Self Healing Art

If you can't go to sleep at night or when you wake up in the night and can't go back to sleep, try gently holding your thumb with your other hand and focus on breathing in through your nose, out through your nose for longer than you breathed in. As you breathe out feel yourself relaxing. Soon you will be able to feel a pulse in your thumb. Then you can hold your other thumb. I would love to hear whether holding your thumb lets you get to sleep more easily.

Jin Shin Jyutsu

Am really looking forward to tomorrow when I start a new study group to learn more about the art of Jin Shin Jyutsu. Will keep you posted about my progress.
I attended a 5 day course in Auckland at the end of last month with an amazing group of practitioners. The teacher had come out from New York. I am excited about how it can help people heal themselves. Am practising it on myself and friends and family eg.one day I had hiccups that wouldn't stop and just gently held behind my ears on my neck and they stopped straight away.

Hollie's art exhibition

My daughter Hollie has a great art exhibition in Tauranga at the moment. It is well worth visiting. She also has had an articled in the Que Magazine about her art. I can see she has huge potential as an artist. She is also a very talented art teacher.

Human doings or human beings?

An interesting concept - we are not called human doings or human tryings - we are called human beings for a reason.

Maybe it is because if we enjoy being on our own, by being still for even a short time each day, by listening to what we actually need and want and honouring ourselves by slowing down to enjoy life -we become more aware of ourselves and can truly enjoy life's treasures.

Or maybe this is too simple for us to understand in a world that encourages us to rush, to be busy and stressed?

Daughter Hollie

Hollie has just had an amazing 3 page article published in the Que Magazine. She is working on a new series of paintings inspired by ocean and native bush and they are stunning. I love her clear, clean colours and lines with precise yet stylised form. Take a look at her facebook page
hollie oneill artist

Yoga Retreat at Ohui

Yesterday a group of 9 from Waihi and Waihi Beach visited Ohui Yoga Retreat at Opoutere. We started out at 7am. What a wonderful day. The drive along Opoutere's estuary and through the native bush to get to the retreat was beautiful in itself. When we got there we enjoyed a cup of herbal tea and I felt relaxed at once.It was lovely to see Atma and her darling boy Lazlo who has an enchanted life at the ashram. Shantimurti led a 2 hour yoga session for us and I felt in the zone right through. A delicious lunch and then yoga nidra. During the 2 hour break following some went for a walk, some swam in the warm surf, some slept, some read and others just chatted. The next session was yoga nada - all about using sound to purify one's emotions and mind. Another tasty vegetarian meal and then goodbyes and we were home by 8pm. If anyone thinks they need time out from their hectic life I can recommend a fantastic day, place and people.
www.ashramyoga.com

change of seasons

Now that the temperature has dropped and autumn seems to be here, it is important to protect your immune system, which will be under pressure. Colds and flus will start appearing and it is so much easier to prevent them than to deal with them once they are with you.
Get lots of sleep, watch your stress levels, keep your exercise up - these are all about keeping balance in your life. It is also important to keep warm and eat warm, sweet nourishing foods, for example, pumpkin, kumara and carrot soups. Vitamin C is good for immunity also, as are some yoga sequences.