Full moon, full moon

It was the full moon yesterday and what a joy it was to watch it rising before I taught the first evening Yoga class of the Year.

Thank you to all of you who made the class, I believe we had a record number in the room, so much so that we had the windows and door open, unheard of in January usually, what with all this mild weather.

After class I joined Chris and Hayley for a full moon get together, lovely food, great company and the full moon energy, I slept better than I have done all week last night...phew, I hadn't quite appreciated what an "up in the air" start it has been to the new year, everything getting jumbled up and now coming down to land again!

Back at home I stood in the garden under the moon's rays, a wolfing moon last night, and enjoyed the clear skies and the stars shining over head. You can't help but feel the "pick up" of energy and delight in the wonder of nature's creation.

This weather continues to fascinate me. There are primroses growing on the hedgerow on the walk into town from here. And the daffodils are coming out in the front garden, and still there are holly berries on the holly tree. It is all a reminder to go with the flow and adapt to the conditions presented.

Anyhow enough of my waffle, happy practising everyone.

xx

Welcome Willow, my beautiful niece xxxxxx

What a way to start the New Year, all those winds and in the midst of the chaos becoming an auntie! A massive congratulations to my brother, Ross, and his partner, Star, who have brought my beautiful niece, Willow Ash, into the world on 5th January in the utopia that is Byron Bay, Australia.

It is funny how life works. I first visited Byron in my mid twenties on my first trip to Australia, a trip that I had dreamt about since I was 10 years old. I didn't know it at that time, when I was 10 that is, but Australia has played such a pivotal role in my life...I guess on some level the calling was there.

So my friend Hayley and I went out to Australia for 2.5 weeks and for some reason or another noticed Byron in the Lonely Planet and made a trip from Sydney. I was a finance girl back then but was blown away by the alternative and hippy side to life in Byron. We indulged in tarot card readings and made the most of the sunshine. Back then I was not really aware of Yoga.

I became aware a few years later when I was working in Auckland and came across a Yoga studio and got as far as the front door before I got scared away thinking I wasn't flexible enough to attend the class. A year later and I found myself in Freemantle near Perth, Australia, with my brother, and I came across an alternative shop and brought my first meditation book.

Roll on a year later and after running the London Marathon, I knew I needed to do something to release my aching body and someone mentioned Yoga and so with my brother making sure I went in the door this time, the two of us began our Yoga journey together in St Martins hall here in Guernsey with the wonderful Ness. I was hooked immediately and started enticing friends along with me so that Vicki started attending (and has since gone on to train as a yoga teacher) and Claire and a plethora of other friends.

A year later, when I was 29 and frustrated by my finance life, I decided all I wanted to do was take time out to travel, practice Yoga and write about it. This timing coincided with Ross deciding he too wanted to take a break from his pressured IT job on Guernsey so we sold our house and while he went off to Australia with his girlfriend at that time, I decided to go out to Australia on my own. And strangely while I didn't really appreciate that Byron was a bit of a Yoga utopia at that time, I knew I needed to go there and the Yoga presented itself.

Ross joined me and while I immersed myself in the Yoga scene (strangely with John Ogilvie who was married to a Guernsey lady (and more strangely I now live next to her brother here in Guernsey!) at a studio right next to the hostel I was staying) while Ross immersed himself in the wonderful surf that Byron offers. We both started surfing when I was 14 and he was 12, our Dad has been a keen surfer in his earlier years and for his 40th Mum had bought him a longboard and as he got back into surfing both Ross and I got into it too.

A year later and I found myself back in Byron, for 5 months this time, undertaking my Yoga teacher training with the wonderfully inspiring Lance Schuler and doing a brief apprenticeship with John. By this time Ross was living with one of our mutual friends (whose Mum was my Mum's best friend at University and who is one of my best friends as life happens) and working in London completely at a loose end having broken up with his girlfriend and not really knowing what to do next.

I will never forget the conversation I had with him one day, telling him to just come out and join me in Byron. Of course he was resistant at the time, couldn't see the wood through the trees but I was in that world where everything is possible. As it happened our surrogate little sister, Claire, (also a surfer who grew up with us in the same clos here in Guernsey) was coming out to join me for 6 weeks over Christmas in between jobs and I suspect this swung it for Ross.

So the three of us lived together in a room in the hostel at Belongil on the beach in Byron enjoying the Yoga, the surfing and the alternative life generally. My best friend, Lou, and her husband Dave were travelling around the world at that time and joined us in Byron for a few weeks. What utter bliss, my most favourite people in the world (bar my folks) all together in Byron enjoying its energy.

However all good things must come to an end. By this time I was cleaning in the hostel to cover my accommodation costs and while a part of me wanted to stay in Byron another part was homesick for Guernsey. A combination of the wake-up call of Lance telling me to go home and start teaching and my Dad also saying the same thing made me realise it was time to move on.

So I followed Claire back to Guernsey and while she married her South African husband I started Be inspired and began my Yoga teaching journey. Ross stayed in Byron and got back into Yoga. In fact so much so that he signed up for a Yoga teacher training course with John, which Star had also signed up to!

I went to visit him for 6 weeks after his course and stayed with him in the hostel where he was still living and now working himself. I met Star that trip too. Little did I know that they would end up getting together and while he did come home for a few months and worked with Dad and I setting up Spearpoint Limited, an investment and wealth management company where I am currently working again (plus my friend and fellow Yoga teacher Vicki, too, many coincidences!), he returned to Byron and spent a few years teaching Yoga and working in a cafe.

I actually went out again two and a half years ago to visit Ross and meet my friend Hayley, with whom I had initially visited Byron before we travelled onto Hawaii and from there San Francisco with Hannah, my best friend with whom Ross had lived in London. Far too many connections and coincidences!) In any event Ross and Star were very settled by then, both teaching Yoga at John's centre and enjoying their life in Byron together. Very much together and how lovely for me to have a connection with an Australian kindred spirit, wiccan, yogic, female and my brother...

A year later they both came to Guernsey with Star's daughter, Adena, after travelling through Asia and visiting all the friends I have made in Nepal (where I have spent many months, my parents visiting too) and now here they are back in Byron, Ross now working back in IT in Brisbane and Star teaching pregnancy Yoga and trained as a doula, and creating the wonderful Willow.

I am not sure the reason I feel to write all this, other than to put in words how life is full of such incredible connections. Plus of course how Yoga has shaped my life and that of Star and Ross both on and indeed off the mat in many places around the world. I believe the incredible healing energy of Byron plays a role in all of this - I was once told that Byron (the most easterly point in mainland Australia) was the place that many women went to give birth...it has that energy of healing and creation, which perhaps is the reason so many people feel drawn to visit. It is a bubble, but I just wish it wasn't so far away!

Still one adjusts to life lived beyond time and space. My best friends are currently spread all over the world. Hayley is now living in Perth, Australia, Hannah in New York, Lou in Edinburgh and my other lovely friend, Sam, is in Canada. So it means I have many opportunities to travel the world to see those I love.

So while I am going to New York to visit Hannah later in the month and indulge in some wonderful New York yoga (second time in a year, how lucky am I?!) I have to wait until March to cuddle Willow when my parents get to visit Byron for the first time and I take Ewan with me, his second visit as it strangely happens!

So you see Yoga offers so much potential beyond one's daily asana practise on the mat. It shapes our lives. It provides us with the ability to cope with so much change. I am forever indebted for the divine guidance that has shaped, and continues to shape, my life and the lives of those around me. We have all been touched by its magic and that of Reiki too of course.

And onto Reiki. Over the last few days with the winds blowing madly outside I have channelled Reiki to a few clients and whether it is complete coincidence or not (not that I believe in coincidences, they are perhaps nudges from the Universe)every client has bee totally ungrounded. It feels to me like the wind has uprooted all of us, a little like so many trees, so that we are all hanging in the air. And now it is calming we are all coming back to land with all the cobwebs blown away - I see it in the events of people's lives around me, mine included, it has been so unsettling and yet so cleansing...in the long run, believe me. This is the year of reckoning, the year of change...we have been told this for a few years now, now we have to accept the changes...

But I have to say I find this whole weather thing fascinating. A French student was telling me how the French Mistral sends people mad so that suicide rates increase and another told me how you have dog days in New York where it gets so hot and the beer can't quite quench the thirst and the wife is waffling on in your ear and the domestic violence rates increase...Little do we realise how the elements are affecting our behaviour...

So it is the first full moon of the year on Monday. I am praying for clear weather to embrace her energy and be mesmerised by her glory and cleanse my crystals! It is also an ormer tide here on Guernsey too, but I can't bring myself to get involved in that, love the concept of being in the elements but I get bored of the cold easily and can't kill the poor things in any event. Still I am looking forward to celebrating the full moon with Chris and Hayley after Yoga that evening.

So sit tight everyone, enjoy the moment, be kind to yourself and the world, pray, live presently and enjoy what you have without worrying about what you don't have.

As Snowpatrol sing, "we are the light, we are the light, we are the light, we are the light...".

I love you Ross. And I am so incredibly honoured to be Willow's Godmother, I shall do all I can to support her spiritual development. Love to you too Star, for making my brother so happy and spreading the light a little further. xx

So let's all keep practicing and dreaming and letting the Yogic and Reiki energy flow.

xxxx

A storming way to start the New Year!

Happy New Year to everyone, I hope this year continues to bring much joy, peace, laughter, love and light!

Ewan and I celebrated the New Year in France with our friends Tessa and Carl, their children and a few of their friends on their farm in Normandy.

It was a wonderful way to end 2011 and begin 2012. Admittedly the ferry crossings were not their best, delayed on the way there so we didn't arrive into the farm until a couple of minutes before midnight (just in time to spend the last few minutes of Carl's birthday with him!) and delayed significantly on the way home so that we actually had a few unexpected hours in Jersey!

Still all good fun and an incredibly relaxing and laid back way to start what I hope will be a relaxing year ahead. While everyone went off to visit puppies on the morning of New Year's Eve, I was fortunate to enjoy an hour or so in the farmhouse on my own where it was just so beautifully quiet, practicing Yoga on my mat in front of wonderful views of the farm land and the rolling green landscape punctuated with trees in the distance. Bliss.



I meditated on those aspects of 2011 I wanted to leave behind as well as considering my intentions for the year ahead. I did my own Reiki burning bowl ceremony, improvised of course, the paper went up in the log burning fire rather than a bowl itself, but the intention and energy was still there and I look forward to manifesting those intetions during the New Year. They say this is the Year of reckoning after all.

Not that this means the end of the world per se, more so the end of the world as it is currently lived - a shift in attitude threfore, which will make life feel different, but not in a fearful way. I mean we have started to see this already with the whole financial crisis and our attitude to debt changing. Plus of course the fact so many of us are going back to basics, and not just us alternative hippy yogi types, but society generally. So many now grow their own veg and recycle in their homes, let alone have some consideration to how they spend their money these days. I guess it is simply a paradigm shift in our perception of life...I find it very exciting and shall be monitoring it closely over the year ahead.


So we celebrated New Year in the farmhouse, both the French New Year and the British one too! We had brought lobsters, crab and some Guernsey bread with us and Tessa had arranged a huge seafood platter plus her homemade goat's cheese with caviar and smoked salmon and then others brought food too, so it was one big fest washed down with lots of bubbles. Bliss!! I thoroughly enjoyed muyself, despite feeling a little tired the next day!!

New Year's Day and it was still raining. Talk about cleansing!! We managed a walk during a brief break from the rain and went to visit one of the river's near to where Tessa and Carl live - wow, it was certainly flowing with some power and actually the next day when we were driving back to St Malo, we noticed quite a bit of flooding around the river in Ducey. Seems like the heavens have opened the way into New Year.


We managed to fit in some reading time, which I love, a couple of inspiring Yoga magazines and this great book Carl has on Yoga so that I was able to be led by anopther during my New Year self practice. I am reading a Yoga therapy book in the Desikachar tradition, fascinating stuff, very inspiring, as I love to try new approaches to my practice but am limited somewhat in access to teachers living on an Island, so I am always delighted to find books which become my teacher.

So now here we are back at home and now of course the winds, blowing away all those cobwebs and blowing us into the New Year!!

So a huge thank you to Tessa, Carl, Evie and Ollie for having us to stay and also to Ewan for looking after me on those stormy seas.

Happy New Year, may it be full of love, light, magic and miracles for all of us this year.

xxxxI

Our Lihou Christmas outing!

I hope you all enjoyed a wonderful Christmas. Mine was certainly special, spending it with family and enjoying a freezing cold swim at blustery Vazon on Christmas Day morning and then repeating the whole experience again at Cobo on Boxing Day with hundreds of other crazy Guerns!! You have to love the Guernsey winter swimming spirit - well done to my parents who ventured in on Christmas morning, the first time they have swam in the sea since Christmas last year!

It never ceases to amaze me that while I always think Christmas will be a restful break, it is far from restful making sure to spend time with as many family members as possible. Still that said, I very much enjoy the energy of Christmas, not so much the materialism, but the fact that it does encourage family to get together ans enjoy some quality family time. Not that that doesn't come with its issues, of course, there are always many needs to consider, but it can be a time of much joy and blessings.


Yesterday Ewan and I managed to make the most of the beautifully calm, crisp and bright day by cycling down to Lihou as the causeway closed and the sun set behind the Hanois lighthouse. Ewan loves to watch the tide closing the causeway, which always makes me a little nervous, because he insists on standing as far along it as he can and moving back towards Guernsey with the running tide. And my gosh, that tide certainly moves quickly! I don't know that I have ever watched it as closely as I did yesterday, with Ewan timing the movement of water.


I got scared eventually and started walking back towards L'Eree, stopping every so often to witness Ewan's movement along the causeway and also take in the incredible skies, with the moon rising, the sky a sun burnt amber and the stars starting to shine. Back at L'Eree I stopped and sat on the rocks and just listened to the elements, the sound of the sea and the birds as nightfall descended. Bliss. I haven't been able to do that for ages.


Ewan made it back safely, his feet a little wet, and we tested my new bike lights as we headed off in darkness along to Grandes Rocque to visit friends and then back towards home stopping at Le Fleur de Jardin to meet other friends visiting from Australia before heading uphill all the way home. Boy was I pleased to get into the house and give my poor body a break from all that cycling!!

So New Year is a matter of days away. All being well we should be in France enjoying nature on our friends' farm in Normandy. I can't wait. Let's just hope the weather is kind and the boat runs on time. This will be the first time for ages I haven't spent the New Year with Hayley in London doing our burning bowl ceremony, I might have to do it on my own this year!!! See http://www.reikiwebstore.com/ProductPage.cfm?ProductID=377&CategoryID=16 for more info.

Happy holidays!

xx

Happy Winter Solstice!

Today is Yule, a pre-Christian holiday celebrated on the winter solstice, which falls today this year. It is the true new year both astronomically and spiritually, where we see both the death and rebirth of the Sun God represented in the shortest day and longest night of the year. From this time on the sun grows in strength and power and changes direction (as seen from Earth) to move north again.

It actually occurred at 5.30am GMT. Apparently after dark, if you look toward the west you'll see Venus in the sign of Aquarius, and if you look toward the east you will see Jupiter in Taurus. Both are bright in the sky.

At this Solstice the Sun forms an exact trine (or flow of energy) with Jupiter, which is quite rare and is very good news! Jupiter is the planet of faith, of hope and abundance. It is the archetype of Father Christmas and gives blessings and grace to whatever it touches.

In the earthy sign of Taurus it wants to give us pleasure and beauty ans can offer a sense of sheer joy and gratitude of being alive. Apparently the Sun is also close to Pluto- God of the Underworld, which has been happening since 2008 when Pluto moved into Capricorn. Pluto is the Transformer, it destroys only to rebuild, just like the phoenix.

The Moon is in the sign of Scorpio, emphasizing this theme of deep transformation. So often this week I have heard the word "transformation" spoken by many.

The Sun is square to Uranus, which could lead to an overload of nervous energy-take time to slow down and meditate. I have noticed this in my own life today, so much mania. Thus it is essential to try and stay grounded - walk on the earth, practise some standing and balancing Yoga poses, eat some grounding food and breathe some fresh air!

Essentially Yule is the time to begin to think about what you want to accomplish in the months ahead. It is a time to outline the goals you wish to work toward. So now is a time to focus attention inward to allow your higher self, or spiritual side, time to clarify what needs to be done and which goals should be set.

I was fortunate to witness the light of the sun brightening the horizon as I began my morning Yoga practice, soon of course the clouds set in, but it was lovely to have the reminder that it is there...the light following the darkness again.

It was a joy to teach this morning - thank you to all of you who made this final class of the Year so special, on the Solstice with a practice intended to help us ground our energy, connect with the breath to turn inwards and a chakra balancing meditation to encourage balance on all levels.

Of course it has been a manic day. The excitement of Christmas, last minute pressured jobs in the office and that general sense of tiredness as the clock ticks closer to a much needed break.

I was fortunate to have the space to join my wonderful friend Christine for a simple winter solstice ritual, lighting 13 candles together to represent each planet and the nodes of the Moon, and speaking affirmations in the process. Wonderful spine shivering music played in the background as we sat in front of the glow of the 13 tealights set on the windowsill, a view of the trees and what would have been the setting sun, if it wasn't for the clouds (!) in the background. We read a reading each from Benedictus, so relevant and so touching that it made us both very present. It does indeed feel like it is transition time into new beginnings. Thank you Chris, I'll always remember our Solstice celebration, truly beautiful x

So happy solstice everyone. Enjoy the lighter days ahead!

xxxxxxx

I have given them to you in the order that they rise above the horizon at 5.30am on December 22nd.

Winter weather!

This weather is crazy! It feels like all the rain we haven't had this year has come this last week or so. Yuck! Mind you, on a more positive note, at least the ducks are happy, plus of course the reservoir over here in Guernsey should be getting full!!

Often I am away at this time of year, last year we were in Nepal, so it has been a bit of a shock to the system to witness the incredible darkness of the last week. I was practicing Yoga yesterday morning in the Yoga space and it felt like 4pm in the afternoon, I had to have the light on to be able to see my mat! Mind you all is not lost, it is the winter solstice next week and we should start to see a marginal increase in light again, hoorah!!

Sitting here in front of the lovely warm fire, I can hear the rain falling and the wind whipping around the outside of the house. There are severe weather warnings in place for the English Channel tonight, so it looks like we may be in for a bumpy night ahead. I find the storms rather exciting because they have so much energy and can create so much chaos and yet you get this incredible peace afterwards...like the old is blown away to make way for the new.


Talking of being blown away, E and I spent last weekend pine cone collecting. Not to be outdone by my parents who have found this great secret spot, E chanced on a spot somewhere else on the Island, which has now become our secret spot. It was so exciting to find all these pine cones, in fact I am excited about going again this weekend. We love burning pine cones on the fire, they have a lovely smell and really help to warm the room and there is something really satisfying about foraging in the wild!!


There was a beautiful full moon on Saturday and I managed to cleanse all my crystals under its shine. We went for a magical walk at Jerbourg on Sunday with Charles and Jane and E's Mum, all the way down to Divette (I think) next to Marble Bay, such lovely cute little bays, we were lucky to avoid the rain showers! I guess it is due to the weather, but I am always surprised how few people are on the cliffs on a Sunday, great for us as we get them to ourselves!

So time to count down to the winter solstice and all that offers by way of celebration.

xxxxxxx

The joy of London

E and I went to London to celebrate his birthday last weekend. We managed a quick swim in the sea at Petit Bot before we flew out...it was cold, it is certainly going to be a challenge to continue this swimming malarkey all through the winter months!

London was as wonderful as ever - incredibly hectic, noisy and busy so that I couldn't live there, but fun to visit for a weekend. On Friday the weather was bright and clear, albeit a touch cold, and we enjoyed fabulous views of the entire city from the London Eye - there are so many cranes in the city!! From there we walked all the way along South Bank to Tower Bridge. We actually walked along the side of the Thames for a bit, down on the "beach" with all its stones, pebbles and sea glass! Pretty grim water, but I must admit it does provide another experience of the city - I have never walked down there before.



We visited the Tower of London, not cheap but a first for both of us. I must admit I wasn't really that interested in the whole prisoner torturing stuff (pretty sick what they did to people, incredible that people can cause so much pain to others) but loved seeing the jewels, albeit that someone told me they are not the real ones - certainly looked real to me, so special all those crown jewels, lots of sparkles. We walked all the way back from the Tower, through Somerset House and along Pall Mall all the way back to Green Park and caught a tube onwards to Ealing where we were staying.

On Saturday E, our friend Charles with whom we were staying, and I, walked along to a Yoga class I had found in Ealing, not far from Charles' flat. It was actually held in the home of a lovely lady called Teresa, who is fortunate to have her own studio in a massive room in her house. I had emailed prior to our trip to check we could attend, yes no problem, mixed ability and mats available, but it is still always interesting turning up to classes for the first time, as you don't know the protocol - we could not locate the Yoga space initially, it was the smell of incense that finally gave it away!! I love that smell, feels like coming home.

It was one of the funniest and most inspiring and uplifting classes I have attended for some time. Teresa is wonderful - anyone living in Ealing please seek her out. E and I don't practice Yoga together that regularly now due to other commitments, so it is always quite a treat when we do get the opportunity, generally off-Island. Charles used to go to Bikram classes on a semi-regular basis but is not so aware of the flow of a vinyasa class and I must admit I did get the giggles as Teresa rushed over to help on a number of occasions.

She has a wonderful space, the incense, the music, her energy, I don't know, it just created a lovely ambiance. The class was strong in places and I learnt some new movements, which is always a joy as it means I have been able to share them with students in my own classes this week. E was very happy because at the end of the class Teresa asked him if he teaches Yoga! Clearly he has been taught well over the years, he is more than able with his own practice at home, occasionally I find him in the Yoga room releasing his piriformis in pigeon, or enjoying a headstand.

So the class put me on a big high, reminding me of the joy of practicing in a classroom environment and being led through a sequence without having to think what to practice next. I just wish I could do this more often in Guernsey but sadly, despite the number of teachers practicing on the Island, classes are not held 24-7 like they are - comparatively - in London or any other big cities in the world.


The rest of the weekend was fun. We drove through Richmond Park and delighted in the seeing the wild deer. We drove around a few little towns in Surrey looking at property. We went dancing, which was such great fun, hugely liberating and uplifting, energising too. We even managed a spot of shopping, Ealing has some great charity shops and E and I came away with a number of books and trinkets.

So all in all a fabulous trip away. Thank you to Teresa for her inspiration and to Charles for putting us up all weekend.

xxx