Happy Samhain as the wind blows the cobwebs away!

Today is Samhain:  All Hallow's Eve, so happy Sahmain everyone.  "Sahmain" means the end of the summer an d is traditionally celebrated on 31 October.  It is the end of the agricultural season and the beginning of the Celtic year.  Traditionally it is the festival of the dead when the majority of the herd were butchered, providing food for the winter months.  Slaughter, barren earth, and decreasing daylight made the concept of death an ever-present reality.  For this reason, Samhain has always been considered a time when the veil between the worlds was thin, a night of magic, charms and divination, when the dead could easily be contacted.

On a personal level this is the time to rest and re-evaluate your life and goals.  Rather appropriate time for retreating and consideration of dreams and hopes, perfect for those of you going to Herm this year.  Now is the time to get rid of any negativity or opposition that may surround your achievements or hinder future progress.  Keep the energy high, don't lose hope, keep believing in yourself, stay grounded, gracious, humble and mindful.

So happy Samhain one and all, I hope you enjoy the energy of the evening, the wind is certainly blowing away those cobwebs!!

xxxx

Retreating in Devon and following your dreams

Wow, what a beautiful full moon last night, so clear and bright, full of energy.  In fact as we build up to the end of the year, it seems there is a huge amount of energy out there, unleashed on the East coast of America over the night.  No doubt we too will soon experience the tail winds, blowing away yet more cobwebs and creating yet more unsettled weather...reflecting, I feel, the general unsettled feeling many of us are currently experiencing.

I just spent the last few days in wonderful Devon.  I am sure I am not the only one who feels the weight lift the minute I step onto UK soil.  As much as I love Guernsey, I find the energy can become rather claustrophobic and heavy at times and the speed of life is sometimes far too quick - creating a disharmony with the natural rhythm of life.  So it was with some relief that we landed in Exeter, not least because our flight was delayed by 4 hours and that was after prying myself from my warm bed at an early hour!!!

Due to said delay our time in Totnes with our friends was somewhat limited, but it did give me a taste for that wonderful alternative living, albeit trust fund hippies, all those wonderful organic fresh food shops, lovely vegetarian cafes and enlightening crystal shops.  Yes, I must admit I could not walk past said shop without purchasing a few crystals to add to the collection - tree agate and moss agate and some Amber resin!

So while E went off to spend the weekend with his best friend, his best friend's girlfriend, Vicki, and I headed off on retreat.  On the way to Rill Estate, the rural get away, we laughed a little about the contrast in our weekends ahead, Vicki and I going inwards and enjoying mornings of silence and the boys enjoying a more tamastic experience!

The retreat was wonderful, although dare I say that having now experienced two retreats in the UK, for those of us based in Guernsey, the Herm retreat really does offer the most wonderful environment and timetable for retreat.  While admittedly it was wonderful to be in the UK and be treated to a real rural experience, with all those green fields spreading as far as the eye can see, the travelling time does drain one a little of energy.

The retreat began on the Friday tea time and we got straight into the practice, 2.5 hours so we had plenty of time for a lovely relaxation.  We were fed lovely vegan meals, that evening was a vegetable stew with potato wedges and kale, followed by chai and home made oat biscuits.  Then it was bed!  The rooms were located around a courtyard with access from outside, not particularly large but thankfully lovely underfloor heating because it got rather cold over the weekend!

Saturday morning was a shock to the system with a 6.20am wake up call, the clanging of the bells, not a gentle awakening as I would normally encourage on a Saturday morning.  Still the stars were shining brightly overhead as I walked to class and it was rather lovely to stay in silence until breakfast, and in fact I would have stayed in silence until lunchtime as there is something rather special about being silent.

We sat and meditated before stretching and doing some standing kriyas, which I have not experienced like that before, and another relaxation.  Breakfast was a help yourself affair of porridge, cereals, fruit, breads and cheese.  As class was following shortly afterwards I kept this light!  So the next class followed at 10.30am and this was a further 2 hours or so of practice and another relaxation.  I think this is often the most powerful part of these weekend retreats, the fact that you do end up relaxing more than you would do normally - proper relaxing too, none of this tv watching!

Vicki and I wandered around the estate that afternoon, taking in the views and the wonderful sunshine, oh how wonderful to feel so free and to dream about owning a centre like this one day!! The afternoon class was more of a workshop with an opportunity for questions before some Qi Gong and massaging your partner!!  Evening dinner of a lovely light vegetarian curry with rice and dahl followed by raw chocolate, eaten with caution for it has the ability to wire for the whole evening!

That evening we enjoyed some Kirtan, where we sat together in a circle in the Yoga studio and were led by a visiting kirtan man in some chanting of bhajans and mantra.  I was tired and the energy lacked something, but it was wonderful to chant with others, even if the Gayatri mantra was a little overlooked.  Bed was welcomed!

Sunday morning we gained an hour with the clocks changing, not that it felt like it, after having such a late night the one before.  Still the sun was rising when I walked to class for another meditation session, asana practice and some more standing kriyas.  Phew!  Breakfast and reading before the final class, a further 2 hour asana practice, rather hardcore so that I was aching yesterday!  Lunch of a wonderful butternut squash, carrot, orange and ginger soup and home made hummus and salads and breads.  Yum! And the time to go home.

During the retreat I re-read Paulo Coelho's book the Alchemist.  Funny actually as it has been catching my attention in my book shelf recently and someone mentioned on facebook that they had recently re-read it and found it incredibly inspiring, so I read it again and am so pleased I did. I would highly recommend that anyone who has a desire to live their dreams, reads it too.  There are many wonderful quotes, but one I really love is, "Everything that happens once can never happen again.  But everything that happens twice will surely happen a third time".

E and I spent the night and the next morning in Exeter.  I have many memories of being here when I was a child as my parents often led Duke of Edinburgh trips to Dartmoor and we would be come along with them.  It was my dream to go to Exeter University to study geography but sadly they didn't offer me a place - I will never forget that experience for it was the first time I was confronted with a "no" in terms of living one's dream.  And I found it interesting how much I have carried that with me over the years.

I guess the effect of the reflection on the weekend and the fact I was reading the Alchemist meant I did give some thought to how one's life is shaped.  The opportunities presented to us and the decisions we make and how these shape our lives and our experience of it.  What would have happened, I wonder, if I had carried through with the PhD, or gone and followed through with the place I finally gained to do a PGCE at Exeter, or if I had followed through with the law course I initially committed.  It is funny isn't it, all those branches taking me somewhere, but none of them felt as right as the decision did to do my Yoga teacher training, even though that is the least conforming and "status" of the other options.

Dreams, they are funny things.  I have lots of them and I sometimes get frustrated when I feel that I am not realising them.  And the Alchemist reminded me that everything happens when it is ready to happen, and it is God's will rather than our own will that makes dreams come true.  Sometimes we just have to get out the way.  Have the dream, make your own vision board putting the dream into pictures, remain focused, keep the energy high, be open to receiving (how often we don't feel we are worthy of receiving, but please be assured that the Universe is endless in abundance, you will never be taking from anyone else) and follow your heart.

Sounds so easy right?!  Actually it is incredible the energy that accompanies all this.  Ask and it is given...just not always in the way you may have imagined!!

In any event, being back in Exeter did make me think.  A lovely city with so many beautiful trees.  We manged a few hours of charity shopping, so much fun, I even found a Yoga book with some lovely vegetarian recipes.  I enjoyed an organic chai and the opportunity to visit yet another crystal shop investing in Calcite, Amazonite and some Australian jasper.  Such a joy, especially as I was able to pop them out in the garden and allow them to cleanse under the full moon's energy last night!

So now back to the reality of daily life with additional clarity and a renewed sense of being put back in my place, simplicity of life and not getting sucked into the energy of always wanting more, of running around in circles and remembering that we are all one and all part of the oneness of the Universe's soul.

With so much gratitude and thanks to the Devon school of Yoga and Nige and Vicki and all those who made the weekend so special.

xxxxx

Beautiful sunset and living simply...Asteya

Wow wasn't the sunset amazing on Saturday?  I was fortunate to be down on the West coast at my parents place for dinner so was able to nip down to Vazon and enjoy the scene - such an incredible gift from nature, free too!

As it happened it got me thinking a little more about the third Yama (ethical principle of Yoga) called Asteya, that seems to be appearing in my life quite regularly at the moment.  In fact it is all a little strange.

You see it means non-stealing, taking only what is given freely and what we need in life, to live simply.  While this means not stealing in the literal sense of stealing goods and material objects, it also means not stealing people's time, energy, feeling, thoughts and ideas.  It is not looking outside ourselves for other people, things or situations to bring us happiness.  It is not attempting to take love, affection, attention and energy from those we love when it is not freely offered.  It is respecting the earth and not taking more than we need.  It is awareness of our actions on others and the enviornment in which we live.

I was reminded of this in  a Yoga class recently when a friend was commenting on her blue/pink mat combo and the teacher suggested that she may like to buy a pink eye pillow to match the pink mat, as she already has a blue eye pillow to match the blue mat.  It made me chuckle for here was a great example of the "living simply, not having more than we need".  However I did later reflect on the fact that if she had have purchased a pink eye pillow then she would have been helping support the ladies in India who make these products in the first place.  So it is not quite as black and white as it may first appear - or pink and blue!!

Still, I am all too aware of the taking of people's time and energy.  I suspect I have been doing this to people without knowing if for years, as a child we tend to take lots of our parnets time and energy, although it could be argued that it is always given.  In the holistic world we do talk of energy vampires, of people who take your energy, I am sure they don't do it consciously, but all the same, they drain your own resources as they try and support their role as victim in their own drama called life. 

And actually the strange thing was that I was running a wonderful Reiki 1 course yesterday here at home, and two of the ladies, on hearing the words "radiating an inner light..." introduced the rest of us to the concept of those who are radiators and those who are drains.  Those who radiate positive energy and those who drain you of energy.  Thereupon followed a discussion about the concept of radiators and drains, which I find fascinating to hear in these terms, and we concluded that we of course have the capacity to be both at times, the key is to be mindful, as always, in the moment, of the role you are playing.

Often we unconsciously assume a certain role in a relationship with a friend or colleague or whomever else, and our behaviour patterns are such that we do not realise the energetic effect of our interactions.  No doubt those of us on the course will all be wondering around for the next week wondering if we are being radiators or drains.  With their newly fired up Reiki hands, I doubt those lovely ladies and the one gentleman will be anything other than radiators of some super wonderful energy.

And so when one considers Asteya, one should be mindful too.  E was only saying to me recently that a trip to Nepal would be much welcomed at the moment, as a reminder of the joy in living simply.  I spent so much of my early thirties travelling and living out of a rucksack without a huge disposal income, that I had little choice but to live simply although typical, Westerner, I would still manage, in the course of a 2 month trip in Nepal, for example, to accumulate a lovely collection of jewellery and books, non of which I really needed, but that I felt would somehow add value to my life - and in fairness the jewellery I still wear and the books I still read.  but my point is that in comparison to my Nepali friends I still was not living as simply as life can be lived.

I recall one time where my bag was lost en route from Australia to Hawaii and so I spent my two days in Hawaii with my friends with only the clothes I was wearing.  It was actually a liberating experience for I had no choice about what to wear!!  [Mind you I wad delighted when it finally turned up however!] I can't help thinking that half our problems these days are too much choice and very much taking much more than we need and cluttering our lives with excess and lots of dead and wasted energy.

I am very aware of it living here in Guernsey, that I fall into that trap of feeling I always need more.  And E is right, that often a trip to somewhere like Nepal, living simply yourself, is a good reminder about what life is all about.  You have only to go into the Himalaya and meet the Nepali people who have so little and live so simply and yet are so happy.  It never ceases to amaze me and here we are in the West with all our money and all our issues and all our unhappiness.

Anyhow I have digressed.  Asteya then, taking what is given freely, living simply, not stealing.  Look at nature, it is so abundant, provides so much beauty, food to eat, water to drink, it is all free, how lucky are we?!!

Today nature is suffocating us with thick fog.  It is funny, we have had the crazy rain cleansing the Earth (and us perhaps), and then the strong winds blowing away the cobwebs (and within us too) and now we have the eery fog, quietening things down a little (and causing chaos for all the half term travellers but that is another story) and no doubt when it clears we will have a period of clarity and ease...especially if the predicted warmer temperatures last a few days.  So go enjoy, perfect temperatures to make the most of some sea swimming too!!

Thank you to the lovely Reiki group yesterday, so inspiring and uplifting, I feel great today!!

Love and light and much gratitude.

New moon, new starts

The weather has certainly helped to improve one's outlook this last few days.  The rain was intense last week and it felt to me almost like the planet was weeping, healing, cleansing, for now the skies have cleared, the new moon is upon us and autumn is in the air after the milder temperatures recently.

I have a feeling that nature is a little confused.  On Saturday E and I spent 4 hours walking on the cliffs from Saints to town and I could not help noticing that not only are the blackberries late this year but they are not very juicy or tasty at all.  I guess they are suffering from the lack of rain we had earlier this year.  There is still honey suckle on the cliffs, which seems a little late in the season and there are swallows swooping over the East coast, surely they should have flown South by now?

We managed a swim in the sea at Petit Bot Saturday and Sunday mornings.  Now that has changed.  It feels so cold already, no idea how we will manage to keep this going all year this year!  I like to think it is good for us, soothing for the skin, great for the internal organs and cleansing for the energy, but my gosh, it is a mental challenge! 

Sunday found me on the cliffs again, this time with my parents and walking from Petit Bot to the Gouffe and back again.  The cliffs are stunning, we are so lucky over here in Guernsey to have access to such beauty so easily.  Needless to say I slept very well both nights, they really do help to ground the energy.

What blew my mind yesterday was the incredible clouds, they just didn't seem real, amazing gifts from God up there in the sky, to say nothing of all the other gifts we overlook each day.  Still it all depends on our state of mind.  What we present to the world, is what we experience.  if we think we look ugly, we will present ugly to the world.  Better to see ourselves with a loving heart for then we experience the love of the world.  Well, we try!!

So here we are, mid October and still able to wear flipflops without too much bother.  Interesting to consider the winter we may have, I do find these changing weather patterns rather fascinating.  I am only thankful for our new log burning stove - the cat thinks she has died and gone to heaven lying in front of that on her fluffy cushion!

This weather really does encourage me to want to continue my retreating, it is so refreshing to be quieter after such an active summer.  Roll on another week (not that I am wishing my life away!) and I will be retreating once more this time in rural Devon, I can't wait, I don't think you can out a price on the opportunity to take yourself away from your life and spend time with like minded people in a quiet and spiritual environment.

So happy new moon everyone, time for new beginnings once more, letting go of the old to make way for the new, enjoy the weather and the calming energy of the moon.

With gratitude.

Yoga in the Cotswolds and breaking free

Well I have just returned from a two night Yoga retreat in Evesham in the beautiful Cotswolds.  It is kind of strange how we ended up there, Jackie and I and 22 North Londoners who all knew both teachers and even one another.  We knew no one and no one knew us!

Still there is always a novelty to Channel Islanders, regardless of the fact we were newbies to both teachers.  Arriving late on the Friday night didn't help.  It was one of those days.  For one reason or another we had had to take later flights and then I managed to leave my Yoga mat on the plane in Gatwick and then I realised that I hadn't actually charged my mobile telephone properly and I didn't have a charger with me.  I was actually quite amazed how easily I let this all go.  The mat was a new one to which I felt absolutely no attachment other than the wasted money I had spent.  Funny that, if it has been my older mat that has travelled around the world with me a few times I may have been a little more concerned, and that in itself is slightly disconcerting, it is only a mat, after all.

Still it reminds me a little of the way we get attached to where we place our mats in a given studio space.  Personally I like to move around and shake things up a little, some days I crave the quieter back corner and other days I like to be right up close and personal.  I have noticed in class that some people always take the same spot, and other people recognise that space as so and so's spot.  We get attached to the strangest things!

As for the phone.  After asking one lady if she had a similar charger and discovering it was the same make but a different size, I decided my energy was probably best spent focusing on my practice rather than on who may possibly have a charger I could borrow.  And in any event it was really rather liberating not having the ability to send or receive texts, nor any option whatsoever for the internet, hoorah, no emails all weekend!!

We were staying at Holland House, a wonderful 17th century building, now used as a retreat centre, sensitive to nature and its impact on the environment.  Set in 3 acres of stunning gardens, it is a wonderful spot, very peaceful and easy going, you can make teas and coffees as you choose and all the "shops" work on a trusting basis, a little like the honesty vegetable boxes back here in Guernsey.  No locks on the doors too.  I like that approach to life.

The Yoga was gentle, well gentle compared to my usual style of both practice and teaching.  So gentle that at times I really had to make a concerted effort to stay focused as I gently lifted my arm above my head on a long inhale and released it on a long exhale.  There is of course much benefit to this approach.  Not only is it accessible to all ages (and I shall come to that later) but it also makes one critically aware of the manicness of one's thoughts and racing mind, which eased considerably over the weekend, so that all the "stuff" has come up and come out, in a healing and gentle manner.

I was by far the youngest and Jackie too. This was interesting because I have never spent time with a group of Yogis who have been practicing (and indeed teaching) Yoga for so long.  The majority had been practicing for 20 odd years, if not more, and some teaching for as long too.  Incredible.  Grounding actually.  This was Yoga away from the modern day commercialism, back to its roots, of church halls and leotards, or people really dedicated at a time when Yoga was not deemed cool.  I like that.  I have been considering recently how Yoga has been spun out of control.  Too commercial, too exercise-based, too not real, an illusion of all its own, which is so ironic seeing as it is meant to be lifting the illusion from us.

Many of the women on the Yoga course were not your stereotypical looking Yoginis, no magazine-perfect Yoga body and no commercial Yoga branded clothes on display.  What a relief.  These days there is so much pressure to look a certain way, to have the perfect weight, to wear the perfect clothes, so that all this approach does is to sink us further into the illusion of what life should be, for a Yogi, both on and off the mat.  It is all rubbish as ever, marketing, a scam.  Yoga is there to help us to move energy, to help us deal with life's challenges in a more balanced, centred and grounded way, and essentially, the physical practice is designed for us to be able to prepare our body for sitting, not least in terms of physical comfort for sitting, but also so one is free from dis-ease and can comfortably sit and meditate and seek some further inner peace and perhaps moments of profound awakening, and heck, maybe some bliss.

Of course there is more to it than that.  The very physical  movement demanded by Yoga poses coupled with the breath, NEVER underestimate the power of the breath, have benefits in themselves, aside from just preparing the body for sitting.  I can't imagine a life without conscious movement and conscious breathing, I am sure I would clog up on the inside!  But I have felt a definitive shift within myself recently, that the commercial side has done Yoga absolutely no favours.  Essentially Yoga cannot be bought, anymore than it can be sold.  Yes, of course, we can buy into the idea of Yoga, but really and truly to experience any benefits its does not matter what clothes you are wearing, how much your mat cost, it matters only that you practice week by week, month by month, year by year.  I think it was Pattabhi Jois who said, "practice and all will come".  That is truly the gift of Yoga, the doing and the non-doing.

Anyhow I truly enjoyed the weekend, I learnt some things about the body, about my practice, which I can help others to learn too, and I experienced the manicness of my and witnessed the manner in which it slowed down, with the breath, over the weekend.  Really quite amazing.

The weatehr was an utter delight.  We even managed Yoga in the gardens on Saturday afternoon, what a joy in October to be practising in the sun shine (I am of course now covered in midge bites!).

So to Judy and Richard, Tasmai Shree Gurave Namah, and to Jackie, thank you.

With love and gratitude to all.

xx

Lihou Island and Yoga fun

So the full moon came and went and despite the predicted emotional turbulence, I came away unscathed, although my allergies did get worse.  Funny how that happens, release comes in so many ways.

It was beautiful weekend all in all, lots of Yoga and outdoor fun.  Saturday we managed an early morning swim at Petit Bot in the sun shine, before I enjoyed a very grounding (my poor legs hurt the next day) Yoga class with Sheila that no doubt helped me stay grounded during the full moon energy, before a wonderful chanting class with visiting Fiona in the afternoon.  I just love these chanting classes, they always pick me up somehow.

This session we were introduced to the peace prayer, although actually I have been chanting it for a long time now as I picked it up from Devika in Nepal and learnt it from listening to her chant it twice a day at the start and end of Yoga classes.  Funny to see it written down and to discover that perhaps I have not been pronouncing some of the Sanksrit as I should have done.  Oh well, while the vibration of the voiced word may not be there, the intention has always existed so perhaps the effect has been the same.  Who knows.  It is a beautiful chant however it is pronounced.

Saturday night the folks came for dinner and I ended up cooking a vegetarian curry as I figured that was far more nourishing than home made pizza.  It was a fun night as it always is when the folks are involved, we managed to skype my brother in Australia too and catch sight of my niece in Byron.  If only it wasn't so far away...

Sunday morning found us in the sea again before I attended a Yoga course with Fiona, all about using Yoga to help with insomnia - in terms of reducing one's insomnia, rather than creating it!!  A fascinating course and I certainly floated out at the end and slept incredibly well on Sunday night and ever since.  In fact if anything it unleashed the inherent tiredness within me and so all I now want to do is sleep.  Not a bad thing perhaps, sleep is so underated in terms of how it helps us to heal and feel so much better.

In the afternoon we pottered across to Lihou with Ewan's Mum and caught up with a few of the people with whom we did the 3 Peaks who were helping out serving tea and cakes in the house.  I absolutely love this Island, it just allows you the opportunity to feel that you are getting away from it all.  The light is quite incredible, so too the rock formations and all that wonderful bird life.

E's Mum came for dinner that evening, so it really was a weekend of family, especially as we had spent Friday night with his sister and brother-in-law.  Still I do love spending time with family, quite a shift from when I was younger and I would do all I could to avoid family get togethers.  Times change, thankfully, I cannot imagine a life without the close proximity of family.

And so now the wind has calmed a little and the rain has stopped falling, at least for a few days, Autumn is really here and how I love the smell and the colour changes.  It really does feel like it is time to retreat, eating lots of nourishing and warming soups and being gentle with oneself.  I even got the sea salts out yesterday, time to cleanse the energy in a sea salted bath, and perhaps time to cleanse the liver with a castor oil compress.  Oh the fun to be had!!

Enjoy the week on and off the mat...

xx