YOGA SEED – Can you make peace with yourself?

Give yourself a mental pat on the back

For making the most of this moment.

As you keep bringing your mind here and now

Be gentle with yourself,

Can you embrace yourself with acceptance?

Whatever you notice, whether it be a positive quality

A challenge or a tension in your self

Can you approach your self with compassion and kindness?

Can you make peace with your wonderful aspects as well as your quirks?

Let’s start with the physical

Notice your toes as you wriggle them, stretch them,

Now let them rest, make peace with your toes.

Bring your mind into your fingers, let them wriggle, stretch and then release,

Feel peaceful energy flow through your fingers and hands.

Be present, now, in your back.

Can you lengthen your spine by tucking the tail under,  lifting through your crown?

Be at peace with the areas of discomfort as well as the areas that flow freely.

Now can you make peace with your mind?

As you bring your mind here and now,

Acknowledge all the wonderful thoughts you have,

Your mind’s ability to stretch to the edges of the universe and

Accept any tendencies it has to wander, flit or be clouded and heavy.

Be at peace with the power and challenges your mind brings you.

Finally can you make peace with your emotions?

Start by watching your breath flow.

The simple rhythm of breath in, followed by breath out …

Allowing you to pause and contemplate your emotional state.

There’s not right or wrong,

Your emotions are there to motivate you, to give you drive and passion.

Make peace with the very human roller-coaster

Your emotions sometimes take you on.

As you let your breath flow, pause …

Pause in a moment of physical, mental and emotional peace.

On a recommendation to try yoga for PTSD, I tentatively entered my first yoga class with Lynn. A few years on, Lynn’s yoga class has become an essential part of my week, also weaving yoga threads into my daily life. A sense of being able to relax in a safe place settles the mind (to some degree), knowing if the mind strays, Lynn’s soft patient voice guides me to the here and now, being able to do what feels right for me on the day. Yoga for me is gentle and calming, building strength and flexibility, imbuing the body, mind, soul and spirit to settle gently. Progressing to achieving inner peace. Thank you, Lynn, for being a guiding light. (Current mature student)

Yoga seed – Peace in the turbulence

 

It is possible to create peace amidst turbulence,

 

If we can find our own point of balance and

 

If we remember 2 essential wisdoms:

 

• what we focus on grows
• energy follows thought

 

 

Take control of this moment by bringing your mind here and now.

 

Stretch your arms and legs a little and then

 

Let them sit comfortably, evenly.

 

Lengthen your spine by tucking your tail under and

 

Lifting through your crown, chin a little towards your chest. 

 

A moment of physical balance.

 

 

 

Now observe the flow of your breath,

 

Without trying to change it,

 

Watch the breath flow in through your nostrils … and out …

 

In … and … out … and … in … and … out …

 

As you focus on the rhythmic flow,

 

That’s what spreads through your being –

 

Ripples of peace settling your inner space and

 

Then flowing, from you, out into the world around you

 

  

 

As you think of peace in this moment that is what is expanding.

 

These peaceful ripples will inevitably meet turbulence,

 

Yet your focus and balance will ensure the peaceful flow endures.

 

There are greater forces for peace and balance in the world

 

Than we may ever know, certainly far more than will ever be televised.

 

 

As your breath continues to flow,

 

You might like to chose a person, people or place

 

To send your peaceful energy to.

 

On your next breath in

 

Hold the breath a moment, at your heart and

 

Colour the breath with your love, your peaceful energies. 

 

Then as the breath flows out,

 

See it as light, beaming forth.

 

Light that is carrying peaceful energy.

 

See, or imagine you can see, it encircling your chosen people or place.

 

 

Your clear thought-form will make a very real contribution to world peace,

 

Because:  

 

 … what we focus on grows … and  … energy follows thought

 

 

 

 

 

YOGA SEED – loving acceptance

Just for a moment, can you let go of any external demands?

Can you release yourself from internal judgements?

No matter what intentions or resolutions

You had for yourself this year or

How the year has treated you thus far,

In this moment there are no ‘rights’ or ‘wrongs’,

No ‘good’ or ‘bad’, just simply ‘what is’.

Notice your feet, resting flat.

Accept your feet as they are right now,

Allow yourself to acknowledge all they do for you.

As you tuck your tail under a little and lift through your crown,

Focus on your spine, sensing the space,

Soft and cushioning, between each vertebrae.

Your spine, with all its flexibility, with its restrictions and any stiffness,

Is as it needs to be, in this moment.

If your shoulders are dropped back and down and

Your sternum lifted, then your chest will be open.

Energy can flow through your shoulders, chest, heart and lungs –

With all of their wonders and quirks,

They are as they need to be, in this moment.

With all of your beautiful qualities and your imperfections,

YOU are as you need to be, in this moment.

Your fellow human beings, with all of their delightful and their challenging traits,

Are as they need to be, in this moment.

From this point of acceptance there can be

Growth, expansion and peaceful evolution.

Yoga seed – space

Welcome to this precious moment.

And this will only take a moment.

You might like to gently scan your body,

Notice what it is telling you and then 

Make any adjustments so you feel comfortable.

If you can scrunch your toes and then spread them apart

You might notice some space between your toes.

Now clench your fists, squeeze them tight and

Let them go, allowing your fingers to gently curl.

With your palms face up, feel the warm space in your hands. 

As you tuck your tail under a little and

Lift through the crown of your head

You create cushiony space between the vertebra of your spine.

Dropping your shoulders back and down

Brings an openness to the chest

Which allows the breath to flow freely and 

Creates nurturing space in which the lungs can expand.

Follow the next breath in, through your nostrils,

Feel the expansion in your lungs and

The release with the next breath out.

Follow your breath –

In … and … out … and … in … and … out …

Now perhaps you can focus on the space between the breaths –

After the breath leaves your body, can you

Sense the pause, however fleeting, before the next breath begins to flow in?

Then after the next inhalation,

Can you notice the moment of full expansion,

The space before the exhalation.  

Observing the spaces in your body and your breath,

Creates space in your life,

Affirms the space you have to allow your true self shine through.

Yoga seed – You have all the resources you need, within you

Welcome to this precious moment.

Allow yourself to become your own independent observer.

Simply notice where your body is in space and

Make any adjustments you need in order to be comfortable.

Observe the length in your spine as you tuck your tail under and

Lift through the crown of your head.

If you can drop your shoulders back and down,

Your breath will be able to flow more freely.

Watch as your breath flows … in … and … out … and … in … and … out …

Then notice where your mind is.

As soon as you become aware of your thoughts you have the power to

Choose to bring them here and now.

Can you follow the rhythm of your breath?

And allow it to take you deep within.

Every moment you look within like this,

Even if it is only a fleeting moment.

You come a little closer to the point within you

Where you have all the resources you need –

All the wisdom and strength, all the beauty, love and serenity you need

Are right here within you …

Waiting for you to bring yourself to stillness

So that you can tap into your inner resources.

Solstice reflections – appreciation of the light

At the time of the solstices Gita teachers and students take the opportunity to pause and give thanks for the light – the light radiating from the sun and elsewhere in the universe and the consciousness, enlightenment and understanding we each create as, together, we strive for physical, emotional and mental balance.

If you are a Gita yoga teacher, student or friend may you feel the gratitude expressed in the following words – gratitude for your contribution to all that is light in humanity.  If you come from a different tradition of yoga, perhaps you can replace the word Gita with Yoga or the name of your tradition and may you also feel the gratitude for your light.

---

Around Dec 21, Gita teachers in places like Melbourne, Penguin and Hobart, created Solstice ceremonies to celebrate the light that prevails alongside and in spite of the darknesses that are increasingly being revealed in these apocalyptic times (apocalypse – the ‘hidden being revealed’).

• We are deeply grateful to Gita as an enduring, steady centre and pillar of light.

 

• We know this light as it shines within us, illuminating and transforming our dark corners through the unique patterns of hatha yoga you have brought us to.

 

• We find ourselves facing the light of truths in ourselves, in our institutions, and our world which challenge us to our very core.  Yet in these moments of challenge we find that we have all the resources we need within us – our yoga brings us the seeds of transformation, resolution, upliftment, inspiration, the will to good and to universal love.

 

• We live in the work-a-day world in this light as we put into practice the Gita ethos of ‘Living with understanding and teaching by example’.

 

• We expand and radiate the light as we take our own place on our own paths, under our own steam, thanks to Gita’s inherent and unwavering focus on creating only the conditions in which our souls grow.

 

• There is inherent harmlessness in our growth and work together as we tap into our own power and find that, spontaneously, in this light, we cannot help but use it for the good of humanity and universal evolution.

Upcoming workshop

 

 

THE TRANSFORMATIVE POWER OF YOGA – supporting the release and healing of trauma. Workshop for Northern Tasmanian human service workers and yoga teachers.
Sat Feb 21st, 10-4pm, Burnie

The impacts of trauma (large and small) can be held, felt or hidden anywhere in our bodies, thought processes or emotional make-up. The practices of yoga have, for thousands of years, helped release people physically, mentally and emotionally onto their path towards wholeness.
This workshop offers a nurturing journey using metaphor, distilled wisdom, gentle yoga techniques & research to glimpse the blockages that trauma creates. As teachers, counsellors, health & support workers, we can feel affirmed in what we are already doing that makes a difference & inspired by emerging research that shows how yoga releases the effects of trauma. With renewed focus on mindfulness & trauma in many fields of human service, more professions are turning to yoga’s ancient practices. We can all be a part of this positive paradigm shift & the practical partnerships & solutions it holds for us & the people we serve.

REGISTER NOW – limited places.
• $90, includes light lunch and refreshments (discounts for workplaces sending 2 or more)
• Secure your place with a $30 deposit and completed registration form, attached
• No prior experience or flexibility needed, this yoga can even be done in a chair

Venue: Burnie Child & Family Centre, 36 Thorne St, Acton, Burnie. Ph: 64304222

Come prepared for a relaxing time, wear comfortable clothing, be prepared to leave your shoes at the door, bring a favourite blanket and, if you have one handy, a clipboard.

Lynn Romeo (www.lynnromeoyoga.com.au) straddles mainstream, alternative, professional and creative realms. She worked for many years with people with disabilities and families, as a social worker and teacher of residential/support workers. Lynn then found the balance that yoga brings so inspiring, she could not help but become a Yoga teacher. She has taught in the Gita Yoga tradition for 23 years, writes from the furnace of family life and, in recent years, has been liberated by the renewed focus, world-wide, on the healing of trauma through yoga. In these workshops, Lynn draws on the support of yoga teaching and ‘trauma-informed’ colleagues and her recent studies in Trauma Sensitive Yoga with the Trauma Centre in Boston, directed by Dr. Bessel van der Kolk (Prof of Psychiatry, Boston University, pioneer in the field of trauma since the 1970s).

Assisted by Jenny Hyland, (Ph 6437 0960) Gita teacher living in Penguin for 12 years. After graduating in 1995, Jenny has taught in many settings including drug and alcohol rehab, Vietnam vets and in groups dealing with depression, alcohol and pain management at North West Private Hospital. She continues to do post- graduate courses with Gita in Melbourne and with local teachers in Tassie. As well as teaching yoga in Penguin, Jen works at Coroneagh Aged Care Facility in roles including Extended Care & Diversional Therapy. With her supportive partner Neil, she feels blessed to have been accepted and supported in a great community. Jenny gives thanks to yoga which she believes is the greatest tool that anyone can have.

Email Lynn to register or enquire – romeolynn@yahoo.com.au, Ph. 0421 327 237

Stories from students – just in

After reading other students’ stories about how yoga works, two more people have been inspired to write:

‘I recently turned 72. Apart from a medically caused balance problem, I think I’m fitter than many of my contemporaries, and older than many others who are as active as I am. Perhaps this relative fitness is the result of genetics, but I don’t think so. I think that it’s more likely to be due to the yoga I’ve been doing for several years. I don’t doubt that my flexibility is a result of the yoga, as I stiffen up if I don’t do the stretches for a few weeks. And Lynn’s classes are just what I need. They include stretches, postures and relaxation; they’re not so threatening that I think “I’m afraid to go in case I fall over”; and I can modify the postures to take into account the medical advice I’ve been given. (This reminds me of the time I went to a balance specialist. His advice was “Keep doing yoga”. He believes it’s a good exercise for improving balance – particularly important for older people).’

‘After 2 and a half years of regular yoga with Lynn I’m happy to say that my body is hooked. There’s no going back to a life without yoga. Prior to classes with Lynn, yoga for me was a haphazard, random pursuit. But the gentle, repetitive and rhythmical nature of Lynn’s class is perfectly attuned to the needs of my physical, emotional and spiritual being. This has enabled me to refine and consolidate my basic understanding of yoga and allowed my body to develop a strong memory of postures that I am able to build upon and extend over time. Although gentle, it makes me stronger, and the rhythmical nature of it provides comfort, solace and an intuitive space of reflection. Thank you so much Lynn, for being a guide to help me enter into the flow.’

Yoga seed for harmony

Welcome to this moment.

You might like to start by centering yourself.

Lift through your crown and

Feel your spine as a central rod that supports you.

Let your shoulders drop back and down to open your chest and

Watch as your breath flows.

If you feel any tension or stiltedness in your breath,

It might help to draw in a full deep breath,

Hold it for a moment

And then sigh it out.

Perhaps once more – draw in a full deep breath,

Hold it for a moment

And then sigh it out.

Now can you allow your breath to settle

Into its own rhythm?

Observe the flow … in … and … out … and … in … and … out …

Give in to the rhythm of your breath.

There’s a moment to notice the way your body is moving as you breathe.

Your breath can become the magnetic thread that

Brings your mind into your body and

Allows your emotional state to settle.

Your breath flows … in … and … out … and … in … and … out  …

Aligning your mind, your body and your feelings.

A moment of harmony.

Harmony within.