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Heartspace in 2021

I have been taking a bit of a break from sharing via newsletter and facebook for my “Heartspace” presence. The past year has been an interesting year for sure, with my small world changing big time but also the world as a whole changing big time. I needed time to reflect and find out where and how I want to be and what my heartspace presence means for me.

This year has shown me very clearly that there are cycles for everything and that different practices are suited for different times, while some practices remain constant. Here are some things that came up for me in the past year:

  • Before we left New Zealand and in our busy life’s I really needed a nourishing, slow and mindful yoga practice. Yin felt totally home for me and I was almost resisting doing any Hatha – it felt too much most of the time. Now living on the boat our life is a lot more relaxed, but also I am not moving and running about as much, so I find the opposite is true here. I really crave a Hatha practice, strength building, as I get enough relaxation, sleep and don’t have much stress to cope with.
  • Meditation comes in different ways. I am still not one of those people who can sit still 30 minutes to 1 hour. Back in New Zealand I had shorter spells of meditation and I walked almost every day with our dog in nature, which was a beautiful, relaxing way for to process my thoughts and observe, relax or just tune out and be.  Sometimes reciting a mantra with every step. Now my meditation involves crochet, the mindful creation of one stitch after the other, sometimes sitting quietly looking out at the ocean or seeing the sun go down and sometimes if I get the chance and the weather and family play the game I set at the front deck and do a ‘proper’ meditation, sometimes I do a guided mediation. Also connecting with my essential oils, applying them to acupoints and sitting quietly with closed eyes, observing the change energy, for as long as feels right.
  • Rigid routines don’t work for me. I have been so frustrated with myself over the years hearing others having all those routines – morning routines, evening routines, yoga and meditation routines, journaling routines, work routines etc. I have read book after book and bought planner after planner to organise myself in those structures and it never worked for long. I always felt like a failure when I couldn’t stick to the routines others swore by. I have figured out now that my practices need to be fluid. I have even made that my key word for this year “fluidity”. Funny that, living on the ocean and having a very big water element in my astrological picture. I not only need to adjust my practices and routines by the seasons, but also by days or weeks or life circumstances. I am lucky enough that I have enough time for once to really listen to my body and mostly be able to do what nourishes me.
  • Finding a new level of vulnerability. Being out on the ocean, so exposed to the elements, living in foreign countries, where we don’t know how things work, sharing our journey so openly as a family has shown me a new level of vulnerability. I am not one for only showing a highlights reel of my experience. If I can’t be honest about my whole experience, the shiny, the good, the bad and ugly I wouldn’t want to share at all. What’s the point? The online world is full of BS, pretense, highlights reels that throw me straight into a ‘I am not enough” cycle if I look at my own life. I am over societal expectations and norms. I am over judgements and gossip. I am over people who only share one side of themselves to impress. However coping with other peoples judgements and their need to express their dislike of what we are doing and how we are doing it, often without knowing the full story or bothering to ask a few questions, feels challenging at times. Some never saying one single nice thing about anything, but thinking they have the right to critisize. It gives me cold shivers down my spine and I am still learning to cope with staying open, applying compassion, delete and forgive or taking the time to respond in some cases. My initial reaction is always shutting down and/ or defense but I am learning to do the opposite – staying open / practicing compassion. The world we live in now has so many “fake” aspects. I don’t want to be part of that and I want to encourage “real” conversations and sharing. I think part of the huge amount of mental illness we see today is related to unrealistic expectations and portrayals we receive from mainstream and social media and that we have unlearned to have open and honest conversations about “real” life in favor of pretense and showing success or a highlights reel.
  • Some things I have to let go off for now, which has been hard. My Tibetan Singing Bowls haven’t seen the daylight much in the past year, there hasn’t been the opportunity or space or community to share with much. Same with my yoga teaching. With much of Europe still in lockdown and social distancing its not really practical to try and teach at other studios and online teaching has proofed too complicated with sound equipment not working properly, being exposed to the elements, the sound on the foredeck of our boat is not ideal and the fact I have to “interact” with a camera lens instead of human beings. There will be a season to share those offerings again and for now I just feel into my own practice.
  • I still use my essential oils on a daily basis and still share in my Heartspace facebook group with my team and customers and in this newsletter things that support me. The business still resonates with me, with a fantastic worldwide team led by Elena Brower. The professional support I have received over the past 4 years to grow and learn has been outstanding and unprecedented in my professional life. I am so grateful to have those precious bottles of plant wisdom with me and they have helped me and my family in so many ways. I am still right here to help you open  or reactivate your account, find the right oils to support yourself and your family, answer your questions and teach you about the oils. I am not just as active sharing as we have limited data and internet access, but want to use the newsletter to share regular, valuable information. If I can help or be of service please be in touch.
  • Reiki – I have been practicing Reiki almost on a daily basis for myself and on occasion for the kids, another cruiser or Polly, our boat. I am so grateful to have this skill on board so to speak. I can offer distance Reiki if are interested in receiving some of this beautiful, nourishing and healing energy.

So what is Heartspace going to be about? I will just share for now what nourishes me, once every month or maybe only every 2 months – we will see how it flows. Essential Oils wisdom, routines that nourish me, some of my art and writing, books and podcasts I enjoy. I have combined my mailing list to simplify, so if you don’t want my updates in your inbox, feel free to unsubscribe. I certainly don’t want the newsletter to be a one way street of communication. I would LOVE to hear from you and what’s going on for you and share experiences and stories. I love human connection and its something I have been really missing this past year with all the social distancing and being away from my friends and community.

There are still a few of my online yoga classes available free of charge in our sailing you tube channel. You just need to scroll through the videos. Like and subscribe if it resonates. You can stay updated on our sailing journey HERE through our videos and HERE through my blogs.

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Wastefree Periods

In my teens and 20’s I was a tampon user. With the tampons and taking the contraceptive pill for many years came also lots of infections and medications to treat the infections. Then came the first child and an IUD. With the first child came awareness about alternative, better choices. When we were planning for our second child, that IUD came out I announced to Tim that I had done my time taking contraceptives and it was his turn. Luckily he agreed and one tiny invisible snip later we lived happily ever after.

I learned about all the nasty stuff in tampons and how they leave tiny particles and what havoc the contraceptive pill creates in the body. I changed to pads until I learned that they too have lots of nastie’s in it. Then I found a good organic brand of pads in the NZ supermarkets. That ticked most boxes for me, until I realised the amount of rubbish that I was throwing out on a monthly basis. That led me to my first menstrual cup, a mooncup quite a few years back. That was not a very successful first start. I leaked and it was uncomfortable after just using pads and it slightly freaked me out to put it in. I must admit I wasn’t very persistent, so gave up pretty quickly and went back to using my organic pads. I researched washable pads, but the prices put me off and I was too worried to leak and to pay all that much money and then it might not work. I just found excuses not find a better option.

When we decided to live and travel on a boat it was clear to me, that I would not have the option to just go and buy my preferred organic brand of pads on deserted islands and also with now more time on my hands I really wanted to do the right thing for the environment and have a wastefree period.

But first lets look at some facts here, why it is a good idea to switch to a period cup or washable pads.
⦁ The average woman uses 36 tampons / month and 14,000 tampons in a lifetime.
⦁ North America alone has 12 billion menstrual pads / tampons coming to the landfill every year! Approx. 45,000 tonnes of menstrual waste go into landfills worldwide annually. They take decades to degrade and since disposable pads are approx. 90% plastic they will never disappear.
⦁ The average woman spends $150 – $300 per year on tampons or disposable pads.
⦁ 1 disposable pad can have the same amount of plastic in it as approx. 4 plastic bags.
⦁ I found a really well researched article on hannahpad.co.nz about all the nastie’s that you will find in tampons and disposable pads. With the vaginal tissue being one of the most permeable in the body directly linked to our reproductive organs we really don’t want to put anything near there other than natural, good stuff. Unfortunately menstrual pads and tampons, just like most cosmetics and perfumes (don’t get me started) don’t need to be TGA approved and don’t have to fully disclose whats in them. You can find that article HERE.

After I did my research I approached 3 companies with products I liked, to see if they would support me in in my switch to more eco friendly period care. The Hello Cup, Hannah Pads and Moontime Aotearoa all provided me with samples of their pads and cup to try. I will outline my honest experience after 3 months of using those products below.’

Hello Cup / thehellocup.com

I have had so many friends raving about menstrual cups I knew I had to give it another go. I was unsure about the sizing and Hello Cup provided me with all 3 sizes in gorgeous colours and also sent some of their beautiful period liners.

What I really loved is that they are made in New Zealand and the creators are based in my home area of Hawke’s Bay. When that parcel arrived it showed straight away how much thought has gone into the product. Its all paper and cardboard packaging. The period cups have all their own fabric bags to keep them in. The cups are recyclable, top notch medical grade TPE and the colours are certified food grade. If you use them according to the provided instructions they should last you for at least 5 years. They come in gorgeous colours and also they offer double boxes so you can try different sizes for different flows. And not that it really matters for our periods, but the whole branding strategy is just so gorgeous to look at from the colours of the cups to the fabric of the liners to the card with a personal message and the quality of the product. Everything seems to be just right.

I trialed the different sizes of the cups and soon found the biggest one is the one that works best for me. The Hello Cup definitely feels more comfortable than the Mooncup. The toggle to pull the cup out, the rim to grab all works well. The Mooncup had a really long toggle that you had to cut off to suit your size and I found that the bits where you cut off length felt quite sharp / hard. The hello cup toggle is round and smooth and feels so much better.
One thing that I really noticed while using the cup is that you really get a proper idea of how much blood you are loosing. I have been iron deficient for ever since I got my periods and docs tell me it will probably be this way until I come into menopause. Upon inquiring if I have heavy periods I would have rated mine average. But emptying my cup now I think gosh, that is a lot of blood to loose every month! Usually its absorbed by pads or tampons, so you only get a rough idea, but with the cup you really know exactly how much you loose.

After 3 months of regular and persistent effort I insert it well most of the time, but must admit I am not a cup master yet. I wear a washable pad with the cup to catch any leakage (not much most of time), but it gives me a better sense of security, especially when going out for a while. I found sometimes it sneaks away a bit once inserted, sometimes I don’t insert it deep enough, sometimes its not the right angle, but there are good instructions on the website how to fold the cup correctly when inserting, what to do when you can’t find it etc. The tutorials are great and I found them really helpful to get comfortable with the process.

I clean my cup out and rinse it every time I go to the toilet, although on the website it says you can leave the cup in for up to 12 hours and do your toilet business without removing it. On the website it says that the Hello Cup holds approx. 3 times as much blood as a tampon would. The cleaning and changing works perfect on a boat toilet, since the toilet and sink are so close together. I remove the cup and rinse it it in the sink and back in it goes – really easy. They also offer a sanitizing spray on their website to clean the cup while you are out an about. To clean the cup after your period you can boil it in water for 3 minutes to sterilize and pack it away in the little fabric bag that comes with it until you need it again.

The Hello Period pads have gorgeous fabric and fold up really tiny. Each pad holds up to 2 tbsp of liquid, so perfect to catch any leakage. I actually use the as panty liners too now, so save me washing undies too often, as we don’t have a washing machine on the boat. The pads are organic & fairtrade, manufactured in India. The clips on the wings of the pads are metal. The pads are relatively small, so for me they really only work to have an extra layer of security when wearing my Hello cup or for those first days when where is spotting or as panty liners. I wouldn’t be able to use them as period pads without the cup with my flow. Because the fabrics are so colourful they clean up really well and they also have a a waterproof layer already sown into the pad.

I am really happy with both the Hellocup and the washable pads. I would highly recommend them to others. You can purchase them at thehellocup.com. They ship worldwide. A double box of cups is $69.95, a starter pack with liners, a double pack of cups and the sanitizing spray is $119.95, a 3 pack of liners is $55, a 6 pack $89 (NZD)

Hannah Pads / hannahpad.co.nzhannahpadglobal.com

Hannah Pads sent me a sample package of 4 different sizes, a wet/dry carry bag and a washing tag. Again all packing was eco friendly. The courier bag was compostable, the box the pads came in was cardboard. The coloured fabrics are gorgeous.

Hannah Pads offers 6 sizes altogether. Hannah Pads are designed and manufactured in Korea and available in 10 countries.
The pads fold up really small. The carry bag that was provided has a wet and dry compartment, so you can pop any used pads and have a spare in there when you are going out. Also the little fabric strip that came with the pads is really handy for hanging them all in a row on the washing line, without even needing a peg. The pads have wings, that clip together under your undies to hold them in place. The clips on the pads are plastic.
The pads are made from organic cotton without dyes. Most of the parts of the pads are compostabe or biodegradable. The coloured fabric layer is the only part that would have to be disposed in general rubbish.

The Hannah Pad blog has really good articles. There was one where their staff explain how many pads they use for their periods and also photos of how the pads look after 4 years of usage. I have heard from friends that their washable pads last for many years.

The pads are really easy to use, as they have a waterproof layer sowed in the layers, so they are pretty much ready to go. They are super comfy and steady in the undies. I have a little soaking box with a lid in our toilet with water and washing powder. When I change the pad I give it a quick rinse in the sink and put it in my soaking box for a day. The next day I give them a good hand wash in the sink and hang them out in the sun to dry. Of course hand washing on the boat is not as efficient as a proper washing machine, so there is a bit of staining, but they clean up pretty well and the sun gives them a bit of a bleach too.

I really love the Hannah Pads as they are so handy and ready to go. They look pretty too and stack away quite small because you can fold them and clip them together with the buttons that hold them in your undies. They feel very comfortable and I would highly recommend them. I will definitely get some more of them at some stage.

You can purchase them at hannahpad.co.nz or hannahpadglobal.com. They offer singles and package deals. The pack for one week comes with 2 small, 5 medium and 3 Ultra Overnight pads for $265. (NZD)

Moontime Aotearoa, moontime.co.nz

Moontime Aotearoa, was super helpful on the phone to see which size pads would suit me, which fabrics are organic and which are not, how to add the waterproof layer and how to use the washable pads in general.

Moontime offers 4 sizes of pads and also offers package options. Again I like that they are made in NZ and I really like to support local outlets. I received a range of different fabrics and sizes and find them all super comfortable to wear. I was also provided with a wet/dry bag, where you can store a spare pad and it has a waterproof compartment where you can put your used pad. The Pad consists of 2 parts, the inner and the outer. The outer is open at the back with a slit where you insert you inner and a waterproof layer. I was provided with a sheet of plastic that I cut into the shape of the inners for the waterproof layer. If you have a heavy flow you can add 2 inners. The pads have wings, that clip together under your undies to hold them in place. The clips on the pads are metal.

Compared to the Hannah pads I found the assembling a bit fiddlier and on a couple of occasions I forgot to add the waterproof plastic under the inner which resulted in leaking. But its pretty much just a question of getting your routine sorted. The pads are super comfy to wear and all the fabrics look beautiful. I found the Moontime pads clean up a bit easier than the Hannah Pads, perhaps because they don’t have the waterproof layer sowed in. The organic cream coloured ones show a bit of staining too, but that might be, because I am hand washing here on the boat. The Moontime pads are a bit bulkier to store than the Hannah Pads.

When I talked to the owner, she said that she was still using pads she had made 10 years ago, so that is a pretty amazing track record for sustainable, long term use. All in all I am really happy with the moontime pads and would definitely recommend them. The service was super friendly and I like its a small New Zealand boutique business. You can purchase them at moontime.co.nz. A starter pack with 3 more, 3 regular and 3 light pads is $116.50 (NZD)

General Conclusion

I am really happy to have finally made the step to a waste free period routine. I think for me a combination of washable pads and the Hello cup will the way forward. I am so happy I don’t have to buy products on a monthly basis anymore and am able to save money with our relatively tight cruising budget.

I am also really happy, even happier than about the saving money part, that I don’t contribute all that period product waste to the landfill anymore. Every month I felt guilty about buying those disposable pads and adding to the landfill. Its feels so good to just use a bit of water to clean up and be all ready for the next month and many more months to come.
I also feel like I am being a good role model now to my daughter, that when she comes of age, we have healthy and environmentally friendly options on the boat.

I think waste free periods are totally doable on a boat, even without a washing machine. It just takes a bit of rethinking to establish new habits and let go of old ones.

My recommendation is to just do a bit of research first and find a company you trust, that works ethically and uses good, ideally organic materials.
I hope this inspires more woman and girls to make the switch to a more healthy and environmentally friendly period care.

A huge thank you to the Hello Cup, Hannah Pad and Moontime teams for supporting my switch to a waste free period. I really appreciate your kindness and support.

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Heartspace yoga goes online

As many of you know we are travelling on our sailboat now. At the moment we are in Athens/Greece in lock-down. Tim and I experimented with recording yoga sessions and have now sorted sound and video technicalities.

You can find a free, slow and easy Hatha Yoga session HERE to try.

If you would like to get weekly yoga sessions with my from our yoga deck aboard Polly you can sign up to our Patreon Channel HERE. You can choose your financial support from $2 USD / week and you will also receive all our sailing videos early. You can re-watch the yoga videos as many times as you like. We will record some Hatha Yoga sessions, some Yin Yoga sessions and some fusion sessions that are a mix of Hatha and Yin yoga. They will all be mostly gentle classes.

We will attempt to put 1 yoga session per week online, depending on weather and travel conditions.

If you have any questions, please let me know. I hope you enjoy the free trial session.

 

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Happily ever after…

From Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert – (Thank you forever Liz for your wisdom!)

“When I talk about creative living I am talking about living a life that is driven more strongly by curiosity than by fear.”

“Don’t be pushed around by the fears in your mind. Be led by the dreams in your heart. – R. T. Bennett”
———————-
Ever since I can remember I have been a fearful child and adult, my life has streaks of anxiety all throughout and phases of where I was so depressed about the world and myself that I found it hard to get out of bed in the mornings and hard to get to sleep at night. I have never really identified that properly. I guess I just learned pretty well to just get on with things and that is mostly what I always did.
In the last 10 years I have implemented a lot of coping mechanisms, routines, practices that help me to ride the waves of life with more ease and mostly I do well these days, with breathing techniques, yoga, journalling, my essential oils, homeopathy and managing and analysing my thoughts and mind.

I am just re-reading Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert in english. I read it many years ago in German. Yesterday I was reading through the chapters where she lives in the Ashram in India, which is all about learning to manage her thoughts, her anxiety, letting go of control etc etc.

I had phases in my life where I felt so alone and where I was wondering why I was so weird and didn’t fit in anywhere. Everytime I hear or read a record of someone else with a honest, authentic story I can relate to feel heard and seen, I don’t feel so alone and weird anymore and the older I get the more I realise we are all so weird and wonderful in our very own unique ways. It feels like Liz Gilbert is a good friend of mine.

I especially have trouble understanding why I have those ideas of brave things to do when I am so fearful and anxcious. I mean we were all cosy and cushy with our family in our little house in our little town in New Zealand really. Why uproot our whole life to live on a sailboat in Europe with kids and dog when i can’t even sail? Who would I do something like that wearing adult nappies all the way (imaginary ones…)??? Well, Its because of of this second person that is living inside me – now its out in the open finally ;-).
Last night I wrote a couple of rather bad poems in my journal after my meditation and one was about the yin and yang nature of life. It almost feels like I have 2 different people living inside me who are trying to do entirely different things. It feels like a battle or play with a yin and yang personality.

One is the control freak – lets call her Yin. Holding on really tight to all the ropes in life. Micromanaging every aspect of the household, business and in general, down to the toilet paper being hung in just the right way (with the end up rather than down – just in case you where wondering….). She is led by the mind, and fear and anxiety are her closest advisors (they pretty much run the show most of the time). This one is getting super anxious if anything happens differently from the planned outcome and she thrives on planning, organising and having everything in order – like clockwork german engineering.

The other one is the adventurer – lets call her Yang. Yang is led by the heart and curiosity and and a sense of adventure. She doesn’t live in our body permanently but when she comes you can’t hide or deny her presence. I think she might sit in deep meditation or contemplation most of the time accumulating a whole lot of wisdom that I don’t really understand to start with.

When she decides to make her presence known, all red lights go on for Yin. If she knocks on the door, asked to be let in, I usually tell her go away and find somewhere else to make herself comfortable. But she is usually persistent. She keeps knocking, scratching, calling, looking in at the window until I can’t stand it anymore and finally open the door and ask “What do you want?”. She usually announces that there is a better way to go about things and has some sort of crazy plan up her sleeve. For most of my childhood I was unaware she was even there. I was too busy wearing a white skirt and being a good girl. In my teenage years she made herself known, gently to start with, rebelling with Yin and that boring good girl stuff. She made us get drunk, she made us try cigarettes, dye our hair and got us really confused with boy friends that we couldn’t handle yet.

When I was 19 and I was still quite unaware why I was feeling so confused and dizzy by my different “personalities” she comes busting in out of the blue and announces. Hi Yin, I am Yang and I live here too and pleased to finally really meet you. “How about we move out of this little boring village, where unemployment is high and no inspiration and newness is around. Everyone is relatively depressed. Lets move to Berlin next week with our stereo and a few clothes to a 1 bedroom flat that is in the 4th story in the back house in Kreuzberg with no shower, mold on the ceilings, rats in the window sill and a coal oven. We could just afford it with our unemployment money and we will find a good job soon.” And after the first shock, completely perplexed where all that just came from I say “Why – yes, lets go”. Naive as I was with 19 and after the first excitement settled about a week later I realised what we had just done and there was no going back, because you know I might be fearful but I have some pride too and I know I am strong and can do things. Its almost like she hypnotises all my worry and fear and anxiety out of me for a short little moment to say yes and she is off for another few years leaving me to deal with the mess she just created.

But I am capable at rebuilding and creating it turns out. I built my little cushy nest in Berlin, had a ball for a few years until it started not being so much fun anymore and so 9 years later, there she is again. This time she stands at the door for over a year. I know she is up to no good, but in the end I am too weak to persist, I let her in again and ask “Right what this time?”

She announces we are going to quit our job, our flat, pack everything into boxes, store them at my parents and we are going to buy a nice backpack and go travelling through Asia and then learn some proper english in New Zealand for a year.

I say “What? You are completely mad – go away!” She sais “I have already resigned us at our job and your landlords and bought us a ticket to Thailand, just to make things a little easier for you.”

So off we go again, with a big pack of imaginary adult nappies, night sweats for months accompanied by nightmares of all sorts. Lying in my hammock by the beach in Thailand I wonder once more what the heck I have just done and what the heck I am going to do with myself for 6 months all alone with no job and household to look after, no money to go on extravagant shopping trips to soothe my soul! What a mess… She comes by now and then looks at me and shakes her head. She doesn’t say much usually, she knows I will cope somehow. She also senses that I don’t like her and don’t want her around and I am still angry that she brought me into that position in the first place. I can’t control her and that’s scary.

I am slightly pissed off about the fact that she seems to be more clever than me when it comes to our life planning. But hey, we seem to be a team somehow since we live in the same body, she seems to be on my side, she seems to mean well and most of all she is way braver than me.

Slowly but surely after a bit more sweating and regular (imaginary!) nappy changes I manage to travel through a large part of Asia – Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, India, Nepal and Tibet and finally make my way to New Zealand after 6 months. And you know what – I actually really enjoyed it in the end and even if it sounds very cliche I felt more myself than ever before. Yang looked in every now and then to check on me with that cheeky, knowing smile on her face and a sparkle in her. Me looking back tired, nerveous and wary.
I got a little taste of freedom, I learnt to let go of control and that life still goes on and that I am not going to die the moment I let all the ropes go all at once and let life guide me. It seemed like the less I had and the less I tried to control every aspect of the my life the happier I managed to be. Weird… that is a new concept to me.

It turns out it was a great idea to send us to New Zealand, because we met our husband there. She found him somehow and kept shoving and pushing me in the right direction, because I am so blimmin slow in the uptake and still too confused to see clearly myself. Lucky she is so stubborn, skilled, energetic and knows exactly what she is doing. We bought a house and made the 2 best kids in the world (Tim and me that is). I used all my perfect skills to re-establish some control, even though to start with, that felt slightly strange after living in freedom for nearly 1.5 years. But old habits are not that easy to loose. I did what I knew best. I built my cushy, comfy, predictable nest, controlling every micro-aspect of my life that I could get my hands on. And I didn’t see Yang for a while. I actually thought she was gone for good thankfully – I finally had peace and quiet. I had a family now, I am a grown up, there is no space and time for extravagant excursions anymore and really what would I need her for now I told myself (although secretly sometimes I was thinking of her – perhaps even missing her cheeky smile and sparkle in the eye).

Until she turned up again. Once the kids where out of toddler hood I saw her walk past the house a few times tentatively and then one day she was knocking again. As usually with caution and resentment I opened my door and asked what a glorious idea she had brought this time and I told her I wasn’t up for anything big anymore. I had settled down after all.

Well Yang sensed she had to be gentle there, so this time she only suggested that I find a more fulfilling professional carreer, because she noticed that the little spirit I had was fainting away. She left me even with options this time. She gave me permission to either study homeopathy or become a yoga teacher.

After laying out the concept to my husband and being more open minded in general to Yang’s ideas, because the last few times they didn’t turn out all that bad after all, I agreed to try. So I choose the easier option first – Homeopathy. I could hide behind my computer without seeing a single person, studying stuff from online lectures. Suited me perfectly fine as the introvert, who feels safest in her own company. But it didn’t do all that much for my spirit, other than thinking every remedy I studied was just the one I needed, which was really confusing after a while. There might be more than 2 personalities hiding in me after all…

So this time I actually went to find Yang and ask her for advise. She reckoned I should drop Homeopathy and go and study Yoga. She said she knew from the beginning that was it anyway, but wanted to give me a chance to find out myself. Growing braver with the years I went for it and after receiving my certification Yang so to speak pushed me along into my own yoga studio to get going, so I didn’t even get a chance to hide away again.

Phew that went quite well. There were adult nappies involved again, but not as many as usual and I must admid I was getting quite fond of Yang. She seemed to have good ideas. With me being a bit friendlier when she came visiting she popped in more regularly for coffees or smoothies or we both sat in meditation together or practiced yoga together. We kind of became good friends. We would now have good conversations about our different natures and figure out how we both can live in harmony.

But Yang has a restless nature and she has more insight I feel when I ever will. She leaves more and more nudges that she is discontent with how things are going. She thinks that while everything is going pretty well, we could do even better than that. She recons along the way we had abandoned too many important values, and we have become too busy doing and there was no time for being anymore. She recons that all the doing makes your mind fuzzy and confused. She recons I should learn to “BE” better. I get the concept, but still haven’t figured out to do that entirely in among our high speed lifes.

I started retreating. Maybe it was not so good to be such close friends with her after all. She always caused trouble. I told her I needed a break, but she wasn’t having any of that. She started knocking on the door again, looking in at the window, disturbing my dreams, leaving me signs everywhere. There was no escaping, so I decided to open the door and asked “Right whats the plan Stan?”

What came out of her mouth this time was more outrageous than anything she had ever suggested before. “Right we are going to sell the house & the businesses. Then we are going to buy a sailboat in Greece. Tim is a sailor after all – we will learn quick. We will have time with the kids, time to do yoga & meditation, time to draw and write and have coffees and tea and just live and BE for a little while. We have just been headless chickens for the last couple of years – we need a break. This will be good for all of us and I have an inkling that the timing will be perfect. And best of all I have already talked to Tim and he’s in”

I am speechless – I just look at her think “right she has gone completely nuts now”. And Tim is in – what the heck is going here? They have made a plan already without consulting me – Yin, Fear and Control and Mind. That plan doesn’t suit me at all. You would have to trust. I don’t like trust. I tell her “I am different than you – I like control, I like my cushy, predictable nest. I like to know what happens the next day and the next and know that I am safe. I have children now that I need to protect and take care of…” As usually she has a clever answer. She sais ” You are dreaming Yin, there is no control – its an illusion, there is no being safe – its an illusion – there is no knowing what is tomorrow or the day after. You need to learn to trust. You can still have a cushy comfy nest with this journey, just trust me and Tim. It will be the best for all of us and whats more if you don’t like it you can always come back to this. So how about we all just try to trust and flow as a family all together.”

I look at her and know she is right. I sit with it and know she is right. I have learned by now to tune into her, into my heart and I know she is totally right. But my mind is resisting with every fiber. We are having huge arguments over the next few months over this whole new idea. I feel sick, nauseous, scared like never before, I have sleepless nights again and nightmares, but I also feel a spark, hope, possibility and I remember the freedom from years back when she suggested we travel through Asia. And I remember how all her ideas have turned out to be the best things ever.

So I decide to go and see Yang I give her a big hug and tell her I am in too. I tell her that I appreciate her input and bravery and that I am sorry that I am always so difficult and scared. She hugs me back and gives me a big kiss and sais “We will be fine Yin, whatever way things will go, I just know we will be fine. And I will be with you all the way and hold your hand. I will be your strong back and you will be the soft front (she got that from Brene Browns book – I know things too!)”.

So I do what I know best and get on with things, organising to undo my cushy, safe nest that I spend so long building. Its hurts, it hurts so much to unpick that Nest, but I know its right all along even if logic can’t touch it. I feel numb, like a stone, like puppet that does what needs to be done. I have to shut off after a while emotionally. I just can’t take it. But I know I will have time to process things later, there is always time and time heals.

I bought myself a huge pack of adult nappies (imaginary still – although one day soon I might need real ones….) and there we are on a boat in Athens in Greece. Trusting and holding hands. And it turns out Yang had even organised a little forced retreat, so that I would have enough time to process things. How does she know these things?

I sit here in lock down in among a world that has turned upside down with a Pandemic and lock downs worldwide. And while I am still a little numb and stony, I am so grateful that we don’t have a mortgage to worry about, or a lease to pay or businesses that could potentially go down the toilet or jobs to loose. I sit here feeling for our friends and people we know and the many businesses and family that are effected by this craziness. My heart goes out to them. We sit here in our cushy, floating nest, rocking side to side in the wind and I am grateful to have invited Yang in more fully. I am grateful that we have come to a stage where we can live in harmony. We are finally good friends – strong back & soft front. We have a little dance most of the time, but me the Yin is not as dominant anymore. Sometimes we still argue, but most of the time we can joke or laugh about it later.

As Yang promised we are sitting here together, she is holding my hand and says: “See, I told you control is an illusion, safety is an illusion. Look at the world now… We might as well follow our heart and live a curious and courageous life. Nobody, not even I, knows what happens tomorrow, but sometimes I have a good sense when it’s time to move on”.

We sipped some herbal tea, holding hands, smiling at each other and lived happily ever after.

-The End-

-a little artwork I created last week-

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2 years of Heartspace Yoga in Hastings & my own yoga journey

Today 2 years ago I opened my doors at Heartspace Yoga in Hastings.

What a roller coaster of journey. So much learning has happened in those 2 years, so much Yin & Yang – joy and exhaustion, confidence and insecurity, growing up and grounding back, learning and unlearning, boundaries and freedom, what do I sweat and what don’t I sweat, I can do this and I can’t do that and I can do a lot more than I think… The more I learn the more I realise how little I know and then the opposite –  the more information I absorb the more I know that I know everything I need to know already – I think that by now I might have thoroughly confused you 😉

Most of all I am immensely grateful for all the people who have supported me on this journey. First of all my students (you really are my teachers….) I am so grateful for you turning up on the mat at heartspace, because if it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t be able to do what I love. Thank you from my heart for trusting me to guide you on your yoga journey. Thank you to my teachers, who started me on this journey and those who still inspire me every day – I can’t thank you enough. My own yoga journey has been the most rewarding right after being a mum & wife. And thank you to my family, especially my husband Tim who supports me on my yoga journey. Thank you to Jamie at Aspyre for giving me the opportunity to have my own practice space.

I would like to talk a bit about my own yoga journey today.

My journey started when I was travelling 15 years ago – with a tiny book and CD I had in my backpack practicing yoga every day. Then Pilates a bit later – I enjoyed the practice, but missed the spiritual aspect in it – I felt somehow drawn back to yoga. I started with Ashtanga and promptly injured my shoulder being too ambitious and ego driven in a practice that my body wasn’t ready for. But I pushed myself to do it anyway, because that’s how I have always done things. I switched to Hatha, which I really enjoyed. I played around with early morning Bikram for a while. I enjoyed the practice and heat, but not the military style instructions and again the missing spirituality and inner connection. Then I tried my first Yin class and that felt like coming home in my yoga practice. For the first time I felt fully nourished in my yoga practice. No pushing, no archiving, no mirrors to reflect on all the mis-alignments and rolls, no teacher coming into my space trying to realign my body into shapes that don’t feel right for my body.

Over the past 15 years I have experienced a lot of yoga classes, different practices and teachers, which have ultimately led me to how I teach today and how I practice for myself. Everyone is different – I in no way want to say that my way to practice and teach is the best – its the way that suits me and my body in my own practice and in my teaching. I find I can’t teach anything that doesn’t really resonate in my own practice. Luckily there are so many different yoga styles and teachers – there is something for everyone.

I would like to share a few of my insights on that journey:

  • If something is painful in your yoga session session – I recommend you don’t do it. In my opinion pain is not conductive to the healing journey of our bodies – its your body trying to tell you something is not right. We might experience discomfort in some poses. Its a matter of having the body awareness to differentiate between a little discomfort (which is fine), great discomfort (being cautious and observing if you have to back off) and pain (don’t do it, even if your teacher says so)
  • A good body awareness is essential for a safe yoga practice. Most of us have been trained to ignore what our bodies tell us (push harder, one more, you can do it, harder, faster, better, go go go….) so usually for most people our bodies have to scream at us  with a proper injury or chronic illness to give us a message we can hear that we are overdoing things. I always encourage my students to close the eyes during the practice  / in the poses if it feels safe to do so. My practices are very slow flows or yin, so that is doable. Closing the eyes helps us to bring the focus inward and will help us over time to feel into the poses rather than working on a fixed visual impression, comparing ourselves to others etc. A good body awareness will help you to practice safely, stop when you need to, back off or try a bit deeper.
  • You are your own best teacher. The yoga teacher at the front of the room is really only your guide. The person guiding doesn’t know how the poses feel in your body. Yoga was originally taught in 1:1 sessions with a guru – in group classes it’s usually impossible for the teacher / guide to attend to everyone’s different needs / aches / injuries / energy levels etc. so its really important to never feel like you have to do every pose in the sequence that is being taught, you can always rest in child pose or substitute for a safer adjustment / pose.
  • If you are unsure about something – don’t feel afraid to ask. Its likely someone else has the same question in their mind. There are no stupid questions. We have all started with nothing and had to learn many lessons on the way (some painful), so never be afraid to ask either in class or before or after class.
  •  I very rarely do physical adjustments on students. There are several reasons for this. Firstly I have experienced twice myself having an adjustment done on me that actually hurt me. I also found going to yoga classes where I am a student, that having someone come into my space during my practice interrupts my own connection to my body and flow – with exceptions – I do enjoy restorative adjustments in child pose or shavasana for example or verbal adjustment cues that might help me to find a different way into a pose. We all have such different skeletal structures, its impossible for us to all look the same in the poses. Check out Paul Grilley’s bone photos HERE to get a visual experience of how differently we are all constructed. Then there are differences in bone structure in cultures too – like in India and China for example people squat a lot – they have done so for centuries, so their physical physique can be very different from Europeans for example who have been sitting in chairs for centuries or Japanese people who have been walking in tight kimonos and sitting kneeling on their heels. With yoga coming orginally from India the poses have been developed for indian bodies initially – some of the poses are not easily achievable with our perhaps European bone structures. We all have different injuries and restrictions in our bodies too, which will impact our practice. We all have different energy levels every day. I personally prefer to guide my students verbally and by demonstrating options, rather than by touching and pulling them into poses. I have also met 3 students during the last 2 years who came to my classes and told me that they have been injured from being adjusted by yoga teachers. One so badly by having her leg pulled into a pose, that it took her 6 months to recover. I don’t want to scaremonger here, but just to alert you that your body is yours and you know best and if you ever encounter a yoga teacher who is adjusting you in a way that doesn’t feel right to you, please communicate that immediately. It is not only important for your own safety to say so, but also for the teachers learning.
  • As I grow in my yoga practice the physical postures to me need to be nourishing – that’s what I need at this stage in my life as a busy working mum, wife and business owner. I want to take care of my body with nourishing practices so that I can do all that I need to do and not stress my nervous system anymore with practices that challenge my body even further. I am looking for nourishment, stillness, connection to self, taking time to listen what my body is asking for, taking time for self reflection, taking time to tell my mind to shut up for once, taking time to process experiences or just taking time rest – Yoga nidra or just being in Legs up the wall pose or going for a walk in nature is also a yoga practice.  I do no striving anymore – I do nourishing in yoga. The more you practice and grow in your practice you might find that challenging poses can become nourishing too, once your body is ready for them.
  • Don’t take social media & media yoga images seriously. The well formed woman in bikinis at beaches in contortionist poses or men with enormous muscles and 6 packs holding themselves up on their little finger are no reflection at all of a proper yoga practice. These images don’t reflect at all what yoga is about. A yoga practice is a holistic practice with many facets and the asanas (postures) are only a small part. For a large proportion of yoga practitioners that is usually a simple practice to keep our bodies healthy and flexible. There is a yoga practice for every body – its just a matter of finding a space, teacher and practice that suit you.
  • You don’t need much to practice yoga. You don’t need the newest Lululemon outfit or the fanciest yoga mat on the market. Sure if you like totally go for it, but don’t feel pressure to look or dress a certain way. Usually comfy clothes that you can freely move in do the trick and most yoga studios even provide yoga mats if you don’t have your own. Don’t think you have to invest several 100’s of dollars to start practicing yoga to get all the newest and fanciest gear.

That’s all that comes to mind for now. Stay safe in your practice. Any insight, any heart warmed, anyone breathing deeper, feeling lighter, feeling more at peace after practice makes my heart sing – that’s what yoga is about – coming back to ourselves and turning the outside noise off.

I am sending you all a big warm hug and thank you again for your trust.

 

 

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Silent Retreat – sharing my experience

I have had a lot of people asking me how my silent retreat was, so thought I would write a recap here.

Firstly I would like to thank Radha Iveta for holding the space so beautifully for us all. Radha is a local yoga teacher and her wisdom, insights and gentleness speak for themselves. I highly recommend to check into one of her sessions or retreat. I found this feather when I came home and took the dog for a walk – it reminded me of you Radha 

I loved removing all the external noise, I loved not having to engage in communication, I loved not have a mobile phone or device, I loved having meals cooked for me – thank you Tara Spice, I loved sitting for several hours every day in meditation to process and just be, I loved the retreat centre and the gardens and to just be in my own bubble for a few days without any external stimulation. Once we broke silence after 3 days it felt way too soon and I was overwhelmed by the noise and information.

One thing that strongly emerged for me is how deeply I love my family and that is doesn’t feel right to often prioritize work over time I could be spending with them. So one of my take away’s is to be really mindful of what I am going to do with my time and which things I can let go of.

Another thing that emerged is to weed out my social media feeds. I want to focus more on what I have to offer on my pages, rather than taking in unhealthy amounts of information that I can’t really process and realistically don’t need in my life.

I would also like to establish at least 2 silent get away’s for myself every year, to be able to reflect properly on what I do, what can stay, what needs to go, what I want to invite, what I can let go of.

I realised how much energy we put every day into listening to others and into communicating ourselves and processing all that information. I personally need space for myself alot to accommodate for my introvert tendencies. I get overwhelmed by too much external stimulation and that shows itself as myself becoming stressed and grumpy. As much as I would like to spend more time with friends or make new ones at this stage in my life, there are just not enough hours in the day to get time for myself, cope with my workload, the household, the kids etc. I really need more meditation and quiet spells – they are so nourishing and good for me.

I also felt I really connected more intimately with my heartspace. I felt a real softness & gentleness and I really want to bring that into my daily life. Often when I get stressed and feel overwhelmed the safest place to let the steam out is at home and that doesn’t feel right. So I want to bring that soft and gentleness into all areas of my life – my communication, my interactions, my work, my self compassion when I stuff things up.

What also emerged very strongly is that I want to be vegetarian again. I was vegetarian for 15 years and tried to eat fish and meat, but it doesn’t feel right. So that will take some re-organising in our household and in my mind.

At the end of the retreat I drew 3 cards from inspiration deck and they were all so relevant to my reflections during the retreat:

⚛️ Attack, Pain, Fear, Judgement, and any form of separation are merely calls for help. (note to self: ask for help, offer help when noticing myself or others in that situation)
⚛️ There is a stream of love supporting my dreams. (note to self: meditate more to be clear on what my dreams are and TRUST)
⚛️ When I lean on the faith of the Universe, Peace becomes real. (note to self: TRUST more, act from the heart, practice softness & gentleness)

Radha is offering another retreat from 30th October until 4th November at Strathean Retreat in Otaki. You can see more info on heartawakening.org or e-mail her: [email protected].

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On Sound Healing by Chrystal Nathal

This beautiful post was written by my teacher Chrystal Nathal, and I am sharing it here with her permission to help you understand why I am using these Tibetan Singing bowls in my sessions and why I feel so drawn to them.

Sound has been utilized in various cultures for thousands of years as a tool for healing. Whether through the use of mantras as with the Hindis, the Icaros (medicine melodies) of various Indigenous peoples from Central and South America, or Pythagoras’ use of interval and frequency, these various techniques all have the same intention: to move us from a place of imbalance to a place of balance.

How does it work?

Sound helps to facilitate shifts in our brainwave state by using entrainment. Entrainment synchronizes our fluctuating brainwaves by providing a stable frequency which the brainwave can attune to. By using rhythm and frequency, we can entrain our brainwaves and it then becomes possible to down-shift our normal beta state (normal waking consciousness) to alpha (relaxed consciousness), and even reach theta (meditative state) and delta (sleep; where internal healing can occur).

This same concept is utilized in meditation by regulating the breath, but with sound it’s the frequency that is the agent which influences the shift.

What is it like?

A sound therapy treatment is both a passive and participatory experience. The passive aspect is that you become more relaxed by laying down and slowing your breath. By doing this, you prepare yourself to become the receiver of sound. It’s in this place of stillness that you participate by becoming more open and aware of each sound that comes in. Sound helps create the pathway to this place of stillness the same as a mantra helps you to arrive at the still point of meditation.

Some of the tools I use are voice, drumming, tuning forks and Himalayan singing bowls. It’s important to note that awareness plays a huge role in our own healing. I find that vocal toning is an incredibly powerful practice that gives us the ability to fine-tune our greatest vibrational instrument: our own body. I always encourage clients to incorporate simple, but effective breathing exercises and vocal toning exercises in their daily routine, to help bring a greater sense of balance into their lives.

How do we define the energetic body?

If we are able to shift our perspective, we can change our relationship to the issuethat may be preventing us from experiencing our optimal homeostasis. Sound not only helps with inducing relaxation, but also has a way of moving through areas of blockage. These energetic blockage areas can be located in our physical bodies, our subtle bodies, or both.

The physical body is where we experience localized pain and discomfort. Using tuning forks, especially osteophonic tuning forks (they vibrate at lower frequencies), we can stimulate the release of Nitric Oxide, a free radical molecule that has been proven to positively affect pain transmission and control. Which, in short, means that these frequencies help to create a physiological reaction, while the sound itself helps to influence our auditory system, enabling us to modify our relationship to the pain.

Our “subtle body” is our energetic body. This body is where our life force energy exists, commonly referred to as Qi, Chi or prana. In Chinese medicine, meridian points are used to pinpoint areas that have restricted energetic flow to our physical and subtle bodies. The body is known to have thousands of these meridian lines that are mapped out through the body, in the same way we’ve mapped out the latitude and longitude of the earth.

The subtle body holds imbalances and traumas that can eventually manifest in our physical bodies, which is why it’s important to look at healing and balance not only from a physical perspective, but as a complete holistic experience that includes mind, body and spirit.

Sound has the ability to positively affect our whole being. Eileen McCusick, author of Tuning The Human Biofield, has been exploring the theory that our subtle body acts as memory storage. For example, a tree has rings that extend outward as the tree grows. McCusick suggests that our subtle body expands and stores our life experiences in a similar way. If we apply frequency with tuning forks we can help blocked energy from past experiences move toward the energetic filtration system of each chakra, so that the stuck energy can be recycled back into our life force.

What can sound heal?

Using sound as therapy can provide results for a variety of issues including:

Sleep disorders
Anxiety
Depression
Stress management
PTSD
Depression
Pain management
Is our environment a factor?

It’s important to consider what kinds of sound we take in from our living environments. Anyone who lives in New York City knows how painful the sound of a subway train screeching to a halt feels and sounds. Loud sounds can elevate our stress levels, create imbalances in our nervous system, lower our immunity and in extreme cases, cause hearing loss.

When we are stressed, our whole relationship to sound changes, and regular everyday sounds can become magnified and contribute to the feedback cycle of the stress, amplifying it even more. By utilizing sound therapy techniques, we can become better listeners and more aware of the sounds we take in.

Many of us already have a pretty good understanding of the benefits of healthy eating, and the same can be true of sound. This is another example where mindfulness practices like chanting and vocal toning, can help us to find a center and feel grounded. In doing so, when we do have those stressful trigger moments, we may be better equipped to appreciate and discern the sounds more as our own unique symphony constantly happening around us, rather than feel overwhelmed by random cacophony.

Our body, mind and spirit always want to be moving in a direction toward balance, yet we often have too much outer stimulus and noise and not enough time to dedicate to ourselves, which can prevent us from achieving a better state of harmony.

Tibetan Singing Bowls naturally cause chakras to self correct. The sound waves, in the form of sine waves run correcting frequencies to the unbalanced chakras, bringing them back to normal functioning.

The overall balancing effect of the Tibetan Singing Bowls, enhance and support the corrective rebalance on each chakra. The result is balanced chakras which then in turn enhance cellular and systemic healing throughout the body that is facilitated by the theta rhythms.

Sound healing is like giving water to the garden. When our body is healthy, it resonates in a frequency of 64Mh. The sound of the bowls is between 200 ~ 500 Mh.

Weak and sick cells in the body cannot stay in such high frequency; therefore sound healing is also used for detoxing and support illness treatments.

 

Check out and like Chyrstals facebook page HERE

 

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Communication for Connection

Today we had the first session of our Communication for Connection workshop with Filipa Hope at Heartspace. Her teachings are based on Nonviolent Communication by Marshall B. Rosenberg. I have been wanting to do this course for many years, but the ducks never really aligned.

Why did I want to do it?

Because I want to improve my communication in parenting and relationship, especially when I am triggered or angry. I want to learn how to turn conflict into cooperation. I want to learn how to motivate my kids and how I can communicate in ways that they get me. And I want to learn how to create & hold healthy boundaries in communications, so things don’t get all twisted up. I also want to communicate with more softness and compassion and cut out all the “pissed off’s, the fuck yes, the hell no, the fucking hell, the for fucks sakes and the like” you get the picture. Each time I hear or speak these words they make me cringe internally as they don’t align with how I want to feel anymore.

We have learned lots of good stuff in the first session already and I thought I would share 1 beautiful inspiration and 1 light-bulb moment with you and perhaps inspire you to take a course yourself with Filipa. She would be happy to initiate an evening class too if there is enough interest.

INSPIRATION:

The most important thing to learn – is what you want to learn. – Carl Rogers – 

I really wished someone had told me that as a kid, teenager, young adult and encouraged me to do so. Only in my 40’s was I brave enough to really study & learn to conform my professional path to something that lights me up internally rather than just considering variables like money and a “safe” job.

LIGHT BULB MOMENT:

Filipa asked us to make 3 columns on a piece of paper and write down a few things we have recently done and connect inwardly with feelings that action invoked and which universal needs where met, or not, by that action (she is providing lists of needs and feelings in the course).

My list turned out like this:

  • Made a chiropractor appointment for myself – feelings that this action evoked: restored, revived, rested – needs met: support & nurturing
  • organised birthday parties for my kids – feelings that this action evoked: delighted, joy, happy – needs met: belonging, acceptance, closeness (more for my kids than for me)
  • And here comes the light-bulb moment:
  • Purchased a set of Tibetan Sound bowls, investing thousands of dollars in something that wasn’t really planned. I have felt fear & guilt about this purchase if I am really honest, because I am again in the overdraft on my account, they are not really necessary, its a luxury, I can’t really afford them, who am I to attempt playing them etc. – you get the picture of the internal chatter going on…. UNTIL I looked on the list and connected with myself, with what were my feelings and needs these bowls are attached to:

Universal Needs met:

Community, Compassion, Love, Nurturing, Support, Authenticity, Presence, Fun, Joy, Beauty, Inspiration, Awareness, Celebration of Life, Challenge, Competence, Consciousness, Contribution, Creativity, Discovery, Growth, Hope, Learning, Participation, Purpose, Self Expression, Stimulation, To Serve Life

Feelings I experience when I think about them

restored, rested, renewed, rejuvenated, enlivened, tranquil, still, serene, satisfied, relaxed, fulfilled, content, comfortable, calm, elated, blissful, pleased, happy, glad, delighted, wonder, awed, amazed, thankful, moved, appreciative, invigorated, lively, passionate, surprised, amazed, safe, open, empowered, open hearted, tender, curious, absorbed, optimistic

These lists are available online – It was a real surprise how many feelings and needs resonated with my 1 action that I was feeling fearful and guilty about  until I realised what value is really attached to that action – taking money completely out of the picture. Once I reviewed that list the guilt and fear was gone. The same is true for my yoga teacher training and running my own business.  Once we look at the bigger picture of what value our actions have we then can more wholeheartedly choose the actions that support our life force, our communities, our families, OURSELVES, rather than worrying about money or values our societies dictate.

Thank you for that light-bulb moment Filipa – even if this would be the only thing I learned from the whole course I would walk away a very happy person, but we are only in part 1 of 6. Excited for the whats to come.

If you want to learn more about doing the course yourself get in touch with Filipa on [email protected].

You are worth it!

 

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Yoga Alliance

As part of my Yoga Alliance registration as a yoga teacher I have to log all my teaching hours and how many students have attended my classes. And while this is takes so much time and I am moaning and groaning about having to do it, its nice to see the stats at the end. So have just finished logging them and in my first year since my registration on the 15th December 2016 I have taught 451 hours of classes and have had 1,724 students attend my classes… Wow, I am blown away – seeing those stats I am even more grateful for all the support from my clients / students.

Thank you so much for enabling me to do what I love.

#heartspaceyoga #yogateacher #yogaalliance #certifiedteacher#logginghours