A gift from the Universe - a gift from mangala - RELAX

https://soundcloud.com/nicola-zammit/yoga-nidra-with-nicky-yoga-mangala

Recently the most powerful words I have read were this 'You were born to be real, not the ideas of perfection that you have in your head.'   I know not who the author of these words is or was, but I would like to show my gratitude for them as they struck a chord within me that said - it is ok, lie back, close your eyes and think that you are beautiful.  Take pause and listen to your heart, give your heart the space to sing to you and listen, listen, listen.  You deserve these moments.

I was born in Essex, UK 1972, to a wonderful working class family that loved this bundle of a little girl.  Through my life so far the world has shown me so very much, love, heartache, pain, joy, tears and rainbows.  There has been violence, deceit, struggle, death, addictions, loss, rejection, trauma and pain.  There has been discovery, love, joy, truth, excitement, explorations, energy, friendships, forgiveness, growth and moments of complete peace.  Life for me so far has been replete, full in one way or another.  And for the last 14 years there has been YOGA, this in so many ways has saved me and taken me on much wider discoveries.  At this time I give to you this recording made in Kathmandu several years ago, and gives the gift of pause.  Take it, share it, and listen to your heart, listen listen listen, see that you were born to be real, and that in that you are beautifully perfect.

Wishing you all the greatest journey of recognizing your beautiful selves. 

Om Lokha Somastha Sukhino bhavantu

May all beings find harmony, balance and eternal peace.

My gratitude to the Universe and to all living entities and for the practice.

Love from the heart

mangala - nicky

recording is 17 minutes long of complete and deep relaxation - take it!

Prana the original and vital life force.

Are we breath, are we air, are we oxygen?  Are we the earth, water or fire?  Or are we nothing but what we call in Sanskrit - Prana - the original life force; the vital life force.  Prana - a constant movement of energy.

Prana is our life, an invisible force that weaves throughout all creation.  A cosmic energy that can be used to amplify our human experience.

Take time to put yourself on pause for a moment and tune into the feeling of your prana.  Concentrate your mind at the palms of your hands and finger tips, see if you can feel the vibration or tingly feeling of prana.  Is it strong, smooth or weak?

This source of life can be increased by the practice of yoga, pranayama (breathing techniques) meditation, acupuncture, eating a diet of high pranic foods such as leafy greens and cucumbers, laughing, making loving actions and living your dreams.  Finding the compassion within you for yourself and all living entities, finding the love that you truly are - for yourself and for the whole world.

Let us laugh more and honour the original and vital life force that you truly are.

Have beautiful days, fill your hearts and smile for yourself

Om Shanti Shanti Shanti 

mangala - nicky

Open Sivananda classes this week at Bukoto Heights Appartments, Bukoto, Kampala - Wednesday 5-6.15pm and Gems Cambridge International School, Butabika, Kampala - Thursday 5-6.30pm.  See you on the mat!

Approaching Savasana

When the body and mind are constantly overworked, their natural efficiency diminishes.  The modern world of social life, demands from work and family, bad food choices and entertainment make it difficult for people to relax.  There is so much tension even when we are trying to relax, and much of the body’s energy is wasted, giving rise to illness and erroneous ways of thinking causing ourselves harm.

As long as one is identifying with the body there will be worries, anxieties, fear and angers.  This is why we have to approach savasana with as much integrity as any other Yogic pose.  Emotions bring tension; Yogis know that unless they can separate themselves from the body/mind consciousness there is no way to obtain complete relaxation and radiant health.

Approach savasana with as much integrity and awareness as the rest of the practice that you have undertaken.

Lie on your back, feet about 1-2 feet apart and the arms around 45 degrees from the body; make sure your head is line with your spine.  Now scan through your body from the toes up and feel where the connection is to the earth that is offering support.  Now trust the earth and slowly begin to let go of the tension you are holding within you, feel the weight of the pelvis, the shoulders the back of the head.  Then try to deepen into that weight.

Begin to find and explore through your inner landscape, know the parts of you that need some more care or love and hold no judgment over them.

Go deeper than just making shapes with your body, feel all the sensations and listen to your internal self.

Begin to find your breath and then start to arrive into the practice.  We are yoga, this is your natural state and this is what we need to bring ourselves back to – our natural state.

Om Lokha Somastha Sukhino Bhavantu

May all beings be balanced in harmony and peace

Have Beautiful days

mangala / nicky

i PAUSE i HEAL i DISCOVER

Namaste Dear all, 

I hope you are all well and happy. 

I would love to invite you all to this event - i Pause, i Heal, i Discover  held on Saturday 25th November 10.00am-12.00pm held at Ambrosoli International School, Bugalobi.  This session is by donation as a fundraiser for two charities; Shanti Uganda whom are doing wonderful work throughout Uganda to help reduce infant mortality  And Ambrosolis school charity the Ugandan RSPCA, looking after some of Ugandans four legged types!  Please see the attached flyer and write up below on what to expect.  The session is open to everyone, would hugely benefit everyone and will give you some tools that I know you will love.  Please invite your friends.

For now have a beautiful day - and if possible please confirm your attendance

Always from the heart and wishing you well 

Nicky Zammit

www.yogamangala.blogspot.com

nickymangala@gmail.com

The demands that are placed on us living in todays modern world are huge.  Whatever your job, whatever your commitments, whatever the demands that are placed on us, we are all busy.  The only way to heal from these demands is to put ourselves on pause - this is essential for the well being of the body, energy, thoughts and emotions.  It is when you are on pause that you can find the space that you need and deserve to heal yourself with you inner medicine.

This workshop will give you a set of tools to find that pause.  We will work with vital relaxation techniques releasing tensions from the body and mind.  Breathing techniques to re-charge and de-stress the complete system.  3 different variations of gentle sun salutations - Surya Namaskar, to de-tox and re-harmonize yourself.  And the use of sound in Mantra to channel the energy in a positive direction and up lift the whole being.  Come and discover your pause and find your peace.   i Pause, i Heal i Discover.  Sat Nov 25th, 10.00am - Ambrosoli International School, Bugalobi.  By donation.

On This Day.

Mend a quarrel.  Search out a forgotten friend.  Dismiss suspicion, and replace it with trust.  Write a love letter.  Share some treasure.  Give a soft answer.  Encourage youth.  Manifest your loyalty in a word or deed.

Keep a promise.  Find the time.  Forego a grudge.  Forgive an enemy.  Listen.  Apologise if you were wrong.  Try to understand.  Flout envy.  Examine your demand on others.  Think first of someone else.  Appreciate, be kind, be gentle.  Laugh a little more.

Deserve confidence.  Take up arms against malice.  Decry complacency.  Express your gratitude.  Worship your God.  Gladden the heart of a child.  Take pleasure in the beauty and wonder of the earth.  Speak your love.  Speak it again.  Speak it still again and then speak it once again.

Swami Chidananda. 

Have beautiful days

Om Lokha Somastha Sukhino Bhavantu

mangala / nicky

The Carriers of the Knowledge of the Earth.

Each and every living being and living entity has its place in the cosmos and a profound right to live its life to its natural end.

Living in Africa I have the great privileged to spend time with, observe and learn from amazing creatures, from herds of elephants to the lone dung beetle pushing his prize of a fresh ball of dung along a beetle size pathway.   Every creature has its place and are of equal importance from the mighty lion to the tiny mosquito.  Every creature has an ingrained memory within and purpose of protection of some part of life.  I was inspired to read and it makes sense, that elephants were sent to earth as cosmic guardians of the plants and herbs and all knowledge of them, this is written in the Vedas.  If you watch an elephant feed it really picks and chooses with great grace with the use of its trunk from all that nature provides around it.  Knowing exactly what to take, what it needs at times of sickness, which herbs, which part of the tree, which grasses and fruits are necessary for health on a day to day basis.  If the elephants loose this knowledge of plants, herbs, seeds, nuts, fruits and minerals, then it will in turn be lost to all of us. 

Natural extinction happens when the universe no longer requires the memory or protection of that certain species, it has evolved and moved on or manifested.  I wonder why humans are still in existence when we carry out so many atrocities to the magnificent creatures that protect the very world that provides for us.  Elephants throughout the world are being treated appallingly, being deprived of their habitats, murdered for their ivory, used to perform heavy unrelenting work and used to carry tourists and perform humiliating tricks.   

For the last two years or so I have been suffering with allergies, and it has taken me this long to discover the unsightly blisters I get on my face aren’t some sort of mid-life acne but allergic reactions.  Now I am discovering I react to all sorts, from chickpeas, honey, dates and the list goes on.  Is one reason because the elephants are dazed and are starting to lose their memory patterns, which has a big impact on the memory of the whole cosmos?  An interesting thought.

These wonderful amazing creatures are the guardians of our very nourishment – shouldn’t we be the guardians of them?

Let us protect each and every creature; honor them as they honor the earth.  And I am truly thankful to see them, watch them and love them.

Be simple, be kind and have beautiful days.

OM Namah Sivaya

Mangala / Nicky.

Inspiration for this article came from the book ‘Living Ahimsa Diet.’ By Maya Tiwari.

The Power of the Sacred Mantras

A mantra is a sound, a word or a verse, or in essence is a mystical energy that resonates as sound.  The meaning of Mantra – Man coming from the Sanskrit manas meaning mind and Tra meaning to free, by using mantra and concentrating on the mantra we can free our minds from all the confusions and wrong ways of thinking, our problems that we seem to create can disappear into love and true happiness which brings calmness and a magical sense of being at peace.    The benefits of repeating a mantra either silently in the mind or out loud are huge, its energy can take form and manifest by opening the heart, filling the mind with purity and generating harmony and divine love. 

Mediation on mantras bring relief from the hustle and bustle of the mind and give us the space, energy and power to find clarity.  They inspire us at times when we need support and bring courage to those who seek to move forward in a positive direction. 

Light beautiful divine light is there within the mantra and is available to all who seek it, all we have to do so to speak is plug ourselves into the current and let it flow through us to infinite possibilities. 

I have found a great refuge in the Mantra OM.  When I have been confused, overwhelmed, unwell or sad, by sitting with a straight spine in a comfortable pose, bringing the awareness to the breath and then mentally repeating OM in time with my breathing with closed eyes, I have found great strength.   Even a few moments for busy people is incredibly beneficial.

When I have been in a difficult situation or seen somebody struggling badly I have also used this mantra to send this beautiful healing energy to that place or that person to offer support from this universal energy, if done with the right feeling and intention the results can be amazingly strong. 

When I have pain in my knee from a torn meniscus I chant OM into it and it is like sending soothing water into the joint. 

There are hundreds and thousands of mantras, each as important and as powerful as the next, but I guess OM may be the easiest for all of us to connect to without having to remember complicated Sanskrit or get the sound vibration completely correct.

Each morning and each evening chant OM, chant Om into your body, chant Om into your energies, chant OM into your mind, chant Om into your heart, chant OM into the world.  Chant OM for our own selves, chant OM for all living entities, chant Om for Mother Earth.  Take the vow of Ahimsa, that of non-violence by chanting either silently or out loud – OM for the protection of the sacred heart of love, compassion and peace.

The vibrations that are produced through the repetition of mantra will strengthen the memory of your true nature and as a result your vulnerabilities either physical, emotional, or mental or all will dissolve.  In the Upanishads it is stated that meditation reveals the mind, so chant Om repeatedly and allow the mind to pause and rest in its own self.

Let us make peace peace perfect peace.

Have beautiful days and enjoy the power of OM.

Mangala / Nicky