For my yogi girlfriends including myself after becoming mothers, their greatest spiritual practice has become the parenting itself. In other words: the yoga they had been practicing on the mat had moved to the real life yoga application off the mat 24/7. Read more
Live as even your belly fat was Devī’s grace…
This statement might seem somewhat funny at the first read, but a greater truth is concealed behind it.
Looking at my round belly, that is very different than 5 years ago, this statement popped up in my mind.
When we have a plan and the plan comes out the way we expect, we are happy. But does it really ever? And is it really possible as the universe does not function according to the mind’s plan of one single person. Mostly the plan is not aligned with our expectation. Then what happens? We resist. We want to change it. Anger comes.
Then what if we see everything as given to us. Not good not bad. Given to us for a reason. You don’t have to think directly of śakti or god. Maybe some higher ideal you believe in, over which you have no control. Like the belly fat in my case. 
Have a great day. Take your life lightly, however fully present. How os your acceptance level? Do you struggle to accept something in your life? Pssst…. I tell you a secret. It is not my belly fat I struggle with but the people who skip the line in India. 
You might argue just the opposite: real freedom is the freedom to choose.
This reminds me of a quote that I posted a while ago: “Suffering is the resistance to what is.” Just imagine that you choose something according to your like or dislike which is not available at the given moment. Read more
If you have been following my posts, you might have read my post a few days ago, about the change I had been experiencing in the past two years – from being extroverted and moving out a lot to preferring to stay at home with plants and animals.Well, there is another change I noticed while taking a walk along the beach this morning. I used to be concerned, naturally, about how the local people see me here in India as I didn’t want to offend anyone. I was being over-conscious and always in the state of emergency. Today, I realized that that is no more the case. It’s not that I am no more concerned about other people, but my inner attitude towards this situation changed. When I realized this a story came up in my mind that my husband used to tell during our yoga trainings: About the Dog and the Temple of Thousand Mirrors.
Once upon a time, in a remote Indian village there was an abandoned temple. Nearby lived a pack of dogs, who never used to enter the temple as they were frightened of the other pack of wicked dogs living there.
One day a dog from the neighbouring village came and joined this pack. As he was a friendly chap, the pack accepted him and immediately issued a warning: “You can stay with us, but never go to the abandoned temple at the foothill of the mountain. There are 1000 wicked dogs living there.” The dog agreed and lived happily with the pack.
One day, he went on a stroll and suddenly ended up at the entrance door of the abandoned temple. He was curious to know about these other dogs, even though his pack warned him. He entered the temple and suddenly he saw 1000 mirrors surrounding him. In each mirror he saw a friendly dog happily waving his tail.
This was also my case. As I was going about my life worried that I dwelled in the energy of worry and attracted the same. The moment I started acting in compliance with my own nature and showing up authentically, even though unfamiliar for the local people, I started receiving the same energy back along with acceptance and tolerance of my authenticity.
Again and again, everything unwinds from our own attitude with which we relate to the world. And that’s a good thing, right? Because the own attitude we may be able to change.
I remember years ago, I thought judgmental about my friend not wearing a bra. All these justifications would pop up in my mind that I had heard from my familiar circles while growing into a young woman: “It’s important for your breast health to wear a bra. If you don’t wear a bra, your breasts will sag.” I never really minded saggy breasts but the health warning was important for me. Sounds familiar anyone?
Then one day, the Covid pandemic came and India went into a complete lockdown which meant that you were confined to your home for a few months. It was getting summer in Kerala which means 35 degrees and 75% humidity. As I was not going out I stopped wearing a bra just for the comfort of it… And to tell you the truth, never put it on ever since. Sounds almost like a fairy tale, right? I came to the following conclusions (my own experience only): My breast sensitivity increased, so that I felt more connection with the heart. And surprise! My breast firmness increased.
Wearing a bra has nothing to do with breast health, but it is mainly a product of the centuries long patriarchal rule that breasts and mainly nipples should not show and provoke. This was a revolutionary revelation to me just like years ago when I started living in India about the uselessness of the toilet paper 🧻 except for wiping off oil spills. 😉
What have I learnt from this experience? Never judge somebody for doing things differently, as the time might not yet be ripe for you do do them the same way. Inspect your habits and thinking patterns thoroughly. They might be just another adopted clichés that block your personal growth. 🙏🏽
When a yoga therapy participant asked about these pictures yesterday hanging above our house entrance, these thoughts came up in my mind. 💭
One Indian tradition I embraced is honoring my parents and the ancestral lineage. Each Indian house will display a photo of the deceased father and mother in their living room to remember and honour their path. I altered the tradition a little as my parents are still alive, however, honoring them and the path I came from helped me to heal and feel whole. (Indian arranged wedding photo from 1950’s of rural Kerala and the Czech wedding photo at the Old Town Square in Prague in 1973). When I was growing up, I felt like everything else but fitting in into my family. I felt different, misunderstood and later rebellious. The “Indian” perspective helped me to look at my family situation with compassionate eyes and I understood that every father and every mother would do their best to bring up a child. I also realized that if you didn’t reconcile and came to terms with your family, mainly your mother and father, you could never make peace with yourself and feel complete. In another words: you choose your friends but you cannot choose your family. Accept the past, honour the path you walked, heal and pave your own true way. Christmas time might be just the perfect time. 🎄
Because we have my mother-in-law here for a couple of weeks, this impression comes to my mind. When I look back 9 or 10 years ago, I always thought, my husband and his mother were constantly fighting judging from the tone and volume of their conversation. But no way! Now I know that they have no formalities with each other and simply live! It’s beautiful to watch. I’ve written about it before. When I asked amma (amma is the common word for Mother and the oldest woman in the family is called so) a few weeks at what time she would want to leave to return to her house, she replied in a relaxed voice: “I don’t know, let Hari decide”. It’s not like a son decides for her. But in this case, she can let go and rely on her son. How many old people can do this with confidence in my country? My wish is to be able to take care of my parents, when they get old. And besides, I just love old people!
The following text about relationship is of course a lot more elaborate by Jeff Foster (www.lifewithoutacentre.com)
The healthiest relationships and friendships are not necessarily the ones that look happiest to the naked eye.
They aren’t necessarily the ones where two people are always found holding hands, giggling, dancing and singing with the butterflies on Instagram, where nothing ever goes wrong and love is beautiful and blissful and perfect.
External ‘perfection’ can easily mask internal devastation, disconnection and that awful, unspoken desperation to be free.
The healthiest relationships are the honest ones. And they might not look so ‘happy’ or ‘carefree’ from the outside. They might not fit the image of what a relationship ‘should’ or ‘must’ look or feel like.
Here, two people tell the honest, painful truth about today, and continually let go of all their preconceived ideas about each other. The relationship is forever renewed in the furnace of authenticity. There may be ruptures, misunderstandings, even intense feelings of doubt and disconnection, but there is a mutual willingness to face this seeming mess head-on! To look – with open eyes – at the present rupture, and not turn away or cling to the past. To sit together in the midst of mutual shattered dreams and expectations, and work to find a place of reconnection, here, now, today.
Here, relationship is seen as the ultimate yoga – an ongoing and ever-deepening adventure and rediscovery of each other, a constant letting-go and a constant meeting! Love is not a future destination, conclusion, point of arrival, or a convenient story to tell others. Love is alive.
As Eckhart Tolle says, relationships aren’t here to make us happy – for true happiness lies within. They’re here to make us profoundly conscious.
To break us, to humble us, to make us whole again.
Don’t take life too serious. However, stay fully involved.” This quote from Sadhguru of Isha Yoga resonates with me very much
There were a few incidents in the past weeks that led me back to this thought. The Czech writer Veronika Hurdova also writes about this in her latest book “Agata a zakazana hora”. This was Agata’s, the 11 old girl’s last lesson to learn, before she could fully uncover her life purpose.
One of my friend made a post on FB, as she was returning on a plane from Asia and next to her sat a fully covered lady with mask, glasses and even a hood, probably trying to protect her from Covid. The reaction to this post were the following: “She has so much fear. You should cough loudly next to her. Some people have gone mad.” First of all, we don’t know what her reason might be. She might be not afraid at all, but might have a secondary disease which in case of covid infection, might prove fatal. Or maybe she just likes to wear a hood which resembles a fluffy deer. Who knows?!
The question is: do we really need to know? Does it help, if we immediately judge? We might spend our whole life by thinking what is right and wrong. Should we do this or that. Is it the right thing I have done or not. Can we know for definite?
Isn’t it better to move away from different hypothesis of our own mind and instead involvein the present situation with our full enthusiasm and skill?
I think so. Have a peaceful and involved Sunday!
Today, during my morning jogging session (10 min around the block) I passed the house at the end of our dead end street. One plank from the fencing was broken off, so I could take a peak inside. To my surprise the house looked run down and grown over by weeds.
I remembered when I was small, I used to play there with the neighbour’s son feeding ants to the antlions. In my memory the house and the surroundings were always kept in excellent shape as the owner was a millionaire and took good care of his property.
In that moment, one Kerala proverb popped into my mind: “A rich man’s son will become a spendthrift. A spendthrift’s son will become poor. A poor man’s son will become miser. A miser’s son will become rich…”
Prosperity is about attitude, not about what was given to you.