All posts tagged: practice

The Flower In The Storm

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“What´s in a name?” A question often asked, and just as often replied to. “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet” – an often used quote from Shakespeare´s Romeo & Juliet. A rose is always a rose, it knows it´s purpose , it does not need a name to define itself. For us human beings – or should I call us human thinkers maybe, as if we were really human beings would we really need to categorize and put names on things to explain what they are instead of feeling in the energy and give names by that 😉 ? – language and words are important. So there can be a lot in a name. If we choose to listen in and honour that name, that word, that picture , the vibration of the name or the word is synchronizing itself with us. Today I was blessed to have a chance encounter with a dear friend in town, as I was racing through the streets on my very fast blue bike. A …

Detox your mind

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Detox is a word which has become almost as common as the word “Iphone” in our every day lingo. Even though we might not know all the exact down-to-the-nano-particle-of-certain-molecules-or-cells-details-and-functions of neither the word “Detox” nor the word “Iphone” , we are all aware that both words are necessary for our survival ( 😉 ). Or at least we know that one is – the other we most likely feel like it would be pretty difficult to survive without. Well aware of the fact that Detoxification is the process in our bodies which rids our system of toxins we have become more and more picky about what we put in our mouths, on our skin, the quality of the air which we breathe in and more. But what about the things we let in to our minds through the gateways of our senses? And what about the stuff that comes out of our mouths as we speak? Is the music you are playing, the books, magazines and blogs you are reading, the movies you are watching, …

Listen

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Spring is officially upon us and before we rejoice in all the energy the sun brings us, before we feel it rushing through our bodies and minds filling us with a tremendous intensity of inspiration and motivation, there is always that time of transitioning in to spring from winter. Yes, we do tend to forget that. Every year anew we find ourselves sitting there wondering why we are overcome with fatigue and sluggishness, feeling slightly chilly, eyes watering, itchy nose, wrapped in a huge blanket while turning our cheeks to face the sunlight with a craving for that fluttering spring energy to just kick start itself. Spring, the season of the element Wood, the season of the Liver, the Gallbladder, of Green. The season when the body wakes up again to take in the beauty of life as it re invents itself right before our very eyes. Being the language nerd I am have for a long time been fascinated with the origin and meaning of words in relation to what they can really tell …

Strong Winter

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Winter. Water. Cold. Yin. Kidneys. Hibernation. Recuperation. Rest. Movement. Stamina. Plenty of words to describe the season and element we are in. I just read in a centuries old “Farmers Wisdom Calendar” that if the old year freezes together with the new year it will be strong winter. A strong winter. What does that mean actually? A lot of us might shrug and think “uh, that means a long, cold, winter with frozen hands, feet and nose”. Other’s might think “yeah, that means a long, crisp, ice and snow clad couple of months ahead with loads of fresh air enjoy ice skating, skiing and sledding with the kids down the slopes”. I would like to think of it as simply “strong winter”. Winter – with all it’s cold, ice, rain or snow, biting winds, somewhat darker days and longer evenings, with me feeling strong. Strong winter. The planet needs this season to be cold, to be “real” to be in balance here in the Northern Hemisphere. We are not separate from the planet. So, how …

Tall and rooted like a tree

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This blog post was first published on http://www.consumingpassions.nl , with whom I write as the resident Yoga & Nutrition Expert, under the name “Mindful Transitions” in October of 2014. It is fall out there. The leaves are being ripped off the trees one day and caressed by a hardly tangible Indian Summer breeze the other day. It is warm. Then it is cold. You wake up totally energized only to face the next morning totally knocked out. One day you take in the crisp air with your first breath as you step outside the door. The next day you can hardly breathe at all from the dampness of the fall rains… When the season change, especially spring into summer and summer into fall we seem to get more out of balance than during other seasonal transitions. It might even feel like at times you’ve been hit with a metal rod on your head while at other times you find yourself looking for both inner and outer bearings to get through this period. Our first routine …

Yoga…..asana ?

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“In ancient times Hatha Yoga was practiced for many years as a preparation for higher states of consciousness. Now, however, the real purpose of this great science is being altogether forgotten. The Hatha Yoga practices which were designed by the rishis and sages of old, for the evolution of mankind, are now being understood and utilized in a very limited sense. Often we hear people say , “oh, I don’t practice meditation, I only practice physical Yoga, Hatha Yoga”. Now the time has come to correct this view point. Hatha Yoga is a very important science for man today… The main objective of Hatha Yoga is to create an absolute balance of the interacting activities and processes of the physical body, mind and energy. When this balance is created, the impulses generated give a call of awakening to the central force (sushumna nadi) which is responsible for the evolution of human consciousness. If Hatha Yoga is not used for this purpose, its true objective is lost. “ – Swami Satyananda Saraswati (1923-2009) I have come …