"He went to the church, and walked about the streets, and watched the people hurrying to and fro, and patted children on the head, and questioned beggars, and looked down into the kitchens of houses, and up to the windows and found that everything could yield him pleasure. He had never dreamed that any walk - that anything - could give him so much pleasure."
That is what Charles Dickens' Scrooge felt after his rebirth to life as he walked through the London streets at Christmas.
Maybe you and I can have a rebirth this Christmas, and just enjoy the simple celebrations life has to offer? I shall go to Knuston Hall, an Adult College in Northamptonshire on the 22nd December. I love being there, especially at Christmas. We shall belt out carols after lunch and so much enjoy the simple things of life!
May you have something like this to help you throw off the commercial stress of modern Christmas. Let us go back in time and wish goodwill to all men:
"God rest ye merry, gentlemen! - and women too, of course!
Love, Peace and Blessings,
Brenda Brain. Do get in touch with me - see right hand side of this page.
Tuesday, 17 December 2013
Thursday, 14 November 2013
NOVEMBER BLUES!
November is well and truly here and I begin to feel the cold ..... and I start to worry about the Christmas season! Once we are in November - that misty month - Christmas rushes upon us with its demands for spending money and time on glitter and fun for just a few days to come.
Then there's January ..... enough said! Perhaps we do need that uplifting short time in December to celebrate the joy of being alive.
However, if your plans should go awry ..... well, perhaps we should think that the more we plan, the more there is to get upset and the less we enjoy life. And its not chance that often gets us into a mess : its over-planning. The more we plan, the less we live.
Destiny unfolds on its own. Just meditate for a while on that!
Namaste!
Brenda Brain. Do contact me (see the right had side of this page) if you think there is anything I can help you with.
Then there's January ..... enough said! Perhaps we do need that uplifting short time in December to celebrate the joy of being alive.
However, if your plans should go awry ..... well, perhaps we should think that the more we plan, the more there is to get upset and the less we enjoy life. And its not chance that often gets us into a mess : its over-planning. The more we plan, the less we live.
Destiny unfolds on its own. Just meditate for a while on that!
Namaste!
Brenda Brain. Do contact me (see the right had side of this page) if you think there is anything I can help you with.
Monday, 14 October 2013
"HAPPENSTANCE!"
Things happen by chance, and begin to change the circumstances of my life. I think that is what "Happenstance" means to me.
It's when things happen by chance and not the way I've planned that I begin to realise what a lot life has to offer ..... if only I will allow some changes to be made, and then take advantage of those changes. That is, that I am being challenged to make something of scarcely visible opportunities.
If you have followed my blogs for August and September, you will maybe have let "Mindfulness" into your life. In other words you have been allowing yourself a regular quiet time in which to sit down, breathe deeply and steadily, shut your eyes to the world out there and simply be. Let your inner self take over.
In my September blog I took it further, and asked you then to open your eyes and gently let the world around you come into your being and direct your thoughts.
BUT let it just happen; don't strain yourself to make things happen. NOW you are open to "happenstance"! Just allow things to happen. Don't try to make anything happen. Just allow "happenstance" to help you. Your destiny unfolds on its own if you let it.
My blessings to you all.
Brenda Brain
Do contact me if you think I can help you. See CONTACT ME on the right hand side of this blog.
It's when things happen by chance and not the way I've planned that I begin to realise what a lot life has to offer ..... if only I will allow some changes to be made, and then take advantage of those changes. That is, that I am being challenged to make something of scarcely visible opportunities.
If you have followed my blogs for August and September, you will maybe have let "Mindfulness" into your life. In other words you have been allowing yourself a regular quiet time in which to sit down, breathe deeply and steadily, shut your eyes to the world out there and simply be. Let your inner self take over.
In my September blog I took it further, and asked you then to open your eyes and gently let the world around you come into your being and direct your thoughts.
BUT let it just happen; don't strain yourself to make things happen. NOW you are open to "happenstance"! Just allow things to happen. Don't try to make anything happen. Just allow "happenstance" to help you. Your destiny unfolds on its own if you let it.
My blessings to you all.
Brenda Brain
Do contact me if you think I can help you. See CONTACT ME on the right hand side of this blog.
Monday, 16 September 2013
MINDFULNESS!
Last month I took you on the first steps to meditating. Now I am taking you a little bit further into Mindfulness Meditation. Mindfulness seems to be becoming something of an "in-word" but it is really just a simple extension of just sitting there and breathing.
You enter into Mindfulness first with the same concentration on your breath. Look at my blog for last month if you can't remember what to do. This concentration on breathing steadies you and makes you ready. By stopping and giving full attention to your breathing you have taken the first step. The next step is to open your eyes and simply give attention to this moment. Examine it. What do you feel, see, hear? By "dying" into this moment, you actually become more alive. As long as you enjoy this "alive stillness" - observing the world round you but not doing anything, you are in Mindfulness Meditation.
If this catches your attention, Jon Kabat-Zinn in "Mindfulness Meditation for everyday life" explains it in more detail. If you feel life is "drowning" you, it is worth giving it a try.
That is all I have to say for now, but I hope to be with you again next month.
Om Shanti,
Brenda Brain. Contact details on the right hand side of the page.
You enter into Mindfulness first with the same concentration on your breath. Look at my blog for last month if you can't remember what to do. This concentration on breathing steadies you and makes you ready. By stopping and giving full attention to your breathing you have taken the first step. The next step is to open your eyes and simply give attention to this moment. Examine it. What do you feel, see, hear? By "dying" into this moment, you actually become more alive. As long as you enjoy this "alive stillness" - observing the world round you but not doing anything, you are in Mindfulness Meditation.
If this catches your attention, Jon Kabat-Zinn in "Mindfulness Meditation for everyday life" explains it in more detail. If you feel life is "drowning" you, it is worth giving it a try.
That is all I have to say for now, but I hope to be with you again next month.
Om Shanti,
Brenda Brain. Contact details on the right hand side of the page.
Thursday, 22 August 2013
SURVIVAL!
- sometimes I feel like the man in Stevie Smith's poem - "not waving but drowning". Too many small things in my life seem to be pushing me under, and the tide is too strong for me to keep my head above water. But somehow. something happens to buoy me up, and I survive to live another day.
Another writer, Sarah Ban Breathnach, in her book, "Romancing the Ordinary", suggests we should "jump into the deep end of each day". I think, as a non-swimmer, I have always sat on the edge and cautiously dipped my toes in, trying it out, seeing what it is like, before I risk my all.
Well, for the last two months, I seem to have been doing just that - sitting on the edge of life and wondering how much I dare risk. After all, I don't want to end up "not waving, but drowning".
Today, I am resuming my blog for you - and I hope you are still out there somewhere. This week, I have been exploring "Mindfulness". It is an ancient Buddhist practice, which we seem to have "borrowed" as part of our Meditation. If I feel I am having difficulty in keeping my head above water in my daily life, what do I do? I put aside things that are troubling me and I meditate. I sit down with a straight back, and preferably not leaning against anything. Then I give my attention to my breathing. I say to myself the Sanscrit words "So Ham". "So" as I breathe in and "Ham" as I breathe out. As far as I am able to translate these words, they mean "I am that" - which expresses the linking together of my individual consciousness with the universal consciousness.
Doing that, steadily and with my full concentration, puts my personal worries out there and makes them universal. That way I know I am not alone in finding solutions or remedies. Why don't you try it?
I hope to be with you again next month, when I will take you a step further into "Mindfulness".
So that's all for now!
Om Shanti,
Brenda (Brain) Contact details on the right hand side of this page. Do get in touch.
Another writer, Sarah Ban Breathnach, in her book, "Romancing the Ordinary", suggests we should "jump into the deep end of each day". I think, as a non-swimmer, I have always sat on the edge and cautiously dipped my toes in, trying it out, seeing what it is like, before I risk my all.
Well, for the last two months, I seem to have been doing just that - sitting on the edge of life and wondering how much I dare risk. After all, I don't want to end up "not waving, but drowning".
Today, I am resuming my blog for you - and I hope you are still out there somewhere. This week, I have been exploring "Mindfulness". It is an ancient Buddhist practice, which we seem to have "borrowed" as part of our Meditation. If I feel I am having difficulty in keeping my head above water in my daily life, what do I do? I put aside things that are troubling me and I meditate. I sit down with a straight back, and preferably not leaning against anything. Then I give my attention to my breathing. I say to myself the Sanscrit words "So Ham". "So" as I breathe in and "Ham" as I breathe out. As far as I am able to translate these words, they mean "I am that" - which expresses the linking together of my individual consciousness with the universal consciousness.
Doing that, steadily and with my full concentration, puts my personal worries out there and makes them universal. That way I know I am not alone in finding solutions or remedies. Why don't you try it?
I hope to be with you again next month, when I will take you a step further into "Mindfulness".
So that's all for now!
Om Shanti,
Brenda (Brain) Contact details on the right hand side of this page. Do get in touch.
Friday, 14 June 2013
THE MONTH OF JUNE
I am like the cow's tail this month - all behind! My apologies to one of you who emailed me and has not yet had a reply. I will do that but more hospital appointments in the last month or so got in the way. I am sorry about that. And that is why I am late in the month with my blog as well.
But better late than never - I hope!
As I type June, I think of lovely warm midsummer days .... and then think, "Well, they may still be on their way!" I think it is better to stay optimistic in all things, but mostly I stick to the saying in the Ancient Sanskrit Poem::......" - 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."
So make the most of your day, too, whether the sun shines on you or not!
Om Shanti!
Do contact me! BRENDA BRAIN I promise I will reply, even if it has been a bit delayed lately.
Friday, 3 May 2013
SPRING INTO SUMMER!
Joseph Addison was born lst May 1672 - so a few wise sayings from him to help you through the month. This one seems as true today as when Addison wrote it:-
"A man must be excessively stupid as well as uncharitable who believes that there is no virtue
but on his own side, and that there are not men as honest as himself who may differ from him
in political principles"
Perhaps I'll keep that in mind and not feel so guilty when next I don't manage to get to the Polls!
However, he didn't always feel that to sit back and let others get on with it was the best way. I'll finish my blog with another aphorism from Joseph Addison:-
"When an angel by divine command
With rising tempests shakes a guilty land,
Such as of late o'er pale Britannia past,
Calm and serene he drives the furious blast
And, pleas'd th'Almighty's orders to perform
Rides in the whirlwind, and directs the storm."
My fellow Yogis, just in case you think I am off my head, I'll finish with a last short quote from Joseph Addison, our May Man!
"Nature does nothing without purpose or uselessly"
So - go gathering nuts in May ..... or whatever makes you feel good!
And try to keep a balanced view of things - that really is the Yoga way!
Namaste! Brenda Brain. Contact me if you feel I can help you. Or join my followers!
Joseph Addison was born lst May 1672 - so a few wise sayings from him to help you through the month. This one seems as true today as when Addison wrote it:-
"A man must be excessively stupid as well as uncharitable who believes that there is no virtue
but on his own side, and that there are not men as honest as himself who may differ from him
in political principles"
Perhaps I'll keep that in mind and not feel so guilty when next I don't manage to get to the Polls!
However, he didn't always feel that to sit back and let others get on with it was the best way. I'll finish my blog with another aphorism from Joseph Addison:-
"When an angel by divine command
With rising tempests shakes a guilty land,
Such as of late o'er pale Britannia past,
Calm and serene he drives the furious blast
And, pleas'd th'Almighty's orders to perform
Rides in the whirlwind, and directs the storm."
My fellow Yogis, just in case you think I am off my head, I'll finish with a last short quote from Joseph Addison, our May Man!
"Nature does nothing without purpose or uselessly"
So - go gathering nuts in May ..... or whatever makes you feel good!
And try to keep a balanced view of things - that really is the Yoga way!
Namaste! Brenda Brain. Contact me if you feel I can help you. Or join my followers!
Wednesday, 6 March 2013
The Gifts of the Gods
The gifts of the gods are not very apparent to us during January and February; at least, that is how I feel. Snow and a bit of flooding kept me indoors for those months, though that was partly due to health difficulties. I am ashamed of myself when I have to say that I did let them prey upon me a bit. However, we are now into Spring, and I have just received the Spring Number of the magazsine for the Yoga for Health and Education Trust. The beautiful golden yellow rose on the cover is enough to draw me a bit further out of my Slough of Despond.
The magazine is called DARSHAMA. I know that is a Sanskrit word, but it took a bit of searching on the Internet to find an acceptable translation of it. Words in Sanskrit seem to have multiple meanings, and the best I could find for this was: "a visit to a great person, viewpoint or vision." The Yoga for Health and Education Trust bravely took up the mission of The Yoga for Health Foundation when that had to close in 2006. Howard Kent, the founder, had died about a year before that, and their premises were sold to a developer. But good things come out of tragedies sometimes, and in this case it was the birth of The Yoga for Health and Education Trust. They take the same view that Yoga should be possible for everyone who wants or needs it - including the infirm, those with longstanding illnesses which are very hard to bear without support. This is the viewpoint or vision that YHET goes on presenting to all who care to look them up.
They may have just the right incentive for you to realise your "gifts of the gods". They can be found on-line at www.yoga-health-education.org.uk Why not look them up while you are on-line?
You are given the gifts of the gods;
you create your reality
according to your beliefs.
Yours is the creative energy
that makes your world.
There are no limitations
to the self
except those you believe in.
JANE ROBERTS
The Nature of Personal Reality
Love, Peace and Blessings,
From Brenda Brain. See the boxes on the right-hand side if you would like to contact me.
The magazine is called DARSHAMA. I know that is a Sanskrit word, but it took a bit of searching on the Internet to find an acceptable translation of it. Words in Sanskrit seem to have multiple meanings, and the best I could find for this was: "a visit to a great person, viewpoint or vision." The Yoga for Health and Education Trust bravely took up the mission of The Yoga for Health Foundation when that had to close in 2006. Howard Kent, the founder, had died about a year before that, and their premises were sold to a developer. But good things come out of tragedies sometimes, and in this case it was the birth of The Yoga for Health and Education Trust. They take the same view that Yoga should be possible for everyone who wants or needs it - including the infirm, those with longstanding illnesses which are very hard to bear without support. This is the viewpoint or vision that YHET goes on presenting to all who care to look them up.
They may have just the right incentive for you to realise your "gifts of the gods". They can be found on-line at www.yoga-health-education.org.uk Why not look them up while you are on-line?
You are given the gifts of the gods;
you create your reality
according to your beliefs.
Yours is the creative energy
that makes your world.
There are no limitations
to the self
except those you believe in.
JANE ROBERTS
The Nature of Personal Reality
Love, Peace and Blessings,
From Brenda Brain. See the boxes on the right-hand side if you would like to contact me.
Wednesday, 16 January 2013
THE FITNESS FAIRY!!!
I didn't post a blog in December, and I am late in writing a blog at all. The weather has kept me indoors : I don't risk keeping my footing out there in bad weather. But that is no excuse for not writing.
A message came to me by email about a week ago. It was an amusing cartoon of the Fitness Fairy, who shook her dust over my static life and told me to get off my butt, and do something! There I was in my muddy pool of despondency - doing nothing to get out of it.
It was one of the Trustees of the Yoga for Health and Education Trust who sent me the cartoon through Facebook. I sincerely thank them both! It made me at least go down to my car and check that it would still start!
One thing leads to another - or so it seems. A Dutch Yoga teacher friend wrote to me from Holland, where she is a Yoga Therapist, and offered her help to get me to and from a Yoga weekend run by YHET in June at the Domus Mariae in Essex.
I give my heartfelt thanks to my Yoga friends who somehow sensed my need and helped me out of my "swamp".
This month my quote is from Edward FitzGerald's translation of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayam:-
"Ah Love! could you and I with him conspire
To grasp this sorry Scheme of Things entire,
Would not we shatter it to bits - and then
Remould it nearer to the Heart's Desire!"
But you can do something to remould your life and make it better. I can help you to find a Yoga teacher if you live within ten miles' radius of St. Neots. Or you, too, can benefit from the tremendous help and experience the Yoga for Health and Education Trust can offer. Their website is: www.yoga-health-education.org.uk
Om shanti, shanti, shanti - peace and peace and peace!
Brenda (see the boxes to the right for how to contact me.)
I didn't post a blog in December, and I am late in writing a blog at all. The weather has kept me indoors : I don't risk keeping my footing out there in bad weather. But that is no excuse for not writing.
A message came to me by email about a week ago. It was an amusing cartoon of the Fitness Fairy, who shook her dust over my static life and told me to get off my butt, and do something! There I was in my muddy pool of despondency - doing nothing to get out of it.
It was one of the Trustees of the Yoga for Health and Education Trust who sent me the cartoon through Facebook. I sincerely thank them both! It made me at least go down to my car and check that it would still start!
One thing leads to another - or so it seems. A Dutch Yoga teacher friend wrote to me from Holland, where she is a Yoga Therapist, and offered her help to get me to and from a Yoga weekend run by YHET in June at the Domus Mariae in Essex.
I give my heartfelt thanks to my Yoga friends who somehow sensed my need and helped me out of my "swamp".
This month my quote is from Edward FitzGerald's translation of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayam:-
"Ah Love! could you and I with him conspire
To grasp this sorry Scheme of Things entire,
Would not we shatter it to bits - and then
Remould it nearer to the Heart's Desire!"
But you can do something to remould your life and make it better. I can help you to find a Yoga teacher if you live within ten miles' radius of St. Neots. Or you, too, can benefit from the tremendous help and experience the Yoga for Health and Education Trust can offer. Their website is: www.yoga-health-education.org.uk
Om shanti, shanti, shanti - peace and peace and peace!
Brenda (see the boxes to the right for how to contact me.)
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