Chakra Journey

Just a bit about the Chakras – Chakras are centres of spinning energy that link into every aspect of human existence. From the base of the body to the crown of the head we have 7 main centres that link into our very human survival needs as well as our potential for creativity and pleasure. We have centres that contain our will power and enthusiasm and our sincere and courageous love and compassion. Then there is an area of our body that is so deeply connected to our self expression and need to be heard and understood. An other Chakra calls us in for deep peace and harmony. And then there is a centre for awareness and our deep sense of yes to everything with out judgement – everything….

I am wondering if you have an area that is not thriving as it needs to, when one Chakra is deeply out of balance the whole being can be knocked sideways. Any childhood trauma or difficulty during birth can knock the Chakra system off balance. And a hum drum life doing what you think you ought to instead of what you really love to can certainly throw everything out of balance. Come and check in to health and harmony and abundance.

I am very excited to be offering this course for your personal development.
When we connect with all of our 7 main Chakras we begin to explore living life as a truly integrated human being.
This is a very beautiful and creative adventure.

An interactive course suitable for Yoga teachers and Yoga students preferably with at least 2 years experience.
Men and women welcome.

Let me say a bit more about this course and who might enjoy attending.
This year 2012 the Chakra Course is especially for your
personal enjoyment and creativity.

If you have completed a BWY Foundation Course with me in the past you might enjoy a Chakra top up. Many students have said to me that they wish they had more time to give to the course and
that they would like to do it again.

If you are a body worker of any kind i.e. massage therapist or Bowen or Shiatsu practitioner you might enjoy creating your own personal understanding of the Chakras and working out how they link in with your body work system.

If you are really enjoying weekly Yoga sessions but would
love to know a bit more….

If you are a creative type, a painter, or sculpture, or singer and you also practise Yoga regularly you might like to create something based on your Chakra Journey. Give yourself time to deepen
into your art and Yoga.

If you are a Yoga teacher and you would like to create your own teaching aids to help bring your sessions alive
and help your students to discover some of the richness of Yoga.

If you would just like to deepen your own personal experience and understanding of the Chakras for any reason.

If you have a health condition that is difficult to understand or make sense of come and see if Chakra balancing
can help raise your vitality and energy levels.

Maybe you feel you are not engaging with life as fully as you could be ~ always good to check out your Chakra’s. We all have one or two Chakra’s that we flow easily with and we often have one or two that get stuck from time to time. Bring yourself back into balance and flow and maybe uncover some parts of you that have
been completely neglected.

This is a journey that can open you to living life as a truly integrated human being.

Chakra Day
17th March 2012
From 10.30am to 4.30pm
Cost = £36
Venue – Swindon Yoga and Massage Centre

Chakra Course
From 21st April to 17th November 2012
Third Saturday of each month
From 10.30am to 4.30pm
Cost = £336 (cost includes 8 x day workshops / Chakra Pack / 1 hour one to one session)
Venue – Swindon Yoga and Massage Centre

with lots of love and lots of thanks Frances
namaste

Warrior 2

We are being guided / advised to get our carbon emissions down to between 1 and 2.5 tonnes of carbon emissions per person per year to help stabilise the atmosphere of planet earth.

One return trip from UK to Australia releases 10 tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere per passenger…..

‘Flying is  climate crime sings ‘Seize the Day, ‘Living is hard and flying is easy’.

It is only in a relatively short space of time that so many people have come to believe that it is their right to fly to foreign lands in search of a better  life, or to have exotic holiday and adventures. Cheap package holidays and airports all over the world offer more and more unusual exotic destinations to tempt and distract us all. 

One of the by products of this kind of air travel is that it has often robbed the exotic location of it’s cultural values – introducing western materialistic values where there was simplicity and sustainability, where there was community and cooperation.  In comes the dollar and MacDonald and coke a cola and promiscuity and drugs and addictions of all kinds.

Air travel and cheap package holidays weakens the resilience of the country people are flying from as well as weakens the community and sustainability in the country people are flying to.

Also there has been a lot of learning and cross culturisation.  The west meets the east.  In the UK now we have many people living here from all over the world.  This brings mixed race relationships lots of learning and diversity joy and creativity as well as challenges. This has been beneficial in my opinion for many reasons.  We have Yoga and meditation in nearly every town …

I gave up flying in 2005. Gradually becoming more and more aware of how my lifestyle was impacting on the planet.  Gradually becoming more and more aware of how my choices would impact on future generations ability to thrive or even survive on planet earth.

Cutting back on my use of water and electricity, recycling, composting. Walking instead of driving. Lots of small changes add up to a lot if we all start to make them.  Gradually introducing lots of small changes – taking some time to adjust each time.  But also in me a growing awareness a growing desire to do more.  What about some of the big changes that are really required to make a difference. Giving up driving and owning a car.  Giving up flying.  Giving up flying makes a massive difference to my personal carbon emissions.

Some of the things people benefit from when having a holiday:

* A sense of adventure, going into the unknown brings about a heightened state of awareness.

* Having adventures, getting lost, reading a map, asking a local for directions, or advice, climbing a mountain, riding on a boat and water sports.

* Discovering beautiful locations, connecting more deeply with nature, with woodlands or beaches or mountains and valleys and views.

* Resting deeply, not getting up early, siestas, resting under a palm tree while listening to the sound of the waves rolling onto the beach.

* Discoing the history of an area and the mystery of the old stories and old ways of doing things.

* Getting wet, getting hot, seeing different views, expanding our horizons.

* Experiencing different cultures, different foods, different smells, different ways of greeting each other, different customs.

* No plans, a sense of going through the day with more spontaneity than usual, just following your energy to play, rest, eat, read a book for hours in no particular order.

* Meeting new people and having more time to chat and linger. Friendly chit chats with other tourists or a feeling of freedom to say more than usual because you might never see them again.

* A chance to present yourself in a different way – to explore being different – to experiment – to feel more free…..

* Buying unusual hand crafted local products to bring back to decorate your home or to give to friends.

* Learning a new language helps to keep the brain cells alive and functioning well.

* More time to dance and play and be physical and sing and express yourself or the parts of yourself that get lost and stuck behind a desk at work or  your regular role or snowed under with the pile of tasks to be completed at home.

* No deadline – time off from busy schedules and impossible deadlines and targets.  Time off from an overriding sense of responsibility and so much to do.

* Expanded awareness, seeing how different people do things, talking or communicating without words to someone from a different culture can bring expanded awareness and perspective and a questioning of how and why we do things. Broadening our horizons.

* So in essence holidays are good because they give us time to rest and time for adventures.  They allow us rest and integration time as well as a sense of perspective.

Now in my opinion and from my own experience we can give ourselves all of this at home in our own country and even in our own region or neighbourhood.  Try giving up flying and giving up driving at the same time. Or just try giving up flying for the sake of all humanity and for the sake of future generations.

In the UK we have mountains and rivers and sea and sky and beautiful changing seasons. We have sun and snow and autumn leaves and spring bulbs. We have an amazing variety of seasons and landscapes but what we don’t have is relentless dazzlingly bright sunshine and heat that we can rely on.  Yes if you holiday at home in the UK there will be the loss of that reliable hot weather that some other countries enjoy.  More and more we need to cover up and protect from the harmful rays of the sun so hot resting on the beach for hours type of holiday are inadvisable anyway.

I can get that same kind of deep rest and deep peace and heat that warms me through to my bones (that I used to get from sunbathing) from resting for hours in front of my wood burning stove in the middle of winter.

I can get heightened states of awareness and deep peace and joy from time in nature when not rushing, when I slow down enough to feel the breeze on my face and hear the bird song so loudly I can’t ignore it.

I can get that sense of adventure any time I walk in the woods or travel by train to an area I have not been to before.  I can get that same kind of adventure simply from taking the scenic route in to the town that is my home town.  To find the old railway line that is now a cycle way or the canal pathway drops me down into a slower gentler pace of life.

To unplug the phone and turn off the computer for 3 days or a week can give me the same kind of rest and adventure that a foreign holiday used to bring.  To clear my diary for a week – no plans, no schedule not even a possible schedule can bring me into spontaneity. Easily moving from rest to action, completely following my own energy, my urges to rest, to create, to be on my own. to meet with another person.

A holiday at home, completely commit to not doing jobs but just being at home, being at home in your own home. Resting, eating doing one activity at a time. Cooking delicious nourishing food slowly followed by a herbal foot-bath and let it unfold….

Watch children at play – they have adventures with a cardboard box and a bit of clay.  Explore that childlike sense of adventure within yourself and with others. Playing or creating for no particular reason.

If you are the type that would prefer organised adventures there are many at hand in the UK.  There are drumming and dancing holidays and camps.  There are walking holidays and pilgrimages from coast to coast. There are wilderness skill holidays and camps to really test your sense of adventure.

There are Yoga retreats and holidays and meditation centres that offer you the chance of deep peace and relaxation as well as breathing and stretching.  This can open you up to a whole internal world of discovery and adventure.

There are family events with animals to feed and crafts to make and trips and walks and juggling to do. And ball games and foraging and fungus hunting.

We have layer upon layer of magic and mystery in this land. Ancient hill forts and caves, Roman villas and mosaics and castles, Standing stones and circles and ley lines – miles and miles of history and mystery. 

There are holidays and personal growth courses that will take you on adventures to discover your inner child, find your power within, explore sacred sexuality, free your inner voice. Discover astrology or living sustainably. Create, explore, develop, discover can all be done locally – in fact it is beneficial if it is all done locally, because then you begin to know who your neighbours are and who you can depend on and what each and every one of us has to offer.

Another thing we can do from time to time is co create – gather together and create a day of pampering and nourishing massage and intimacy. Gather together and learn about woodland management.  Gather together and sing and dance or share poems and stories around a fire or by candlelight. Gather together to celebrate the seasons of the year and the seasons and cycles of life.

Learn a new skill – give up an old habit.

All we need to do is to set aside some time to have a holiday at home or an adventure nearby or to have an inner journey.  The act of setting aside the time and the act of committing to drop-out of your regular life style / regular rhythm is all that is required to give you a nourishing holiday with a lush balance of rest and adventure. Rest and adventure. And then we can come back home or back to work rhythms with a sense of perspective and renewed energy and enthusiasm and fresh insights.

Frances offers regular Yoga retreats on Dartmoor.

Leads a 10 month long course set out as a journey through the Chakras to help you live life as a truly integrated human being.

Runs a Yoga centre and teaches Weekly Yoga classes in Swindon.

Offers Especially for Women’s sessions once a month on a Friday evening.

She is also a writer and a dancer and lives in simple abundance and loves gathering wood for her wood stove and learning about woodland management.

Frances also recommends:

Yoga, Meditation, Tia Chi for the inner peace and inner adventure.

Permaculture courses for ecological solutions now.

Lower Shaw Farm, Swindon, family and earthy spirituality.

Buddafield camps and retreats.

Trackways – wilderness skills.

5 Rhythms for free expressive dance workshops and courses.

Santosha camps – Eco yoga family camps in Cotswold’s, Glastonbury and Ireland.

Sacred sexuality courses for freeing up creativity.

Transition Town movement – building resilient communities.

I do not recommend flying holidays for rest or adventure or inner spiritual growth.  Everything we need to be whole and to live in freedom with lush time for adventures and rest we can find at home in our own homes or in our local environment and definitely within the UK.  Time to stop flying – time to find everything you need locally and sustainably and be part of building new resilient communities. Time to come back home. 

Then we come to face the issue of flying to visit family and friends who live abroad.  This is a complex and painful issue. The free flowing cheap oil has expanded our capacity to travel and move to live in foreign countries. In search of a better lifestyle, a better way, a better environment to bring up a family. Also to run away, to move away, to get away, from families and communities that controlled and restricted us.  To move away from old stuck families and commitments and a sense of restraint  So in search of something better and in attempting to get away many of us now have friends and family in all areas of the world from the Caribbean to New Zealand.  In that time of free flowing cheap oil many of our relatives went to live in Australia and USA.  Many people now have very culturally mixed families, mixing has been good for many reasons – but now that we are being urged to settle in one land and not to fly any longer. Where do families choose to live? How do we integrate the changes that are required in this next phase? Is it time for a family meeting or debate on where shall we settle to be together or shall we accept that living in different lands and different continents we will have to see much much less of each other.

Personally I get very very excited when I hear that my brother and all his family are travelling without a question from the USA to be at my daughters wedding in the UK. I have given up flying for ecological reasons and yet I am so excited that 4 people are flying here to be at my daughters wedding.  I long to see them all so much, to see how the children have grown, to hug them, to have long winded extended conversations, to actually see and sense them in the flesh, to ask the questions about how they really are. These things can not be substituted by email or facebook or Skype. These things can not be substituted by email or facebook or Skype but maybe that is the best we can do in this time and phase in history. And yet if they all fly here and we get that kind of connection that I guess we all long for there is a risk that this will add to the possibility that my new grandchild baby Reuben James will not inherit a planet that is fit to live on.  For me as much as I long to see my brother and his family I long more to feel that I that we have all done our best to balance the ecology of the planet for the sake of future generations and all humanity. It is a painful painful choice and yet for me the choice is clear we have to start making changes and some big changes to how we live our life for the sake of all humanity and for the sake of our grandchildren and all future generations.

What needs to be done does not require a major financial commitment or amazing inventions – we just need to change how we think and how we behave.

Time to wake up, time to grow up – to make decisions that are not just based in our own needs or comfort. 

Ultimately, humanity is one, and this small planet is our only home. If we are to protect this home of ours, each of us needs to feel a vivid sense of universal altruism. It is only this feeling that can remove the self-centered motives that cause people to deceive and misuse one another. If you have a sincere and open… heart, you naturally feel self-worth and confidence, and there is no need to be fearful of others.

Dali Lama

Oct 2010

Free flowing cheap oil has created a world of options.  These options have led us up and out into exciting adventures and expansive possibilities, led us to explore the moon and into space. 

Now it is time to come back down and in.  Down and in with limitations is not a bad thing.  In my experience down and in is beautiful and full of depth and deep peace and containment is not empty it is oh so full.  In my experience boundaries and containment give us the potential for depth and for growth as well.  Inner growth and local connections to work towards building a more sustainable resilient local community here and now. So much energy, thought and money and enthusiasm goes into flying holidays or flying to visit relatives.  Just imagine if that much energy thought, money and enthusiasm was redirected into living locally.

So many choices in the modern consumer world have led to choice stress.  Less choices – for example no flying – brings you back home to what is of value nearby.  And if there does not feel like there is anything of value nearby then it is time to create that which you desire. 

When I choose to make a change, a percieved big change or a percieved small change in the direction of supporting life on earth, I am bought again face to face with my fear that we will not do enough or do enough in time to make a difference.  Making change is not easy and ignoring to make a change that needs to be made is also not easy. This is the dilema regularly with living life concsiously. 

Ignoring a situation and hoping it will just go away or sort itself out will drain your energy and develop symptoms of stress in your body.

Dealing with a difficult complex situations like climate change and peak oil all the time may cause anxiety and stress in your body and possibly overwhelm.

Dealing with it is hard, not dealing with it is hard.  And there is no guarentee that if I choose not to fly and to not own a car and to learn to live more simply that this will lead to the outcome that I desire.  However, to make those changes from a place of truth and love despite no guarantee of safety is a sacred act. This is integrity and there is energy and enthusiasm and wholeness in living with integrity. There is freedom and creativity in living with integrity and personal authenticity.  And this path does not nessasarily keep you safe, does not nessacarily make you lots of money. 

And it is the path of the honourable warrior.

Mahatma Gandhi

Martin Luther king

Mother Teresa

Joanna Macey

Arjuna in Bhagavad Gita

And each and every one of us has the potential to live life as an honourable warrior.

To live life fully, to engage with life fully, the challenges and the joys as best you can with all of your limitations and all of your fears is the life of  the honourable warrior.  To engage with life fully, with the issues of your age and time in history and your personal situation with no guarantees that it will turn out as you hope is the life of the honourable warrior.

This makes life a spiritual practice and gives life a sense of purpose no matter what is going on around you.

With love and thanks Frances

namaste

I honour the place in you where the entire universe resides. I honour the place in you of love of light, of truth, of peace. I honour the place within you where, if you are in that place in you and I am in that place in me, there is only one of us. ~ Namaste ~

I am aware that I live in the Slad Valley, Stroud, Glos which is where the author Laurie Lee lived as described in his book ‘Cider with Rosie’.  This is a beautiful book written with such colour sound texture and human emotion that I highly recommend.  He was writing about this valley that I now live in in the early 1900′s.  In that time people did not go out of their valley.  All their needs were met for food, housing, community and clothing from this area, from this valley.  So much has changed since then and we have Tesco, Waitrose and Sainsbury’s here along with many other new and modern inventions.  And yet Stroud and the valley that is now my home still has many people who know how to grow food, and manage a woodland, and keep live stock and a herbalist and a thriving farmers market.  This area has kept that sense of community effort and ….it is still here and is gradually building.

And in his book Cider with Rosie Laurie Lee describes how the community had one trip per year to Western Suppermare which was this highlight of adventure and travel for them.  The rest of the time everything they needed to grow and live and rest and connect was in this valley.  And the book does not describe this as easy or a bundle of joy – there were challenges and there was misery and yet I find this quite humbling that really all we need to live is quite simple and is here in this valley if we look after it all well.

Childs pose

Gathering fabric, candles, colours, jewels, rocks, pictures and statues. Gathering together to create a display helps to clarify your intention to manifest what your deep heart desires.

Altars to health and harmony or altars to invoke peace or abundance. What would you like to gather into your life or what would you like to manifest in the world?

Altars are really displays of what you value.

Displays to remind to focus your energy and re remind

 you when you get stuck or lost.

Light a candle and sit still for a minute or ten,

let your thoughts settle

and feel into what is really important today,

or this year, or this season.

Making a display or an altar stimulates the creative juices

and in the act of creation we can become more clear about

our deepest intention.

Deep peace

 I call them altars or circles of abundance.

Then this beautiful creation can act as a reminder,

 a daily reminder or a moment to remember when ever we need to reconnect with our truth. Not like a jobs list which can haunt us

and weigh us down with a whole lot of oughts.

This display is for inspiration and reconnection,

easy and beautiful inspiration ~ just there on a shelf

 or the window ledge or on a wall. It can be a small almost

secret altar that no one else knows is there.

Or it can be a giant display to what we intend to

 manifest on earth with no shadow of a doubt.

Sometimes and altar will help us manifest something quickly and other time’s it might highlight what is blocking us.

Alters can set a strong intention or they can be a gentle

place of reflection, of learning of growth.

The displays can be bold and clear or gentle and subtle

as we try and grasp something that is

 just out of reach.

I regularly create an altar / display for the seasons of the years,

 for each section on the Feng Shui Bagva in my home

and for each of the seven main Chakra’s.

Altars for the seasons of the year help us really connect to nature and the continuing cycles of life, birth, blossoming, fruit and abundance followed by death and decay and birth again.

Altars and Circles of Abundance used with the Feng Shui

Bagva (map) are a very powerful tool for

manifesting our truth on earth.

There are nine sections in the Feng Shui map and

 each one can benefit from a beautiful lovingly

created display that gives a clear message to

 the universe of what you resonate with.

Love, reputation ,money, personal power, creative projects,

 life’s journey, helpful friends, inner harmony and ancestors.

 Keep a candle burning in each of those sections and regularly check in with a picture or a words can be most beneficial

 for finding purpose and balance in the world.

There can also be an altar for each Chakra….

Muladhara Chakra ~ the base

Deep red, bold, earthy, wood and rocks.

Svadistana Chakra ~ the sacral

Orange, sensual, lush and dripping with water.

Manipura Chakra

Manipura Chakra ~ solar plexus

Bright yellow like the sun, I choose, I will, I desire are the

words that go with this alter and wholesome images of power.

Anahata Chakra ~ heart

The lush green of nature, pictures that speak of sincere and courageous love, compassion and forgiveness.

Visudha Chakra

Visudha ~ throat

The kind of blue of a summers day sky, images that inspire connection and expression of who we really are. Gems and flowers in abundance.

Ajna Chakra – third eye

Deep dark indigo, stillness and depth and peace.

Crown Chakra

White, or gold, or purple, bliss and expansiveness

 beyond what we can imagine ~ what would you put on this altar?

Creating altars is visioning time, it is a level more manifest than thought or word. It is a lovely fun and creative things to do.

Let it flow, keep alters clean and fresh unless of course it is an

 altar to death. This practise brings a sense of sacredness

 to all aspects of life. It can be done alone or with someone

 else and also with a group.

Reflecting on altars as I write these words has reminded me of how important they are in my life, in my process of manifesting. Now I begin every project with an altar, a display or a circle of abundance. It is helpful not just to stay at the level of a display but to take our gifts out more fully into the world in the form of a Yoga centre or a book or a play or a campaign…

I wish you well with your exploration of altars and displays, please call on me if you need inspiration and guidance.

I can come to your home for Feng Shui displays

or you can join me in a Chakra journey.

Let us fill our lives with beauty and displays of love and what we value in our deepest true self. Words, poems, pictures, flowers rocks, gems and crystals, fabric, carvings, water, incense, candles, bells, statues, jewels, moss and lots of other things can come together to create and altar.

Let this practice guide you to live life as if it is sacred.

Let this practice unfold your truth on earth.

Let this practise inspire you and others

to live in truth and simple abundance.

With love and thanks Frances

Namaste

www.franceslewis.co.uk

Ajna Chakra

Words written for the last event at The Yoga Studio

~ Breathe Relax and Meditate ~

30-10-2009

Frances has asked me to say some words about what The Yoga Studio has meant to me. In thinking about this I’ve found that Frances and The Yoga Studio are inseparable, so Frances in speaking about The Yoga Studio, I have to speak about you………………..

Frances, it’s your ability for seeing and feeling the needs of your students that makes this place so special. You provide me, and all of your students with the experience of opening to ourselves. You show me how to be at home in my own skin, and in doing this you give me permissions to share this with others. You are a shining example of how to be at home in flesh and blood, as you cherish and celebrate life.

Your creation of the Yoga Studio, a place where we students experience a sense of wholeness, of coming home to who we truly are, is inspirational. It is your personal experience of connection with the divine that makes this place Sacred and Holy.

Every class we come to, we find ourselves being invited to find stillness and steadiness in ourselves. Connecting to our quiet space, where we find deep rest and acceptance. And from here we are led to open to ourselves, to our breath, to breathe with awareness and sensitivity, engaging with the breath of life. You invite us to be as we already are, and to recognise how we are. So you ask us ‘How are you today?’ and when we have had a hard day or when we are feeling emotional or fed up, and we share these feelings with our Yoga class, you create the safe space where we acknowledge how we feel, and in this process we find that we are cradling and nurturing ourselves in a loving embrace. You lead us to develop an attitude of self acceptance and self love. Encouraging me and all your students to extend a compassionate awareness of ourselves to ourselves – no judgement, no expectations – just awareness of what it is to be human. This compassionate awareness fills a void in me and this is my soul space. You invite me to be exactly as I am and to open to myself in a whole hearted self acceptance and love. I am aware of being led home.

Your students are deeply blessed by your teaching and fortunate to have found you.

On behalf of your students I wish you every success in your beautiful new venue, where your inspirational teaching and healing work will continue.

And so my fears and sorrows at the closing of this space now seem insubstantial. Frances you create this soul space wherever you are. I will miss The Yoga Studio, and when I do find myself missing it, I’ll know that it’s essence is not lost, but it is within me, through your teaching, as it is in all of us.

Thank you Frances

Namaste

with love Liz x

(Liz Gilvin)

The Yoga Studio

Thank you for coming – Surekha, Dave, Gill, Diana, Angela, Shan, Hillary, Carol and Glen. Also thank you for all the gifts, cards and photo’s.

Dave, Diana and Marie (who not at the lunch as she was away on holiday) were all students of mine when I very first started teaching in Wootton Bassett. And the reason we knew I was coming up to this 10 year anniversary is because Diana kept a note of it in her diary.

I am very touched that so many of my students come back year after year.  I love my work and it is a privilege to share the gifts of Yoga and without you all the hall would feel very empty – so thank you all for coming so regularly to Yoga sessions.

We all know that regular Yoga makes us a bit healthier, a bit more flexible, stronger and also more relaxed.  I also think it makes us better human beings – kinder and more considerate and less materialistic.  So Yoga is good for us personally and it is also good for our local community and for the world….

If there is light in the soul,
there will be beauty in the person.
If there is beauty in the person,
there will be harmony in the house.
If there is harmony in the house,
there will be order in the nation,
If there is order in the nation,
there will be peace in the world.

(Chinese proverb)

with love and thanks Frances

namaste

There is a very direct link between the breath and the mind – if we learn to control and deepen the breath we can calm the mind and sooth the emotions. If we are in a state of stress the breath is shallow and jagged. We can directly change our experience by changing our breathing.

To begin with you can centre yourself and get in touch with your soft spot. If you remain there, gradually meditation will blossom.

There are many styles of preparation and techniques that we often need to help us settle and centre us so that we can slip off the edge of the precipice into the state of meditation, but all of the techniques are not meditation.

Meditation is just being very simple and quiet and natural, relaxing the mind without imposing anything on it, or even trying to be calm. There should be no attempt to be peaceful.

Meditation is not a melodrama or a theatrical performance. The only effect you should look for is an experience of stillness, first gradual and then absolute, the relaxation of the body, silence of speech, evenness of breath, tranquillity of mind and the feel of an energy force within you, the life force and the consciousness force.

There are many different forms of meditation, but all lead to the same goal: greater Self-awareness. A positive side effect is a state of both physical and psychological health. Meditation also helps us study the mysteries of life and existence, helping us to access deeper fulfilment. Ultimately, meditation leads to a grounded, centred, focused state that many describe as enlightened.

It has been reported that when 4,000 people meditated together in Washington DC there was a 25% drop in violent crime as recorded by the police department. A police spokesman said it would normally take 2 feet of snow to reduce crime by that much.

During meditation practice there can be a sense of joy and calm and clarity and also there can be discomfort as we confront and clear out all kinds of emotional, and mental blockages, phobias and fears.

Some traditions encourage seekers to be open to every kind of human emotion and feeling and not to run away from them. So to feel all of the human feelings such as jealousy, anger, sadness, despair. In the practice of staying open and not suppressing everything we can become more awake. Not just going through the motions of life.

There are meditation practices that aim to still the mind and there is the practice of non-identification with the mind. These two approaches are complimentary. Both can lead you to a sense of Awareness or Presence that is not experienced in the mind.

This change in identification doesn’t mean that we become indifferent to life and neglect our affairs and our duties. On the contrary, we often live life more intensely and passionately and responsibly, but with less self importance.

Meditation brings about these two quantum changes. First of all, it stills the mind out of which can flow clarity and a less stressful attitude to life. Secondly, it brings about this change of identification. We start to flow more and more with life. We start to engage more with the mystery of life and existence, and to feel awe.

Out beyond ideas of wrong doing and right doing. There is a field, I’ll meet you there.  When the soul lies down in that grass, the world is too full to talk about ideas, language, even the phrase each other doesn’t make any sense.

Meditation

Quotes from:

Finding the Heart’s rest by Sogyal Rinpoche

George Feuerstin, Yoga

The Fine Arts of Relaxation, Concentration and Meditation, by Joel and Michele Levey.

Article by Dr. Swami Shankardev Saraswati

What the Bleep do we know – DVD.

Rumi – Open secret.

Swami Nishchalananda Saraswati – article: The way to Wisdom and Happiness.

Often women experience – hot flushes, dry skin, and loss of libido, aching muscles and joints, mood swings, insomnia, back ache, inability to make a decision. All of these or none of these symptoms may be accompanied by a deep questioning: What is the purpose of life? Who am I? And what is my purpose?

Menopause is a time of change, a major life transition. I have a sense that women during this time are being called upon to become truly authentic and truly in their power. To walk into the wise woman role, to draw on all of their experiences from life, to integrate all that learning from the bumpy road of life so far. And to give up all the lifting and carrying and doing that is so much a part of the younger years.

We live in a culture of fear and poverty mentality, such deep old fear, personal fear, family fear and cultural fear. So it is no wonder that there can be a lot of physical stiffness and pain and mental confusion and emotional release during menopause. All change weather perceived as positive or negative involves grieving.

It is my sense that the hot flushes are power surges or rushes of creative energy. It is my sense that all the physical aches and pains are related to the way we block our powerfulness and authenticity. The confusion and the disturbed sleep a reaction to the sometimes overwhelming changes that are going on. It is a strong and beautiful healing phase and any unfinished healing will come up for attention.

* I recommend lots of quality time with your self and lots of nourishment. Write, dance, sing and rest.

* Time in nature, simply watching the clouds go by or walking with a steady pace.

* Create a personal sanctuary where you can put up a do not disturb sign. Maybe call it your womb space. Not shared and not entered by anyone unless invited. Space to moan and groan and rest and maybe when the energy comes, to be creative and make a mess for no reason.

* Again I also recommend lots of rest – do not underestimate the healing power or rest.

* Maybe connect with the full moon and the seasons of the year – so that you are connecting in with other cycles of life. This can be very simple.

* Devising a menopausal ritual can be very liberating. Honouring this major life transition in an open way with friends and or relatives can be very helpful in making sense of this change.

* Connect with other women, maybe a menopausal group or mixed age women’s group.

* I recommend gentle Yoga and time to explore the full and spontaneous breath and lots of deep relaxation.

* Many holistic therapies can help ease and support this transition without suppressing the grieving that is required. Homoeopathy, Counselling, Acupuncture, Nutritional advice, Massage, Ayeveda etc.

* Begin to really listen to your intuition.

Most of all go gently with love – Namaste Frances

Menopause ritual - going for gold...

Book list ….

1) ‘The Wisdom of Menopause’ by Dr Christine Northrapp

This is a very wise and loving book about all aspects of menopause – I strongly recommend this book to all women nearing or during menopause.

2) Also ‘Women’s bodies Woman’s Wisdom’ by the same Dr Christine Northrupp.

I read both of these books during my 8 month menopausal gap from teaching.

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3) ‘The Seven Sacred Rites of Menopause’ by Kristis Meisenback Boylan

Santa Monica Press

This is about menopause as a rites of passage. Interesting book.

This would not appeal to everyone – but I found it very helpful.

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4) ‘What your Doctor may NOT tell you about menopause’ by Dr John Lee

NEW Edition.

This book was recommended by Doctor at Victoria Cross Surgery – Swindon.

This is about the hormones in the water system from the contraceptive pill. The tap water is contaminated with hormones and you are getting a dose whether you take the pill or not. This is an ecological disaster that has already happened. This is adding to menopausal symptoms as well as low sperm count in men.

This doctor favours progesterone cream and vitamin supplements and does not support HRT.

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5) ‘Eat your way through the menopause’ by Marilyn Glenville

ISBN – 1 85626 4688

Very enjoyable and informative recipe book for menopause. I have really enjoyed trying out recipes from this book. I always respond well to eating nourishing delicious home cooked food made with love.

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6) ‘Menopause’ by Dr Miriam Stoppard

Dorling Kindersley 2001

She is in favour of HRT. Some women may choose HRT to ease the way through this major life transition. However, if the motivation is to keep young and attractive and full of the kind of energy a younger woman has then there will be a loss of the potential for maturity and deep wisdom that is so required in this culture.

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July 16th to 18th 2010

Some lovely photo’s …… have a look ….

Thank you to everyone who took these photo’s.

Dartmoor - view from top of hill near Bala Brook

Bala Brook - Serena

Glen and Jenny

Dartmoor - tumbling river

Brave swimmers - Judith and Serena

Stable block

Judith, Sarah, Gayle, Jenny, Laura, Frances, Ross, Glen, Carol, Lawrence

Sarah, Gayle, Jenny, Serena, Frances, Laura, Ross, Carol, Lawrence

Retreat centre - back garden

Yoga room - Laura, Frances and Sarah

Yoga room - Laura, Frances, Sarah, Jenny, Ross and Serena

Bala brook retreat centre

Some words about going on retreat….
I have been on many yoga and dance retreats over the years – some silent – some active – sometimes on my own – mostly with others. I have discovered my deep peace and bliss, my high energy and ecstasy, support and connection from the group and much much more. Always retreats have been in beautiful nourishing nature. Sometimes retreats have been easy and flowing and energising – sometimes retreats have been challenging – and more often or not a mixture of everything. In my opinion and from my experience retreat is always valuable because it gives us time to drop out of regular routine and to experience our True Nature (generous, loving and honourable) and to also time to process anything that may be hidden in our shadow side (may be sorrow or rage or pride or our confussion etc.). This gives us a sense of perspective and the ability to live more from witness and less from automatic pilot. So no matter weather your retreat was easy or challenging, fun or a mixture I am sure it was valuable and healing on some level. More often you will return from retreat feeling refreshed and reguvinated and maybe also inspired to make positive changes in your life.

With love and thanks
Frances
Namaste