Charity Yoga Class: Accumulating And Transferring Merit

Dear Yogis

I want you to come to my charity yoga class next Sunday, 15th, at Decathlon Ealing so here’s how I’ll try persuade you – with the Buddhist theory of ‘transferring merit’. It’s central to Buddhist practice to be in the service of others by giving food (dana) keeping precepts (like the yoga precepts of Yamas and Niyamas), and through the practice of meditation, which is what yoga practice is. All this good work and moral endeavour is believed to accumulate merit. Buddhists love the idea of undertaking meritorious deeds and then accumulating and transferring merit. You do that by wishing for someone else to benefit from your good work.

Nice, eh! It’s a nice way to live; to always have giving and meditation as a regular occurrence in your diary. With that in mind, can I have your old, unwanted yoga mat?! It’s to send to an organisation called CESRT – the Chios Eastern Shore Response Team - a charity that receives refugees who land on the island of Chios after a precarious boat crossing from Turkey. After yogi friend Kay volunteered there and held a yoga class there, we decided to collect unwanted, donated yoga mats to send to them. We also need to raise the money for postage, hence the class.

The date of this class is highly significant. It's the birthday of legendary yoga teacher, Derek Ireland: Brighton-born, world traveller, charismatic teacher, yoga trailblazer who transplanted the practice of Ashtanga Yoga from India to Europe. December 15th would have been his 70th birthday and it is being celebrated in many parts of the world with fundraising yoga classes in his honour.

Decathlon in Ealing Broadway Shopping Centre will be hosting us. Decathlon has a great space upstairs; anyone can come, beginners, middle, advanced and people who want some yoga fun. Bring children and make a small donation for them on the day – I have charity buckets! Otherwise, you can sign up here on my website. Click the 'Book Now' button. Here’s the Facebook Event page. Please can you share it?

Training

Gorgeous Charlie Merton has a workshop coming up in Ealing on Friday 20th, Winter Solstice Yin Yoga + Gong Experience. If you’re looking for a Christmas present for a yogi, this is not a bad idea, even though it’s pre-Christmas. There’s an early bird price until December 13th. It’s my present to myself! Come with me!

Home Studio

We were flying on Wednesday evening with a workshop on Crow posture! If you have a posture request, I can be your DJ. There’s plenty of room next week. See attached for class availability. For those of you who have been coming for a while, please write a small review.

Christmas Presents

So, what suggestions so far? There’s the Foxhills Golf Course, Chertsey, one-day-and-one-night yoga retreat mentioned last week on Sunday 19 January, Warm Up For Winter with a 10% discount code – YOGARETREATTS. There’s Stephen Cope’s wonderful book The Great Work Of Your Life and Decathlon yoga mats. I’ll think of new ones for next week.Yoga in the News

The Telegraph has: How Hotpod became Europe's biggest yoga brand, and why top athletes love it. 'From the outside, the pod looks like an adult’s bouncy castle'... it is in fact 'Europe’s largest yoga brand; the second-largest in the world'. ‘The England rugby team have been Hotpodding for years – they took a pod to the World Cup in Japan, and captain Owen Farrell even has his own’. Hotpod yoga is good for midlifers and ‘those who practised hot yoga had a greater reduction in body fat percentage’

Business Insider has: I did yoga every day for a month, and I've never gotten so many compliments on my skin and posture. ‘Since I’d received so many comments on my complexion, I did some digging and found out that “yoga glow” is a real thing. Yoga can increase the blood flow to your face and contribute to less inflammation, meaning that it can help your skin appear more glowy and less bloated or puffy than usual.’