Happy March.
We have a wonderful Yoga Sangha at the yoga centre.
Sangha is a Sanskrit word that means company, or community or association. The shared sense of community amongst yoga practitioners has grown worldwide in recent years. This has helped novice yoga practitioners to assimilate more easily into the yoga culture, whilst seasoned yogis are able to share their experience and lifestyle choices with a larger audience. Yoga is fashionable!!! What starts out as a physical exercise for many, is the beginnings of a lifelong practice of turning in, listening to the body, and beginning the steps to concentration and stilling the mind, and answering the questions ‘Who am I?’.
Our own Dorchester Yoga Sangha continues to grow and grow. Our aim has always been to provide classes to suit everyone depending on age, interest and ability no matter where they are in their yoga journey. The yoga centre is coming to the end of its sixth year, and many of our students have been regular, and committed to the centre since the beginning. They give as much to our yoga community as they receive. They offer supportive groups to their fellow yogis through times of need, and I witness that so much throughout the weeks.
One of my recent emails from David one of my chair yogis, had been inspired after we were practising Mountain Pose (Tadasana):
The idea of a vertical line connecting heaven and earth comes from Vedic times. Later this was symbolised as a mountain, with its roots in the earth and its peaks in the heavens. The mountain is aligned along the pull of gravity and should be both stable and relaxed. David was inspired to go home and paint a picture of mountains:
And then proceeded to bring me a framed copy along with a poem by Hokusai. It was so beautiful I had to share it, and I have put it up for all to see in the centre.
Hokusai says look carefully.
He says pay attention, notice.
He says keep looking, stay curious.
He says there is no end to seeing
.
He says look forward to getting old.
He says keep changing,
you just get more who you really are.
He says get stuck, accept it, repeat
yourself as long as it is interesting.
He says keep doing what you love.
He says keep praying.
He says every one of us is a child,
every one of us is ancient
,
every one of us has a body.
He says every one of us is frightened.
He says every one of us has to find
a way to live with fear.
He says everything is alive —
shells, buildings, people, fish,
mountains, trees, wood is alive.
Water is alive.
Everything has its own life.
Everything lives inside us.
He says live with the world inside you.
He says it doesn’t matter if you draw,
or write books. It doesn’t matter
if you saw wood, or catch fish.
It doesn’t matter if you sit at home
and stare at the ants on your veranda
or the shadows of the trees
and grasses in your garden.
I
It matters that you care.
It matters that you feel.
It matters that you notice.
It matters that life lives through you.
Contentment is life living through you.
Joy is life living through you.
Satisfaction and strength
is life living through you.
Peace is life living through you.
He says don’t be afraid.
Don’t be afraid.
Love, feel, let life take you by the hand.
Let life live through you.
Sometimes I just have emails that make me burst out laughing, as my student Ann shared a use for her heavy yoga bag propping the door shut in the recent windy weather:
We love our sangha!! And love to hear from you.
As ever, the details are below and in the calendar – please check it!
With best wishes from Sharon and all the teachers and therapists at Dorchester Yoga and Therapy Centre
New courses in March
6 Week Baby Massage Course with Sharon Cox-Button
Developmental Circle Thursdays with Jayne James
Classes, Courses and Workshops: March
Yoga Sutras with Sarah Ryan
Winter Yin Yoga with Chrissie Haskett
Mini First Aid with Sue Fisher
OM Shanti Concert/Kirtan with Magdalena Atkinson
Rajadhiraja Yoga with Jez Culley
Saturday Soundbath with Bex Leonard
Restorative Yoga and Yoga Nidra with Sharon Cox-Button
Gong Bath with Arianna Puran Udini
Iyengar Yoga Workshop with Cheree Low
Reiki Share with Karen and Wrio
Shakti Dance with Magdalena Atkinson
The mind can go in a thousand directions,
but on this beautiful path, I walk in peace.
With each step, the wind blows.
With each step, a flower blooms.
~ Thich Nhat Hanh ~
Welcome to our March newsletter!