“Do not speak unless you can improve the silence..” Buddhist Saying

Yesterday was Armistice Day 11/11/11 and I along with many others, chose to mark the eleventh hour in silence. I was seeing a woman  in her hospital bed at the time – as part of my work with Friends of the Beatson-  and with her agreement, we both sat in quiet contemplation at 11 o’clock, each of us remembering in our own private way. Hospitals are not the quietest of places but let me tell you, those two minutes seemed to become the noisiest two hospital minutes in history! There were vacuum cleaners, other patients chatting, IV pumps alarming, buzzers going off, doors banging, phones ringing, nurses shouting…Of course, hospitals cannot choose to observe an official silence. The needs of patients go on no matter the hour or the date, so it was understandable. It also helped me to understand why so many patients come to see me because they can’t sleep – I tend to advise earplugs along with the breathing and meditation - but it led me to thinking about the nature of silence. 

 Like 11 o’clock on the 11th day of the 11th month, we hold moments of silence as special times, to honour a particular memory or to offer a prayer or moment’s contemplation. But moments of silence can be rare throughout the rest of our lives. Human beings don’t seem particularly comfortable with silence and we fill our lives with noise, often switching on a radio or television at home simply to be a noise in the background. Silence is so unusual that even in official one or two minute silences, you often continue to hear a faint ripple of voices in the backround. 

Nowadays it is so easy to fill every waking moment with sound from TV, radio, MP3s and conversation on our mobile phones, it seems there are very few places to sit and be quiet. No wonder so many people seek out silence in yoga and meditation. Even yoga classes are not immune from noise though! My current Glasgow location is opposite a busy petrol station, which has a supermarket and, noisiest of all, a bottle bank! You can almost set your watch by the person who comes to smash their week’s worth of empties just as we are about to start relaxation! 

What is so great about Yoga however is that with regular practice, the noise can become unimportant. Yes, it is wonderful to practice yoga or meditation in a quiet place but when you live in a city, this isn’t always possible. Even in the countryside, where the noises are less urban, it can still be a pretty noisy place – my meditation is often accompanied by the sound of a bulldozer v oyster catcher soundtrack.  I remember when I was doing my first teacher training in India and they taught us that we should and would be able to meditate just about anywhere. Peaceful and beautiful as it was, the Ashram was surrounded on the outside by all of the unique sounds of India: including tinny temple loudspeakers and the hum of auto rickshaw engines to add to the more harmonious sound of birds and monkeys. For good measure, there was also a safari park nearby and the roaring of the park lions just added to the cacophony. 

 They were right. After a month of yoga and meditation, the noise became irrelevant. 

When we invite the body and the mind to become still we can begin to allow whatever is around us that we would otherwise consider to be distracting, to simply be, without wanting or needing it to be different. Through yoga and meditation we can touch the stillness of knowing inner silence. And what is even better – we can begin to carry this inner silence over into our noisy lives!

Not my usual kind of post but why not? This is one of my most favourite Indian dahl recipes with a little chilli kick to keep the digestive fires burning. Lentils are extremely nutritious (especially for veggies) and the addition of sweet potato makes this a warming and substantial Autumn/winter recipe.

Spinach and Sweet Potato Dahl

Suitable for vegetarians and vegans.

Ingredients (to serve two)

• 100g red lentils
• 450ml vegetable stock
• 1 small onion  grated or finely chopped
• 2 tomatoes  chopped
• ½ tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 1 red chilli , finely chopped ( or a sprinkling of dried chilli flakes)
• 1 large sweet potato cut into small pieces
• 2 handfuls young leaf spinach , shredded

Method (couldn’t be easier)

1. Put all the ingredients except the sweet potato and  spinach in a pan, bring to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes. Add the sweet potato and cook until tender, another 10-12 minutes. Stir in the spinach and cook for a minute until wilted.
2. Serve with naan bread, basmati rice or chappatis

YUM!

Attractive, clean and affordable space in Glasgow for your classes or workshops

New Centre for Movement and Wellbeing

Glasgow Charing Cross area Starting Jan 2012

Opening in the New Year 2012, I am setting up an attractive, accessible and environmentally conscious studio space for Movement & Wellbeing activities: Yoga, Tai Chi, Dance, Pilates, Body Work, and Complementary Therapies etc. The new centre will be a social enterprise, with the aim of promoting holistic movement activities to adults as options for achieving or maintaining physical, mental and emotional wellbeing. This will include actively engaging with adults with additional health needs. The idea is still in development but I am keen to engage now with teachers and practitioners who may be interested in getting involved. As well as a change of venue, there will be a change of name and a new image.

I am looking for highly skilled self-employed practitioners with lots of passion and integrity who would like to use the centre as a base for their activities. Rates will be on a sliding scale, but reasonable and in line with other venues. You will be getting a space which is entirely devoted to movement and wellbeing. No more dusty halls! Because this is a social enterprise – you will also be contributing to a business with meaning. There will be opportunities to get involved with a range of evolving projects as the idea develops.

The Centre is a top floor studio situated close to the Mitchell Library. It has security door entry, disabled access and a lift. I am in the process of installing high – impact cushioned flooring which will make it more suitable for higher impact activities, including dance and martial arts. The room itself is large ( approx 60 sq M) bright, airy and with large south facing windows, making the most of natural daylight. There are changing and toilet facilities for men and women. The centre is on a number of main bus routes and is a five minute walk from Charing Cross Station. There is on street parking which is metered during the day and free after 6 pm. (There is disabled car parking available to the rear of the building where the disabled access is) Secure paid car parking is also available nearby. There are a number of shops, cafes and sandwich bars within the immediate area.

 If you think you might be interested in using the space for your classes or workshops please get in touch. Please also feel free to pass this message on to other teachers or practitioners who may be interested.

Well… here we are in October. My blogging resolution yet to properly kick in. What can I say? It has been a busy few weeks with the Autumn Equinox Workshop and Healing Space course.

I had the pleasure this week of catching up with an old friend whom I haven’t seen for 4 years ( how could it be?) However, as is the way with old friends, easy and familiar conversation took over within the space of minutes. We also laughed. A lot.  Talking about was how much we both enjoy our work, he spoke with joy about how much fun he had been having on recent projects. Someone in the industry had criticised him, suggesting that having fun somehow meant that he either wasn’t very good at it  or wasn’t very successful. The assumption, I suppose being, that to be successful one has to take your work, or yourself, seriously.

Now, this friend just happens to be an award winning filmmaker, so I think we can assume that somewhere along the line he has done something right? And perhaps  the fun and the laughter  is one of those things he’s doing right. His films deal with serious topics  and yet he finds time in the process to allow himself and his actors the time to laugh. It is not a deliberate policy, simply an intuitive understanding of, and belief in the power of laughter to provide connection and release. 

Yogis can take themselves seriously sometimes too. Well- quite a lot actually. Whilst it can be great to find a place of sombre contemplation in yoga class, laughter can be a necessary antidote to taking  the route to enlightenment just a wee bit to seriously. Writing a Yoga blog, it can be difficult to write my way out of the serious yogi corner  (on that note, watch this space for some big changes afoot! ) but  I love it when yogis can laugh at themselves.  That is not to say that they don’t take their practice seriously, but they find space for a little irreverence.

So, if you find yourself  taking your Yoga a bit too seriously… check out  Yogadawg’s My Third Eye Itches for a good laugh at all things yoga, including a blog with  links to Doga Magazine for dogs, and a link to a video about how to fart in class- v. funny! And if you have any Yoga humour or funny Yoga stories to share, let me know and we will publish in a regular Laugh at Yoga feature. As I say, changes coming.

Without impermanence, nothing would be possible. With impermanence, every door is open for change.

 This week – 19 -23 September- is Social Media Week. A series of events across the globe have been scheduled to celebrate and share the diverse delights and benefits of this ever evolving online world.  Blog Off – an event yesterday in Glasgow saw a number of regular, experienced and rookie bloggers – including me – come together in a fantastically burlesque  (if rather noisy) bar in the city centre for a day of tips, insights and information.

Light bulb moments were few, but I did come away with some really good information and knowledge, including the importance of linking to social networking tools like Facebook and Twitter, to drive traffic to your blog.

Thing is… you may remember a wee while ago that I blogged about removing myself from Facebook?  What, at the time felt like a passionate and principled stand, turned out to be a veiled fit of pique and somewhat counterproductive. I just got fed up having to wade through what I felt was “nonsense” ( games, surveys etc.) to get to the more interesting or personal posts. Of course, you seasoned social networkers will know there are ways to filter these things and I now understand better the benefits and the pitfalls of using social media. Problem is, when you’ve made what you thought was a noble and principled stand, it can be rather difficult to do a u-turn and change your mind.

This led me to thinking about how difficult it is in general to change our minds about things. Perhaps in our media fuelled blame hungry culture we have come to fear what might be perceived as failure, making mistakes or getting it wrong. It is even more difficult when you have declared a particular stance on something, or where your change of mind 0r heart leads to a potentially life-altering decision. OK, so my Facebook u-turn is a perhaps a somewhat trivial example, but it illustrates my point which is that things do change, and along with them, ideas, opinions, hearts and minds.

There is a Buddhist perspective on change which is that it is really the only certainty. Nothing stands still. If we try to stand still in the face of this impermanence, then this inevitably leads to suffering.

 “Nothing remains the same for two consecutive moments…” says Thich Nhat Hahn  

 “Heraclitus said we can never bathe twice in the same river. Confucius, while looking at a stream, said, “It is always flowing, day and night.” The Buddha implored us not just to talk about impermanence, but to use it as an instrument to help us penetrate deeply into reality and obtain liberating insight. We may be tempted to say that because things are impermanent, there is suffering. But the Buddha encouraged us to look again. Without impermanence, life is not possible. How can we transform our suffering if things are not impermanent? How can our daughter grow up into a beautiful young lady? How can the situation in the world improve? We need impermanence for social justice and for hope.

“If you suffer, it is not because things are impermanent. It is because you believe things are permanent. When a flower dies, you don’t suffer much, because you understand that flowers are impermanent. But you cannot accept the impermanence of your beloved one, and you suffer deeply when she passes away.
If you look deeply into impermanence, you will do your best to make her happy right now. Aware of impermanence, you become positive, loving and wise. Impermanence is good news. Without impermanence, nothing would be possible. With impermanence, every door is open for change. Impermanence is an instrument for our liberation.”

…Another one slams in your face! – isn’t that the way the joke goes?  It’s funny but it does prey on negative thinking. Of course the original saying is about other doors opening. This embraces the natural sense of balance in things. Clouds with silver linings and so on.

Having said that – I have had one of those weeks, which we all encounter from time to time. A period of of almost constantly meeting obstacles, blockages, hurdles and doors slamming in faces, or so it would seem. Achieving things has seemed very difficult in the face of these obstacles. And it can be difficult to know what to do. Turn and walk away or keep going with headlong tenacity?

As with everything, I find the answer in Yoga.

Of course, it is just my perception that there is some sort of pattern in these obstacles. Just as we sometimes see patterns in a run of bad luck. The truth is, the world doesn’t work like that. The frustration of meeting an obstacle can spill over into the perception of other events so that it may seem as though the whole world is conspiring to thwart you. But perpetuating this mindset can sometimes bring about the very conditions that we anticipate.

In Yoga, obstacles are considered to be a natural and predictable part of the inner journey towards self-knowledge.

In the Yoga Sutra Patanjali says:

1:30 There are nine obstacles to self-knowledge which disrupt and scatter the mind -

They are disease, dullness, doubt, negligence, laziness, dissipation due to excess craving, delusion, lack of concentration necessary to achieve higher consciousness, and instability

1:31 Accompanying these distractions are suffering, frustration and restlessness, and disturbed inhalation and exhalation

1:32 In order to prevent these obstacles from arising you should habituate yourself to meditation upon a single principle

1:33 By cultivating attitudes or friendliness towards happiness, compassion towards suffering, delight towards virtue, and equanimity towards vice, thoughts become purified, and the obstacles to self knowledge are lessened.

So the answer? Breathe. Stay focused. Practice non-attachment. Be compassionate.  

In other words, practice Yoga.

Those of you who stray onto this blog will know about my love/hate/love relationship with technology. I do like a gadget and the latest techie toys cause more than a flicker of desire. But, as a lover of all things green I know that I should try to reuse and then recycle wherever possible. So, even if  I could afford to buy these shiny new things, I would try and curb my gadget loving tendencies and think about what I really need rather than what catches my magpie eye!

 Oh but it’s  not easy though is it? We are surrounded by stuff and bombarded with advertising and forced, sometimes to buy new things because of “progress” and the built-in obsolescence of consumer goods. When your vacuum stops vacuuming – you’ve got to get a new one. We can blame greed or rampant consumerism or whatever, but I think it’s much simpler than that. I think things promise us happiness. We all know the false reality of this promise, but we buy into it because that’s the culture we live in. New clothes, new car, new house, new bank account, new mobile phone, new wallpaper, new TV, new Yoga mat…

The Digital switchover which happened last week  brought this into sharper focus for me when we were suddenly left without a TV signal – clinging as we were to the last days of analogue!  You see, one of the things we have resolutely continued to use  is our old telly. Well – someone else’s old telly (gotta love Freecycle) Then the screen went blank. We paused to enjoy the silence and then a Freeview box was hurriedly acquired ( Freecycle comes to the rescue again) and normal service resumed.

Televisions and digital set top boxes are freely available at the moment as most people seem to be getting themselves new flat screen, HD ready, digital TVs.  So we’re OK for televisions for a wee while longer. Our “old style” TV (as the big tellies are now known) works perfectly well and when it stops working we have another in reserve. We are grateful to those people on Freecycle who did the right thing and allow someone to reuse their TVs before they were forced to take them to the recycling centre.  I was quite shocked today when I took my recycling to our local centre and saw skips and skips full of electronic equipment and lots of tellies, most of which looked OK to me.  One enterprising soul was having a good old rake for goodies – although our beloved health and safety don’t really allow it!

 Did you know that in Britain we throw away over 1 Million tonnes of electronic equipment every year? That’s a heck of a lot of stuff!  The WEEE directive requires this all to be recycled now and there are companies who strip out old televisions and computers and recycle the various raw materials – copper, glass, etc. The glass, which can’t be used for anything else, goes to make more televisions…

…Must be good for the planet – right?

 Despite measures to recycle, across the globe thousands of tonnes of discarded electronic equipment and their components find there way into landfill and waste dumps. The pollutants that are released from these products find their way from the land environment and into the marine environment, so that at the top of the food chain animals such as seals can have contamination levels millions of times higher than the water in which they live. And polar bears, which feed on seals, can have contamination levels up to 3 billion times higher than their environment (source: WWF)

Some of you may have caught the Channel 4 programme Inside Nature’s Giants, about Polar Bears?  Amongst the many environmental threats that face Polar bears is the huge amount of toxic pollution that they are ingesting, causing wide ranging physiological issues to an already threatened species. And a big source of the pollutants the scientists are finding? Waste electronics.

 Be proud to reuse old stuff. To hell with fashion.  And when the digital police come round to your house – declare that your TV’s not OLD it’s RETRO!

For those of you interested – here is an update on our blue-tits in the camera nestbox that Graeme installed for us.

Six eggs hatched. Five chicks made the distance. They have grown incredibly quickly and are now crammed into the nest –  clambering on top of one another and exercising their wings. They are also very noisy! At first just cheaping but now making the  characteristic blue-tit chatter.  We reckon they  should fledge any day now. Fingers crossed for a smooth first flight!

“Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather.” – John Ruskin

Back in August 2009 I blogged about the gift of rain, exploring how and why we think about weather as good or bad.  It is  commonly revisited theme, because rain is a fixture in the Scottish climate.  And this week, almost everyone, including me, has been  commenting on the seemingly endless rain here in Scotland over the past month. The wettest May on record apparently. And if you happen to live in the South of England – the driest! When the sunshine made a welcome reappearance this morning, everyone donned their sandals and shorts happily, but in wary anticipation of  the next downpour.

It can be easy to get down about the weather, wishing that our climate was more friendly to our  summer clothes. We hope and wish and pray for a good summer, a better June, a warmer weekend.  Of course, this is never guaranteed! We live in a temperate climate – and  free from the real extremes of heat and cold. We enjoy fertile soil and abdundant vegetation, and yes -  the odd midge -but in many ways we are extremely fortunate.

So, this week in class  I have been  inviting students to give thanks for the element of water and the many gifts and blessings of rain. It has raised a few smiles but its purpose was to allow space to see how we can look at things from a perspective of acceptance and gratitude. We just have to look around at the lush and abundant greenery to see how we are truly blessed by rain in our corner of the world.

May the blessing of the rain be on you—
the soft sweet rain.
May it fall upon your spirit
so that all the little flowers may spring up,
and shed their sweetness on the air.
May the blessing of the great rains be on you,
may they beat upon your spirit
and wash it fair and clean,
and leave there many a shining pool
where the blue of heaven shines,
and sometimes a star.

Celtic Blessing

At the risk of going all “Springwatch” on you – I just love this time of year! I love the energy and life force of Springtime and this year I have been indulging in two very simple but life affirming pastimes.

If you have never tried to grow anything from seed, I really urge you to try it even if it’s just some cress seeds. I have been delighting over the past week or so, in the emerging herb and vegetable seedlings in my greenhouse. Some have burst through the soil and look chubby, robust and “ready”. Others  have poked their way to the surface more hesitantly. Some haven’t made it at all. But what has surprised and delighted me  is the sheer, simple pleasure  I have found in the process of planting and growing. A tiny seed is full of the most incredible potential and to see it spring to life is a a thrilling moment of sharing in nature’s simple magic.

The other simple pleasure of the moment is watching a resident blue-tit build a nest in our nest box. Graeme has installed a bird-box camera linked to the portable telly in our kitchen and so we have been able to watch the bird from its first few tentative flurries to peck at the interior of the box, to spending endless hours furnishing it with moss and grass and finally,  giving it a warm and soft layer of its own feathers. I await the eggs with impatient and childlike delight!

Nature can be the biggest source of delight and wonder and a way of engaging in life’s simple pleasures.

I’d love to hear about yours. Feel free to leave comments!