Filtered by Category: Yoga Times

Saturday, 30 December 2023

Countdown to 2024.

Countdown to 2024.   In the space between winter solstice and new year, there is a time where we can reflect on the closure of the old year and look back at the past with an open mind to remind ourselves of the lessons we have learnt. Whether we judge them to be good or bad doesn’t matter. What matters is that we use these lessons to find our way forward.   Sometimes the harshest of life’s lessons can take their toll on our well-bei...

Read more >>

Categories: Yoga Times

Wednesday, 28 December 2022

Goodbye 2022

Goodbye 2022    A new year beckons once again.  New beginnings are not about letting go of every harsh lesson we carry with us from the past, but more about adapting those lessons to fit the circumstances that we are currently living with. Winter is a rite of passage. Many mythical tales tell of winter and its bleak landscape that dares us to enter into the darkness and see what is hidden within. To find what lies beneath the surface an...

Read more >>

Categories: Yoga Times

Wednesday, 5 January 2022

Oh It's 2022!

Oh it’s 2022!   The dawning of a new year brings to light once again all of our hopes and aspirations and good wishes. The last couple of years seem to have blended into one, with the pandemic and lockdowns continuing at the start of 2021, but gradually it seems that we are learning to live with Corona virus and life is becoming a little less restricted. The reigning in of our everyday life experiences has given us more time to reflect on...

Read more >>

Categories: New Year, Yoga Times

Friday, 1 January 2021

Goodbye 2020

Goodbye 2020 Nothing could have prepared us for the year we have just had. As we enter 2021, a global sigh of relief can be felt in every corner of the world as we dare to focus on our hopes for the future even though many of us are still in the grips of the pandemic that is COVID 19. Although lockdowns help to reduce the impact on our health systems, their benefits are temporary and the aftermath is equally harmful to us in other aspects of our wellbeing.  ...

Read more >>

Categories: Yoga Times

Tuesday, 8 September 2020

Autumn term 2020

Autumn 2020 The solstice is long gone and the autumn equinox will soon be upon us. We are present in the waning of this strange and challenging year that is 2020. As we begin our autumn term we might well consider the lessons of this year of the pandemic where we found ourselves seeking answers that no one yet knew, longing for forbidden contact with our friends and loved ones, immersed in an enforced retreat from the daily lives we knew. Facing the unfamil...

Read more >>

Categories: Yoga Times

Wednesday, 1 January 2020

New Year 2020

New Year 2020   A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. Lao Tsu.   This new year marks the dawning of a new decade. All new beginnings suggest that changes are afoot, and a new decade seems somehow much more momentous than a new year. The small steps we take this decade on our journey will be instrumental in shaping its defining character in years to come. Where in the last century we had the roaring twenties, perhaps this cen...

Read more >>

Categories: Yoga Times, New Year

Sunday, 8 September 2019

Autumn term 2019

It is the start of a new term and as the summer draws to a close we begin the process of shifting from an outer awareness to a more contemplative inner attentiveness. Just as the leaves turn from green to glorious shades of reds and browns, so we radiate the vitality that the summer months have injected into our lives and begin the process of preparing for the cooler autumnal transition. It is a time for self-evaluation where many decide to pursue new interests.&...

Read more >>

Categories: Yoga Times

Friday, 4 January 2019

New Year 2019

New Year 2019    The challenges of each year do not end when a new one begins, yet even just the thought of a fresh start stimulates the creative juices and opens up opportunities for positive change. If last year’s challenges were particularly testing then this is a good time to take stock and plant the seeds of change for resolution and healing to take place. The changes we implement during the winter solstice are powerful because they ...

Read more >>

Categories: Yoga Times, New Year

Sunday, 7 January 2018

The New Year and Sankalpa 2018

The New Year and Sankalpa   The idea of a new year is usually associated with change and opportunities to start afresh. I can remember many new year’s resolutions that I made that enabled me to embrace the concept of change with enthusiasm and optimism rather than the fear that often accompanies change. Often my resolutions came to nothing and were quickly forgotten before the end of January but sometimes a resolution stuck and became integrated ...

Read more >>

Categories: Yoga Times

Sunday, 21 February 2016

The Five Koshas

The Five Koshas.   The starting point for embarking on our introduction to Energy as a creative force would be to look at what we already know and understand about ourselves. The five Koshas are layers or "sheaths" that form a strata for our embodiment. The physical body is the Anamaya Kosha. Literally translated this is the "food" body. It is composed of matter. The densest manifestation of who we are. No matter how sop...

Read more >>

Categories: Yoga Times

Wednesday, 13 January 2016

Brahmacharya /working with the creative force

Brahmacharya / Working with the creative force       If 2016 was an extraterrestrial visiting Earth for the first time I wonder how the human race would be perceived?  I don't normally make a resolution for the new year, but, this year I have set myself a challenge to look for the positive and focus on the wonderful things that people do and the amazing advances in science and engineering that are shifting the boundarie...

Read more >>

Categories: Yoga Times

Sunday, 3 January 2016

Yoga Times New Year 2016

Asteya/End of term summary   So we reached the end of term having explored our theme of Asteya and what it might mean to us in the context of Yoga classes. When attempting to translate from Sanskrit we are in danger of losing the essence and true meaning of things. It happens so often that translations from old language into modern day languages actually hide the true meaning of a word rather than invite enquiry as to what is really implied. Thus we st...

Read more >>

Categories: Yoga Times