Obaitori

yoga by the sea ~ opening

It is with great pleasure and much anticipated excitement - and only through the grace and teachings of my beloved Guru Swami Niranjananda Saraswati - that I bring you the dates for the opening of my yoga school;

Saraswati School of Arts ~ Yoga by the Sea.

For me the journey of Satyananda Yoga Studies and Teacher Training began in 1993. I bought Swami Satyananda's Yoga nidra tape and practiced almost everyday for 10 years. I read whatever I could find on the topic and then I made the journey to Satyananda Mangrove - a yoga school of the highest calibre. The largest teaching ashram in the southern hemisphere. First I did a week long course called Yoga Lifestyle, I bought all of the textbooks and with a huge sigh of relief, found everything I had been looking for. For the next ten years I was enroled in various courses at Satyananda Mangrove and Bihar Yoga Birati - the world's first yoga university - my studies included the Yoga Studies diploma. In between all of this I travelled to India twice, met the great Satyananda, fell in love and was inititated by my Guru Swami niranjanananda into karma sannyasa and had two beautiful children. Also during this time I started Obaitori - the spiritual mother's group. Here I teach a variety of yogic practices, kirtan, havan, mantra, antar mouna, jyana... Go here to find all of the courses offered by Satyananda Mangrove.

What is Satyananda Yoga?

Satyananda Yoga is yoga in it's true form. We know yoga in the West today because of a few main contemporary yogis who revived yoga in the last century. One of these great yogis of course is the beloved Swami Sivananda Saraswati. He had many disciples who he trained in yoga and told them to 'teach yoga from shore to shore and door to door.' One of these great disciples was Swami Satyananda. He imbibed the knowledge of yoga from his Guru. He dissected every tiny bit of knowledge, experienced it and turned it inside out until he knew it fully. Then he taught it to millions of people in a systematic way. For me, Satyananda yoga is the most precise way to know and teach yoga to others. Yoga is how to live in everyday life. It is the path to self-enlightenment. It is for the spiritual upliftment of society.

For a more general understanding of the story visit here.

On the Spring Equinox 2012, to mark the opening we will hold a sacred havan to ask for special blessings for the yoga school. This havan will include healing chants, mantras to the Guru, offerings of incense, sankalpa, rice, flowers, holy water and mango wood. These vibrations are said to have a healing vibration which is very subtle and permeates around the area for a radius of 25 kilometers.

Here I am almost 20 years on ready to open the doors, officially.

You are all welcome!!!

For those living overseas, I offer Individual Yoga Fitness Programmes and Yoga Lifestyle Programmes on-line.

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Term 4 {10 weeks}

10^th October  – 6^th December

Cost - $160 per term, $15 student or pensioner or $18 casual class

 

Thursday 10 – 11:30am

Beginners

light and refreshing

 

Thursday 1 – 2:30pm

Progressive Beginners

strengthening, energising, recharging

 

Private Tutorial is available. Also available; Individual Yoga Fitness Programmes and

Yoga Lifestyle Programmes.

All Inquiries please phone email me; [email protected]

Yoga Classes in the SATYANANDA YOGA ® style also using Satyananda Yoga Nidra®

Katie Hinshelwood is an Accredited SATYANANDA YOGA ® Teacher A3519

Saraswati School of the Arts ~ Yoga by the Sea

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Over the next month I'll be writing a series of articles and information posts that will bridge the gap for yoga students to this site. For more posts on yoga please see the list of categories on the right hand side of this site.

 

 

mauna ~ be like the flowers ~

Swami Sivananda on mouna or mauna* -

Starters’ kit - do not talk much. Do not indulge in long unnecessary talks and discussions.

Stage 2 - mauna for two hours daily and for six hours on Sundays, and for a full week on long holidays. Even during other periods talk very few words. When you speak, speak gently and sweetly.

Taking it further - full blown mauna and uparati (a time of renunciation from worldly activities). During mauna you must live alone. Do not mix with other people. Do not even express your ideas with gestures.

If you want to proceed on the spiritual path, mind your own business and be quiet.

~ Swami Satyananda ~

* Observing silence as a spiritual practice is called "mauna" in Sanskrit. The aim of mauna is to quieten the mind and prepare it for introspection and meditation.

prosperity

Discontentment is the real poverty; contentment the real prosperity. ~ Amma ~

weakness and suffering

Due to my assignment work I saw the opportunity as an excuse not to chant. Funny and strange how the human mind works. I always feel so strong when I chant yoga mantras and Buddhist sutras. I'm not quite feeling weak but my lifeforce or prana seems sluggish, heavy and a little sleepy. I don't like those feelings at all.

Today in the post Indigo* arrived, an SGI Buddhist magazine and study guide. It always seems to turn up just when I need it. Or do I need it all the time and just don't realise it? The SGI is a Buddhist movement dedicated to world peace.

I read these two quotes both by SGI President Daisaku Ikeda, which enlivened my spirit once again;

"It takes courage to become happy - courage to remain true to one's convictions, courage not to be defeated by one's weaknesses and negativity, courage to take swift action to help those who are suffering."

In this case the one that was suffering was me.

"Even if you have problems, even if you have done things you regret, or have made mistakes, your whole furture still lies ahead of you. If you can just keep moving forward, telling yourself, "I'll start from today," "I'll start afresh from now, from this moment," then a whole new world of possibilities will open up before you."

*The title of the magazine comes from The Supremecy of the Law in the Writings of Nichiren Daishonin which says, "Strengthen your resolve more than ever. Ice is made of water, but it is colder than water. Blue dye comes from indigo, but when it is repeatedly dyed in it, the colour is better than that of the indigo plant... repeatedly strengthen your resolve {and you will receive blessings of even greater brilliance}."

roses, yogasanas, fabric ~ favourite things ~

I've been practicing lots of yogasanas that counterpose my 'favoured' position - typing assignments. I'm nearly at the end of bridging my Yoga Diploma with Satyananda Yoga - the most comprehensive yoga diploma in the world - it's almost here.... I'll be finished and I'm reminded of the quote;

We must not cease from exploration and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive

where we began and to know the place for the first time.

 ~ T.S. Eliot ~

Today I've been out on the back deck dressed in a singlet watching and absorbing the nutritious rays of divine Brother sun - I've been diagnosed with a moderate vitamin D defiency.

It feels really good to get out in this wintry sunshine. I'm also taking a supplement to my three 20 minute sessions a week of glorius sun. I need to take a few lessons from my sun worshiper, Yogi.

I'm reading the very inspiring and transporting blog, Saffron Marigold, this post on the Spice Route Tablecloth with modern and traditional Indian fabrics. To the detriment of the size of my linen press I'm falling in love with their Spice Route Collection.

Today I'm drawing some plans for our additional front garden. As well as having two no-dig vegetable gardens, I'm creating a garden dedicated to Mother Mary. I've ordered a Saint Mary MacKillop rose from our near local nursery, Swanes. Other roses I could buy if I was very adept at growing roses are, Saint Therese de Lisieux rose, Saint Patrick's rose and a very fine fragrant rose of Pope John Paul II. Here is an example of a Mary garden for the northern hemisphere. A rose garden is called a rosary.

guardian angels

I'm not one for blindly following faith. So I experiment. I'm going to try this and see what happens.

I was reintroduced to guardian angels when I experienced the healer Doreen Virtue at work. I saw her in action, communing with angels, archangels and guardian angels with real life people. She was passing across messages from loved ones and they were powerful, meaningful messages that the receivers seemed happy to hear. They looked reassured, relieved and comforted. I came to understand that the purpose of angels are that they are messengers of God, the universe, the all pervading. Some people can tap into this life force and actually hear angels, their voice or vibration, their feeling. These clairaudients are subtle beings who spend a great deal of time developing their intuition in silence, prayer and meditation.

One such being was Pope John XXIII's who explained that if you had a problem with someone that seemed totally unresolvable, a situation that seemed impossible to work out, you could ask your guardian angel to go and talk to that person's guardian angel. He strongly believed that these heavenly advisors would intercede.

Pope John said that if the guardian angels agree with each other the conversation will appear easy.

Firstly, I think I need to get in touch with my guardian angels, because quite frankly, I don't know who they are. I know that these type of angels are meant to have been close to you in your lifetime or just before, often family members, grandmothers, sisters...

To do this simply talk to them, says Doreen Virtue.

What do you think? Do you know your guardian angels? Do you talk to them and do they respond?

 

 

Third Eye of a Spiritual Seeker

My beautiful Dad planted these hyacinths a few months ago and brought them up to our home as a housewarming plant. Each time I walk past these angels of love their scent and sentiment warm my heart. Today I noticed this one - a double hyacinth - in the shape of a heart. Aahh...

I have been drinking the essence straight from the petals in the morning. The shape of the petals creates a little cup of dew. The hyacinth essence supposedly helps the integration of spiritual & earthly qualities and the development of inner hearing or intuition.

As you know there are many yogic practices that develop agni chakra or the third eye. One of these practices includes the shatkarma, trataka. See here for an explanation of how to practice to trataka. And now I'm thinking how lovely it would be to do trataka on this hyacinth. The photo will work just as well for you. Love Katie xxx

 

"Many people meditate in order that the third eye will open after the two eyes that see the world go blind. Such a thing will never happen. We can never close our eyes to the world in the name of spirituality. Self-Realization is the ability to see ourselves in all beings, even while our two eyes are wide open. We should be able to love and serve others, seeing ourselves in them. That is the fulfilment of spiritual practice."

 ~ Mata Amritanandamayi Devi ~

~~ Amma ~~

 

{this moment}

Inspired by Soule Mama. In her words...

  a Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment.

A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.