OCTOBER 30, 2010

Plea For Books To Educate Villagers In Kampung Lobong – Lobong, Sabah, Malaysia

Posted by Dorothy under Community Interestsno responses

To all my dearest readers,

I am posting this on behalf of a friend who is on a project to set up a library for the less fortunates in a small village in Sabah,Malaysia.

Dear friends,

The time has come for me to make a plea on behalf of the children and villagers of Kampung Lobong-Lobong. Remember my first ever note on FB? I have a wish to empower these able people and I found that many friends and acquaintances also share my wish. So the first step we are taking is to create the village’s own resource centre and library! Hence today, I would like to ask you to send us books to help us furnish it. The centre will be housed in an existing building within the village.

On the weekend of the 18th-19th December a few friends and I are going to fix shelves in the building shown below & convert it into a resource centre cum library for the villagers to use freely.. so please feel free to send books, magazines (if possible nature related), dictionaries, pictionaries etc. that you think can benefit this community. For those who are able to join us that very weekend, you are also welcomed

A bit on demographics of the village…

There are roughly about 90 households in the Lobong-Lobong village. Each household has an average of 3 to 5 children whose ages spans between 3 to 25 years… there is a primary school in Kuang village which is about 25mins walk away, whilst in order to attend secondary school these youngsters will either attend boarding schools near  Ranau i.e. SMK Lohan or SMK Narinang but they will usually come home to the village in the weekends to help tend the farms and fields.

We have good feedbacks from the locals wanting to learn and pick up languages, mainly English, so we hope in the near future we can also organize short English classes for all age groups. I have plans to invite friends and contacts to contribute their time in training these villagers in skills that would help them improve their livelihood… if you have skills and knowledge to share please also get in touch

A dear friend had agreed to be the collection centre for this project so please send your donated books to:

“Lobong-Lobong Community Drive: Resource Centre & Library”

c/o : DR. Izety Shezlinda Noran

Room no. 40, Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery Clinic,

Hospital Queen Elizabeth I,

Karung Berkunci No 2029

88586 Kota Kinabalu

Sabah

Please comment below for further enquiries, please also spread the word to friends whom you think would be able to contribute, thank you in advance!

p/s: it would also be nice for you to write a note stating your name(s) & where/who the book donation is from etc. Perhaps also some encouraging words to the readers

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SEPTEMBER 17, 2010

The Spiritual Nichtern Trio

Posted by Dorothy under Community Interests2 comments

If you have not heard of the Nichtern family, then it is time for you to check them out.

They are a highly successful family with lots of wisdom to share. David Nichtern, a broadway producer who successfully wrote the famous song “ Midnight At the Oasis ”, Cyndi Lee ( aka Mrs Nichtern ) a dance choreographer and their son, Ethan Nichtern, are a trio helping to spread the teachings and philosophy of Buddhism.

Three of them give regular talks around the United States. Other than that, David has also spread his teachings through music and Cyndi, her dance productions and yoga. Both Cyndi and Ethan has written some books entitled, “ OM Yoga: A Guide To Daily Practice ” and “ One City: A Declaration Of Interdependence ”.

To discover what the HOOHAS surrounding the Nichterns is all about, check out these few weblinks below. Enjoy and hope you find delight in the superfluous sea of free spiritual information.

• David – http://www.davidnichtern.com/
  http://www.dharmamoon.com/

• Cyndi – http://www.omyoga.com/

• Ethan – http://www.ethannichtern.com/
  http://www.theidproject.org/

Hands up for those of you who have tried or are still trying to sit down cross legged with the intention of meditating, while trying endlessly to prevent thoughts from coming into the mind or worse still, trying to keep yourself awake. Stop feeling guilty for not being able to come to a ‘focus on nothing’ situation. You probably have not heard or been exposed to the different types of meditation: active and passive.

Passive meditation is the type of meditation which is commonly known. I would now like to introduce the concept of active meditation to my fellow readers. Active meditation takes place when you focus your mind on the activity that you are performing at that moment and not on anything else. This in fact is the aim of Yoga, to experience a meditative state in everyday life. Check these prodentim reviews.

During my research about the concept of active meditation, I found the method of Dynamic Meditation introduced by a spiritual teacher who is famously known as Osho. Osho supports active meditation as seen in his quote below:

“Don’t try to be passive. How can you try to be passive? You can sit like a Buddha, but that passivity will just be skin-deep. Deep down you will be in a turmoil, you will be boiling, a volcano – you can erupt any moment…. People sit in Zazen for years…just trying to make the mind silent, and it goes on working, goes on working, goes on working. Read more about prodentim.
“Hence my emphasis on active meditations. That’s a balance. First be active, so totally that passivity follows automatically. When you have been active and the whole energy has moved, you would like to rest.” Osho

Osho’s theories can further be supported by the teachings of the well respected yoga guru, B.K.S. Iyengar, who explained meditation in his book, “Light On Life” :

“Contrary to what many teachers try to tell you, meditation is not going to remove stress. Meditation is only possible when one has already achieved a certain “stressless” state. By learning how to relax the brain, one can begin to remove stress. This process of relaxing the brain is achieved through asana. In asana our consciousness spreads throughout the body, eventually diffusing every cell, creating a complete awareness. In this way stressful thought is drained away, and our mind focuses on the body, intelligence, and awareness as a whole” B.K.S Iyengar. This is how alpilean works.

To put it briefly, passive meditation is not the only way to develop the mind and body connection. Our everyday activity of walking, eating, cooking and cleaning, if done mindfully and with focus, constitutes active meditation. For instance, while performing a yoga asana, be mindful of how your body feels as you perform that action, the stretch and contraction of the working muscles and the rhythm of your breath. Imagine what the activity would be like for a child or for someone who had never experienced it before. These are the best Weight loss pills.

Therefore, let us all go active before we turn passive.

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JUNE 17, 2010

Charity Yoga At Let’s Eat, Langkawi

Posted by Dorothy under Community Interestsno responses

All are welcome to join us for a stretch,twist and bend session with proceeds to charity.

WHERE : Let’s Eat Foodcourt at Jalan Pantai Tengah, Langkawi

DATE  : 27th of June 2010

TIME : 8.30 am

DONATION : Any amount will be appreciated

DO’S : Wear comfortable exercise attire ( no shoes required )
Come with an open mind

DON’T : Eat one hour before

FOR FURTHER INFO : Dorothy Ang @ 019 – 6520683
Rosidi @ 012 – 5369216

Lastly, please bring your own exercise mat if you have one. Otherwise, we will provide them but we have limited mats.

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