Road to nowhere...

I am renting a beautiful lilac bicycle for 30 rupees a day from Gupi, a young Indian girl who lives in the village. It thrills me that all money will go to her and she will be accumulating something of a small fortune during my stay here. Her brother undertook a number of technical checks and inflated the tyres with great vigour and dedication. Gupi set about cleaning fastidiously, evacuating the dust from every possible crevice with a small paintbrush. We agreed that I would pass by every Saturday to pay my fees and allow for servicing and maintenance.

I took a long ride out this morning intending to visit Mandrem, a small beach village a little way along the coast. I fantasised a peaceful village of well mannered yogis and spiritual seekers. Here, I would experience and express peace, serenity and holistic living, in contrast to chaotic and boisterous rough edged Arambol, where beer and spliff for breakfast is completely normal and tribes of tourist rock the beach from dawn ‘til dusk.

Liberated from ‘town’ I enjoyed my peaceful meanderings along quiet back roads. revelling in the psychedelic Goan colourscape of candy painted houses and bling bling temples. After a good while I realised that I was well out of range, I was lost. It was ok, I was rather enjoying the mild adventure of it all. Noticing an auto rickshaw resting in front of a grand double fronted home, I thanked the Universe for placing it there and headed eagerly inside to locate the driver.
‘ Hallo!’ I announced myself brightly, slipping off sandals and stepping into the hallway. A dog materialised from nowhere, snarling and gnashing with an aggression incompatible with its diminutive size and lapdog looks. I took a sharp bite to the ankle, Ouch! Snatching up my sandals I made for the gate. The owner duly appeared and organised my driver who obediently lashed ‘Miss India’ to his auto and thus we buzzed and bumped slowly along the road to Mandrem.

We doubled back almost the entire distance I had travelled. Pausing at the cliff top Mandrem beach lay below; rows of coconut huts fronting the shoreline. The driver suggested a return to Arambol to drop off the bicycle. I could then walk into Mandrem later. I surrendered. It was hot, I was hungry and as it was approaching midday my main concern was avoiding sunburn and sunstroke. A return to Arambol it was to be. A circular journey of this kind is a classic Indian experience. From a certain point of view is quite normal to have cycled 10km and be transported home in order to subsequently retake the journey on foot.

Arambol in its now familiarity was comforting and welcoming. I headed straight for the coconut stall I have been frequenting daily since my arrival. The vendor seemed impressed by the bicycle, he spun the pedals admiringly. Commenting that the chain was dry, he reached for a grubby can of oil and lubricated the chain with characteristic Indian attentiveness. It was a heart melt moment of spontaneous caring and that felt good! In that instant I committed myself to a long season stay in Arambol, for better or for worse; a leap of faith. Now I would need somewhere to live...

Letting go, transformation & new projects....

So I haven't posted in a while as my personal and professional life continue to transform; a series of significant upheavals. All postive, which have taken me to new and hitherto unknown levels of health, happiness, abundance and personal freedom.

My business is changing too, as I discover new gifts and talents with help and support from others and have a wider range of healing and wellness strategies and interventions to share with others.

More to come as the new states of being and new projects crystallise and become more definite.

With gratitude, surrender and harmony
Jennifer

Transformations, going with the flow...

My personal yoga journey, now in its eigth year, has taken an unexpected turn. Following four years of introspection and inner attention through the Scaravelli method I find myself yearning for a more expressive and expansive experience of asana. I want to enjoy movement and form again.

I will be taking some workshops this summer with experienced teachers of vinyasa flow: Seane Corne, Shiva Rea are teaching in London this summer and I am excited about tasting the vibes of the sexy, urban hip Jivamukti studio. Synchronistically (all coincidences are meaningful)I have been offered a slew of Energize yoga work and have just bought an iPod, lstening to electronica and compiling yoga beat soundtracks.

In terms of yoga styles, this pretty much represents a complete volte face and it is quite something to acknowledge on a personal level. It feels important to follow this feeling of excitement and intuition, not to judge it or judge yoga.

It is so so easy and obvious to suggest that certain forms are more serious or frivolous than others. The body-mind must be allowed to express itself in which ever way is most appropriate at the time and not held back by the rational mind, which usually takes longer to catch up with the evolutions (revolutions?) initiated by the inner being, the higher self.

Quite literally I have to go with the flow on this one....

22nd April 2010 is Earth Day

How about a ten minute seated meditation for Earth Day.

Place your blanket on the ground, root through muladhara chakra.

As you inhale and exhale' experience your loving connection with Gaia, Pacha Mama, Kali Ma, Isis, Mother Earth.

Enjoying the sunshine - safely!

I love how the bold and exuberant yellow of the daffodils, primulas, tulips in bloom right now reflects the source of the awakened spring energy, the return of the sun! Brightening, vivifying, the sun sustains all life. How we welcome its radiant light and warmth after a long winter! How glorious to walk along lanes that are stirring back to life with hedgerows popping bright green buds and wild greens erupting from the bare ground. Winter’s bare branches will soon be just a memory as spring surges forward into summer.

I have been enjoying sitting out in the garden during the recent bright weather, angling my face into the sun to fully receive its blessing. The sun is at its zenith at around 1pm at this time of year; and at this time its vital force can be felt most strongly.

In yogic and other spiritual traditions it is thought that the sun emanates cosmic energy, a manifestation of prana, which is one of the reasons why we are instinctively drawn to the sun and can feel irritable and even depressed during its absence in winter. Vitamin D3, essential for bone health can only be synthesised through sun exposure, we can rightly consider the solar body to be a source of nutrition.

According to science, the sun emits UV rays, light on a wavelength that is imperceptible to the human eye. It is further understood that prolonged exposure to UV can be a major if not the major factor in skin aging. As I contemplate this, I recall a visit to the rooftops of Fez in Morocco, where artisans stretch animal skins to dry under the seemingly permanent African sun. The equation is simple: sun + skin = leather.

Let us cover up then, particularly as summer advances and the strength of UV light intensifies. I favour a physical barrier that shades the face, it’s important to keep a cool head! Since the Spring Equinox in March I have been diligently applying sun block to my skin. Make this part of your daily routine, so that it becomes as automatic as brushing your teeth. Cleanse and re-apply at midday, particularly if you tend to perspire, touch your face a lot or are physically active. Use a generous amount of product to ensure good coverage and include the area around the eyes, which is the most fragile. Remember too, to cover the décolletage (area between the collar bone and bust) and apply any spare to the back of the hands, perhaps mixed with a little hand cream.

Here are some recommendations of products I have personally used across a range of budgets:

JASON Organics Facial Sunblock spf 20 150g approx £8.50 Fragrance and paraben free 150g approx £8.50

Clinique City Block Sheer spf 25 40ml £15 Invisible under make-up. Widely acclaimed and rightly very popular.

Lancome Soleil DNA Guard spf 30 50ml £22.50 A personal favourite, a high quality product

Clarins Sun Wrinkle Eye Contour Care High Protection 20ml £16 A specialist product that really works, especially useful if you prefer not to wear sunglasses.

Boots Soltan Face spf 30 50ml £8.75
A competent budget buy, available on every High Street and often available as buy-one-get-one-free

Enjoy the sunshine!

Ravi Shankar celebrates his 90th birthday

Let us celebrate the birthday of Ravi Shankar, esteemed and renowned sitar player, who turns 90 today.

Thanks to Shankar's pioneering approach and prolific output, Indian classical music has been well assimilated into our cultural palate. We have availability of the pure form through concerts, kirtan and audio. The taste of India that Shankar gifted us has filtered into our consciousness through the vastly popular fusion styles from the chic chillout lounge vibes of Buddha Bar, to the New Age devotional Bhakti fusion of Deva Premal and the joyful, exuberant dance orientated compilations of yoga diva Shiva Rea.

Famously George Harrison studied for six weeks in India with Shankar. They met in London after Harrison was introduced to Shankar's work by The Byrds, who were fans of his sound. Shankar has received numerous international prizes, awards, teaching seats and accolades during his long and diverse career and has influenced both eastern and western musicians across popular and classic genres. The full extent contribution is surely beyond measure.

Enjoy this video footage of Shankar instructing Harrison on the sitar in Srinagar



Visit Shankar's official website http://www.ravishankar.org/

Catch this documentary on BBC iPlayer chronicling Shankar's career
(available until 10th April 2010)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00rs4s9/World_Routes_Ravi_Shankar_Birthday/

New to therapies? Nervous? Try an Indian head massage

I really enjoy the variety that working as a self-employed therapist provides. I am intrigued how each therapy venue, broadly speaking, attracts a certain clientele.

Visitors to Glastonbury are usually very familiar with holistic therapies and healing techniques and will often be teachers and practitioners in their own right, taking a break or retreat, deepening their knowledge on workshops and courses.

The guests I meet in the spa environment generally have full time jobs and regular, busy lives. For them, therapies are an occasional treat or pamper.

 For two out of six ladies today, their massage with me was to be their first therapy experience; something they would not necessarily have chosen for themselves. They were going with the flow of the group and trying out new things as part of a fun filled weekend - they would be taking a line dancing lesson later in the day.

These clients elected to have Indian head massages and I feel that this is a really sensible choice for a first therapy, particularly if the client is nervous or apprehensive about receiving touch.

There is a degree of familiarity to having the head and scalp touched, surely all women have had their hair washed at a salon, a generally pleasant and soothing experience. (Indeed the word ‘shampoo’ is a corruption of the professional term ‘champissage’ which denotes head massage.)

The treatment is generally performed seated with the client retaining most of their clothing, which lessens feelings of vulnerability and exposure. The massage can also be taken without oil*, which ‘newbies’ seem to prefer.

It is gloriously gratifying to feel tensions subside as the treatment begins; the client relaxes progressively and allows me to support the head and neck enabling a thorough and effective massage.

With all due humility I really do hope that those ‘first timers’ at the spa today might be encouraged to book a follow up treatment, and maybe investigate other therapies. In any event I salute their open mindedness and willingness to receive therapeutic touch.

*Application of oil is strongly recommended for therapeutic value, I always offer a choice of oil/no oil and explain the benefits.

www.somersetspa.co.uk Spa breaks in Somerset with a choice of therapies and activities
www.embodyforyou.com/Treatments/ Information about Indian head massage

Adjusting to Springtime, an ayurvedic perspective

We celebrated the Spring Equinox joyfully in Glastonbury last weekend, with ceremony, music, song and dance, marking the point in the annual cycle at which the day and night are of equal length. From now, days are getting longer and next weekend here in the UK we receive a glorious boost of daylight as we turn the clocks back on Sunday morning and officially enter British Summer Time.

You may have felt the renewal of energy that Spring brings, a sense of re-awakening and re-vitalisation. Quite naturally we find ourselves spring cleaning our homes, clearing old growth from the garden, shedding layers of winter clothing, wanting to lose weight, thinking ahead to summer.

We can support the body too at this time of year, through harmonising with seasonal change. From an ayurvedic perspective, spring is associated with kapha dosha, water held in earth. To skilfully adjust, we must stimulate kapha, and counteract the qualities of cold, damp, stillness, accumulation and heaviness. Quite simply we need to warm up, become lighter and more mobile!

Nutritionally, it is all about moving away from rich and heavy foods, reducing oil and adding gentle spices, and bitter, pungent flavours to stimulate digestion. Nature provides: you can find wild spring greens emerging in hedgerows and verges, which tend to be strong and bitter in taste, this reduces kapha. Add to soups, juices and salads. It is important to take expert advice on what to pick, look out for led foraging or hedgerow walks advertised locally.

Movement is the real key to stimulating kapha, vigorous activity of all kinds, energetic bouts of gardening, decluttering and spring cleaning all count! For our yoga, increase the number of sun salutations and up the pace a little. Include more standing poses, twists and inversions and hold these for longer. Prepare for your practice with ujjayi pranayama, which increases inner fire.

The body naturally wants to detoxify at this time of year. Support this with daily dry skin brushing. Using a palm sized natural bristle brush, make light long strokes towards the heart. Any heating essential oils are great to add to your bathing rituals. Try black pepper and ginger. Now is a good time to move from baths (passive, slow, relaxing) to showering (brisk, active). A weekly sauna would be great too for adding heat to the body and releasing waste through the skin.

I also recommend massage at this time of year. Massage will assist the natural detoxification undertaken by the circulatory and lymphatic systems and also helps tone the muscles. Ask your therapist for an energising treatment. This will include percussive movements such as clapping, cupping and drumming, and will leave you feeling alive and awake! Ideally, you would book a series of three to four full body treatments to be taken within a two week period.

Wishing you a vibrant, healthy and happy Spring time!

What makes a good yoga student?

“Am I a good yoga student?” A question posed in earnest after class recently.

Fundamental expectations of basic courtesy such as arriving on time, respecting other students and paying for the session have, happily, always been met by my students. I love the variety of people who turn up to class. I relish having high quality interactions with my students.

Mostly I am dealing with a group of regular attendees whom I am getting to know incrementally and respectfully, a mutual rapport deepening over time. Occasionally one meets a new student who has a powerful and invigorating effect, bringing new perspectives. They may stay for one or two classes only before they continue their sadhana (spiritual journey) elsewhere.

Personalities vary greatly; and we do bring our personality to yoga. A student may be passive and quiet, working without an apparent need for attention or they may like to engage the teacher with questions, comments and requests for explanation or assistance.

In truth I cannot state a preference for any kind of behaviour or personality type. To categorise students as ‘good’ implies that there is a possibility of being ‘not good’, or ‘less than’; and this is simply not the case! All must be welcomed and accepted for who they are and how they learn. There can be no room for judgement, particularly from the teacher, who best serves by remaining a neutral prop, a facilitator.

The other aspect to the question is the need of the student to receive validation from the teacher in the form of praise or approval. This is such a common scenario as many of us from an early age have not been loved or accepted for who we are are, rather we have built a conditioned and therefore fragile sense of self-esteem and self-respect, needing someone outside of us to tell us that we are ‘good’ that we may feel worthy or even loveable.

One’s yoga can be a valuable space wherein one cleanses the false self, sheds expectations and conditioning and cultivates self awareness. Let us practice for the sheer enjoyment of yoga and commitment to a deeper level of self-understanding. Let us relinquish ideas of succeeding and failing; let us practice without attachment.

This is the very advice offered by Patanjali in the yoga sutras:

Abhyasa vairagyabhyam tat nirodhah I.II

I respectfully offer the following translation: the mind is quietened through repeated practice and non-attachment

In other words, to be a good student; show up for class and then let go!

For a detailed look at the yoga sutras of Patanjali http://www.rainbowbody.net/HeartMind/Yogasutra.htm

Beyond asana: The case for an inner yoga

When I tell people what I do, that I teach yoga, people imagine stretching and movement. And indeed the poses are so useful to us in the west in countering our busy, often stressful lives. For many, the weekly yoga class is a precious opportunity to move the body, calm the mind, release tension, and come away feeling calmer, focused and relaxed.

However effective and enjoyable, the postures represent a fraction of the practice of yoga: the astanga yoga or eight limbs described by the great indian sage Patanjali over two thousand years ago. A complete practice includes breathwork, meditation techniques as well as honouring moral and ethical precepts. In short, a template for how we might live in the world, yoga becomes a lifestyle.

I undertook my final teacher training in India, studying one to one with my teacher. At our first session he observed me as I moved through a sequence of poses that by then had become comfortable and familiar. “No more bending” was his considered conclusion. He taught me the power and beauty of mantra, chanting ancient prayers in Sanskrit, deepened my knowledge of pranayama, breathing techniques and we meditated together daily, releasing the mind to become absorbed in an inner bliss. Later in my studies I added mudra, sacred hand gestures to refine and intensify other aspects of the practice.

I have felt increasingly moved to offer a yoga that combining pranayama, mantra and mudra. Thus enabling one to move from the external world to the internal; from the physical body to the subtle body, to become fully centred, surrendering deeply and becoming absorbed in the self.

We had the first class today and it was a subtle and powerful experience. Intimacy and sacred space were created as we sat together, student and teacher in a circle forming a mandala, the symbol of wholeness. The joy of this way of working is that each of us becomes responsible for our personal experience, there is neither a constant referencing of the teacher, nor a need to give adjustment or correction. In stillness and quiet we practiced with eyes closed and a focus on our private, internal experience.

Personally I felt deeply calmed and relaxed and this was reflected in the comments and feedback of the students. The class runs weekly throughout February and March at Shekinashram, Dod Lane Glastonbury.

Details here:
http://www.jivayoga.co.uk/pages/yoga/inner-yoga-classes.php

Beginner’s Yoga: Getting started - practical tips

During January I receive many enquiries from those who are new to or returning to yoga. I wanted to share some thoughts and suggestions for anyone who is embarking upon the yogic path.

Which style of yoga will you pursue? Take a moment to think about the benefits you would like. Traditions vary greatly from physically demanding to relaxing and restorative. If you are seeking a spiritual focus, look for a class that includes chanting and meditation.

Choosing the right teacher is key to success and a sustained practice. Opt for drop-in classes rather than paying for a term. Calling ahead for a chat with the teacher is a good way of easing nerves and getting a feel for personality and teaching ethos. You are looking for someone friendly and approachable, a source of inspiration and support who can give individual guidance even in a group context and be sensitive to your needs and learning style.

Consider class times and how this will affect your commitment. Choose a day when you have plenty of free time so that you can arrive ahead of time rather than late and flustered. Seasonality is another factor; many of my students enjoy an evening class during summertime, but find this a very different proposition on a cold, wet, dark winter’s night!

Save money! If you have tried the class and are prepared to commit, offer to pay for a block of sessions and you may well be offered a discount. If on a low income call ahead, there may be a concessionary rate.

There is no need to buy specific yoga clothing unless you follow a dynamic, power or hot yoga. Light stretchy layers such as leggings and short sleeved tee shirt will allow a full range of movement; you may consider whether you need to invest in a supportive bra.

Many studios and teachers supply yoga mats for student use at no extra cost. You may prefer to have your own. Check supermarkets for a budget buy (under £10). I recommend that you pay more and invest in a quality branded mat when you are ready.

Yoga DVDs, wallcharts and books are useful resources once established. I don’t recommend them for beginners. Start your practice with a trained teacher to ensure you progress at an appropriate pace and so avoid injury.

Yoga is therapeutic but is contra-indicated in certain circumstances. If you have had recent surgery or have an active medical condition, do first check with your GP/medical practitioner and if you get go ahead, inform your teacher at the start of class or call ahead. If pregnant you should look for a specific pregnancy class as many postures in a regular class will be unsuitable.

Enjoy your yoga! You are setting out on the path of improved health, self knowledge and spiritual fulfilment.