)

Yesterday we had a VERY TINY yoga lunch, but that being said we had a wonderful time and solved the problems of the world as even a small group of women can do.  Please, please determine to come to our next one, mark it in your diary now – The last Thursday in August, the 30th, at 12 noon in the Victoria Hotel, Woodend.  Commit to this date, and let me know that you will be there.  I would like to book the meeting room just for us, but can’t unless we get a good number.

BEARS.  I have uploaded the first of my bear patterns to www.myyogabooks.etsy.com    The directions are all there for you to not only make a bear of your own, but also to get your group together and make bears for local charities.  It is easy enough to teach to children there are only three pattern pieces necessary (more are optional) and one main seam right around the outside of the bear.  You can upsize or downsize.  IT IS SIMPLE.  I just love making them and even DREAM about them.  Sitting up until all hours to add belly buttons etc.

I am starting some new bears today…. I will let you see them as i progress.

I also buy old knitted bears and animals from op-shops.  Wash, re-stuff, repair. redress,  and put new faces on them.  They go from scruffy, smelly, lumpy,  to beautiful.  I then give these away or sell them so I can make/fix. more to give away to children/people in need.  No matter the age, we all need something to cuddle and to love.

Dearest Yogis,

Wow – “what a difference a day makes”

OK.  So I now will be teaching yoga at Windarring in Kyneton from next Monday, (remember when we did it last time supported by one of our students, now supported by the Government).    The classes in our own studio are bumbling along, made hugely difficult by Covid.  People either have it, think they may have it, their family has it, or they are afraid of getting it.  All of these factors keep them away from class.  At the moment, I am still here.

I withdrew from lecturing next month at The Theosophical Society because I would have to travel on the train and nobody is wear masks, then move around Melbourne and lecture to a class of unknowns (mostly) probably not wearing masks… so I have determined that the risk is more than I want for something that is optional.  I am not hiding, I just am not taking on extra risk.  When people come to our classes I know who they are, and they have been very good at staying away if there are any health concerns.  I also have good ventilation and an ION AIR FILTRATION system which, unlike most schools, I know how it works, and actually switch it on!

Yogis have differing ideas about vaccination.  The vaccinated seem to be still adamant on keeping classes free from the unvax’d.  Although some who have had three and four vaccination have still caught MILD covid.  Even in our studio there are cases of people who are vaccinated having no symptoms of infection and then developing long covid.  It is tricky.  Everyone agrees that we probably will all at some stage get some variant, but almost everyone thinks it will not be them.  Covid could now be called endemic, and like the flu, we probably can all expect a dose every few years.

There is some talk in City Studios about the legality of asking people if they are vaccinated, and barring them from classes based on their answer..  It may be determined to be “discrimination”.  We shall have to wait and see what the outcome is over time – we have not yet had a test case come up, and it will take that to determine our legal position.

Most city classes no longer ask about vaccination, but ask if students have symptoms they stay home.  Compliance with this (as in our studio) is exceptionally good.

THE BEARS…..

The possibility of teaching “Making Friendship Bears” is quite exciting.  Actually making more Friendship Bears FOR  my students, and opening the doors to make Friendship Bears in the studio and in other studios and galleries makes me very happy.

I am exploring the possibility of making bears with Windarring (a community of persons with disabilities of all kinds)  because the bears can be made by people who can’t sew, as all the bits can be painted or drawn on with textile mediums.  All I have to do is cut out the bears, and for those who can’t sew, sew them up.  Everyone can draw the details on, and stuff them.  Then I finish them so they are ready to be loved.

Could you do this with your children or group? You can keep the bears, or you can pass them along to the service groups in your area – police, red-cross, rotary, Churches etc etc.  The bears are always in demand in their roles as either “Friendship Bears” or “Trauma Bears”.    If you are the social type, you can make small ones for wedding place cards, gifts for Baby-Showers, Birthday gifts and so on.  I have now put the pattern on etsy for downloading,  so, if you want to make your own FRIENDSHIP BEARS please go to www.myyogabooks.etsy.com

You don’t even need to have a sewing machine… you don’t need to be a fancy sewer, and there are only three pattern pieces – a back, a front and a muzzle.  Of course you can make them as fancy as you like…

“EASY PEASY” FRIENDSHIP BEAR MAKING WORKSHOP.(Limited numbers please book early).

When:  Saturday the 13th August
Where: the Yoga/Art Studio, 37 Morris Road, Woodend (please park on the white gravel) – I do have good ventilation and an ION AIR FILTRATION system, and unlike many schools, I actually do switch it on!
Cost: $45 including using some of my materials and a template of the bear to use and take home, although I ask that you bring a piece of fabric for the main colour, and contrast for the face and belly.
Please pre-pay so that I can get a template and little bag of possible materials organised for each student – you can add to these.

If you buy the pattern on Etsy I will have a free group zoom workshop, just to help you with the bits and pieces.  Etsy lets me know who buys the pattern as does pay-pal, so I will know who wants to do the zoom, and who to send the ID to.   It is the simplest of patterns, but there is the easy way and the hard way to do things.  I prefer the easy way.