Dear Yogis,

Just to bring you up to date.  Have computer probs, but nothing that would make a difference to you – but makes me consider if I really, really want to do my yoga (or anything) on line via ZOOM.  The answer is easy.  No.  Once I have got my new camcorder, I will be loading every class I can onto VIMEO.  Seems a way that is more compatible with ME.   Re yesterdays newsletter.  If you want Paul Grilley videos – let me know.

On the technology note.  I considered a new printer.  The guy in my local store said wait at least a month.  All the good printers are unavailable due to the fact that so many more people are working at home, and hardly any commercial flights are coming from China.  The same goes for camcorders (mine was the last in its class in Victoria), and anything else technological.  There are a lot of industries suffering, but stores selling tech are booming.

With regards to classes.  Like every yoga studio we are not booming in this time of covid… but we are still here.  I am loving the new personal class structure.  Consequently,   I am  reinstating a floor exercise (with stretch bands)  class on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays at 6.30. and Saturdays at 10am.   I can take a maximum of four persons in my space… the classes will not require authentic ability, but they will not be easy. For ALL  classes, all the covid requirements remain valid as per the web site.  We need pre-payment for a ten week consecutive class pass- no casuals.  If you miss a class, you still are responsible for paying for that class. Unless there is an unexpected vacancy in the week you miss, you can’t do a make up class.  That’s the way it is during covid, we need to keep the class communities stable.  Go to “Classes” on this web site for details.  The photo above is of a poster available on etsy www.myyogabooks.etsy.com of the entire poem “ON BEING HUMAN”.  Also available on “www.jahnehopewilliams.net”

THE THERAPY OF YOGA…

The life of yoga is a life of continually, in each moment,  liberating ourselves from ourselves by engagement with the reality of the world around us however uncomfortable that may be initially.  It is a Bodhisattva path which puts the spiritual needs of the world first as it manifests in each concrete situation.  Therefore, it is a PATH OF THERAPY. (Unless of course you choose to see it as a fitness regime which many do). It is not simply the therapy of an individual –  client by client – but the mind of each client which seeks the healing of EVERY ENCOUNTER.

The yoga approach is to see whatever is happening as an opportunity for liberation.  To know what is happening, when it is happening.

The Master Dogen wrote:  “When one studies Buddhism one studies oneself; when one studies oneself one forgets oneself; when one forgets oneself one is enlightened by everything and this very enlightenment breaks the bonds of clinging to both body and mind not only for oneself but for all beings as well.  If enlightenment is true, it wipes out even clinging to enlightenment”.  

Yoga therapy as we do it in this studio sees the dilemma which brings a client to the therapist is some manifestation of the client’s Buddha nature calling to the client to liberate themselves from that conditioning.  It is an opportunity on the path to enlightenment.  None of us are “there yet”.  The client and I set out together.  Eventually they will have to walk the path alone, and for themselves.  Like learning to ride a bike,  in Buddhist training – yoga training, we benefit from having a “good friend” beside us.   (PS a good friend is not someone who tells you what you want to hear and takes you home the pretty way – a good friend loves you enough to tell you the truth, sometimes the difficult truth for both the giver and the receiver).

To begin your path at this studio, please enquire to me personally:  yogafirst2@bigpond.com

Have a wonderful day..

Namaste:  Jahne