Nowadays, Yoga has become a prosperous business like no other. Every month there will be a different yoga style being trademarked in the US that costs 5.000 USD and only its certified trainers are allowed to train others. Is this what the sage Patanjali has once foreseen? But who cares about Patanjali anyways, the main thing is it sells! Read more
Sitting in the shade of a coconut tree in front of the house, overlooking the shimmering colours of the Arabian Sea and reminiscing about Christmas. 8 years ago I exchanged my life in a metropolitan city in Europe for a life at a deserted beach in central Kerala, south India for whatever reasons that are still not fully known to me. 😉 Read more
Dear friends and enemies also; ),
Some time ago, I wrote an article about the Amritapuri ashram and other ashrams in general titled “Ashram Life”. Today, I am ready to disclose my experience running an ashram in my own family home. Kindly excuse my politically incorrect language in some abstracts of this article. Maybe it will sound bias, but I feel that I have to be biased (exclusive) if I want to run the ashram sincerely and at the same time, be there for my family and preserve my own health. Namaste and cheers!
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When we hear the word ashram, we think of a strict and rigorous routine that will limit us in our “freedom”. Once I also thought this way. We have to follow a fixed schedule. We have a limitation to exit the ashram premises. Some strangers in orange dress tell us what to do… Have you asked yourself why it is so? Is it because they want to torture us? Yes, when looking for an answer to our questions, we should always ask why it is so and maybe there is a reason for that, which we cannot see at the moment.
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Warning: it is long but in my opinion definitely worth at least a try!
For today`s article I got inspired during my walk-in Germany where the street sign said: “By following the rules, you save yourself a penalty ticket.” This sign triggered a further thought: “Can human beings follow discipline only when non-compliance results in punishment?”
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“I do” to whom? Not to you but to your whole family!
As I married into an Indian family, people had asked me about “the Indian marriage” thousands of times and I waited and waited until today. The last drop to my cup of motivation in writing this article was an article in today’s newspaper The Times of India, where an 18-year-old couple was found hanged in a house somewhere in Kerala due to disagreement on marriage arrangements of the daughter with her parents. Read more
Many people who decided to adapt yoga as a way of life, have the desire to visit India at some point in their life and especially an ashram. The word ashram comes from Sanskrit āśramaḥ: meaning “penance, austerity”, but you can find much more there, if this is not sufficient for you, like a cup of good coffee (not this time, unfortunately) or a banana chocolate muffin. That sounds incredibly tempting even for a great India fan like me. Your roots you cannot deny. And also you should not attempt so, as you will end up stranded half way with anxiety disorder or depression. And why should you anyway? But about this topic some other time.
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I am sure that after publishing this article I might lose a few FB friendships, as “pets” is an emotionally loaded topic, but I am going to write it anyway. Just stay cool, lean back and if you get emotionally deranged, you can still go to your pet and seek comfort.
No seriously, I have always been an animal lover. Ask my parents! I have taken dogs home from the street that I knew that I was not allowed to keep….but only a few hours, you know….. I also had animal hair allergy, so the “bold” animals I was allowed to keep were reptiles – no, unfortunately, I was not allowed to keep a snake, but I had a turtle and a tortoise and I was the head manager of my own Extatostoma tiaratum breeding station. Those, who are not familiar with this cute little pet, please extend your knowledge here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extatosoma_tiaratum. Read more
In Czech we have a saying: “Pokud nejde o život, tak jde o hovno.” (freely translated as “If your life is not in threat, don’t give a shit.”) However, the science of yoga tells us that even if your life is in threat, it shouldn’t cause much havoc inside of you.
Abhinivesha, fear of the unknown or fear of death, is one of the 5 kleshas, impediments on the spiritual path. In the second chapter in the Sutra #9 the rishi Patanjali says, that abhinivesha is the source of all other kleshas (dwesha – despising, raga – liking, asmita – ego identification, avidya – ignorance). Abhinivesha, the fear of death is imbedded in all regardless of gender, cast or creed and becomes stronger with progressing age mainly because of the identification with our physical body. The yogic science says that if we cannot overcome this fear, we are bound to the cycle of rebirth.