BEING HUMAN!

Today, I am sitting in my flat - in a block - surrounded by water.  The River Great Ouse has overflowed its banks into the undercroft - all round us - and even under us.  Will it cut us off completely?  I can't say so once again I turn to poetry that touches on the core of things - things that really matter.

          "we all start human
                we end up human
                    human first
                          human last
                    we're human
               or we're nothing

                    ''''''''''

               Look at your body
          with its amazing systems
          of nerve-wires and blood-canals
               think about your mind
          which can think about itself
               and the whole universe
                    look at your face
               which can freeze into horror
                    or melt into love,
               look at all that life
                    all that beauty.

                    you're human
                    they are human
                    we are human


                         dance!      "


This was 'borrowed' from Adrian Mitchell's poem in "Being Human" - an anthology edited by Neil Astley.

     As human beings, we are given enormous potential.  Life really is what we make it.  So don't sit there and moan about whatever life has brought you.  Just think about how good it is to be human .... and live!!!

     It may be hard at first but you can find help always somewhere in the Yoga spectrum.  I did!  And I
 will help you, if you need it.  See CONTACT ME .

OM SHANTI!

Brenda!

LIVING A GOOD LIFE!

Yes, I think we can all do it!  Even if we don't think we are achieving it, we can do the best we can and that is enough.  It's called "Being Human!"

I am being human this morning as I write this blog.  And the idea comes to me from a book of poetry - modern stuff from all over the world in an anthology called "Being Human".  In the first few pages, Doris Kareva asks this:-

          The question isn't
           how to be in style
           but
           how to live in truth
           in the face of all the winds?

          With mindfulness, courage,
          patience, sympathy -
          how to remain brave
          when the spirit fails?
          
I think it was those words "mindfulness, courage, patience, sympathy" that caught my eye.  To me they are the cornerstones of Yoga, and I am still here to help you make the discovery for yourself if you need me.   You can give your thoughts in reply to this blog if you like to.  See below.

Namaste!

Brenda

REGENERATION!

It's one long word for lots of little ones : picking yourself up, brushing yourself down and starting all over again.  This is a good time of year to do that.  New courses starting in colleges, lots of opportunities open to you.

Before you rush into something new, perhaps you should pause and reflect on what you really want your life to be.  In "Eve's Diary", as translated 'from the original' by Mark Twain, Eve thinks she has got things wrong and Adam puts her out in the rain to be on her own.  There being nothing for her to do but make the best of it, she wanders off by herself and happens upon a beautiful moss bank where she can sit and put her feet into the water.  She catches sight of her own lovely reflection and sighs, "But it is something and something is better than loneliness".  She finds this Other self responds to her : it talks when she talks, is sad when she is sad, and comforts her with its sympathy.  But suddenly a passing cloud blots out her reflection.

Maybe, this is just a way of suggesting that this is a time of year when we should pause and take stock of which we really want ourselves to be .... what we can do to make life better.  When we have looked at ourselves and decided what we really want to achieve, or be, then we should act positively - do something to bring about the person we want to be.

If you decide that Yoga may help you, and you live within a ten-mile radius of St. Neots, then I may be able to point you in the right direction for a new start.  See CONTACT ME on the right hand side of this page.  Or give your views in a reply to this blog.  See below.

Om Shanti,

Brenda Brain

HERE WE ARE AGAIN!

This is a bit late this month, but I expect, like me, the Olympics had you glued to your television screen for a fortnight!

I am not sporty myself but I was very taken with the energy, stamina, and sheer dedication that those athletes put into what they do.  We cannot all be Olympic athletes but we can do whatever is our special interest with something of the same concentrated effort.

Inspired by this, we may be thinking of starting something new, and this quote may be helpful to keep in mind:-

               "Begin with the possible,
                    begin with one step.
                 There is always a limit,
                    you cannot do more than you can.
                         If you try to do too much,
                             you will do nothing."

                                                                      P.D. Ouspensky &
                                                                       G.I. Gurdjieff.

CONTACT ME if you would like help in finding a Yoga teacher within a ten-mile radius of St. Neots - or if you would like any other help with Yoga.  (See Contact Box on right hand side of page).

Om Shanti,

Brenda.                                                                        

SALAD DAYS!

Despite haveing a lot of the above in the more literal sense, my waistline is not what it once was!  I need to get back to doing some very gentle Yoga - and there really is something to suit everyone.  I bear the burden of bone cancer - among other things! - but it is quite a light one as Yoga found me about 20 years ago and has been my blessing ever since.

Just now, having had a burst of radiotherapy at Addenbrookes last Thursday, I am feeling a bit below par but I know that is temporary and I try to find something in each day to see me through it.  Yesterday it was not exactly Yoga, but a very good production of Richard II on BBC 2, that stirred me.  Richard 11 believed that he was King by divine right, and if that were taken away from him, what was he?  He was banished to the Tower by Bolingbroke, his enemy.  There he was finally killed cruelly by a young man who had been a devoted follower in earlier days.  In death he was shown like Jesus on the Cross in Tryotych paintings, and it was as though that cruel death had restored to him his divinity.

The joy of good performance - an insight into the human condition - made my day for me yesterday.  I can't manage a good Yoga workout just now, but Yoga still gives me a sense of purpose and the strength to make the most of each day as best I can.  And Yoga Meditation is always good for the soul!

Can we start a Forum on my website where you tell me your views on life and how to live it to get the best out of it?  It needs someone to be brave and respond to my blog!!! Your views need not be the same as mine!

Namaste!

Brenda Brain

JUNE and its trials!

I can't deny that there have been a few lately, but I still pick myself up. brush myself down, and start all over again!  I hope you do too, but if you are finding life difficult, I hope you will find the Yoga way of life.  It enables you to put yesterday behind you and helps you to start each day afresh.

I had a lovely telephone call from Bill Feeney and his lovely wife Gill the other evening.  Bill was the last director of the Yoga for Health Foundation at Ickwell Bury in Bedfordshire.    He recently has had heart trouble and a stroke.  Those of you who know him will be glad to hear he is on the road to recovery but will be having a restful time for six months.  Please join me if any of you out there know him, and send him - with me - loving thoughts for his complete recovery.  He himself devoted so much of his life to helping the disabled  or long-term sick people who came to the Bury to learn about Yoga and what it could do for them - and not just physically.  Now he deserves to have our healing thoughts.  Love, peace and blessings to you, Bill and Gill.

So for all of you. a happy and fruitful June, with my love and blessings to you too.  Please get in touch with me (see Contact Me!) if I can help you in any way.


Namaste

Brenda

GOING BACK!

Tallulah Bankhead once said, "If I had to live my life again, I'd make all the mistakes again - only sooner."  Even if that were possible, why bother?  Some of our mistakes, once made, just have to be lived with, or erased by time.  We can't remake our lives in any literal way,  What's done is done, and can't be undone!

We can, however, look well to this day, and do the best we can with it  We can live today as though it is the best of life - and so that is what it will be.  To quote from an ancient Sanscrit poem:-

          For yesterday is but a memory, and tomorrow is only a vision, but today if
          well-lived makes every yesterday a memory of happiness and every tomorrow
          a vision of hope.  Look well therefore to this day."

If you have any comments to make, please use this site to reply.  Or if you need help in finding a Yoga teacher in the St. Neots area, please contact me, and I will try to find one to suit your needs.

Om Shanti!

Brenda.    

A NEW DAY!

Each new day should bring new thoughts and new opportunities to explore - but sometimes just about everything seems to go on hold.  A Cloud of Despond comes to rest heavily  on my shoulders and I waste the day.  This does not happen often;  mostly I am glad I am a Yogini and then I know I must find a quiet place, sit cross-legged if I can, and clear my mind by breathing rhythmically.

My gift to you this time is this quote from the Svetasvatara Upanishad.  In times of stress I hope these words will help you-

"And when the body is in silent steadiness, breathe rhythmically through the nostrils with peaceful ebbing and flowing of the breath.  The chariot of the mind is drawn by wild horses, and these wild horses have to be tamed."

Om Shanti,

Brenda.     Please let me have your experiences!

SPRING FEVER!

"Every spring is the only spring - a perpetual astonishment" so someone said!  I felt that on Sunday when my sister and brother-in-law arrived early to take me to coffee at Willington Garden Centre.  This, anyway, has happy memories for me.  I lived at the home of the Yoga for Health Organisation in Bedfordshire for the first six months of my time in this part of the country.  I then found a home just over the border in Cambridgeshire but when I qualified as a remedial Yoga teacher, I went back to Ickwell Bury at least once a week to teach.  Parties of Yoga students were often taken on an afternoon visit to the Garden Centre at Willington.  .......... So my visit on Sunday brought back many happy memories.

However, Spring makes us look forward to the future not back at the past;  no matter what you have been through, it is an opportunity to start over again - a resurrection.  On Sunday the world looked  fresh, clean and beautiful, the hedgerows dressed up in white blossom and the sun beaming down on us.

You may be thinking of giving your life new meaning and direction as well, so no matter what your circumstances are , nature all around you is leading the way to a rebirth
.  And there is surely a Yoga class somewhere near to you to give you help and encouragement.

May the Angels protect you;
May the sadness forget you;
May goodness surround you;
And may God always bless you!

Happy Easter!

Namaste ..... Brenda!

MARCH !

This month sounds like an order - to step out and go forward.  After our winter "hibernation", perhaps that is what we need to do.  But it is not my "gift" to you this month.  Instead, it is not so much to step out and put your best foot forward as to find a quiet place and sit down and meditate.  For those of you who are in the later stages of life, or are not so well, you may appreciate this. 

So in your quiet place, close your eyes and regulate your breathing until it is slow, deep and even;  then say these two Sanscrit words to yourself :  "So" as you breathe in;  "Ham" (Pronounced Hum) as you breathe out.  Repeat these over and over again.  This means "I am that" and "that" is part of the Universe.  Doing this helps to take you out of pain (that is why I do it) or worry.  It takes you out of yourself, externalises you, and makes you at one with all that is out there.  It is simple and well worth it.  Why not try it?

Om Shanti!     Brenda.  As always, contact me if you need help.  See Contact me box on right hand side of page.

February Filldyke!

The Romans and the Celts regarded February as the start of Spring, but it is said that if the weather is fine and frosty at the close of January and the beginning of February, there is more winter ahead than behind.

     "When the cat lies in the sun in February,
       She will creep behind the stove in March."

       "If February give much snow,
       A fine summer it doth foreshow."

However, whatever the weather, whether we like it or not, we have to weather it!!!  While we are doing just that, we might as well assess our lives, and see what we can do to improve them.  If we can improve our health - and the way we deal with life's problems - then that will make a good start.  If you haven't already  tried it, I suggest that you give Yoga a go!  Maybe a few sessions of one to one yoga with a good teacher may help you to decide what is right for you.  Once you have started, there will be no stopping you!  Contact me if you need help.

Love, Peace and Blessings!  Brenda.

JANUARY - Janus looks both ways!

Not long ago there were fluffy red clouds scudding across the sky. and I thought of the saying, "Red Sky at morning - sailors take warning!"  Half an hour later and they have nearly disappeared.  They were beautiful while they lasted though ominous in their portent!   January is a month of changes - one day is sunny, and that continues for a day or two, and next it is cold, windy and rainy.  So, like life, we have to take what comes and make the best of it!

I have been trying to get back to doing a very short Yoga practice before I have breakfast, and after it, going for a very short walk to breathe in some fresh air.  I will keep this blog short, so that I keep this promise to myself!

Please get in touch with me, if you would like my help in finding a Yoga teacher to suit you - or if you would just like a Yoga chat!  See CONTACT ME opposite.

Namaste!   Brenda.