I’m off to a talk this afternoon (Saturday 13th May, 4pm) called ‘The Power of Mindfulness and Ethical Living, A discourse by Ajahn Sundarā’. (Ajahn means teacher). Ajahn Sundarā is the most senior nun at the Amaravati Buddhist Monastery in Hemel Hempstead.

Buddhists are celebrating ‘Vesak’ today. The full moon in May is when Buddhists celebrate the Buddha’s birth, enlightenment and death. Apparently these events all happened under a May full moon. It’s the Buddhist Christmas and Easter in one.

Loads of notice for this… The Om Yoga Show London is on in October, 13th, 14th & 15th. Yes, I know it’s ages and ages and ages away. I haven’t been since 2019 so I’m absolutely starved of the show.

I mentioned this book last week, Keeping The Breath In Mind by Ajaan Lee Dhammadharo and I have a second passage to give you this week. It’s a bit long so I’ve edited it. (The full chapter is attached, if you’re interested in more) Use the instruction after having established a breathing practice; a stable and comfortable inhalation and exhalation, a focused mind. This will also help with the focus: 

I found a gorgeous book called Keeping The Breath In Mind by Ajaan Lee Dhammadharo. I often wonder if I were a yoga teacher trainer, what would my booklist be. I think this might be on it.

Take a look. I’ve copied a little chunk

Valentine’s day had heart emojis flying around all week. No surprise that I want to write about the heart, but the angle came as a surprise. I hear of one doctor telling a patient that a resting heart rate of 100 beats per minute is ‘normal’ and I hear of another doctor telling another patient that her heart rate of 89 bpm is normal.

Happy Monday! Another weekend slips by! This weekend took my 11th anniversary of teaching with it. It was Saturday 11th February in the year of the London Olympics. It was a mid-morning class at Virgin Acton, but news was already in that Whitney Houston had died.

Did you see the planets and the stars last night? I missed the ‘planet parade’ which was after sunset, apparently, but Orion the Hunter was just above our front door! The stars assembled around Orion like a meeting. I wonder if they are gathering like Greeks Gods to plot their games with us! Anyway, still beautiful. Maybe they gathered to welcome Pelé.

Meditation isn’t all that easy when the brain is in full Catherine Wheel Mode. That’s exactly when you need meditation – when the brain won’t comply. I have all kinds of techniques to lure my brain away from the fire, to come and sit down with me and just be. My brain has all kinds of surprising ways of resisting!

I think about footballers often, not just because of the world cup! Footballers come to class, along with other types of athletes and bodies, and I’m struck at how the body responds to all kinds of decisions we make: the sports we take up, the accidents we have, the career we take up. Imbalance comes with those choices ‘as standard’! Of all the one-sided sports, football really takes the biscuit!