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Christmas Yoga Schedule
 Healing Yoga Retreat (Meridian Cleansing) 9:30 -11:30 AM Dec 20 - 23, 27 - 30 Regular Class Mondays Dec 20, 27 Wednesdays Dec 22,29 6:30-7:45 PM Fall Session ends Dec 19 |
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December
Desk Hours
Dec 1 - Dec 24 Monday - Thursday 9:00 AM - 1:00 PM 4:00 PM - 8:00 PM Friday, Saturday 9:00 AM - 1:00 PM Dec 25, 26, 31, Jan 1st Closed Dec 27 - 30 9:00 AM - 1:00 PM
Massages available 9:00 AM - 9:00 PM 7 days a week
Please book in advance
514-695-9025
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Harmoni Gifts
Yoga Mats with Carrying Bag $40
Lea Longo "Peace Chants" CD $15
Meditation Chairs
$40
GIFT CERTIFICATES (any $$ value)
* Yoga
* Meditation
* Massage
A Harmoni Gift shows genuine love and caring...call now and get yours personalized with calligraphy and a hidden hug from us! |
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Recipe:
Rukh's Sausage Stuffing
(A)
10-12 Hot Italian Sausages (skins off)
2 chopped onions
2 cups chopped celery
(B)
2 chopped apples
˝ cup chopped
parsley
˝ cup dried cranberries
1 tsp. dried sage
(C)
1 cup liquid (lemonade, orange juice or red wine)
2 packages bread crumbs (turkey stuffing mix)
(A) Shred sausage meat and sauté 'A' ingredients for 10 minutes
(B) Add 'B' ingredients and cook for another 10 minutes
(C) Add 'C' ingredients and fold in gently
IMPORTANT NOTE HIDE the stuffing from family members until turkey is cooked!
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Humour
Fascinating Aida
Cheap Flights
4 min 17 sec
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Greetings!
On Dec 25th, 1914 in northern France, German and British soldiers, of their own volition, lay down their arms, crossed no man's land, exchanged rations and tobacco, sang carols and played soccer together. That first Christmas of World War I, soldiers were able to create a little peace on earth and goodwill.
German and British soldiers together on Dec 25th, 1914
Fast forward to today. As Rukhshana and I were leaving Loblaws on Halloween night, we noticed that large cardboard pumpkin and witch decorations were being replaced by reindeer, elves and assorted Christmas fauna.
Over the years, the idea of peace on earth seems to have been crowded out by stressful trips to congested malls to accumulate the things we think we need to make Christmas perfect.
Here are some of the things that we do at our home to reduce the commercialism of the Christmas season:
- we donate to a food bank
- we visit our family in Toronto
- we give gifts that create opportunities for interaction with our loved ones, that encourage creativity or that we make ourselves
- because several members of our family are Christian, we go to midnight mass on the 24th
- recently, we have begun to give environmentally friendly gifts
(see Eco Tips below)
We hope that you successfully navigate around the stressful parts of the season and are able to focus on the important things like sharing warm, joyous times with your families and friends, expressing love and appreciation.
Rukhshana and I wish you happy holidays from our family to yours.
Rukhshana and Ian
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Upcoming Workshops and Courses at Harmoni
Breathwork Seminar (4 1/2 hours)
Sunday December 5, 1:00 - 5:30 pm
Most of our energy should come from breathing, yet many of us access only 20% of our full breathing capacity, leaving our cells starved for oxygen and compromising optimum health. Breathwork is energizing, deeply healing and therapeutic, and when done on a regular basis, will produce lasting, transformational change. Breathwork can also release stored muscle and tissue tension, unraveling past emotional or mental trauma, and help clear unwanted cellular memory. Have fun discovering how your body currently breathes, through in-class measurements and a personal assessment - learn the physiology of breath through hands-on visualization techniques - expand your intake with specific exercises - experience a fully supported breathwork session. We will conclude with some sharing and a fruit feast. After this initial breathwork seminar, you may join our monthly follow-up sessions offered at Harmoni. Please bring a mat, blanket, 2 pillows, water bottle and some fruit to share.
Rukhshana Surty, Director of Harmoni Holistic Center, with Ian Ramsay and the Harmoni Team facilitators
Price: $75 (Returning students $60) - limited space
Coming in 2011 (stay tuned for dates)
- Meditation Courses (1 and 2)
- Reiki Courses (1 and 2)
- Healing Retreats (Breath,Yoga,Meditation)
- Yoga Workshops
- Awakening Mindfulness Course
- Active Living Course |
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Give a Soldier a Smile for Christmas by Ian Ramsay
Several soldiers from Montreal will be spending this Christmas in Afghanistan. Once again, we are collecting items to send that will help keep up their morale. Books, magazines, unscented baby wipes, DVDs of new movies, non perishable food such as cookies, protein bars, camp meals, gum, Tabasco sauce, chips, and hard candies are all appreciated (see picture below). If you would like to help, please drop the items off at Harmoni. Please call us if you have any questions about what to send.
Matt gets a Dad's Cookie
Two years ago I had the privilege of attending the Rememberance Day Ceremony with my son Matthew and several other veterans that he had served with. They had all recently returned home form Afghanistan and this was the first time that they had seen each other since they got back. There was a relaxed camaraderie within the group and they were clearly happy to see each other again. There was lots of razing that inevitably occurs when men who have been close, get together again.
This was the first year that the ceremony took place on the lower campus at McGill and I had not noticed, (or expected), cannons to be fired in the new location during the two minutes of silence. (continued below) |
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Inspirational Quote
Don't write your name on sand, waves will wash it away.
Don't write your name in the sky, wind will blow it away.
Write your name in the hearts of people you come in touch with.
That's where it will stay.
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Discouraging Holiday Break-Ins
(Adapted from CAA Touring Magazine winter 2010)
If you are planning on visiting family and friends this Christmas, or if you're going away on a trip, here are some tips to deter break-ins while you're out of the house.
- Check that all doors are locked whenever you go out even if it's only for short periods of time. Recently there's been someone in our neighbourhood who regularly checks to see if car doors are locked. Several people who forgot to lock their car door, (including me), have been robbed.
- Placing a sticker on your front door that indicates that objects in your house are engraved, acts as a deterrent to thieves. You can borrow a burin from your local police station to engrave your valuables. (Engraving objects makes resale difficult for theives)
- If you go out in the evening, draw the curtains and leave the room light on
- Shred all cardboard packages for expensive items, (televisions, DVD players, computers, decoders... ), before recycling so that you don't advertise new items in your house
- Don't leave notes that are visible from the street on your front door or mail box when you go out
Before Leaving on a Trip
- Have a reliable neighbour remove flyers, clear the snow from the front steps and driveway, and move your car from time to time
- Arrange to stop mail and newspaper deliveries
- Don't leave information about your trip on your answering machine or on Facebook or other social networks
- A full voicemail box is a clue that you are away. Have your calls forwarded or retreive your messages remotely
- Unplug the automatic garage door opener if you have one
- Use programmable timers to turn on lights according to your normal schedule. Remember that any lights that are left on permanently while you're away are a clear sign that there's no one home.
Link to more tips
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Installing Outdoor Decorations Safely
(Adapted from CAA Touring Magazine winter 2010)  If you don't want to be left hanging like the person in the picture, here are some suggestions. - Place the base of your ladder 1 foot away of whatever it leans against for every 4 feet of height to the point where the ladder contacts at the top - Keep both feet on the ladder - never put one foot on a rung and the other foot on a different surface - Place your ladder on a stable, even, flat surface. Never place a ladder on top of another object - Use extension cords that are specifically labeled "for outdoor use" - Examine light strings before installing them. Discard all damaged cords, cracked sockets and loose connections. - Cut off the power before installing electrical decorations - Keep electrical connectors off of the ground and away from puddles of water, snow piles and metal rain gutters - Use only CSA certified decorations - Attach decorations with plastic ties, plastic staples or insulating tape rather than using nails or thumbtacks which can pierce electrical cables and cause a short. - Point lights down to prevent water and snow from seeping into sockets |
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Tips for an Eco Wise Christmas
- Buy a genuine Christmas tree. Artificial trees can be difficult to dispose of. Genuine Christmas trees can be recycled and made into compost. (You can buy a Balsam Fir from Ikea for $20)
Find out more about trees at Ikea
- Use LED lights. Trade in the old style light bulbs for modern LED lights. LED lights use 80-90% less energy compared to old light bulbs.
- Use non-plastic Christmas decorations Dix Milles Villages sells an enchanting variety of hand-made Christmas tree ornaments at fair trade prices.
See ornaments available at Dix Mille Villages
- Send an electronic Christmas card which does not require physical resources to make or distribute.
- Pack your presents in ordinary gift wrapping. Be creative. Use newspaper or colorful pages from magazines. You can also pack presents in a beautiful scarf and make the packaging part of the present.
- Use cloth shopping bags when you buy Christmas presents. Attach your receipts to the outside of shopping bags with a paper clip so you are not challenged by store security.
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Walking in a Winter Wonderland
After the first snow fall, Rukhshana and I took a walk around the Bois de Liesse Nature Park.
The Japanese Bridge
 
A young coyote experiences snow for the
first time.
 
Stretching after the walk Rehydrating after exercise is important too. |
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Give a Soldier a Smile for Christmas (continued from above)
The quiet of the ceremony was suddenly punctuated by a resonating boom. The ground vibrated underfoot, while the rumbling after-shock rattled the plate glass windows of the McLennan Library, and set off car alarms.
I was startled and had jumped at the unexpected loudness. I started to mumble a self conscious apology but as I turned to speak, the words died in my mouth. Matthew and his friends had been startled too.
The relaxed stances had instantly become wary, compressed, coiled and ready for action. The calmness of their faces was replaced by focused stares squinting to locate the source of the sound. Each of them had been instantly jolted back to being suddenly awoken by mortar rounds landing close by at 3 AM, the explosion of an IED near a LAV, (light armoured vehicle), or a near miss by a rocket propelled grenade blowing up in an embankment close behind them.
But it was not only the sound that affected them. There is an on -going tension associated with the ever-present danger of sudden violence. A constant feeling of stress when day after day, you go outside the wire, taking point in a dismounted patrol, or being the last man searching for insurgents along narrow alleys surrounded by high dirt walls, where any rooftop above may hide a sniper. All of that came back in an instant. One of the guys turned to the others and muttered, "That was totally unnecessary." ...an understatement indeed.
I used to think that Remembrance Day was about respect for the old vets and keeping the tradition of pausing to think about abstract concepts like sacrifice, duty, honour or freedom.
Now I think about tangible things like respect for soldiers of any age who have lived through the experience of war, of close ties between comrades in arms, and friendships forged during the heat of war. I think about people I know who are friends or neighbours and have volunteered to substitute the comforts that we take for granted in exchange for the risk of being wounded or killed. I think about young men who are instantly transported back to war whenever they hear unexpected, loud sounds. |
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We hope you have enjoyed our newsletter and love hearing your comments and suggestions. Please feel free to pass it on to your family and friends.
Rukhshana & Ian
THE GIFT OF HARMONI for a loved one (any $ value) -RESERVE before Dec.15, and Rukhshana will personalize your gift with Calligraphy! |
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