This post was inspired by a very dear friend of mine, Christina from Fasanenhof, who asked me recently “when I was finally posting one of my favorite recipes again”?!! …. I went straight into the kitchen, opened the fridge, and checked the latest vegetable supply I had received from my weekly vegetable box.
Devotion to life – real devotion – goes a little bit deeper than the one that you will hear every yoga teacher talk about in front of his or her class. Read More
How long can you milk the cow? – The global conflict of creating “brands”, demands, and fakes around the ancient science of yoga
As yoga continues its’ legendary triumph with new yoga studios popping up at every corner, along with the increasing popularity for many of us teachers it apparently has become an issue to somehow stand out from the crowd. Read More
Fighting what? Everything. Myself first. Then fighting against time. Aging. Diminishing. Dying. Fighting for approval. Monetary approval. Social approval. Marital approval. Even fighting against the idea of fighting. My whole life seemed to have been a long, on-going fight. I was simply tired of fighting. Read More
Yoga since the very beginning has always been an exploration on the subtle body, but along with its increasing popularity in the western world, it seems the focus has completely shifted. Most people nowadays believe that practicing yoga means practicing postures (asanas), but in its origin yoga has to offer so much more: Read More
– Reflecting on the week we spent in the mountains of northern Italy (Piemonte) in a little village called “Spoccia”, the word that comes into my mind spontaneously is “nothingness”. It describes an experience I have had last when I was still a child. It belongs to the era before cell phones, I-Pads, and even computers. Read More
The question I most frequently come across when it comes to explain the difference between yoga and yoga therapy is: Why do we need yoga therapy if yoga in itself is said to be a healing practice?
This is actually an absolutely justified question, as there is even a word you might have heard before: yoga chikitsa (योग चिकित्सा, yoga cikitsā), which is based in the Astanga Yoga tradition, and is the sanksrit (संक्सृत्, saṁksr̥t) name for the primary series. It is often translated as yoga therapy, as this series is supposed to purify and heal the body. This first or primary series forms the basis for all subsequent series, and also for all yoga styles that have employed the concept of vinyasa, the fusing of movement and breath. The name “first” implies that this is where we begin our practice, and surely one would expect that starting at the beginning should keep every practitioner safe and healthy.
My own experience nevertheless shows a different reality. Read More
In this joint Weekend Workshop in cooperation with Rebecca Agouropoulos, together we will share some of our most valued discoveries from our practice, suitable for anybody who would like to bring real depth into his or her own yoga practice. Read More
I have just returned from a wonderful retreat with two very inspiring teachers Sonia Bach and Sadie Nardini in Santorini, Greece. Sadly I missed the introductory yoga class due to my flight schedule, but Sonia and Sadie had centred their teachings around what they called ‘Stoke your Fire’. As we were literally sitting on top of a volcano, this totally made sense, and I can tell you – the fire inside me was lit within the following seven days! Read More
My dear Camyogis,
dear Louise!
For months I have known this day would come. I don’t know how many letters, sentences and lines I have formed in my head, moving towards this moment.
What to say, how to express my innermost feelings in a clear, honest way? Probably the best way is just to dive in from where I am right here, right now. No place other than that, remember? As we have been practicing over the last few years – discovering power in the simplicity and honesty that arises out of the present moment!
I became a firm believer and practitioner of moving through our practice (life!) in a slow, mindful pace, especially in the face of challenge and change. One step at a time, one day at a time, one breath at a time, ….
Feel all that is. Feel the hardening inside. The tenderness, the emotions that have built up and remained raw and untreated for the good of humanity, at best. Feel all the irreconcilable opposites. Feel steamrolled, insane. Feel bewildered. Feel furious. Feel timid. Feel stranded. Feel rigid. And then TRUST. [….]
Our lovely friends from Lithuania (Lietuva) have awakened my interest in their apparently beautiful little country situated in Northern Europe. It has a Baltic Sea coastline in the west and is surrounded by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east, Poland to the southwest, and Russia‘s exclave, the Kaliningrad Oblast, to the west.
