Tag: health

Ashtanga Police

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Commitment has a downside. When practicing Ashtanga Yoga we commit to practice 6 days a week. And yes, there are days, when I can’t manage to get up that early. Days when I feel weak. Days other plans cross badly. 

However working at home allowed me all of a sudden to practice in the morning, bringing more flexibility into my life. What a relief! And still, there are weak spots. The moment I notice I won’t practice at all, or time only allows for half the series, or I even practice and test a class I will teach later that day instead of doing my practice…. I feel bad. 

I can hear the Ashtanga Police knocking on my door. Guilty.  

Isn’t this – yes, bullshit. Let’s get it clear: 

Listening to my body has become my priority. When not feeling good, I go slow and I listen, I feel. Eventually practice less, or do Yin Yoga. I might even just sit and meditate, followed by some pranayama. 

When I didn’t sleep the night, staying one hour longer in bed might be more important. Being prepared for my classes a must and this too can be my practice once in a while. Everything is practice.

There is no Ashtanga Police 😉 They won’t come and knock on my door to put the guilty stamp on me. It’s this voice in me talking. Time to make a deal with this voice and send the so called Ashtanga Police to the land where the pepper grows. And once and for all, stop judging myself.

Guess what? This too is Yoga. This too is commitment.

Photo by LOGAN WEAVER on Unsplash

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

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Yummy workshop!

Deep dive into yourself – pure nourishment. It will be a very gentle and calm practice, where you will be guided into yourself. Releasing tension and allow the process of healing to start. No matter if physically, mentally or emotionally – all you have to do is let it happen.

We will start with Yin Yoga in combination with Reiki, the Japanese hands on healing method (read more about Reiki here) and we will finish with a beautiful Chakra healing, which comes as a guided meditation. I will take you through a beautiful visualization, which will not only be a deep relaxation, but also work on your chakras.

Mark your calendar on the 7th March, 4pm – 6:30pm! Sign up here, places are limited!

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!

For you

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There’s a new guided meditation available for you!

No matter if you’re new to meditation or already practicing, do something new today! Today is NEW MOON, a moment of stillness, a new beginning, The old does not longer exist, the new not yet here. Time to slow down, this is the perfect day to meditate! Join the moon, be in stillness, tune in to yourself.

Please check what I recorded for you, listen and I would be delighted to hear what you think. You find my guided meditations on my YouTube channel and the new one directly here.

Tune in!

4 TIPS TO SLOW DOWN

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Many times meditation has been a topic I wrote about, and in these times of intense stress, I won’t stop to point out how important it is to slow down and be in stillness.

Our minds tend to be overloaded, and many of us experience a constantly buzzing busy mind. Just ignoring this fact and allow the stress to manifest can lead to health issues. Stress can take a serious toll on your body on all levels, physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. This makes it so important to have breaks, clear the mind, calm down and be still. Your health needs a relaxed and calm starting place to function optimally.

Here comes meditation into play, as this is a great tool to calm down with effects on all levels. You don’t like it? Can’t do it? Give it a different name. Get behind the idea. It’s crucial to quieten your mind and be in stillness, no matter how you do it or how you call it. As an important note, it’s not about just getting rid of your thoughts. Even if shushing your many inner voices is the main goal, you should let them have their say, so you can discover the all-encompassing stillness. Allow thoughts to pop up, appreciate them and let them go. This is the whole exercise. Let’s repeat: it’s all about accepting the thoughts as they come up, and then releasing them. 

Sounds easy, but it only works if you stop judging yourself when your mind starts to wander. Sitting in stillness isn’t easy, so why don’t you start with this to help you stay focused and reel you back in if your mind gets too busy:

  1. Focus on your breath: Bring your attention to your breath. Let it go into your belly, long, slow deep inhales and full exhales. Whenever your mind starts to wander, bring your attention back to your breath. Again and again and again. Just that.
  2. Guided meditation: Use a guided meditation to focus on the voice your hear and following that voice, so your thoughts don’t have much space. You can use an app for this or check my meditations on YouTube – I will record more for you and upload there. Go with the voice that makes you feel calm and settled, otherwise it won’t work well.
  3. Start easy: just some minutes will do the job when you start. Slowly you might want to increase the time, but be gentle and allow yourself to get used to it!
  4. Practice regularly: Make it a regular practice and go for the same time each day. This way it becomes a habit and you can stick to it. Start once a day, maybe right after getting up in the morning or before sleep in the evening. When feeling comfortable with it, you might want to increase the duration and/or ad another short slot during the day.

Learning how to quiet your mind and have a regular practice can have a big impact on your life. And your health!

A new Chapter

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No, I’m not bored. No, I don’t have any spare time. But. I love essential oils – PURE BLISS! – and I love dōTERRA. Essential oils are a trigger. They stimulate and calm, they support on an emotional, mental and physical level. I was very skeptical at the beginning and wondering if this is more than a nice smell – it is indeed. But essential oils and yoga? Yes, same here, it took a while to convince me, but I love them in my practice now, at least in shavasana…. read more about it here.

Slowly they became part of my daily routines – in my drinking water, in the diffuser, on my skin, in my yoga classes and reiki sessions. But what really convinced me is that they are an important tool when it comes to my health. Their awesome smells do not just pamper my soul, but they help my body to stay healthy.

That’s why I took the next step now – not just using them, but become a dōTERRA Wellness Advocate. No matter how this continues, I just want to share what I love and what makes a difference.

So beautiful people out there, if you are curious now, let’s chat! And if you are interested, read more here or visit my dōTERRA page for some videos and an introduction of the best oils to start with.