Stonehenge

 

 

 

 

 

 

I reel into a new consciousness
As plains and trees roll by.
Looming cars thundering past
Beat up the earth.
And there! Stonehenge – in pouring rain
As I drive to the junction of the lane.

Herded by gusts, torn by the storm are
Paper bags, plastic cups, a day ticket pass.
Raincoats swish and strange gutterals clash,
But magic stays guarded by uniformed glass.

Primeval past and I are remote
Inscrutable mysteries standing apart.
Clicked by the camera, zoomed by the lens,
Unable to reach the reality there.

Yet calling, calling
On the bone of my skull
Are the priests of the Stones
Where the sun went down.

Margaret Gill

© Copyright 2013

Yoga Diary (6): Yoga for the Brain

Yoga Dairy 6. Yoga for the brain.

Good brain food:-Astaxanthin’s powerful antioxidant activity can target specific health conditions and fight accelerated aging of internal organs and tissues. Astaxanthin is highly protective of the brain and nerve cells, which are very sensitive to the ravages of oxidative stress. Best sources of natural astaxanthin are shellfish, wild salmon, trout, and Krill Oil.

Schedule:-

1. Tao breathing in short and long triangles  sending energy to the pineal gland.
2. Twist in either simple or classic pose  using eye muscles to look backward…3 minutes.
3. Twisting in hero pose looking backwards with the eyes….3 minutes.
4. Earlobe pull breathing in and out…. 10X  (N.B left arm under , right arm over.)
5. Temporal tapping on Right temple only  with brain charging affirmation 3x
6. Nerve charging breath with Ha expulsion  3 X
7. Cook’s Hook up standing pose ( was new this week)
8. Figure 8’s with arm stretched out before you.
9. Warrior Dance to re-energise body … complete dance both sides.
10. Moon over water  6x each side.
11. Tibetan Buddhist eye chart  5 minutes with palming. Suggest you pin it up next to your computer.
12. Lion…N.B. eyes in and upwards to connect with the ajna centre. 3x
13. Relax with squishy balls 5 minutes (A primary benefit of  doing bridge   and small warm up movements with the squishy ball as opposed to exercising directly on a hard flat surface is that the body responds to the instability of the balls engaging many more muscles. It allows the multi-segmental musculature to be fully engaged and deeply stimulated. Consequently, the development of these spinal muscles allows better postural control and greater efficiency in movement. )

14.  Cortical  relaxation going from left hemisphere to right hemisphere. Just do the numerals and the letters for now. 5 minutes.

No need to all this at one sitting take your pick but try to cover it by next lesson.

Yoga Diary (5): The Power of the MInd

“You are only limited by your perceptions. Most of the limitations we think we have are programmed into us”

1. Dragon breath gives strength and energy…..6X
2. Cloud hands ( new exercise this week) Practise left and right side separately; 3x each side
3. Crane Flying. 3x each side
4. Rainbow breath in lunge pose.. This charges your CHI WEI field. Both sides 6 x.
5. Use your mind while performing Sun Prayer to top up your three energy reservoirs. …(ASK)*
6. In Hero twist each side and use the calming mantra Oh. Ma.Ho.
7. Practise strengthening the wrists in backward plank 3x
8. Practise lymph drainage with tapping or with squishy balls. I minute each side.
9. Practise easy wheel from bridge position. 3X
10. Slow down either with supine Eagle or supine tree and 2 rounds of belly breathing.
11. Relax 5 minutes with Tao breathing.(ASK)*
Drink a cup of Red Rooibos tea …(highest antioxidant of all teas).

Sudden sea mist

 

 

 

 

Blue noon.
Then sudden sea mist quivers, cloaking down.
Sea wrack shivers on dulled edge of foam.
Cloud banks thicken.
Now wavering light like ‘shook foil’ flings
Its sparks of borrowed glamour on artless things,
Palely etching bones of distant islands.

Now phoenix-risen rocks catch fire in burning pyre
Of sun burst through in streaming, blinding strands.
The cormorant shakes its black umbrella wings.
White crested spume in heedless racing flings
Itself to fade once more
In filmy fringe upon the eternal shore.

Margaret Gill

© 2013

Shared circuitry

 

 

 

 

 

How do you sense me you wild one
Playing unaware in the brown dust of the lane?
I pause, breath held. You hop closer.
Closer and closer, not heeding my heart beat.
Your eyes veiled by shadow; yet closer again.

Then, brakes jam on as front legs skid into sharp alert.
Startled radar ears flick open like jet flaps.
Eyes, blackly still, ponder our parallel worlds.
What primeval messages flash in your hare brain?
I in blue, you in your tawny brown coat.
What image confounds your sight?
Blue tree with red leaves?
Tree unmoving, branches silent?

What strange scent twitches your nostrils?
Vernal wood? … No! Deep, too deep.
Wind fluffs your antennae’s hairs.
A twig drops.
Inner cells spurt.
Only a swift bronze haze remains.

Margaret Gill
© 2013

Yoga Diary (4): Renal health through yoga and qigong (approx 20 mins)

Renal Health through Yoga and Qigong. (20 minute schedule)

(Kidneys need water rich food.)  Watercress is excellent yoga food.

1. Tao breathing sending healing intention to all major organs. 2 minutes.
2. Bridge. Open ribs laterally breathe in and out and then exhale… Ha.a.a. expulsion breath.
3. Rainbow breathing concentrating on easing into the kidney area. 6x both sides.
4. Qigong hinge back into kidneys, arms bent. Say …S..s..s.s.  1minute
5.  Qigong full body flow. Chant ….Oh.Ma.. Ho.  2 minutes.
6. Qigong twist forward, right and left as you hinge into kidney area. 2 minutes
7. Yoga standing twist. Resting back hand on kidneys as you twist. 4X each side.
8. Kidney nurturing. Hands in Qigong fist. Flat hands. Bring Chi into hands and hold..say  HOY .Y.EEE.
9. Relax for a minute on stomach then come into Sphinx. Chant ..OH..Ma ..Ho. 2 minutes.
10. Bound Cobra …ditto.
11. Lizard  ( 1)  3X    Lizard (2)  3X.
12. Locust   3 X
13. Massage Kidneys using squidgy balls in Bridge posture.
14. Relax or meditate  using Pool of Wellness visualisation. * Ask.

 © 2013

No cause

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s not by chance your life’s events occur.
There are no random casts of die so dire
that occasion tests to pass, ordeals of fire
to rouse you to awakening.

You ride the storms of strife
because at some deep secret level
you chose it so: no grinning devil
stopped you from awakening.

Think not some genie guides you
up the mountain steep, unless each step is yours.
But nor can rage or anger be the cause
to spur you to awakening.

No spite, nor rancour, tricks of pride
can help you reach the height,
unless you open up, let go the fight
of striving to awakening.

When you can surf on waves of peace,
trembling with love like speeding light,
no outside power can come in sight,
can stop you from awakening.

But vibrate; again vibrate with decibels of joy,
scaling, spilling, trilling notes on high,
and echoing sounds will spin out the reply
and thrust you headlong into your awakening.

Margaret Gill
© Copyright 2013

A Shaman Speaks

Until you stop thinking there’s a cause,
a beginning, a birth or a start,
you will never find that part
which is never born and cannot die,

At all times the Self is aware.
It records, takes note and stores
each atom, each fraction of each hour.
All beings here wear but a thin disguise.

And ego sees only separation
from the universe, only negation;
sees not the formless beneath
the form, the nonlocal within the sheath.

The trace, fingerprint, and echo it calls itself,
sees not the immortal deep within the mortal.
There are no beginnings, no ends, just games
played by karma or blind fate.

And the secret … the winning hand …
is to know that you are consciousness,
everywhere, in every place,
in constant state of ebb and flow.

Margaret Gill   
© Copyright 2013

Yoga Diary (3): Fountain of Youth

Exercise out doors in the sun ( we should be so lucky) to get your quota of vitamin D and absorb plenty of oxygen into your lungs.

1.Windmill charging breath with HA..A expulsion breath.  2 minutes.

2.Deep Abdominal breathing .  1 minute.

3.Breath of Fire.   3 or 4 rounds with Root Lock on the inhalation Hold for 4 and expel for 4.

4. Sun prayer .X 2

5. Standing twist…waist,  qigong …spinal twist, standing twist… hips.

6.Squat sequence .  stretch, squat, chair, squat.

7.Qigong Spinal cord  exercise.

8.Knocking on the Door of Life.  2 complete rounds.

9.Full body flow.

Return indoors

10. Crane stomach massage 1. lower abdomen 2 minutes

Crane stomach massage 2. Upper abdomen. 1/2 minutes.

Lie down in bridge and do complete squishy balls massage.

Stretch out and relax

Drink water or have a probiotic drink.

© 2013