Dear Yogis,

There are some students who have put aside yoga and yoga teacher training particularly with me because I WORKED OUTSIDE OF THE BOX.  They wanted their yoga to be PURE.  What is that, especially now in the “time of Covid”?  Their peers were annoyed because I was not establishment either in medicine or yoga (or spirituality).  I wasn’t Pure.  I am not, and I  encourage my students to strike a path of their own.

Like you I am a seeker.  I not only started by being a nurse, I then moved on to Scientific and natural Science illustration (which I worked in INTERNATIONALLY at major tertiary institutions – Major hospitals, the Smithsonian DC, The Steinhardt.SF.).  My discipline was the old kind where we were in the operating theatre, at the operations gloved, masked, and gowned.  We looked and the body or the slide,  and we drew what we saw.  BC = Before Computers.  We experienced the work at a deep level.  All the while, yoga was there.. the constant thread through my life.  Luckily, I had teachers who encouraged me to look into every aspect – not just asana.  Seeing the body as it is was an intrinsic part of this learning process.

 

I am in awe of the human body and  I totally love working with anatomy and physiology which I hope I pass to you – however, that does not mean for one minute that I don’t believe that it is intuition that rules the roost!  We disregard it at our peril.  Yoga is not about asana.  It is about the mind.

I believe that disease  is due to certain states of mind and these moods or states of mind  interfere with the normal happiness of the individual, and if these moods, feeling and emotions are allowed to continue,  they lead to disturbance of the function of the body.

I do the tarot, I use Bach therapies, I have certificates in philosophy and counselling, and meditation and yoga, so that when a client stands in front of me in a yoga class,  or comes for consult, I am not just looking at statistics (or their lycra – their label), I am uncovering the whole person. You think I am chatting, or teaching yoga, or reading the tarot – In fact, I am deeply  looking at stretch, movement, stance, emotions, features, speech, excuses and so on.  Small things, big things, in order to be the best teacher, and the best healer that I can be.  That is why I use the skills I have – especially the Bach herbals… because they work in uncovering the REAL person.  The unsaid, maybe unknown person.

One of my students calls me “Tottie” = “Tough Old Tart”.  I won’t always agree with you. I am not in the “pleasing business” I am in the “truth business”.   I won’t always say, do or be who you want me to be, but I am always looking for the best in you.  How to bring you to the point where you can be the best you can be.   What are you looking for? What are you working for? Who are you aspiring to be? What do you want and want to be and why do you want to be that….?  Be all these things for your students.  Study deeply to help deeply, and teach deeply.  Yoga  is not just asana.

Let me know how I can help you.  I am your teacher.

By the way, I am offering a scholarship or two in BACH HERBAL THERAPY.  Level 1 and 2.   It is absolutely The YOGA OF HERBS. (www.bach.moonfruit.com)  Please email if you are interested.   yogafirst2@bigpond.com

Have a wonderful day.  Keep happy – it leads to health.

Namaste – JAHNE

 

 

Dear Yogis,

Doing a newsletter every day is amazing – and I thank you all for your feedback.  I know that you are all “zoomsters” and that is why I am doing dailies.  You are getting the asanas, but are you getting the rest? I looked at the records of how many of you are accessing the videos that have come as part of your teaching package, and it is very few.  Keep in mind that if you have no teacher, you are reliant on these for your 160 hours – AND I WILL BE CHECKING. You have paid for them – now watch them, take notes.  You have time.

People have said to me that without their job, with no coffee shop contact, being thrown into their own company, they felt aimless and useless, and this was what was the hardest to deal with.    People, this is the time when the most advances personally can be made.   There is always study and reading that can be done to assist in our understanding and get us ready for the next phase of our life.

For myself, I am doing Advanced Bach Studies at the moment as I have said to you.  It is fascinating.  The basics which I did in the 1980’s  (how time flies)  were “interesting” but the advanced studies, as with everything, is where it all comes together and is very, very relevant to where we find ourselves today.  You will find that in your yoga studies, just when you felt you “didn’t need this” you will find the pearl.

The herbal remedies as Bach wrote in his papers entitled “Some Fundamentals of Disease and Cure” would have “the power to elevate our vibrations and thus draw down spiritual power, which cleanses mind and body and heals.”

In the book “Heal Thyself”, Bach stresses the importance of happiness in life, for not only does it bring health in its train, but it indicates that the individual is living his life on earth to the full, uninfluenced by others; and in so doing, being of the greatest help and service to his fellow men.  So students – get happy to get healthy.

A project I have just started in the garden is some gardens out of car tyres, and will soon be planting the seeds I have rescued from the plants I have been foraging.  It is the perfect time.  I have heaps and heaps of leaves to use as mulch and as a weed mat. I know you probably don’t think tyres are attractive, but I have ivy in my garden, and soon you won’t be able to see much of the tyres.  I did watch a permaculture video last week of a big garden in the USA and they have done away with compost heaps on the basis that there are no compost heaps in nature, and gone back to delivering scraps straight to garden beds.  Car tyres make this an easy revolution.

Although I know that potatoes like being in the tyres and will propagate beautifully, I don’t know how my foraged seeds  will like being cultivated in this way  Doing it like this means I will be able to keep track of what is happening which is what I want, and I  will be able to control the environment.  I even have some salt bush which I am really looking forward to growing – “Old Man Weed”.  I have done a bit of research and its a very versatile plant.  Not just medicinal but also culinary, and fodder for animals.  Who knew?  Learning, learning, learning every day.  There is so much left to know, so much I want to do.

By the way.  I have had some donations into the Foundation which will enable me to  offer scholarships for the new Bach Therapy Course.  Start thinking about it.

Keep learning, stay well, and above all stay happy,

Namaste – Jahne

 

DEAR YOGIS,

Because this break in our usual way we work has happened, we are able to do those things in the house, in our study and teaching that we have always said we haven’t had time for.  Today as I was standing under the shower,  I thought about how appreciative I am that I decided to go for that little extra work, that extra study, that extra writing.

It made me think. Isn’t life and success defined by that “little extra”? It’s not the dramatic, far-reaching, overly-impressive actions or risks we take that push us forward, it is those small decisions that carry us along…. It’s those small things we change that free up the backlog behind them..

It’s simple,  and I have spoken to you about it in teacher training session after teacher training session.

It’s the extra showing up. The extra giving to others. The extra learning. The extra asanas, the extra meditation sessions. This is what over time, makes the difference to our life and to our contribution during our lifetime. Ask any expert at anything and they’ll agree.   There’s nothing mystical about a having big, generous life. It’s consistency, and the willingness to do, to give, and become just a little bit more.

While I was considering this message to you, I realised that a little extra, in fact, means A WHOLE LOT.  It means everything.

And then I thought… where has this been true for me so far?

• As I move into this COVID experience, I work on learning and giving every day… a little extra than ever before.
• I have academic success because I do my daily research and follow up… that little bit extra.
• I’m a content and optimistic human because I invest in my mind… a little bit extra than most.
• When I started out as a yoga teacher,  I gave it extra everything… and it has worked for 50 plus years..

Let me ask you this May, where can you give a little extra?  Where do you want to grow?  What do you want to become?  If you want to grow and change, the opportunity has arrived – it may be a long time until it comes again. Don’t miss it. Don’t let it fly by and look back in regret.  Don’t miss this opportunity for growth. Don’t get bogged down in grey thoughts, loneliness, empty wishes… “Do what you can with what you have where you are” as the Buddha taught.

The greatest gift you can give to others is to be happy and hopeful yourself, then you draw others out of their despondency.  I have found with the Bach Herbal Remedies I make and use is they “cure” not by attacking disease, but by flooding our body with the beautiful vibrations of our higher nature, in the presence of which, disease just melts away. Never more important than in this moment of “invisible invaders”.

The invaders in the photo are “ORBS”.  They are “Positive Presences” which are with us all the time, not everyone sees them. But they are there.

There is no true healing unless there is a change in outlook, peace of mind and inner happiness. Remember fear only attacks what you are afraid to lose.

Keep well, keep warm, keep happy, and keep on learning.

Namaste Jahne