SYC London Newsletter autumn-winter 2013.pub

Satyananda Yoga Centre London Newsletter Autumn/Winter 2013

Editorial Sunday the 21 July 2013 was a beauful day. The sun was shining brightly and the day was full of promise, which was certainly fulfilled. It was the day when the London Satyananda Centre celebrated Guru Poornima and a day to reflect how lucky we all are to have found our beloved Gurus. The London Centre is always special. It has Sri Swamiji Satyananda and Swami Niranjananandaji in every pore of the building and their energy is tangible. It is the place they both loved to visit on many occasions. Now to really experience them on every level all you have to do is be sll and leave your Guru channel open. And it is not to be forgo-en that Swami Satsangi visited the Centre too on her first trip out of Rikhia for many years in 2009 - UK was her first foreign country to visit and this Centre was her first stop. The day started with a Guru meditaon and gave us a chance to give thanks for Guru, followed by the channg of the Guru Stotram, Guru Paduka Stotram and some Likhit Japa. People came from far and wide to join in the celebraons and there was plenty of me for a chat, a cuppa and catch up with friends during the day. The a3ernoon started with a choice of classes and Guru TV was playing throughout the day. And what a sumptuous feast we all enjoyed! The day culminated with a powerful Havan and joyous kirtan. For this year’s Guru Poornima to be as successful as it was and to give everyone such enjoyment there was a lot that went on behind the scenes. So let us remember and thank all the karma yogis who made everything go so smoothly and above all we need to thank Swami Pragyamur for always being there and opening her doors to us all. Her personal relaonship with our Gurus has made the Centre what it is and has allowed their energy to permeate throughout. This was a wonderful Guru Poornima day in a very special year. The day always allows us to reaffirm our devoon to Guru and to give thanks for all the joy and help that we receive. We are so privileged to have found our path and our very special Guides and Gurus. All we can do is try to be the best disciple that we can be and to be worthy of our Guru’s love. We will o3en ‘fall off the perch’, (as Swami Pragyamur puts it!), but we know if we tune in to the Guru channel help is always there for us. This year is parcularly special because in October as many of us who can will head to Munger for the 50th Celebraons of Satyananda Yoga. The gathering will be crowded and cramped but we will all be together receiving the blessings of our Gurus. It will be hard work and at mes very challenging but it will also be full of joy and love and laughter. Swami Satyananda told us to look for our inner peace even in a crowd. This will give us the ideal opportunity to put his words into pracce!! Hari Om Tat Sat Swami Satvikananda

SYC London Newsletter

2

Autumn/Winter 2013

Swami Pragyamurti Around & About

7.12.13

Meditaon Course, Brockwell Park - all places for the course were booked in 2012 Meditaon Course, Brockwell Park - all places for the course were booked in 2012 Swami Pragyamur will be a-ending the World Yoga Convenon in Munger, India Meditaon Course, Brockwell Park - See above South London BWY contact Diana Currey 07833 778270 to book Meditaon Course, Brockwell Park – See above

18.1.14

Bedfordshire BWY contact Fiona Gibson

14.9.13 12.10.13 17.10.13 – 5.11.13 16.11.13 24.11.13

26-27.1.14 15-16.2.14 03.14 12.4.14 28-29.6.14

Working with the Heartspace - Residenal weekend at Thurleigh Road Working with the Heartspace - Residenal Weekend at Thurleigh Road Swami Pragyamur will be teaching in South Africa – dates to be confirmed Start of new 8 month Meditaon Course at Brockwell Park – booking open BWY London Yoga Fesval—to book email [email protected]

Please see elsewhere in the Newsle-er and the Events page for details of other Yoga Days and weekends planned for the rest of the year. Advance no ce Swami Pragyamur will be running a residenal weekend for Yoga Teachers to brush up and refresh teaching skills in Autumn 2014. The course content will depend on what topics the a-endees need and want to be covered. You will be asked for this when booking opens. Swami Pragyamur will also be running a day for those who are not teachers who would like to develop a personal sadhana. PLEASE BOOK IN YOUR DIARIES NOW GURU POORNIMA next year is on 12 July 2014. No forgeOng next year!


3

Autumn/Winter 2013

Simon Says……... This winter was cold, extremely cold. As a construcon worker, exposed to the elements, it o3en made me feel like I should have worked harder at school. MidFebruary I decided to book a trip. I wanted sun and I wanted yoga, Satyananda yoga. This inevitably led me to Swami Vedantananda’s doorstep. At Thurleigh Road, Swami Pragyamur speaks of Swami Vedantanada with great love and affecon; she is her sister from another mother. Apparently, they’re both fire sign women. I don’t know what a fire sign woman is, but if you want the quiet life you’re be-er off not marrying one of them....allegedly! I told Swami that I planned to see Vedanta in Portugal and she told me I couldn’t be vising a be-er teacher. Prior to leaving England, Swami Vedanta had texted me saying I would be met by Simon who had nice hair and a nice smile. So, I landed in Faro, armed with one piece of informaon: I had to walk around an airport terminal looking for a man with nice hair and a nice smile. This potenally problemac scenario was overcome by me bumping into fellow retreater Sandra, and then, almost immediately, the third person in our small group, Charmaine. The three of us waited for Simon at the designated meeng point, twenty minutes later he came along with hair and smile and told us we were in the wrong place. Yep, all three of us were wrong, OK Simon! We all piled into the Mercedes and headed to Monchique. Simon was great company and told us all the great things, and not so great things, about living in Portugal. The roads began to twist; the air became clearer and the views preOer. Swami Vedanta met us at the cafe in her raised 4x4 people carrier. As soon as we turned onto the dirt track to Poio do Acor, I felt the weight of city life li3ed off of my shoulders. The isolaon of Swami Vedanta’s home becomes apparent very quickly. Though only 5k from a town, the landscape is Andean in nature, and this added to a sense of solitude. Cork trees gave way to terraces, and mountains stretched out as far as you could see. All this with a dog on my lap. We arrived at Swami Vedanta’s home and we were shown to our sleeping quarters, clean and airy, you need to remember, this place gets hot. A cup of tea, the first of many, then a tour of the grounds. The washing machine really needs to be seen to be believed, it really is worth a trip in itself. The shower area I would describe as bespoke. The loos are of the long drop variety, I found them quite a nice place to reflect on life. The main house is comfortable and welcoming and you are surrounded by opportunies to indulge in Karma Yoga. Ours was a Swara Yoga course, and Swami Vedanta’s style of teaching, as many of you know, was effortless. Whilst sll exploring maturity, I do take my pracce seriously, and I feel very lucky to come into contact with teachers of this calibre. The asana, pranayama and meditaon exercises were first rate, but for me, it’s the applicaon of these techniques in real me that really strikes home and this is something Swami


4

Autumn/Winter 2013

Vedanta and Swami Pragyamur excel at. If you want to teach, this is a very handy skill to have. So, how do you acquire this skill and become, not just a yoga teacher, but a good yoga teacher. The answer came to me in Portugal. Karma Yoga! Karma yoga is, in my humble opinion, the most difficult aspect of our yoga. It can be a drain on your me, energy and resources. It can be a thankless task. You can be confronted by rudeness, selfishness, laziness, idiots, drunken idiots, homeless drunken idiots (this is through personal experience, I’m venng), and all for what? Well, I can’t believe I’m going to say this, for a spiritual awakening that’s what. Yes, its official, I’ve passed over to the dark side, true joy and contentment can be found by helping others. It’s just so difficult! All of this madness came to me whilst I was planng courge-es with Sandra. I looked around and really focused on the scope of what Vedanta is trying to achieve in Portugal. How is she finding the drive and the energy to carry out this project? Simple, she wants to provide a retreat where people can be taught the core aspects of Satyananda Yoga, and a place where exisng teachers can re-acquaint themselves with the message of the Guru. How can this be anything other than Karmic in nature! I personally think you should not be allowed to teach any kind of yoga at all unless you’ve come into contact with either Swami Vedanta or Swami Pragyamur, but that’s just me. The days flew by and we finished with a Havan, then Kirtan, even I sang. During the Havan we also found out that Swami Vedanta had previously won the ladies singles tle at Wimbledon! If you don’t believe me go to Portugal and see for yourself. A3er Havan we had yet more tea and shortbread (which I made along with some bread). Swami Vedantananda fondly remembers everyone she’s ever taught. Thanks to her (and others) yoga is now a part of who I am. I know I’m a long way off being teacher material, but if I ever get the urge I know where I’ll be going. In 1963, a man in India broke ground with hand tools and created a lasng legacy, Swami Vedantanada is following the example of her Guru and the good news is she has created an environment where one has everything one needs AND, the once in a lifeme opportunity to get your hands dirty and help create a place we can all enjoy, all in the name of Satyananda Yoga. OM OM OM Paul

Nada Yoga at Thurleigh Road Krishnadhyanam will be presenng a two month nada yoga course on Friday evenings during September and October before he leaves for India in November. For more info see his website www.krishnadhyanam.co.uk SYC London Newsletter

5

Autumn/Winter 2013

Thank you ……….. And thoughts on Karma Yoga This is a very big and hearMelt thank you for the amazing gi3s I was given when I moved away from London and stopped doing karma yoga in the office. It was so unexpected and I was completely overwhelmed. The garden vouchers were perfect for me and you were so generous……. I am sll enjoying them and planning how to spend what is le3. I have already bought 2 large pots and stuffed them with petunias while I ponder on the rest of the garden. And all the other things were so individual and lovely and the card I will keep, always. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU When I told the newsle-er karma yogini I wanted to express my thanks in the newsle-er she suggested that I write a bit about karma yoga. When I thought about it, lots of the work I did in the office was not karma yoga, it was Kripa doing admin. I remember once sending a desperately lumpy bumpy parcel off. A week or so later Atma Jyo sent one and did it beaufully and I realised that I needed to slow down and do it mindfully. I think and hope my later parcels were neater and nicer to receive. For me the acme of karma yoga was my experience of making bunng to beaufy Ba-ersea Town Hall for Swami Satsangi and all our guests. Seven karma yoginis gathered in my house. We had two sewing machines and masses of orange material and a lot of orange thread. Somehow, everyone worked out what they needed to do and simply got on with it. Two sewed all day and the rest cut and pinned and cut and pinned. It was totally focussed and completely harmonious. At roughly the same me we all felt peckish and put out the lunch we had all brought - in true SYC London style there was masses of food – then we washed up and got on with the task. Again, there was complete focus and concentraon; and again at roughly the same me every one had done enough. Everything was died away, the house was cleaned and my partner was amazed by the experience and said “well, they can come again”. And we did it all again a couple of weeks later – with similar focus and applicaon. The bunng transformed the Arts Centre, but more importantly for me the process was transformave. I don’t always manage it and someme just do admin work, but when I pracse Karma Yoga I feel the difference. I believe that good enough IS good enough, and have a tendency to be slapdash; for me, karma yoga, done with awareness and intenon to do something to the best of my ability is a formidable discipline. It is much harder than asana or meditaon pracce, and much more worthwhile. It has been a real privilege to do office work at Thurleigh Road. I have learnt so much on all kinds of levels. Thank you Swami Pragyamur for tolerang me in the office and puOng up with “Kripa doing admin” but thank you more for giving me the opportunity to pracse Karma Yoga. Om and Prem Kripa


6

Autumn/Winter 2013

Navaratri 5— 5—13 October 2013 Navaratri is a fesval in which we celebrate the feminine! We honour and nurture those qualies (in all of us,) not only of compassion, giving, loving, being recepve but also the vibrancy, strength and commitment which parents demonstrate, for example, when protecng their children. Swami Niranjanananda has suggested a group of chants which help us to connect with these energies.

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

32 names of Durga Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswa Gayatri mantras Tantroktam Devi Suktam Devi Aparodha Ksamaapana Stotram

EACH MORNING FROM Saturday 5 OCT – Sunday 13 Oct WE WILL BE CHANTING from 7.00 am – 7.30 am Words will be provided (with translaons!) No previous experience necessary!! Also we will have a channg learning session at 6.30 pm on Friday 27 September, before kirtan. You are very welcome to come and join us. (It is fine also to come simply to listen.) A learning CD will also be available. If you want to learn the 32 names of Durga at home, go to www.youtube.com/syclondon where you will find various learning audio tracks recorded by Krishnadhyanam. Hopefully more will be added soon

Shankhaprakshalana This is a wonderful pracce with many benefits. It is especially good for alleviang many digesve problems and purifying both the physical and the energy body.

Saturday 21 September 2013 9am-1pm Venue—Dulwich BOOKING ESSENTIAL Please complete the applicaon form (download from www.syclondon.com) and return to the Satyananda Yoga Centre with full payment (be sure to read the pre-pracce informaon sheet on the website) Cost is £35 for both Laghoo (short) and Poorna (full) Shankhaprakshalana pracce


7

Autumn/Winter 2013

Making Sense of our Emotions— Emotions—from a neuropsychology perspective This arcle gives a li-le more detail about the neuropsychology behind our emoonal responses that were discussed in the previous arcle in the last newsle-er. As previously discussed, our brains have evolved over many years to enable us to survive and thrive as a species. Part of this process has been to learn how to cope with the threats that may occur in everyday life (Lee & James, 2011, Gilbert 2009). If we can understand how our minds and bodies have evolved we can start to understand how the response mechanisms in our brains can be very primive and o3en automac. Our brains are complex and at mes difficult to deal with. Much of our suffering is linked to how we feel in our bodies and minds and managing our emoons and moods is not always easy. We can either do nothing and just hope that things will improve or we can work towards having a be-er understanding of the processes in our brain and managing the fluctuaons in our minds. Our brains, along with all species, have evolved (in different ways) to share the same basic funcons, to gain sufficient nutrients from our environment, to avoid threats and injuries the best we can and to form relaonships with others, parcularly for reproducon. Human beings have basic desires, feelings and needs (such as food, warmth, sex and shelter) and these basic levels of funconing have contributed to our survival as a species. These basic desires have been labelled by many Compassionate Mind therapists as “old brain” processes (Lee & James, 2011) and we share this with other animals. What has contributed to the complexity of the human brain is that our brains have evolved and formed the ability to think, to be aware that we are thinking, to think about the past and the future and to fantasise. Compassionate Mind therapists call these the “new brain” processes which work alongside the “old brain”. The “new brain” contributes to our sense of self, how we think about past, present and future. The “new brain” also influences the ways in which we think about others and the world around us, possibilies and opportunies as well as real or imagined threat. So how does the brain process real and imaginary threat? In very simple terms, the thalamus (the gatekeeper) (Lee & James 2011) filters smuli (from our senses) to the right part of the brain to be dealt with. Informaon from our external world (what is going on around us) is filtered via our 5 senses. The next process is governed by the amygdala (we have 2 of these which sit either side of the brain just behind the ear). The amygdala is the brain’s “alarm system” and nofies the thalamus (the gatekeeper) of potenal threat in our outside world and somemes from our inside world (thoughts, memories etc.). The amygdala generates feelings such as anger or anxiety to alert us to take acon (fight, flight, freeze or dissociate) to protect ourselves from the incoming threat detected by the thalamus. The hippocampus (the busy administrator) verifies the amygdala’s threat assessment by cross referencing the threat (idenfied by the thalamus and sent to the amygdala) with other memories in the brain. If it detects informaon indicang that there is no threat then it sends a message to the amygdala


8

Autumn/Winter 2013

(alarm system) that there is no actual threat and signals for it to calm down because the perceived threat is not an actual threat. However, if the hippocampus (the administrator) determines that there is an actual threat then the brain gets acvated to deal with the threat to get out of danger to keep us safe. The fourth part involved in this process is the frontal cortex (the conductor) and is part of the “new brain” which is involved with regulang our emoonal responses either by acvang the threat protecon system (flight or fight), achieving and acvang system or the soothing and contentment system. So, basically our new sophiscated brain capabilies can be directed by the moves and emoons of the primive part of our brains such as passions, desires, threats and fears. Rather than being able to manage our a-enon to control seemingly unpleasant emoons or to smulate pleasant emoons, the “old brain” drives our “new brain” towards threat-based anxiees and anger and this becomes the focus of our thinking, feeling and imaginaon. So instead of just acng and experiencing like animals and reples, we think about our experiences and feelings. For example, an animal will eat when it’s hungry and there is food around and in the next moment move on to another acvity such as sleeping. Whereas, humans may see food, eat it and then think about how many calories they have just consumed and beat themselves up for lack of selfdiscipline! So, we find ourselves with a brain that has been developed to cope with living in the jungles, to living in modern life in the city/suburbs. For the most part it is very helpful to have the capacity to think, reflect and plan, and even to worry; however, at mes this capacity can lead us to negave vicious cycles where we get caught up with our thinking, ruminang and worrying and this can be difficult to deal with. As humans, our brains can cause us all sorts of problems and mental and emoonal distress. Whilst much of this is not our fault we do have to deal with it. Thankfully our “new brain” capacies have evolved so that we have the capacity for pleasure and enjoyment, and for caring and peacefulness. We also have the capacity to become aware of what is happening in our brains and also to know that we are aware of being aware and so on! And a side effect, rather than the aim, of being aware and learning how to direct our a-enon is that it can bring about feelings of peacefulness and calmness. Learning awareness through yogic tools can help to transform how we manage these automac and conscious fluctuaons of the mind and can slowly help to break the vicious cycles. So we can start by learning awareness skills through asana, pranayama and Yoga Nidra and meditaon and other immensely helpful pracces and work towards integrang this into our everyday lives. Gilbert, P. The compassionate mind. London: Constable & Robinson, 2009; Oakland, Calif.: New Harbinger, 2010. Lee, D., & James, S. The Compassionate-Mind Guide to recovering from Trauma and PTSD. A New Harbinger Publicaons, Inc., 2011

Shanpriya


9

Autumn/Winter 2013

Meditation MOT Desa – banhas – ciitasya dharana Concentraon is the confining of the mind within a limited mental area (object of concentraon). Patanjali Sutras (111.1) She does not hear; she does not smell, neither does she taste nor see, nor experience touch; likewise, the mind ceases to imagine. She desires nothing, and like a log she does not think. Then the sages call her “yoked”/ “yukta” one who has reached “Nature”/ prakri(m apannam. Mahabharata (X111.294.16) The words of Swami Pragyamur slowly echo through the sllness of the room – “You cannot teach meditaon………..as teachers you will set the scene… allowing space for your students to start the meditaon journey”. So begins our eight-month meditaon course with Swami Pragyamur. Over the subsequent months what is slowly unfolding is the essence of meditaoncoming into Kaya Sthairyam; awareness of the breath and thoughts; the use of our voice which is key; allowing the state of witness to develop; allowing the whole being to slow down unl eventually the space between each breath and thought goes on for an eternity as the body, mind and breath have found the infinite space of the absolute consciousness and dissolve into the oneness. One is unable to teach meditaon – we have to pracce, so that our own meditaon pracces inform and guide our non-teaching of meditaon. In reality all of us will experience the meditaon pracces differently– but as teachers we can sit in Kaya Sthairyam and allow the sllness of our own being and the modulaon of our voice to allow our students to start their own meditaon journeys. In Meditaons from the Tantras, Swami Satyananda talks about acve and passive mediaon. In class we will “teach“ our students passive meditaon offering them the tools to sit in one pose for long periods of me, allowing the restless minds to sll to one-pointedness so that meditaonal experience will automacally follow. In meditaon we can fix the mind on an object, sound, breath, picture, etc., all of which helps calm the mind and allow introversion to begin. Successful passive meditaon will automacally lead to acve meditaon so that one is able to live in a perpetual meditaonal state while performing daily tasks – the list is endless – in the supermarket pushing the trolley becomes a walking mediaon; on the tube Antar Mouna – depending on how many stops you can complete the whole sequence; long haul flights lend themselves to yoga nidra; mental Nadi Shodhana driving in the car or on the tube; Ajapa Japa in meengs or long stays in hospital on the threshold of death. The course has allowed me to revisit and deepen old pracces and learn new ones in a


10

Autumn/Winter 2013

wonderful community of like-minded souls and I see the course as an MOT for meditaon and needs to be renewed annually. Stream of Life by Rabindranath Tagore The same stream of life that runs through my veins night and day runs through the world and dances in rhythmic measures. It is the same life that shoots in joy through the dust of the earth in numberless blades of grass and breaks into tumultuous waves of leaves and flowers. It is the same life that is rocked in the ocean-cradle of birth and of death, in ebb and in flow. I feel my limbs are made glorious by the touch of this world of life. And my pride is from the life-throb of ages dancing in my blood this moment. Atma Shak

Satyananda Yoga Integration Course May 2014 -June 2015 A Course for Yoga Teachers to obtain a Satyananda Yoga Teacher Qualificaon Course directors: Swami Pragyamur Saraswa and Swami Vedantananda Saraswa. The Course comprises: 2 x 2 week residenal programs which will be held in Portugal . 6 residenal weekends which will be held at Satyananda Yoga Centre, London. Timings for the weekends are 9.00 am on Saturday, finishing on Sunday 4.00pm. Applicants to the course will normally expected to have: Been consistently praccing yoga for at least six years (in the last eight years) preferably in the Satyananda style, and to be currently undertaking own daily sadhana and have been teaching yoga for at least 2 years For full details and to download the applicaon form please visit www.vedantananda.com Closing date for applicaon: November 2013


11

Autumn/Winter 2013

Nada Yoga and Breathing It is no coincidence that the act of singing is so connected with the act of breathing: “Breathe deeply and gently through every cell of the body, laugh happily, and release the head of all worries and anxie(es; and finally, breathe in the blessing of love, hope, and immortality that is flowing in the air, and you will understand the meaning of human life.” Pandit Acharya Most of us live our lives allowing our breathing to remain the unconscious process which it generally is. It is not something we have to think about very much and for many people the only me they become aware of their breath is when they are OUT of it. Just as our heart beats throughout our life without any conscious effort on our part, so our breathing connues even as we sleep - part of this amazing organism called our body which funcons for most of us in ways of which we are unaware and uninformed. Our breathing process however, presents us with a wonderful opportunity, for it is something which we can consciously influence. We can stop our breathing for a short while, we can quicken it, we can slow it down, we can take a deep breath, we can breathe lightly, we can blow out all the candles on our birthday cake in one go, we can breathe a light sigh of relief and we can pracse our heavy breathing when we desire. Our breathing therefore is capable of being both a conscious and an unconscious process, and as such is a valuable connecon with our conscious and our unconscious being. The famous Sufi leader, Hazrat Inayat Khan who was a renowned master of the music of northern India before he came to the West to spread Sufism says: When we study the science of breath the first thing we no(ce is that breath is audible; it is a word in itself, for what we call a word is only a more pronounced u6erance of breath fashioned by the mouth and tongue. In the capacity of the mouth breath becomes voice, and therefore the original condi(on of a word is breath. If we said “First was the breath”, it would be the same as saying, “In the beginning was the Word”… The act of singing makes us much more aware of our breathing, and any good singing teacher will focus at some point on the singer’s breathing. Nada Yoga, as part of our on -going sadhana (spiritual pracce), is even more dependent on improving our awareness and pracce of breathing. The Greek word psyche, meaning ‘soul’ has the same root as the word ‘psychein’


12

Autumn/Winter 2013

meaning ‘to breathe’. Also the Greek word ‘pneuma’, meaning ‘spirit’ also means ‘wind’, thus reinforcing the understanding of the body’s inmate connecon with breath, vibraon, sound and soul/spirit. Om. Krishnadhyanam Krishnadhyanam will be offering a two month nada yoga course at the Centre star(ng Friday 6 September called ‘Kundalini Rising’, this will be focusing on learning and chan(ng the fi?y Sanskrit sounds/mantras connected with the lotus petals of the chakras, as well as some vedic chan(ng and an introduc(on to dhrupad singing. See his website www.krishnadhyanam.co.uk This will be his last course this year as he will be returning to India in November. Dates: 6, 13, 20 September and 4 and 11 October Times: 7.00 – 9.00pm Cost: £50

Pranayama Sadhana with Swami Vedantananda Saraswa

Pranayama Sadhana is a six day course to develop personal pracce, experience and understanding of this important aspect of Yoga Sadhana. Over the six days the course will explore different Pranayama's, Mudras and Bandhas which will deepen personal sadhana, experience and understanding of the techniques. The course is appropriate for established praconers of Yoga and will be of great benefit to Yoga Teachers Dates: Provisionally February—April 2014 If you would like any further informaon please contact: Swami Vedantananda Saraswa www.vedantananda.com [email protected]

Newsle