The sun is shining, hoorah

The sun has got its hat on, the sun is out today, the sun has got its hat on and it is coming out to play...hoorah!!!

What a difference it makes when the sun is shining as it has done the last few days.  Incredible, what a joy after so much miserable weather over the last few months.  Long may it last...

Which brings me on to my recent processing, "Aparigraha" the fifth Yama, or ethical principle of Yoga, the first limb of Patanjali's eightfold path.

Yama originally meant "bridle" or "rein" and Patanjali used it to describe a restraint that we wilingly and joyfully place on ourselves to focus our efforts, the way a rein allows a rider to guide his horse in the direction he would like to go.  Thus, in this context, self-restraint becomes a positive force in our lives, a self-discipline that can help us to fulfill our life purpose.

"Aparigraha" means non-greed, non-possessiveness, or non-hoarding, not coveting what isn't ours.  Aparigraha is the greed that is rooted in jealousy, that desire to be what someone else is, or to have what someone else has.  Also, it is the concept of grasping for what we don't have and hoarding what we do have.  Clinging on, which can cause so much stress as we are fearful of losing what we have, be that possessions or money. 

It is an interesting Yama to work with.  To be able to stand back and see what we grasp for and to witness how this grasping does indeed cause stress and pain.  Better then to focus our energy and our life on things that cannot be lost.  This could include your actions from good intentions or love, putting an energy into the world that cannot be lost.  The work you put into improving yourself, quietening your mind with Yoga and meditation, learning how to live and act in accordance with your true self, embracing your spiritual journey and finding your own inner true self.  This all brings a whole new perspective to non-greed and non-hoarding.  Love it!!

So I guess the challenge this week is not getting too attached to this weather, not hoarding the sunshine, tempting though that is!!

How wonderful though, E and I managed a 3 hour cliff walk on Saturday afternoon and it really was so beautiful, I would not have wanted to have been anywhere else, the wonderful cliffs, the bright blue sea, views of the other Channel Islands, a kestrel catching a small shrew.  Lucky us!!  Sunday we managed a bike ride through the lanes around the airport and that was pretty stunning too, so many daffodils, a true gift from God, brightening our souls when they have had quite enough of the darkness of the winter months.  So too the snow drops and the beautiful violets and primroses, the crocuses and all the birds singing and pairing up.

Oh yes spring is springing and I cannot wait for the Yoga & Wellbeing retreat o Herm with the lighter mornings and evenings and all those Spring flowers and the Island all to ourselves.  Lucky us!!

So I hope everyone has a wonderful week and enjoys what we have while it is here.

With love and gratitude.

xxx

Spread the love!

Happy Valentine's Day.

Today is indeed the day of love, although to be fair, every day is the day of love, if it is approached with a loving heart.

I held a beautiful loving kindness Yoga session on Sunday to soothe the soul and nourish the heart.  I am biased of course, I led it, but really, it was incredible simply because of the combined energy of everyone in the group and the fact I got to read out some of my favourite poems - now those really do soothe the soul and nourish the heart.  We breathed, we moved, we chanted, we sat, we did a Metta meditation, sending to love to those we like and those we don't like, we relaxed and we enjoyed a wonderfully healing Yoga Nidra.  Bliss.

It was well timed actually, a new moon and a powerful one at that.  Few what weather, a morning of rain and yet more rain cleared for a brief hour in the afternoon so that E and I were able to get out and enjoy some fresh air and nature.  hoorah for the daffodils, lifting spirits on an otherwise dull day.

Monday dawned bright too, wonderful day, the sun actually shone, amazing how that makes everyone feel so much better.  Needless to say it did not last, we were being teased. And after going for a rather quick dip in the sea on Tuesday I can confirm that the sea is still winter cold!  Still I take great comfort in the fact that the a particular duck (can't remember which one) has arrived in Lihou, a duck that arrives each Spring.  Hoorah.  Spring is indeed on its way.  I cannot wait to really embrace its energy with all those Spring flowers on the Herm annual Yoga & Wellbeing retreat, fabulous!!!! 

I have been very humbled by the commitment of students to class this year, incredible, I am truly watching people's practice's transform before my very eyes.  Wonderful.  The more we practice, the more peace we create, both inside and outside with our energy vibrating at a purer and higher pitch, so the world too resonates on a different, more peaceful and purer frequency.  If only we all practiced Yoga the whole world over.

Anyhow, being Valentine's Day, I thought I would share with you a beautiful poem of Rumi:

Looking for your face

From the beginning of my life
I have been looking for your face
but today I have seen it.

Today I have seen
 the charm, the beauty,
the unfathomable grace
of the face
that I was looking for

Today I have found you
and those who laughed
and scorned me yesterday
are sorry that they were not looking
as I did

I am bewildered by the magnificence
of your beauty
and wish to see you
with a hundred eyes

My heart has burned with passion
and has searched forever
for this wondrous beauty
that I now behold

I am ashamed
to call this love human
and afraid of God
to call it divine

Your fragrant breath
like the morning breeze
has come to the stillness of the garden
You have breathed new life into me
I have become your sunshine
and also your shadow

My soul is screaming in ecstasy
Every fibre of my being
is in love with you

Your effulgence
has lit a fire in my heart
and you have made radiant
for me
the earth and sky

My arrow of love
has arrived at the target
I am in the house of mercy
and my heart
is a place of prayer.

Have a lovely day. spread the love, enjoy the sunshine.

With love and gratitude,

Emma xx

The razor bill!!

Phew that was a busy, busy week, lots of Yoga and Reiki. Absolutely loving it, learning so much from all my students, and Reiki clients, thank you to everyone who has been spreading light and sharing energy.  To say I am inspired is an understatement, Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti.

I got rather inspired by a friend on facebook on Friday.  A bird watcher.  For some reason we entered into a conversation (amazing how one spends a Friday night these days) and he seems to think that we may have seen a short eared brown owl on a recent walk.  Wow.  This led to me, as these things do, joining the facebook Guernsey bird club, which led me to seeing an entry that there are razorbills in the harbour at the moment.  So Saturday late afternoon found us at the model yacht pond attempting to see said razorbills but to no avail.  I was very keen, the only one I have ever seen was found dead on the beach on Lihou.

So Sunday I dragged E back down to the model yacht pond with me and this time, hoorah, a razorbill.  Not easy to photograph, not least due to his distance from me, but also the fact that he kept going under water.  Who said this bird watching malarkey was easy!!!  Poor E, he tried to look interested!!

Anyhow we walked out to the lighthouse at the end of the pier at Castle Cornet, probably the second time I have ever walked out here in my life, silly really, as does provide a different perspective of time.  At the end were a group of fishermen.  This really got me thinking because they must stand here, in the cold and wind and rain, for hours at a time, patiently waiting for a fish to bite.  I can imagine that this is very pleasing for the heart and soul.  Not least being subject to nature and the elements but also the meditative nature of the staring out to sea,of being quiet and still and patient.  Pretty amazing really.

I have to say that daily meditation has been one of the single most beneficial things I have experienced.  It has become such a part of my life now that it is difficult to remember how different things were before.  Not easy at times, but I would definitely encourage people to find a meditative practice, even for 10 minutes a day.  Taking that time out to simply focus on your breath, or a mantra for example, can be so beneficial in centering, calming and strengthening the mind.  Of course chanting has so many benefits, one of which is to get you to a state of mind where you simply want to sit,  mind you the same could be said of asana and pranayama, they all play a role in leading you to that stillness, as indeed they were intended all those thousands of years ago.

It is really all part of the process however and often you need to focus on asana for a few years before the body, mind and soul are ready for you to sit and be still.  Other people begin with meditation and later find asana.  Everyone is different and the key is not to force yourself to do something for which you are not ready.  I know all about that one, the forcing to be more "yogic" or more "pure" whatever that is, all you actually end up doing is harming yourself.  It is all about mindfulness and being aware, therefore, of treating yourself with respect, compassion and kindness.

Anyhow, I am very much looking forward to this Sunday's Loving kindness session where we will experience a combination of pranayama, chanting, maitri meditation, asana and a lovely Yoga Nidra to calm, centre, nourish and increase that sense of kindness and compassion.  All in time for Valentine's week!!  That is of course if we do not get blown away first, no doubt the effects of the New moon, reflective of the strong energies of anger, frustration and irritation being released at the moment.  So keep smiling, it is all part of the process!!!

Love and light and much gratitude,

xxx