Blessings for 2015

Sending out wishes to all for a lighter and more peaceful new year.  Some photos from Gangotri for all to enjoy and feel the energy from that special, holy place.
Om Shanti Shanti Shanti

Winter Solstice Gathering

Beautiful silent walk and circle in Bushy Park today with our peacful Yogis.  Many thanks for the donations to MSF which we have sent on today and told you about personally.  Enjoy these twelve days until the 1st January 2015.  Each day will teach you something about what is to unfold during the next year.  Keep each day fresh and filled with awareness so that 2015 will be a new start for us all.
New moon tomorrow offers a chance for new beginnings if we chose to embrace that which is offered to us all.   Contentment with "what is".....gratitude for what we have been given..... and our generosity of spirit to those less fortunate than ourselves.      OM Shanti.  Peace.

autumn 2014 newsletter now available

Hi Yogiis,

Please let me know if you have not received the newsletter and want it.   Details for the Winter Solstice walk also sent: nb:Sunday 21st December 2014.

Sacred Ganges

Diwali blessings to all

Wishing all who visit this site some light in their lives today and all the days which follow into the winter dartkness.  This is a time to get together with family and friends and celebrate goodness over evil.  Support each other and realise the gifts we already have and those which we can give to others.
Remember that we are never ALONE...we are ALL ONE.  Therefore, connect with the greater circle of Love and feel into your heart chakra to receive all that you need and as this overflows send the energy out again into the world.  Giving and Receiving being the same thing once we realise who we are.
We are going to a friend's funeral today so were not able to organise the gathering for the yoga circle.  This year is proving very uncertain and we have to go with the flow.  When we are meant to gather again..we will!
autumn newsletter out in November for circle members.
Om shanti shanti shanti...Peace Peace Peace

Enjoy the song below which is filled with Light!  Look at you tube if the link does not work here.

KITE SONG  Patty Griffin

 

"http://www.youtube.com/embed/Q1cmzoKKHwU" 

 

Full Moon uk

As the weather changes here in the UK from a very pleasant, sunny summer to a beautiful autumn freshness and changing colours in nature; I sit and wonder at "what is".   The world is so hard for many of our brothers and sisters and it can make us feel so sad and helpless at what little we can do to change their lives when our lives are so fortunate.  Being grateful is at least a start and compassion is a gift to all . Watching the programme last night with Brian Cox on TV was heartening.   Seeing how we all came from beginnings in Ethiopia and how we are therefore all related to one another regardless of colour, language, culture, religion etc....gives further affirmation to the yoga creed that "we are all one".   I trust that people now have learnt to see beyond the propaganda and nationalistic hype that abounds in all the media and to listen rather to their hearts.  People are the same and have the same basic needs. When these are not met then some will eventually become what is termed 'extreme'.   How would we re-act if we had their lives, I wonder?  Practise tolerance and kindness and be forgiving of those who cannot do this anymore after years of abuse and terror.   If we join them in their hatred then there is no end except extinction.  
I wish you all courage to stay firm in the conviction  that all will be well and we do not need to strive to compete or defend ourselves.  We are protected and we are eternal.  Our actions will be judged and karma will balance all in time.

Sunday 21st September International Peace Day

I wish you all a peaceful sunday filled with beauty.  Lift up into the Light like the pond flowers whose roots are deep in the mud and grime but yet they fill our lives with scent and colour as they reach up into the Light.
Good example to follow!

Who is watching who?

Our little friend sat with us by the pond and watched the world go by.   Find your spot and see how still you can be.

Gathering

Wow.  What a wonderful circle under the hornbeams in Bushy Park.  A little drizzle as we walked in silence with our peace mantra and then the sun broke through the canopy of leaves and we danced the Four Corners  in the dappled light.  Vibrant Greens helped us open the heart chakra with the lotus mudra..
Oms vibrated through the air and the birds joined in!   Our circle of ten was joined, I know,. by many more yogis who could not attend this time.  Thanks for the donations to Medecins sans frontieres and I trust others will donate on their site as well.  They are truly helping those in desperate need and with little thought of their own safety.  Real Love.

Hurricane/rain check/full moon

Full Moon 10.8.2014 which will be bigger than usual as it is closer to the earth tonight.   Lotus mudra will be powerful in the moonlight.   We hope you enjoyed the day and were not too disappointed we had to change the meeting to next week due to the heavy rain.  Some students will now be able to come and some will be away and miss the circle this time round.  All is as it is meant to be.   Breathe...relax...accept...........
Om shanti shanti  shanti

Summer time

Summer newsletter has been sent out so do let me know if you have not got your copy.   Enjoy the sunshine and breathe deeply in nature to get the most of the strong prana around to warm us and to keep in store for the end of this year.  We had a wonderful time in Hampshire.  Looking forward to re-starting some reading and meditation groups in the autumn and to our summer gathering next sunday.
We wish you all Peace and Love.

Always look on the bright side of Life

So many old souls sending out light in 2014 as this period of unrest and conflict still continues until the end of this year.  Dolly sang her big heart out and it was so BRIGHT and JOYOUS that we forgot the doom and gloom if we were open to receive.  The following quote came to me again and I share it with you now.

"Important encounters are planned by the souls long before the bodies see each other" . P.Coelho

I ask you to consider that important break ups or relationships that do not work are also chosen.  Sometimes we try to make it happen and it is such a trial and effort.  This is telling us that perhaps it is not meant to be.  Let it go and see where the flow takes you!

Ramadhan Fast and be still

The holy month of Ramadhan has begun for our Muslim bother and sisters and it is much needed in this age of Maya.  A time to fast and be still and see the beauty and unity in all people when we let go of conflict and differences.   We may not be able to spend time with people who are chaotic to our own energy but we can still love them and wish them well.  We can connect with the one essence in all of us and know that it is only ignorance that creates shameful acts that build up walls between communication.   We forget who we truly are......the one self......present in all.  Love yourself first and be a friend to your self.  That joy will then exude out of you and diffuse any anger or hate that comes your way.   Do not send out what you do not wish to get back.  Law of Karma.

See the child in all and the innocence and beauty of that pure love between mother and baby. that spreads to all the family and community.       Welcome to my first grandchild Linus Neville.   Let's create a world in which all our children can live in peace.   

Ramadhan prophecy for this month

- The Gates of Heaven are open and the Gates of Hell are shut - 

Summer Solstice

Beautiful sunny days to enjoy and be grateful for during this beginning of summer.  Are you living in the present and breathing in the prana which is abounding and energising all who accept the earth's gifts?

Here are a few photos to again marvel at the glory of Nature.

Freedom

"Real Freedom is to experience the true essence of One's being"

We are searching for freedom in external things.  Running away from difficult situations if we can and trying to find a way out if we are stuck and cannot flee.   When we do 'escape' and feel free it is destined to only be for a short while and then the sense of being trapped will reappear because we cannot escape from ourselves!   Therefore, connect with your true self which is always free and content.  How?  Meditation and finding places in nature filled will peace and beauty may help.  Sitting quietly and being aware of each moment as it is and accepting and being grateful for our lives.  Showing compassion to others whose lives are so much worse than our own and helping in whatever way we can to relieve their suffering. 

 Being Happy! What a joy it is to meet someone with a big smile even on a rainy day.   Is that you?

Thursday 22 May 2014 Election in the UK

Use you voice and vote!  Apathy and resignation are not attitudes conducive to action which is the yogic tradition and essential for change and transformation.  I know from personal experience that it is not easy for spiritually minded people to take to the political arena which can be very aggressive and uncomfortable for our peaceful natures.  However, we are all one and only by mixing and sharing ideas and values can we hope to extend peace and kindness into all area of society.  Be brave warriors and get active for our children and the world !

New Moon Rising 29 April

Beautiful Dartmoor from one of our past retreats in the middle of the moor!

New Moon is a time to release the old and embrace the new.  Clear out your cupboards and minds and take a fresh look at what is possible for you this lifetime.

Yogawise news now out for members.  Ask and it will be given!

Happiness - Henry David Thoreau

Happiness is like a butterfly;

the more you chase it,

the more it eludes you.

But if you turn your attention to other things,

it comes and sits softly on your shoulder.

Everything changes but Purusha remains unchanged

Yoga club members have all been sent the winter newsletter and I trust it encourages all to maintain or start their daily meditation practise.  Only by giving oursleves the space and time to look within can we live authentically and fully in this rapidly changing world. Poets have a way of putting truths so simply:

What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Yoga is now a popular 'activity' and the definiton of what yoga 'is' has become diverse according to whoever is offering it as a class or study group or whatever.   It has become even more important to choose wisely where one goes or what one reads to get an understanding of this wonderful spiritual practise.

It may be that yoga will return again into an individual seeker just sitting and watching the breath and where the breath leads him/her.  Reading the original works may offer an awareness although they too have commentaries or explanations of the meaning of the truths passed down from sages.  It takes great discipline and strength of mind to listen to our own intuition and interpretation of the insights.  It is wise to learn from great sages but it is also wise to be discerning.  They are many strong characters and good speakers who can impress us with their knowledge and expertise so that we let them take the responsibility for what we believe.   Belief is not enough.  We need to know.  To know deeply in our gut what is true and what is false.

We cannot blame another for following their 'orders'.   That time, that excuse has passed now.  We will be held accountable for our actions.  We always have been held accountable according to the law of Karma but it is so much more real now that we have so much given to us to learn and expand.  

Two decades ago I watched Fragile Earth on the TV showing the devastation in store and already occuring in our environment due to our disregard for nature and the vast majority of people were generally uninterested.  Now as areas flood or the earth quakes in anger a few more are listening.  Self interest may get things done in some areas but it is only the expansion of our minds to see 'all as one' that will get the bigger problems resolved which ironically will give us more sustainability in our little lives.

Therefore, meditation or even just quiet spaces in our lives to reflect are not a waste of time.  We do not have to be busy to feel we are living fully or relaxing to unwind to get busy again.   Expand awareness by setting aside regular times morning and evening to reflect on your day and then perhaps on a poem, or a sutra, or a teaching or some music which resounds in your deeper being.  Find a group who are seeking the same deeper meaning of life and share some of your insights to spark some more questions.  If you are still finding questions then you are expanding your awaresness.......you are fresh and innocent.  If you think you have found the answer then beware!  Ramana Maharshi advises us to always say "not this" when we get an answer.   We seem to want answers to feel safe.  However, we will only feel truly safe and free of fear when we do not attach to anything material and of this world because all here is of the nature to change.  There are no answers to the big things..only questions.   Answers create more doctrines and set beliefs which cause more devisions and conflicts...my truth is better than your truth..   My Yoga is better than your Yoga!

I wish you all a year of insightful living in each moment.

Om shanti, shanti, shanti,

Sammi

What is a reflection and what is real?