Hi there Yogis,

A beautiful, wet March morning… and very wet yesterday…  

You may not have understood this, but if the world goes on cutting down trees, spraying poisons, and turning once productive land into deserts (actual deserts), we have only about 60 years of harvests big enough to support life as we know it.  What will your children and grandchildren do, how will they survive, what are you teaching them?  We can change this, and some are. By diversifying we can save the planet.   Are you?

Because I am aware of this, and want to do something, a number of things have been inspiring me lately towards a more integrated life….

1. The need to spend less time on the computer, and more time interacting personally with people – whilst earning a living.  I think I have this one solved and will reveal it to you later.

2. I have a need to become more self sufficient.  I am pretty much on the path, but need to refine my tastes, and get back to basics – another lock-down or retreat would be a good move to push me into more foraging again…..  Might do this when all the bits are in place. The hive was due this spring, but we haven’t had spring.  I will get my hive re-instated, and a couple of chooks.  Teaching knitting and crochet is part of the plan.

3. In order to get more self sufficient, I need to refurbish my garden.  Change things around, build the sleeper retainers higher, add more mulch, and get more large pots going on the verandah for the very cold weather, when nothing much is happening in the garden.  A friend of mine who rented,  had his whole herb, vegetable and fruit garden in pots.  A travelling orchard.

4.  Another larger tank is required.  I have thought about it for a long time… now I need to do it.  The small tank supplies the pond, and the pond is supplying me with more herbs, (and like it – especially since it is an integral part of garden drainage). I also need a compost tumbler.

5. I did look at solar a while back… whilst I need to be less tied to the grid, I am not sure solar is for me.  I may get a combustion cooker with a wet back.  I am used to this technology.  When I had one, my energy consumption was mainly just the council service fees..  One morning’s wood top-up supplied the water, the cooking, got rid of paper waste (which also went on the garden) and provided the heat for the house, and supplied it around the clock.  It is messy, it does take time – the time when I WONT BE ON THE COMPUTER!  Shades of “The Good Life” without the pig and goat.

COLLECT FOR FREE:  A beautiful, fully operational Singer Sewing machine in a cabinet with a box of embroidery discs. I have used it for years, and I love it.  It is metal, with metal motor parts, and a solid wood cabinet which opens to a small table. You will need help to move it and put it in your car.  The legs unscrew, so it may go in a station wagon.  Email me if you would like to come and collect it.  yogafirst2@bigpond.com

We all need to think about how we use what we have been given.  THE MOST SACRED THING WE HAVE IS CHOICE, and I have always chosen to restore a little slice of paradise every day!  It is all about love.  It is not about politics it is not about religion.  It is about what each of us can do today.  

If I take care of my world (interior as well as exterior) it will take care of me.  The picture of my front garden above is uninspiring to some – but how many of you can remember when it (and especially the backyard) was just a flat, weedy swamp which provided not one thing for the house,  and in the summer cost money to keep alive.  I planted all those trees in the photo, I drained, put down the gravel, planted herbs.  The wisteria grows on my back verandah…  My house is warm in the winter and cool in the summer – of course I have insulated at the same time… but it is a package, not just one thing.  It is constantly evolving (as am I).

You can do it too.  It just takes a plan.

IT STARTS IN YOGA, ON THE MAT.

NAMASTE.  JAHNE

 

 

 

Dear Yogis,

I am writing this on Thursday evening – I know I am going to be busy tomorrow… I am getting in early.

EASTER is coming up fast.  Please understand that I DO NOT take holidays over Easter UNLESS you do.  If you are not going to be around for our usual classes, please let me know.  Otherwise everything is as usual.

FRIDAYS:  6.45pm FREE pendulum class
SATURDAY: 2pm TAROT CLASS.  I think I will also be giving a beginners class in knitting and crochet at this time if you want to join.  I really don’t mind what we do in this class – if everyone has a different direction that is totally fine..  As long as we have a finished article at some point.
SUNDAY:  10am THE BEAUTIFUL GITA STUDY GROUP. (Sunday April 4th – Studio Teacher Training)

WEDNESDAY 24th March (1pm Studio Art Class.  Bring unfinished/stalled projects for help. We will also be teaching beginners crochet and knitting in this class)

THE GARDEN
I now have a battery operated leaf blower, a hedge trimmer, a pruner and a whipper snipper.  All lightweight, all Ozito, all with their batteries attached as part of the package – and very economical.  I am loving it.  I can get twice as much done in a fraction of the time (and energy).  If it wasn’t for God making a whipper snipper available for me (via Val – thanks) at exactly the right time, I would not have moved in this direction. I have, and it has made me feel a whole lot more enthusiastic about the garden, because now I can manage it myself.

ART
I have started work (again) on the MAGDALEN REVELATION CARDS.  As I said to an artist friend who dropped in to see me today, everything takes time.  I did stage one which was organising and pasting on the images.  Stage two is overpainting which I have almost completed – 4 cards to go, then Stage three will be the finishing, and making them as good as they can be, and then I will have to WRITE THE BOOK.  This is going to be quite a job I think,  as the images are not simple.  The ideas contained in each image are philosophical and complex.  Nonetheless, I am looking forward to it.  I like writing.

There is so much to do, and the days are getting shorter.  I did get some knitting cotton from the OP shop so have started knitting dishcloths.  Everyone likes them, and I don’t even have to think as I do them.  They are super easy.

TEACHER TRAINING CLASS.
I hope you noticed in the last newsletter that I am starting up the monthly teacher training classes IN THE STUDIO (by request).  The first Sunday in each month starting the 4th April.  2pm as usual.  I hope you make time for us and come.  We have to keep a reasonable distance, but I am sure we are all aware, and if you want to wear a mask you can.

CBD AND ALZHEIMERS
I have been sent a fabulous article (well researched, well sourced) about CBD and Alzheimers, and how recent studies suggest that CBD is going to play a major role in staving off of this terrible disease of the protein covering of our cells in the brain – which ends up looking very much like a Swiss cheese.

If you are interested I can send it to you (everyone should be interested).  Please email me yogafirst@netcon.net.au.  I want many people as possible turned on to the wonderful healing properties of this remarkable oil (which is not hemp oil – a different formulation entirely).

You would do well to read this article, and also go to Netflix and watch WEED THE PEOPLE, which is about the beauty of medical marijuana.  This is a Human Rights Issue, not just a push for decriminalisation.  If you are confused about this issue, please chat, there is a lot of misinformation out there.  I have always urged my students to watch TED TALKS, and of course the Netflix film.  Mostly an American or European view… but  things change.

 

TURKEY TAIL
I have some fabulous fresh Turkey Tail Mushroom powder. $35 including postage.   This is a booster of the immune system and can enhance your dreams.  I thought it was just me – but a lot of my clients tell me that they now dream in technicolour and smellavision – they never did before, and were lucky to get the odd black and white version.  Boosting the immune system is what I take it for, anything else is a wonderful bonus.

I am shortly expecting a new shipment of DAMIANA HERB TEA – also for relaxation and anxiety.  This used to be a marijuana substitute BEFORE marijuana was bred for potency – it is a different plant to what it used to be.

AS I ALWAYS SAY – MEET ME ON THE MAT.

NAMASTE.  JAHNE

 

 

 

DEAR YOGIS,

Here is the studio where I paint my beautiful angels...it is an inspiring small space that looks out onto the garden.  When I go in there I immediately feel like getting back to the angels and to painting.  I don’t have to move anything, change anything.  It is all waiting for me – “a room of my own”.   It is important where the table is located.  I can look down onto the table and do a miniature, and then rest and exercise my eyes by looking out into the distance of my garden and beyond.  Think about this when you locate your computer and your own art table.

I know how hard it is to have to keep covering up, moving your work and changing.  If you want to draw, paint or create, it is made much easier with a dedicated space, not necessarily a room, it can be a largish cupboard (like the one in “The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe”).  I have seen some stunning conversions – wardrobe to office space, meditation room, or art/craft studio space.

We ask our students to use this principle for their meditation and yoga.  If you have a dedicated space, then as you move past it during the day you acknowledge the importance of this space to you.  It gives the space power, and gives you a longing to sit down and meditate or paint.  So much better than a willy-nilly (accidental) attitude to your practice – art or yoga.

Here is the latest Angel.  Not yet framed, and maybe not yet finished – I am not sure.  I am also doing a full length angel on an opened tea bag.  Something different, and quite a bit more difficult.  Another way of looking and thinking.  Just to my yoga students and recipients of the newsletter the cost is $65 including a lightweight frame and postage.  For the double length painting $135.  There is only ONE of each.  They are originals. To purchase email be to make sure the one you want is still available, then you can pay in the usual way.  Don’t pay until you have spoken with me.  I have to check if it is available, and then reserve it for you.  They have been selling rather fast.  I will be putting them on the web when I can get a few put by, but they will not be at this price.

I am still working on THE MAGDALEN ORACLE/TAROT.  

It is not an easy task, although the angels are helping.

 

THE TEACHING/LEARNING CONTRACT.

I often get asked if I am going to record my zoom sessions.  The answer at the moment is “no”, because I think that the teaching/learning platform, rather like a theatrical performance contains a contract between the teacher and the learner which benefits both far more than just looking at a screen.  By announcing a class, I am making a commitment  to be there, on time, prepared and ready to teach.  Hopefully Telstra knows this and the internet is available when I need it.  The student in order to get the most out of the experience needs to turn up on time,  ready to learn, take notes, ready to interact with me (and or the group), and ready to ask questions (preferably ones I can answer).

In a zoom class (as in a theatre) the student knows not to eat noisy food with his mike on, not to interrupt, not to wander about carrying on another conversation at the same time as the class and not to have a demanding dog, cat or child on their lap.  If it was in a theatre there would be other unstated understandings about big hats, noise, comments, and interactions with the people next to you.  In a different way these also apply to the zoom sessions, but not to a recorded session although recorded sessions need discipline and understanding also.

To experience a recorded session the student can turn up any time, listen to a bit here and a bit there totally out of context… and generally does not get a real lesson.  They get the feeling that something has happened, but rarely is it successful, and rarely does the student totally understand the session – particularly the rather difficult philosophical concepts we tackle which mostly require a teacher to be the guide.

I hope this answers (in rather more than a sentence or two) those who have asked the question “Are you recording this?  Most everything I do can be found in book form on my etsy site – so you can always READ it – thereby developing another lost art.

ATTENTION:  I am re-instating our YOGA TEACHER TRAINING DAYS.  The first Sunday in the month starting April 4th at 2pm.  All welcome.  Graduates, students, interested yogis.  Let me know if you are coming please – there will still be covid etiquette.

I LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU ON THE MAT, OR IN THE ZOOM ROOM.

NAMASTE – JAHNE