Dear Yogis,

I am starting yoga teacher training classes on ZOOM from next week.  If your course has come to a halt for whatever reason, get back into it.  You will never have a better time.  Zoom is not as “intimate” as turning up for class, but it will be helpful to get you back on track.

After putting in the blog yesterday that I was starting teacher training classes on Zoom I got some takers and I am quite excited.  Those people who have stalled in their teacher training, should take this opportunity to get back on track. I am quite excited… so I guess I am ready to start, which I will do from next week.  I have sorted through some options, and once you let me know you are ready to re-start, we will organise a plan.  It’s a new world… and we are embracing it.

Tantra has been enormously helpful in my transition to this new world.  In order to board what is known as “the lightening vehicle of tantra”, we have to  put aside the ordinary limited view of ourselves which keeps us trapped.  By looking deeply into the clear nature of our mind, we can create space in which true self-transformation can take place.

It is not enough to know why this transformation is necessary and possible, we must also generate the strength and confidence that will enable us to  follow this radical approach to a fulfilling future.  Put another way.  We need to be inspired!

Ancient tantric texts mention that all realisations come from the guru.  Our guru can be a teacher, but it can also mean our own inner wisdom, our own fundamental clarity of mind. This inner-guru can accomplish everything.  The practice of guru yoga can be a method for learning how to listen to this inner guru.

Although we all possess this inner guru we do not listen to it, and we rarely hear it.  As long as we are out of contact with this inner teacher, and are disregarding our practice on the mat, we will never be able to integrate them.  Our inner guru will always remain weak and undeveloped.

For the very best teachings, for the teachings of enlightened beings to reach us, there should be an unbroken lineage of successive gurus and disciples carrying these living insights  down to the present day.  We need an experienced guide to show us exactly how to put the teachings we receive into practice.  We will not get to the highest teaching reading from a book,  hoping to figure things out for ourselves.  That is why I am always talking to to you about lineage,  and giving thanks.  Gratitude.  Lineage is not a marketing mantra, it is not a star on your report card. You cannot shop for lineage.

We need someone to show us, to give us a practical demonstration.  This is our guru.

COVID:  For many, each day brings more challenge, more hardship, more suffering. Their hearts are breaking, their patience is waning, and there is no end in sight. Events appear cosmic, beyond their control. Yet, we are far from powerless. When we come together as One, we have the power to transform our world.

As many teachers before me have said….    A single act of kindness, like a single drop of rain, might have little noticeable effect. But millions of raindrops falling together can form a channel capable of breaking through the strongest dam. In the same way, the accumulated grace of a million acts of kindness, channeled by shared intention, can break through the barrier of ruthless selfishness, flooding the earth with new life. That is the power of One.

Have a wonderful day. Start planting your spring natives seeds.  Many need the winter cold to germinate.

Namaste.  Jahne

 

 

 

Dear Yogis,

The OpShops in our town went back to work this week.. it reminded me of a story.  

A little girl came in to the store looking for a doll.  Her mother directed her to shelves with lovely dolls, tall dolls, baby dolls, fabric dolls, sparkly dolls, but this kittle girl was drawn to a doll in the throw-out bag.  You can imagine that a doll in an OpShop throw-out bag was less than beautiful.

It was faded, had only one shoe, the head was hanging on by only a thin thread of plastic, the clothes were torn, and one of the glass eyes was missing.  You get the message.  This baby had been discarded, disrespected, forgotten. As we say it was “on its last legs”.  This was the doll that the little girl wanted, and she was prepared to be stubborn, to take a risk to get it.

If her mother was like my mother she would have been strongly discouraged in her choice because the mother probably felt that if the daughter chose THAT doll it would be a reflection on the family, or on her suitability as a mother.  She probably was not thinking of the daughter, and certainly not at all about the doll.  She could have been thinking “What would people think if my daughter carries that doll around?” She hadn’t yet worked out how few people do think, and if they do it isn’t for long.   This lady wanted her daughter to have a beautiful doll not to please the daughter or to save the doll.  She wanted her friends to  know she was a good mother, and on some level even if not conscious, believed the doll was a negative reflection on her.

Too put a positive spin on it, she could have wanted her daughter to have THE BEST.

But the girl persisted in her need for the tattered doll.  The salesperson who was pretty pleased to sell any doll asked “Why do you want that particular doll?” and the little girl said “BECAUSE IF I DON’T TAKE HER, IF I DON’T LOVE HER, NO-ONE ELSE WILL”.

What do you love?  Will people think more of you, or less of you because of your choices? Does it matter?

Love is the ultimate reality.  Something has clicked in your being..  It is not about the little girl (or you) being convinced about your ideas.  It is not a conviction, it is not a conversion, it is a transformation.  A change from the inside out.  Looking into the others eyes, something happens without saying a word, something that you never dreamt of suddenly becomes a reality.

It isn’t about faith, because faith contains fictions – we have to search for arguments or evidence.

It is about trust.  Trust is the highest flowering of love.  There is no guide, and you probably will not meet anyone on the path no matter how many times you ask “are we there yet?”.  The little girl in the story above trusted her heart, because in the moment she experienced the flowering of love, and acted on it.

Once you have found that truth on your own, you will realise that nothing else is needed..  This little girl searched on her own, alone – risking, moving away from the crowd on a lonely path, trusting her heart. She chose freedom.  The question of belief does not arise.  She responded in sincerity, integrity and consciousness.  She responded to the highest quality of love and positioned herself for the greatest gifts that God has in store..

There are many powerful forces in this world, but nothing is more powerful than love.

 

HAVE A WONDERFUL SUNDAY. Be a NOW-PERSON, take a risk,  your destiny is calling you..

NAMSTE, JAHNE.