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Change, Good Health ·

Do Our New Year’s Resolutions Work? Mine Don’t.

This year I am not focusing on losing weight, as I usually do for my new year’s resolutions. Anyway, my resolution to lose weight usually lasts until breakfast (which is my favourite meal) and then I feel pressured that I have failed.

No –my intention for 2021 is to live in peace. It is Jin Shin Jyutsu to focus on harmony – not on what we do not have – so now – in 2021 I am earnestly going to practice what I preach. 😊

If I want to live life feeling good. My intention is ‘I live my life in peace’.

Why?

I want to feel good. Life is short. And I notice the people who are peaceful and have peaceful relationships, are people I love to be around. They seem to attract goodness to themselves and have a good energy. They look and act like they are having a peaceful life and they feel good. They are fun to be with.

How can I live in peace?

I am noticing my thoughts. Each thought has energy and power and we attract to us, what we think. ‘The Secret’ which became a best seller decades ago devotes itself to this concept.

What happens to us when we are kind?

I know when I act from my heart with kindness, I feel good. My body responds. Seratonin is released which makes me feel good. My immunity improves. I notice when I read, hear, or see others being kind to others, I also feel good.

When I feel good, I am kinder to myself. I am kinder to others. Life is more enjoyable. I feel I am in the flow of life.

It reminds me of John Lennon’s song – Imagine.  Imagine if everyone were kind to themselves and their families – I imagine there would be no wars.

Ahimsa is the very first observance in yoga- before we ever make our way to the mat. Ahimsa means ‘non harming in thought, word and deed.’ We start with ourselves. This concept includes non-harming our planet.

But we are not perfect!

We are all human and we all think negatively at times. However, I notice these unkind thoughts because they lead to unkind words and actions and I know they do not bring me peace. My heart does not feel good. When my heart feels bad, I know my thoughts are ego-driven. They bring disharmony, tension, and attitudes that hurt me and do hurt others.

What is my marker going to be?

I know when I am not feeling good because of what I have thought and felt, said, or done. My heart space is my teacher. I need to remember my intention – I want to feel good. I live in peace.

And when thoughts, words and actions are heart centred I am convinced 2021 will be a great year.

My favourite quote is:

Only say it if it is kind, helpful and true – this is from my son in law, Philip, who is the kindest person and probably the most successful person I know. I believe his success comes from being the heart centred person he is.

I will be in touch about how 2021 is going. 😊

Let’s have the same intention and see what happens in our world

Uncategorised, Yoga ·

My Yoga Story

showing off my henna design in India

some of our class in Kerala

a photo with our yoga therapy teacher. He was the person in charge of all Ayurvedic Hospitals in Southern India.

My Yoga Story by Jeannette

a yoga class in Sri Lanka during an ayurvedic retreat

laughter yoga

a yoga class in Vietnam

part of our yoga therapy class. Look out for your neck, Jeannette!

I first fell in love with yoga when I was a first-year university student in Hamilton. The class was at the YMCA and the yoga teacher was a little lady, who seemed incredibly old, very thin and very flexible. Looking back, she may have been younger than me, now but as a 17-year-old, I held her in extremely high esteem – in fact, I revered her. She told us that years ago, she had been told she had a terminal illness. After surgery she had only part of one lung left and lived mainly on fresh juices and many years later, when I started her classes, she was still alive and running huge classes.

Back in the 70s it was common practice when pregnant to join in with a general yoga class. I am not sure there was a thing as a special pregnancy class. I did yoga until birthing and had a great pregnancy.

Somehow, yoga did not feature in my life after that for quite a while because back then there were no online classes. I did not know of any retreats or yoga classes. I just remember doing lots of shoulder stands and poses of tranquility in my bedroom before bed at nighttime.

Yahoo!, I found a yoga teacher in Kerikeri. Back to yoga to classes once a week. This continued over the decades.

When we came to Waihi Beach in 2001, we received regular massages and I attended yoga classes with lovely Kim Jesney. Kim had trained with Shantimurti, Atma and Alinta at Parnell. I felt inspired and decided to train as a yoga teacher to learn more about the philosophy of yoga.

For the last 15 years I have regularly taught yoga; have enjoyed training in yoga therapy in Kerala, India; trained in yoga for children; laughter yoga; pregnancy yoga; post-natal yoga; run retreats, attended workshops, yoga festivals, meditation retreats at Ohui; ayurvedic retreats in Auckland, Matakana, Sri Lanka; studied Ayurveda in Kerala, India. My treat when visiting other areas is to attend yoga classes there and have done so in Bali, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Chiang Mai.

In hindsight, I see that yoga is for life. Generalising, I think younger people go for ‘hard out’ yoga because they can; new parents prefer relaxation, meditation and more restorative yoga to find space for themselves; in mid-life it is more about yoga to cope with bodily changes and stressful times; and as we get older, yoga is about maintaining our flexibility, strength, balance and generally feeling positive and happy. No matter what age, yoga helps us to connect with our own bliss.

Yoga for older people is now for me and where my yoga teaching is at. I call it Gentle Yoga because we still get a good stretch, play with balances, learn different breathing practices, hold some poses to build and maintain our strength, and learn to relax completely. But gentle yoga is also about honouring our body, our past injuries, our present health projects and how we are feeling on the day. It is about my being there for those in my classes to care and love them. And I deeply appreciate how my current class has been doing yoga with me for years.

I love the way yoga is a holistic science – way more than an exercise like Pilates, running, etc. Yoga relaxes our mind and body which is so relevant to today’s stressful world.

It is my hope that yoga is practice for what really happens in daily life – how we breathe; how we self-talk; ensuring our inner landscape is peaceful and calm, so when we come to adversities, we feel we can deal with them resolutely.

This is my yoga story.


Yoga ·

Let’s Breathe

Have you got 2 minutes to spare?

What do we do over 20,000 times a day, yet maybe not do well?

Breathing!
Yet we breathe from the moment of birth to the moment of death and it is our most vital life force process.

So, let’s be thankful for every breath. When we receive a breath, we energise ourselves. When we exhale, we rid the body of toxins. Breathing in and out is a balance of giving and taking – just like we need our lives to be. Inside out / outside in

If you know of anyone who has panic attacks or overwhelming emotions – try this
Breathe in deeply and smoothly and breathe out deeply and smoothly for even longer than you breathe in. Feel your belly move in and out with each breath. Try counting as you breathe in and out

3 of these focused breaths will work wonders. Be happy.

Uncategorised ·

A Calmer, Happier Life

Would you like a calmer, happier life?

“At the heart of us exists a silent pulse of perfect rhythm.” (Mary Burmeister)

If you would like a calmer, happier life, it is all about how we breathe. We breathe for more than 20,000 times a day, but we often don’t breathe well to get enough oxygen and energy into our body. We stay stressed and our body starts trying to tell us with symptoms and by giving us pain to make us listen.

Whatever we want to change in our life – it can happen with 3 inhales and exhales.

Now, this is going to sound too easy to be true!

Slowly and silently say to yourself, as you breathe in, ‘I know I am breathing in,’ and when you are breathing out, say silently to yourself, ‘I know I am breathing out.’

By doing this we bring our focus to our breathing. 

When our body and mind are relaxed, yet alert, and free from negative emotions, our life changes.

When we let a simple act of three full inhales and exhales to become a habit and you do it often you will become calmer, less stressed, more centred and allow yourself to be happier.

How does this work? Why do it?

We breathe in fully and slowly. And breathe out fully and slowly for a little longer than we breathed in.

This activates our vagus nerve. The vagus nerve runs from our brain and goes through the abdomen (heart, lungs, gut) and activates our parasympathetic nervous system. The parasympathetic nervous system help us to relax and heal. On the other hand, our sympathetic nervous system is activated when we are stressed and busy and triggers our adrenals for flight or fight.

Our brain can only focus on one thing at a time. When we say these sentences ‘I know I am breathing in. I know I am breathing out,’ silently to ourselves in time with our breathing, our brain becomes focused on breathing to relax us and support our body systems to do what they need to do to be healthy.

So simple, yet so challenging.

Change ·

Legalising Recreational Marijuana Referendum

In 5 months we will have a national, binding referendum to vote whether recreational marijuana should be legalised.

How many of us know enough facts to make a considered decision that will have far-reaching consequences? Or will it be like another ‘Brexit’?

I would like to see a think tank of doctors, psychiatrists, psychologists, educationalists, mental health workers, and police bringing their knowledge, experience, and ideas to the general public before the referendum.

With the proposed new law, people 20 years and over can buy up to 14 gms of dry leaves a day, which is enough to make up to 40 joints. You cannot light up a joint on the street, in a bar or in your car. You can grow a maximum of two plants at your house or rental, or up to four if there is more than one 20-year-old living at the property. You can make marijuana edibles at home.

However, our police are already under pressure. It is illegal to use a cell phone in cars, but it is not policed well.  What chance is there of stopping smoking marijuana in streets, parks and cars? Or while driving? Is there even a drug test available for police to use for drivers?

If the point of the law change is to prevent black marketing of drugs, California has failed to stamp out black marketing with legalised recreational marijuana. Gangs are more interested in the lucrative marketing of Class A drugs, although legalising recreational marijuana may well encourage a step up to using more powerful drugs.

We are being asked to trust our government, but ‘NZ has had a poor record in caving into big alcohol, tobacco and gambling interests’. (NZ Herald)

Mental health services are severely stretched now. Dealing with mental illness and drug use disorders will need more money, time and resources.

Children’s brains are not fully developed until approximately 25, yet many will become passive smokers. And edible marijuana lollies and cakes will mean children and pets become both unintended and intended victims.

Perhaps a bigger and more insidious issue is the option of being stoned is an easier option than developing discipline for work ethic and helping others in our families and community. Being stoned is impaired cognition.

We can learn from other countries experiences after they legalised recreational cannabis. The first US State to legalise found more people being admitted to hospital for cannabis related problems and more reports of mental health cases linked to marijuana.

The US racial divides, including disproportionate arrests of American-Africans for drug possession, have persisted after legalisation. In California and Canada legalisation failed to stamp out the black market.

Families need to be supported to have a wholesome and healthy family life, not to make it more difficult for them. Please think carefully before you vote.

Uncategorised ·

My Christmas Story

Today the song: ’Streets of London’ sung by Roger Whittaker, came alive for me.

When eating out in fashionable restaurants at Covent Garden in the evening, it is easy to be oblivious to the homeless people who later curl up in each doorway, looking for shelter for the night – even in London’s deep winter.

And are we aware that 30% of children in England are bought up below poverty line?

At Salisbury School in Queens Park, London, parents donate groceries each Tuesday for the homeless. Bags of tins of canned food and toiletries are then delivered to the Parish Church of Brondesbury. Here a church charity provides food on Tuesdays and Thursdays between 10am and 1pm. It is not only for homeless, but also for those who can’t make ends meet and are cold and lonely.

The church’s dining hall is warm and inviting. Tables set with colourful tablecloths and each place has a table mat. Glasses are ready for cordial and side plates for buns. Nutritious and heart warming food bubbles away in the kitchen. I saw a big oven with trays of steaming cottage pie, huge pots of soup, another with chicken casserole and yet another with vegetables. The lady serving was smiley and looked warm-natured.

The cook I chatted with had been preparing food all day yesterday, ready for when the church opens their doors to the queue at 10am. He said he volunteers 5 days a week at the church and the whole programme runs on donated food and volunteer labour.

The cook melted my heart when he said ‘he had been down there’ and ‘only the person can change themselves – no one else can force change’ but ‘when we are at rock bottom it is good to know that there is a helping hand’.

Christmas and Christianity have one word in common and that enlightened word inspires giving and sharing

.

Change, Good Health, mindfulness ·

Birds of Worry and Care

That the birds of worry and care fly above your head, this you cannot change; but that they build nests in your hair, this you can prevent. (Chinese Proverb)

Yes!

Very true, but how can we stop worrying and reacting to everything that happens.

Modern life’s message would probably be to take a chill pill; an anti-depressant. Pills are often a quick fix, needing little input from us and often disregard side effects of the drug.

If we acknowledge that we have continual thoughts every day of our lives, we know that thoughts play a big part in our life. Yogis call our mind – a monkey mind – chatter, chatter, chatter. The issue is that often our thoughts are repeating and negative, day in, day out. And what we think we become. This is how we create our life.

The challenge is to know that we are much more than our thoughts. As Deepak Chopra says, ‘we are the thinker of our thoughts.’ We need to be aware of our thoughts and know we are much more than our thoughts and we can change them.

Our salvation is to go beyond our thoughts to a place of stillness and silence. To a place of peace where there is no worry, fear, anger, sadness, stress of living. This is our own sanctuary which we all have within us. When we then act from a place of peace and love, our world changes. We act differently. Others act differently towards us.

How do we do it?

We bring awareness to what we do. This sounds so easy, but it is the hardest thing to do in our lifetime. But with focus, intention and awareness we can change our lives. We can all can do it. It is our birthright.

Let’s look at three questions

What is awareness?

Awareness is bringing attention to what we do. How often are we thinking of the next thing we wish we had time for, or looking forward to our next weekend or holiday, or wishing the task was finished, or worrying about what we did in the past or what someone else did to us etc. Often our thoughts are not on what we are doing.

We can go right through life, not being aware. It is sad, but when we finish our life, we haven’t truly lived it.

Why don’t we bring awareness to what we do?

We are not taught how to. Our society teaches us that happiness is more money, which will give us more choices and enhance our life, and then we will be happy. Everything we need is within our reach – outwards – holidays overseas, new car, big house, restaurant meals.

But what if we were taught that everything we need is within our reach – inwards. Who wouldn’t want to be able to go beyond their incessant thoughts to a place of nurturing, peace and love, so that we can deal with whatever life throws at us?

How can we be aware?

Awareness happens when we start to notice what we think and how we act.

Start with our breathing – pause and breathe.

As you breathe in say silently to yourself –

  1. I am breathing in. I am breathing out.
  2. I am following my inbreath. I am following my outbreath.
  3. I breathe in calm. I breathe out tension.
  4. As I breathe in, I am happy. As I breathe out, I smile.

Do this as often as you can. It trains our mind to become aware. It becomes habitual.

Start to notice your thoughts. Be aware of habitual negative thoughts. Once you are aware, you can change them.

Sit quietly with yourself in silence – even for a few minutes a day. Negative thoughts will come up. Be non-judgemental about them, be aware of them and let them go.

If we want to change our life, we can. No one else can do it for us.

The real journey in life is within. Then we can enjoy the life outside us.

Change, Good Health ·

We learn when we are ready

We learn when we are ready

As I reflect this week, I am reminded how attitudes can disharmonise our energy flows. It was a busy week, but all was going well, then I had distressing news about a close relative. It was something that I was powerless to change or help with, but deeply saddens me. Then I got a lung infection. In the art I study – ‘Jin Shin Jyutsu’ attitudes disharmonise our organ energy flows and depths. Sadness and grieving disharmonise the lung and large intestine energy flows. I obviously didn’t work through my emotions and they settled in my body.

The organ sheds the tears the eyes refuse to weep.

Yes, I am powerless to change the behavior, choices and path of my close relative. Until a person wants to change and makes changes, life will continue along the same way.

How, what, when, where and why we learn is as unique as one’s life and it is not for us to judge others.

I have learned that what I would like to impart to others maybe not be what they would like to learn. And if others are not ready for learning all we can do is accept this and give love until they are ready to learn.

What we think is right for others may be wrong for them. What we think is wrong for others may be right for them. Maybe we want others to act as we wish because we think we know best. But the honourable way is to allow others to live their lives despite what we want them to do and ready with love when they come to us.

What about if that person is closely related? More reason to be ourselves and to live our life according to our values. If that person asks for help or advice, we can choose to give it. If that person steps over the mark of what we think is ‘right for us’ we make a decision. And when that decision is made we may communicate our feelings. At that time it is the best decision for us and we let go of ‘what ifs’.

This all seems rather simple. But then isn’t life? If we know ourselves and are strong within, we are better able to set boundaries, to live by our values and to simplify our lives.

I have obviously got lots more learning to do. 😊

 

Healthy Eating ·

‘Bad’ eating habits

Today I opened my book ‘Wellbeing from Within’ and the random page I opened to was the quote, ’Healthy eating is the key to wellbeing.’  Ouch!

For me life is a constant tug of war between loving food and  healthy eating. It seems I have a better chance of eating healthily when Denis and I eat at home. When I am eating socially in cafes and restaurants I tend to eat foods that are not so healthy and usually too much!

I read on more about what I had written in my book and thought to myself, Oh dear! Of course I can’t blame being with others or where I am eating for my own short comings with food. I know my ayurvedic body type and know I am prone to gaining weight. I do know what I need to be eating the most of and how, when and why.

I believe we all  need reminders along our life path – we already know things, but it is about bringing attention to our project; observing what we actually are doing; reflecting on our actions and then bringing self-forgiveness to what we have done or are doing (self-study).

For my bad eating habits – eating between meals is a biggie.

I need to reflect that when I eat between meals I am not so hungry for my next meal. I start to miss out on vegetable-based meals and replace them with café foods usually loaded with ingredients to enhance flavor. When I eat really tasty food, the taste over-rides feelings of fullness ie. it is harder to pig out on a plate of steamed vegetables or garden salad than a laden bowl of hot chips and garlic aoli.

OK, I know what I have been doing, I forgive myself and move on with a realistic, achievable intention of eating 3 meals a day to enjoy feeling hunger before my next meal.

Another bad habit is eating after dinner when watching Netflix. I have already had a perfectly fulfilling meal, but I want more.

When I bring attention, observe and reflect on what I do, I see I am pandering to false hunger. Years ago two ayurvedic teachers, Glen Crowther and Barbara Cook, taught about false hunger vs true hunger. False hunger happens shortly after eating and only certain foods seem fulfilling. So if I don’t feel like a piece of fruit and crave chocolate shortly after a meal, I know it is false hunger. I am better off going for a walk or drinking water or herbal tea.

It is a choice I must make. I think I need to look at changing my habits because eating when feeling false hunger can only lead to more weight gain. I would rather tweak the bad habit than get fatter and fatter and not feel good about myself.

Differences between true hunger and false hunger

True Hunger

  • Appears only when the previous meal has been digested and at regular times
  • Most healthy foods can satisfy the hunger
  • Increases after a few sips of water and / or after a walk

False Hunger

  • Appears even shortly after eating and at irregular times
  • Only particular foods seem satisfying
  • Disappears after walk or short nap and / or after few sips of water

And it all comes down to our choices – which have causes and consequences for us to enjoy.  😊

Uncategorised ·

Out of my Comfort Zone – but Great Learning

The last two days have been way out of my comfort zone, but there is lots of learning for me.

Months ago I booked for our annual Reflexology NZ Conference to be held in Nelson 14/15/16 June. Our Waikato group have been talking about it and looking forward to spending time together. The highlight for me was a workshop with a reflexologist, about reflexology for critical care.

Denis dropped me off at the airport ready for my 9am flight on Thursday – time to check in to the hotel, visit a friend, look at shops and settle in before tomorrow morning’s start.

At Auckland airport thick fog delayed the flight till 12 noon. Then 4pm. Then 6pm. Then cancelled due to technical problems.

Each time the flight is cancelled I waited at the carousel to pick up luggage, find another flight and check in again. The queue waiting at counter one, which sorts out problems, stretched a long- long way. A very crowded airport.

That night Air New Zealand catered for the stranded ones at the Heartlands Hotel, with meals and a free shuttle bus.

Thursday night I received an email saying fog was expected tomorrow. Friday morning up at 5am and on the shuttle at 6am for 7.20am flight. Flight delayed.  There goes my workshop!

I tried to rebook for the 9am flight but ERROR kept coming up on my cell phone. I look at the queue to get to counter one and see it is longer than ever. It would take an hour to get to the personnel and by that time all the flights would be gone for the 9am flight which goes to Wellington and then arrives in Nelson midafternoon. I look outside and see fog that is thicker than yesterday and make a decision – I am over waiting around for another day. I want to go home.

Yes, I want to go home. I walk outside and see that getting a bus is another ordeal to know where to go and which one to get – especially in Jack the Ripper fog.

Buses go past every 15 mins to Manukau Station. I get on the second bus (I missed the first bus because I wasn’t quick enough to step forward) and find there is no eft pos – just cash – I have no cash. The kind driver lets me on without paying.

I arrive at the Manukau Station which is clean, efficient and huge, but you can’t buy tickets there for Intercity. Tickets need to be prepaid and bought online. I phone Intercity and find all the seats are sold. Next bus at noon. Here we go again! However, I get cash out by buying junk food from the shop to snack on and wait in line in the hope I can get on.

The bus arrives. The lady driver asks me to wait until she has ticketed everyone and then allows me on (there are spare seats). I could have hugged her. The bus glides along the roads smoothly. It is so easy in a bus to enjoy the scenery, eat, drink, chat, snooze, read or listen to music or all of the options. I met some lovely people who chatted.

I checked the flights and found my last flight to Nelson did go ahead as scheduled – so I missed out on the conference, meeting my reflexology friends and spending time together.

Where is the learning?

Human kindness when the chips are down: The personnel on counter one that were going through the worst of days and only showed respect, concern and kindness. The bus driver who saw me dragging a heavy bag and getting on bus expecting to use eft pos and let me on for free. The lovely lady travelling to Mount Maunganui who gave me hope to get on the bus after I had been told there were no seats. Reply texts from family and friends who supported me when I felt like crying with frustration and disappointment.

What is the universe telling me? How important family is – when the chips are down, family is there. Maybe the ‘roadworks’ were telling me I shouldn’t have been going to the Conference. I needed to surrender to what was and go with the flow and see the ‘roadworks’ for what they are. Or did I need resilience to persevere?

Syncrodestiny

: Meeting and talking with an amazing lady who I was delighted to spend time chatting and I know we will be friends in the future. This made the whole experience worthwhile. I just love it when I connect with another person and feel like we could talk forever. What a blessing!

Letting go of all the options when a decision has been made: Today as I sit in Waihi Beach – the Conference will be on and know I am missing a time that I love so much. I need to let go or unresolved sadness will settle in my body causing disruption to my energy patterns. I need to be grateful for what is and honour my decision.

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