Buddhist Monk Bangkok © Sadhana Yoga Pictures

Tonight Maha Shivaratri an auspicious evening for Hindus celebrate whereby any prayers that are sent will be heard. It is a time of sending out hope, sending out love and allowing our dreams to be heard in the hop they will be realised.

But to send out a prayer, to dream, to have hope we don’t need need to be believe in the divine, we don’t have to be Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Jewish. We just need to to have faith.

Many of us have faith in the divine but struggle to have faith in the Self – many of us dont have lost the sense of faith due to previous experiences of suffering, leading to loss of love for the Self, fear, hopelessness, past experiences, once we loose a sense of faith in the self then live becomes a much harder struggle

But we all need to find the strength and keep dreaming, and if those particular dreams are not realised, then the mind is a magnificent tool – it can take us anywhere in the universe and beyond, so all we need to do is dream some more.

This can be made much more easier by sing the tools we have from within, tools of calm breaths, tools of loving-kindness, tools of love from family and friends, all of which we have we just need to remember that its al there, waiting for us.

Hopefully the Yoga, Pilates and Meditation classes are providing a forum whereby we can learn way sto bring peace into the mind, love into the heart, strength into the physical body and a sense of letting go and just being into the spirit body.

A reminder that the fortnightly Yin yoga sessions (next session this Friday 24th) is a wonderful way to combine meditation, relaxation and posture work. The first monthly Yin and Yang session of the year takes place on Sunday 4th March and our monthly non-denominational guided meditation for all is Tuesday 28th which is donation based.

With loving-kindness

Sadhana
x

Passing of Knowledge Sculpture © Sadhana Yoga Pictures

Dear Yogis and Pilates Friends

Happy New Year

I wrote this email  new years day whilst sat on the beach sipping a large coffee and enjoying the last few hours of my wonderful trip in Thailand and Singapore.  On New Years Day I visited the Botanical Gardens in Singapore and came across the “Passing of Knowledge” sculpture by Victor Tan Wee Tar.

The sculpture is his  interpretation  about the relationships we have passing  and receiving knowledge from  teacher to student, in this instance passing water from parent to child.

I have always wanted to pass my knowledge of Yoga essentially Jnana Yoga (Yoga of Knowledge) through the gifts of  love in the form of speech, physical movement, breath and feeling.

However in order for that knowledge to be received it must be offered to that student whose heart is open and whose mind is full of curiosity and eagerness to learn – as for me a teacher can only be a guide, the rest is within the student; to experience, to absorb and thereby comprehend to make it  their own.

The  sculpture reminded me of how blessed I am to be seeing in yet another year of sharing the joys and beauty of breath and movement in Yoga/Pilates with such a wonderful group of students/friends  especially at a time whereby the start of a New Year  can also fill us with anticipation, expectation, hope and curiosity.

Many of us anticipate a year of fulfilment, expect to not make the same mistakes as we did in the years past – how? Well, im going to try to start with the 4 way test, a philosophy embraced by  Rotarians and the inspiration for Victor Tan Wee Tar’s  ‘Passing of Knowledge’ sculpture :

The 4-Way Test:

Of the things we think, say or do

1. Is it the truth?

2. Is it fair to all concerned?

3. Will it build goodwill and better friendships?

4. Will it be beneficial to all concerned?

I’ll let you know how I get on …

Although its been a wonderful holiday I realise that im a lucky lady to be able to say I have the best ‘job’ in the world, see you in class

With loving-kindness

Passing of Knowledge Sculpture © Sadhana Yoga Pictures

Sadhana x

sadhana ali © Sadhana Yoga Pictures

Dear Yogis and Pilates Friends

With sincerity and love thank you to all the beautiful Yogis and Pilates friends whom I have had the pleasure of sharing my teachings with. This is my last newsletter of 2011 and I am most grateful for your support, kindness and inspiration you have shown me over the year. It has been a wonderful 2011 , I have had the pleasure of working with a wide array of students in classes and at my home , we had another beautiful wonderful Yoga/Pilates retreat in Cumbria, and a warm thank you to all for helping to raise over £1300 that was donated to SAFA – Salford Action for Autism Thank You.

charity day yoga day © Sadhana Yoga Pictures

These wonderful moments of loving kindness is even more apparent at this time of the year whereby practising principles of Yoga of sharing kindness, compassion and love can be the toughest thing to embrace.

Christmas is meant to be a time of joy and happiness for all – yet we place extra demands on ourselves which is exasperated by the Ego’s suffering state to need, to desire, to expect; these guests like to enter the Self.

These states of suffering demand attention and when they are not fed they get louder making us feel the pain of guilt, of letting ourselves and others down. Its not easy to find acceptance followed thereby with peace, but next time you make your list of things to do and to buy, try and pause for a moment with a breath in and out and ask yourselves ‘is it necessary, is it kind, will it enhance my state of suffering?’ Can we simply help loved ones and strangers with a smile, a helping hand, a prayer, surely this is the festive season is all about – tidings of joy and peace? ….

I want to say a warm congratulations to all my new mums from the pre natal classes, I hope you have a wonderful first Christmas with your little ones.

All classes will re-start Wednesday January 11th, have a peaceful loving New Year

Sadhana x

Charity Yoga Day © Sadhana Yoga Pictures

Since the start of Sadhana Yoga we have held annual Charity Yoga Days  to raise money for different causes.

Thanks to your   generosity and kindness we have raised over £5300 to raise funds for   the Renal Unit at Salford Royal Hospital  (2007) and the British Heart    Foundation (2008), and last year to Menieres Society.

This years Charity Yoga Day took place on 24th September to raise funds for Salford Autism Support Group    (SAFA)
http://www.salford-action-for-autism.com.

It was a wonderful day and a huge thank you to the cake bakers, face painters, raffle prize donaters, volunteers,  Henna Artist Rina, My wonderful mum for her delicous samosas and all the Yogis who bravely took part in completing 108 sun salutations.  Total raised over £1300

Charity Day Poster

Poster Charity Day Information

Charity Yoga Day © Sadhana Yoga Pictures

Yoga is much more than the breath and body (Hatha Yoga principles) -    Charity Yoga days are another form of Yoga; Karma Yoga – which aim to    help others with no expectation of reward.

Ramadan is the month in which the Islamic  Holy book the Quoran was sent down to help us live a better way of life.  During the fasting month of Ramadan  we abstain from drinking, eating and no naughty business during the hours of sunlight (from 3.30am till 9pm approx)

Yes of course its difficult especially as life has to carry on as normal., with children, work , teaching Yoga/Pilates. The physical demands of balancing life during this month is tough as we are fatigued, and sleep deprived, we are dehydrated and yes a little grumpy.

© Sadhana Yoga Pictures

Words such as fasting and abstaining offer a somewhat negative connotation towards the month of Ramadan, it assumes that in order to gain we need to give up.

However, we do it as a choice, I do it as a way to express my gratitude rather than
a sacrifice.

Ramadan  its not what we give up  rather what  we gain .

For me its a wonderful time to read and pray, to think a little less about the belly but be grateful to have been blessed to provide myself with the means to feed myself and think about those who do not have. 

It is  a wonderful time when the senses slow down so the body and  mind are calmer, and we can practice patience, contemplation and sincerity.

Of course we don’t need to have a belief in the Divine to be grateful but today rather than asking for something we need,  be grateful for what we have. 

Life became a little crazy for me this year swaying me off my path, and I resisted that change, in fact ignorance of my here and now and anger took over and lead me to dwell in the violent sorrows of being unkind to myself.

My fractured cankle © Sadhana Yoga Pictures

Even though I had a bag full of armour to help me life my live from Yoga practices, meditations and having my faith but I lost faith in the Self. Fear crippled my being and made me scared to stop and listen, so I kept running (literally) until I had an accident so I was forced to sit, be still and hardest of them all to be patient and start to listen

The aural sense is the most powerful sense of them all, and I was listening to what I wanted to hear rather than listening to whats really going on

so I took time out, I read, I prayed , I practised meditation and breathing and my wonderful students helped me enormously with allowing me to teach (via a chair) and slowly, with a a lot of patience and love ill get back to being in my new-found reality.

I tweeted the other day (@sadhanaali) that when the path needs to change, choose another, dont resist that change because the goal in life remains the same…to be at peace and to be content

I am eternally grateful to be given the opportunity to share Yoga with you all, in my meditation, pre natal, Pilates and Yoga classes and many of you send me wonderful and sad mails about your paths and the obstacles that shift of off gear, but thats ok too, to take a step back now and again, assess and then get back onto that path or choose another. We can do it on our own but if loving kindness can hold our hands then it makes it a little easier to breathe in …and breathe out

Yoga is breath , we breathe in and we try to breathe out

yoga is a way of life

yoga is trying to b e kind to the self to be kind to others

yoga for some is a way to find the stillness

yoga is love

yoga is kindness

yoga for many is finding the time and patience to accept

yoga for others is a way to clear the mind to breathe and embrace the divine

YOGA IS NOT A CULT/A RELGION/IT IS NOT FEAR

so why do some (a minority) of people assume its a way to distract the mind and embrace the darkness

each year I hold an annual charity yoga day and this years charity was for a wonderful organisation called The Windsor drop-in centre is a collaborative project jointly run by MCM and Salford Loaves and Fishes, to help the homeless in Salford

however, I was told today that the MCM’s committee (Manchester City Mission) DO NOT allow Yoga to be part of their structure

I am a Muslim, a British born Bangladeshi yoga teacher who has faith and love in God. From my readings and teachings I understand that God is God and God has created us all as one and his divinity shines within. My practice of Yoga (which I first came across when I was 8 years old, 1982 in Bangladesh from my beloved Nanajii) was about being kind, having love for the self and others and trying to be a good human-being so that we can embrace God.

Why then do a small minority of people especially those with faith believe that Yoga is otherwise…

Why then do these small minority of people think that we are out to brainwash others by turning them into something other than themselves?

Part of the practice of Yoga is known as Karma Yoga…loosely translated as helping others with no expectation of reward..hence the charity Yoga day

Over the past 3 years I have held annual charity yoga days for various organisations from British Heart Foundation, to Hope Hospitals Renal Unit to Menieres disease and with the help and kindness of people in and around Salford and Manchester we have raised over £4000. How – with sponsored sun salutations, raffles, wonderful days whereby all body’s and every body have taken part to help others because they are kind and selfless beings whether tor not they have faith in the God but they have faith, strength and love in themselves and others

so why am I now being told that we cannot carry on this incredible work to help raise money for the homeless charity in Salford

I know there are many other charities out there who need the help to raise funds and awareness for their great causes but it has angered but more so saddened me but not surprised me that there remains this small minority of people who cannot see beyond their world of black and white

What is the answer to this sad situation.. I carry on with the belief that its al small minority of people who are scared but I do not judge, I dont not hold the anger towards them but I carry on with love, hope and faith in Yoga but more so love and faith in God that I do what I do and breathe in but remember to breathe out

Charity Yoga Days Press Releases

• Giant Yoga Day with oxfam Spring 2011 Manchester Evening News
• 2009 Charity Day The Menieres Society

• £1400 raised for British Heart Foundation

• £1636 raised for Hope Hospital’s Renal Unit Salford Advertiser

• Press Article in Manchester Evening News.

© Sadhana Yoga Pictures - Giant Yoga Day

Charity Yoga Day 2009

© Sadhana Yoga Pictures

I spoke to one of my students turned Yoga Teacher today and she mentioned that she doesn’t understand the philosophy of Yog. She prefers to play it safe and teach posture with some breathing, theres nothing at all wrong or right in that, thats her path she has chosen to follow and like all paths there twists and turns, challenges but we shouldn’t try to ‘play it safe’ either.

Take a risk, make mistakes, let yourself fall, don’t control but you need to pick yourself up.

You pick yourself up with looking back and learning not regretting, looking back and saying I accept rather than what if, looking back and knowing that if it was a wrong or bad deed did you act with no malice nor a will of violence?

but why oh why is it so hard to look back and think thats ok, it happened, and then we move on…because ego, will , intellect, and knowledge can be our friends but when they are led with control and desire, greed and need then ego, will, intellect and knowledge can be all consuming, and thats where we need to exhale and pick up and start again

we are here until our last breath has been completed yet ego and misjudgement can bring harm and dissatisfaction into our lives. We grasp with expectation and no hope, and we look back and dwell in the what ifs.

So what do we do, we look back and smile, realise that as long as there was no malice behind the act, then we learn and move on, we ground ourselves with nature , with love, with the Divine and most importantly with the Self, and then we take a step forward, we take a risk but we walk tall…

… and open our hearts and let love in

oh and listen to Oasis….bloody marvellous Mancs

 …stop crying your heart out

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVq-MU7ojVY

© Sadhana Yoga Pictures

I ve been thinking a lot about what Hope is, what it means to us, does it fill our hearts with a sense of excitement, wonder and curiosity or is does it bring desire, expectation and the potential to fall down, or option C, all of the above?

As humans we have needs, primal needs, fuelled by the urgency to feel, to attain, but why do we find it hard to just accept? Accept that maybe this is how it is and theres nothing much we can do about it? Why when things go wrong do we feel guilt, dwell in the what ifs, and find it hard to therefore let go? Why do we try to control things that are just out of our control, find it hard to be patient, to change paths?

As always I have no answers, but lots of questions that remain unanswered but thats ok too. From a Yoga point of view once we have tended to the body (Hatha Yog), we then start with the mind, the mind needs to be fed with knowledge (Jnana Yog), knowledge acquired through living and making mistakes.

a friend of mine sent me the following

a successful business man was asked the secret of his success. He said ‘making good decisions’ when asked how he made good decisions he said ‘experience’ and how did he get his experience ‘by making bad decisions’.

Dont be a slave to attachment and desire, subdue the Ego and take hold of the senses, dont control but guide them through wonders of lifes joys and sorrows and take a moment to be at one with the breath.

Sunset @ Cox Bazaar Bangladesh ©SadhanaYoga

 

For me I cannot explain what Allah is; In Bradaranyaka Upanishad, when Yajnavalkya was questioned by his students to describe God, he could only say, “It is not this and it is not that” (neti, neti, neti).

Allah is the creator, without which we would not be here, he is in my heart, he is my soul, without him I do not exist.

He is without form, colourless, characterless and formless, my Universal Spirit is omnipresent and omnipotent and like cosmic energy and indescribable. For a Muslim to even try to imagine what Allah looks like is unimaginable yet unnecessary, as is formless but he exists.

We fear him and love him. I know that when I perform my prayers, my meditation, reading my scriptures, when I talk to Allah he is there, guiding me in my journey and even when I do wrong I know that he will forgive as long as I learn from my mistakes. As with Patanjali’s Yamas and Niyamas, or Buddhas Four Noble Truths we also have our ethics and codes of practice that we try to adhere to and it is hard at times, but knowing that Allah is in our heart makes can make it easier – as we have seen above, due to kleshas (obstacles) such as avidya (ignorance), asmita (ego) etc that can cloud our judgements and lead us to sway ‘ off the path’.

Therefore, we follow 5 basic principles of Islam

1. Believe in the oneness of God
2. Perform daily prayers
3. Fast during Ramadan
4. Almsgiving
5. Pilgrim to Mecca.

 This will lead us to our path of peace on this life and the next.

As Muslims we believe in the Atman and after death the soul passes on.

 He who knows the Bliss of The Divine, whence words together with the mind turn away, unable to reach It? He is not afraid of anything whatsoever. He does not distress himself with the thought: “Why did I not do what is good? Why did I do what is evil?”. Whosoever knows this regards both these as Atman; indeed he cherishes both these as Atman. Such, indeed, is the Upanishad, the secret knowledge of The Divine.