May 2024 Newsletter – Dorchester Yoga and Therapy Centre

May brings us Beltane, a genuinely ancient Celtic celebration marking the end of Winter and the birth of Summer, more recently celebrated as May Day.

Unite and unite and let us all unite,
For Summer is acome unto day,
And whither we are going we will all unite,
In the Merry morning of May”

The Padstow May Night Song

The sap that lay dormant in nature in the dark of Winter, has risen through early Spring and exploded into green. Beltane is about joy, ecstasy and love and so reminds us all to get back in touch with our own sense of delight. To do what brings us pleasure, and to remember what a gift it is to be alive. There is a lovely May Day celebration at the Cerne Giant reenacting the vibrant May Day tradition, when the Morris Dancers and villagers gather at dawn on the Trendle, the original site of the village Maypole at the top of the Cerne Giant. It’s an early and steep start to get up to salute the sunrise, but it will certainly be joyful to celebrate the start of summer with a barrel of Beltane Beer!

We are so used to working hard and being responsible and sensible that we can forget to do the things that bring us pure joy. Beauty and joy and laughter are necessities of our being, and nature brims with them… In May flawless blue skies, vibrant green fresh shoots, smells of bluebells and wild garlic in the hedgerows, lilac bursting from buds, cacophony of the dawn chorus and the lushness of fields all around.

What is a Kundalini Awakening?

The energy of the rising sap in nature has many similarities with the rising of the energy of kundalini. In Sanskrit, kundal means “coiled snake.” Kundalini refers to the feminine energy that is believed, in tantric yoga tradition, to be present within each of us since birth and coiled at the base of the spine. Kundalini energy is considered to be the ultimate life force and the source of our creative power, spiritual gifts, and shakti, or divine feminine energy. Tantric tradition holds that when dormant kundalini energy is unleashed through yoga practice, it flows upward through the seven chakras (energy centres) to the crown of the head, balancing the energetic body and accessing expanded consciousness.

It is believed that your entire being—mind, body, and spirit—goes through a massive energetic shift, causing you to move through life in a very different way. A kundalini awakening is a powerful experience in enhanced self-awareness. According to tradition, an awakening can instigate long-term changes, including: feelings of blissfulness, enhanced psychic abilities, more compassion and empathy, increased creativity, increased spiritual connection, feeling aligned and ‘in the flow’.

But yoga is never about results, and this may never be achieved. The purpose is the practice itself, which will help you understand where you need to focus your energy, when you need to find more compassion for yourself and others, and how to become more aware of your own needs.

Your own kundalini awakening could be as soft and gentle as sitting in quiet meditation for 15 minutes and experiencing more peace than ever before or it could be a more emotional process.

The point isn’t the actual moment of the kundalini awakening. It’s the continued awareness that accompanies the practice of yoga and the growth that accompanies it. Yoga is practice, keep practising.

Changes to Classes

Kim Mackies Wednesday Classical yoga at 6pm is changing to an Advanced Practitioner class only (not suitable for beginners) – you must have some knowledge of traditional Yoga texts, Sanskrit, Prānāyāma techniques and at least five years of regular practice. Booking is essential, no drop-in option unless agreed with the teacher.

Kim is also offering a Sun salutation workshop which will be fun and may also help you to establish a regular practice, you can find more information here.

Ness Sherry is extending one of her Saturday morning classes in May and offering a yoga workshop on Magical Alignment.

Sarah Burt taught a course on Iridology (study of eye for health) last year, it was very popular and she is hoping to do the same this Autumn. She is offering an Introduction To Iridology so that you can find out more.

All our regular workshops are below, I hope they bring you much joy, laughter, delight and practice,

With love from Sharon et al