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NEWSLETTER - JUNE 2024

Dear One,


How is your practice going? We’re nearing midsummer now, be wary of the “summer madness” that Shakespeare refers to in his “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”.


I’m stuck in Coz, a Greek airport, as my flight back home has been delayed for 4 hours. So, plenty of time to write to you. The amazing thing is, that nobody turns a hair if you were to stand on your head. I’m in ‘oversized baggage’ area, doing twists on an anchored down seat and back stretches on the pillars.


Have you devised your own practice to address your weak links? It’s important to bring back your balance and harmony, especially at this time of year. There’s nothing wrong in having a structured practice but be attentive to the need to change it as your body changes.


In the Greek island of Patmos, I have been teaching Ishaya monks in early morning classes. We’ve been working together to release their aches and pains. I’m learning a lot. They gave me honest and frank feedback and with the right asana they were able to release and let go of the pain/fear areas. We all have fear in the body and sometimes in a posture we are able to experience again the situation which brought this fear/tension about. It’s all thoughts and memories we unconsciously hang onto. Once they come out into the open and we can see them for what they are – just thoughts. They have gone. They do not exist anymore. So, we might as well drop them and come back into the present. The right asana can greatly assist in the letting go, as always, it’s a mind release. When the fear is seen and released, so is the pain.


There is no such thing as conditional love. Conditional love means I will love you if you can supply my ego needs.


“Love is not love. Which alters when it alteration finds.” – Sonnet 116, William Shakespeare


My experience of love is when you are quiet, focused, full of energy light and yet still, a state of Satva Looking into the eyes of another in the same state.


There is no ego; nothing between, we are one and the same in consciousness atonement. This pure attention, pure communication and love is Heaven, is God. There is nothing else. God is. There is no passing time, no name. All this comes afterwards, in writing to you, to give my experience of love. When everything else drops away, that is what we are. I used to feel that I was not loving enough – when it was there all the time, just covered up with imaginings of how it should be. Ideas of not being enough/lacking something. The need to be with someone and here I am flying home alone supported in love.


Go further my friends, an asana you think you cannot do, whatever you feel afraid of. Feel the fear and do it anyway. You have the courage to go into the unknown. It never turns out how you imagine it will. The closer you get to your fear, the smaller it gets. When you have re-lived your fear and dispelled the cloud, there will be a silver lining somewhere.



Summer is creeping in and as it becomes warmer your muscles become more stretchy and there is less resistance in the postures.

On colder days, standings are great to stretch the body, particularly the legs. Especially the back leg.

When the air is warm, exhale further into your forward bends.


Open out to the warmth, feel wide, giving your heart room to open right out. Feel strong in the pelvic girdle as you apply Mulabandha. Allow the breath to be deeper.


You have all the time in the world.


If you go too fast you get tired. If you go too slowly you get tired.


Find your measure.



To those joining Narain and myself at Aura Soma;

It is going to be a great 5 days. It will be lovely to see you all.

Shampoo, soap and towels are provided, and it is full-board.


Breathe and meditate well,

Love Ruth




Mandy came to a yoga retreat which we were holding in the Cotswolds. She was a sickly young girl; I could not understand why she was shaking so much in classes. When she started vomiting and I realised she was eliminating fast. She had been dry for 2 years and now with the practice of yoga, she was eliminating the last residue of the substances.

It so happened that our guest speaker for the weekend was Barbara Wren who runs the Natural Nutrition Centre, known to its members as Nat Nut.

Over the 3-day retreat Mandy went through cleansing techniques such as castor oil packs, enemas, herbs, and a fruit and veg diet. She got through her fever, still a little shaky and went back to London. This was 19 years ago. She is now an excellent yoga teacher, married to her dear husband Rupert and the sweetest daughter Isabel aged 15.


Disaster 5 months ago, Rupert had a severe stroke and was taken into hospital; he could not move or talk.

He is coming out today, the 3 of them live in a small flat on the 4th floor; it has 3 levels with lots of stairs. He has been receiving physio in Queen Mary’s Rehab and has somewhat recovered but cannot walk unaided yet and is still poorly. Queen Mary’s Rehab cannot do any more to help and the waiting list for National Health physio is 3 months. It’s a critical time and Rupert needs help now, so they need to go private, which they cannot afford. Mandy needs help.



Can you help please?

Love to you all

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