The Flint Hills were alive with the sound of music during a breezy Saturday evening.

Thousands of people set up camping chairs in the middle of the prairie to listen to the Kansas City Symphony perform during the 11th-annual Symphony in the Flint Hills.

Country singer Michael Martin Murphey accompanied the symphony during part of the program, singing country songs like Rawhide, originally by Frankie Laine, and Happy Trails to You, originally by Roy Rogers.

During intermission, some people walked out into the prairie to take photos and observe the landscape, the vast hills their never-ending background.

Cheryl Mussatto, who has attended the concert for three years, said the event makes her proud to be a Kansan. Born and raised on a farm between Larimer and Herington, Mussatto said the event is a great way to show people not from the area how unique and beautiful the landscape can be.

Its an extraordinary opportunity for Kansas to really showcase what the Flint Hills has to offer, Mussatto said. To be able to listen to the beautiful symphony music sitting here in the beautiful flint hills as the sun sets you know it just is a fabulous experience.

Mussatto said everyone who gets the chance to attend a Symphony in the Flint Hills event should because its a one-of-a kind experience.

Julie Crawford, who is from Kansas City, has seen the Kansas City Symphony perform many times in the past, but never out in nature until Saturday.

She said the setting for the event is relaxing and almost spiritual because of the natural surroundings.

I love it. I think its so amazing you know the combination of the music and nature, Crawford said. Its really special.

This years theme was a celebration of the 150th anniversary of the Chisholm Trail. The educational programs covered the history and importance of the trail, which ranchers used to drive cattle from Texas to Kansas rail heads after the Civil War.

Every year, the symphony prepares a musical program based on the theme of the event.

The concert ended with the symphony and Murphey performing Home on the Range, a tradition that started the first year of the event.

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The hills are alive - Manhattan Mercury (subscription)

A young girl's experiment turns into a lesson on the toxins in our food supply. Courtesy: Youtube/Suzanne Bartlett

There are no guarantees that the organic fruit and vegetables youre buying at a growers market are actually organic, because the industry isnt regulated.

MANY Australians are being deceived by food producers who call their products organic when they are not.

Its disgusting. You put your trust in them, said Gretchen Vidin, who says she was fooled into spending about $7,000 over the past two years by a market grower who advertised her conventional produce as organic.

She later found out the grower used chemicals that were so toxic most conventional growers stopped using them a decade ago. The grower also purchased limp fruit and vegetables from Sydneys Flemington Markets, passed them off as organic and charged up to triple the amount stallholders around her were asking.

Gretchen buys organic for health reasons, in line with the motivations of 51 per cent of organic shoppers, according to the recent Australian Organic Market Report 2017.

I had thyroid cancer and, for the past two years, have been juicing every day. Im trying to keep my chemical quota down to reduce the risk of getting cancer again, she said.

Gretchen found out the truth last month when an employee exposed the false promotion. Nothing much happened. The employee resigned in disgust and the grower did remove her organic stickers and signs for a month but reinstated them recently and continues trading, free of penalty, in the same CBD locations she has been selling for years.

THE TERM ORGANIC ISNT REGULATED

This case, one of thousands of greenwashing incidents around Australia, exposes a giant gap in the legal framework. The term organic is not regulated in Australia as it is in most other countries.

Daria Rydczak, a senior technical officer from Australian Certified Organic (ACO), said unscrupulous market growers are repeat offenders. We phone growers and manufacturers, point out their claims are fraudulent and they say, What are you going to do, sue me? They dont care.

The ACCC is not pressing on it hard enough. They would have to set-up a new department to deal with all the fraud that is going on at the moment.

The ACO has referred more than a hundred cases of suspected fraud to the ACCC in the past year. When the ACCC was asked why it had taken no action on any of these complaints it said in a statement, The ACCC is not able to make any comments in relation to conduct of the matters raised.

It pointed out that under Australian Consumer Law businesses must not engage in conduct that is likely to mislead or deceive or make false or misleading claims or statements. It cited two cases it had successfully prosecuted, concerning organic eggs a decade ago and organic water four years ago.

This is a prohibitively expensive remedy for most consumers however.

The widespread use of the term organic is not limited to the food aisle. The case of Organic Choice, a cleaning products range that has national shelf space at Coles supermarkets, was recently the subject of a complaint to the ACCC by the ACO.

The Organic Choice cleaning products sold in Coles supermarkets.Source:Supplied

The only ingredients listed as certified organic in the range are some essential oils, which typically make up a fraction of one per cent of the contents.

News.com.au asked Andrew Chaney, the Managing Director of Aware Environmental, the company that manufacturers Organic Choice, what percentage of ingredients in his products were organic.

I dont know the percentage. Why is that relevant? he replied.

We dont think were breaking any rules. If theres a letter of the law were breaking wed like to know, he said.

He said his products contained a lot more than 1 per cent, agreed to find out what percentage of ingredients were organic and let us know. That was a month ago and were still waiting to hear from him.

THE DARKER SIDE

Marg Will, CEO of Organic Systems & Solutions, says, This happens all the time and it is incredibly frustrating because its the consumer who suffers.

She said the problem had an even darker side. Lobbyists for multinational chemical companies are very active in trying to convince politicians to allow GMOs in food, a practice that is outlawed for certified organic producers.

There are a great many forces at work with more money than the organic industry, she said.

Martin Meek, an ACO director and partner in United Organics, a wholesaler and exporter, agrees.

I think the government is concerned that regulating the word organic would open a big scary door to regulation of other agricultural standards.

Every time we have tried to lobby, the government comes back and says the industry should self-regulate. The biggest competition to organic products are those pretending to be organic and we cant protect ourselves from that without legislation.

The term organic is, ironically, regulated in Australian export law.

Its insane that our export customers can be sure about the organic content, when our domestic market cant, Martin said.

INDUSTRY IS FIGHTING BACK

The organic industry is, however, fighting back. It is talking to the ACCC, setting up an online consumer complaints portal with a direct feed to the ACCC and has developed a new organic mark that will be making its way on to supermarkets shelves soon. This gives greater clarity as there are six certifying bodies in Australia, all with their own logos.

The organic industrys got to get better at telling people what it is, Martin said.

Were just too polite. We dont want to pick a fight but I think we need to start standing our ground a little bit more.

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What you probably don't realise about 'organic' products - NEWS.com.au

"By the definite science of meditation known for millenniums to the yogis and sages of India, and to Jesus, any seeker of God can enlarge the caliber of his consciousness to omniscience to receive within himself the Universal Intelligence of God."

Paramahansa Yogananda

Wisdom, creativity, security, happiness, unconditional love is it really possible to find that which will bring us real and lasting joy?

Experiencing the divinity within our own souls, claiming divine joy as our own joy this is what the Kriya Yoga teachings of Paramahansa Yogananda offer to each of us.

The sacred science of Kriya Yoga consists of advanced techniques of meditation whose devoted practice leads to realization of God and liberation of the soul from all forms of bondage. It is the royal or supreme technique of yoga, divine union. (Read "What Is Yoga, Really?")

The illumined sages of India discovered the spiritual science of Kriya Yoga in the long forgotten past. Lord Krishna extols it in the Bhagavad Gita. The sage Patanjali speaks of it in his Yoga Sutras. Paramahansa Yogananda has stated that this ancient meditation method was also known to Jesus Christ, as well as to disciples such as St. John, St. Paul, and others.

Kriya Yoga was lost for centuries in the dark ages, and reintroduced in modern times by Mahavatar Babaji, whose disciple Lahiri Mahasaya (18281895) was the first to teach it openly in our era. Later, Babaji asked Lahiri Mahasaya's disciple, Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri (18551936), to train Paramahansa Yogananda and send him to the West to give this soul-revealing technique to the world.

Paramahansa Yogananda was chosen by his venerable line of gurus to bring the ancient science of Kriya Yoga to the West, and it was for this purpose that he established Self-Realization Fellowship in 1920.

Formerly available only to a faithful few who renounced the world and lived solitary lives as ascetics, the great ones of India have now made the ancient Kriya science available to all sincere seekers worldwide through the instrumentality of Paramahansa Yogananda and the spiritual organization he established (SRF/YSS).

Yogananda wrote: "In bestowing his blessings on me before I came to America in 1920, Mahavatar Babaji told me that I had been chosen for this sacred mission: 'You are the one I have chosen to spread the message of Kriya Yoga in the West. Long ago I met your guru Yukteswar at a Kumbha Mela; I told him then I would send you to him for training.' Babaji then predicted: 'Kriya Yoga, the scientific technique of God-realization, will ultimately spread in all lands, and aid in harmonizing the nations through man's personal, transcendental perception of the Infinite Father.' "

One of the essential goals of Paramahansa Yogananda's mission was "to reveal the complete harmony and basic oneness of original Christianity as taught by Jesus Christ and original Yoga as taught by Bhagavan Krishna; and to show that these principles of truth are the common scientific foundation of all true religions."

To the public at large, Jesus propounded a simple philosophy of faith, love, and forgiveness. He spoke often in parables, pregnant with timeless morals. But to his close disciples he taught deeper truths, truths that have their correspondence in the deepest metaphysical concepts of the more ancient yoga philosophy.

The full understanding of Jesus' original teachings including the fact that he bestowed on his disciples the esoteric techniques of yoga meditation is revealed in Paramahansa Yogananda's in-depth commentary on the Gospels: The Second Coming of Christ: The Resurrection of the Christ Within You.

Meditation Techniques of the Kriya Yoga Path

Paramahansa Yogananda provides a description of Kriya Yoga in his Autobiography of a Yogi. The actual technique is given to students of the Self-Realization Fellowship Lessons after a preliminary period of study and practice of the three preparatory techniques taught by Paramahansa Yogananda.

Taken together as a comprehensive system, these meditation techniques enable the practitioner to achieve the highest benefits and divine goal of the ancient yoga science.

1. Energization Exercises: A series of psychophysical exercises developed by Paramahansa Yogananda in 1916 to prepare the body for meditation. Regular practice promotes mental and physical relaxation and develops dynamic will power. Making use of the breath, life force, and concentrated attention, the technique enables one to draw abundant energy consciously into the body, purifying and strengthening all the body parts systematically in turn. The Energization Exercises, which take aboutfifteen minutes to perform, are one of the most effective means of eliminating stress and nervous tension. Practicing them prior to meditation is a great help in entering a calm, interiorized state of awareness.

2. Hong-Sau Technique of Concentration helps to develop one's latent powers of concentration. Through practice of this technique one learns to withdraw thought and energy from outward distractions so that they may be focused on any goal to be achieved or problem to be solved. Or one may direct that concentrated attention toward realizing the Divine Consciousness within.

3. Aum Technique of Meditation shows one how to use the power of concentration in the highest wayto discover and develop the divine qualities of one's own true Self. This ancient method teaches how to experience the all-pervading Divine Presence as Aum, the Word or Holy Ghost that underlies and sustains all creation. The technique expands the awareness beyond limitations of body and mind to the joyous realization of one's infinite potential.

4. Kriya Yoga Technique Kriya is an advanced Raja Yoga technique of pranayama (life-energy control). Kriya reinforces and revitalizes subtle currents of life energy (prana) in the spine and brain. The ancient seers of India (rishis) perceived the brain and spine as the tree of life. Out of the subtle cerebrospinal centers of life and consciousness (chakras) flow the energies that enliven all the nerves and every organ and tissue of the body. The yogis discovered that by revolving the life current continuously up and down the spine by the special technique of Kriya Yoga, it is possible to greatly accelerate one's spiritual evolution and awareness.

Correct practice of Kriya Yoga enables the normal activities of the heart and lungs and nervous system to slow down naturally, producing deep inner stillness of body and mind and freeing the attention from the usual turbulence of thoughts, emotions, and sensory perceptions. In the clarity of that inner stillness, one comes to experience a deepening interior peace and attunement with one's soul and with God.

How to Learn Kriya Yoga

Paramahansa Yoganandas SRF Lessons for Home Study

The first step is to apply for the Self-Realization Fellowship Lessons. In the first year of Lesson study at home, students learn threebasic techniques of meditation (described above) and Paramahansajis principles of balanced spiritual living. This gradual introduction has a purpose. A mountain climber seeking to scale the Himalayas must first acclimatize and condition himself before ascending the peaks. So the seeker needs this initial period to acclimatize his or her habits and thoughts, condition the mind with concentration and devotion, and practice directing the body's life energy.Then the yogi is prepared to ascend the spinal highway of realization. After one year of preparation and practice, students are eligible to apply for initiation in the technique of Kriya Yoga, and formally establish the time-honored guru-disciple relationship with Paramahansa Yogananda and his lineage of enlightened masters.

If you have not yet enrolled for the Self-Realization Fellowship Lessons, you will find on these pages some initial instructions on how to meditate, which you can use right away to begin experiencing the benefits that meditation brings.

Guru-Disciple Relationship

Kriya Yoga is the diksha (initiation) or spiritual baptism of Self-Realization Fellowship. By receiving Kriya initiation, students enter into the sacred guru-disciple relationship, accepting Paramahansa Yogananda as their guru (spiritual guide).

Learn more about the guru-disciple relationship.

Read More About Kriya Yoga

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The Kriya Yoga Path of Meditation

Norton Healthcare is building a new $38 million freestanding three-story state-of-the-art Norton Cancer InstituteBrownsboro in Louisville (Kentucky, USA) metro area, which plans to have a Meditation Room and will focus on care of whole person.

It will also include white/pink noise and music in key locations, healing garden and bistro. The projected timeline for completion of the 48,591-square-foot facility is October 2018. Kentucky has one of the highest rates of cancer in the nation, according to a Norton Healthcare release.

Hindus have commended the planned inclusion of Meditation Room in this upcoming cancer institute.

Distinguished Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, called it a step in the positive direction. A Meditation Room would help infuse spirituality into the atmosphere of this major cancer institute and would provide a place for meditation, reflection and prayer for the patients, their families/friends, staff and visitors; Zed hoped.

Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, said that meditation might be quite helpful in combating stress caused by challenges usually faced by patients, their families/friends and healthcare providers.

Rajan Zed explained that meditation was a condition of profound internal wakefulness; and added that ancient Hindu scripture Taittiriya Upanishad stated: Meditation is Brahman (the supreme being).

Zed further said that Lord Krishna told in Bhagavad-Gita: With mind and senses disciplined through meditation, bonded with the Self within, the seeker achieves tranquility and nirvana, the state of permanent peace and joy in me. Zed noted that Hinduism had been associated with meditation for ages; and there were various aspects of it, including pratyahara, upasana, samadhi, manana, dhyana, dharana.

Rajan Zed stressed that it should be made mandatory for all the new hospitals/healthcare-centers being built across the country to make provision for a Meditation Room.

Award-winning Norton Healthcare, founded 1886 and headquartered in Louisville, includes five large hospitals, 13 Norton Immediate Care Centers and 190 physicians practice locations. Its faith history includes founding organizations and other faith communities: Episcopal Church, United Methodist Church, United Church of Christ, Presbyterian Church and Roman Catholic Church. Russell F. Cox and Donald H. Robinson are President and Trustees Chair respectively.

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Kentucky's new $38 million cancer institute to have Meditation Room - NewsPatrolling (press release) (blog)

Meditation is often described as a way to clear the mind and ease many health concerns, such as high blood pressure, depression, and anxiety. Meditation can also help individuals relax, reduce stress, be content, have inner peace and enjoy life more.

Carolyn Evans, Licensed Massage Therapist (LMT), Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT) of Sat Nam Healing in Burlington, teaches a meditation class 6-7 p.m. every Tuesday at The Art of Yoga, 1104 Ave E, in Fort Madison.

Participants learn basic meditation techniques. The class includes gentle yoga stretching for major joints such as hips, shoulders, and the neck. Evans said they also do guided meditation, breathing exercises, body relaxation, and different methods on how to clear the mind.

Meditation is what grounds you. Its what keeps you going, Evans said.

Last Tuesday, Evans taught loving-kindness meditation which is also known as metta, as it is called in the Pali language. It is unconditional, inclusive love, a love with wisdom.

Evans said she does yoga because it reminds her to turn down the volume on her self and her critical mind.

Yoga teaches us to embrace where we are today, Evans said. If you are your own worst critic, I beg you to change that. The relationship you have with yourself is the most important one.

Evans said the group meditation class helps people feel like they are accountable.

Being in a group setting helps you focus a little bit better and helps you feel like youve got the routine down, Evans said.

Anyone, regardless of age, one can drop-in for a $12 fee. Evans said they have mats, blocks, and pillows, but she recommends attendees wear comfortable clothes.

The class will be open for participants until June 27. After June 27, the meditation class will be offered again in Fort Madison in August.

About Evans

Carolyn Evans is from West Burlington. She is a 2006 graduate of West Burlington High School. In her early 20s Evans was working in the service industry as a waitress and bartender when she first started practicing yoga and meditation as a way to ease her mind from being anxious. Evans was attending William Penn University in Oskaloosa to pursue a degree in human sciences, but after practicing yoga Evans was looking for something different. She decided that becoming a health and wellness instructor for the mind, body, and spirit connection was her calling.

I decided to follow my passion doing what I love, Evans said.

Evans attended the Southwest Institute of Healing Arts in Tempe, Ariz. where she completed a 200-hour yoga teacher training course and earned a degree in massage therapy in 2012.

She worked at a variety of gyms and yoga studios in school and around the Phoenix area. In 2013, after learning different styles of yoga and meditation, she decided to bring back what she learned to Iowa. The name of her company, Sat Nam, means divine truth is my name or truth is my name.

Evans said she has been inspired by those at the Dubuque Yoga Festival. There, Evans learned how to make yoga classes accessible for all bodies with Dianne Bondy, who is a body positive movement yoga instructor. Evans said she teaches people to embrace the body that were in.

Evans main goal coming back to the midwest is to offer yoga and meditation classes to help bring together people in community.

I believe in working with your mind and what you can do to have a healthy body, said Evans.

Since October 2016, Evans, has been leading the Saturday morning Yoga in the Park sessions at North Hill Park in Burlington. She also has an introduction course in meditation at the Southeastern Community College Center for Business.

Evans works out of her office at Sat Nam Healing 400 S. Leebrick St. in Burlington.

If unable to attend the Fort Madison classes, Evans has classes in Burlington on Mondays, 12:30-1:30 p.m., and Wednesdays, 12-1 p.m., at Yoga for You, 217 Jefferson St. There is a $12 drop-in fee or a $50 for 5 classes package.

Evans will also have a Yoga Fest from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, July 15, at the Perkins Park in Burlington.

For more information about classes, workshops and information about Burlington Yoga Fest call (319)-572-3753 or e-mail at satnamcarl@gmail.com you can also checkout Sat Nam website http://www.satnamhealingtherapy.com.

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Burlington instructor brings meditation, yoga to FM - Fort Madison Daily Democrat

Two recent poetry books establish that singular aspect of poetry as a rewarding path for personal reflection. Both happen to be authored by senior Visayans who have of late been prodigious with their poetry in English.

The first is Partly Cloudy: Poems by Simeon Dumdum Jr., released by University of Santo Tomas Publishing House, while the second is Fire If It Were Ice, Ice If It Were Fire by Cesar Ruiz Aquino, published by Ateneo de Naga University Press.

Dumdum Jr. retired from the judiciary three years ago. A resident of Mohon, Talisay City, Cebu, he tends to special bushes, listens to sacred music, and spends the afternoons with his wife Gingging, also a poet, in a coffee shop by the sea, watching the movement of ships in the channel.

His ninth collection comprises 39 poems that unravel insights beyond mere curtsey to a radius of visibility. The introspection is often a response to observable objects, or what equally appear to be mundane around us, such as the weather in general, or the sea.

There where waves perish south of us/ Us and the whitest whitecaps there/ There can we find the when and where/ Where we may cross the crying waves/ Waves that know theyre about to perish/ Perish with tidings from the south/ South farther than we can think of/ Of which theres none but both of us. (By the Sea)

A covert smile conducts the exquisite musicality via metrical rhythm, cadence, end-rhymes and internal ones. Listen: We felt light, seeing there no bluer blue/ That morning and the sky, and too, coeval/ With it, the sea, which had as edge a few/ White egrets, heads held up in pure approval/ Of a day marred by not the least upheaval,/ All of which I took back, for all too quickly/ The sky had turned from clear to partly cloudy. (Seacape with Growing Raincloud)

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Poems such as Treading on Weather, Walking on Water, and The Sea Defines a Small Dogs Love partake of similar lyricism that leaps beyond levity, while pieces that purvey places gravitas (A Song for Paris, Hiroshima, Mamasapano) still arrive at an equipoise of delight. Heres another that claims this summary balance:

The land has claims on my umbilical cord/ Because I am lumad, a native fed/ With my own fathers corn and with his word/ And if they come and force me out of bed/ I shall not leave my home alive or dead/ My soul will silence them amidst their scoffs,/ A finger aimed at their Kalashnikovs. (A Young Manobo Speaks of War)

For his part, Aquinos lyricism may be said to be of the solipsistic sort, with the perennial conceit of love or desire itself becoming the muse, albeit he too recognizes the environment past and present.

God made the mountains/ and the oceans/ the clouds nimbus, cumulus, stratus// to remind me of the distance/ that divided us/ face to face (Title in Progress)

Limbo rock agility has this poet of Dumaguete often taunting the bar closer to the ground, with minimalist verses scoffing at the challenge of saying much with brevity.

The wind in Dauin/ on a dawn like this, I dont/ know if I miss it,/ with it blew a little bit/ say on your hair, imagine. (Love You Just the Way You Are)

Aquinos fifth book of poetry assembles 181 poems that also hop, skip and jump with frolicsome finesse over wide-ranging territory, at the center of which is often a girl or you. Personal circumnavigation suggests that a poet is raised by a global village, as peopled by Robert Graves, Demi Moore, Manuel Arguilla, Pynchon, Brautigan, Sandra Dee, Nastassja Kinski, Keats, Borges, Tom Jones, Quasimodo, Heraclitus, Duchamp, Hafiz, Rumi, Ava Gardner et al.

Word wizardry habitually spins arcs of mischief out of ruminations just as motlrey as the iconography, fantasized or implicitly recast as long-tooth memories gnashing at extrapolation. Jedi metaphors are of a cerebral sepia, as against any mocha type of symbolism.

This miracle has ever escaped us./ In an unambitious picture, girl/ perfectly replicates the stillness/ of the trees and objects behind her/ that seem to just momentarily/ keep still, for a pose, but are ready/ any moment to resume the whirl,/ the motion of everything thats there. (On a Chance Photograph)

For a reader, both collections offer mediation and meditation. Latin provenance cites, respectively, mediatus, or placed in the middle, and meditat or contemplated, from the verb meditari that suggests measure. Why, as sloganeered last summer at the Writers Village on Camp Lookout, Etymology, come home!

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Poetry as meditation - Philippine Star

School students.

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court today expressed displeasure over the pathetic state of affairs in ashram schools across Maharashtra and said funds to maintain such institutions were lying with bureaucrats.

A division bench of justices R M Sawant and Sadhana Jadhav was hearing a public interest litigation by Nashik resident Ravindra Talpe, raising concerns over lack of basic facilities at such schools which was resulting in childrens deaths.

According to the petition, 793 children from such schools had died in the last decade due to bites by snakes and scorpions, fever and minor illness.

This is really a pathetic state of affairs. All the money and funds (meant to provide facilities) are with bureaucrats. We cannot have such a situation where children are dying due to such reasons like taking bath in cold water, eating food poisoned because of rodents, snake bites and so on, Justice Sawant said.

The petitioners advocate, Uday Warunjikar, pointed out to the court a report submitted by Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) on the issue.

The TISS report is exhaustive on the existing state of affairs of ashram schools in Maharashtra. We direct the petitioners advocate to cull out deficiencies noted in the report and suggest remedial measures. We will then direct the state government accordingly, Justice Sawant said.

The bench also asked additional public prosecutor F R Shaikh to inform the court within a week about a committee set up by the government in May last year to look into the matter.

We want to know if the committee has ever met since it was set up and if yes, then what it has done in the past one year, the court said.

According to the PIL, there are 1,100 ashram schools imparting education to 4,50,000 students in the state.

The petitioner earlier said the government admitted before the court that it had to pay an ex-gratia amount to 340 parents.

The court today perused an affidavit filed by the government saying it cannot pay the ex-gratia amount as it does not have necessary funds.

How can you (government) say you cannot give the money. Some audacity the government has, Justice Jadhav said.

Originally posted here:

793 kids dead in 10 years in Maharashtra's Ashram Schools; HC raps govt, bureaucrats - The New Indian Express

Policemen and -women took a break from their aerobics to pose for a fun photo. Photo: Submitted.

For many, sport is a coping mechanism, helping them to deal with stress and focus their minds.

That is why the West Rand Cluster Womens Network and Men for Change Forum participated in a four-hour mass aerobics event at Azaadville Community Hall recently.

Policemen and -women enjoyed themselves with lovely music and a thorough workout.

We need to serve our community with minds that are ready to protect others, therefore we also need healthy bodies, said Lieutenant Colonel Enoch, champion of the West Rand Cluster Womens Network.

The event was organised to encourage all police station employees to take part in any kind of sporting activity they might enjoy.

Do you perhaps have more information pertaining to this story? Email us at krugersdorpnews@caxton.co.zaorphone us on 011 955 1130.

For free daily localnews on the West Rand, also visit our sister websites:

Randfontein Herald

Roodepoort Record

Get It Joburg WestMagazine

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Policemen and -women cleansed their bodies through aerobics - Krugersdorp News

A new Pilates studio in Brentwood, early morning yoga at a Santa Monica bar, a day-long retreat in downtown Los Angeles and thousands of people meditating in a local park: Put these on your schedule this week.

This weekend June 10 and 11 -- is the official opening of the new Club Pilates in Brentwood, the latest for the national chain. The 1,000-square-foot spot offers about 45 classes a week, each 50 minutes, spanning eight formats for all levels.

"80% of the classes are classical Pilates reformer," said club general manager Kelly Stoker. "The rest use the Bosu ball, gliders and barre method. There are only 12 reformers in each class, so everyone gets individual attention."

He lost 85 pounds in four months and kept it off

Monthly membership ranges from $109 for four lessons to $224 for unlimited classes based on a three-month commitment, which Stoker says "is the amount of time needed to understand how Pilates can change your body." A 30-minute trial lesson is free. New members who sign up during the opening event get 20% off the first three months.

Info: 11677 San Vicente Blvd., Los Angeles. ClubPilates.com

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Summer Sun Yoga is an hour-long class every Sunday morning til the end of the summer on the terrace at the Fairmont Miramar Hotel & Bungalows in Santa Monica.

"It's yoga with a view, and a nice refresher for anyone who might have stayed out late the night before," said Chelsea Kruse, the mind-body manager at Exhale Spa, which is running the class. Also on offer: a yoga class that happens two Sundays a month at the chic nightlife spot the Bungalow.

Info: Summer Sun Yoga takes places 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. every Sunday through the end of September. Bungalow Yoga takes place 8:45 to 9:45 a.m. on June 11 and June 25, and twice-monthly through the end September. $27 per class. New customers get two for the price of one. 101 Wilshire Blvd., Santa Monica. ExhaleSpa.com

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June 10 is Global Wellness Day and reason enough for the spa at the Ritz-Carlton in downtown Los Angeles to hold its Wellness Retreat. The June 11 event starts with a 90-minute classic Hatha Flow yoga and meditation session, and fresh-pressed juice.

"An herbalist will demonstrate how to make herbal remedies using herbs from our rooftop garden," said Kory Keith, director of the spa at the hotel. "Guests can make tinctures and scrubs to take home." The day, which also includes a bento box lunch, ends with a 50-minute massage or facial from a curated list.

Info: From 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, June 11, the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, 900 W. Olympic Blvd. $295 per person. Reservations: (213) 743-8800. ritzcarlton.com

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Los Angeles entrepreneur and former music industry executive Adrian Vallera is a regular on the music/yoga festival circuit, but knows that such events are not always practical -- or affordable -- to get to.

"This is open to anyone," said Vallera, founder of the company Disclosurefest, and organizer of the June 17 Mass Meditation Initiative in downtown Los Angeles.

The day-long, family-friendly free event is designed "to help activate people on the cusp" of better living, said Vallera -- whether that is changing their diet or exploring yoga and meditation. "We're here to cheer that on," he said. Visitors can try out a series of yoga classes from Vinyasa Flow to Kundalini, as well as tai chi and sound baths, or attend workshops in plant-based cooking, using essential oils, astrology and Ayurveda. Vegan food vendors will be on site.

Info: From 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. June 17. A mass meditation is scheduled for 2 p.m. at Los Angeles State Historic Park, 1245 N. Spring St., downtown Los Angeles. Event is free, register for tickets at disclosurefest.com

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Try yoga with a view, or join a mass meditation at downtown LA's newest park - Los Angeles Times

He has been referred to as a mystic, a psychic, a healer, a spiritual guru and many other titles, but Shri Aasaanji pays no attention to any of it.

As far as hes concerned, hes just a human being an ordinary one.

Those are titles that are of no relevance to me. Ive no extra power or magic ability.

All I want to do is create a peaceful world with the knowledge I have acquired.

People seldom spend time on wellbeing and awareness. In fact, living a simple life has become extraordinary in todays world! he says.

The Chennai, India-based founder of the AtmaYoga Foundation is an exponent of healing and meditation, and uses scientific approaches to help people regain their lost health, wealth, success and happiness with minimal effort.

It all begins with the mind.

Aasaanjis interest in the science of the mind started at 13 when he was practising martial arts, and like any teenager, derived pleasure from overpowering his opponents.

Conquering your enemies can lead you to feeling powerful, but it doesnt give you the calmness inside. I started fearing and doubting, so I asked my teacher how to meditate. He said: Think and do nothing.

It took me a while to understand, but I eventually did. Only overcoming yourself can make you peaceful, recalls Aasaanji, who radiates a comforting aura and glow about him.

Meditation opened a new world. Not only did it improve his martial arts prowess, it also led to better health and less common colds and infections.

Noticing the benefits, he continues to meditate daily.

In meditation, it is important not to analyse. Its something we all have to learn, he says.

Aasaanji, who is almost 40, graduated with a degree in engineering, but he never intended to become an engineer.

It was a natural progression as almost everyone in his family is an engineer.

My family is very disciplined and religious, but status was not important. They treated everyone equally.

Theyd go to the temple, but I didnt like going to the temple and we were always in conflict.

The discipline got to me at times. Theyd insist I wake up early in the morning whereas I wanted to sleep in, so for three years, I went away to live in an ashram surrounded by forests.

Thats where Aasaanji learnt about siddha (a system of traditional medicine originating in ancient Tamilakam in South India) and ayurvedic medicine.

He incorporated some of this knowledge into his life and discovered his life improving in all aspects.

In 2007, after his sisters death, Aasaanji put together all that he had learnt and practised, and decided it was time to share his knowledge with the world.

He created Prana-Vritti and Atma-Dhyana.

Aasaanji (seated) sharing his knowledge with participants at one of his workshops. Photo: Shri Aasaanji

These are powerful energy and unique meditation techniques to activate inner transformation and self-healing for total wellbeing.

With these mind-tuning non-religious methods, he claims one can attain a blissful state and experience total transformation in all aspects of life.

Nobody was born to suffer. Your external world is a reflection of your inner world, so you have to change your inner self.

Its your duty to give yourself good health and happiness no one can do it for you.

Only you can change your life and set yourself free from all the sufferings and limitations.

I believe humans have the capability to change the world. My job is to provide you with the tools, says Aasaanji, who will be in Kuala Lumpur to conduct a workshop next weekend.

A favourite past time of Aasaanji is mingling with old people, blind folks and the mentally challenged.

Youll see him on the sidewalks in Chennai and at special homes for the differently-abled.

Its spiritually enlightening when I spend time with them.

For me, pain is joy. It may sound contradictory, but we all cannot avoid pain for it is real, but we can avoid suffering, as it is imaginary.

If you can change this to create a better future, why not?

Dont you want to have a good time all the time? he asks.

He also has an affinity towards animals and shares an incident from when he was 17.

Our dog had delivered some puppies and one died. The mother took her living little ones to another place, leaving the dead one aside.

Ants came to feed on it, and when I saw it, I was so distraught. I took the cold body and cleaned up the ants.

Then the puppy started moving!

I dont know how it happened, but my sister thought I had magical powers! he shares, laughing.

The back-from-the-dead puppy grew to live a long life.

Aasaanji has taught his method to more than 10,000 people and has conducted more than 2,000 workshops worldwide.

He says all that is required is about 25 minutes of minimal dedication a day.

I call it a panacea for humanity. You choose the experience you want to have.

Students (of this method) should flourish and prosper in what theyre doing without harming themselves or others.

Without meditation, the mind will give in to non-essential, negative, self-destructive thoughts.

With meditation, you should only have positive thoughts.

Anger and fear generally arises from people who are not happy.

He stresses that only you can heal yourself.

We all choose the experience we want to have.

We cannot determine how long well live, but we can decide how healthy and happy we want to be.

This is what I call the science of transformation, says Aasaanji, putting his hands in prayer position as he takes his leave.

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Want to unlock your hidden potential? Just meditate on it - Star2.com