March Satsang was so very good just twelve of us this time but there was a lovely warm atmosphere. It was lovely to see some new friends as well as our regular devoted members.
The day started at 9am with a wonderful yoga class taken by Shirley. As I have a long journey, I did not make the beginning of the class, but was able to join in with the final asanas followed by an excellent relaxation – just what was needed, a bonus! 
Next we prepared for Havan Yajna – The Fire Ceremony. It is not so easy to perform but we took time, just a few moments, to reflect, absorb and digest the sublime meaning of some of these Vedic chants and prayers. It was also very moving. Afterwards we said prayers for Raja’s family because her daughter Savita, Swamiji’s granddaughter, has recently lost her dear young husband, Sandeep.
I felt very blessed to be there to offer prayers with others at such a time. We certainly had a lot of smoke from the sacred fire this time let us hope all our prayers and chants were carried ever upwards with the smoke so heaven’s blessings shower down upon the whole family and give them courage and strength.
After Havan Vanessa gave us a Sanskrit lesson, this she does freely on a regular basis at Satsang patiently trying to break it down to manageable pieces to help deepen our understanding of this great divine language. We focussed on pronouncing and sounding some of the vowels and consonants correctly. We also discussed the word asmita (I-am-ness) and in greater detail the words vitarka, vicara and ananda (reasoning, reflection, bliss) which were linked to the Patanjali Sutras v.17 covering the four different stages of Samadhi (samprajnata samadhi). Vanessa also touched on a topic that Shirley was to expand upon later which was an excellent idea and made it even more interesting.
We were then ready for food, food lovingly cooked by Rani, which we all appreciated and enjoyed very much.
After this divine luncheon, Shirley led us with a theme on how to deal with and overcome negative thoughts, many ideas were given and this led to a very lively, interesting and inspiring Satsang. It was so good we asked her to write some details in this magazine for you all to read. (Due to lack of space, this will appear in the next magazine – editor)
Then we were spoilt with Yoga Nidra (yogic sleep) and the day ended with a nice meditation from Avril before bidding farewell to each other.
All in all a lovely day and I look forward to the April Satsang.
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