Dear Yogis,

The beginning of a REAL week.  One in which there are classes, Studio classes, zoom classes, and we are starting to move forward again as a school… instead of some being away, and some staying stuck, and the few still coming to class (very grateful for everyone).  I am so looking forward to seeing you all again.  It seems such a long time.

 

 

HERE IS A RUN DOWN of the classes coming up in the next few days….

*MONDAY ZOOM CLASS – THE HYPERMOBILITY LECTURES.6.30pm
This is the beginning of a new set of Hypermobility lectures (If you missed the first or want to revise!)  If you think you are hypermobile, or you have a child who is, or just want to know more in order to be a more effective yoga teacher…then these are the classes for you.

*TUESDAY ZOOM CLASS – THE DIAMOND SUTRA,   7.30pm
Abundance and Prosperity.  How to diagnose your life and your business the Buddha’s way.  This sutra is the ‘Remover of Obstacles”.

 *POSSIBLE WEDNESDAY 7PM CLASS (or Saturday morning at 10am – you choose).
I believe the world is increasingly “rudderless” and most people are not only functioning without a rudder, they are only using one oar.  They are going in circles, and in some cases, not realising… not understanding how to move forward.

To address this in some measure, I  (taking my “heart in my hands”) am contemplating a Wednesday 7pm class “BIBLE/ISLAM/GITA”.  BIG concepts.  We are learning them in the Gita class in a gentle way, but this will focus in deeper.  …  If you are interested, please let me know…  Remember “Nothing can befall us that is not ordained by God” (The Qu’ran)

STUDIO CLASSES:  Monday 1pm (full), Wednesday zoom 12.30 restorative, studio 5.50 restorative (full), Friday 5.30 Restorative – this is a new class and I encourage others to join this..

If you have not paid for the class, please go to the home page of the web site www.yogabeautiful.com.au and click on the button PAY VIA PAY PAL (not the DONATE button – unless you are donating extra).  PAYPAL will notify me quickly of the money received..  Please bring paper and pen to class.  I hope that you will need them.

 

SUFISM

On Sunday at our class, we discussed (again) the poetry of Rumi.  I have on numerous occasions talked about Rumi and his life, but we have not much discussed SUFISM.  To understand the Sufis it is said, is to grasp the heart and soul of Islam.  Sufism is Islam’s  greatest secret.  Because few non-Muslims understand, or are prepared to contemplate the immaterial, mystical element in Islam’s appeal for its believers, sufism is largely undiscovered.  Yes, you all know Rumi, but have you looked further.

Sufis have given great spiritual depth to Islam, and to generations of Muslims.  Sufism is about Batin, the inner secrets of The prophet the Quran, and the Sharia.

Scholars of The Sharia (the Law), focus on how to stand, bow, and how to prostrate oneself in prayer – however, the Sufi masters are concerned about the state of the believers soul and heart when they are standing before God.  The Sufis (in their own words), are not concerned with the love letter but with the lover Himself, and for this reason concentrate, immerse themselves (or in Rumi’s case, drown themselves) in love, miracles and pious devotion.

Sufi Muslims range from the very strict observance of Sharia to the very lax, from dancers and dervishes to serious scholars, and from the highly secretive to the achingly transparent.  Some go regularly to teachers in their mystical orders (Nasquibandi, Qadiri and Chisti schools), and some roam free and follow their heart..

They all share a common deep love for the Divine, and a vibrant attachment to the prophet Mohamed.  They possess a deeply spiritual charisma which touches all who open their hearts to being taught.  Their tranquility is real and brings serenity to all who meet them – Sufi Masters radiate stillness and a Divine energy.

Princess Jahanara (the feminine face of Sufism in the 1600’s) battled even her brother over the opposing strands of Islam.  Literalism over mysticism.  When she died she could have been buried with her father who built the TajMahal but was buried in a small grave in Delhi.  The inscription over her tomb reads “Let no rich canopy cover my grave: this grass is the best covering for the tomb of the Faqueera (poor in spirit), the humble, transitory Jahanara, disciple of the holy men of Chisti (Sufi), daughter of the emperor Sha Jahan” (AD 1681)

Look around you – who do you see, what do you see?  Is your world good? Or is it “troublesome” to your soul?  We yoga teachers (YOGA = UNION/UNITY) have the possibility of drawing our community together.  We could call ourselves THE CHOSEN.  The time has come when we need to judge on which side we stand.

You can be THE GATE for your community… It is your choice.

Namaste – Jahne

 

Dear Yogis,

I didn’t intend to do a Saturday Email… but thought I better seeing things are starting up again, and I don’t want you to miss out.

We are back on… I am so pleased.  I have been flagging it in the newsletters, but few of you have gotten back to me, so you either are asleep, away somewhere unreachable – or just happy and waiting for your ID – I sent it yesterday afternoon, if you missed, let me know ASAP and I can repeat it for you.

IF YOU WANT TO JOIN IN AND HAVEN’T GOT YOUR EMAIL/HAVEN’T PAID .. HERE’S THE WAY TO GO…

If you need to catch up with payments – this isn’t “the Magic Pudding”.  If you miss a class that is actually on, then you are still responsible for paying for that class.  This is a commitment to your art, your tarot and ultimately to yourself.  The way to pay is the same as always.  Just go to the web home page www.yogabeautiful.com.au, click on PAY VIA PAYPAL and that is it.  PayPal will let me know when you have paid.

THE SATURDAY ART CLASS MENU
…$50 for three classes. Plus $25 for our additional (optional) studio class.

I thought that we would continue with lino cuts (and paper) for those who want to, learn how to make a secret book for those who want to do that, or keep going with boards and watercolours for those immersed in that.  Whatever you want to do.  It has worked in the past, so I guess we will keep doing this.

If you want to make a secret book.  You will need a biggish hard back book, a steel ruler, Stanley knife, pencil, big bulldog clips, a piece of baking paper to stop glue seeping (double the size of your book), and you will need to know what your “secret” inside the book is going to be so you can make the box inside the book the right size. You will also need mod-podge or PVA glue, and a square tipped glue brush…

SUNDAY GITA STUDY
…$20 per class with a revision every second week – so really $10 per 2 hour class! you can pay $40 for four which saves a bit of banking hassle.

It’s going to be exciting as we move through.  Even if you missed our classes last year NOW IS THE TIME.  Sign up now.  It is not a dry study.  We will be considering the GITA alongside other texts – The Bible, The Quran, Sufism, The Matrix… what I call FUN!

MONDAY 6.30pm – HYPERMOBILITY
TUESDAY 7.30pm – THE DIAMOND SUTRA

 

Glad to be back?  I certainly will love clicking onto zoom and seeing you all.

NAMASTE.  JAHNE

Dear Yogis,

Tomorrow we get back to our usual program.  

Saturday 2pm ZOOM Tarot/art class
Sunday 10am ZOOM Gita Study
Monday 6.30pm The first of the three Hypermobility lectures.
If you want to re-join a class make sure that you are up to date with your fees – pay VIA PAYPAL on the home page of the web site www.yogabeautiful.com.au.  If you haven’t joined before, let me know so that I can put you on the list to receive your zoom ID.

The thought for today…..“Some people are born with spiritual immune systems that sooner or later give rejection to the illusory worldview grafted them from birth through social conditioning.  They begin sensing that something is amiss, and start looking for answers.  Inner knowledge and anomalous outer experiences show them a side of reality others are oblivious to, and so begins their journey of awakening.  Each step of the journey is made by following the heart instead of following the crowd and by choosing knowledge over the veils of ignorance”.  (Henri Bergson)

 

THE SUFI

Not all Muslims take their answers from a book of rules.  The State maintains and enforces security and law, but the Muslim population remain drawn to the mysticism and community of Sufi brotherhoods.  These adherents seek the inner significance of the esoteric, not just the rules and rituals.  They look for the significance of the Sharia, and explore the inner dimension of Islam that is SUFISM.

Rumi was a Sufi.  Who is a Sufi?  An aspiring Sufi seeks only to please God, and does so in secret as often as possible, turning aside from the material world and its banalities.

You all know the story of Rumi the renowned Muslim poet and Sufi Master who founded the Mevlevi order – the adherents dance in remembrance of the Divine.  Rumi was harsh, upright and erudite, but all that changed with the arrival in his town of a vagabond called Shams of Tabriz.  Shams performed a miracle – rescuing a precious book from a well without it getting wet.  Rumi had read about miracles but had never witnessed one – an ambassador of The Divine Presence had reached Rumi.  He knew it and felt it.  The sober professor was about to shed his old self and emerge new, but it would not be easy, and not without scandal.

The two influences on Rumi’s life – his father and Shams lifted him up.  Both were from the East, had memorised the Quran in its entirety, were teachers of religious and mystical knowledge, and both left their spiritual secrets to Rumi.  Once he had been “set-alight” by Shams of Tabriz, he could no longer go back to dry academic knowledge and rituals.  Shams urged Rumi to violate every code so that in the eyes of his community he became nothing and was cursed because of it – but from the Divine view point, Rumi  would become everything, committed only to God and seeking acceptance only in heaven.  He killed his ego’s desire to please others, to be liked and respected.  He did everything that his society at the time forbade, he drank, he sang HE WAS FREE.  Rumi’s poetry speaks to the inner yearning of the human soul that within Islam only the Sufis understand.

“Come, come whoever you are.
Wanderer, worshipper, lover of leaving.
It doesn’t matter.
Ours is not a caravan of despair.
Come, even though you have broken your vows a thousand times.
Come, yet again, come, come.” (Rumi)

IT’S TIME – JOIN ME ON THE MAT.

NAMASTE. JAHNE