Penny Mckay

The practice of non attachment is a key part of Buddhist philosophy. If we are able to see through the veil that is this existance, this “reality”, then we will see that non of it is real and that non of it really matters. What does matter, though, is our level of awareness while we function in this so called reality. It is the ultimate paradox.

So how do we remain aware, vital, joyous and “committed” about living a full and purposeful life?

And how can we begin to understand what it means to do this in a way that is ”non attached”? 

Just recently I have been asking, to be shown ways in which I could understand this paradox in a real way. Or should I correct myself in that I wanted to be shown in ways that I could more easily relate to and share with others.

It was interesting that the first insight in to ”commitment versus non attachment” that I was shown, came when my cat appeared in my lounge with a shrew in its mouth. I had my usual reaction of freaking out, shrieking and generally waving my arms in a shooing motion to scare the cat back out of the patio doors. She did go and promptly dropped the shrew in the middle of the back lawn. There it pretended to be dead. So I decided to sit in, on the vigil with my cat and the shrew and the longer I sat, the more I got in the moment and the more I got in the moment, the more I began to see the commitment my cat had to its prey. It was a waiting game and the shrew took its time. Eventually, it did begin to move, little by little,  though cautiously at first. My cat also took her time and watched and waited, fully committed to watching and waiting. It was brilliant to witness and it lead me to consider how can the predator be attached to the prey, for they have to eat it for survival! The predator fully commits to the process of catching the prey in the knowledge, of the outcome, it will be eaten. (Only not on this occasion because as soon as he was able I popped the shrew under the shed, out of harms way! ) Was my cat bothered? Did she sulk? Did she have a hissy fit and give up? No. Committed but not attached.

Then my mind began to move in other ways.

Consider baking? Cooking? You know that to achieve something that is edible you commit to a process that involves the appropriate ingredients, in the appropriate quantity and that they are dealt with in the appropriate way.  You invest time and effort (and sometimes blood, sweat and tears) towards an outcome that means your food will be consumed(hopefully). Your finished dish cannot be kept and looked at and admired, for as with all food it will spoil. So it must be eaten, savoured, enjoyed, celebrated and through this process we let it go. Committed to the process but not attached to the outcome.

How about gardening? Similar theme here too. All gardeners know they have to be committed to tending to their plants needs. Through careful planting, the appropriate soil, feeding, regular watering and exposure to the sun there will be rewards to reap. By being commited to nurturing the plants the fruits of the labour are admired or consumed. But not held on to. That glorious rose can only be glorious for a fleeting few days and it will wither and it will die. Those tomatoes or beans or strawberries must be picked and eaten, harvested in celebration at the optimum time or they will rot. What an incredible teacher nature is. Committed to the process but not attached to the outcome.

Then I considered how we value a fine wine. Many are stored for years in the commitment to mature and deepen the body and flavour. Again there can be no sense in needing or keeping or grasping when it comes to a fine wine. It has been created to be savoured and appreciated. That savouring and appreciating is fleeting, gone in a moment. You can not just look at a fine wine in a bottle, you must drink it, celebrate it and let it go!

How about having children? Now we’re talking. Herein lies a process of commitment  without attachment, which begins at the moment of conception. The moment a child is conceived is the moment of supreme non attachment for we must let our children grow and let our children go to become adults themselves, eventually. You can give your child the biggest hug in the world but you cannot keep him held. Commitment through non attachment.

So check out where you are, are you grasping and clinging to things? Car? Work? Money?

Are you holding on to people? Your children?

Why not celebrate the fantastic job you’ve done of being committed to those things or that person, by letting them go?

And gently start to practise the art of commitment through non attachment.

X

The five freedoms… what’s that all about? The five freeedoms are based on the welfare needs of animals and are as equally important whether you are keeping livestock in your back garden or have a small holding.

What are they then?  

1. Freedom from hunger and thirst - by ready access to fresh water and a diet to maintain full health and vigour

2. Freedom from discomfort - by providing an appropriate environment including shelter and a comfortable resting area

3. Freedom from pain, injury or disease - by prevention or rapid diagnosis and treatment

4. Freedom to express normal behaviour - by providing sufficient space, proper facilities and company of the animal’s own kind

5. Freedom from fear and distress - by ensuring conditions and treatment which avoid mental suffering.

What else do I need to know? According to the Farm Animal Welfare Council “These freedoms define ideal states rather than standards for acceptable welfare” (hmm - interesting)

How do I find out more? For loads more check out www.ciwf.org.uk

Recently I have been trying a spot of barefoot jogging or to give it it’s correct title “Natural Running”. Which in its “natural” state is jogging without footwear (no, not without clothes, though I’m sure they’re doing that somewhere in the world!). I actually read about it in a magazine article and I am one of those people who when they like the idea of something they have to try it. The thought behind ”natural running” is that many of our modern day joint problems and postural problems are more as a result of the shoes we are wearing, the surfaces we are walking on and the habitual way in which we are moving. So for many of us it is about getting your shoes off  on a regular basis, connecting with the earth and actually encouraging your bones, joints and ligaments to do what they do best and that is to absorb the impact on and support the body. So that’s what I’ve been doing. Now don’t get me wrong I have no intentions on becoming the next Zola Budd or anything (though she was incredible and very brave) but once tried running barefoot is incredibly liberating and I am hooked.

Today was the second time for me to brave getting my tootsies out whilst moving at faster than walking pace and the experience was as liberating this time as it was the first.

When I made the decision to take my trainers off for the first time, it was pretty early in the morning and there weren’t too many people about to point and stare at some nutter without any shoes on! And I was at the beach. That seems to help somehow because it is deemed as acceptable to take your shoes off at the beach anyway so I felt somewhat less conspicuous than if I were jogging round the block from home. The decision was also made more for me, than by me, by the sight of the golden sand looking so clean and incredibly inviting, all new and fresh first thing in the morning. The sun was glinting and winking on the sea and seemed to ask it of me. Why wouldn’t you? Why wouldn’t I indeed? So with that off came the trainers and off came the socks and came a sense of freeedom and reconnection that was totally unexpected.

It was the same today. It’s as if the minute your shoes and socks come off your child comes out. Being barefoot is so indicitive and so evocative of that child state of running free with boundless energy and gay abandon without aches and pains. I felt this. But not just this.

What I felt beyond this was every footfall. Each time my foot struck the sand, the sand moulded and mirrored my foot giving “me” total support where I needed it. I actually felt the earth beneath and I actually felt my body respond. It was as if, with each strike there was a wave of response from the earth, that travelled back up through my body.  I also felt a return to something completely unadulterated and totally natural and my body seemed to breathe this incredible sigh of relief  as it let go. Through this sense of connecting down as each foot hit the earth, I was communing directly with the earth and she was responding. My joints were absorbing the impact and supporting me as a team and I just wanted to keep going  in this natural state with the wind in my face and the sun on my back. My feet and legs being rejuvenated by the waves of the sea and the waves of energy from the earth. With that gay abandon of old I splashed through the shallows until the stones at the shoreline (a recently added feature to Bournemouth beach due to an alleged surf reef being built!) finally drove me up in to the soft sand of the beach and back in to my socks and trainers to continue on the promenade. Just fantastic!

So, if you fancy the idea of natural running, jogging or walking too, pick your where and when carefully. Clearly grassy areas are going to be more comfortable then concrete, but you may find you will be doing the dog poo dodge more than jogging unless you can find a no dog area. So if you have a beach nearby I’d head for that option. I’m also not suggesting you do barefoot anything for very long. No, we aren’t use to it, yet, but it is our natural state and I’m sure that somewhere within your physical structure and your psyche you will remember what it is all about. 5- 10 minutes willl be plenty for starters. Combine a walk with a little jog until you feel you are coming alive to your body again.

Finally, if you have any form of joint problem endeavour to connect with your body and connect with the earth in a natural state (without footwear) more frequently. Who knows, it could help?

For more information and courses (particularly if you are prone to injury) check out www.naturalrunning.co.uk with John Woodward who has a background of working with Alexander Technique. How he works is very interesting indeed.

X

Aspartame? What’s that? A potentially deadly artificial sweetener (aren’t they all!)

Where will I find it? In food, sweets, cereals, as a sweetener itself such as nutri-sweet, in drinks such as orange squash and fizzy drinks too.

What’s so deadly about it? There are cited to be 92 different side effects associated with consuming aspartame ranging from kidney problems to neurological problems.

What can I do about that? Start checking the lables of what you are consuming. Then stop eating and drinking products with it in.

What else do I need to know? Manufacturers are clever with their marketing and will promote a ”no added sugar” drink so you think its healthy, but if there’s no added sugar there will be added artificial sweeteners. Look for products that claim to have no artifical sweeteners. A little natural sugar is actually better for you long term because your body knows how to deal with it. For many of us it is a drip feed effect, we have been consuming products with this stuff in for years and its not natural, so the body tries to adapt to it, eventually we may become ill. Switch back to naturally occuring sugars such as honey.

How do I find out more? Google it, there is tons of stuff on it and other artificial sweeteners such as sucrolose.

Take a deep breath in now and connect with the power that is the life giving force of the ”in breath”

Can you feel it? 

Can you sense the soft movement of prana as it is called to caress the inside of your nostrils? 

How aware are you of its gently gliding, sliding journey past the back of your throat?

Are you able to notice this wonderful, whispering life force as it arrives deep in the heart of your lungs?

As you draw this breath in, ask yourself, is this an expansive breath? Can you get a sense of your body opening and expanding to welcome this life giving force. Or is there restriction? Do you have difficulty in allowing the “in breath” so subsequently it is shallow and inhibited? Could it be that by restricting your breathing you are restricting your potential to connect with life and for life to connect with you? A shortlived breath that perhaps leads to a shortlived life.

Just as our out breath provides us with the means to release, let go and flow out in to the world; the in breath provides us with the means to contract, to draw in and to prepare. The in breath is the cycle of the breath that creates an inward movement, within us. Within this inward movement lies our unique, boundless potential that, when realised, can flow out. 

When we breath in we are provided with the opportunity to connect with our potential and to choose how we wish to direct the life force we have drawn in. The intention of what we choose to create or of what we choose to become emerges from the in breath and that potential. What do you intend to create? What do you intend to become? Happy? Peaceful? This intention is what will flow out on your out breath to be made manifest in your world. 

Thus you breath in with the intention of creating peace; you breathe out and create peace;  pause and be peace.

Breathe in; breathe out; pause.

Intention; creation; meditation.

The in breath is the vehicle that revitalises us with oxygen. The expansive quality of your in breath will determine the quantity of oxygen that you bring in to your lungs. Your body will naturally trigger a yawn , a means of getting you to take a bigger in breath, in response to the requirement for more oxygen. This response more readily occurs if you are feeling tired. The expansive quality of your lungs and your ability to breathe will determine the quantity of oxygen you can uptake and utilise effectively. Asthmatics know this story better than most as their lung capacity is monitored via their peak flow. This is a means of measuring the ability to force all the air out of the lungs as quickly as possible by breathing out in one big blow (this requires a deep breath in to prepare) The amount of oxygen forced out is then measured and is a guide as to how effectively the lungs are peforming. Your lungs along with your heart ensure an oxgen rich blood supply to replenish and renew vital organs, muscles and tissues throughout your body. You need oxygen and the ability to breathe to live.

Even though the process of gaseous exchange happens deep within us (see “The Power of the Out Breath) we also experience an exchange of our life force with what is outside of us.

Consider where you are inhaling and what you are exchanging. Are you breathing in cars, cities and carbonmonoxide in exchange for your vitality?

Every day, via our in breath we inhale the world and our surroundings. When we breathe in through the nose we experience our incredible sense of smell and the aroma’s that surround us and with an open mouth we even get  to taste them. Whether it is the scent of a rose or our favourite food cooking, we are provided with a “real” sensory story full of invaluable detail that informs us as to whether what we are inhaling and connecting with is helpful and healthy or potentially harmful. This part of our breath is part of our life preserving instinct. If it smells bad you won’t want to linger and if it tastes bad you certainly won’t continue to eat it!

The in breath is a truly unifying force. Through this life force we are connected to the world and to each other for not only are you breathing other peoples breath but they are breathing yours.  So answer this if you had to breathe in your own breath how would you like it to be? Stale? Struggling? Withholding? or fresh, free and life giving. It really is your choice.

Breathe in; breathe out; pause…

Well, for me, it’s actually a case of  ” to bed - perchance to sleep” in all reality.

Am I alone in this? Is there anybody else out there who goes to bed tired, yet full of hope night after night? I Truly wonder what it feels like to fall asleep as soon as your head hits the proverbial pillow? I wonder…. 

So I was lying in bed last night wondering, nothing new there. I was pretty relaxed and I wasn’t worrying about anything. You see this is the thing, if I had things “on my mind”, I wouldn’t mind just lying there and I do know the best thing to do if you have “things” on your mind is to write them down so they don’t bug you at night. But I don’t have anything on my mind so I don’t fit  into that category.

Don’t get me wrong, on some level I was enjoying just lying there but only because I’ve been through the being frustrated and annoyed about being awake and I’ve come to terms with the fact there’s no point to any of that because it doesn’t matter how frustrated and annoyed you get, you are still awake! (breathe) As I was enjoying lying there all I could hear was my husbands regular breathing.

Now there’s another thing. On average it takes me around an hour and forty minutes to get off to sleep. Wow I hear you cry, that long? How do I know this? Well on previous occasions, I’ve reached the point of being  so fed up with lying there that I’ve done that clock watching thing, to pass the time. Usually bedtime is around ten and I can still be found liaising with the clock at eleven forty. On average it takes my husband around one minute forty seconds to get of to sleep. Wow, I hear you cry, that quickly? Yes, that quickly. Lucky him.

And while I’m on that subject. Why is it that a man ( well my husband anyway) is able to sleep through absolutely anything. I recall one occassion as I returned to bed, after being up to my son for the fifth time, in three hours, when he was having one of “those” nights, to encounter my husband stirring from his slumber and mumbling something about did I want him( my husband) to see to him? (my son)  Hey, don’t worry I was up anyway!

So the point of this piece is not to share our nocturnal habits, actually, but to lead me in to sharing a couple of brilliant techniques for drifting off to sleep. I have found that utilising one or the other of these techniques (or even both simultaneously)helps to conquer the endless hours of inspecting  your navel, if you can see it in the dark. At a premium I can get of f to sleep now in as quickly as twenty minutes to an hour. Wow, I hear you cry, how do you do that?  Well read on dear reader, read on.

Both techniques are yoga based, but do not require you to get up, get out of bed or get on your yoga mat. Neither are you expected to adopt certain postures in your bed (again that’s a whole different website you’re after!)

All that is required as a starting point is that you are comfortable, warm and fairly relaxed in bed, in the dark.

The first technique is a simple repetitive, relaxation sequence that you say to yourself in your mind. The key to this is to be as dis-interested in what you are telling yourself as possible. So its a really bored tone of voice you want to adopt. Also try not to rush through it, take your time and feel each part relaxing.  This is how you consciously relax your chakras and your body and it goes something like this.

I now relax my crown, I now relax my crown, my crown is now completely relaxed.

I now relax my brow, I now relax my brow, my brow is now completely relaxed.

I now relax my throat, I now relax my throat, my throat is now completely relaxed.

I now relax my heart, I now relax my heart, my heart is now completely relaxed.

And so on, through your solar plexus, your sacral and your base. You can also apply it to body parts such as the head, the neck, the shoulders etc etc working your way down. The aim of the game is to drift off during the sequence not to make the exercise itself the reason you stay awake!

The second technique is known asVipassana from the Buddhist philosophy which means “to sit and watch many things” or Avadhana from the Yoga philosophy which means “attentiveness” as best translation and goes a little something like this.  

Thinking; thinking; aware of thinking.

Breathing; breathing; aware of breathing.

Know it; name it; lable it.

Listening; listening; aware of listening, to sounds entering my field of hearing; hearing.

Know it, name it, label it.

You could even make sleep, part of the focus of your Avadhana. 

Sleeping; sleeping; aware of sleeping. 

You continue visiting each of these thinking, breathing, listening, sleeping and any other that may spring to mind again in a repetitive manor until (magically) you nod off. Again the aim is to let go and nod off, not end up chanting in your head all night. Though that might do it too!

Even though I have found these techniques really helpful and I am really keen to share them, it is important to remember that sleep is just one part of the story that encompasses our total health and wellbeing and that other factors do play a major part. Perhaps consider how much you get outside during the day, how active you are, how much stress you are dealing with on a daily basis and even how much caffine and alcohol you drink. It may only take a slight adjustment with one of these areas or more consideration in all of them to tip the balance towards a more graceful and gratifying sleep.   

Wishing you sweet dreams.

X

SUNDAY 4TH JULY

10.30AM - 4.30PM at 10 Eastfield Court, Ringwood

£5 entry please

Sessions include T’ai Chi/Chi Kung; Yoga; Voice Overtoning; Movement and the Breath

Kids welcome from 2pm (free)  for Yoga for Kids & Dance for Kids

Breads, Cookies, Cakes and Cupcakes available to buy

Food & Drink provided plus facepainting, paddling pool fun and ice cream!

Prayer ribbons for Haiti and loved ones.

All are welcome!

All proceeds going to the Haiti Hospital Appeal.

Our breath is something we are rarely consciously engaged with. The continuous motion of breathing out followed by breathing in that just seems to happen, leaves very little need for our conscious involvement and it would be relatively easy to miss “the pause” that is pure potentiality, in amongst all this breathing. But we could choose to bring our awareness to this incredible friend that emerges from within us so instinctively and so naturally and seek to discover the peace that surely resides in the space that is “the pause”.

Breathe in, breathe out, pause…. breathe in, breathe out, pause…. breathe in, breathe out, pause….

The ”pause” emerges from the release (death) of the out breath.

Within it you wait effortlessly, gently and softly until….

The beginning(birth) of the in breath emerges from the “pause”.

The power of the “pause” rests in its respite. Whilst we bathe in the “pause” we are provided briefly, with a place to replenish physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. We are privaleged to experience a little haven of heaven on earth, a small sanctuary of stillness and if you’re lucky, a place of pure peace. From Buddhist philosophy it will totally assist you in the practice of non-attachment. It is a stillpoint without beginning, without end, without thought, without judgement and without even an awareness of being; it just is.

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The return of Yoga on the Beach from Tuesday 4th May

   Tuesday & Fridays    7am - 8am                      

                 Tuesday, Wednesday & Fridays   9.30am - 10.30am 

 Tuesday, Wednesday, & Thursdays   6pm - 7pm

£5.00. Mats supplied though you are welcome to bring your own.
Remember to wrap up and remove layers as you warm up,(bring a top for the meditation cool-down at end).
Same venue - opposite Surf Steps Surf School.  At Boscombe pier roundabout, turn right and follow the sea 300m. Or for those of you that come in from Bournemouth - turn left at Bournemouth pier and walk/jog/cycle/hop/skip along the beach approx 1400m 

 www.HolisticBodyTraining.co.uk 

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The Conscious Breath - Explore the potential of your breath - our greatest tool for well-being and self-awareness.

Saturday 8th May 11am-1pm

Enjoy a blissful morning of gentle breath-based stretches, 9 breath cleansing technique, breath awareness, guided meditation with mudra and relax with Yoga Nidra. 

Wessex Therapy Centre, Christchurch - Cost £10

Please e-mail juliehand63@btinternet.com or call 01202 429300 to reserve a space

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Avalon Circles : Raising Avalon with David Hand

The quest to raise and reconnect to the energies of  these ancient sites continues…..

Hengistbury Head, Christchurch, Dorset

Sunday 23rd May - meet at 2pm outside the Hungry Hiker Cafe.

Wear your walking boots and be prepared for the elements!

www.mysticklight.com or 01202 429300