Mindful care:

the art of being with young children;

a workshop for parents, carers,

home educators and teachers of children aged 0 to 5

Saturday 19th, 12 to 3 pm

This is the place and the time to bring your questions and share experiences,

hear practical advices on how to deal with babies/toddlers

tantrums, difficult moments, pushing boundaries...

learn about simplicity, slow parenting, natural rhythms, how to have peaceful and happy toddlers and get inspired by an experienced carer who is Steiner inspired.

We are going to look at rhythm and repetition, meaningful activities, nutrition, sleep, free play, music, storytelling, creativity. Bring your questions for discussion.

£11 , includes refreshments. Limited spaces, please book now 07837931643

susannah.andrews@gmail.com

Full Moon - sweet dreams

Sleep

Sleep that knits up the ravelled sleave of care
The death of each day's life, sore labour's bath
Balm of hurt minds, great nature's second course,
Chief nourisher in life's feast.
~William Shakespeare, Macbeth







On a full Moon night, happy dreaming to all!


x Susannah

September is here again!

Cooler winds and golden skies, hazy lights and that smell of new....
fresh new start, yet, in a way for most of us is just going back to a familiar routine! Back at school, back to the rhythm.



Playing, relaxing, fun and leisure, finding gradually their place again in between a more fixed daily and weekly routine. Yep! Time to be more serious. That old feeling of looking forward to the weekend, arriving at mid week, swimming through Boring Wednesdays, sliding onto Tired Thursday and crawling passed Frightful Friday and yipppee: Recharging Saturday and Fun Sunday.

Hopefully, with me creating a balanced schedule of work and fun, having also started the last 4 weeks a regular fitness routine...I want to make sure I don't go back to my old 'slob' state and maintain my new slimmer and more energetic, green tea drinker, Zumba dancer, sexy lover, laid back mother state. I don't want to go back to that scary zone of hormonal and grumpy, tired, i player addict and chocolate lover I was beforehand. No room for domestic goddess either; let the rooms in our house gather a bit of healthy dust and relax about cooking: I am super keen on grilled fish and steamed/boiled greens, so easy, so non fussy (and if I win the lottery I will hire a Japanese cook and an Italian cook for us)!

So, how am I going to stick to this routine now?



I will keep the faith: I will remind myself about it; I will remember how easy it is! How great I feel after exercise, how simple life can be, how invigorating and refreshing is to live without any 'must do' and learn to prioritize. I give priority to myself, as I have learnt to be selfish and feeling fine about it. I am looking after myself, and the rest will follow. 



Ultimately, if I feel good and if I am slimmer and fitter, I will look beautiful, feel empowered, will be stronger and have more stamina, be a better person, mother and wife and lover.
Will feel more positive about everything and will radiate positive energy outwards to people around me.

Being SELFISH

I now know it is so important and it is ok to be selfish, in fact, vital!
So let it be...


S      Nurture your SPIRIT.
E      ENJOY moments alone.
L      LOVE yourself.
F      Keep FIT and FEEL good.
I       Make your unique needs IMPORTANT.
S      SHOWER yourself with gift
H     Be HAPPY and open-hearted.

A journey towards
Our beginning

Something new
Like fresh morning dew

The feeling of anticipation
The joy of the happening
And the warmth
Of what is yet to come

Together
As one

Now

Pop your bubble

 We live comfortably in our own bubbles with thin barriers enclosed around us.
We rarely make eye contact with those we pass on the street.
We rarely comment or acknowledge that out there others exist apart from us.
We often go through phases of our lives when we really live in our own bubble; maintain this strict, rigid detachment until we encounter ever so fleetingly a moment where our bubbles burst, one enters inside of our barriers, touches us — perhaps accidentally, perhaps intentionally — & reminds us that there are others outside of ourselves, that we are surrounded by sentient & spiritual beings.
Often, on the bus, or the train, I look up & scan the faces that stand in front of me. Most of them with headphones, listening to music, staring listlessly in front of them, focusing their eyes on nothing. Others finger their smart phones, texting, reading, looking at their messages. No one speaks to each other, no one glances in the other’s direction.
I am astounded at this indifference, how no one seems to notice this interconnected moment, where we are being inundated with sights & smells & sounds that are stimulating our bodies — or at least mine, anyway. I seem to be the only one with this awareness. Everyone else is in their own little world.

I popped my bubble, a while ago...I am safe; I know that if I wanted it , I can go back inside it at any moment, but I chose not to.
Step outside your bubble: connect, smile, interact, talk, communicate, (not on facebook or twitter) be brave!

Since then, I have been feeling like a human!
Truly human with the divine inside me.
I opened up and I let love flow. I am still learning...always open and creating...





As human beings, our bodies have evolved from the very fibres of Mother Earth - we are her 'children’ and as such we are too demanding of Mother Earth, whilst simultaneously giving too much of our own time to the minutiae of our lifestyles and the demands of schedules and individuals who do not necessarily appreciate it.  As such, just like Mother Earth, we too demonstrate a seismic response to stress

As we similarly fight for self-preservation in response to stress, reverting to the animal rather than higher, spiritual instincts,  we increase our plundering litter-effect on the harmonious existence of Mother Earth … and she too can only make us aware that we demand too much through her own animalistic response of shaking off the litter, through the stressed shifting of her plates.

When I consider the esoteric teaching of “As Above, So Below” I find it easier to understand that what is happening to Mother Earth is more natural than “unnatural” in terms of earth-bound and sky-ward elements, such as environmental disasters and "unnatural" elemental conditions.  Earthquakes often occur in and directly affect the very centres of highly populated areas, the very points on the planet where Mother Earth is carrying the negative energy of those living there, that demanding and all consuming litter.  This disturbance of Mother Earth’s balance and sapping of her sources, results in these calamitous shifts in energy as she is forced to shake herself, a natural response in warning of her own depletion.  

I, for one, feel bound to Mother Earth and have heard her warning, felt her pain.  For myself I feel that now is the time for a collective consciousness: a time of healing and community with Mother Earth and I consider it to be my privilege to help prevent harm and to use my music to help heal our spiritual stresses and commune with Mother Earth as she struggles to be heard above the storms of our own creation.

Now I popped my bubble, this is the new -old me...I am me, my own self, renewed, recharged, re-invented. I stepped out of my comfort zone and receive the vibrational energies of the pure light divine and the cosmic is flowing through me...



And it feels fresh and new; it feels like wearing a new skin, a new scent.
Entering a new phase of my life, with an open mind, a positive attitude.
I am creating new habits, breaking the old ones, making space, allowing change, going through the change and with the change, like riding on a wave, into the vast ocean.
I am feeling excited, but very safe, guided by this strong spiritual connection I feel, like a new person.
This is freedom in it's pure form; of course, I am still bound to the practical side of this life, the usual commitments.
I feel held and guided, with a sense of clarity; it is a confidence that I haven't known before, my attitude is now only positive and open.

Alive

Alive
Softly flowing
Softly blowing
Perfumed wind
Of the perfumed Garden

Water lily
Open and fragrant
Open and receiving
Cosmic light
Divine Feminine
Flower power





In the beginning were the waters of chaos ... Darkness covered the waters until ... the Primeval Water Lily rose from the abyss. Slowly the blue water lily opened its petals to reveal a young god sitting in its golden heart. A sweet perfume drifted across the waters and light streamed from the body of this Divine Child to banish universal darkness. This child was the Creator, the Sun God, the source of all life. 


 So the Primeval Water Lily closed its petals at the end of each day... Chaos reigned through the night until the god within the water lily returned.

Original article: http://www.thekeep.org/~kunoichi/kunoichi/themestream/egypt_waterlily.html#.Ug97eENwYdU#ixzz2cEVu50G3
© Caroline Seawright

great Energy

I am woman and I am divine

Aphrodite

Alive

inside me, she

I surrender

I laugh, I cry

bliss in my bones

in my womb

trembling with pleasure

or is it pain?

it has no name

but

I am She

my name, Aphrodite

or many other names

and faces come through

and who am I

but she?

of many faces 

in places

between the movement

where the stillness gives birth

to the movement

I am gone

I am awake

the ecstasy I have been yearning for

is here inside

and she

is me

(Vanessa Nova)