Join us at Krishna’s Birthday Festival on Sunday August 24th. It is being held at Toowong College. More details here

Prem Yogi demonstrates Tadasana, the mountain pose, and explains how to get the most out of this fundamental posture.

Photo Exhibition - Andrew C Webb

Join us on August 27th for an exhibition of the work of local photographer Andrew C Webb. If you’ve been to the studio you’re already familiar with it - his work brightens up the hallway that leads to the bathrooms near the front door.

“The best solution would be for us all to become vegetarians”.

So suggested the head of the UN climate agency, Yvo de Boer, who is attending UN-led climate talks in Germany this week. He was responding to criticism that measures to tackle climate change are partly to blame for the rise in food and energy costs. Carbon-cutting biofuels, for example, use food crops to make alternatives to gasoline.

Meanwhile, Patrick Wall, chairman of the European Food Safety Authority, has questioned whether it is “morally or ethically correct” to be feeding grain to animals while people starve. Speaking to the Times, he argued that it’s time to end the EU ban on the use of animal remains to feed pigs and chickens. Lifting the ban would allow grain to be diverted to millions of starving people.

And the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation, hosting a much publicised summit in Rome this week, has warned of global catastrophe unless food reaches parts of the world where it is needed most.

So, does the global food crisis demand a radical rethink of how we distribute food? Should we worry less about feeding our animals and prioritise getting grain to people suffering food shortages - even if that affects the availability of meat?

Is it time for us all to become vegetarian?

Atma Yoga has been nominated for a 2008 Business Achiever Award, which is kind of ironic considering that we’re a non-profit organisation. However, business isn’t just about profit. In fact, great business leaders understand that business is a sustained success when it is primarily about service, and profit is a side effect of that. Business is holistic when it meets a need in the community, and the community reciprocates with that service to keep the business going.

All the staff at Atma are unpaid volunteers doing what we do because “compassion is our passion”.

Thanks to whoever nominated us, and thanks to everyone for supporting us and allowing us to continue to serve you in some small way. Now we have to be on our toes for a “mystery shopper audit”.

Join us for a special session of Sacred Chant with guest His Grace Sankarshan Das Adhikari, a practitioner and teacher of the science of Bhakti Yoga for over 36 years. He is a disciple of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and has made it his life mission to continue teaching others all around the world this supreme knowledge.

Friday, 6pm, in the lounge space at Atma.

Sacred Chant - Friday, 6pm, $10, followed by dinner.

KRISHNA FEST! - Saturday, 5pm, only $5!, and of course followed by a super delicious & healthy feast.

Join us on Saturday for a special edition of Krishnafest. We’re celebrating the life and pastimes of a modern saint, His Holiness Jayananda Thakura, an American who took to the path of bhakti yoga in the 1960s, and left his body in 1977.

We’ll be recounting his life story and drawing inspiration for our own lives and practice in the modern urban West.