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Journey through the Chakras 4 - Air + Anahata
Back to basics
Journey through the Chakras 2 - Water, water everywhere
Earth and Fire!
Journey through the Chakras - First find your roots

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A Blog about Yoga, Life, The Universe and Everything

seasons

Earth and Fire!

Autumn greetings and blessings, beautiful friends!
 
Summer was busy and wonderful! I spent 5 days in June with my teacher Shiva Rea in London, and we were so lucky to have a live music accompaniment by Ann Malone and Tom Simenauer, two wonderful musicians.
Shiva Rea with Ann Malone and Tom Simenauer, photo by Delamay Devi
Shiva's teaching in London kicked off with a workshop to support her Yoga Energy Activism project, encouraging the yoga community (and the world!) to make more conscious choices about our toxic energy use.
Ann at the Somerset Bhakti Music Festival in Sugust 2011I have started to use more and more beeswax candles to light my yoga classes.

February is the month of Love!

Thanks to the lovely yogis and yoginis who joined me on 12th February for my yoga day - after a morning yoga practice and a shared lunch, we got out for a beautiful Spring walk in the Sussex countryside, and in the afternoon explored inversions a little deeper than a single yoga class allows. The weather was really kind to us, and during the meditative part of the walk we spotted and followed a pair of young deer who kept peering back at us. Thanks to everyone who attended (and to the weather!

Sankalpahs and sandiyas

Happy 2011! A little late I know, but this is my first blog post of 2011. The year started amazingly for me, in beautiful Costa Rica with my beautiful teacher, Shiva.
In the days leading up to New Year's Eve, the teacher trainers had been giving some thought to what worked well for us in 2010, and (working up through the chakras), at the level of energy associated with each chakra (more on this later), where we feltblocked, and what were oursankalpahsor resolutions associated with each of these areas of energy in our life.

Angels from the realms of glory

I'm such a lover of Christmas carols. Two of my special favourites are 'Angels from the realms of glory', and, one we used to sing at school but I have rarely heard elsewhere, 'Three Kings from Persian lands afar'. This latter one has a beautiful descant that the upper school used to sing while the lower school sang the lower part. It was such a special tradition in a very special time of year. (Nonsuch old girls, do you remember? Did you love it too?)
 
Three kings from Persian lands afar
To Jordan follow the pointing star

Keeping healthy in the winter

Wow, we really are given everything we need. Earlier this week, I looked at my diary and wondered how on earth I was physically going to achieve everything that was in my diary for this week. And then down came the snow, laying beautiful white swathes across both the local countryside, and, as roads became impassable and travel difficult and dangerous, my diary too! So I am taking the opportunity to BREATHE. And to enjoy the beauty of the white countryside. I particularly love the extreme stillness that the snow brings.

Autumn energies

I wrote in mylast postabout autumn being a time for shedding things that no longer serve us (on both a physical and spiritual level).
 
Both my kids approached me separately last night saying that they had a lot of things in their rooms that they don't really use any more, so they thought we should have a clear out! I'm glad they're feeling that energy of this time of the year.
 
There is another natural rhythm we feel, that of storage and preparation for the coming winter months, like squirrels store nuts!

Autumn

I'm really feeling the turn of the seasons this year. As the trees transform, lose their leaves anddraw their energy inward, we're also susceptible to the same changes in energy - for us as well as for the trees, autumn is a time to let go and release things that are not serving us.
It is a time of detoxing and elimination. Lumbars can ache due to the work that the kidneys are doing in this elimination process, and also (along with hips) due to the extremes of temperature and pressure that can happen at this time of year, from freezing at night to a bright sunny afternoon.