New Family Yoga Classes!

This is an advert in the home education site written by Tammy, mom of my students, who's organizing the family yoga classes.

Yoga is going ahead in Central London!  We'll be starting on Thursday, 4 February; working with a lovely Yoga teacher, offering fun, creative sessions for children (& any parents who want to join in!), combining exciting adventures with stories, games and relaxing techniques designed to stimulate imagination and maintain flexibility.

Classes will be held at the Abbey Centre, 34 Great Smith Street, SW1P 3BU - just round the corner from Westminster Abbey/Parliament Square as an easy landmark.  This is about 15 minutes walk from Victoria Station or 5 minutes fromWestminster (Jubilee Line among others) or St James's Park (District Line) stations.  If travelling from Waterloo the 211 bus has a 5 - 10 minute journey over Westminster Bridge and drops you off nearly on the doorstep.  Other buses are 11, 24, 88 and 148.  There is a fairly reasonably priced cafe in the building for those that need it and St James's Park is just down the road for anyone who wants to play afterwards.

Cost will be approximately £6 per family per session.  First session can be tried with a single payment and then we'll work in 2-monthly blocks with payment up-front. (Can discuss different frequencies of payment if necessary, but to ensure our costs are covered payments must be made in advance.)

If you're free on Thursday mornings from 10:30 to 11:30, we'd love for you to join us.  It would be quite helpful to have an idea of how many people to expect, so please email pata_dn@yahoo.com if you're interested.

 

Tamlyn

Happy 10th Birthday Triyoga!

Half Price Classes + Juices + a Special Evening Chant + Chai 

triyoga Primrose Hill opened its doors for our first classes on the 19th February 2000. It was both the culmination + the beginning of the vision to create the highest quality centre for true wellbeing, combining 3 key elements of yoga, Pilates + treatments.

Our aim was and continues to be, to have the best teachers, teaching a broad range of truly authentic styles of yoga in a really great environment. So you could find a class that suited you + that yoga could and would be for everyone, regardless of age, size, fitness and what you eat or don’t eat.

At the same time we wanted to create a community of teachers + students + staff that felt like they belonged somewhere, that triyoga was their home.

The principle was to honour the tradition of yoga + create and give the experience that you were entering a sacred space + dispel the illusion about who yoga is for because it is for everyone – hence everyone triyoga.

So, as a thank you to everyone who has practised here, taught here or been here, we are offering all yoga + Pilates mat classes + juices on Saturday 20th February at half price.

In the evening at 7pm Nikki Slade will lead us in a celebration chant and free chai, tea + cookies. Places will be allocated on a first come, first served basis. This chant will be by donation with all proceeds going to the Red Cross for Haiti.

Sat 20 Feb 2010
until Sat 20 Feb 2010
At All Day 


http://www.triyoga.co.uk/story.php?titleid=1654

Brahma Kumaris Tagaytay Newsletter

This is the February issue of their newsletter, giving insight to two of our participants' experience during our retreat. Enjoy reading! Shame, though, that our group picture never made it to the front page. Haha.

Please click on the link:   BK newsletter 02/10

NEWSFLASH....

My Friday class at OneKX will be moved to Wednesday starting 3rd February at the same time slot (6-7pm).

Brahma Kumaris Meditation Retreat

On my last weekend in Manila, I had the wonderful opportunity to attend the Solace for the Soul program at the Brahma Kumaris Centre for Spiritual Learning in Tagaytay with my buddies - Karen, Lei, Gretchen, Kristina - and new friends, who willingly came along without knowing what to expect. It took me almost five months to arrange the retreat. I can vividly remember how I emailed Sister Salud asking if I could bring a group with me and how we kept in touch all those months. 

We were greeted with a nice warm cup of salabat tea on our first night. I shared the room with Karen and Lei. From my experience staying at the Global Retreat House in Oxford, I knew the food was going to be awesome. But we never had veggie meat served there during our stay. To my amazement, the meals were so delicious and tailored to the Pinoy tastebuds! If only I could cook like that, I would join the BK and set up my own vegetarian cafe. Even the carnivores in our group were so stuffed!

On Saturday, waking up at 6am to practice before my hatha yoga class was a mean feat. 98% of the group were totally new to yoga. They had their yoga mats in hand and were roaring to start! We had a 40-minute practice before breakfast, which consisted of macaroni soup, BK-made oven fresh bread, strawberry jam and fresh fruits! I taught another class in the afternoon; it seemed that everyone were enjoying themselves. The rest of day was spent on lectures about getting to know ourselves, 1-minute traffic control meditations, group work, going for silent walks and getting tips on how to meditate. That was a long day! 

Sunday was our last day. We were invited to experience meditation at 4am, when the air is crisp; the energy is at its clearest and our soul at its purest. All the BKs were out and about, doing their meditation in the big hall while we were in the dome. 98 students, all wearing white, from Metro Manila were to arrive by 7am to attend this special day, the death anniversary of Brahma Baba. He founded the Brahma Kumaris. We, of course, were not part of this event. It was Sister Salud's oversight when she agreed to accommodate us on this weekend. Normally, they wouldn't have agreed to do a program around this time due to their celebrations. This was truly a blessing that we pushed through despite being informed of this problem two weeks prior to our arrival. 

More exercises followed like writing a letter to yourself, spending quiet time and introspecting. At the end of the program, Sister Salud and Sister Yugini gave us a sweet treat and an affirmation. I always look forward to these gifts after every session I attend at Inner Space. We did one last hatha yoga session before we made our way home. Sister Rajni gave us all a pin button to remind us of angels, that we are free and peaceful. 

This was a memorable experience for me. I learned that meditation is a constant learning process and no matter who we are and what we do, we can always benefit from being quiet and listening to our inner selves. Our spirituality will link us to the Supreme, whoever that may be in our lives.

Thank you to all who joined me on this spiritual journey of rediscovering ourselves. 

Om Shanti.

New Classes in January!

A Practice Beyond Asanas

This level 2 class will go beyond postures. We will explore more challenging poses as well as other tools of yoga such as meditation, chanting, pranayama (breathing techniques) and basic philosophy. Suitable for people who have yoga experience.

Dates: 25 January - 29 March 2010
Time: 7-8pm
Cost: £70 (10 weeks)

This year we will be moving to One KX, 120 Cromer Street, London WC1H 8BS, where it is better and more accessible. 

Please register in advance!

New Year - what does it bring?

This year I promise to eat less. Practice more. Go to the gym everyday. Does this sound familiar? We all make new year's resolutions only to break or forget about them by the end of January. So this 2010 I won't even make one.

These past few weeks have been difficult. I have had to make decisions if I should continue to nurture and sustain one-way relationships. Why do I say one-way? No give and take; only take, take, take. As I recall, a relationship needs to be a two-way street with both parties trying to make it work and actually getting a mutual benefit from it. We are so attached to our families, friends and lovers that we sometimes overlook how badly we may be treated. In raja yoga I learned that these very same relationships (attachment to a person) could be a cause of our unhappiness. I, for one, have been tricked into accepting behavior (one that I normally wouldn't accept from a stranger) by my emotions because I was very much attached to these persons. Fortunately, though saddening, I learned to let go of them and not feel guilty. No more drama. I simply refuse to be taken advantage of. No one deserves that. It may sound harsh to give up on anyone and choose to have nothing to do with them. But we should love ourselves first, only then can we give to others what we already have.

Wounds may take time to heal but life will go on. Life is beautiful; there is so much to live for. I always believed that if one door closes, a bigger window opens! Focus on the good things, strive to reach your highest potential and never forget to share your blessings. These are the things I learned last year. These I will take with me into the new year.