VOTING IN MAY - SOME POINTS TO CONSIDER...

It seems to be true that our economy runs as a 'machine of more.'

We manufacture not only goods and services, but also the demand for them. Consumers can be readily influenced to buy products and services they don’t want or need.

Voters can be influenced too, even to misplaced loyalties and hatred even of those who most closely represent their interests. Because of the effectiveness of media manipulation, the popular will can, to a significant degree, be bought and sold. The processes are so deeply ingrained, we are by and large blind to the forces acting on us and through us.

For example, it was only after I wrote this blog piece, that I realised that I too am using my powers of persuasion to get you to 'percieve' my perspective as the 'valid' one. The buddha says 'question everything, even this, what I am telling you' That is, (in my opinion) very good advice indeed.

And yet - we do indeed try to reason for ourselves; we are not blind automatons. But the power of well-funded advertising and PR efforts (even when they are dishonest and destructive) is now much stronger & more insidious than is generally understood.

We live in a sea of advertising and public relations messages that are specifically designed (scientifically reverse-engineered, in fact) to influence us outside our conscious awareness.

These communications have enormous influence over our votes, buying decisions and attitudes, even though we think we’re aware of them and are disregarding their influence. They affect all of us, although some studies show they may be more likely to influence younger folks. It is this process that determines the results of most elections. We shrug it off and minimize it at our peril.

The game board is currently stacked in a way that exaggerates the influence of money, politics and corporate special interests. Conversely, the deck is stacked against principled political activism.

"Profitable companies, their executives, and well-to-do investors all understand the wisdom of contributing money to parties and candidates who are sympathetic to their interests. Politicians must raise money if they want to get elected, re-elected, and wield influence. It seems as though no one has any real choice in these matters; everyone is simply fulfilling the inherited obligations of his or her role.” says Terry Patten - 2004.

This from Johan Hari at the Independent, April 2010, - "Every day in this country, two big forces artificially drag the British government way to the right of the British people, making it enact policies that benefit a small, rich elite at the expense of the rest. We are not supposed to notice this, never mind try to change it. Yet suddenly, in this election, those forces have been exposed.

To understand what these forces are, you have to start with a fact that is usually kept obscure: Britain is a country with a large liberal-left majority. Eighty-five per cent of us say the gap between rich and poor should be "much smaller", and a majority would get there by introducing a maximum wage that caps the incomes of the rich at £135,000 a year. Fifty-eight per cent support a dramatic increase in the minimum wage. Fifty-eight per cent want to ditch Trident - an act of unilateral nuclear disarmament. Seventy-seven per cent want to bring the troops home from Afghanistan now, or within a year at the latest. Fifty-three per cent say people come out of prison worse than they go in, and would rather spend money on more youth clubs than on more prison places.

Across most policies, our views are to the left of all three parties. (These statistics are all from Mori, Ipsos or YouGov polls.) And Brits hold these views even though they are constantly told by the media that they are marginal, impossible, or mad.

The British media is overwhelmingly owned by right-wing billionaires who order their newspapers to build up the politicians who serve their interests, and marginalise or rubbish the politicians who serve the public interest.

David Yelland, the former editor of the Sun, bravely confessed this week that as soon as he took his post, he was told the Liberal Dems had to be "the invisible party, purposely edged off the paper's pages and ignored". Only a tiny spectrum of opinion was permitted. Everyone to the left of Tony Blair (not hard) had to be rubbished - even when their policies spoke for a majority of British people.

The TV debates, then, were a very rare moment in which a slightly more liberal-left voice could speak to the public without the distorting frame of pre-emptive abuse and distortion. The window of permissible opinion was opened a little - and people responded with a wave of enthusiasm...

The reaction of the right-wing press to briefly losing the ability to frame how politicians address the public has been a frenzied panic worthy of Basil Fawlty. They have "revealed" Clegg is a paedophile-cuddling, Gaddafi-licking foreigner and crook who wishes we had lost the Second World War. But now - for a change - people can test the smears against what they see and hear with their own eyes, unmediated, on TV.

For a moment, the media demonisation of the liberal-left was switched off in favour of equal time and open access - and it revolutionised our politics. If this happened day in, day out, how would our national conversation change?"

David Yelland (ex-editor of the Sun) again - " My job was to pick out people the country could judge to make us all feel better. One day it would be a paedophile, another a politician. But what right did I have to judge? What right do any of us? The dividing line between privilege and underclass is perilously narrow.

I cannot speak for other editors but at the Sun I was actually paid to rush to judgment, paid to lash out and attack. I had 320 people on staff who were paid to agree with me...

I was untouchable. I was cocooned and protected, a "made man", an unelected member of a tiny elite that runs the country and never has to pay a price....

Just before we returned from New York I had found out my natural father was an Irish radical with a mistrust of the British, and my mum a children's writer. They had lived in bohemian style in North Yorkshire, they had both marched at Aldermaston. For the first time I understood myself.

Here I was slam-bang in the middle of what Hillary Clinton once dubbed "the right-wing conspiracy". I felt like a double agent. I began to fall in love with the very things I was supposed to oppose."


In my opinion, it doesn't take a genius to work out that something is very out of balance - even wrong. If you care about the evolution of the planet and yourself, we need to make ourselves and others more aware of this, bringing our own influence, intelligence and persuasion to the table, far more forcefully than we are currently doing.

An Evolutionary Civic Duty

All of this compromises the ability of our society to make important choices intelligently. Democratic rule has serious problems, but the problems of a corporate plutocracy are of a whole different—and frightening—order.

Although most of us live in the UK, we live in a world system, as shown by the economic meltdown.

As conscious, responsible citizens we need to respond as effectively, as we can. This is by no means easy, and there is no one way to do it. However, consider

How have your emotions and beliefs been swayed by media and commercial interests in the last year or two? Personally I have felt shocked and powerless at how easy it seems to whip a populace up into a state of discontent, and how easily most of us, do indeed - to date - buy into it. Awareness is key, activism is also important.

Also, I believe, the philosophies and practises of yoga are designed to help us move from the lower levels of judgement, blame and reactivity, into the higher levels of taking more responsibility for ourselves, and for our role in society. Ie, to turn into better, stronger and more worthwhile individuals.

May sanity be restored, know it will take us to restore it, let us be willing to make that choice and fight for it.

Action plan

Identify where you may have been unduly influenced by the media. Also identify your circle of influence - Family? Friends? Workplace? Community? Most of us don’t feel really powerful, yet we all make a difference. In the end, it is us reclaiming our own power that will stop the rot. This is only one newsletter. Where can you make your voice heard, with integrity and respect of other opinions? and then make your voice heard. Write to newspapers, your MP, join your local council group. When you can, where you can, do what you can.

Make choices that count, support your truth, work with friends, reclaim your voice, learn how to influence, BE THE CHANGE - and be very, very certain, if it is you that is willing to be the change, we need you more now than ever before.

Of Interest

1) From the Sunday Times April 25 2010.

"The richest people in Britain have seen a record boom in wealth over the past year. Their fortunes have soared by 30% even though much of the UK is struggling to recover from recession and the near-collapse of the banking system.

It is the largest rise in wealth since the list was first published 21 years ago. Much of the increase is a result of the rebound in stock markets and property values after the government injected hundreds of billions of pounds into banks and the wider economy to stave off collapse.

The 2010 Sunday Times Rich List, published today, reveals that the 1,000 richest people in the country increased their wealth by £77 billion last year, bringing their total wealth to £335.5 billion — equal to more than one-third of the national debt.

The number of billionaires has risen from 43 to 53, with nine seeing their wealth rise by £1 billion or more during the past 12 months."

2) Supreme Court Ruling in the US

The Supreme Court’s ruling in the US a few months ago swept away any control of financial donations to parties, (in affect since 1909 in the US). This tilts the game board way further.

Without demonizing corporations, we can see that they exercise their political influence on behalf of their economic advantages and interests, which are often (although not always) different from the best interests of the populace as a whole. Sometimes, even often, they are also unprincipled.

Even with the surge of citizen involvement he catalyzed in 2008, it is doubtful that Barack Obama could have been elected president under the campaign finance rules handed down in this judgement.

In his dissent, Justice John Paul Stevens wrote, “The Court’s ruling threatens to undermine the integrity of elected institutions across the Nation.” President Obama summed it up pretty well: “With its ruling , the Supreme Court has given a green light to a new stampede of special interest money in our politics.”

This article is losely based on one written by the thoughtful Terry Patten. Visit http://www.integralheart.com/ for his article and more.

Is yoga for you? Why not try a class and find out. Visit www.loveyoga.co.uk for more information

LESSONS IN LIMITS

There are philosophies that say you can be who you want, have what you want, and do what you want, just as long as you think the right thoughts and remain positive. The sky is your limit - so they say.

What this means is that, apparently, as long as you apply your mind rightly, whatever you dream you can achieve, from putting your leg around the back of your head, to effortlessy surfing 70 feet waves in Hawaii, Of course this is small fry when compared to reducing carbon emissions quickly enough to save the world, and, if you so wish, providing good quality healthcare for the masses in no time at all.

In the face of this, Reality is a tough task master. As I read in a newspaper this morning, opposition (and even same-party politicans) and world leaders prove as easy to herd as a bunch of angry, wet cats. Seven years into a yoga practice and more than a few bodies will still not have the flexibility required to fold easily into a foward bend.

Its not all bad news though. What is becoming increasingly clear to me, is that if you do focus your attention on a result, what you get is - progress in the right direction - no matter how large or powerful the seeming obstacles, including fillubustering republicans, and Chinese leadership obsfurcation.

Astonishing progress, if you are lucky, work hard enough and have the right skillset, or maybe even have mastered the positive thinking paradigm. Halting progress with lots of hiccups and set backs seems to be more the norm though.

For most of us this version of reality is good news. Using the example of your yoga practise, what it means is that we can gracefully accept the fact that we are still unable to master the astanga jump through, or put our legs behind our head, as being a totally valid Part of the Process called life.

We can of course work on our skills, and sometimes even, if our goal is realistic for us, actually achieve these attributes.

Even, if we don't, what we definitely will get is - more flexible. Also, and perhaps more importantly, the additional mind, body benefits, help create an all-round more positive life, flowing in the right direction - now.

This is not to knock limitless thinking. However, if you do want to achieve something extraordinary in your life, or your yoga practise - you may just find that your old mental habits, stiff muscles and external world conditions prove somewhat tougher opponents than often expected. A lot of hard work maybe required to get you where you want to go, and even then, there are no guarantees.

However, if you carry on regardless of your obstacles, you will probably end up learning a healthy balance between acceptance of what is, and working for a positive future. On top of that you will probably get a lot more positives than you initially bargained for. In the case of yoga, a fun, healthy, and non destructive way of improving your body and mind's strength and flexibility , without expecting to be perfect, straight away, or even ever

Is yoga for you? try a class and find out. Visit www.loveyoga.co.uk for more information and to book your place

CHALLENGES AND POSSIBILITIES

Barack Obama says 2010 is a year of exciting possibilities, and, if that man can see his challenges in such a remarkable light, the least we can do is actually try with ours.

Donna Hamilton, a well known psychotherapist says: "I started out helping people focus what was wrong with them, now a lot of what I do is focusing on what is right. There is a very authentic and powerful transformation that occurs when people focus on their successes and positive relationships."

While I don't believe in being in denial about serious problems, I do believe that, with enough accurate information, and a little bit of reframing, you can focus on the positive, or, at the very least the positive potential, of any situation.

Here are some ideas (taken from Arjuna Ardagh's book the Translucent Revolution) to guide your body and mind in helpful directions. It is really worth asking these questions of yourself. It's a practise, the harder the situation, the harder you apply the practise.

1) Are you fully aware of all your options? What have you done to research these? Do you have confidence in the people around you?

2)Are you honouring your need for connection with others, or isolating yourself?

3)Are you being kind and good to yourself? Are you nurturing and nourishing your body, or are you treating it as a machine?

4) Are you noticing and expressing your feelings or are you feeling stuck, depressed, frustrated and bottled up?

5) Have you explored the workings of your own mind, and can you see how your thoughts and beliefs affect the quality of your life?
Are you sure that everything you believe is true?

6)Do you feel connected to the meaning and purpose of your life? What do you really want to live for?

7)Are you taking time each day to connect to your deepest core and essence?

Yoga can be part of your life-style in many ways.

It may even be for you. Try a class and find out. visit www.loveyoga.co.uk for more information on styles of yoga, and the current timetable

YOUR HEALTH IS YOUR LIFE

Unfortunately, most of us are caught up running around in today's ever faster, not to mention, increasingly electronic society. It's probable in today's day-and-age, for example, that you will be working for a stressed out organisation, or even redundant with bills to pay. You may be deadened from watching too much
TV, or being glued to your computer, or eating denatured food,or drinking too much.

If this is true for you it's likely your physical health will be suffering. This all too typical lifestyle can also help create a loss of depth, sensitivity, integrity, awareness and passion in your life generally - Ultimately, the situation may become intolerable for your body and your mind, not to mention your soul.

Your health is one of the most important things in your life. Certainly it is more important than money, possessions & status.

You are a physical being. For good health, you need the slower rhythms that nature provides, good food and plenty of healthy exercise and relaxation.


HOW YOGA CAN HELP

Yoga, taught well, is a system that encourages you to treat your mind & body in a sympathetic, holistic & observant way. Once you are relating to your body and yourself with some degree of depth, integrity, passion and sensitivity, you will be able to transfer this way of relating to your family, friends, business, community and world.This leads to an entirely different experience of yourself and your connection to others.

Simply by learning to witness your breath and how to treat your body in a sensitive and compassionate manner, you will achieve far more in terms of learning to live life well, than you would through a year's worth of free spa treatments.

Is yoga for you? try a Love Yoga class and find out. Visit Ihttp://www.loveyoga.co.uk/ for more details and timetable


QUOTES

"As much as everybody enjoys all the gadgets and comforts, many people are realizing that they don't even want to live without communion and respect for Earth।" Barbara Hand Clow.

May peace prevail on Earth - Unknown

"We are nature. If we don’t allow ourselves to express and honour that on a regular basis then things go wrong. Our alienation from nature includes alienation from other people. Because we are nature & we are nature’s most hard won fruit – human beings,we need the nourishment of that contact." Godfrey Deveraux

CAN YOU REINVENT YOURSELF THROUGH YOGA?

One promise that many yoga teachers hold out is that it's possible to reinvent your life, reconfigure your mental and emotional attitudes, and radically shift your vision of what life offers.

The claim is that yoga, when practised correctly, is capable of, for example, turning a pessimist into someone who can see the perfection in everything; or an angry person into one who can channel their rage into creative energy.

Yoga's fundamental premise is that all of us, at our core, are made of the powerful, loving intelligence that gives rise to all life, furthermore, that this intelligence is fluid and infinitely creative. Because this is the actual truth, according the philosophies from the East, it is theoretically possible to change just about anything about ourselves and our life.

Indeed, some Yoga teachers and New Age teachers do believe that we can change absolutely anything. But is it true? Is it actually possible to change our personality? Can we heal a chronic or terminal illness by transforming our attitudes? How about trying 'changing the world' on for size, when your middle name isn't Hussein?

These are important questions. The truth it seems, is that the answer is both yes and no, and sometimes, maybe - depending on who, and what, you are talking about. On the one hand, certain aspects of our basic personality and physical constitution are ours for a lifetime - no amount of stretching will lengthen your thigh bones. On the other hand, there's no question that when we enter deeply into our consciousness, extraordinary shifts can take place. Some people have indeed healed life-threatening illnesses. Others, managed to change themselves enough to make a huge impact on all of our worlds - Sadat, Gandhi, Mandela and maybe now - Obama - come to mind.

Neurophysiologists say that each time we react in a certain way — getting angry, for instance, or procrastinating yet one more time — we strengthen the power of that pathway. Yoga texts make the same point, calling the pathways samskaras. Once these pathways have been set, most people just keep running down them, like rats in a maze, reacting with the same old patterns and feelings over and over again. It is these patterns that - ultimately - create our character, our ways of thinking and acting, and our perspective on life.


Unfortunately, Samskaras are powerful, which is why knowing better does not always change our behavior. There's a weight to those accumulated impressions. They are, on a daily basis, the reason we think and feel the way we do.


Yoga can help,in that it help you more clearly 'see' a pattern and, then, with any luck, 1) disidentify from it a bit, while at the same time take ownership of it. This is because the various practises work at increasing awareness of ourselves (our minds and our emotions, as well as our bodies), increasing our compassion and sensitivity for our selves, while at the same time honouring higher principles of truth - like non-violence, and non-stealing. Yoga can help us become aware of and change certain emotions and entrenched views, and improve the quality of our inner state. Yogis can honestly claim, verifiable by results, is that the regular practise of yoga produces radical improvement of overall well-being.

Over time, and with dedication many changes can, and do indeed take place.


Loosely based on an article from Yoga Journal by Sally Kempton. www.loveyoga.co.uk

Is yoga for you? try a Love Yoga class and find out. Visit Ihttp://www.loveyoga.co.uk/ for more details and timetable