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November
2008 Newsletter
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Namaste Yogis & Yoginis
October was a month to develop my equanimity! Sometimes you have to dig deeper than others to find and keep a toe hold on your sense of centre. As always, I’m grateful for the teachings and practice yoga & meditation have given me. There are many strategies out there in the world, but without the reserve of calm you accumulate every time you practice yoga (ending in Savasana especially) or practice meditation, they are less effective. The aim is to try and maintain consciousness of your practice even during the challenging moments in life (better than minties!) Whenever I feel reaction rise, I try to stop, take a breath, remind myself of that centre, exhale and THEN speak. It really helps! The other key is detachment. The breath taken also gives you a moment to disconnect and take a step back. When you are able to do this, you can handle almost anything, without (or less) emotion and more harmoniously. In yoga this relates to the fifth limb of pratyhara, but in a very daily sense!
By the way, some of you have been asking who I am…(this mysterious newsletter writer). Well, I’ll introduce myself later in the newsletter. I will try and introduce our teachers, trainees and students over time too.
THANK YOU!
A HUGE thank you to all who worked on, supported and volunteered for our renovations especially the teachers Mark, Kam, Kath & Dan, the trainees Paula, Christine, Clint & Hels, the Craig family Paul, Karen & Skye, Tim Cross, Andrew Cottle, Duncan Bailey, Wendy Chapman, Jeff Borg & many others for your interest and support.
We were very lucky, we had great tradesmen and would happily recommend:
- Bruce Esmond: who knocked out & replaced the windows 0411 705 774
- Andrew Lester: who built our new shop shelves & does other stuff too 0414 926 824
- Baden Barens/Seabreeze Shutters who did an awesome job
5525 6512/0418 745 880
- Gold Coast Carpets – John gave great advice 5598 3102
- Signart for our vinyl wall creations 55306958
- Skye from Artroom 303 (graphic design) who designed them! 5534 5691
- Mark Williams our master painter 0416 508 093
NEWS!
- Well the big news is our YOGA DEMO & XMAS PARTY on November 30, kicking off at 5pm. Don’t be too late, we have the demo early, so the teachers can then relax and mingle. It’s the first demo we’ve done in a little while, so we’re excited/nervous!! There will be chai & cake to purchase with proceeds supporting Ammachi’s charities but the night itself is FREE! We’ll be having music by Murray Kyle (frontman for Blissmongers & a friend of the inspiring Loren) and so we’re looking forward to some sweet tunes & blissful vibe. Look forward to seeing you there, friends & family welcome!
- In other news.. The summer Ashtanga intensive is back on so grab a flyer or check the website. It will be out at Tally Valley again in that lovely hall surrounded by greenery.
- Over Xmas we will have a reduced timetable again (out soon!!) & Kam will be offering his popular one day yoga/meditation retreats. Check the website/noticeboard or ask Kam for more info. So if you haven’t got time/funds for a big holiday, come into the centre or out to Kam’s and have a mini holiday/rejuvenate instead! (Every experience on the mat is a mini holiday really!!)
- As well as the new space (we love it!) we have some great new products, especially the t-shirts, and more coming! So check our little shop for new books & items to support your practice, inspire you, and make you smile.
- Some of you may know it’s MOVEMBER. We’d like to support yogi Brett Addison in his campaign to grow a mo’ and raise money for Prostate Cancer Foundation & Beyond Blue (anti-depression initiative). To donate go to the link soon on our website and donate online using your credit card or Pay Pal, or write a cheque payable to ‘Movember Foundation', referencing Brett’s Registration Number 1854071 and mail to Movember Foundation, PO Box 292, Prahran VIC 3181
- Our latest charity jar money went to Rosies Street Outreach Service. Again, thank you for your continued generousity and we will continue to make sure your spare change gets put to good work. For more on Rosies check out www.rosies.org.au.
- Help us promote the centre. We would much rather spend our promotional dollar on improving the space, training the teachers and keeping costs low than on advertising.. so if you enjoy what you receive here, tell your friends!!! Thank you to all those who already do!
If you’d like to help save trees and keep up to date, subscribe to our newsletter online! You will also get all the latest info about events, class changes & workshops!
WHO AM I?
Isn’t that the quintessential question??!! But for here & now, I’m Suzanne. I know many of you, but many I don’t get to meet as I don’t teach many group classes these days, mostly privates, workshops and our teacher training program. Kam & I started the Gold Coast Yoga Centre together 12 and half years ago, but I have been sole director for the last 8 years. Yoga has been my life full time for about 15 years now, but I was lucky enough to begin early on the path at age 13 studying Eastern philosophies in my Social Studies class, and being fascinated even then. I have studied several martial arts including Aikido in Japan, natural therapies, and various self help systems; conventional and otherwise; but finding Yoga brought it all together for me. I find it a complete system offering a way of living as well as a complete health system and path to freedom. I had many physical ailments which yoga helped me overcome, but in the latter years it’s the incredible support the philosophy has given me through some of the most difficult years of my life that I have really valued. To me the essence of yoga is uncovering truth. Whether it be the lazy habits of the body, or the sabotaging habits of the mind, yoga offers tools to dismantle them, get them out of the way, and come to a simpler, more real way of living & being. Next newsletter I’ll introduce one of the other teachers. Thanks for reading all these years!
POETIC WISDOM
(found while reading the wonderful “Hindi Bindi Club” Monica Pradhan)
The same stream of life that runs through my veins night and day
runs through the world and dances in rhythmic measures.
It is the same life that is rocked in the ocean-cradle of birth and death,
in ebb and in flow
Rabindranath Tagore
Our bad experiences provide the contrast that enables us to recognize goodness.
If you wrote a message with white chalk on a white board, no one would see it.
Without the blackboard of bad, the good things in the world could not be magnified at all.
Paramahansa Yogananda
As the rivers flowing east and west merge in the sea and become one with it,
Forgetting they were ever separate rivers; So do all creatures lose their
Seperateness when they merge at last into pure Being.
The Upanishads
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