This Year we continue with the regular yoga classes and timetable, at least as a start. I know some people would like different times and days. Though many loyal yoga students are happy with it and used to the well known times & days. It also works easiest with the locations/ scout halls the classes are taken.
This year I’m again organizing and teaching a Yoga Weekend at Gunnebah Retreat near Murwillumbah, NSW.
26th – 28th August 2016 (Friday – Sunday).
I teach the whole yoga & meditation program. The delicious vegetarian meals are lovingly prepared by the Gunnebah Catering team, Vanessa from Tulsi Foods.
Early Spring is a good time to recharge your batteries, shed the winter blues and set new intentions. Get ready for the New Season with a weekend of intense yoga&meditation, surrounded by beautiful nature. We enjoy delicious vegetarian meals. You can look at it as a detox; having no meat, fish, alcohol, processed food and too much sugar for a whole weekend. Join us, you will not regret it.
Bush walking at the Retreat with views to Mount Warning. Photo from August 2015.
“Growing your own pineapples is patience in practice.
The result is a very rewarding treat.
See this example as a metaphor for many things in life.”
Maria Prema
Presently we have three pineapples growing. From the time you cut the top and put it in a pot or directly in the ground is takes about 2 – 3 years for the beautiful red pineapple flower to emerge. Then close to six months until the fruit is ripe, yellow and sweet. You can not rush it!!
Pineapples are part of the Bromeliad family.
Mother Nature gifted me with a pineapple for my birthday, 31.1.16.
The practice of Gratitude is something I wanted to write and post a blog about it since some time. (Better late than never, while starting the New Year with good intentions and put them into practice) 🙂
Back in January 2013 I posted the following on my Facebook page:
“This idea made the rounds on Facebook last week.
Start on January 1st with an empty jar. Throughout the year write the good things that happened to you on little pieces of paper. On December 31st, open the jar and read all the amazing things that happened to you that year.
So I started my own with a hand made label and I call it “Gratitude Jar”, seeing and appreciating the beauty and abundance in life. If you like you write a daily note, about anything that put a smile on your face that day and made you feel happy in your heart. Of course you can use a smaller jar……. “
Half a year later my Gratitude Jar looked like this:
Since then I still add more notes to my jar. I write about anything that brings joy to my heart, the smell of a flower, a delicious organic fruit, the many new and loyal happy people in my yoga classes. A phone call, a postcard, etc. I received.
A few years before I started the gratitude jar I wrote a gratitude list at the end of each year. I still do that and also add things to the list throughout the year. After I write my gratitude list for the previous year, I then write my intentions list for the new year.
If you prefer you keep a gratitude journal, where you write your daily or weekly notes. Anything you give thanks to.
It is a wonderful practice that brings abundance, as you start to see the beauty in your life.
It’s actually a practice that I did for a while as a teenage girl. And it really helped me a lot back then (it was after my father died), no one told me about it, I listened to my intuition. I would write in my girly diary when: someone in the street smiled at me, I saw a nice flower on the side of the footpath, if a certain boy at school would say “hi” or “hoi” to my …… 🙂 I did not call it gratitude back then, I just noted what brought me joy that day, usually the smaller the better.
This year I do my gratitude on social media. Instagram has these wonderful hashtags #366grateful #365grateful #366daysofgratitude #366grateful2016 and more similar # or you start your own.
If you like to follow me on Instagram you find me under @mariaprema
I hope you join me this year in the practice of gratitude in some ways & the format that speaks to you. Let’s share our experiences throughout the year.
This year I’m organising and teaching a weekend retreat again, it has been four years since I offered a yoga retreat last time.
Early morning walk / meditation.
It takes place at the Gunnebah Retreat Centre near Murwillumbah, northern NSW. We have been there before and it’s an ideal location for a yoga weekend, surrounded by most beautiful nature. In the past I used to prepare and cook the meals myself, lot’s of work before and during the retreat for just one weekend. This year the Gunnebah catering team, will provide all our vegetarian meals. So less karma yoga for all of us, no chopping, cooking and doing the dishes. Instead kick back a little. Therefore also the higher cost than in the past.
The Retreat is from Friday 28 – Sunday 30 August 2015. It is open to newcomers, beginners, if you need to give your yoga practice a fresh boost and experienced yoga students.
The hatha yoga class will be mostly two hours, instead of the usual 90 minutes like in the weekly classes. So more time to go deeper into postures, explain details, more variations and holding postures longer. We practice the silent japa meditation, maybe Tratak (gazing at the flame of a candle) and chant Kirtan (mantra singing), as I bring my harmonium along.
During the lectures we might also cover other topics, than the classic yoga philosophy Vedanta. Wisdom, knowledge, practices, a holistic approach to life, etc. that interest me and I like to share more with you. For example: How the moon influences our bodies, the way it guides the ocean tides. (Saturday 29/08 will be a full moon). The facts and importance of the fascia. Tapping Solution for EFT (emotional freedom technique). Such interests and similar.
So it will be a very uplifting, inspiring and empowering weekend. Practicing and learning the vast horizon of Yoga, Meditation, Mantras and more. While we are in the middle of beautiful rain forest nature.
For more information please browse through theRetreat section on this website, phone or email me.
Looking forward to hearing and seeing you soon.
Namaste, Maria Prema
Pranayama practiceOutdoor eating at Gunnebah Retreat.
Hatha Yoga Ipswich 