Thank you to all those who took part in our Yogasmiths Christmas Charity Raffle. As we discussed in class, Christmas and the start of the new year is a great opportunity to practice Karma yoga via charitable giving.
There were many prizes on offer;
The winner of our top prize, a block of 6 Yogasmiths classes and a box of After Eight mints, was Lisa Shaw from West Kirby;
We raised nearly £80 from the raffle. We have donated £100 to a local Community Interest Company that feed the local homeless. They are called Wirral’s Homeless CIC. They have a facebook page at;
If you would like to donate any money to the group they would be most grateful to receive it and they accept bank transfer of a Paypal. Wonderful local groups like this are dependant on the generosity of others.
This time of year it is natural that we feel tempted to engage with a lot of judgement with regards to the previous year and also projection in to the new year.
People talk about how “2017 was a terrible year… lets look forward to better times in 2018” or “2017 was a great year… onwards and upward in 2018”. Whilst this involves looking to the future with positivity when we come to the end of 2018 we will see the same types of comments being made. When we label a whole year as either bad or good then we are attaching an emotional response to that year.
If we step back and take a look at how this labelling and judgement of previous years makes us feel we sometimes see that maybe it is not all that great for our mental wellbeing. Any given year will be filled with highs and lows and our greatest skill is to navigate these peaks and troughs with mindfulness and a sense of ease.
In my own experience, mindfulness allows the lows of a year to not feel quite as low and likewise that the highs do not feel quite so high. This allows for an easy and smoother emotional and mental experience of life, less of a rollercoaster.
I have also felt that the practice of New Years Resolutions to be a self imposed pressure that often sets one up for failure. We can fall into the trap of making a list of resolutions which we cannot possibly keep. When we fail to keep these resolutions then we may well label that as such, as a “failure”. With mindfulness we can become more self aware and actually instigate intuitive stepped changes to our lives in a positive and healthy way at any time of the year.
If we approach the New Year as we approach any day with a sense of non-judgement and non-attachment then we can anchor our selves in the present and find peace and calm in that experience. We can embrace the sense of letting go of the old year without judgement or labelling and welcome in the new year with a sense of love and gratitude. We can welcome each new day like this, with a sense of being renewed each day.
Perhaps the best new years resolution is to be more mindful (and obviously to do more Yoga too!!)
Lets get it clear from the outset that I love the Rolling Stones and have done since my teens. Over the years as I progressed further into my yoga journey I was pleasantly surprised how often the Rolling Stones had a link to and relevance to yoga.
The yama in the lyrics
I guess the first time I started to notice this was in the lyrics to ‘You Can’t Always Get What You Want’. In the first limb of Yoga, the Yamas (codes of self restraint), there is non-greed, aparigraha. The lyric “You can’t always get what you want, but if you try some time, you just might find, you get what you need,” pretty much sums up aparigraha. If we are greedy and allow ourselves to be overcome with desire and wants then we will not sit in a happy contended place in our lives. But if you try sometime, you just might find that you have got everything you need.
Through yoga we can observe our desires and wants and begin to see with greater clarity which are “wants” and which are “needs”. It doesn’t mean that we no longer have “wants” but it allow us to contextualise these wants and not allow them to dictate our happiness. Being mindful and living in the present moment. The Zen of the Rolling Stones!
The tongue and lips logo
The next yoga coincidence occurred when I visited Exhibitionism at the Saatchi gallery in London to see all of the Stones memorabilia. There was an exhibit about the famous tongue and lips logo and how it came about. Mick had seen the lips on a picture of the Goddess Kali. See below;
Goddess Kali features in the both the Vedas and the Upanishads which are ancient yogic and Hindu texts. Clearly Mick has had an interest in this area since the sixties.
Mick Jagger and Yoga
Mick has stated a number of times in recent years that he includes Yoga in his workout regime. He has also been in the press this year talking about his new found love of aerial yoga!
Having a dig around on the internet I found a picture of Mick in Sarvangasana (Shoulder Stand Pose) from back in the early 70’s;
Mick Jagger in Shoulder Stand
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And another of him in a variation of Shoulder Stand;
Mick Jagger in Shoulder Stand
A further pic of Mick and Ronnie in Vrksasana (Tree Pose);
Mick Jagger in Tree Pose
There is also a video of Mick warming up for a tour and he does some of the same warm-ups that we teach in our classes;
So basically, Mick Jagger does Yoga, he is 74 and in amazingly good health! So do Yoga like Mick! Get the moves like Jagger….
Keith Richards and Yoga?
And lets not forget about Keith who is looking like he has reached Samadhi in a seated yoga pose with a glass of bourbon;
We want to say a big thank you to all of the lovely people who came this morning to our Yogasmiths pop-up beach yoga session!
We had a great group and it was a pleasure to be able to lead them through a yoga practice overlooking the beautiful Dee Estuary on a perfect sunny summers day.
We had a fun nautical theme to the class and the postures that we practiced.
A small forest of perfect palm trees;
We had surfing beach warriors;
Channeling our inner Kate Winslet’s and Leonardo DiCaprio’s in Titanic Warrior pose aka King of the World pose;
Here is rowing the boat / rowing Navasana;
Building up to our own individual expression of full boat pose, Navasana;
And finishing our sunny morning practice with a guided relaxation on the beach, a perfect end to the session!
Thank you to all who attended and stayed tuned to our Facebook page for further pop-up yoga sessions. Namaste Paul & Steve x
