New Year Greetings and good wishes to you!

I have been out of the picture, so to speak, during December.  An unexpected health difficulty cropped up, and I have had to have some radiotherapy two days before Christmas at Addenbrookes Hospital.  I hope it has tackled the little cancer lump that appeared in my right arm or shoulder.  Anyway I put all that now in the hands of my Angels.  I will not write more just now except to wish you a very Happy New Year - with this thought in mind:-  "You are a child of the Universe
              no less than the trees
                         and the stars
              you have a right to be here.
              And whether or not 
                         it is clear to you
              no doubt the Universe is
                         unfolding as
                           it should.."                   (Max Ehrmann)

Om Shanti  -  Brenda.  I would love to hear from you.





       

MAKING A NEW START!

In October I said I would do that, and now we are nearing the end of November.  For three weeks running I offered a morning very gentle Yoga Class (to suit the age and ability of people who live here).  Six people gave it a try and I think five would come if I offer a regular class in the New Year.  So that is a result!  About three of these and two or three others came to the Relaxation and Stress Relief class in the afternoons.  As most people here are in their eighties and nineties, and the rest in their seventies, I think I can call this a success!

Most of all, it made me feel I had not lost my Yoga teaching skills, and although I put a lot of very hard work into this venture, I, too, feel all the better for it.

Most of all, though, I would like you out there to get in touch with me, either by commenting on this blogsite, or by emailing me  (see Contact on the right hand side of this page).  I am ready, willing, - and able! - to help you.

 Om Shanti!      Brenda.  Meantime, keep warm and active!

New Beginnings!

Now and then we all need to refresh our lives with a new beginning.  Autumn is a good time for thinking of doing that.  Holidays are maybe over, and we put our minds to focus on our lives at home once again.  If the past year has been difficult and things have not gone as you would like them to, then it is a good time to put all that behind you and to try something new.

                       Instead of seeing
                        the rug being pulled
                         from under us
                        we can learn to dance
                         on a shifting carpet.
                                                           (Thomas Crum)

Still here for you!        Brenda.

 

DAYS!

What are days for? is the first line of a poem by Philip Larkin.  It puzzled me, this poem and the question it asked, when I first came across it about 35 years ago.  I was teaching English to a class of foreign A-level science students, and as English wasn't an exam subject for them, we read poetry!  It just came into my mind again this morning. Larkin follows with the answer, "They are to be happy in:" and a further question, "Where can we live but days?"

It seems to me that it is true: we have no option but to make the best of each day as it comes - because it is inevitable that while we are on this planet one day will follow another, and we have to try and be happy each day.  About 26 years ago, I found my life path through the days, and that was through Yoga.  It is still what keeps me going through life's ups and downs.  Through this blogsite I offer my help to anyone who really needs it; and that is to help you to try Yoga - with relaxation, meditation and gentle stretching as the basis.  With one-to-one teaching - maybe just for a few classes - I can give you confidence, and then, together, we can find for you a suitable class to meet your own personal needs.  See CONTACT ME on the right of this page, or Post a Comment (see below).

Home Again!

I've just had a few days away on a writing course - not blog writing but writing your life story.  I don't intend to publish mine!  But it was good to delve into the past and look dispassionately at what certain life experiences have done for me.  My mother died - cancer again - when she was only 53;  now, many, many years later, I think I am coming to terms with that.  For years I have thought I should have been able to do something more to help her.  I was only just in my twenties when she became ill;  after four years a trial treatment went wrong and she became blind.  That was too much for her to bear and she died a year later.

Now I think I did what my younger self was able to do, and I was at least holding her hand when she died - the only one with her.  Since then, my Angels have given me opportunities to learn so many ways in which I can help people through Yoga and natural therapies.  They do not cure but they can make life more bearable in many ways.  If you would like to know more, read my PROFILE and my WELCOME page.  Then if you feel I may be able to help you, contact me.  See CONTACT.

Wishing you well.    Brenda.

TODAY'S VISIT to the WOODLANDS CENTRE!

Om Shanti to my friends there - nurses and fellow patients!  For those of you who don't know what I am on about:  the Woodlands Centre is the place where Hinchingbrooke Hospital patients go for treatment for Cancer.  I am a regular - once a month patient.  Thanks to their kindness and skill there - especially Sara today - I am able still to offer my own help and expertise in Yoga to those of you who could do with a helping hand.  In Yoga we regard life as a path - a journey - and we have to get on the right path and not get lost on the way.  I think we all need a helping hand from time to time, and if you let me, I can help you to find your way!

In a purely practical sense, this means learning to breathe properly, and through that, to relax fully whenever you need it.  Then, if those limbs have stiffened - through tension or misuse - to learn to stretch and loosen the whole body.  This is not just for cancer patients - but those sufferering from arthritis or simply anno domini - or the many long-term illnesses that have to be controlled and then lived with.  And we can all make it a good life!  I do!!! 

Read my Profile and Welcome page (see right)

                  Love, Peace and Blessings

                           Brenda

Back again!

Not me, but my computer!  I hope it is revitalised and ready to receive all your comments!

Like the nursery rhyme, "when they are good, they are very very good, and when they are bad they are horrid!"

But now we are friends again, me and my computer, we look forward to hearing from you if you have any comments on my posts or need any Yoga help.

CURTAIN UP?

Well, not quite yet!  It's more Overture and Beginners!  PLEASE!  Give me a sign that you're receiving me!  I can give you help - and it will cost very little - if you would like to start doing Yoga but don't quite know how to begin.  I can come to you if you are in a ten to twelve mile radius of St. Neots, and teach you Yoga breathing and gentle stretches to help you relax - and prepare you to join any Yoga class of your choice.  Or I can continue to help you in one-hour one-to-one sessions until you can go it alone with your own Yoga practice sessions.

I am not a nightbird these days so it has to be in the daytime!  Brenda - your personal Yoga teacher!

Something in the Air!

I thought it was Autumn when I first greeted the day.  But I have since been out and it is really warm!  I walk with a stick these days - just to help me keep my balance.  In one store two assistants ignored me while I waited to ask for help.  But in Argos they got me a chair, brought their book over to me, and when I explained my need - a folding leg/foot rest - a young lady quietly disappeared and brought me exactly what I wanted.  I think that is in the true spirit of Yoga - to help one's fellow human beings, and do it with a smile.  Well, that is what I try to do!

I can come to you if you live within a 10-mile radius of St. Neots in Cambridgeshire, and help you to get started with the basic Yoga breathing and stretches.  They are so easy once you have taken this first step, and you will never regret it.  I haven't, anyway, and I want to help you - like I was helped this morning.

Om Shanti ..... Brenda.  See how to CONTACT me and read my WELCOME page first!

Taking the first step!

That is always hard, isn't it?  If you have been thinking that Yoga might be for you ..... help you to cope with whatever life is bringing you just now ...... then this is meant for you. To borrow the words of Anthony de Mello:

                  "People who deliberate fully before they take a step will spend their lives on one leg"

Your comments will be welcome. 

Om Shanti!   Brenda

           

My salad days!

Hello again!  No, I don't mean summer picnics and barbecues, nice though they are.  I mean my younger days "when I was green in judgement".  Now, in my maturity, I am offering to share what I have learned, through Yoga, about living a healthy and fulfilling life.  The main thing is that the past is past, and, in a way, tomorrow never comes, so the best advice I can give just now is "Live today as well as you can" : once it is past, you cannot call it back again.

Do contact me and let me know what you think.    Brenda.

The Cloud of Unknowing!

I'm borrowing these words from an unknown medieval mystic.  They seem so apt for the way I am trying to contact you.  For God, I read here any spiritual force ... whatever you believe in.

"..... he may, perhaps, send out a shaft of spiritual light, which pierces this cloud of unknowing between you, and shows you some of his secrets......far more than I can possibly say now.......But of the work that belongs to a man who is urged and helped by grace, I will gladly tell, for that is less risky!"

I am trying to contact you in this modern way to offer my help in piercing the cloud of unknowing between us and show you some of the ways in which Yoga may help you.  What may sound complicated and too difficult - and maybe overly spiritual for you - is in fact very simple.  A friend offering what help she can to friends!  Do get in touch with me!

Goodnight, sweet ladies! ... and gents, too!!!

I've been reading poetry!  Another interest of mine, but second to Yoga.  So I'll let you into a secret : the ending of Spike Milligan's poem, Summer Dawn. It goes on like this:  "If only, I didn't have 'flu!"
Personally, I feel OK.  This afternoon I did about 40 minutes of gentle yoga.  Its amazing, once you really get into regular practice, how sustaining it is.  Just lie on the floor, and breathe steadily in and out, always through the nose.  As you breathe in, feel the tummy gently rise, and as you breathe out, let the tummy go back.  Do it before you go to sleep at night;  it helps you to relax and let go of your worries.

So goodnight, with restful sleep, to you all!

What a day!

I like my new Blog site!  Do you?  As well as working hard to achieve things, like this site, other things happen by chance.  Ann, a patient at the hospital like me, said she would love me to come and give her one-to-one sessions of Yoga in her home.  I shall be in touch with you, Ann, if you happen to read this.  Cancer patients helping each other!

Brenda

Getting with it!

I'm a newcomer to the blogging world!  But here goes.  I want to get to you out there - particularly those of you who would like to find a way to combat long-term illness and get back in the swim.  I may be able to help you.  Anyway, no harm done if you give it a try.    Come with me on this little journey.     
                                                                                        Brenda.