BANQUET OF BLESSINGS (UK) 2018 - Kundalini Yoga & Raw Food Retreat

Make a cup of tea, sit back and take in this interview. In it, I play my Native American Love Flute and answer questions (posed by friend and raw food coach, Gabriela Lerner) about the upcoming Kundalini Yoga & Raw Food Retreat: 

"Banquet of Blessings", in Dorset, UK, 11-13 May 2018. 

Click here to find out more about the retreat and register before end of January 2018 for the early bird special (10% off). 

Sat nam.

Invitation to full moon Healing Ring of Tantra - 1 January 2018

A wonderful experience and powerful way to start the new year 2018. Together we will lay the groundwork for healing on many levels. We will gather in the glow of the full super moon—the largest full moon of the year 2018. Please make contact to indicate that you will join, so that numbers are known. (Please message Thou Art Yoga on Facebook). At least 11 people must be present for this meditation. Sat nam. <3 span=""> All details on flyer.

Healing music and Healing horses

Available to you now on one flash drive: the healing music of the Native American Love Flute . . . and the opportunity to support a great cause!  (Click to enlarge photo)

Weekend Healing Retreat in Tobago (Sept 2013)

Visit this link for more info on the SPIRITS OF NATURE weekend healing retreat in Tobago

21 - 23 September 2013

Kundalini Yoga

Acutonics (Tuning Fork Therapy)

Shamanic Journeying

SPIRITS OF NATURE Tobago Healing Retreat (September 2013)

Click on flyer jpg to enlarge

Gather in Tobago with kindred souls to experience 24 hours of deep inner and outer connection and transformation through Kundalini Yoga, Acutonics (Healing Fork Therapy) and Shamanic Journeying.  

 

Saturday 21 - Sunday 22 September 2013

Richmond Great House, Tobago.

Please click on this link for more retreat details and information on the three facilitators:

Elspeth Duncan (Thou Art Yoga) - Kundalini Yoga

Arune Pooransingh (Chrysalis) - Acutonics (Healing Fork Therapy)

Eva Gheorghe (Chrysalis) - Shamanic Journeying

FINDING YOU: One Day Healing Retreat (Trinidad)

Please click on flyer to enlarge.

KUNDALINI YOGA with Elspeth Duncan (Thou Art Yoga)
ACUTONICS (Tuning Fork Therapy) with Arune Pooransingh
SHAMANIC JOURNEYING with Eva Gheorghe

SATURDAY 22 JUNE 2013
6:30 a.m. - 7:00 p.m.
39 - 41 Montano Street, Vistabella, Trinidad

Please visit this link for more information at the website and/or call 381-8359.

"Just for You" Self Love Weekend Retreat (Tobago)

Please click on image to enlarge and see details.

Choose any weekend ... and it is yours (availability permitting)
 
Each customised "Just for You" Self Love Weekend Retreat caters for one person at a time. If that person is you, you are dreaming of spending quality personal time in a supportive, relaxing space ... to let go, find answers, be inspired, create new possibilities and meet someone wonderful ... Yourself.

Please click here to visit the site for more info and images.

The Just for You retreat is a product within Thou Art Yoga's W.O.W. (Wonderful One Weekend) retreat series.

Project and receive the healing energy

RA MA DA SA Healing mantra
(Original version by Tek Har Kaur)
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I spent yesterday evening recording the vocals on the Tak Har version of the healing mantra, Ra Ma Da Sa (listen to link above). Just as I finished and saved the file, I checked my email and there was a message from  a yoga associate in Toronto requesting that "fellow yogis" chant this mantra on behalf of one of my friends and Kundalini Yoga peers, Salimah.

As they say, nothing is a coincidence.

So I dedicate this rendition to Salimah. The request that was sent is to meditate on Ra Ma Da Sa for at least the next three days and send the energy to her. For all who hear it—may the healing energy you project by listening, visualizing and/or chanting along with this return to you and your loved ones an infinite number of times, in an infinite number of ways. 

RA MA DA SA
Sun Moon Earth Infinity
SA SAY SO HUNG
Infinity I Am Thou

You can read more about Ra Ma Da Sa here
You can learn (if you don't know already) the healing meditation posture here

We are all healers

Yesterday I attended a Meridian Chakra Healing workshop led by a visiting yogi (Yogi Aftab, who introduced Kundalini Yoga to TT in 1973). He was a student of Yogi Bhajan (the Mahan Tantric who brought Kundalini Yoga to the West in 1969). You can read more about Aftab and the workshop in this article. We learned massage and trigger point simulation to balance the meridians and chakras.

There were 28 of us in all doing the workshop. We partnered up to practice the points/techniques on each other. Simple and powerful. I love doing hands on healing work.

Of course, for any healing technique to be effective, the person has to want to be healed. What Yogi A. told us about relaxing the person to facilitate healing is similar to the premise of SPHE-RE healing (which I learned earlier this year) where the body goes into such a deep state of peace that self-healing occurs. 

One of the points we learned yesterday was one which Yogi A said Yogi Bhajan had indicated was all that was necessary. Touch those two points for as long as you want (e.g. 15 mins) and the healing is done. When he showed us the point it reminded me of one of my earliest and clearest childhood memories:

My sister Vanessa was a baby, so I was four.  Maybe she had recently been born and I was fascinated, because I was standing by her crib in my parents' room watching her cry.  I remember mummy being in the kitchen. After a short while of watching her, I took my finger and touched her third eye (although as a four year old child I would not have known that name for it). The crying stopped instantly and she fell asleep as soon as she felt my finger. It was like pushing a button to turn off something.


We are all healers, whether we realise it or not. We know naturally and instinctively what to do to heal ourselves and others. However, as we "grow up", various things happen—doubts, fears and other inhibitors rise up and block our natural instincts, we become dependent on doctors and medication, we cease to listen to the body and trust its ability to repair itself.

Something as simple as a shift in mindset ... and healing occurs.

Pippa is back home

Pippa—aka Pip, Pips, Pippy, Pipsqueak, Pippy-Squeaky, Squeaky, Squeaky-clean, Squeakalishus—finally came home today.


When I went to get Pippa at Mt. Hope Vet Hospital this morning she looked traumatised, having had to stay there in a small kennel for two days after surgery. I had been waiting for someone to deliver a dog crate, since the vet had advised that she have strict confinement (to ensure minimal leg movement) for at least the first ten days until her stitches are out. Then, 6 - 8 weeks of continued confinement and limited movement.

When I put Pip into the dog crate, she immediately fought and broke her way out of it, even though there was a lock on the door. The poor thing (understandably) hates small spaces. She's a very playful dog, accustomed to running and jumping all over the garden, which is quite big.

Driving home was a bit of a task, manoeuvering through flood waters with Pippa sitting on my lap (it was the only place she would go), squashing up under the steering wheel.

Now she is quietly resting indoors, tied on a short chain. The girl at the vet down the road said to keep her in the crate because if she bursts her stitches she will have to go through the operation again (as happened to another dog she knows who had the same op).

I'll monitor how she is on the chain, however, when Pip sees people she tends to stand up and get playful, so ... as distressing as it is to think of her being in the dog crate for extended periods, if that's what has to be done to ensure proper healing of her leg, then so be it.

. . . Unless I can find a small but spacious cage with lots of air and light coming into it.

Conversations with God ... I mean, my Knee

Yesterday's caterpillar on driveway

The caterpillar I saw inching across the driveway yesterday morning was a message to slow down. My right knee also delivered a similar directive. Suddenly, out of the blue, while sitting in a meeting the day before, it had started to hurt intensely. By the time we left, I was limping.

I had damaged that knee years ago in my late teens. I was at a toga party at a friend's house, we were all dancing and, before I knew it, I was on the ground in pain (ligament injury). I was on crutches for a while after that, hobbling around at University. Despite that, I've never had knee issues, so yesterday's pain was a new experience. So much for doing Sat Kriya in rock pose that morning ... and this morning.

Rather than see physical pain as that only, I ask what I always ask: WWLS (What would Louise say?) This link lists the spiritual meaning underlying various diseases/ailments/injuries (based on Louise Hay's work). When I look at what "knee" signifies, the part about 'lumps of undissolved anger' resonates most. Whether current anger or past anger, whether at self or other, whether conscious or subconscious, if not properly expressed, thoughts and emotions can linger.

So when I woke up yesterday I spent some time with my knee, giving it Reiki and speaking to it. Through my knee, I forgave myself and I forgave everyone (for nothing specific. I kept it general to cover all possibilities). I then asked my knee to tell me what it wanted me to know.

Throughout the day I got the message that I need to slow down, do less and be more and take better care of myself. These messages are true and timely. In spending time with my knee, covering it with my hands, stroking and massaging it, talking to it, envisioning light going into it, etc., I realised that we (most ... or all humans) barely spend time with our full bodies, checking in to various body parts, asking how they are doing, what they would like from us, etc. My knee must have been basking in the attention I gave it yesterday. When a body part is not in pain, we use it unthinkingly, going about our business and taking it for granted. When it is in pain, we focus on it—naturally, because it is crying out for that attention and, at the same time, holding a message for us.

Early September will mark a year since I (reluctantly) returned from Toronto. At the time of going there, I had been 100% raw for 1.5 years. Once in TO I enjoyed what Trinidad doesn't have: a wide array of raw food ingredients, organic produce (affordable, diverse & plentiful), one or two raw food restaurants and, even if I did eat cooked or baked food (which I did eventually), it was healthy. Upon returning to Trinidad, suddenly, in comparison, the meagre options were disappointing. Needless to say, my raw food lifestyle gradually slipped out of the window and became more of a junk food, grab-what-you-can-and-eat-it-as-you-go-about-your-day lifestyle. Apart from the odd moment, gone were the days of spending hours in the kitchen lovingly making sumptuous raw meals for myself.

I can safely say that when I was eating raw, it was a great example of self love—slowing down, spending time for myself, taking time to artfully design my meals as if for someone really special (as is the case), naturally not feeling any desire for processed foods and junky treats, etc. I don't do that anymore.

Yesterday, my knee reminded me of this time of self love and loving-raw-food-preparation and signaled the need to return—if not 100% raw, definitely as the majority, with no processed junk. I felt as though the pain in the knee was also an accumulation of toxins—even something as simple as flour and dairy products. So yesterday I didn't eat anything processed. I listened to my body and consumed what it was calling for: sweet potato, carrot, water and Yogi Tea.

I also slowed down my body and mind. I read one of the books I had ordered from Amazon a while ago, I slept, rubbed my knee, gave myself energy treatments and didn't think about or become immersed in things-to-do.

By evening my knee was miles better. It's still not 100% itself, but I will continue to listen to it, be more conscious of my thoughts and feelings, be gentle to myself on all levels and adjust accordingly. Will also monitor and see if a visit to the osteo is in the works.

I recommend Red Cross First Aid Course

Yesterday I did the Red Cross First Aid Course. I would recommend it to everyone.

We learned various techniques, including dressing of wounds, tying triangular slings, wrapping splints for injuries to muscles/bones/joints, rescue breath and rescue breathing, CPR and we also covered details on what to do for victims of burns, heart attacks, strokes, poisoning, life-threatening allergies, etc.

We practised on each other by tying slings, turning the 'injured' body to recovery position, dealing with conscious choking emergencies, etc. The CPR and breathing techniques were practised on dummies—where and how to pump the chest, how many times to pump, where and how to place the mouth-to-mouth (or mouth covering nose and mouth in the case of babies) for rescue breathing.

Of course it's vital to keep practising so that (a) we don't forget what we learned and (b) we improve on what we learned in terms of efficiency and confidence.

Definitely a worthwhile course. Only 8 hours on a Saturday, once a month, $400 registration. If interested, call the TT Red Cross and give them your name. The next class is in September.

Healing Through Creativity interview

Last Tuesday I was interviewed by Dr. Desirée Cox on her programme "Healing Through Creativity". Those who missed it can click here to listen to the episode. It's about an hour long.

During the course of the interview I share the Lovebirds Meditation and how to do it. It's an interactive experience I have shared when performing my music publicly.

Those who would like to try the Lovebirds Meditation on their own can find the music track here http://tinyurl.com/yjpa9oj

Me before & after

Reflection of my profile forming "a vase"
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As human beings we are constantly evolving. Why would we be in this life unless it was to transform and be transformed—ideally in ways that are beneficial to ourselves and others.

I had an interesting experience/conversation Friday evening before last, as I waited for a friend in a yoga studio. As I sat on the couch, two people came to speak with me. One had met me more than ten years ago, the other had met me within the last ten years.

The woman who has known me over the course of ten-plus years told me that she found I was more fun "back then" (i.e. when I used to smoke, drink, party, etc) and that now I'm not fun.

The other person, who met me about two years ago, was open-mouth shocked. "Wow! I think she's a lot of fun!" he said. (I think I am too). He was also shocked to know that I used to drink and smoke. People who know me now usually can't put the two together. (I can't even put the two together!) They see me as being very 'clean'. They see my early bedtime, early yoga mornings, lack of interest in loud music and crowds as the way I have always been. And I guess it is who I always was, under the smoke.

The time I automatically wake up now to do yoga (sadhana) is the time I often used to be going to sleep after coming home early in the morning or being up late doing whatever-I-was-doing.

My desire to not be out socializing in loud/crowded pubs, clubs, etc is not because I never did. It's because they feel empty and false to me. How can you really get to know that person you are shouting at over the music, clouded by smoke and numbed by intoxicants? But more importantly, how can you get to know yourself?

When I started practising Kundalini Yoga ten years ago, I changed and so did my life. On the morning of 8 January 2001 (3 months after starting Kundalini) I awoke and, as I sat up in bed, a clear voice said: "You will not smoke again." I can't explain the experience beyond that. It was very simple and it was not my imagination. The thought of questioning the Voice did not even occur. Clearly I was ready and the Voice knew it.

From that day on, I never smoked again (I used to chain smoke), never even had a craving. On that same day, coffee drinking (I used to have a few cups a day) and consumption of alcohol (social beverage) also fell away. I did not have to try to give up anything ... and I have not looked back. I do not miss them for one second. That day was one of the best things that ever happened to me. Probably saved my life.

I'm not being judgmental when I say this, because I understand on many levels why smoking happens ... but now when I see people puffing away, it looks like an illusion, like some mirage behind a veil (literally and figuratively). It hurts to look at it. I see packs of cigarettes in the grocery and feel my stomach churn.
When will they package a few deep breaths in a box?
I remember once driving through Manzanilla with a friend who was visiting and, on one particular inhalation that went very deep, I said: "Wow, I feel like I just smoked myself!" In that moment I realised: maybe that's why people smoke - to inhale so deeply (even though that breath is filled with toxins). We are so subconscious about our breathing. We breathe shallowly, we hold our breath for long periods, we take it for granted. Yet each breath is what keeps us alive.

Nun Karma Repatterning

Image on the front of the e-book
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In the most recent issue of the free e-zine Prosperous Healer, there was a link to a very interesting 46 page book (free download): Nun Karma Repatterning.

The subject may not be of interest to everyone, but it's worth downloading, reading and doing the exercises in the book if anything in the below extract resonates.

Extract from the e-book's Introduction:

ABOUT PATTERNS

Old Karmic experiences can be fruitful and beneficial, or they can limit us today as we evolve our inner divinity and prosper in the world. Most Karmic patterns are not held at physical, emotional and mental levels. They're held and activated at the Lightbody level---the subtle soul level that exists beyond our physical, emotional and mental bodies. These Lightbody patterns include the residual imprinting from solemn vows we have taken in other lifetimes. They can also come in with our holographic family lineages and generational patterns. The more we grow in conscious evolution towards the higher frequencies of light and spirit, the more our old spiritual vows are reactivated. So the more we clear these old patterns, vows and ties from our subtle levels, the more effective we become in our present day life and work (and so do all others).

Also, mp3 downloads of recent sessions here.

Important: How to care for an injured baby bird

Jasper observes Bird

When this little bird came to me a few days ago (and shortly after, died in my hands), I wrote to Detta (Wildlife Orphanage and Rehabilitation Centre - WORC) and told her about it. She is currently out of the country and sent a detailed email. I'm sharing it because at some point or another most of us come across baby birds that fall from their nests or are victims of attack. I can tell you from experience, it is very rewarding to nurse an injured animal back to health ... especially a bird, to see it fly off.

From Detta's email:
When you find a baby bird ( any bird) pick it up gently but securely and examine it for any wounds, broken legs, etc. Gently turning it over in the palm of your hand so that the chest is facing you (you can keep your hand in such a position that the bird is still vertical) ease out each wing at right angles to the body, checking the bones of the wing. They are in the same arrangement as your arm. From the inside view any breaks or punctures are easily visible.

In this case there may not have been anything you could have done . The pussy eyes may suggest an infection or pox contracted from pigeons. This would also have caused the swollen nares.

The pigeon pox is a virus and highly contagious to doves and certain other native birds. This is the reason I don't take in pigeons unless they have a pigeon club band. I have another resource person who handles them.

You could give simple triage easily. Keep some supplies in the house: peroxide, Q-Tips, cotton wool, iodine and children's Painol. Mix a small quantity of Peroxide and h2o (half &half) and using Q-tips or cotton wool, completely clean the wound and the surrounding area. Because birds don't have a liquid lymphatic system, and creams make a mess of feathers, I use powdered antibiotics. A good standard is Beneocin. It's a broad spectrum and well tolerated. If you know your doctor well enough and he trusts you, you could ask for a prescription, explaining why you want it.

Pain management is an often talked about problem, I have found the simplest thing is Painol, but if you can get ARNICA in a tablet or powder it would be better as it is homeopathic. Either get it down the birds throat or mix with a little water and give it with a dropper from the side of the beak, a drop at a time.

Just a cautionary note: When putting liquid down a bird's throat make sure you avoid the glottis. This is the opening on the back of the birds tongue. It is the airway to its lungs. Also remember that these are very small organisms and don't have much body mass. Use only very small quantities of the drug.

Lastly, keep it warm and secure. I have a cheap heating electric pad which I place under the cage at night. You could keep the bird in a box in a quiet and warm place in the house.

Finally: my valued resource person is quite close to you, Dr.Gabriel Brown. He is the avian specialist at the vet school, and you will find him in the small building on the south perimeter road as you pass the new Oncology unit, and the incinerator of the vet school. There is parking off the road but you have to walk round the corner to the glass door. Alternately you could drive around to the Small Animal Clinic, drive past it into the bovine area and the little building is facing you. In this case it would have been useful to have taken the little body up to him for a necropsy. This way you would get some information back on what happened to it. It also provides the students with useful experience.

I have a small styrene container in which I transport little bodies. The protocol they prefer is to have the animal/bird placed in a clean zip-lock bag as soon after it expires as possible. This way they can examine the parasites it may carry and then place it in the carrier with a few zip-lock bags of ice. No freezing.

FOOTNOTE FROM DETTA:

In the case of baby birds or an injury case, it is important to identify the species it order to feed it correctly. On the wrong diet, the bird will not survive.

Richard ffrench's book "the Birds of Trinidad & Tobago" has excellent plates for ID and some information on their habits and food sources. Be cautious when taking information off the net. The same species may occur in the southern USA but have different diets and are adapted to those, whereas, the same species from Venezuela, the Guyanas, and the amazon may have more closely related habits.

Finally, it is extremely important, to consider that you are helping this individual to survive and return to its own environment. Only if the individual is crippled and unable to survive in the wild should it become domesticated (habituated) and then a permit should be sought from the FORESTRY DIVISION, or it could be turned over to an established Rehabilitation Centre, for use.

THANK YOU, DETTA.

Out of the Box (the online launch)

First there was Invisible: Children Living with HIV/AIDS - an awareness-raising mini documentary created for TTCRC (Trinidad and Tobago Coalition for the Convention on the Rights of the Child).Now there is "Out of the Box".

Five secondary school students meet an openly HIV positive woman (Lorna Henry) and discover that the face of HIV doesn't always hide and doesn't always fit the stereotype. Under the guidance of multimedia artist Elspeth Duncan, the girls created this mini film during their experience.

Out of the Box (2009), created for TTCRC (Trinidad and Tobago Coalition for the Convention on the Rights of the Child), was funded by UNAIDS and UNDP.


ABOUT TTCRC
The TTCRC is an umbrella organisation comprised of individuals and groups who are interested in realizing the full implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in T&T through advocacy, education and collaboration at all levels, with the aim of developing each child's fullest potential and keeping at the fore all things that are in the child's best interest.

For more information and to get involved: ttcrc1999 (at) yahoo (dot) com

My 2nd Healing Session with Medicinesongwoman

Order and listen to more of Brenda's music here

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Last summer when I was in Toronto, I met Medicinesong Woman, Brenda MacIntyre, in person for the first time. As we chatted over cups of tea in Ellington's Bar & Cafe, she spoke about wanting to have a listening party for her new CD (see above image). I felt strongly moved to help her promote it and offered to do some graphic art and a short video as extra advertising. She accepted and, as a return gift, gave me a free long distance energy healing and channeling session.

Brenda and I have maintained our connection and kept in touch since my return to TT. I admire her healing approach to life and the uplifting messages she spreads to her audiences through her work.

A few weeks ago she sent a questionnaire to clients who have experienced her distance healing sessions. I didn't know there was going to be a prize for one of the randomly-chosen questionnaire recipients. So I was surprised to come home about two weeks ago and find an email stating that the winner of the free long distance energy healing and channeling session (randomly selected by her daughter) was "E. Duncan."

We did the session today at midday (TT time) and 11 a.m. (TO time). Just like the last time, it was fantastic. I e-mailed Brenda directly after to tell her what I had experienced. She responded with the acknowledgment that she had also experienced aspects similar to what I had described.

Later I will receive the recordings with her channeled message and channeled song from this afternoon's session. Last time the recordings were very interesting and resonant with my life. I'm sure this time they will be just as (if not more) enlightening.

*************
(From her site)
Medicine Song Woman Brenda MacIntyre is a Juno Award-winning Native Canadian World Music Singer, Healer, Artist & Speaker. Through her work, Brenda assists individuals and audiences in increasing their joy, vitality and well-being.

Brenda MacIntyre brings multiple offerings, with various empowerment workshops and drumming/healing circles as well as performances (a cappella and with a band), healing sessions and talks.

Brenda uses a unique healing system in which she channels healing songs, clears and re-aligns energy, and receives visions and intuitive energy readings for individuals.

Do you have First Aid Certification?

Dear All,

In light of the recent earthquake in Haiti, I called the Red Cross today to sign up to do the First Aid certification course. It is $400 per person, 2 days (weekends) from 8 - 4. First day you learn basic first aid and second day you do CPR, etc, At the end you get a certificate, valid for 3 years, enabling you to use your new skills anywhere in the world.

Their next class (last 2 Sats in Jan) are booked but I left my name. If anyone drops out, I'll get in. If not, they estimate the next date will be in March. Maybe then we can all do it together (i.e. if I don't get to do the January class I'll do March).

Are you interested? This is something useful for all of us to do. Some of you may have done it already but may need renewed certification. Not being 'negative', just practical. Whether injuries are as a result of 'simple' daily mishaps or natural disasters, it's good for us to have these basic skills ... to know how to assist in an emergency.

Elspeth

(The above is a letter I just sent out to some of my friends. I am posting it here too because it is something we would all do well to follow up on).

Pod's interracial relationship

Pod on her branch
Photo: Detta Buch

Apparently Pod (blue tanager) and the green tanager have been competing with each other for food. Both of them are voracious. When not being fed, they keep far from each other. The green tanager has not left the nest ... and Pod spends most of her time perched on a branch, keeping away from her room mate.

But given a little time, see how things can change ...

Photo: Detta Buch

Yesterday evening Detta called me to say that when she came home she headed straight for the cage to check on the birds. In the dark she couldn't see Pod. She fished her hand around and didn't feel her, so went to get her torchlight. The sight that met her eyes was a total surprise. See the above photo: Pod and the green tanager nestled in a bundle next to each other, fast asleep in the nest, keeping warm and cozy on a cold, rainy evening.