NEWSLETTER - JANUARY 2023
Dear One,
How to keep warm
Think of the lungs as the pump rather than the heart and practise deep breathing.
When we sit still, our circulation and breathing rate can slow down and consequently we feel cold. Try introducing some movement. Interlock the hands behind the back and pull them down, this helps to open the chest and encourages deeper breathing, practise a warrior posture. For cold hands, shake the arms. For cold feet, press the feet onto the floor and shake the legs. Standing up to use your mobile, having a mini trampoline at hand.
It’s the Yoga Day next week, Wednesday 25th January, and I look forward to seeing you and starting our Anatomy and Physiology course, so please be there.
Important
Please enrol so that I know how many are coming.
It’s £55 for the day or £32 for those who have already enrolled in the morning class.
BACS details: Ruth White, Sort code: 30 95 75, Account number: 19545860
Your Divided Brain
Your Right and Left hemispheres are cleanly divided and without the protecting case of the skull, would fall apart into two halves.
They have quite separate functions.
The Right is here and now in the infinite world, independent of the Left brain.
The Left lives in this transient creation, which includes your body and ego thoughts. It’s never in the moment but stores up thoughts, facts and patterns of behaviour. We come to believe that this collection of ideas – This ego, is who we are. These beliefs can be very restrictive, and you know how difficult it can feel to break a habit? So, we communicate one ego with another thinking that we know the other body.
We need both Right and Left hemispheres to operate in this world.
Just sometimes the ego mind is quiet – mind chatter goes away, and you are still.
Then love and true communication can take place.
You are in the right mind, the heavenly world. In this world there are no judgements and things are accepted as they are. No worries!
“The Kingdom of the Father is spread out upon the earth, and men do not see it.” - Gospel of Thomas, 113
To live in this creation, we need both Right and Left hemispheres.
When they are in balance, both working in harmony. You are in a state of Sattva or yoga and feel the unity of all things. You are full of light and energy and yet calm, focused, and centred.
This is a perfect time to meditate.
“A bird needs two wings to fly, one in the material world and one in the spiritual.”
The Choice
When we begin to see what is going on in our minds. We can observe the many circling thoughts passing through, some the same as yesterday or last week and some the same as last year! You are not these ego thoughts turning in your mind, such as anger sadness, hate, envy, judgement, and like or dislike.
There is only one true emotion.
LOVE.
We can choose to be right minded again.
“Teach only love because that is what you are” – Course in Miracles.
In every moment there is always that choice.
You are on the yoga path, which is a joyful way of waking up.
I thought you would like to read this inspiring letter from Victoria – she came to a T.T Day unsure and shy, with her head bowed.
She was absorbed into a warm, inviting group – pale and introverted, and left at the end of the day as a bright, open, and beautiful lady.
“Dearest Ruth,
Hawkwood weekend was wonderful, and I have the Teachers Training (TT) dates for 2023 in my new diary and I look forward to TT on 25 January.
I am sorry for not replying earlier. I had to collect my thoughts to write a meaningful letter.
It has been an interesting and revelatory year. The forecast based on numerology suggested that it would be a momentous year, one of a kind, because it is the year in which the date 22.02.22 is possible. The pandemic was behind, we've survived it and the future looked bright and promising. It was going to be the year of my daughter's finals at school and her university application.
Then a bombshell dropped of the suspected thyroid cancer, followed by an "out of the blue" disastrous war in Ukraine. I could not believe it was happening, it felt unreal and wrong. I reached the point when it was difficult to cope, and the helping hand came in the form of wonderful Mandy (trained by Ruth) who took me on a yoga weekend and introduced me to you. It was a godsend and those three days, yoga and talks, Narain's outlook on life and his Ishaya teachings which made sense, meeting good people became a turning point for me and saved me from a complete meltdown. I came home a different person, with a different outlook on life and equipped to cope with realities and disasters. I am truly grateful to you, Mandy and Narain (an Ishaya monk who has been sharing his knowledge with our weekends for the last 25 years) for that. Yoga has become my coping mechanism and has been helping me enormously, both physically and mentally. I find it empowering and I love it. I now try to start each day with some yoga and go to Mandy’s classes, she is a brilliant teacher.
I've also learnt a lot about nutrition and changed my and my family's diet (they have to eat what I cook!). Yoga and nutrition are the two tools which I hope will help me to reverse my thyroid condition.
In a way, my misfortune in the beginning of the year turned out to be a pathway to a new life, at least this is how I like to see it.
I hope this finds you and John well and wish you and your family a very happy Christmas and a healthy, happy and rewarding New Year! Let's hope 2023 is a better year for all, the year of peace.
With love and very best wishes for the year ahead,
Victoria xxx”
“Look not to change the world, but to change your perception of the world.”
- Course of Miracles.
Breathe well,
Ruth