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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 14th 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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dear Yogis,

WEEKEND. ZOOM AND STUDIO DATES

ZOOM:  Saturday at 2pm ART and Sunday Gita at 10am – we are up to chapter 13, so only 5 more chapters to go!.  It took us right through Covid lock-downs to read through the Gita from end to end last time.  This time not even 6 months.  Maybe next we could take the Bible or the Qur’an, or  “Jesus The Man”. Monday “Forgiveness” 6.30.  and Tuesday Rumi at 7.30 of course – the Qur’an and Rumi and The Gita are very close.  Can’t learn one without the other.  Rumi isn’t just a “nice” poet, he is apocalyptic as are the Sufis.  To learn more – come to class.

STUDIO:  I only have Monday yoga at 1pm and Wednesdays yoga at 5.30 as regular studio dates.  I do one-on-ones via the studio and zoom if you are interested in special classes email me for an appointment to suit you..

 

 THE DEPARTMENT STORE…

Keeping with my idea of the department store life, this week in my department store, I am focussing on some new art pieces I will be able to put in the window next week!  I have been working small. Now I want to work BIG.

Here is something I have learned about this way of thinking.  If I want to put something in the window next week, I will have to plan when I will have it ready for display.  It doesn’t happen right away.  This means that this week, whilst I am working on next week, I also have to keep the store open by bringing to you what I finished and got ready for you LAST WEEK.  Complicated…?  It is all a matter of timing, but I like it because it doesn’t nail me down to producing one thing forever.  I am also doing all the admin relative to my store.  Of course Etsy has always tried to get me to do this, but they used language that was too businesslike, so I didn’t listen.

Now I am doing it for myself I can see the wisdom in this way of thinking FOR ME.  It may not work for you, although I have a suspicion it will.

This week in my Store….

On the ground floor – YOGA is still happening.  Not as much as used to because other floors are being featured, but it is registration time and I always am studying and catching up for zoom and books I am writing –  that keeps me marginally busy but in a controllable way. Philosophy (a great love), takes up a lot of mind space no matter which “floor” I am on.

On the second Floor – ART – I am preparing two new works, if I can do more, that would be even better.  I do have small pieces to frame… First I have to MAKE THE BRUSHES (can’t buy the shape I want), and then prepare the boards.

On the Third Floor – ADMIN AND HOUSEKEEPING – I have been organising a Facebook page for my new book, I have also got the printer organised.. The garden and the house are benefitting from the new electrical gadgets I have.  I also bought a backyard tap timer, because now I am cleaning windows (and everything) with the new Karcher “Pirana”, and trimming and clipping hedges and borders with the Ozito implements, I can be so busy and involved – I forget to turn off the sprinklers…. A timer will solve this (that is the theory).  Cheaper than excess water bills.

In the morning when I look at the garden sparkling with sunlight on frost, and I  thank God for the responsibility He gave me when I arrived at this house and garden.  If I can’t look after this, then how will I look after what comes next?  Will I be going bigger or smaller.  If I look at the garden and think it’s terrific, but fantasise  about something half the size,   am I  saying I don’t know what I want or I don’t know what I can handle?  Or am I saying God doesn’t know what I want or can handle? I handled 100 acres well and when opportunities arose was not afraid,  took them, and  grew it from 15 acres…..  Although just a large house block,  I have radically improved where I am – the photo to the left was taken about 3 years ago.. the photo on the right taken last year.    I am excited to discover what comes next.  For me, changes happen suddenly.  Maybe all that is needed is for me to change my mind, not where I live?  Only God knows – I am open to the next chapter.

Our next Philosophy classes may be about achieving your destiny.

SEE YOU ON THE MAT – IT HAS BEEN MY DESTINY TO BE THERE FOR YOU.  I AM STILL HERE.

NAMASTE.  JAHNE

 

Dear Yogis,

ZOOM THIS WEEK:  
Monday 6.30pm FREE TEACHER TRAINING.  (“Forgiveness” pt.II)
Tuesday 7.30:  The Rumi Class
Saturday 2pm: Art and Tarot.
Sunday 10am: The Glorious Gita.
STUDIO THIS WEEK:
Monday 1pm – Hatha.  Wednesday 5.30pm – Restorative.

It has been a beautiful day in Woodend, and I spent that afternoon in the garden after our “Glorious Gita Class” .  How can you bear to miss it???        “For attractive lips speak words of kindness.  For lovely eyes seek out the good in people.. for poise, walk with the knowledge that you never walk alone”.

I am recovering from what I diagnose as a rather unfortunate bout of sinusitis caused by too enthusiastically flinging around the garden some FABULOUS chook poo mulch.

It was strong, and I realised about half an hour into the job that perhaps on such a windy day,  a mask would be a good idea.  Too late actually.  The harm had been done.  Thank goodness for neti, Vitamin C, and for the new enthusiasm of Herbal Smoke.

Last nite I had a blend of Damiana, Mullein, Hops (hardly any hops in the mix – mine are strong), and some mint all spritzed with water and honey.  Lovely, relaxing and I had a good nites sleep lying down (sinus problems are usually best addressed by sleeping sitting up!).  When I told Sunday morning’s class about the blend I chose I only had to say “Damiana” and they all fell about laughing.  It was a lovely, mellow mix I must say.

Whilst I am not just taking the herbs via smoke, I am also reading and researching and discovered that smoke has been used for thousands of years in Ayurveda as a therapy.  It is a very serious practice, and one has to pay attention to the administration of the herbs in order to get the desired effect.  It is not just a matter of blissing out.  I guess it is a bit like CBD.  With CBD, you are working with the endocannabinoid system.  It is  not “instant” as is  marijuana, but it is therapeutic – a therapy, whilst Cannabis Indicus (marijuana)  just swamps all sensation, and when the high is over nothing has changed.

This is an excerpt from my book on Smoking I am working on at the moment.

HERBS:  TIMES OF ADMINISTRATION.   I guess you may not have thought about taking an herbal cigarette or pipe as a part of your therapy,  however,  Ayurveda recognises that the times of taking your herbs in whichever way you take them (especially smoking them – but it also applies to oils, tinctures, as moxa and other herbal therapies), are important in strengthening their effects.

A good simple rule to follow in this is…

Herbs taken about half an hour before meals tend to work on the colon and the lower part of the body, on apana-vayu, the air or vata governing eliminatory functions.

Herbs taken with a meal tend to work on the stomach and small intestine, on the middle part of the body and samana-vayu, the air governing the digestive functions.

Herbs taken after meals tend to work on the lungs, on the upper part of the body and on prana-vayu the air governing respiratory function.  Herbs that target the lungs, heart or brain should always be taken after meals. (This is an excerpt  from “SMOKIN’ – The Yoga of Smoke”  by me,  J.Hope-Williams)

(Keep in mind that when you are smoking cigarettes in a haphazard way through the day – because of their chemical and nicotine content – you are effecting NEGATIVELY the same systems that you could be working on POSITIVELY with herbs).  

In my  book, which is about a month away from being finished I think, you will find a very detailed work on Smoking and Smoking herbs.  This will encompass which herbs to use for what effect or therapy.  I am finding it most interesting, and it is very freeing.

I have always been terribly opposed to smoking, and now realised how little I knew about its therapeutic effects, and I had not heard at all about the Ayurvedic use of smoking herbs.  I have been like the government.  They have banned CBD, not because it doesn’t work, not because people don’t want it, but because they don’t understand that they are holding back a great gift to humanity.  That was me – it is not me now.

I have always had respect for herbs, and I am discovering this greater aspect called SMOKING that people everywhere could use everyday.  It could enhance their body mind and spirit, instead of using the tobacco which is killing them.. and emptying out their bank account at the same time.

Imagine how much you could save if you could identify the smoking herbs you already have in your garden or from foraging.
Imagine how much you could save on doctors bills from using herbs that were therapeutic and not harmful….
Imagine if you didn’t get consistent coughs and colds from weakening your system by smoking tobacco.
Imagine how it would feel to be really relaxed after smoking relaxing herbs – not smoking a chemically saturated “cancer stick!

Imagine how it would feel to be independent even in this!

If you or your beloved, or family are smokers – then this could be you.  It is simple.  Smoking the right herbs at the right time (according to Ayurveda) can even enhance your yoga and meditation.  

I will see you on the mat.

NAMASTE – JAHNE