If we could only all behave like cells!

Recently in an anatomy class we were discussing the behaviour of cells compared with Yogi behavior, it was really interesting so thought I would share some ideas with you. You have a higher purpose. Each cell of your body works for the greater good of the whole body system. Selfishness is not an option. You are in communion with the whole of life. All cells keep in touch with every other cell. Being withdrawn or refusing to communicate is not an option. Your awareness is always open to change, from moment to moment sense everything in your environment. Cells adapt from moment to moment. Getting caught up in rigid habits is not an option. You feel acceptance for all others as your equal without judgement or prejudices. Cells recognise each other as equally important. Your being is cradled in the rhythm of the universe, you feel safe and nurtured. Cells obey the universal cycle of rest and activity. Being obsessively active is not an option. Let life bring you what you need, force control and struggle are not your way. Cells function with the smallest expenditure. Hope to see you all on the mat for a blissful session where we can put into practice all the behaviour of our cells! Om om shanti om smiling from the heart.

Lunch with Prem

Lunch with Love! We are what we eat; as human beings we need food for fuel to give us energy and to repair body tissues, and as yogi’s living a mindful life we should be very aware of what we are putting inside this body vehicle. Toxin build up in the body can accumulate in the joints and thus cause pain, much of these toxins are ingested through what we eat, preservatives, colourings, excess uric acid etc, being vegetarian and sticking to a natural pure diet will prolong life and give more disease resistance.
There are three types of food; sattvic – pure food, rajasic – stimulating food and tamasic – impure of rotten food.
Fruit, vegetables, grains, cows milk and butter come under sattvic food. Spices, hot substances such as chilli, fish, meat and eggs are rajasic. Rotting or overripe foods are tamasic this would also include frozen, pre-packed, processed and refined food (most food you find in the supermarket shelves!)
People’s preference to the different food types is in accordance to the level of their mind or evolution of their mind. As yogis we try to make our diet as sattvic as possible bringing calmness and purity to the mind. Sattvic foods are nourishing and soothing to the body. Rajasic foods bring restlessness to both body and mind and can cause nervous and circulatory disorders such as high blood pressure and hardening of the arteries. Tamasic food makes a person dull, lazy and diminishes his or her thinking capacity, as well as bringing a host of ailments to the body.
Recently I was trekking high up in the Himalaya, staying in teahouses where food was quite limited. I ate several things that I wouldn’t normally eat such as biscuits and packaged noodles. I felt pain in my body even only after a couple of days, my practice became clumsy and my flexibility was less, but when I returned back to my normal diet of pure natural foods the pain went and practice resumed as normal. This isn’t the first time this has been proven to myself after a little indulgence. So when preparing your food and doing your shopping, be mindful and cook with prem (love) for yourself.

Achintya Sakti Dahl

Yellow lentils rich in phosphorus
Mixed bean Dahl rich in iron
Pumpkin rich in potassium and magnesium
Cauliflower
Carrot rich in vitamin A, B1, C, calcium and iron
Grated coconut rich in Vitamin B1, B2 and phosphorus
Ground black pepper
White pepper
Turmeric

Wash the yellow lentils and mixed bean Dahl completely until the water is running clear and soak for an hour or two. Then place onto boil for about half an hour reducing the heat to simmer. Add the vegetables, ground pepper and white pepper and half a teaspoon of turmeric, leave to simmer for about another 15-20 minutes, then add a heaped tablespoon of grated coconut and simmer for another few minutes. Serve with fresh lettuce leaves sprinkled with watermelon seeds, a few sprigs of steamed asparagus, and boiled new potatoes. YUM!
"The Yogic student needs a pure, nontoxic and balanced diet for the development of the body and mind in order to reach the highest spiritual perfection." Swami VishnuDevananda
Smiling from the heart
Om Shanit :-)

A Shining Light

‘The only basis of true and lasting unity of all humanity is the religion of the heart. Religion of the heart is the religion of love.’ Sri Swami Sivananda

When I read this quote by our great Guru Swami Sivananda, it is thoughts of Swami Govindananda that immediately come to mind. Swami Ji has more than 23 years experience of teaching yoga and Vedanta philosophy, has graduated thousands of fledgling yoga teachers and has a heart full of love. I first met Swami Ji on my first teacher-training course to become a yoga teacher in Madurai, Tamil nadu, where he sparked a fire within me that certainly has continued to burn and grow. I had never been in an ashram before and was amazed by just how much love and knowledge were enveloping me. He shared with us all messages from his guru’s Swami Sivananda and Swami Vishnudevananda and turned my curiosity of yoga and Vedanta into a deep passion in my daily life. How can you thank someone enough for that? For giving so much joy and peace, isn’t that the highest thing you can give.
Swami Ji founded the Sivananda Yoga Vidya Peetham organisation and is working alongside Swami Tatwarupananda and Swami Nivedanananda to bring more teacher training, yoga camps and courses on Vedanta; planting seeds in the many who come to him and filling their hearts with love and contentment. You can find out more on the web site here: http://www.sivanandapeetham.org/
The next teacher training course level one starts Nov 4th until Dec 2nd 2012
You will have an amazing inner journey with Swami Govindananda that I can guarantee, waking up your inner potentials, rising to the challenge and shinning from within.
Om shanti shanti shanti

Yoga Alliance

Yoga Alliance Registry marks are globally-recognized symbols of standards-based knowledge in the field of yoga. Yoga Alliance ensures its teachers value the history and traditions of yoga and that the public can be confident of the quality and consistency of instruction. The standards are to strengthen the integrity of a registered yoga teacher or school knowing that they have been trained under a high standard of teacher training in experienced and dedicated schools; also registered to ensure quality and standards. That all learning has been undergone in a teacher training environment, rather than in classes intended for the general public. This would include teacher methodology, anatomy and physiology, yoga philosophy, lifestyle and ethics as well as personal practice.
I am proud to be registered with Yoga Alliance you can find me under the name: nicola zammit on their website; www.yogaalliance.org. And please do come and join me on the mat at my small yoga mangala shala, for yoga teaching from the heart, no fancy fittings and products or commercialization, just a lightness of being.
Om om shanti Om :-)

Suryia Namaskar

Worship toward the sun was one of mans first and most natural forms of inner expression. In the Rig Veda, the first Veda, the sun is described as; “the remover of all weakness, healer of all illness. Lord of all the stands and goes. He slays the demons and guards the worshipers. We meditate in the adorable glory of the radiant sun. May he inspire our intelligence.”
Practicing Suryia Namaskar from a yogic point of view awakens the solar aspects of an individual’s nature and releases this vital energy for the purpose of a higher awareness. In ancient days, this exercise was a daily routine in daily spiritual practices, it should be practiced early morning preferably facing the sun, and at the beginning of every asana class. For a stiff person, the sun salutations are a boon to bring back lost flexibility. Most beginners will find the body is stiff because of muscle tension, tightness in the tendons and toxin deposits in the joints. There are 12 spinal positions combining many of the benefits of asana and pranayama, they bring movement to the whole spinal column and great flexibility to the limbs and can be practiced by everyone. The inner mood with which the sun salutations are done is of great importance, the mind must be quiet, calm and focused, being aware of every change that takes place in the body, with practice the awareness will grow and you will find a great beauty within the salutation.
On a physical level, during the exercise blood is distributed to all the organs, circulation increased and all lethargy expelled. Digestion is improved and the spinal nerves toned. The nervous system is regulated, eyes become bright and glowing appearance of good health is gained.
There is no age limit to practice suryia namaskar and the benefits can be profound, so get up in the morning, take a shower, roll out your mat in the direction of the sun and off you go.
Om Mitraya Namah – prostrations to him who is affectionate to all.
Enjoy Suryia Namaskar
Smiling from the heart
Om.

Beginnings

At any beginning, of a class, a lecture or any personal Sadhana (spiritual practice) we chant the Dhyana Slokas to help to tune our minds to the Divine and its different aspects. It is said that a saints life is one long prayer, but we don't need to consider ourselves a saint to initiate anything toward a devotional practice. Chanting this prayer helps us become an instrument a channel for a higher purpose and helps to remove the ego. As in any practice we first invoke Lord Ganesha (Gajananam) to remove all the obstacles on our path, then we ask Subramanya to give us strength and destroy all negative forces both internally and externally that are surrounding us. We pray to Saraswati to bring us divine knowledge and creativity before we make the prayer to the Guru, all the guru's to guide us always, to be with us and bring light. Finally we invoke the Divine Mother Durga; Narayani to bring auspiciousness for everything we do, to make like the saint our life one long prayer.
You can listen to the Dhyana Slokas sometimes referred to as Gajananam here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baL8xKD3lgg
Happy Chanting
Om shanti shanti shanti
:-)

Yoga Now

The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali are the standard text on yoga; it is one of the six Darshanas or systems of philosophy in India. Sutra meaning a thread, they are given so we can remember what is in the scriptures more easily. Patanjali gives us the practice of Raja yoga meaning 8 limbs. The royal path to realization, that of complete mind control through the use of the Yamas (restraints), Niyamas (observances), Asanas, Pranayama, Pratyhara (withdrawal of the senses), Dharana (concentration), Dhyana (meditation) and Samadhi- complete bliss. He teaches us to remain in the present moment and to remove our suffering by clearing the ‘crowds’ in our mind, but we must feel a need for change to be ready for this. Patanjali was not the inventor of yoga; yoga has been there since the beginning of creation, it comes from God or Hiranyagarbha; the cosmic mind of cosmic intelligence, the sum total of all the subtle bodies, the highest created being through whom the supreme being projects the physical universe. Patanjali, as a realised sage, received the knowledge from Hiranyagarbha and wrote it down for the whole of humanity.
The first sutra in the first chapter reads; ‘Atha yoganushasanam.’
Atha; an auspicious beginning also we can say Om, atha yoganushasanam- all the instructions are in keeping with the scriptures. One who has discovered that there is no solution to suffering from the outside world and wants to turn their awareness inward, where all knowledge exists, they have felt a need for change, this person is ready for yoga.
We should be able to surrender realizing whatever is there or is happening to us is just an opportunity to learn and grow, we should learn to like everyone instead of waiting for them to like us. If we can change the way we think then we are ready for yoga, if something seems very difficult but we know that from that situation we can gain knowledge then it is not difficult at all.
Atha imparts a blessing for someone who has discovered the limitations of an outer existence, who knows there is no real or permanent happiness from worldly objects, whom has the maturity, empathy and compassion to turn inwards. Join me on the mat on our inward journey and discover your true self on the path to eternal bliss.
Smiling from the heart
Om shanti
Thank you Mario for the photo; me and SwamiJi whilst training on the ATTC.