Blog Student News Trainees/Teacher News

Dear Yogis,

ZOOM
WEDNESDAY (Today): 12.30 RESTORATIVE,  5.30 RESTORATIVE weights optional, 6.45 MINDFULNESS MEDITATION
FRIDAY: 11am YOGA CAFE ZOOM  5.30 RESTORATIVE with weights and bands

What a strange morning… there is so much confusion in the atmosphere.  Not relief, not gratitude but confusion and anxiety are ruling the airwaves.  Remember, we are all connected.  More news coming out of England, Europe, South America and so on, then we have the American Elections which are decided in November but are happening right now – People are voting…  We shouldn’t be surprised that we are all feeling slightly off centre, off course.  Good job we have yoga and meditation to keep us centred.

ART CLASS – THE TAO OF WATERCOLOUR (ZOOM). ($50 for a series of three classes).

TURNING YOUR DOODLES INTO ART.  I have been painting.  Doing small pieces that I can teach to you.  We even have interest in our classes from the USA.  I haven’t decided on a class time – I am waiting to see how the class pans out, but if the American interest grows it will be a morning class.  It has to be because of time zones.  We can always have a second class. I would love to hear from you.  Please email your interest at yogafirst2@bigpond.com.

The painting above is two of a series of four to an A4 page,  each painting card size.  When you come to class you will learn to handle the brush, the water and the paint.  The actual painting will take no time at all.  It is about how to make the most of your doodles.  Once you have got a little confidence and can chase the paint around the page, you will be able to make your own cards for any occasion, or expand your skills to larger and larger works. They don’t take any time at all – just relaxation and entering.  It is like magic.

My own skills are based on Chinese Brush Painting training.  I learned for years with some wonderful teachers… (Andre Sollier was just one) and I did some huge works.  Then the yoga became the central part of my life and I didn’t have the time for painting that I like to have.    It’s always about balance and choices.  I never stopped my art, but the works became smaller and different.  I am liking the “accidental” feeling that Chinese work gives me.  Chasing the paint, rather than forcing.  Breathing rather than concentrating and constraining.  Meditation with paint.  No expensive kit is required.  We can use almost anything.

An example?  The artist Sam Byrne from BrokenHill, was never formally trained in art,  used Dulux and cockatoo feathers as his equipment mainly because that was all he had and didn’t know he needed to buy brushes etc.  Today his paintings are in museums.  He wasn’t a yogi,  but he was yogic.  He painted to record scenes for others because he wasn’t much good at writing.  It was his service. He only had one idea – he painted as a gift to his children and community.

For those who think that you should concentrate on one thing – Sam Byrne worked as a miner, Andre Sollier was an artist,  a poet, a martial artist, and a Zen Archer.   We also have the example of Patanjali – Yogi, doctor/surgeon, philosopher, dancer, poet…etc.

Don’t be intimidated….just be one thing at a time.  Put all your effort towards what is in front of you.  “Do what you can with what you have, where you are” (the Buddha).  It is all about balance and following your dreams.  “Just one dream” for me would be a nightmare, and might be for you.  Thanks to Covid, you have been given time and space to explore new directions.  Embrace the gift and go places you have always wondered about.   “if only….”.  If Only is TODAY.  Do it.

Remember.  Whether we are painting, doing yoga, or parenting,  we are not looking for perfection.  As with anything, small steps will get you to where you are going.  If you take honest, small steps in the direction of your dreams, I am sure you will get to places more extraordinary than you can imagine.  There is a Divine hand guiding you, working unseen.  If you take a step towards the Divine (painting, yoga, meditation, loving, serving),  that energy will be pulled towards you.  New worlds and new possibilities will open up and synchronicities will appear that will surprise and delight.

SEE YOU IN CLASS.

NAMASTE. JAHNE

Dear Yogis,

ZOOM
TUESDAY: 7.30 to 9pm.  YOGA lecture. The Chakras.
Next Tuesday:  1.30pm THE TAO OF WATERCOLOUR – Making beautiful cards/paintings from your doodles.
WEDNESDAY:  12.30 RESTORATIVE YOGA.  5.30 RESTORATIVE YOGA, 6.45 MINDFUL MEDITATION

REGISTRATION:  At this time of the year it might be a good idea to glance at your registration papers.  Is your membership still current. Everyone who re-registers between now and the end of October will receive one of my beautiful Small Pendulum Charts (17cm x17cm)  and a Purse size chart FREE.   That is two charts FREE so you will never be without one.  I wasn’t sure how useful they would be, after all we have the large one, but these are perfect.  I have the medium one near my computer and the tiny one in my purse with my travelling pendulum.  If you use your pendulum as a friend, and have it near you all the time, you will use these charts often..  REGISTER TODAY.  Email me to get your application for re-registration.

 

YOUR TO-DO LIST.

Here’s a thought.  Like the plastic wrap you use to keep your celery fresh, your to-do list is IMMORTAL.  Mine will live on even when I die.  My daughter will get to read it and think I am nuts..  Every day we get a chance to drive ourselves crazy with the thought that we are “lazy”, not good enough, or not doing enough.  Every day you have the opportunity to practice stress or practice PEACE.   Keep in mind you have a CHOICE.  A CHOICE.  All it takes is a willingness to change and some common sense.  There are only so may hours in a day, we all have the same.  Use them wisely.

We live in a very worried, stressed culture and Covid is making this worse.  Prior to the pandemic 70% to 90% of visits to primary care physicians are attributable to stress.  When I first came to the Macedon Ranges there were few doctors, one or two for each of the little clusters of communities.  Not only could you easily get an appointment, the doctors and their small staffs had time for yoga.  Now there are 20 and more doctors where there used to be one or two (multiplied by medical offices springing up all over the Shire, plus specialists etc.).  In spite of the huge increase in doctors and support staff, you can’t get an appointment, hardly anyone values yoga, and fewer come to class.  There are many who go to the doctor who just need comfort, not medication.  People who need someone to talk to, something to give meaning to their day. The doctors themselves need to de-stress.  You can help.

We all have skills we don’t use.  Change is more exciting and certainly easier when you share your intentions and your wins with someone you care about, or a close group.  If you need support, you could consider bringing together an “Inner Peace Group” so that you can check in with each other about ideas, and progress.  In this way you can create a small supportive community where love and understanding can live and grow.

In the middle of this Pandemic, techniques for de-stressing are very important.  There is going to be an avalanche of needy students as the months move towards Christmas and the new year.  When the monetary aid is removed and scaled down we will really see where the help is needed. This will be a new kind of pandemic, visible and invisible, but like Covid, worldwide.

As the Dalai Lama reminds us, we are all the same,  we are all alike in our desire for happiness and the need to avoid suffering. The answer is simple but it is not easy. You can start at the beginning.  Baby steps, baby steps.

SEE YOU IN CLASS

NAMASTE – JAHNE

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dear Yogis,

ZOOM:
Today (Monday) 1pm RESTORATIVE with weights and bands.
TUESDAY: 7.30pm The Chakras a group discussion.
WEDNESDAY: 12.30 GENTLE RESTORATIVE, 5.30 RESTORATIVE YOGA with weights and bands.  6.45PM MINDFULNESS YOGA

We have all of Tuesday afternoon waiting for you to come to a class.  I have started thinking about the end of the year and the Holiday Season, and have started to produce cards and paintings.  I am thinking about a class so you can do your own too THE TAO OF WATERCOLOUR.  It is easy to make doodles into cards, and with the price of cards at the moment, it can be a save.  The postage makes sense if the cards are original and can be framed.  Yours could.

Years ago when the Collins Street Store “Georges” was still open I used to make all their Special Occasion and blank cards.  It kept me very busy.  My mum knitted socks for them and I made cards.  It was lovely experience.  I still make cards. I make tarot cards, gifts cards, and Christmas cards without Father Christmas – I have flowers and Australian orchids on my Christmas cards.  If you want to make cards (easily) come to class.   TUESDAYS AT 1.30 to 3pm from 29th September ($50 for three classes).

…OR, you can buy mine.  When I have a stash I will put them on our web site store www.yogabeautiful.com.au  and ETSY www.myyogabooks.etsy.com.  I am also on Patreon (without videos – yet). www.patreon.com/TarotArt

 For our class you will need some basic materials you can source between now and then, even if you can’t get to a store.  If you have some left over card, newspapers, watercolours, basic brushes we can do this.  Even if you don’t have card stock you can do the small paintings and mount them on the cards when you get them in plenty of time for Christmas (or frame them) – NO ART SKILLS REQUIRED. If you can doodle, you can do this.  Email your interest or you can sign up in the usual way – go to the home page, click on DONATE and PayPal will take credit/debit cards and PayPal account.

The rain has returned.   If this was December I would be super happy… rain at night until the fire season please.  We are told it is going to be a cooler and wetter time (especially November) with a hot February as usual. Start preparing now if you didn’t start last year.

We repeated the Bhagavadgita learnings yesterday.  It is a huge subject but every time we get together we learn something new, approach the subject a different way.  From this point of view there are no repeats. Next sunday morning we will be discussing YOGA in the Bhagavadgita.  It is a huge subject and unlikely we will get through it even in a couple of sessions, particularly as we are yogis, and have our own ideas about what “yoga” means to us.  Be there.  Put it in your diary now.  It is $20 for the 2 hour lecture and the repeat the following week is FREE if you have purchased the first one.  Two for the price of one.

LOVE

No matter what Church you belong to,  or if you absolutely don’t believe, we all long for the same thing, TO LOVE AND BE LOVED, as the song says.  We are all reaching for that deep sense of connection, worth, and belonging that we believe LOVE provides.  and are led to believe that this feeling is as close to heaven as we humans can achieve.

If we have felt respect and love as a child from our parents,  we are more likely to have a reasonable chance of experiencing what we conclude is love.  Such positive influences from our parents provides the foundation for compassion and kindness as an adult.  I will always remember what my teacher said to me as I began my work with people in rehabilitation ….“Always remember – HURT PEOPLE HURT PEOPLE”.  In America (before Covid), statistics showed that the prison system was the fastest growing sector of the economy and over half the population of America would be incarcerated by the middle of this century.  The way to reverse this would be to help the children.   Like every human,  the majority of prisoners have the desire to make sense of their lives, and create a future that is different to their past, if not for themselves, then for their children..

If you want peace in your life (we all do) you will have to commit to a healing process that mends our concept of self, teaches emotional intelligence, and most importantly helps you work towards forgiveness both for yourself and others.  No healing can take place without forgiveness.

Mother Teresa coined the phrase “One-by-One”.  She knew she would be overwhelmed if she thought about all the people on the streets of Calcutta, and the 40,000 she rescued.  She expanded her mission one by one.  That is why I urge you to think as I do of healing the world “one yogi at a time”.  It is a strategy you can all adopt, and begins with forgiveness.

START TODAY.  Heal the world where you are, one yogi at a time.

NAMASTE.  JAHNE