Our nervous systems are constantly wired – multi-tasking between family and work, mobile phones, email, twitter and facebook, the pressure of making ends meet as living costs spiral ever upwards – the pace of our lives rarely slow down. Our societycelebrates productivity and ‘doing’, rarely valuing time spent in the simplicity of just ‘being’.

While I’m not suggesting that we should completely change the way we live (though why not?), I do believe it is valuable to have a daily antidote to this onset of stressful living. From personal experience I know of no better practice than yoga and meditation – it comprehensively offers a complete set of tools to meet stress head on.

Spending just twenty or thirty minutes on a yoga mat, stretching and breathing, connecting into my body, letting go of tension and practicing the deep, beautiful art of true relaxation, can bring me back to a more grounded place, where I’m less stressed and life truly is more pleasant.

The Wisdom Found In A Breath

While many people think of yoga as just stretching and making weird shapes with your body, in reality the practices, thousands of years old, contain rich teachings which can be of immense value for us today.

For centuries yoga has explored the direct relationship between the quality of one’sbreath to the state of one’s mind. Faster, shallower breathing correlates with an agitated stressed mind, quieter slower breathing leads to a more peaceful mind.

Awareness of one’s breath is at the very heart of a quality yoga and meditation practice. Try this simple exercise – it only takes five or ten minutes:

Find a place where you can sit quietly, and allow your body to gently lengthen upwards so that you can breath easy. Close your eyes and lightly rest your awarenesson your breath, the inhale, the exhale, as you breathe through your nose. Start to listen to your breath. Gradually turn your attention just to your inhale. Be fascinatedby the inhale, its movement and feeling in the body, the depth of it. You may feel itnaturally slowing down.

After a few minutes, observe how the inhale turns to the exhale, and begin to follow this exhale – the length of it, the feeling of it. You may notice a natural lengthening of the exhale and a quiet pause, like a still point, at the very end before you inhale again. Allow your mind to turn inward. Let go and soften your face, jaw, shoulders, your belly, and your whole body. Enjoy moments of peaceful silence.

Remember, it may only take these few minutes to pause, slow down, touch stillness and be present in this very moment – to be an effective counter-balance to a stressful day.

The Yoga In Prisons fundraising event was a lovely success today – thank you to all who turned up. I truly enjoyed teaching the class , hearing the speakers, and sharing the movie The Dhamma Brothers – it was more moving the second time around! The Waiheke cinema is now interested in showing it now which is great.

We raised $1260 which will really help the trust produce yoga education materials for the prisoners they reach.

This is just a start! We’ll be doing more in the future and we’ll also let you know what is happening as things develop.

Thank you!

Peace, Neal x

I get so excited.
Things will be different.
He folded the blanket
in a way that the spine
lay in steps of release.
The art of knowing
how precious
the attention
to minute detail
can change
the point of holding,
allowing a system
built on repeated actions
to recognise
monumental
foundation
ancient
wise
yoga

by Penny Holmes

These three short baby videos brought a smile to my face again.

There is a wonderful practice in gratitude – learning to be grateful even when challenged, even when life is not flowing for us, and of course when we do feel blessed and in a good space.

The 21 Gratitudes

Try this at home: sit with a friend or partner and take turns in sharing 21 things you are grateful for in your life. Anything works, from being grateful for your partner, to being grateful for the rose you smelt earlier in the day. You can also do this practice by yourself of course – just before going to sleep is sweet. A moving way… put on some music, have a dance and move with the spirit of gratitude. Let gratefulness fill your movement, from your head to your toes. Come to rest in peaceful stillness and sit quietly reflecting on the felt sensation of gratitude in your body.

The Guest House, a poem by Rumi

This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door, laughing,
and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.

We wish you a very happy holiday season and a wonderful new year!
Neal and Sacha xx

It’s an old Catholic pilgrimage route but people of all faiths and traditions walk the route, and many walk it simply for the joy of hiking across a very beautiful country. On average it takes between 4-6 weeks to complete – plenty of time to reflect on one’s life, connect with the land and challenge my body. I met one guy who runs marathons regularly who was struggling, another who was 74 years old with prostate cancer, overtook me while carrying a 20kg pack.

The Camino became a leveller – we were all simply travelling this route together, recognizing we were sharing this amazing journey and that for most of us it was an extra ordinary time in our lives. I felt part of a tribe. Probably the biggest teaching I had from the Camino was just that.

All my life I have been taught to be better. Being exceptional was good: being in the top class at school, being the best at sports, best job, better this, better that. Our economic system depends on competition – offering something better than anybody else. In our culture, being extraordinary is celebrated.

On the Camino it was such a relief not to have to be better than anybody else. Not to have to be extraordinary, but just be me. Just walk. How good it felt simply to be ordinary with no pressure to be better. It felt like I was finally joining the human race. And perhaps all spiritual teachings worth their salt would teach something similar – that we are born equal, we are equal and to let go of any need to be extraordinary. It’s just another form of separation isn’t it?

I remember my yoga teacher Donna Farhi saying that the practice was culturally and economically subversive! One teaching from the Yoga Sutras says that cultivating contentment (being satisfied with what is), is the surest way to happiness (II,42).

Of course we are all unique – we all have something unique to offer, just as every snowflake is unique (but no snowflake claims to be better than, or more extraordinary any other snowflake!). It’s not only useful to let go of a need to be extra-unique, but it also removes a huge weight of pressure too!  I remember one story: a disciple says to the teacher, “I just want to be special”. The teacher replies, “You are special, and so is everyone else.”

Blessings and peace to you,

Neal