Dear Yogis,

I am sure you have heard the story that demonstrated UBUNTU.  A foreign anthropologist is visiting India.  He sets up an experiment, and places up a bag of fruit under a tree.  He then asks children from a local village to stand behind a line and get ready to fetch the basket when he signals “go”.  The understanding was that the first person to reach the basket would win the basket.    To his great surprise, when he signalled the word “go”, the children held hands and ran to the basket together.

Then under the tree they enjoyed the fruit, together.  When they were asked why they did that, a little girl answered with a question “How can any one of us be happy when the others are sad?”.

Years later Desmond Tutu explained UBUNTU (or, “I am because we are”) as the philosophy behind the girl’s answer.  In this Divine Time, it could be that this philosophy that might ease the collective stress. In the spirit of Ubuntu we could walk towards our common humanity and hopefully pave the way for a more empathetic future.

Talking about the common future and humanity… To all you lovely people who are enjoying Zoom yoga.   All kinds of yoga – nidra, pranayama etc.. not just hatha.  The advertisers have sat up and taken notice. Yoga philosophy is not the basis for an advertising response, however,  as there has been an average increase of about 4,000% in people tuning in to on-line yoga (they may not have been actually doing it) . .there will be an advertising response.

For some time,  I have been videoing aspects of yoga that asks my viewers to re-assess needs and wants.  A message of SIMPLICITY.  I do not expect that advertisers will swamp my site… or my viewers with the “more, more, more” message, and I have not monetised any of my sites.  I ask my viewers to chuck their lycra, the designer mats, the decor blocks etc in favour of comfortable – My message of simplicity is not an advertisers dream.  Think about it.  Do your children really need “Micky Mouse” mats, or can you cut an old mat to fit?  Do we need to share our physique with the class, diamonds in the navel, tattoos on the  rear? Will the latest colour or style change the substance?  What do you want?

When I was teaching large classes of people in recovery, it was always easy to see who actually was recovering.  Not just those who met the physical criteria of “cured”.  People who were actually recovering came to every class (or massage/consultation session) early and sat in the quiet after helping put out the mats  – they didn’t sit on the deck smoking and flirting, or planning the after-class coffees.  They helped others get organised, waited until the class had left before leaving, and made sure the room was as it was when they arrived.  They walked back to the residence quietly.  Yoga changed them and they wanted to know how.  They cared about the experience, not just theirs, but the experience of others.  What do you want?  What do you have? What will you do when you get what you want? Why will you do it?

This can be a time of Peace, Forgiveness and Growth.  It will soon be over (until the next time).  I am taking this time to do advanced herbal therapy study, more philosophy, more of everything I can to help you when you come back to class and to the studio..  YOU are why I do what I do.   I like personal emails,  or you – the whole person –  to be WITH ME in the studio….

To do yoga, it’s your mind that matters.

Keep warm, keep safe, share.

Namaste – JAHNE

 

 

 

Dear Yogis,

I have been reminded of Shakespeare’s Play of the same name “Much ado about Nothing”.  Shakespeare borrowed the title from a biblical quote.  Jesus said it.  He had been asked to do a healing and in spite of this,  the family were still weeping and wailing.  Although they had asked for a healing, and had seen Him heal before, they were fearful it wouldn’t happen this time and didn’t trust that Jesus was up to the job.  Jesus said the noise was “much ado about nothing”.

I believe that this is a Divine Time – a moment of Divine Destiny, but only you have the opportunity to make it wonderful. You can wander around weeping and wailing or you can trust that all is well.  You can change from fear based living into faith based living.  I am sure you know that as a race we are living longer and healthier than ever before, we have more medical science than ever before, we have more science and technology than ever before, but still many people live in fear. I am not saying we shouldn’t be careful, but we shouldn’t be fearful.  Fear is a result of increased vulnerability.  Don’t let fear push you into denial.  Faith isn’t about pretending something is right when it isn’t. Fear causes procrastination.  Someone said to me that waiting between “Yes sir” and “No sir” is an “Ulcer”.  When you are down to nothing I can tell you that the Universe (God) is up to something.

Some students are making the best of this time, doing “homesteading” (instead of “Home-staying”) projects with their family to great result.  Take Sam for instance who with the help of her family,  has created this lovely raised garden out of old floor boards. You can see how prolific it has become in such a short time.

Without this gift of home-time (this Divine Time) it probably wouldn’t have eventuated.  In the background is the compost heap, boxes, boards and all the bits and pieces that tell me the this is an on-going project, and on-going change.  I am sure it keeps this little family well engaged, and they will enjoy the fruits of this particular labour.  It is easier to get children to eat vegetables if they have participated in growing them!

What are you doing with your extra time? Here are some (serious) questions to answer.

1. WHAT DO I WANT?
2. WHAT DO I HAVE?
3. WHAT WILL I DO IF I GET WHAT I WANT?
4. WHY WILL I DO IT?

Answer these questions above,  and take action, and you will clear much of the confusion you may feel around you.

In the story “Alice in Wonderland” there is this significant dialogue between Alice and the Dormouse.

“I wish you wouldn’t squeeze so,” said the Dormouse, who was sitting next to her, “I can hardly breathe.”    “I can’t help it,” said Alice very meekly, “I’m growing,”     “You’ve no right to grow here,” said the Dormouse.   “Don’t talk nonsense,” said Alice more boldly: “You know that you are growing too.”

“Yes, but I grow at a reasonable pace,” said the Dormouse: “Not in your ridiculous fashion.”

 

Have a lovely Week.  Keep well, keep safe, and remember that this Divine Time may shortly end.

Namaste.  Jahne

Dear Yogis,

This is the last letter of Irrfan Khan, one of the stars of Slumdog Millionaire and many other films.  I thought it was extraordinary, and have put aside my petty ramblings in order to bring this to you.

Irrfan Khan on battling cancer: I trust, I’ve surrendered, irrespective of the outcome

It’s been quite some time now since I have been diagnosed with a high-grade neuroendocrine cancer.   This new name in my vocabulary, I got to know, was rare, and due to fewer study cases, and less information comparatively, the unpredictability of the treatment was more. I was part of a trial-and-error game.

I had been in a different game, I was travelling on a speedy train ride, had dreams, plans, aspirations, goals, was fully engaged in them. And suddenly someone taps on my shoulder and I turn to see. It’s the TC: “Your destination is about to come. Please get down.” I am confused: “No, no. My destination hasn’t come.” “No, this is it. This is how it is sometimes.”   The suddenness made me realise how you are just a cork floating in the ocean with UNPREDICTABLE currents! And you are desperately trying to control it.

In this chaos, shocked, afraid and in panic, while on one of the terrifying hospital visits, I blabber to my son, “The only thing I expect from ME is not to face this crisis in this present state. I desperately need my feet. Fear and panic should not overrule me and make me miserable.”  That was my INTENTION. AND THEN PAIN HIT. As if all this while, you were just getting to know pain, and now you know his nature and his intensity. Nothing was working; NO consolation, no motivation. The entire cosmos becomes one at that moment – just PAIN, and pain felt more enormous than GOD.

As I was entering the hospital, drained, exhausted, listless, I hardly realised my hospital was on the opposite side of “Lord’s”, the stadium. The Mecca of my childhood dream. Amidst the pain, I saw a poster of a smiling Vivian Richards. Nothing happened, as if that world didn’t ever belong to me.    This hospital also had a coma ward right above me. Once, while standing on the balcony of my hospital room, the peculiarity jolted me. Between the game of life and the game of death, there is just a road. On one side, a hospital, on the other, a stadium. As if one isn’t part of anything which might claim certainty – neither the hospital, nor the stadium. That hit me hard hard.  I was left with this immense effect of the enormous power and intelligence of the cosmos. The peculiarity of MY hospital’s location – it HIT me. The only thing certain was the uncertainty. All I could do was to realise my strength and play my game better.

This realisation made me submit, surrender and trust, irrespective of the outcome, irrespective of where this takes me, eight months from now, or four months from now, or two years. The concerns took a back seat and started to fade and kind of went out of my mind-space.   For the first time, I felt what ‘freedom’ truly means. It felt like an accomplishment. As if I was tasting life for the first time, the magical side of it. My confidence in the intelligence of the cosmos became absolute. I feel as if it has entered every cell of mine.

Time will tell if it stays, but that is how I feel as of now.

Throughout my journey, people have been wishing me well, praying for me, from all over the world. People I know, people I don’t even know. They were praying from different places, different time zones, and I feel all their prayers become ONE. One big force, like a force of current, which got inside me through the end of my spine and has germinated through the crown of my head.

It’s germinating – sometimes a bud, a leaf, a twig, a shoot. I keep relishing and looking at it. Each flower, each twig, each leaf which has come from the cumulative prayers, each fills me with wonder, happiness and curiosity.

A realisation that the cork doesn’t need to control the current. That you are being gently rocked in the cradle of nature.

 

NAMASTE.. Keep well, Keep safe.  Jahne