British Wheel of Yoga (East Midlands Region) | yoga classes, training and events in Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire and Nottinghamshire

East Midlands Committee Vacancies

Under BWY OP guidelines, all committee members have to stand for re-election at the annual AGM. 
The region needs volunteers for a number of committee posts which become vacant at the AGM on Sunday 3rd October. If you are interested in taking an active role in the region, now is the time to act.
Nominations should be sent to the Regional Officer before August 20th

• Regional Officer VACANT
• Regional Treasurer VACANT

The above are high profile posts needing enthusiasm, foresight and sound management skills to ensure that the region runs effectively and efficiently.

• County Rep for Northamptonshire VACANT

The following two posts are vital for ensuring that the Region continues to grow and is kept in the public eye. The Festival this summer in Welbourn was successful and profitable, but, unless a dedicated organiser can be found soon, the future of next year's Festival at Beaumanor Hall, Loughborough must be in doubt.

• Festival Organiser VACANT
• Marketing Officer VACANT

Nominations have already been received for the following 4 posts which also become vacant at the AGM, but this does not exclude additional nominations. Paul Mullen has taken on the role of Acting Website Editor until the AGM.

• Regional Training Officer
• Newsletter Editor
• Website Editor
• County Rep Lincolnshire

The remaining committee are standing again but members can be nominated and stand for election for any of the committee posts.

For more information, see the committee vacancies pdf
(Updated 19th July 2010 and opens in new window)

BWY East Midlands Festival 2010

People from all counties of the East Midlands region and beyond converged on Welbourn near Lincoln for the Summer Festival on Saturday June 26th. The key theme for the day was "Insight and Wisdom" which was given by Steve Brandon from HarmonyYoga. Steve combined theory and practice in a morning and afternoon session which was a complete sellout and was thoroughly enjoyed by all who attended. In addition to this there were sessions including Pilates with Sharon Gatherer, Tai Chi with Chris Jolly and a meditation class with Lyn Neller. Therapeutic treatments were also on hand as well as several stalls for clothing and Yoga equipment.

Pictures and commentary of the day can be seen Here

Possible Telephone Scam

Today, an East Midlands member was telephoned by a Danny Lewis who gave his telephone number as 01516 471537. This appeared to be a genuine query about finding a yoga teacher to write an article for the Emergency Services internal magazine re stress management.

However, something did not quite ring true, and internet search revealed warnings about a "Danny Lewis" calling from the "Emergency Services Press Office" – at that time, a month ago, using phone numbers 07800 634381 or 0870 626 0865:
“'Danny Lewis' – 'Emergency Services Press'. They don't exist, and further investigation reveals this to be a scam!”

Be warned...!

Health & Safety Executive (HSE)

New legislation and changes in First Aid Training. 

The Appointed Person certificate has been replaced and is now called 'Emergency First Aid at Work'.  The training is exactly the same and a minimum of 6 hours (1 day) but this new legislation means that tutors can no longer provide certificates for first aid training, they have to be done by a HSE approved organisation who charge for the service (£10 per certificate issued).  First aid tutors have to be registered with one of these in order to deliver first aid training.  Also your certificate is not allowed to lapse by even 1 day, it has to be renewed before the expiry date.  Maximum numbers are 12 per course.
Due to rising costs of room hire etc we had intended to increase the cost of first aid training in 2011 to £35, but unfortunately it has had to increase to £45 to cover this extra expenditure.   We the committee apologise for this as we pride ourselves with keeping events costs to a minimum for our teachers and members.
 
If you have any questions or need any more information regarding first aid training, please email

Congress 2010 - Warwick University, April 10-12
Insight and Wisdom

At the lovely new venue, Warwick University, the weather was warm and sunny all weekend. Although the venue was a little spread out, the weather was on our side and the walking did us good, along with yoga practice keeping us fit and well. We could not fault the accommodation, the food or the helpful, friendly staff. The grounds were scented with hyacinths and coloured with primroses, so walking around was a pleasure.

As usual there was a wide variety of yoga practices on offer with very experienced and knowledgeable tutors. David Sye was one of these. We have provisionally booked him as our tutor for the 2011 festival.

Our plenary guest speaker was Swami Nischalananda, who founded the Mandala Ashram in Wales. He spoke of Insight and Wisdom, our BWY theme for 2010, and began by saying our thoughts are conditioned and went on to explain that 'Jnana' is concerned with knowledge and 'viynana' is this knowledge intensified and added to, where it becomes insight and change. We are all searching for understanding which is already there. We need to recognise this but the mind is too busy and full of set patterns so we are not open to it.

He gave us the means of awakening insight:

• Aspiration – Mumuksha. Search and become alert to possibility.
• Practice – Sadhana. Any form of yoga makes us more sensitive and available.
• Inner space – Meditation. Looking inward. Getting more familiar with how the mind fluctuates, gain familiarity and become more available.
• Enquiry/Reflection – Vichara. Questioning, creative doubt can be positive (his opinion it should provoke us)
• Sangha – Satsang. Meditating together
• Spaciousness - Stillness within helps us to access insight
• Centering in the now, even in the least important tasks.
• Texts - Quotes you find interesting (even those you may not agree with)
• Energy - fundamental for going deeper. Any form of yoga, otherwise we go into tammas
• Pilgrimage - Our inner pilgrimage is important but so is the outer one too as they take us out of our daily occupations to see what is within. (Here we all were on a pilgrimage at Congress).

He concluded by saying that thinking is an obstacle to deeper knowledge. We should celebrate the senses—not deny the thinking, but not be limited by it. Through awakening our insight, we should search and become alert to possibility. Insight allows us to see beyond the limitation of logic and the senses, not to supplant but to complement them. Western thinking has tried to wrap everything up in logic and we have denied the importance of insight, but Eastern thinking is more comfortable with paradoxes and with the possible.

His constant message was that it is insight that realises itself, not the individual: ‘When the finger is pointing at the moon, look at the moon, not the finger.’

A reflection of a session of Yogabeats with David Sye
Congress 2010 - April 10-12

I attended David Sye's workshop at Congress with a little excitement as I had heard of David and I was looking forward to working with him in a yogabeats class. The title of our session was Moving Beyond Boundaries and I can honestly say I moved beyond my boundaries and what a wonderful experience it was. David's style of teaching is fun, fluid, free and brought, energy, joy and freedom into our practice both mentally and physically.

Sandra Kirkham and David Sye

David gets everyone smiling, laughing and moving the body in a very fluid way, his style is challenging, fun, uplifting and yet accessible to all. His class was such fun one could not help but release both mental and physical tension and I left the class feeling happy, stretched, twisted and with a huge smile on my face and truly inspired by his style of teaching. This is probably the most fun I have ever had in a yoga class, as the class progressed my body began to release and I found all kinds of tight areas I didn't even know I had, particularly in downward facing dog. Getting my hips swaying from side to side and backwards and forwards was hilarious (I'll be practising this at home, David!!!).

David is a master in teaching the physical and spiritual side of yoga with fun, enthusiasm and passion. His bubbly personality and clear instruction makes yoga fun and teaches us to free up our body. I thought the workshop was just wonderful and I cannot wait to work with David again when he will be joining the BWY East Midlands Region for our Festival in 2011.

Lynn Neller

East Midlands 'Reaching out' yoga project
Making yoga accessible to underprivileged people

Nine months ago, our then Deputy CR for Notts, Birgen Engin, was singularly proactive in setting up a pilot Outreach programme before her job called her away from the region. With support and invaluable help from other teachers, Birgen arranged a series of yoga classes in Central Nottingham for minority groups such as refugees and asylum seekers. We now want to build on Birgen’s work and expand this project into other parts of the county.

There are many people in the community—minority groups, the underprivileged, those experiencing domestic violence—who need yoga far more than those of us who teach it and who can access it at the drop of a hat. These people may not even know how much yoga could benefit them, and, until we offer it to them, they will never know. We have the opportunity to share something wonderful which people could use on their own, without money, as a tool for overcoming some of the symptoms of their suffering and/or marginalisation. Surely this is what yoga is really about: easing suffering and isolation, providing tools, strategies, space and quietness?

We are very fortunate that Caron Jones and Jasmin Bahia, both of whom have much expertise in working with minority groups, are willing to take this project forward, but we also need help from other teachers in the region.

If you want further information about this Outreach project, or want to help, please contact Caron: - mobile 07906 145871 (texting only).

Independent Safeguarding Authority Vetting & Barring Scheme

From July 2010 onwards, teachers working with dedicated groups of young persons under 18 will need to register with the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA). ISA registration can be made on the same form as the Enhanced Disclosure (ED) application. ISA registration is ‘one-off’, will cost £64 and will include an updated ED. The ED will still need renewing every three years. ISA registration is being implemented in several stages over the next five years for all teachers working with under-18-year-olds.

The new BWY Ethics, Equity & Welfare Manager is Helen Smith
Tel 01268 775750 Email

For more detailed information, read the article by Angie Punaks (BWY Ethics, Equity & Welfare Manager) in the Autumn 2009 issue of Spectrum, visit the Child Protection section of the BWY website, or visit the ISA website (links open in new windows).

Booking Events

For all event enquiries and bookings, please contact the organising county rep or deputy county rep, not the tutor. It is always advisable to contact the organiser, prior to the event, to find out if places are still available. Although you can turn up on the day to any event, if it is full, you may not be able to stay as some tutors put a restriction on numbers attending. This is especially important for IST and First Aid events, where strict limits on numbers apply and certificates are printed prior to the day.

Note that, even where places are available, there is a cost increment for those who have not booked: full day £3 extra, half day £2 extra. Remember also that we cannot let you know that an event is cancelled if we don’t know you are coming!

EM-pori-OM

Advertisement rates for BWY East Midlands Newsletter

BWY members, non-members and corporate advertisers are welcome to submit copy for inclusion in the Newsletter which is currently published 3 times a year. Advertisement rates and copy deadlines may be found in the Advertisement rates downloadable PDF file.