December Newsletter

Sat Naam dear all,

I hope you're all adjusting to the shorter days and the still decreasing amounts of daylight - fortunately Winter Solstice isn't far off anymore, so the days will start lengthening again soon.

I'm very grateful for my Lumie Bodyclock (that uses light therapy as well as aromatherapy) to help me adjust to the little daylight we get (especially with so many grey and overclouded days in the UK - coming from Belgium, I'm used to winters that are much colder but also much sunnier than what we get here...). 

I have been asked if I'll be running a Solstice program of any kind, and the answer is: no I unfortunately won't. My husband and myself try to go to a Sikh Camp every year around Solstice and Christmas time. We obviously don't celebrate Christmas (or New Year, for that matter - that's in March for us) but for us Sikhs the month of Poh (coinciding with the second half of December into the first half of January) is the month in which we remember a long string of gruelling martyrdoms, of the entire family of our 10th Guru, Guru Gobing Singh ji and of thousands upon thousands of Sikhs. So we try to get away for several days, with about a hundred other Sikhs, from all the Christmas hustle and bustle to go within, contemplate on Sikh history, meditate for most of the day and sing kirtan (God's Praises) together. It's a very special time that we get to be away from everything - and it's generally the most precious time of the year for me - if I could, I would stay there forever, together with sangat.

But: I'll be coming back, and I'll even be able to run a special class on Monday 30 December - the only one in the 2 weeks of holidays. More info on that (and on the holiday break) below.
Please also find important information in this newsletter about the new locations for our evening classes! And I've included yet another beautiful and inspirational text on Winter by Brigit Anna McNeill, to accompany the current series on Going Within that I'm teaching in our Leicester classes. I hope classes are inspiring you to carve out time for yourself, time to sit with what is less comfortable inside, and that you are learning to be able to observe the need to distract yourself from those feelings without having to act on it, learning to hold space for yourself...

My last Closing the Bones training was 2 weeks ago in Leicester, and it was beautiful - I share some testimonials below. 9 new bone closers have joined our tribe. I'm now taking 2 months off from running trainings - it being Winter, I want to give myself this time to reflect and pause as well. I'm even giving myself next weekend to attend a 2-day Restorative Yoga & Yoga Nidra weekend, something I very rarely do (most of the time I teach), and I can't tell you how excited I am to gift that time to myself.

Speaking of gifts: I've included a small section in this newsletters on the vouchers or other gift ideas (malas, rebozos, handmade skincare products, aromatherapy blends,...) that you can get from me, should you be looking for something.

But so once the days are lengthening again and come the end of January, I'll be back with running trainings, and my weekends from the end of January up until the end May are starting to look very booked up with trainings now! In that light, I again have quite a few new training dates with you to share - since the last newsletter I've added a new training date for Closing the Bones in Leicester (7 & 8 March 2020), AND a second weekend for the Yogic Restorative Massage Training in Leicester (29 February and 1 March). I will likely also be able to share dates with you in the next newsletter for a new Postnatal Doula Training from the Postnatal Support Network, likely around mid-April, so stay tuned for that!
The info for all scheduled upcoming Closing the Bones trainings and Yogic Restorative Massage Trainings is included below, so scroll down for that!

We will be welcoming a Full Moon this week, and all information to help you to support yourself through this intense Gemini energy in the Stomach meridian has been on the blog for a week, and is linked towards the end of this newsletter too. And I've already been needing it - I'm a Gemini myself, and this moon has been making itself felt for a good few days for me!

Lastly, I want to share some wonderful news with you - for the 3rd year in a row, Shuniya Kundalini Yoga - my small home yoga studio - has been awarded the ThreeBestRated award for "Top 3 Yoga Classes in Leicester" and "Best Business of the Year". Receiving this honour in 2017 was quite a shock (a positive one though - the other recipients were big yoga studios with multiple teachers, reception staff, etc.), I couldn't quite believe that I received it again in 2018, and this recognition for 2019 bears testimony to the fact I have been able to consistently deliver qualitative classes, trainings and other services. That I have been able to do so in a city where we are blessed to have a big yoga community with lots of teachers and classes is something that humbles me. And it makes me feel very grateful for having made the decision 8 and a half years ago to walk out on my academic career (against everyone's advice), and take this plunge in the deep of moving to the UK and setting up something that until then wasn't even a dream for me - it was simply something completely beyond my imagination. I never dreamed I would be doing what I do know, as it was something well beyond what I was envisioning for myself. It's been hard work - I'm not going to lie about that - but it's very fulfilling hard work!

Just 2 weeks before receiving this 2019 award, I joined The Space to Breathe Collective in Leicester (more info below - our Monday classes have moved to their beautiful yoga space) and I hope that some of the experience I have gained with teaching for over 13 years now, of which 8 years full-time, might be of help to some teachers who are just starting on this journey.

  

In service of the divine in All,

Japjeet Rajbir Kaur

As I announced in the last newsletter, we have started with a topic series where we are taking inspiration from Mother Nature, where everything is slowing down. As animals have started to hibernate, we too have started focussing on going more within, doing more restorative practices, focusing more on finding deep relaxation and a space to just be and not have to constantly do. Winter is a time to be with what there is, with what needs to be seen, what needs to decay and die within you and what we normally try to distract us from with busy-ness, especially in this season... But it's exactly this decay that will become the fertile ground from which new things will grow - and instead of holding space for it, we keep running away in distractions (Black Friday shopping, holiday preparations, ...). 

I hope this current series can help you hold conscious space for yourself in this time of year...

And as in the last newsletter, I again would like to share some (new) words from Brigit Anna McNeill with you on the topic (and the illustration this time is by Lolley) - they are an echo of what I've been teaching for the past few weeks in classes, about the utmost importance of sitting with this process of death and decay inside us, as without it, new life isn't possible. 

"These darker days invite you to rest well; to remember and reclaim the gold and the nourishment held within.
Winter teaches that nothing can be outward all the time, nothing can be forever spring; growing, young and outward.
All natural beings need rest in order to sustain themselves.
We need this time to go into our own dark richness.
Into the places we may fear inside ourselves, so we can turn them into medicine, through love and kindness of who we are.
This is a time where deep nourishment is called for, in the form of good wholesome foods and tender love of our own hearts.
Reminding ourselves that through the darkness comes the light, that this time is not only necessary but needed.
Just as the baby becomes whole in the darkness of the womb and the seed needs the black quiet earth to ignite what is held within.
This time of quiet darkness mirrors the beginning of all things.
And so this time is the invitation to begin again, to die mini deaths in your darkness so you can be rebirthed into the light of spring more alive and stronger than before.
Light the fires and the candles in your hearth, honour the gifts your heart and the heart of others can bring.
Create a nest you can rest in, a place to love yourself in and journey in.
Write and dream.
Eat well and sleep well.
Winter is showing you that this is the time where you are the embryo in the womb, the seed in the darkness.
This is the time where nature asks- what do you need to heal, to feel safe enough to become whole, to become who you deeply are.
What needs attending to so you can feel peace in your body, what needs loving so you can grow well in the light that is to come."



Head over to the Class Schedule if you don't know what days and times I run classes.

Just days after I sent out my last newsletter, I was informed that the Fosse Neighbourhood Centre, where we have been holding our evening classes for the last few years, is now closing on the evenings that we have our classes - the cutbacks that have seen so many Council owned neighbourhood centres disappear have reached the Fosse Centre too...
 

Our Monday 7-8.30pm class has in the meanwhile already moved to The Space the Breathe Collective in Leicester (23 Rawson Street, LE1 6UP). We are blessed with a beautiful and cosy space that is completely devoted to yoga, meditation and similar activities, and this not-for-profit is run by some fabulous people. 

 

Starting January 2020 our Tuesday 7-8.30pm class will move to Manor House Community Centre, Haddenham Road, LE3 2BG, where we will hold our class in the Main Hall (a beautiful space with wooden floors and bay windows). The last 2 December classes will still be held at Fosse Neighbourhood Centre.


Finding new spaces was slightly stressful, but in the end both spaces have turned out to be a significant upgrade space-wise to where we were practicing before. So I really welcome the change (even though I'm no longer walking distance away from the venues!)

I look forward to welcoming and serving you in our new locations!

We will have a break from classes over the holidays - there will be no classes at all in the week of 23 December, and in the week of 30 December I will not teach the Tuesday or Wednesday class, yet Monday 30 December we could potentially have a class at The Space to Breathe. I would appreciate it if you would get back to me if you'd like to come to class that Monday, so I know whether to hold a class or not.

After adding several dates for Belgium trainings last month, I now have new Leicester dates for 2020, as our November training in Leicester was completely booked full. And it was a fantastic training, as the testimonials show:

"Beautifully delivered. Honoured to be a part of this training. Japjeet is an amazing practitioner and teacher. Thank you." (Anon., November 2019 Leicester)

"Thank you Japjeet for such a wonderful weekend of training and welcoming me so warmly into your home. I have been completely inspired and your passion really shows through, the course was perfect and even more than I expected. How the weekend flowed, the information you gave, how you delivered it and your explanations of everything are a credit to you, so again thank you so much!" (Rebecca Louis, Mama Blossom, November 2019 Leicester)

"Excellent. Loved the work and the care & attention from Japjeet. Felt held and safe throughout. Gentle adjustments when needed. Thank you!! Loved both days equally." & "Thank you. What a beautiful couple of days. What a joy this work is." (Andrea Clarke, Root Medicine, November 2019 Leicester)

"Thank you so much for an absolutely beautiful and enriching weekend. I felt very held in your space [...], you held us all so fully. I’m very excited about sharing this beautiful ceremony." (Emma L-W, November 2019 Leicester)

"I found the weekend to be beautiful and deeply affecting." (Anand Kirtan, November 2019 Leicester)

Upcoming Training dates:

* On 15 & 16 February 2020 I'll be offering the training in Chester, UK at Greenhouse Therapies.
* On 7 & 8 March 2020 I will be running the next Leicester, UK training, likely again at my home.
* On 21 & 22 March 2020 I'll be coming to As, Belgium, where Annelies Tavernier (Jotdev Kaur) will welcome us at Universana in her yurt!
* On 16 & 17 May 2020 I will be in Schilde, Belgium, at Karin Verbist (Ranpriya Kaur)'s Ranpriya studio.

Closing the Bones is incredibly versatile in its uses, and once you're a certified practitioner there is almost no end as to who you can serve with this work - women, men, children, in so many different stages and situations in life. It is anything but limited to postnatal work. 
Although ideally done in the ‘4^th trimester’ (and even as soon as 6 hours after birth), CtB can still be done decades after having given birth with the same extraordinary effects. Moreover, it is also deeply healing after the loss of a baby, a miscarriage, stillbirth or abortion, a hysterectomy, or where fertility problems present themselves... It can even be done while you are going through the process of miscarriage - you don't have to wait until you have stopped bleeding as this can be a process of several weeks, and Closing the Bones can be an immense support during a miscarriage. I have also found that Closing the Bones works beautifully to mark the end of a breastfeeding journey, when it can be the most powerfully nurturing ceremony to 'reclaim' your body in some ways as yours again; or to honour milestones such as little one turning e.g. 1 year old (where often all the celebrations are about the little one, just like with birth so often, and mum's well-being and care can again be overlooked while she has just been thrown into a first year of unconditional and often relentless service and sacrifice, very often at the cost of her own sleep, health, food, ...). Closing the Bones ceremonies can also help to mark major times of transition in a woman’s life (irrespective of whether she has given birth or not), such as young girls starting their period – most women indicate to feel tremendous relief from period pains when receiving the massage on the first few days of their menstruation – , marriage, divorce or the end of a relationship, moving home, transitioning between jobs, marking the (peri-)menopause, ... And its magic doesn't end there: it can also be used to support men, women and children who suffer from anxiety, shock, trauma (sexual or other), PTSD, ADD, autism, or who feel overwhelmed or over-stimulated. In case of a miscarriage, being sifted and rocked, and then wrapped in rebozos, can also be very nurturing and healing for the partner.

More info on what Closing the Bones entails can be found on my website.

At the bottom of the Trainings page you can find more testimonials from recent trainings -- the workshop seems to touch everyone very deeply. 

If you in any way feel called, contact me about setting up a training near you -- for bringing a group of 7-8 women together and offering a space, I offer you 50% discount on the training fee. 

Saturday 25 January (10.30-17.00) & Sunday 26 January 2020 (10.00-13.30)
Leicester
And NEW DATE:
Saturday 29 February (10.30-17.00) & Sunday 1 March 2020 (10.00-13.30)

As the January weekend was difficult for several people who wanted to do the training, I've set up a second training weekend.
 
In this yogic restorative anti-stress full-body massage (as taught by Yogi Bhajan, Master of Kundalini Yoga), twelve specific nerve plexes (five on the front of the body, seven on the back) are massaged in sequence, allowing the nervous system to deeply relax, repair and rejuvenate.

It is still very rarely practiced in the UK and Europe – I am one of the few practitioners in the UK alongside a handful of other people (several trained by myself in the past years).

The training format will be slightly different than in the past. You will have to book in at least once only to receive the massage from me before the training dates – more times is optional – and afterwards you’ll have to give me the massage at least once so I can correct your technique where necessary. During the training weekend we have 1 full day of tutoring (10.30am to 5pm) which includes practicing on each other a first time, followed by another half-day of extra supervised practice on one another (10am-1.30pm). We will practice the massage on the floor but will have a massage table present so I can show differences between the two approaches; the massages you receive from me will be done on the massage table, and for your own practice on me you can choose between floor or massage table work.

For people travelling from further afield or abroad, the massage to be received from me can be booked on the Friday preceding the training weekend, and the massage to be given to me to check your technique can be booked on the Sunday afternoon of the training weekend or the day after on Monday – I will keep those days free for that.

During the full-day training day you will be taught the purpose of this massage and how it relates to other massage forms; you’ll learn about the nervous system and the nerve plexes that this massage works on and you will be taught the massage techniques that are used, the importance of the relaxation afterwards, etc. There is no anatomy module included. You then get to practice in pairs, giving one another the massage while I assist and correct where needed. Once both partners have received the massage we will share experiences, have time for questions and will share information about energetically protecting and cleansing yourself and the massage space, how to ground yourself, how to help ground a client when needed, how to take care of your own back while massaging, etc.

All info, including price, how to register, etc. can be found in the folders on my Trainings page.

Thursday 12 December welcomes the last full moon of 2019. This will be a Gemini full moon governing the stomach meridian. Emotional stability is the key phrase for navigating this full moon.

The stomach works closely together with both the spleen and the large intestines to protect against illnesses. As the stomach is the strongest organ it can take a long time for disease to show up. The stomach is also the base for our emotional stability and the place where we sense emotion.

Follow the recommendations on the blog to reduce possible symptoms and balance the stomach meridian for a whole-body healing effect.

* Shuniya Kundalini Yoga Facebook page: for class & activity announcements, special discounts, seva opportunities for workshops or retreats, posts on (kundalini) yoga, pregnancy, health, nutrition, ...

* Sikhs(') Nurturing Nature Facebook page, blog & website page: the places to be for caring for our environment and for all homemade products. On the Facebook page I share lots of posts and information on how you can reduce your carbon footprint, reduce your use of plastic, use products that are healthy for you AND Mother Earth, how you can make your own products, ... and generally try and help raise awareness on taking care of our Mother Earth and walking lightly on Her.

* Japjeet Kaur NYR Organic Independent Consultant Facebook page, Instagram japjeetkaurnyr & webshop: for information posts & special offers on any Neal's Yard Remedies Organic products.