Tag: doterra

KathrinLeave a comment

Do you know your values?

The moment when our values have been either fulfilled or infringed, we react with an emotion. The difficult part about that is to not blame the other person! Particularly when anything negative comes up, such as anger. They might have different values and didn’t do anything on purpose to harm you, they just act in conjunction with their own values. 

So what’s the tricky part now? You have to take responsibility for your emotions and reactions. Hmmmm, but the other person did something, said something…. No! Your values, your emotions, your decisions.

Why don’t you get a bit of practice? The next moment you react with an emotion on something someone did or said, ask yourself why. Which of your values has been infringed?

There is something you can do without reprogramming your values. Did you know, those manifest at an age between 3 and 7!  

First get to know your values. Before you react, pause. Reflect. Don’t react as usual. I know, this isn’t easy, but worth a try. And there are little sweet helpers in form of essential oils. They can help to better deal with your emotions. The oils can support in many directions – clarify, soothe, calm, balance, energise, and many more. Even if essential oils won’t make you cool as a cucumber, but you might feel more calm and cool.  

Let me give you some examples of my experiences – with the support of the oils it gets a bit easier to calm down:

  • I love to use the mixed blend „Peace“ in the office – when everyone around me freaks out, I feel like in a bubble, safe and peaceful
  • Before a stressful day, a challenging task, I inhale Adaptiv and I feel calm and confident
  • Any earthy oil, such as Sandalwood, or the mixed blend „Balance“ instantly grounds me, brings me back to myself. Great on the sole of the feet, neck and wrists
  • A few inhales of Bergamot and my smile is back

Learn your values and what triggers them, and be easy with your emotions, the only way to live in peace!

Are you ready to bring pure, natural essential oils into your life? I would love to help you get started! Send me a message to get connected.

Otherwise, read a bit more here about the power of essential oils.

Feel it darling

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Where are your feelings coming from? Check in to yourself and figure that out. Where do they sit in your body? Are they truly yours? Or are you adapting to the mood of the person you’re talking to? To the news you’re reading? To what you think you should feel? Do you know the situation when facing an angry person and how this affect you? Even if the anger isn’t pointed to you? It is ok to be compassionate, but not to take these feelings over. They are not yours. At your core, stay with what you feel, what’s yours. It might not seem to be appropriate in certain circumstances, anyhow own them and stay true to yourself. 

We are driven by our thoughts and believes, which express themselves through what or how we feel. Your feelings are dependent on your thoughts and vice versa. Meaning, allowing yourself to smile and feel happy (even if you don’t feel like at that moment) will also change your thoughts. A powerful interaction!

Put a drop of your favourite uplifting oil into the palms of your hands, rub them and hold them in front of your nose, so you can inhale the support they give. They do their work in your body, you will feel it immediately. I love Bergamot to lift me up, Sandalwood to ground me, Cardamon to make me feel cosy and home, Tumeric to make me „fly“ and the new Adaptiv, which allows me to deal much better with my daily duties and not get overwhelmed.

Own your feelings, change them if you want to, but always stay true to yourself.

Does your morning routine impact your day?

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Did anything changed for you in this time? Over the last few weeks I managed to implement a new morning routine – thanks to the lockdown. I love working from home! It’s so important how we start a day…. Usually I got up very early in the morning to go to the office before the major traffic makes driving impossible, so I was in a rush. Which means I started into the day already with stress. As I have issues sleeping, there’s no point to even get up earlier, I’m grateful for every additional minute in bed. A catch 22. 

These days are very different. I start with hot lemon water and a shower, I check my work emails, meetings and to do’s for the day and then I sit to meditate for 30-40 minutes. In silence with the only sound of my diffuser, enriching the air with beautiful scents. Additionally I put a drop of either Sandalwood or Blue Lotos on my 3rd eye, crown chakra and collarbones and just sit, doing nothing, not physically, nor mentally. It needs about 15 minutes for me before my body gets heavy, movements are not even possible anymore and my mind to pause with the incoming thoughts. Slowly I start seeing. Images, that can be clear or only show parts or colors. No judgment, no wondering, no questions, no answers. Just taking it in, letting it happen, what ever is there for me. Sometimes I go into these scenes, not being the observer anymore. Sometimes when I see myself, I merge with that part of me to experience this particular moment. This also happens naturally, I don’t force anything.

After that I enjoy a matcha latte outside, no matter the weather. Sitting on my dining table in the garden, enjoying nature and my precious state of calmness. This stillness inside is magic. This moment is magic. Now I’m ready for the day, fully connected to myself, calm and open. Any yeah, still in time for the business world.

I wish I could also fit my yoga practice into the morning, but still, sleep is important. I do this on the weekends and it’s a huge difference to practice in this state of calmness! Anyhow, for now, the yoga practice finds another time during the day or evening. Having this too in the morning might be a next step 😉

What’s your morning routine and how important is it for you?

These days

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Nothing but one topic. In the news, social media, the workplace. The world as such is struggling. 

Life changes and it will be significant now. It’s not just a phase we need to go through, nature forces us to change. The best option we have, is to commit ourselves to it. Please don’t be afraid.

Your plans have been boycotted? So have mine. Please don’t be angry. But use this energy to be creative. Release, let go and rethink what needs to change. 

We are used to run through life in high speed – as fast as possible, ticking as many boxes as we can. Stop this madness, it’s time to slow down. Be patient and grateful, we’re still here, we have a new chance to do things different.

This also is a huge opportunity for each individual as for communities. Open your eyes, open your heart, open yourself to the new. Observe, learn, reflect, adapt, change.

We often only learn through pain and to me it seems as if we have to learn and change things now at a larger scale. As we stubbornly didn’t so far, we are forced now. 

Let’s take this chance!

First thing for me is to slow down, get the pace out. I taught a yoga class yesterday and due to my broken ribs, I couldn’t demonstrate, but was reliant on my voice only. An unfamiliar situation, but I noticed that I was much slower than usual, and calmer. Practice seemed to be softer, even if physically demanding. I liked it and so did my students.

It might sound rather contrarily, as we are asked to keep distance now, and same time community and coherence is getting even more crucial. We are technically equipped, so why not using it to collaborate through distance:

My distance Reiki healing sessions are already available and it works perfectly on an energetic level.

So let’s do that for yoga too: I will soon offer 1:1 or small group yoga classes via video chat. Interested? Drop me a line!

Yoga & Reiki

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Together with a yoga teacher buddy, we hosted a beautiful workshop last weekend. For the first time I was giving Reiki to each participant individually, while they were guided through a yin yoga practice. What a thrill!

New for us was the combination of Reiki and yin yoga, as well as giving Reiki to individuals in a large group. I can hardly explain what was going on in the yoga shala, but I can tell, it was an amazing experience! My hands were almost roasting, energy was flowing like never before. Strong, rich, to the point. And the feedback was awesome, people felt it and some were deeply touched.

The entire afternoon was different for me. I noticed, that I was driven by intuition and I allowed it. Whatever I did, whatever I said emerged from my belly, not my head. While this made my head feel a bit like covered in mist, I knew it was the right thing – to listen with my body and trust my instincts.

Now my brain rules again and I’m planning to do more of this. I don’t think this is something one teacher can do alone, as this would reduce the focus. To be able to offer full attention to both, yoga and Reiki, to instruct, align and care about people, and to merge into the Reiki energy, it needs two to tango.

Stay tuned, I will come up with news on this soon!

Rest

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Rest. Oh. My. God. Once again I’m forced to rest. Not being able to move properly, but put down to rest, is the most difficult thing for me. There’s always something I have to do. I want to do.

It’s almost two weeks now, two broken ribs and obviously I can’t practice. Filled with painkillers, issues to sit, stand, lay down. Not even a gentle yin or restorative practice.

Well, it’s just broken ribs! Nothing major, it will heal. I deal with it. Honestly, it’s quite new for me to not overreact and be angry with the world. Instead, I’m very grateful that I’m healthy, it’s just broken ribs. 

As Yoga has become a life elixir, important for both body and mind, it’s a challenge to not be able to practice at all. Yoga is my choice to move out of my head and into my body. Now my patience gets tested. I know, I don’t have much of that! I have experienced these kind of tests quite a few times, but I feel this time is different. Maybe the practice works out. I feel somehow at peace, I can’t change anything, so I accept. And I will slowly go back into practice. Starting with meditation, followed by some gentle yin and extend wherever I can. Careful, mindful, grateful. 

All I have to do right now is to allow myself to expand into possibility, even if there are a few pains along the way. It might be more about spiritual practice at this time and learning to face resistance with kindness.

The picture shows a card of @the_moondeck

Practicing while sick?

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Well, I can’t give a clear yes or no, as I believe the most important thing is to listen to your body. It’s always crucial, but in that situation, mindfulness is mandatory. Never ever force anything only because your ego tells you to practice no matter what. Bullshit.

It’s that time of the year in this part of the world where we’re facing colds and flu and it hit me too last weekend. My body felt very weak, but same time shouting for some deep stretches. I listened and practiced gentle yin yoga. It felt good. Next day, no practice at all. My body was fighting and clearly needed nothing but proper rest. Today I’m feeling a bit better and asked my body what to do. I wasn’t sure. I went onto my mat, started a bit of warm up and stretching, followed by some sun salutations. I was surprised to have the energy and strength for it. However, there’s no point in overdoing! I continued listening to my body to figure out what it needs and how much. I ended up with yin again, so a bit of both and it felt perfect.

When practicing Ashtanga, it’s quite tough to decide for a different practice. Yogis out there, it’s important. Always listen to your body, not your ego. Only do what supports your health. Otherwise everything might even go worse. Another indication is your breath. If you can’t breathe properly, don’t practice anything that requires e.g. ujjayi breath. Better not practicing at all or gentle yin or just stretching, if that feels good. Maybe meditation is your choice of practice!

Are you using essential oils? They help me a lot, not only taking them internally to support fighting the cold, but also to breathe. I put two oils in my diffuser today while practicing: Air and Petitgrain. A great support for my breath! Text me if you want to know more about it.

Yogis, stay healthy and always decide and practice mindfully!

Savsana

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The most difficult posture for me. I know! When I teach, my students are always looking forward to savasana and would love to stay even longer. However, it’s different for me. I need to force myself to get into savasana, not to mention staying there! 

As soon as I’m in, my mind seems to be back in the day. Thoughts are popping up and my body just wants to stretch and get up. Damn. Savasana is important to get the practice settle in. In other words: while much of the asana practice is designed to up-regulate the body, stimulate, and even provide healthy stress, Savasana is the down-regulator, by stimulating the parasympathetic nervous system (your rest and digest response) and calming your sympathetic nervous system (your fight, flight and freeze response), so we experience a calming, sweet release.

It‘s not about a minute or two, no, 10 minutes. I tell you why: somewhere around minute 6, there is a profound shift in the body and in one’s mental chatter. You feel the weight of your body drop, and so does your mind. This is where you get to swim around in a calm body, quiet mind, and easy heart. 

So back to me. I found a trick that helps me to go through the first minutes and ready to fully enjoy my savasana: essential oils!

I follow my feelings to choose the right oil. So far I have great experiences using Lavender, Neroli or Peace (a beautiful blend mixture from doTERRA). This is what I do: I put 2 drops into my palms, rub, bring my hands to my nose and inhale the oil for 5 seconds – it goes into my brain. I hold my breath for 5 seconds – my nervous system calms down and I exhale for 5 seconds – to release my body. I do this 5 times and slide into savasana. It works!

Drop me a line if you want to know how essential oils can leverage your practice and support your health – I would love to help you getting started!

Meditation — the myth

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I recorded something for you — my thoughts about meditation. Why you should do it, and what might be a good way to get started. 

When thinking about meditation, what comes up first in your mind? Sitting for hours like a pretzel with an empty mind? Nothing for me? I can’t do that? I can’t stop my thoughts? I don’t have time for that?

Well, this is what I thought. And I can tell you, it’s wrong. It can be easy. Meditation will change a lot in your life. To the better. 

Listen to my new audio and get started. It’s so worth giving it a try!