Blog Student News Trainees/Teacher News

Dear Yogis,

Mushroom time!  Students all over the shire are out collecting the first mushrooms of the season – I have loads in my garden.  Be careful that they are mushrooms.  When we were kids we looked for the dark brown gills, able to be peeled, not staining yellow.  We followed those rules and I am still alive, so all good thus far. – however, take care.  The responsibility for picking and eating is yours, unless you have a chemist or plant grower who knows what they are looking at as is quite normal in Europe. Don’t forget mushrooms are perfect to dry and keep for the winter.  You can do this in your oven, in the sun, or in a dehydrator.

GATHERING HERBS
Best known as the weed in your lawns, dandelion grows wild in most parts of the world and is cultivated as a herb in China, Japan France and Germany.  Young leaves are picked for tonic salads, and for making medicinal teas and tinctures.  I do each of these.

Uses of Dandelion
Dandelion clears those energies derived from pent-up emotions associated with the liver.  Dandelion clears liver energy channel also soothing red and swollen eyes, and breaks up “lumps” of energy which manifest as lumps and nodules at other points on the liver channel, especially the breasts.  Dandelion is well known for promoting urination and stimulates lactation.

Dandelion is reputed to reduce muscle spasms and nighttime leg cramps.  It contains more potassium than any other herb, more iron and vitamins, more carotenoids and more vitamin A than carrots.  Due to its high nutritive content it has been used for generations to treat anemia due to deficiencies of folic acid, iron and vitamin B12.

European herbalists frequently prescribe dandelion tea as a weight loss aid.  Dandelion is particularly effective in removing weight through its diuretic effect. It also regulates blood sugars in a way that reduces appetite without causing hypoglycaemia (low blood sugar).

HERB TEAS $53.50 a pack  of 6 including postage. (These are a medicinal herbs, not just fancy tea)  A pack will last about 10 days to 2 weeks depending on how often you dip them into your own teas, or water bottle. You can add honey or lemon to taste as you want to.  I grow, dry and pack the herbs.  They are not like regular teas, you don’t jiggle them to make the water dark – these are herbal teas to have you feel better… one tea bag will last at least one day, with me two, jiggled into any tea or water you are drinking.  After they are finished, I drop them into my drinking water jug…I might have a few in the jug at any one time.  No chemicals are water or lost.  I just hate throwing them in the compost.

I will put them all on my web site this afternoon www.jhwilliams.online.  and ETSY.   If you want special service, or a consult we can chat on zoom and then I will send you the herbs especially tweaked for you – this consult including herbs is a gift at $85.  Email yogafirst2@bigpond.com for more details and to make your ZOOM appointment.

SCHEDULE
ZOOM: Mon. 6.30 Gita, Tues. Herb workshop7.30, Friday 6.45 Tarot
STUDIO: Mon.1pm (full), Wed. 1pm Restorative, Friday 1pm Hatha
MONTHLY LUNCHEON:  Thursday 31st March at the Victoria Hotel in Woodend.  12noon (If you are running a bit late, relax, we will still be here – drop in for dessert).

I HOPE TO SEE YOU ON ZOOM.

NAMASTE – JAHNE

 

Dear Yogis,
We are experiencing some beautiful days, and I have been experiencing the most beautiful clients.  Clients who have helped me make sense of what I am doing. Clients with messages for my heart, and those who even consider what I need materially to continue – the angels among us.  If I told you, you just wouldn’t believe – extraordinary.  Thank you.
How are YOU making the most of your time with your creative self.

HOW DO HERBS AND PLANTS INSPIRE YOUR CREATIVE MOMENTS?  

I wonder about your routine – I certainly have one.  There are some basic questions I ask myself first such as “what is seasonally relevant”, and then “what is growing in my garden, or on my foraging walks today”.   Now winter is on the way, and the weather is damp with some cool days and some warm and wet days, the mushrooms are starting to appear.  Wild greens are  always coming up, and  I’ll think of some ways that I want to intentionally engage with them, paint them, or make a tincture or recipe.  I am painting wild (edible) mushrooms at the moment. And I am still dealing with a bumper plum harvest, lemons and limes.
Before I start creating at my favourite bench space, I always like to have a cup of herbal tea, take some kind of tincture, and light some incense to feel grounded (I make sure the cat is settled – I can’t work with her on the bench). I like to pick recipes based on the season. So right now, it’s coming on to winter and I’m drinking rooibos with vanilla.  A warming comforting tea.  I have a mushroom tincture (shilajit for energy) that I use often because it works for me, and Bach flower remedy I make myself to keep me concentrating and on track.   I’ll put some in my tea, put some on my wrists, and also put some in the paint water.
What you’re engaging with physically is also what you’re engaging with on the paper as you paint, so it’s nice to bring that tincture into the artwork itself.
When possible I will bring a sample of the herb I am working with indoors, and just stand it in the paint water as well. It is nice to connect the dots between the natural world and the creative, I just feel more inspired and creative when all the energies are linked.

DRAWING EXERCISE

We are moving from summer to winter – some days more quickly than others… the seasons are really shifting. I have a drawing exercise here for you so you can play along with me.
  1. Bring your drawing supplies – and a picnic rug –  on a walk (the walk I have been trying to get you on for a long time)…. Notice the plants and the plant energies around you.  Notice the new plants popping through, even the fungi.  Easter is a great time for mushrooms.   Don’t rush, breathe along with nature, and feel yourself “plugging in” to the earth energies.  Don’t just rely on your iPhone! It is not the same as doodling with a pencil and paper.
  2. Let a place call out for you.  It could be  bench, or a favourite rock, or just sitting on the grass (don’t forget a picnic rug).
  3. Start with a simple meditation, with every breath take in the energies around you, and imagine your drawing, or the beginning of the drawing.
  4. When you feel connected , just start a drawing or a doodle.  Anything – even words.  There is no right or wrong.  Just do what comes through to you, without introducing technology, (perhaps leaving that until you are back in your studio).

The schedule for this week.
ZOOM:Monday 6.30 Gita, Tuesday 7.30 Herbal Workshop, Friday 6.45 Free Tarot.
STUDIO:  Monday 1pm (full), Wednesday Restorative 1pm and Friday at gentle hatha and chair 1pm.

I LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU ON THE MAT (OR THE PICNIC RUG)

NAMASTE – JAHNE

 

Dear Group,

We are putting in place our winter Schedule…

ZOOM: This will remain the same.  Mondays 6.30 Gita, Tuesdays 7.30 Herbal Workshop, Friday FREE tarot.
STUDIO: Changes. Monday 1pm (full), Wednesday Restorative 1 vacancy, Friday 1pm Hatha and Chair Yoga.

THE END OF THE MONTH LUNCH: Will now have to be on a Thursday – Yoga has sneaked into Friday.  Next Lunch.  Thursday 31st March at 12 noon at THE VICTORIA HOTEL in Woodend.

 

WHILST you have been relaxing and shopping at Coles, I have been using the produce that is dropping from the heavens into my lap.  And I have not stopped yet.  I have not stripped the psyllium, and I have more lemons.  In the cupboard, I have Nucello, Vin de Noix and apple cider vinegar fermenting and forming a “mother”.  I have two more jars of apple cider vinegar just begun, more fruit in various forms in the freezer and dried. Plus I dried two trays of tomatoes which went down to one large jar.

I have also put down a vinegar/lemon cleanser which has to ferment for two weeks.

WALNUTS?  Imagine a beautiful cracker with double brie, the creamy flesh of young walnuts stored in oil, topped with a home dried tomato.  Bliss.

I am ready for the winter, and there is so much to do.  Over the weekend I am going to pick some sorrel and turn it into powder.  As soon as pumpkin is cheaper, I will do the same with that for winter soups.  If you have too many zucchini I would love some please, even the whoppers that have gotten away from you unseen until harvest.

I would love to introduce you to the joys of foraging (my favourite apple trees is still waiting for me as seemingly no-one else cares).  Maybe the school holidays will present an opportunity for you?  If you are interested in coming on a walk and finishing in the kitchen please let me know – 4 sessions would be good. Email me – I could also zoom. yogafirst2@bigpond.com

THE HERBS AVAILABLE TO YOU

Turkey Tail Powder –  25g $30 including postage
Reishi Powder – 25g $30 including postage
Reishi Dried Herb Slices 25g $30 including postage (I put mine in a little red wine, honey, spices and ashwagandha to make a tonic wine).

*Herb tea for IBS and Bloating tummy (who doesn’t know that feeling?)
*Herb tea that has a reputation for helping with anaemia.
*Herb tea for sleeplessness.
and *Herbs for HEART HEALTH  (I use Hawthorn, and this is in the Herb tea).

HERB TEAS $53.50 a pack  of 6 including postage.  This will last about 10 days to 2 weeks depending on how often you dip them into your own teas, or water bottle. You can add honey or lemon to taste as you want to.  The little pouches as you can see I make and tag myself, as well as growing, drying and packing the herbs.  They are not like regular teas, you don’t jiggle them to make the water dark – these are herbal teas to have you feel better… one tea bag will last at least one day, with me two, jiggled into any tea or water you are drinking.  After they are finished, I drop them into my drinking water jug…I might have 4 or five in the jug at any one time.  No chemicals are water or lost.

Reishi’s alcohol-soluble triterpenes go a step further.  Scientists have discovered that alcohol extracts from Reishi mushrooms are “the only known source of a particular group of triterpenes, also known as ganodermic acids, which have been found to have direct cancer cell cytotoxicity on a wide variety of cancer cell lines”.

BACH FLOWER THERAPIES are available in the studio and via zoom, as is PAST LIFE TAROT.

My booklets will show you how to do all this for yourself.  There are no more lock-downs in sight, but if I can make time to get the pantry ready for winter, you can too.

 

 

“Opportunity; depends upon the use of same. Every experience and condition is a useful experience, and these are either made as stumbling-blocks or stepping-stones.”     Edgar Cayce reading 1424-2

I WILL SEE YOU ON THE MAT (MAYBE AT THE NEW TIME)

NAMASTE. JAHNE