Newsletter - December 2020

Dear Friends

Wednesday morning was our first live class for some time, it’s so uplifting to teach; enjoying your presence and quiet attention. I did not have to think about what to say, the words just came.

Walking

Is our most natural exercise, when we swing our arms, we are cross crawling and balancing the right and left hemispheres of the brain.

We need the pounding of our feet to keep up bone density and increase bloody pressure.

Circulation is stimulated which in turn brings warmth, and energy.

Movement aids the lymph to flow.

And most importantly encourages a deeper and faster breathing rate which increases the supply of oxygen to the cells.

When you are attending a zoom class at home, you benefit from most when you apply the discipline that you come under in a live class. It is then that the desires and thoughts die down and we come back to the ever present stillness.

Don’t skip the relaxation.

That would be like not accepting a wonderful gift.

Christmas

We are soon to celebrate the birth of a “saviour” an Evolved spirit or soul who chose to exemplify and show us how mankind could live in a heavenly world. He was a true yogi. In that he knew that he was not the body, but used the body to teach us how to come back to our peace in mind.

We celebrate the birth of the body, but the babies come into this world screaming and crying. Some of us are afraid of the death of the body, and we mourn the dead. To quote a Sage “if we knew what death was like, we would envy the dead” (a)

I got a touch of this in savasana at the end of a strong class with Iyengar he said “this is the nearest experience you will have to death” – and it was heavenly.

When I asked Iyengar if there was anything he desired, he said to have a good death, and he did.

In India, death of the body and release from the material world is celebrated. Parties can last 2 or 3 days.

For Christmas can we celebrate the birth and manifesting of an enlightened spirit coming amongst us, a spirit which is still here and now to be realised.

Standing asanas are great for keeping the body warm and strong in winter. Think of the lungs as the pump. Deep breathing stimulates the heart and thereby the circulation, and we experience warmth and energy.

Classes

Classes return week commencing 4th January 2021. We will still be running each class on Zoom for those who can’t attend in person.

Have a peaceful and heavenly holiday.

Love

Ruth