Williamstown Yoga Centre Newsletter - July 2009
Greetings and welcome to the second edition of our ‘new look’ Williamstown Yoga Centre e-mail newsletter. Previously, our newsletters were created manually and sent out via e-mail as an attachment. To create greater ease for you, our students and friends, we have now moved to a more automatic, on-line process. You are receiving this e-mail because you have indicated a willingness to receive updates and information from Williamstown Yoga Centre. If you wish to unsubscribe, please let your yoga teacher know, or e-mail Fiona: fiona_hyde@hotmail.com
We hope that everyone has been enjoying their yoga/creative dance classes this term. To help us determine the types of workshops and intensives you would be interested in attending in future, as well as to understand what it is about Williamstown Yoga Centre you love, we have decided to put together a ‘Student Survey’. When you arrive at the Centre over the next few weeks, we will ask that you please take a few minutes to complete the survey & place it in the ‘Survey Collection Box’ at the front desk. Once we have collected enough surveys, a beautiful yoga prize will be given to one person who has completed the survey (this will be drawn randomly).
We would also like to take this opportunity to wish one of our finest yoga teachers, Penne Parbat, a wonderful rest as she prepares for the birth of her baby. Actually, Penne is co-ordinating the ‘Student Survey’, so she is not exactly resting, however Penne has stopped teaching yoga for now. We looked forward to hearing news of the bub and Penne’s return to yoga teaching (if she so desires!).
Please keep reading now, for news of some wonderful courses and workshops on offer at our Centre. Alternatively, visit us online: www.williamstownyoga.com.au
In this newsletter, you will also find a very interesting edited version of an article by naturopath Peter Edwards, regarding what we can do to protect ourselves from ‘swine flu’ and other similar maladies. Following this, a section titled ‘Reflection for the Day’, which looks at our thought processes and how yoga can assist us to develop true understanding. We hope you enjoy these offerings!
New Courses / Workshops / Retreats
Over the next few months, we have lots of exciting new classes, courses and retreats on offer at our Centre. Fiona Hyde is facilitating a Yoga Retreat in Bali during July 2009 (stay tuned for news of the 2010 Bali Yoga Retreat), and Susanne Calman is offering a Yoga for Fertility Retreat later this year.
Childrens’ Yoga Holiday Classes with Pam Harrison
Thursday 2 & 9 July, 1-3pm.
Cost: $20 per child, healthy snack provided.
For more information, please contact Pam on 9391 3252.
Somachi Yoga Basic Flow Courses (for beginners)
‘Wake up’ the body by integrating breath and movement, fluidity and alignment and strength with flexibility.
An introduction to SomaChi Yoga; a dynamic vinyasa yoga influenced by the fluidity of Tai Chi and the energy of Vinyasa Flow.
This ‘immersion’ is a foundational course in which we break into parts the SomaChi flow. We work on energetic and physical alignment, creating a practice that is a movement meditation.
Those with a solid SomaChi practice will find this ‘immersion’ to be complimentary to the more flowing classes, as we focus on refining postures with hands on adjustments.
On course completion you will find it an easy transition to the more flowing SomaChi Yoga classes, held Tuesdays 7.45-9.00pm, Sundays 9.30-10.45am, and from Term 3 Mondays 9.30-10.45am
Two five week courses: Friday 3, 10, 17, 24 & 31 July, 6-7pm
Sunday 5, 12, 19, 26 July & 2 August, 3.30-4.30pm
For further information or bookings, contact Lizette on 0412 060 686 or yoga@lizettebell.com.
Friday Night Sitting Meditation Exploration
This is a five-week exploration of many different meditative techniques, aimed at providing a diverse meditation experience, so you can see which meditations work for you. Each evening will include two different short meditations, such as - Buddhist Mindfulness & Metta Bhavana, Osho Nadabrahma; sound, mantra and visualisation meditations; breath work, and will even include some guided Shamanic Journey meditations.
All experience levels welcome
Five week course: Friday 3, 10, 17, 24, 31 July, 7.15-8.15pm.
For further information or bookings contact Paul on 0432 046 515.
Sunday Afternoon Dance Meditations
This is a five-week course, alternating between 5-rhythms dance meditation, and Osho Kundalini movement meditation. These are both very powerful meditations, allowing you the opportunity to free your mind and follow the spontaneous wisdom of your body, to the essence of your being. Shake loose your authentic self, and 'move' yourself out of old
mindsets, habits and patterns that no longer serve you. Free the body and you free the mind.
No previous experience required - just a heartbeat!
Five week course: Sunday 5, 12, 19, 26 July & 2 August, 4.45pm-6.00pm.
For further information or bookings contact Paul on 0432 046 515.
Awaken the Sacred Feminine
“if you just set people in motion they’ll heal themselves” Gabrielle Roth
gentle healing yoga
chakra awareness
chanting & visualization
guided relaxation & reiki
native american drum
With Susanne Calman - Intuitive Healer/Hatha Yoga Teacher &
Susan McKee - Drummer
Saturday 29 August, 2pm - 4pm , $38.00
Bookings essential: susanne@williamstownyoga.com.au or 9397 3015
Swine Flu / Strengthening our Immune Systems
We are all fully aware of the recent spread of ‘swine flu’, the ‘super germ virus,’ that originated in the city of Mexico, the most polluted city in the world. A couple of weeks ago, the media whipped up quite a bit of hysteria around ‘swine flu’. Schools started closing and those affected found themselves quarantined.
The situation has now moved into a new phase and although still with us, evidence suggests the flu is not as vicious as previously thought.
Why have we included this segment in our yoga newsletter?
An important component of traditional hatha yoga practice involves cleansing our systems internally. And this is the same message naturopath Peter Edwards is sending out in relation to what we can do to protect ourselves from ‘swine flu’.
Basically, Peter’s message is: get back to basics! In a recent article, Peter writes:
“Everyone on all sides of the medical and natural medical merry-go-round are all in agreement (for once) that you have to ‘strengthen your immune system’.
May I ask: ‘Where is your immune system’? And here is where they all disagree!
I have asked this question to many in all areas of the medical and health sciences and it never fails to amaze me just how many different answers I get. Try it and you will see too!
To sort this question out quickly may I just refer to any text book on Anatomy and Physiology and you will see clearly – your immune system is – found in your LYMPHATIC system. What is the lymphatic system?
It is simply, the drainage system of the body. It makes sense doesn’t it. It gets rid of all the wastes from leftovers of metabolism to foreign invaders such as toxic substances and poisonous ‘viruses’.
How do you stimulate the body’s healing response or, immune system? Increase the body’s internal cleansing through its four natural inbuilt channels of detoxification!
What are they? There are four of them:
1. The kidneys, we pee out wastes and toxins – so drink more water!
2. The lungs, we breathe out wastes and toxins (that’s why our breath can get a bit smelly sometimes – so make sure you are breathing slow full complete breaths in clean fresh air!)
3. The Skin, we sweat out wastes and toxins (that’s why our armpits and other areas can get a little ‘on the nose’ sometimes. We need to move our body and raise a sweat on a regular basis! This is why a steam room is sooo good!)
4. And finally, the Bowels! We poo out wastes and toxins. This is why our poo can sometimes be ‘more than on the nose and down right room-clearing! This is why we need to get enough water and roughage to have a ‘good dump’ every day. You do not necessarily need to have three like some say but, the one you have – must be a beauty!
Next we need REST as the body needs ‘energy’ to muster, mobilise and move out, all unwanted wastes and toxins. Healing and health and staying well all require energy (vitality)!”
To boost our immune system, Peter also suggests we reduce all stimulating drinks (alcohol, coffee, soft drinks etc), clean up our diet if it needs it and it probably does, and sort out our heads. If we are stressed, so will our bodies be! Peter states that a day of mental or worse, emotional stress, is more vitality draining than a week of productive hard physical work.
I hope you have found the above information and advice by Peter to be interesting and helpful. For more information on Peter’s work and philosophy, visit www.vitality.com.au
Reflection for the Day: ‘I value who I am’
Yoga is fundamentally concerned with clearing the mind, much like the windshield wipers on a car clean the front windows, so that true understanding can shine through.
In yoga, we call this incorrect way of seeing, this false perception – avidya. Sometimes we get so convinced by our own stories, our own version of events, that we become incapable of seeing anything that doesn’t resemble the thing we believe to be true, even if it’s right in front of us. According to yogic philosophy, this keeps us in a state of perpetual suffering because our consciousness, our essence, is being obscured with a murky layer.
You may like to take some time to reflect on your own habitual ways of thinking and ask: Do I feed negative thoughts and emotions? Do I allow myself to dwell in negativity or pessmism? Or do I concentrate on building positive thoughts and emotions?
An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life. ‘A fight is going on inside me,’ he said to the boy. ‘It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil – he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority and ego. The other is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith. This same fight is going on inside you – and inside every other person, too.’ The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, ‘Which wolf will win?’ The old Cherokee simply replied, ‘The one you feed’
(Jessie Chapman).
If you struggle with the ‘evil wolf’ at times, you might like to try the following visualisation:
Lie down in a comfortable position and for the next few minutes or so, turn your awareness within and begin to visualise your mind. If you see any clouds, any tension, any agitation, any negative thoughts, allow these clouds, these thoughts to blow away. Imagine that in your mind is a beautiful blue sky dotted with white fluffy clouds. Now allow a lovely cool, clear breeze to begin blowing through your mind. Clearing away all obstacles. Blowing away all the clouds. Visualise the lovely cool, clear breeze helping to clear your mind, helping to create space in your mind so that true understanding can shine through.
Now begin to feel that all negative thoughts and feelings are removed with the exhalation. With each outbreath, you let go of any anger, negativity, frustration, regret, self-doubt…And then visualise universal energy streaming into your body, your mind, with the inhalation. With each inbreath, feel how your mind becomes clear and fills with light, power, joy, self-acceptance and optimism. Be aware of how you feel quieter, more balanced and refreshed with each breath.
The quality of our life depends on the quality of the seeds in our…consciousness…We may be in the habit of manifesting seeds of anger, sorrow, and fear in our…consciousness; seeds of joy, happiness, and peace may not sprout up much. To practice mindfulness means to recognize each seed as it comes up…and to practice watering the most wholesome seeds whenever possible, to help them grow stronger…The length of time we water a seed determines the strength of that seed. For example, if we stand in front of a tree, breathe consciously, and enjoy it for five minutes, seeds of happiness will be watered in us for five minutes, and those seeds will grow stronger. During the same five minutes, other seeds, like fear and pain, will not be watered. We have to practice this way every day
(Thich Nhat Hanh Touching Peace, p. 25).
Before you come up to sit, say to yourself silently: ‘Thankyou for who I am.’
Namaste
Fiona Hyde and Susanne Calman
Principals of Williamstown Yoga Centre
