It's that time of year and amidst all the commerce and socialising be sure to take time for yourself.  Below are 3 timely items to help you keep your spirits high... 

Classes continue on Mondays and Thursdays throughout December until Thursday 22nd December, when we will have a special class and mediation to celebrate the Winter Solstice (with biscuits and yogichinos of course!). This will be our last yoga class in 2011.

We will start 2012 with a special class to welcome in the new year on Monday 2nd January 2012 and classes will then resume as usual on Mondays and Thursdays.

Please mind that the Farm gates will be locked during the darker months. Sign up to the email list for special instructions...

See you there!

Friday, 11th November 2011 (11/11/11) marks a significant event in the astrological calendar - one which occurs only once every 2000 years - the dawning of the Age of Aquarius.

It's an auspicious time for yoga and meditation and on the night before, Thursday, 10th November, we'll have a special class with a long meditation followed by a little celebration with Hari Karam's famous yogi tea, delicious biscuits home-made by Guru Kaur, a little music and maybe even some dancing!

Yoga and meditation begin at 6pm and run until the peak of the full moon at 8:17pm. If you can't arrive for 6pm, then join as usual at 7pm. The usual charge of £12 applies.  Hope to see you there!

Guru Kaur is renowned for her day yoga and meditation workshops.  These sessions take the concepts and techniques we practice in class to a whole new level.  This one is for lady attendees only and is entitled Why Women Sour Their Relationships and How You Can Keep Yours Sweet.  It's on Saturday, 15th October from 10am - 5pm at the Hilton Docklands Riverside (about a 5 minute walk from the Farm) and costs £75.  Open to all levels. Pre-registration is required.  

Learn more and reserve
your space over at her website »

Thursday 22nd September is the Autumn Equinox, when we shift from having more daylight to more darkness. Yogis consider this an auspicious time to practice yoga and meditate. To celebrate this time, I'll be leading a special class. All are welcome!

This is a wonderful meditation which awakens you from the bottom to the top. There is a very beautiful way to chant this which opens all the cavities of the body. My favourite time for it is early in the morning.  Here are some instructions and guided music to get you started...

The Farm & The People, first cut first from Ricardo Alcantara.

A couple weeks ago, Ricardo, a videographer student, did some filming of our class for his documentary about Surrey Docks Farm.  This first cut gives you a warm cosy view into the people, activities and spectacular views onto rural scenes in an urban backdrop that makes the Farm such a special venue in Zone 2 Central London.  Guru Kaur features as the first speaker and with a longer interview in the last few minutes...

Yogi Bhajan, the man who risked everything to bring Kundalini Yoga out of its guarded and secretive tradition in India to teach it openly in the west, was a being of rare calibre.  He was a large and powerful figure both in body and in personality. Those who met him physically, even for a moment, selden emerged unscathed and unchanged, and even those who've only known through the 6000 hours of recorded video classes he has left behind, have kindled an intimate connection and been inspired with the courage to live their lives consciously.  He was "cool" in the most true sense of the word - the kinda of guy you can't wait to tell your friends about - with an uncompromising way of conveying the reality of life with an inspring, yet precise and unsentimental language, and a wicked sense of humour.

Though Yogi Bhajan left his physical body back in 2004 (learn more about him here), many people throughout the world still celebrate his birthday and his legacy with a special meditation.  It's the first meditation he taught upon arriving to the west in 1969.  It's called "Long Ek Ong Kar's" or "Morning Call" (as it's often down during the early morning practice called sadhana).  

On 25th August 2011, Guru Kaur's Thursday class, we'll do 2.5 hours of this powerful meditation from 6:00 - 8:30pm (the normal hours for the Thursday classes).  No worries if you can't make it by 6:00pm.  Come at 7pm and join in the ongoing meditation.  Prices are as normal, £5 for 6-6:45pm, £10 for 7-8:30pm, or £12 for the whole 2.5 hours, with 50% of the proceeds going to the Farm, as always.  Yogi Tea and bisuits to follow!

It's an incredible experience, especially in a group.  Don't worry, there won't be anyone walking around with a big stick.  You can shake your legs and go to the loo and all that.  As with the classes though, you get out what you put in!

If you've never done this meditation before, come to class in the weeks prior to learn, or just come and jump right in the deep end.  You'll be an expert by the end!

See you there...

Painting is the art of seeing something familiar through new eyes.  It's honing the subtlety in your senses to perceive the vital detail that has always been right in front of you but has always gone by unnoticed. 

On Sunday 25th September, come to Russia Dock Woodland (across the main road by the Farm) for another free event funded by UK Lottery's Awards for All called Painting in the Park with award winning artist and graphic designer John Gustard (www.johngustard.com).

[Used with permission from Guru Kaur's Be the Woman... Inner Circle Blog]

For years and years I have been seeking one thing in my meditation practice. But right from the beginning it proved elusive, despite extensive searching.  It got to the stage that I had completely given up, disheartened, dispirited, and imagined that what worked for yogis of yore worked for them so surely I could just get on with it as they did.

On Thursday 2nd June 2011, Barry Mason, Surrey Docks Farm manager was swimming off the coast of Villaviciosa on holiday in Spain when he suddenly drowned.

Barry is one of those special people who will be remembered long after those who were privileged to know him have themselves passed on.  Known to most for his two wheels, it is what they represented to him which touches us.  He stood for what was right, the freedom of spirit to experience life, common sense, and most of all that ability, as his Facebook page says, to "Just Do It". 

How he empowered us to get Yoga @ the Farm up and running again, in contrast to the darker days when I taught there many years ago, is just such a good example of what we can all learn from the gift of his life.  He abhorred laziness as much in spirit as in body.  He will be missed.

Let us all now be inspired by Barry's love of life and vision to continue to honour the world as a good place to be.

This year's Meditation in the Park is on Sunday 26th June in Russia Dock Woodland, London SE16, close by to the Surrey Docks Farm.  It's FREE and our goal is that you leave with more than you came with, not only with prizes for your picnic but also with tangible skills which you can easily incorporate into your daily life.  Looking forward to seeing you there!

Find out more by visiting Meditation in the Park and don't forget to download all the free stuff from 2010.  

Sonia Deol of BBC Radio Asian Network, invites Guru Kaur to discuss how she came live a Sikh way of life and how the essence of the festive Vaishakhi "holiday" is being brave enough to stand as a "majority of one" in your life...

You can listen here »

A school in Essex has introduced yoga, relaxation and meditation to its young students...

"Weekly lessons in the ancient discipline have helped to improve concentration and even raise academic performance among pupils as young as four, say their teachers."

Read the article here:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1376003/Meditation-yoga-classes-primary-school-pupils-improves-grades.html

Vaisakhi is a big celebration in the Sikh calendar marking the day that Guru Gobind Singh pulled an inspiring stunt to demonstrate to the world the true meaning of courage and devotion.  Guru Kaur was asked by the BBC to discuss the spiritual implications of this festive event.

This is no longer available on the iPlayer but you can find it on YouTube »

Sat Bir Singh is a professor at Harvard Medical and Kundalini Yoga teacher and student.  This recent Harvard, Brigham study illiustrates the positive healing effect yoga has on the many veterans who are suffering from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

http://commonhealth.wbur.org/2010/12/harvard-brigham-medical-study-yoga-veterans-ptsd/

Millie-Pup and Guru Kaur are featured on Page Three of this week's edition of the South London Press.

"At 37, when most professionals have hung up their boots, the Premier League’s most-decorated player remains a vital member of the United team. He considers the yoga sessions he started almost a decade ago as one of the key factors in extending his career, hence his new DVD, Giggs Fitness."

If you're a Times subscriber, you can read the full article here:
My yoga habit: how Ryan Giggs keeps in premier shape at 37 »

Otherwise, check out this one on the Independent:
'Feeling good with yoga': The secret of Giggs' success »

Check out this article from the Huffington Post about societies guilt trip with meditation and how we're thinking about it all wrong...

You Know You Should Meditation,So Why Don't You » 

Yogichino's are the perfect Winter drink to keep you warm and boost your system to ward off holiday bugs....

Take a peak at this Fox News clip with our good friend Sevak Singh, in Phoenix, Arizona, explaining the many health benefits of Kundalini Yoga...

Come check this free guided relaxation audio and printable "cheatsheets" for fundamental yoga techniques courtesy of Meditation in the Park...

Part of what goes on in our minds we are aware of - that voice we hear inside our heads - but there are also parts that we do not directly perceive.  Often these "unconscious" parts are linked to past traumas and undermine our behavior.

Kirtan Kriya is a simple meditation, backed by academic research, which is highly effective in clearing out the unconscious influences of our past. 

Imagine a village fête in a beautiful ecology park, seriously good prizes for picnics and all kinds of meditation and other activities to try.  This is a local event organised by the teachers of Yoga @ the Farm in collaboration with local wildlife organisations.  Come join us for this free day out in our beautiful Central London oasis...

Meditation found to help people who are recovering from depression (Sunday Times)

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/health/article7133449.ece

...or better yet, prevent it in the first place!

Photograph by Nick Fleming

We're pleased to announce that Yoga @ the Farm will expand its schedule to offer 9 classes, 5 days a week including weekday evenings and Saturday mornings in a newly rennovated riverside classroom.  The new schedule begins, Monday the 24^th May.