Newsletter April 2016

Dear Ones,

Last weekend at Colet House went well. I have been visiting Colet ever since the 1960s and although I do think that for future weekends it will be more beneficial for all of us to be in the beauty of the countryside at places like Asthall Manor, Oxfordshire and Park Place in Wickham, Hants (these wonderful old manor houses where we can absorb the ambience and country views. Please book up for the August retreat at Park Place as we cannot run it without you! Please state whether you would like a single room or a de-luxe room. Priority will be given for those booking for the full 5 days, however you can come for less.

ACCEPTANCE IS EVERYTHING I had two visitors this morning. Anna, a student, had just been diagnosed with breast cancer and was feeling down in the dumps. She had been quite fine before receiving the news but now her whole attitude had changed, her expression was downcast, her posture and even her voice ran down onto a lower note. Hers was the same body as it had been the week before when she attended yoga class. She was suffering from the diagnosis. Then there was Brenda, a long-time friend who has gradually become sick. Her balance was going and she was quite unsteady on her feet. Her strength and energy were ebbing yet she¬¬¬ was not suffering at all and was very cheerful. She said with a laugh, ‘People keep asking me how I am. “I’m fine,” I tell them. ”It’s just the body.” In a moment of enlightenment in meditation this morning I realised I am not the body.’ Because of her attitude she wasn’t suffering. Ekhart Tolle tells a story about a friend who had been diagnosed with terminal cancer. He had a brain tumour. He was an anxious man and a great worrier. When he received the diagnosis that he had not long to go in this body his whole attitude changed. He stopped worrying and did not fight against the cancer; he accepted the situation and with this attitude his mind quietened down, his heart opened and he was filled with bliss.

Can we begin to see that suffering is mind stuff and that we can make the suffering worse by talking about it and feeling a victim to it? Can we also see that it’s not helpful to sympathise with others’ suffering but rather to give attention to the blessed gifts we are always surrounded with? The body is a wonderful machine and works well for most of the time, so give attention to that and accept the challenges.

TRASIERRA, a delightful centre in Southern Spain, are offering any Yoga Teacher a chance to have a free holiday

Have a look at their website www.trasierra.eu

It is a wonderful place to have a real holiday, we have taken two residential retreats there with great success.

Contact Charlotte Scott on charlottescott.trasierra@gmail.com for more information. She would like you to come for over 3 weeks, ideally 3 months if possible.

Please carry on reading your set books. Evening is good as the impressions received last thing at night can stay with you and be remembered when you wake in the morning. Breathe well this lovely spring air.

Please read and practise from ‘Light on Yoga’

Marishasana 1(it’s not a twist)

Marishasana 2 (without holding your hands behind your back or locking the leg) Halasana

See if you can catch the attitude of those postures as you practice.

Breathe well, Love as ever

Ruth