All posts tagged: Mind

Second Trimester

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THIS GROWING LOVE As soon as I hit the twelve week mark, my nausea started to wear off. By the end of May, my body felt like mine again and all the discomfort had miraculously disappeared.  Sure, there was this growing belly and my thighs, breasts and buttocks became rounder by the day. I actually started showing very early on and throughout the first two trimesters my belly was going to be on the larger side. However I absolutely loved these changes and every inch of my body who did such an amazing job at providing and nurturing our little boy. By week twelve I had already told everyone about the pregnancy, including my job, due to either coincidence or decision. Anyways there was no hiding my discomfort during the first trimester and I felt more relief communicating my situation than keeping it to myself. Which meant that as I was now entering this second phase of pregnancy, all I had to do was to relax and enjoy. June was really a perfect time for …

Playlist Yin Yoga

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With winter approaching, we are entering a time of stillness and reflection. As the temperatures get colder, our bio-rhythm is slowing down. It’s a time for less activities, for staying in, for getting cozy with ourselves and our loved ones. It is also a time for turning inwards. As the year is coming to end an, we reflect on what touched our life in one way or another, seeking closures and new beginnings. This is a beautiful opportunity to slow down the pace and stay with what is in the spirit of openness and reliance. Yin Yoga can be a very sweet practice to support you on that path. Here’s my Yin Yoga Playlist for this season ♡  

I will miss this place.

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As I am writing this, I am sitting on the garden porch of the house we currently live in, in Atwater Village, Los Angeles. It`s the house of the family I have been working with since late summer. They became true friends and invited us to stay here during their travels to Argentina and so we did. It is the second house we got to sit over the course of last year. We also looked after two dogs from time to time. Two houses. Two dogs. Three families I worked for. We grow close to the things that surround us and this time having to say goodbye is hard. It is hard because I don`t know when l`ll get to see them again. We grow attached to places, people, animals, because they touch us. I love each dog we have been sitting like my own and I often find myself missing them painfully. The same counts for the kids. Julian`s softness, Anais`wittyness, Luna`s strong will and chubby cheeks, Joean`s bright mind… And then there`s the …

Prison Yoga and Meditation

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I was always interested in facilitating postitive change in society and bringing yoga to marginalized and under-represented communities is a major cornerstone of my work as a teacher. With a 700 % increase in the US prison population between 1978 and 2005 and a total of 2.2 million – the largest prison population in the world – there is a huge community who benefits tremendously from the positive effects yoga has on the body and most importantly the mind. Studies support the importance of yoga and meditation on the path to rehabilitation. Not only are 60 % of all parole release who meditate still clean after two years but also the reoffending rate of meditators is up to 40% lower than that of convicts who receive only education or psychotherapy. In 2014 I attended the Prison Yoga Teacher Training led by James Fox, one of the pioneers of bringing yoga to incarcerated people in the US and in 2016 I became part of the Prison Yoga and Meditation project that teaches yoga and meditation to …

Just do it!

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Every day we wake up to a set of intentions and things we wish to check off our “to do list”. On days when our mind is focused, we may achieve what we aimed for. On other days, when we are a bit off track, the list seems endless and it feels like not much is happening. For me, there seems to be a rule of thumb to this: after a day of over achievement follows one, where not much is getting done. Try as hard as I might. I can usually detect those days either right after waking up, when my mind is buzzing with unfocused, anxious activity or when I am about to set my goals for the day and the list becomes endless. 1-5 items on my list is a realistic scenario. 5-20 is a lost cause, right from the start. But then there are tasks I need to get done that bring with them a level of discomfort that makes the avoider in me want to push them back, hour by hour, …

You have all the answers.

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When we reach a crossroads in our life that asks for a decision, it can often be very challenging to know which way to go. Especially when it comes to the more fundamental aspects of life like relationships, family, work and the where, how and if of settling down. Since I entered into the relationship with the man who is now my husband, life has been a rollercoaster regarding these matters, to say the least. Torn between Munich – my hometown – and Los Angeles – home to my husband`s art making. Torn between the quietude and quality of life in a comparably small city in Germany and the possibilities and creative playground that is Los Angeles. Torn between making a moderate, but stable income without too many out of the box possibilities and working your way up from nothing to what may possibly culminate into very successful careers. Torn between the seasons and everylasting sunshine. Torn between dark bread and donuts… okay, not really. But you get the idea. Sometimes when I try to …

Follow your dreams.

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What are you dreaming of? Maybe you are dreaming to accomplish something? Maybe you are dreaming to realize a specific task or project? Maybe you are dreaming to invite certain qualities into your life? Whether it is the relationship we want to bring into our lives, the family we wish to build, the job we fantasize about, or the travel we dream to embark on…. each and every one of us has dreams that have not yet materialized. While some of us seemingly effortlessly shape the life they are envisioning for themselves, others need to leave feelings of doubt, insecurity and fear behind to begin to tap into their own power. But how do we know, what we are truly longing for? In order to know what you truly desire, it is crucial to be connected to your own intuition: this little voice in your heart, that knows with astounding clarity what serves you best. Unfortunately most times the chatter in our mind is so loud, that it overshadows our inner voice. When I was growing …

If you don`t like it, change it. If you can`t change it, surrender.

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If you don`t like it, change it. If you can`t change it, surrender. I have only recently come to understand how powerful this concept really is. In my life so far, I have been blessed. Rarely ever did I have to face a situation that was unchangeable, and if it was, it did not impact my life in major ways. I have always had shelter, food and enough means to get by. I have never been severely ill, nor have any of my beloved family members or friends. I have lost and found love, but never felt victimized by my heartaches. Essentially, all of this is still true. With one minor change in detail: Since I joined my partner in the US, where we decided to get married and begin the Green Card application process, I have – if even only temporarily – lost major agency in some very important realms of my life. I left my home, my apartment, my family and my friends behind. I gave up all my yoga classes, be it …

Be gentle, be kind.

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In my last post from the Monday Mantra series Speak Your Truth I was talking about the importance of learning how to address your concerns and desires in a way that opens the space for truthful, yet kind conversations. Especially if your personality is such that you find it hard to speak for yourself or to take the lead in important conversations, you may have experienced this: by the time you actually manage to address something, you have brooded over it since a while and hence the outcome is rather eruptive and anything but kind or gentle. As a matter of fact, I even used to get upset with the people around me because I would blame them for bringing me in a situation where something needed to be addressed – like they should really have been more considerate in the first place, or something. I projected the discomfort I had with confrontations right onto them instead of trying to figure out where it came from and how I could outgrow it. Then I experienced …

Speak your truth.

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My zodiac sign is libra and I fully live up to it by embodying all stereotypes and traits that are connected to that sign. I am indecisive, I despise conflict and I have a hard time adressing my concerns and desires. Which is tricky, since I often have a very precise idea about how I want things to be and sometimes find myself getting irritated when other people`s ideas differ from mine – especially when dealing with the people I am closest to. My family and friends became somewhat good at reading my mind and guessing what I may desire in a specific situation or moment – however, this doesn`t always work and definitely isn`t a recipe to go by when I`m surrounding myself with people I am less intimate with. So throughout the course of my life I have been working on a rather challenging task: How do I get to say, what I need to say, and how do I get to say it in a way that isn`t irritating for others. We …