thank you!

Om Namah Sivaya

Namaste Everyone, hope everyone is well and happy and enjoying the festive season.  I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank you all for allowing me to continue to share my passion of yoga with you on our journeys together.  I am far from perfect in my practice and everyday is a continuation of learning and discovery and with every lesson I teach an opportunity, not only to work for healthier bodies and minds for ourselves but also to allow that vibration out into the world, in hope of making a more peaceful world.  I truly from my heart thank you all for that. 

So here I am looking forward to our journeys continuing into 2013 with fresh creativity on and off the mat and inspirations for a year full of joy, peace, love and illumination. 

Dates for your diaries:

Wednesday 2^nd Jan, classes start back as normal.  Class schedule is as normal unless otherwise stated.  For the month of January my free posture clinic that I run after the class at pranamaya yoga – Moksh will change to a half an hour theory class.  We will look at the four major paths of yoga, Karma yoga, Bhakti yoga, Raja yoga and Jnana yoga with an overview of all four on the last Wednesday of the month.  These sessions are free and I suggest you bring a note pad and pen.

Tuesday 8^th Jan, The class normally held at The British School, 4.45-6.15pm will for this week only be held at the yoga mangala studio.  I have 3 places left, first come first served so book in by email and if you need a map to the studio let me know.

Thursday 10^th Jan 5pm-6pm Feature class of the month – Yoga Nidra to be held at the Yoga mangala studio, 4 places available. RPS450

Come and immerse yourselves in a full hour of complete relaxation, a great way to make a gentle affirmation to yourself and start of the New Year being kind to your body and mind.  The whole class is held in savasana our relaxation pose and you will be guided how to completely relax both mentally and physically.  Sounds good to me!

Tuesday 15^th Jan  Classes resume at The British School as normal, 4.45-6.15pm.  Please do bring a blanket with you and as the mats now are rather worn at the school I do suggest you bring your own.  I will bring a flask of hot lemon for a little warming before the class starts.

Saturday 2^nd Feb marks our third Satsang at Pranamaya Yoga studio, Moksh.  Satsang means truth in company as we come together as part of the sanga (community) and share our energy uplifting one another.  It is a chance to be together and become one using meditation and sound as a tool.  Chanting Kirtan (devotional songs) is way to connect back with yourself and find your inner joy and can be a very powerful experience, people have been chanting these songs in the same way for thousands of years, so come and enjoy the experience.

Dates for future retreats at Neydo Monastery, Pharping and days out at Sri Aurobindo Ashram to be confirmed. 

Any other enquiries please don’t hesitate to contact me, although I will be out of Internet contact from the 22^nd Dec until the 2^nd Jan

For now be the light that you are

Om shanti  Mangala / nicky.

Om Lokha Somasta Sukinho Bhavantu

May all living entities find harmony, balance and peace

www.yogamangala.blogspot.com

Mangala / Nicky

Be The Master of Your Own Destiny

In Swami Sivananda’s teaching about being the master of your own destiny, he tells us that bliss is our right; happiness is our heritage not sorrow, peace not restlessness, health not disease.  True everlasting ecstasy belongs to us; Immortality is thy birthright, but not mortality.  Strength not weakness.  Pain, sorrow and ignorance are illusory.  Bliss, joy and knowledge are true and they cannot die.  He tells us that we are the architects of our own fate and that we are the masters of our own destiny, that destiny is our own creation.  So where do we look for this everlasting happiness and bliss, where do we find it how do we create our own destiny?

We maybe think if I could have a bicycle my life would be easier, then I would be happy.  If I could get a promotion at work I would feel more important, then I would be happy.  If I eat that chocolate and that delicious piece of cake, I will definitely be happy.  If I go to Paris or this country or that country I will see so many wonderful things, I will be happy.  We seem to always be looking on the outside for our happiness, to external objects and places or events.  But this happiness is not lasting it is impermanent and fleeting.  It binds us and brings us added desires that lead again to pain and sorrow.  Once we get the bicycle we see a scooter and oh how much easier that would be, but with it brings added stress as we have to maintain it, buy petrol and what happens when we see the car!  We get the promotion at work, then we have added pressure and no time to relax and see our families, definitely more stress is coming with the promotion.  We eat the chocolate and the cake and what happens when it is gone?  It was a fleeting moment of happiness then we feel sad we don’t have the chocolate anymore plus we weigh half a kilo more and we have polluted our body and mind.  Moving country to country, yes there are so many wonderful things in Paris, but if real happiness resides in Paris why are not all Parisians happy?

These things bring an unlasting happiness.  Everything around us is constantly changing, the world, our bodies our emotions, who we are, one minute we are the mother, then a wife, then a daughter, a yoga teacher, it is constantly different in relation to whom we are speaking.  So if this is all fleeting and unreal, where do we find what is not changing and real?

To find this we have to look into our hearts, which is an easy thing to say but how do we actually look into our heart?  Swami Sivananda says that to do this we have to exert ourselves in our practice, to clear the dust from a dirty mirror to see our true nature and find our inner well of joy and bliss.  We have to still the chatter of our mind to be able to see clearly into our hearts.  And to do that you must practice practice practice!  Do your pranayama, your asanas and your meditation and then do it more!  Swami Sivananda tells us to have courage to stand up like a lion and self exert look inward not outward, have faith and control your destiny, choose differently, make a change, self exert and you will find your happiness and your well of peace; which is your birthright.  So roar like a lion and do your practice!  

Om shanti

mangala / nicky