September Mini Yoga Retreat

Did you miss the mini yoga retreat on Sunday the 20th of September? Never mind there’ll be another in October. We have a day of yoga, meditation and massage on the 3rd Sunday of the month which runs in conjunction with the free Sunday yoga class as Fradgley Hall in Burleigh Heads.

It’s hard to say what the highlight of the day is, whether it’s the shared massage at the end, the beautiful meditation led by Yadu with his velvety voice or maybe the delicious lunch cooked by his wife Monica. There’s certainly something for everyone: yoga asanas, relaxation, the chance to make new friends, eat delicious food and the opportunity to start or continue our spiritual journey.

This month’s massage was shared reflexology. A reflexology massage only involves massaging either the feet, hands or ears and because there are so many nerve endings in these places it is said to have a wonderful effect throughout the whole body. Amara led us through a simplified routine to massage the feet that was designed to be both soothing and stimulating to many other parts of the body from the pituitary gland deep within our head to the neck, liver, kidneys, digestive system and lower back. In fact after the foot massage many of us commented how we felt like we’d just had a full body massage!

So now we know how relaxing it is to get our feet massaged and also we have the ability to give this wonderful gift to a friend or family member.

namaste
Margaret

THE IMPORTANCE OF KINDNESS

Recently I read an article about how dairy cows give more milk if they have names and are known by them. Isn’t that sweet! I thought of how those cows day after day are having their milk taken from them and when they develop a relationship with the farmer and feel respected and cared for they’re happy to give more.

What a wonderful example this is of the importance of love and friendship.

There are so many lonely people in the world whose lives are grey and bleak and just a smile or a kind word from us might make all the difference to their day. But of course the highest kindness is to give them the chance to experience the transcendental yoga process which will take away that loneliness and give them the chance to be deeply peaceful, satisfied and even joyful.


The yoga process is more than just healthy exercises and focused breathing but actually becomes transcendental when we engage in yoga meditation. Yoga meditation draws our consciousness away from the troubles of this world to that place deep within each one of us, which is where we can find shelter, love and true kindness

My friends and I get together every Sunday to engage in yoga meditation at Fradgley Hall which is above the library at Burleigh Heads from 4 – 6 pm and everyone is most welcome to come along and bring a friend.

The Making of Andrew’s Amazing Yoga DVD

Ever been down to Hastings Point at 5.30 in the morning? Not something I do regularly I must admit, but a few of us assembled there last week to roll the cameras and get started on Andrew’s Stretch and Relax DVD. We had to get there really early to catch the sunrise and get a magic meditation shot. How nice the atmosphere is at that time of day! A soft hazy serenity, just right for meditation. But no time for too much of that we had to get moving on the yoga poses. Our camera men told us that after 8.00 the light becomes too bright and the colours wash out, so even though it is only an hour class we knew with all the miss–takes (ha ha mistakes) we’d be pushing it to get through in time. It all went very smoothly though; after all we were working with talent! One cameraman is an acclaimed surf photographer and the other a naturally gifted amateur and all three yogis are fantastic yoga teachers, so there wasn’t too much stopping and starting.

Hastings Point is a truly beautiful place and we were able to capture some exquisite shots of the waves and birds and dolphins as a moving backdrop to the yoga poses. A lot of people seem to know how nice this place is too because by 8 o’clock the car park was full of people who were either off fishing, exploring or simply sitting and viewing and I’m sure our little crew added to the interest of the day.

So hopefully by Christmas time we’ll have the DVD out. Watch this blog and you’ll be the first to know!!

Namaste
Margaret