Dear Yogis,

In the last few days students (around the world, not just Oz)  have been asking me how they will cope now that their spouse is going back to work, and the children are still at home.  Everyone has slowed down, and a gap appeared in their everyday routine, but they didn’t think of it in spiritual terms.  They just frittered it away playing games and having fun.  And now they are adrift. Actually they are further back than they were when this started.

If you sense there is more to life than going back to the daily 9-5 grind, overcommitted,  stressed out, then you could be part of the awakening. If you don’t know what to do now.  You have failed to realise this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. You have probably missed an opportunity.

That being said, today is probably a good day t0 practice self care, go inside, take things slow in spite of the fact you may want to rush into the day mistaking business for success. Busi-ness is one of the ways that we avoid feeling emotions. By keeping busy all the time we may not need to go there.  This “rat in the wheel” life is one of the by-products of the capitalist society.

In the “Awakening” it’s  time to let go of old habits and security and move towards your purpose. I have always resisted the idea of “normal” (fitting in) I have never believed that anyone was sent here to be “normal”.  We are here to be extraordinary, and to be on a journey to discover our cosmic (true) selves. We each have a destiny, a purpose, a mission we signed up for.  Your passion won’t show up if you are sitting in your toilet paper igloo waiting for the voice of God telling you what to do next.

You need a plan.  You can’t get where you are going if you don’t know where you are meant to be.  You need a plan, and you need to consistently stick with it.  A boat setting sail in New York to get to Melbourne, won’t miss landfall because the land has shifted, but because the map was wrong,  or they didn’t look at it. They miss because they don’t have a plan or haven’t checked they are going in the right direction.

It is my experience that we get information a bit of a time so we won’t be overwhelmed.  This (if you act on it), will take you closer to your destiny.  You have to be honest with yourself, and keep walking forward whether you like the journey or you don’t.  The road is rough before it becomes smooth.  Baby steps. The secret is to just keep going, trust life, and make your dreams a reality.

Of course, going in a new direction can make us fearful.  If we can’t move we get stuck in overthinking, we feel bad and then our thoughts turn negative, and we don’t act. As you move forward ask yourself, “Does this feel right?”, if your heart tells you “yes” keep going. Does it feel ‘right’, and does it serve the greater good? If you take this path,  instead of doing your job to live, live so you can do your job. You can change the world one yogi at a time.

To go inward, one of my ways is to paint or draw, and I too have been getting information a bit at a time – the TEA LEAF READING CARDS just flooded through to me..  Today it has been so hard resisting the urge to let go of everything and just paint.

When the information is flowing through me it is a joyous place to be,  but I like you,  have students arriving this week for yoga classes, and I wanted to get the studio clean in every way before they arrive.  Windows, mirrors, blinds, toilet, everything, so my lovely students will walk in to a fresh and exorcised space.  To keep the devil out – clean everything.

Happy cleaning.

Have a lovely sunny day.  We have been having deep frosts, then glorious days.  The rough before the smooth?

Namaste.  Jahne

 

Dear Yogis,

We are starting work again.  For the past 7 or 8 weeks we have trusted that all will be well. We didn’t decide to hide away, it was decided for us.  To remain positive, we have been working towards the next phase of our life with anticipation, but opening the door to “the everyday” is a dangerous step. The path as we know only too well, is fraught with temptations and frustrations.  Our life going forward will be very much more complex, and without spontaneous human contact for the foreseeable future.  When we move to hug, or shake hands, there will always be that nagging health question causing us to turn away, hang back and be suspicious.  We will be living close to the terrible for the sake of the wonderful.

When the restrictions are lifted, once again we will be able to feel that we are in control.  Once again people will seek us out, not because of who we are, but because of what we have.  As a young man, the travelling minister (and founder of what would become  the Wesleyan Missions), John Wesley calculated that twenty eight pounds a year was enough to take care of his needs.  Since prices generally remained the same in those times, he was able to keep more or less at that level of expenditure throughout his lifetime.  It seems unbelievable to us.  Later in his life he made fourteen hundred pounds a year from the sale of his books, but he still lived on the twenty eight pounds and gave the rest away.  Of course, he was a single man with no children so he didn’t have to deal with “domestica”, however the idea is a sound one.

Consider this.  You have come through a COVID time of economy, a time of less. Are there are ways that you could remain close to the amount you have been earning over this time.. Are there ways you could simplify your lifestyle so you could live, let’s say, on half what you would in good times ordinarily make?

The Grace of giving with all its difficulties is a a happy ministry.  When money is not in the picture and only the love of others motivates our service it changes everything.  So much good can be done, so many lives changed.

Until we can we learn to live in simplicity, we will find it hard to believe it is possible.  To begin, find creative ways to get in touch with the earth.  Listen to the wind and the birds, walk whenever you can, grow flowers or plant trees and discover once again “the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof”. Learn to enjoy things without the need to own them. Learn to share and develop the habit of homemade celebrations. Invite the neighbours to join you.  Go gently when you do – how can you enjoy people if you are always trying to impress them.

In the “Covid Break” we have learned that there are things we can do together that we cannot do alone.  At our best we are dependent and responsive to one another.  We need each other’s help in order to know how to love God.  We need each other’s help in order to know how best to love our neighbour.  “Lone Ranger” community is a contradiction in terms.

See you at Yoga.

Live simply, Laugh and be happy.  NAMASTE JAHNE

Dear Yogis,

Yesterday I sat on a wall with a friend and drank tea in the sunshine (within the required distance of course). She is quite political, and brought to my attention the violence, misery and injustice in the world.  She didn’t need to.   These pictures are brought to us every day.  I become overwhelmed with the immensity of the problem, and I am not sure how I should respond in the moment to people who are talking but are doing little, and really are not listening.

I believe that  although it is unsettling, we should not close our ears to the cries of others and leave these issues to others that relieve us of any responsibility.  What is the world like?  We are split between the fat, prosperous affluent and the weak and hungry poor, and this gap is widening.  Because we yogis understand the central issue in all these problems is spiritual and moral, we have an advantage.  we are not distracted and can speak to the issue of GREED.  When we confront political issues, policy makers or corporate executives, we do so with an inner strength borne of yoga,  yamas, meditation and simplicity.

It would not be helpful to go around reminding our neighbours of the yamas they are flouting.  As much is accomplished in a yoga class or especially a teacher training session,  as we do my pushing our politicians’ heads into the mud.  To know that we are dealing with primarily what is a spiritual reality gives a clue to the strategy we could use.  When we confront evil we do so in a power drawn from a Divine source.

We must approach these issues with humility, because these are issues on which even the most pious among us has differing views.  This should not keep us from addressing the issues in our own special way, but it should keep us from arrogance.

Simplicity frees us from the modern mania to acquire more.  It brings sanity to our compulsive extravagance, and peace to our frantic spirit.  With simplicity we can live lives of integrity in the midst of the terrible realities of this GLOBAL VILLAGE.

We should keep this in mind going forward with COVID.

It has come into our lives for a reason, and we must learn from it.

I miss you and will See you soon.

NAMASTE.  JAHNE