Animal Yoga @ Rustic Retreats!

Animal Yoga™ was both presented and experienced at the almighty fabulous Rustic Retreats over the last fortnight! It was very well received with retreatants asking for the sequence, how to be kept informed, when the first workshop is and just generally sharing in the excitement about Animal Yoga’s seemingly long overdue formation.

Rustic Retreats is an off-grid, eco-friendly animal-loving yoga getaway nestled in the valleys of the Sierra Espuna mountains in southern Spain. There is plenty of wildlife surrounding us as we practice our yoga and go about our daily life there – living with the animals and alongside them is key. The setting also makes for plenty wildlife-watching opportunities, especially as far as diverse insects are concerned! There were numerous ways in which our commitment to ahimsa (non-harming to all beings) was both challenged and put into practice, including trying to go around ant trails along our paths, rescuing bugs caught in the pool water, practicing oneness with nature as we got used to sharing our home and tent with potentially a few little harmless creatures and being all the more mindful in our yoga practice to divert our bodies around any unexpected visitor onto our yoga mat! The odd accident of course did happen despite the bestest of intentions. This quote fits in wholesomely with this:

“Ahimsa is a comprehensive principle. We are helpless mortals caught in the conflagration of himsa. The saying that life lives on life has a deep meaning in it. Man cannot for a moment live without consciously or unconsciously committing outward himsa. The very fact of his living – eating, drinking and moving about – necessarily involves some himsa, destruction of life, be it ever so minute. A votary of ahimsa therefore remains true to his faith if the spring of all his actions is compassion, if he shuns to the best of his ability the destruction of the tiniest creature, tries to save it, and thus incessantly strives to be free from the deadly coil of himsa. He will be constantly growing in self-restraint and compassion, but he can never become entirely free from outward himsa.”    ~ Mahatma Gandhi

From the last image in this selection, you’ll see how there is a beautiful ginger cat all bandaged up. This was after a huge rescue effort from Elliot who owns Rustic Retreats. Mr M – this resident, semi-wild cat – had been bitten or injured somehow quite badly on his neck and it was going to get infected and who knows what if just left. Elliot was of course not going to let this happen but we all feared we may have to let nature take its course as Mr M was not playing ball and didn’t understand we were trying to help him and would continuously escape capture for veterinary help. He even evaded tranquilisers in his food. There was no giving up though and teamwork proved the way to solve this conundrum – luring Mr M into a small closed-in building, ensuring he did not get out and sticking with the mission despite Mr M of course being very scared and threatened and jumping all around the walls! Eventually he was cornered (somehow!?) into the cat carrier and the rest of us emerged from our yoga practice to the triumphant jolly jolly news indeed! 🙂

Rustic Retreats is a perfect spot for Animal Yoga™ thanks to the animal-loving nature of Elliot, the owner, and thanks to the wild location 🙂 I look forward to sharing Animal Yoga™ here with more retreatants in time to come 🙂

Right…. now back to developing Animal Yoga™ further 🙂 More posts and news incoming 🙂 xxx

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Mr M bandaged

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First donations made!

IAR 5th July '15 AA 5th July '15Animal Yoga™ has just made our first monthly donation of 40% of all its funds generated across the previous month (in this case June)!

Wooohoooo! Feels good.

40% of our funds this month (with one attendee at two classes) came to £7.20 – I rounded this up to £10 leaving a donation of £5 for each for Animal Aid & International Animal Rescue. This may seem small but having arisen from just one attendee at two classes, you can easily see how this figure will easily and quickly grow. Every little also helps and the regularity of every month will be beneficial to the charities too. Several people have booked onto our first workshop in September and this shall all contribute too of course! 🙂 Thank you for your compassionate work Animal Aid & International Animal Rescue! 🙂

First Attendee Testimonial :)

Yurts SunsetAnimal Yoga has been graced with a very complimentary testimonial from our very first attendee over the last two sessions!

“Although I’ve been to many of Jenny’s classed before, I didn’t really know what to expect from Animal Yoga. Pretty quickly after arriving at the beautiful venue that is itself nestled amongst animals and stunning views, I knew I was in for a treat. The class started with a breath technique that I’d never experienced before but almost immediately helped me quieten the monkey chatter in my brain and I quickly let go of my busy day and ‘arrived’ into my practice quicker than usual. The class itself was a great mix of postures – some familiar, some new and some challenging! As with all her classes, Jenny created a beautiful calm space to practice in that retained a sense of fun and adventure. The readings and stories interspersed throughout the class added an extra dimension and helped focus the mind. The postures will be a set sequence each time allowing for famliarity, which will enhance personal exploration of the postures and I’m eagerly awaiting the next class!” – the very first attendee of Animal Yoga™.

It’s like a mini pilgrimage making our way to this wholesome, tucked-away yurt set on an organic farm. It makes the practice feel all the more special and it’s almost like we have a mini safari included as we see bunny rabbits, alpacas (or llamas – not yet sure which!), cats, dogs horses and more on arrival and departure. 🙂 🙂

Why Animal Aid & International Animal Rescue?

With the numerous superb animal charities and not-for-profit organisations out there, it was indeed a difficult decision when deciding which two Animal Yoga™ would fundraise for/donate 40% of its funds to. Two not-for-profits were selected because it seemed too difficult and limited to pick just one.

International Animal Rescue was selected due to its global reach and its efforts on helping save animals and relieve their suffering in the here and now. To complement this, Animal Aid was selected alongside International Animal Rescue as the organisation focuses on political activism so as to secure positive and lasting change for the future in addition to general awareness raising amongst the public. Due to this political activism, it’s worth noting that Animal Aid is not allowed to be given a charity status, though it is run completely like a charity.

So, together, both these causes provide a very yogic-inspired BALANCE of how we can best help. One method (ie. focusing on relieving the suffering of extant animals or focusing on preventing such suffering in the future) is not more important than the other – both are required – and it is fantastic that Animal Yoga™ can support both of these charitable entities.

More about Animal Aid & International Animal Rescue.

 

Animal Yoga™ at first ever Eastbourne Yoga Show

Thanks to Eva Kristlova for the photo.
Thanks to Eva Kristlova for the photo.

It felt fabulous to be sharing Animal Yoga™ face-to-face with many yoga-loving attendees of the very first Eastbourne Yoga Show yesterday.

The banner definitely worked a treat to help attract attention and convey what we’re all about. There was intrigue, compliments, much interest and amazement that a similar venture has not been shared with the world before (to everyone’s knowledge)!

At 4pm, the Founder and currently sole Teacher (though not for long!!) of Animal Yoga™, Jenny Mace, delivered a well-attended taster session. Very difficult to condense a long 90-min practice into half an hour but again there was all the more intrigue, compliments, much interest and excitement. Next-up is sharing the Thursday eve class in Eastbourne with more people and offering Animal Yoga™ workshops in Brighton, Hastings & London. Thanks to everyone for their support. 🙂 🙂 🙂

 

 

A gift to the social enterprise of Animal Yoga™

Animal Yoga™ has been very fortunate to receive a gift to mark its birth – none other than an approximately 4400 year old bull antique originating from the Indus Valley, the oldest civilisation on the Indian subcontinent!! A testimony to the influence of animals within ancient civilisations and specifically within ancient Indian civilisations where yoga was born – and also highlighting perhaps how sacred the cow is in Indian culture. Also, a frog antique from ancient Sumeria where writing first began – wow!

Bull 1 Bull certificate Frog certificate Frog

Ahimsa/non-harming in its original state

Ahimsa: non-harming to all living beings

This is the transliteration from Sanskrit. The original Sanskrit (especially translated and created for Animal Yoga™) can be seen in the image here. Beautiful.

Many of us probably already embrace this principle a lot in our life but let us try to do one more little thing in honour of ahimsa today – toward ourselves and other fellow planetary beings regardless of the species  🙂

xxx

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First class starting one week today!

AA class flyerPlease celebrate with us even if you live further afield. We plan for classes to spread far and wide before too long for to reach as many people as possible 🙂

We start near to Eastbourne! Please book your attendance now. No drop-ins. No doubt you’ll first wish to commit to just a single session to see how this new practice floats your boat, but then it’s advisable to book a 6-week consecutive bundle for £54 (£9 per session). Single sessions booked in advance will be £11 per session (apart from your first one – still £9).

BRING A FRIEND FOR FREE UNTIL THE END OF JULY.

“When you feel the suffering of every living thing in your heart, that’s consciousness” ~ attributed to The Bhagavad Gita

Shree Pashupatinath – Respected Protector of Animals

The will of ahimsa (non-harming) and respect for all animals within yogic teaching/ancient origins/Hinduism is further highlighted by this phrase Shree Pashupatinath meaning Respected Protector of Animals. Pashu means organism, pati means protector and nath refers to Lord. We can endeavour to embody this protectorship of animals through our yoga practice and in our lives.

It may interest you to know that Shree Pashupatinath is revered throughout the Hindu world and especially in Nepal where Pashupatinath has National Deity status. In fact, there is a whole temple in his name that is one of the most important Hindu temple in Nepal – Pashupatinath Temple (only slightly damaged in the recent earthquake). It is a hugely unique (and for many, culturally shocking) place. It has a constant atmosphere of death (not a negative thing from the yoga perspective – indeed, in the words of Iyengar, the whole of life can be seen as a preparation for death) as many elderly Hindus flock there in the last weeks of their life in the belief that that shall be spared from returning as an animal regardless of any former wrong-doing and impact on karma (we hasten to add, that we don’t acutally defiantly believe this part – we don’t necessarily think it’s intrinsically undesirable to be an animal – we perceive animals as wonders of their own, although we remain open-minded). It is usual for visitors to even witness an open-air cremation, there are many rituals themed around death and an endless smell of cremated bodies, which apparently has an aroma of spices rather than decaying flesh! There are Sadhus also present – ascetic yogis who have given up everything in the pursuit of liberation and freedom from death/rebirth cycle and suffering – they have a very distinctive appearance!To top it all off, there are monkeys (not overly friendly ones supposedly) and deer wandering around the temple complex! Legend has it that a god came to the area and was so blown away by the beauty of the valley and forest that they morphed their self into a deer and entered the forest – they refused to return when later being found. See more here: http://www.pashupatinathtemple.org/

Oh the marvellous history, spirituality and animal-ness to be found 🙂

Image courtesy of xlquinhosilva, sourced from Flickr Creative Commons.
Image courtesy of xlquinhosilva, sourced from Flickr Creative Commons.
Image courtesy of Subkanto Debnath, sourced from Flickr Creative Commons.
Image courtesy of Subkanto Debnath, sourced from Flickr Creative Commons.
Image courtesy of momo, sourced from Flickr Creative Commons.
Image courtesy of momo, sourced from Flickr Creative Commons.