Yoga Retreats

After my post in June I’m at last busily organising a couple of Retreat Weekends, well three to be precise. The venue for two of them is Bala Brook on Dartmoor. Formerly the Golden Buddha Center the venue offers a simple, peaceful environment for Yoga and Buddhist retreats. Situated on the edge of Dartmoor National Park the scenery is stunning, from open moorland to rugged, wooded slopes of ancient oak. The first retreat is a Yoga and Massage weekend on November 5th – 7th. Traditional yoga practice, walking, massage workshops and good food is offered. The weekend costs £195 inclusive and you can find more details here. Please contact me if you would like to join us. In December members of the South Dorset Buddhist Group are having a ‘quiet’ weekend. A chance for us to enhance our practice with meditation, silent walks, chanting etc.
The third event is still being finalised but is labeled as a Yoga and Aromatherapy weekend at Tilton House in Sussex. If it goes ahead it will be in April next year.

Hole in the wall

I was on my way to Bala Brook on Dartmoor this week when I stopped for lunch at Buckfast Abbey. Finding a quiet place away from the streams of tourists I noticed this lovely stone wall with a hole in it. (photo on right). This is not the first ‘holy’ discovery as you will see by the second picture. This was taken last year in the hamlet of Bincombe on the ridge south of Dorchester. Both these holes have lintels so they are not just gaps where a stone has fallen out. They are deliberately constructed this way. As both the walls are retaining rather than dividing, the holes are actually recesses but I imagine they could be there for drainage. Any ideas? More about Bala Brook coming soon as we shall be holding yoga and meditation workshops at the retreat centre.

“it’s” Python in Poole

Gahan Wilson

If you are old enough you may remember the work of cartoonist, illustrator and author Gahan Wilson. (b.1930) Famous for taking an everyday situation to a bizarre conclusion his cartoons often depicted wacky or gruesome scenarios. I still have one of his books published in 1973 with his classic ‘aftermath of war’ image on the cover. A solitary bedraggled soldier emerges from the desolate cityscape amidst rubble and smoke and declares “I think I’ve won”.
Gahan Wilson regularly appeared in ‘Playboy’, ‘New Yorker’ and ‘Punch’ and in the 70′s he had a cartoon strip ‘Nuts’ which ran in the backpages of ‘National Lampoon’.
Take a look at the Gahan Wilson Virtual Museum

Sydenham Community Radio

Here’s a plug for Sydenham Community Radio. My son Andrew and the rest of the team have been working hard to prepare for the FM launch on Sunday. They will be broadcasting on 106.8 FM and online ’till Saturday 24th July. Check their website for the full schedule. For those who don’t know, Sydenham is in South East London and boasts some famous residents including Bill Wyman, John Logie Baird, Rolf Harris and W G Grace.

satiyoga

I met Melanie and Peter about 15 years ago at the annual Yoga for Health Foundation festival. I try to visit them in Edinburgh when I can (but not often enough, according to Peter). They are both experienced yoga teachers and qualified remedial yoga instructors specialising in disabilities and long term conditions. This year they are running a number of Remedial Yoga Residentials in Strathyre (near Callander) and Haybergill in Cumbria. Additionally they are hosting a couple of non-residential meditation retreats with Ajahn Abhinando, from Aruna Ratanagiri Buddhist Monastery, in their studio. Both Melanie and Peter teach regular weekly yoga classes at a number of venues in Edinburgh and you can find details of these and all their other events on their website. www.satiyoga.co.uk

Poole Boats

We’re used to a variety of vessels in Poole. What would you expect from one of the largest natural harbours in the world? It’s the headquarters of the RNLI and the home of the ever expanding luxury boatbuilder, Sunseeker. It is also a freight port and we are used to seeing (and hearing) large vessels unloading various cargos. There are regular cross-Channel passenger ferries to Cherbourg (sadly the MV Barfleur was withdrawn earlier this year). On a smaller scale fleets of pleasure boats ferry passengers to Brownsea Island and other local spots. At one end of the Quay, adjacent to the Lifeboat Museum, there is a bustling fishing fleet, in stark contrast to the marina next door. Last week we saw a large luxury craft moored here which intrigued me to the point of looking it up on Google. According to a boat spotters website this ‘megayacht’ was up for sale recently in the Med for mere £4.75m.
Let’s see, who have I missed? There are numerous yacht marinas catering for craft of all sizes and the slipway at Baiter is regularly busy with day visitors with their ‘personal watercraft’, Jet Skis to you and me, and also dinghies. Every day is different on the quay with the possibility of a tall ship, a training vessel or a Royal Navy minesweeper paying a visit. A great place to live.

Wesak Celebration

Wesak, wesakha puja, is the celebration of the birth, enlightenment and passing of the Buddha. It is traditionaly held on the full moon observance day (uposatha) in May. In some Buddhist countries this is major occasion lasting a number of days. At our Monastery in Devon the Wesak celebration took place yesterday, entirely outside in the warm sunshine. The ceremonies began with the rice pindapat, the traditional offering of rice to the monks. This was followed by a lavish buffet of all kinds of food including traditional Thai dishes, salads and various desserts. We were then inspired by talks given by Bhikkhu Vinita from Sri Lanka and Ajahn Jutindharo about the life of the Buddha and the significance of Wesak. Incence was handed round and we set off for a circumambulation, through the woods, around the lake and back to offer at the Buddha Rupa. As usual the visit to the Monastery was an uplifting experience, I just wish I lived a bit nearer.

More bread

I love bread, particularly made from quality, fresh, organic ingredients. So today, avoiding the madding crowds flocking to the coast, we headed inland to another organic Dorset baker. Hidden deep in the beautiful countryside, north of Wimborne, you’ll find the village of Long Crichel and the Bakery. They have been baking in their wood fired brick oven since 2000 and in addition to the traditional loaves you’ll find mouth watering cakes and patisseries. We bought a sourdough loaf and a couple of Danish whirls. The pastries were demolished shortly after, sitting at the edge of a field in the hot sunshine, with just the sound of the buzzing insects and the birds (including a far off cuckoo). That reminds me of a ’60s hippy joke. A hippy goes into a bakers and says
“Hey man, give me one of your far out cakes”
Baker “I’m sorry sir they’re all gone”
Hippy “Great, I’ll take two”
www.longcrichelbakery.co.uk

Oleander Hawk-moth

It’s surprising what you can find at a motorway service station. On exiting the automatic doors, dodging the coffee carrying visitors I noticed something strange on the ground. What looked like an ornate brooch turned out to be a large Hawk-moth lying vulnerably on the mat. It’s markings were shades of olive green with exquisite camouflage patterns. I looked it up later and found it to be the Oleander Hawk-moth (Daphnis nerii) and apparently quite rare in Britain. As I rescued the fellow it crawled onto my hand exposing the full beauty of it’s form. I left it in some nearby shrubbery, one of the nice features of this motorway stop. (M3 Winchester). Photo thanks to Hantsmoths.