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Welcome
to the Summer Awakenings Newsletter which contains:
- Celebrate the Summer
- Learn to Meditate
- Interesting Stories
- Cygnus Book Excerpt - 'Happiness'
- Inspiration
Thank
you for taking the time to review this newsletter below and I hope
it brings you as much joy to read as it has brought me to
write......may the summer radiance and passion support you in everything you
do.
I
would also love to hear from you. So please send your comments,
thoughts, inspirational experiences etc. to yoga@mitashah.com.
Celebrate
the Summer
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Summer
is a special time to celebrate the returning light to awaken our inner
wisdom when the sun stands stronger, higher and longer than any other
season. It is a time for sensuality, exploration and transformation. To
explore that intimacy, we must find our relationships, to ourselves and
others. Relationships are the place for greatest challenges but also the
greatest growth as we discover parts of ourselves and connect to the Truth.
Summer
symbolizes maturity, abundance and ripening judgement when our natural
interest turns to the needs of others. Our daily life presents us with many
opportunities to act from compassion and discover the meaning of renouncing
the fruit of our action (Karma Yoga) so our highest wisdom and love can
flow.
- Practice Surya Namaskar (Sun Salutation) - a flowing series of
postures to maintain wellbeing at all levels and to allow
our spiritual light to shine.
- Practice some form of Tapas (fire/heat) which is a disciplined use of
our energy to purify and strengthen the mind. This helps towards
making choices that truly nourish our well-being and provide
opportunities for growth. So make the mind do something that is
difficult but does not harm e.g. sending love to everyone regardless
of their actions. Tapas provides inner strength to stick to the truth
and cultivates burning enthusiasm that makes compassion and
forgiveness possible.
Summer
is inviting you to radiate warmth and joy to the world and to feel the joy
in the world around you.
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Learn
to Meditate
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From
a distance, most meditations look similar; people sitting quietly doing
nothing. Behind closed eyes, almost anything could be happening: worrying,
fantasy, planning, semi-sleep, directed thought. People use the word
'meditation' to mean a variety of things, but in the yoga tradition,
meditation is beyond thinking. It is that experience where the mind is
absolutely calm and absolutely peaceful, where the mind ceases to exist.
Yogis say that meditation is an experience of oneness, an experience of
your true nature. The way to start meditating is to concentrate the mind
and this is what we learn to do through various techniques taught on the
course.
'The gift of learning to meditate is the
greatest gift you can give yourself in this life.'
-
Sogyal Rimpoche
6 week
meditation course starts 11th June. For more details click
here
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Interesting
Stories
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Testing
Vietnam's religious resolve (BBC News) 15 Mar. Thich Nhat Hanh,
a Zen master, peace activist and bestselling author, is on his second trip
back to Vietnam since 1966, when he went to the United States to call for
an end to the war in his homeland. Read
more
Are
Happiness and Compassion Learnable Skills?
Can
the practice of daily meditation actually make you a happier person?
According to Time magazine the answer appears to be "Yes." Study
results conducted on meditating Buddhist monks by Richard Davidson, a
neuroscientist at the University of Wisconsin, indicate that regular
meditation can actually change the physical structure of the brain in ways
that enhance compassion and happiness. Davidson's research has far-reaching
implications for patients with OCD and depression. According to Davidson,
"We can think of emotions, moods and states such as compassion (and
happiness) as trainable mental skills."
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Cygnus
Book Excerpt
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The
Nature of Happiness
Matthieu
Ricard
I have
come to understand that, although some people are naturally happier than
others, their happiness is still vulnerable and incomplete, and that
achieving durable happiness as a way of being is a skill. It requires
sustained effort in training the mind and developing a set of human
qualities, such as inner peace, mindfulness, and altruistic love.
The
search for happiness is not about looking at life through rose-coloured
glasses or blinding oneself to the pain and imperfections of the world. Nor
is happiness a state of exaltation to be perpetuated at all costs; it is
the purging of mental toxins, such as hatred and obsession, that literally poison
the mind. It is also about learning how to put things in perspective and
reduce the gap between appearances and reality. To that end we must acquire
a better knowledge of how the mind works and a more accurate insight into
the nature of things, for in its deepest sense, suffering is intimately
linked to a misapprehension of the nature of reality....Read more
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Inspiration
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'The
most precious gift we can offer others
is our presence.
When mindfulness
embraces those
we love, they will bloom
like flowers.'
-Thich Nhat
Hanh
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Please
feel free to forward this newsletter to anyone who may be interested.
Love
and Gratitude,
Mita
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