The first class of yoga..is daunting fro some as we have such a wide variety of participants.Some yoga teachers, with a practice of over 10 years, for others it is their first yoga class ever. I make it clear that YOGA..is Your yoga…it is the journey and the tuning into your moment with breath, mind and body thats makes yoga something we can practice on and off the mat…The goal of being in some perfected asana may take us away from yoga. Faces soften. bodies relax..i feel surrender as many gain a clearer perspective of yoga. ‘Surrender is being fully in the moment’ states Neen Karoli Baba. Yes …we can surrender right now.

The night before the Nyepi day of silence is a Nyepi celebration at the village temple beside the surfbreak. We dress in Sarongs, headwear and flowers and join the 300 plus villagers at the sacred ceremony where a cow is slaughtered and given up as an offfering. As we walk home on dusk many participants are attempting to bypass the ‘ slaughter’ and all the ‘gruesome ‘ that goes with it. However, all rice paddy tracks are closed as we try to depart , and we need to cross the river …where as you may anticipate is the offerring being cleaned in the stream. The group ‘surrenders,’ let’s go of the fear and walks through the pack of villagers busy at work. Life.death, ceremony, community and REMEMBERING OF GOD… all alive in a  lesson for all..The group reminds each other of the small but potent packages to expand our awareness are alive not only in this simple village but in every experience when we surrender and listen.

Kevin has us all sounding together,as the group closes the circle with a final, deep resonating OM …I feel nothing but Gratitude for what all Have Embraced over the week we share together. The faces on many look ten years younger. Maybe it has been from the river of tears that have flowed freely. Maybe it was from that one hug at the perfect time. Maybe it is from that spontaneous smile that happenned when the two sets of eyes met each other.Now some are ready for a full week of YOGA, dance and music at the magical Bali spirit Festival  or others the solitude of a deserted Amed beach. Now we are faced with choices..” where to go?” ..Like when we leave our yoga mat from the guidance and connectedness of a class..Surrender now takes a less passive form whilst life takes a new canvas. Intuition may be surrender in its active state.  “Intuition is to be in tune with oneself, totally in tune with oneself. And out of that tuning, solutions arise from Nowhere”.. Osho

When our circumstance is  a busy Ubud street..which bemo? which restaurant? which class? Sensory stimulation overload simply indicates many channels are operating at once.. Tuning in allows us to align with the right one. This is also where our practice serves us. Our practice of making the moment to moment choices to live in greater harmony with one’s truth and divine essence  …An expanded awareness truly is something we all have the choice to take with us.

An embrace retreat will always brings up ‘STUFF’ ..some of it painful. some not, all revealing. Maybe now we can encourage all to stop look at things and begin looking at looking..with honesty and clarity. Maybe now we can change aspects of our BEING . we wish to change. Maybe now we can Embrace the full depth of “Surrender “Not a surrender that is lost and defeated, but simply a surrender that is completely immersed in a loving presence.

‘Surrender is being Lost in Love.’..Mahara-ji

Shine fully

gwyny

Later that night i am feasting at Blue Diamond on what i declare the best organic vegetarian cafe in South east Asia…delicious.

The following day Arno, looking light and fresh, meets me at the airport in high spirits.. The 40 min trip to the Thai circus land is full of news …nearly all good…very good. The 42 students from 20 different countries around the world all totally enthused… young, vibrant and spirited…in love with the land , the waterfall, the practice and each other…. When i arrive they are all in dance mode …full moon energy, music and lots of sweetness between all.

The land has really established itself over the past two and half years ..The.originally challenging toilet/ shower setup, the saunas, the trees and kitchen… all revamped,  despite a mass of rain that happenned midyear (like many places in the world) that wiped out  a few structures and apparently caused a lot of damage. Time and experience has many benefits re. more organisation and hygiene, hence the years of many experienceing Asian dysentry for one month, rushing to the squat dunny between sessions,  is slowly disappearing..yay.

The local Lao still remain virtually absent for the course due to the English language being so alien to them. The two English words i have interchanged since being here was a big “HELLO” to a young 10 year old as we high fived on my morning run. The other was from an older villager who daily waters the vege garden full of lettuce and tomatoes we are all feasting on. He looks at his phone, checking the date, then looks at me as says ” Valentine”…
” You little beauty” I exclaim, ” You KNOW!”

I point to a flower on the tree trying to inform him to bring a flower home to his wife. He checks out the flower , whether it is eatable or not…then dismisses the matter. These guys honestly eat everything.!! The huge rats are given to each other as gifts to feast on, the cockroaches, bugs, and insects risk their lifes if they show their heads, knowing if detected, their legs will be ripped off and they are thrown into the boiling soup pot. The local circus dog that was with us last year, we discover was part of a feast in the challenging wet season.

Today we venture across the river to a nearby rice field. In a circle, we practice breathing and exercise as the sun rises over a wonderful landscape of mountain and greenery , all encompassing a magnificent open and expansive clear blue sky. I look around at the sea of faces falling in love with this amazing spectrum of the human rainbow, so unique yet so connected in the true centre. The cloaks we have worn in the past vary from mechanics, builders, waiters, laboratory scientists,yoga teachers, shamanic dancers to jet pilots, physiotherapists, trainee doctors and professional musicans. Here today,in the Jungle of Laos we simply learn and practice Thai massage, Therapies and Yoga and encouraged to remember that presence and loving kindness are the human gifts that we all need to continually enrich and share. At the end of the morning circle an unassuming American student, who rarely speaks, steps into the middle of 50 students and erupts into song…completely unbridled.. he shares with totality from his deepest core ..we all follow..and within minute the entire circle are following him joyfully, with his heartful words and tunes…not wishing to stop.

Human BEINGNESS…..i love it..

blessings to all

gwyny

Happy New Year to all..yes it appears 2012 is one full of powerful waves. Waves that move ..hopefully moving us into… more alive states of joy, deeper states of connection with each other and nudging us back on track when we waver of our daily path of inner peace. …

The young 4 month old boy in my ARMS .. a delightful reminder of  innocence and raw beauty …iam so immersed in the purity..you can not express the words ..just softly squeeze the arms and make weird noises at the smiling alive face. The young babe, Pasco yearns for nothing, it is all with him right now in his simple contented state.  The loving father takes his babe from my arms ….’ How are you little chop?? ” so in love with his own, the words of adoration seem to naturally flow..I am in stitches with tearful joy ..the tears rolling down my face…

Days later i walk into the Nataraja temple in celebration of Yogananda’s birthday. Again the saturation of humaness in its pure and natural state drops me into a complete awakedness of the love and joy we all are beyond the conditionings and delusions that we are separate.  Magnetised  by the poetic and consuming words of Paramhansa I am powerfully reminded in moments of powerfully deep silence, the same message  from Pasco…that everything we ever yearn for is with us right now ..The silence in the group is so rich as we all dive down forgetting each others dreams thus connecting with a purity and beauty that remains alive in us all.

AS it often is in Human life…my wonderful reflection of Humans and our awakened journeys remains on high..until visting  a local waterhole days later..many people , families…etc..a little lost in their dreams..swearing, drinking , smoking  and shouting…My vibrational high begins to slip as i step into a judgemental and pessimistic slide..however iam  nudged slowly back into awakedness by my wife Gaia, reminding myself  of the Divine order that pervades all things, the light behind the eyes of the passer by on the bush track, the loving and mysterious intelligence that emanates from the centre of creation although not so obvious in this scenerio does not mean it does not exist. I look a little deeper for these truths and  the waterhole scene slowly takes on a new colour. A great reminder for me is what we assume, expect or believe creates and colours our experience. By expanding our deepest beliefs about what is possible, we change our experience of life. i will allow Pasco’s( the little chop) smiling eyes and our Rich silence at Yogananda’s birthday celebration to inspire us in the fact that what we focus on is what expands…and the importance of creating new visions for the 2012 …as this is what we will become..

In conclusion i would like to share our Zenthai group’s  annual Woodfordi breakfast where we  summarised words that embraced  visions for 2012..may they inspire us all when we tend to ‘forget’,or waver from our path, keeping us reminded of each day’s amazing potential…

LOVE. LISTEN TO THE LAND. SIMPLIFY. SERENDIPITY. LISTEN. PRECISION.HUMILITY.EXPANSION.MAGNETISM.
BE REAL.CONNECTION.DEEP JOY. ADVENTURE.PRESENCE.COLOUR

love

gwyny