2017 is approaching its last beautiful moments. What a year it has been already, also for us at the school! I love stepping into our space, every time. It's a pleasure to share practice with you - in fact you share practice with me!

This year has been special in many ways. I want to thank all of you for showing up for practice, for yourself.  It means a lot for me to witness - this unfolding. It warms my heart to see many of you roll out your mats, some of you daily, and some of you sometimes even just for the 25 minutes you have to then go about your day, or after your work-day.
It makes my heart smile to observe faces and hearts softening over time, witnessing you finding more steadiness and space within yourself (on and off the mat). Yes yes, we practice on the mat, but it's what this practice offers us outside the mat where the true magic resides and the effects of practice show most deeply. 
Who cares how far forward you can fold, or whether you can balance on your hands. A better approach to gauge progress in practice is by you coming to honor your inner compass, by you getting unstuck from not so beneficial patterns and repatterning to more life-supporting ones, you celebrating your own pace and learning to trust your very own stride. And what amazing strides you all have! (really!) 

Our school enjoys much good prana and would not be the same without each of you. My sincere thanks!
Highlights of this past year also include our annual school trip to Marcell's school to attend Susanna's study there in September (heads up & save the date: my teacher Susanna will come to us in Groningen (YES!) and teach us April 14 & 15 - a small shoutout is here already)! We also much enjoyed guest teachers offering special ashtanga studies for us again this year: Marcell from Bremen in April and Annette visiting us from Portugal just about a week ago.  

It is also very special to notice that more and more of you have been getting curious about our chanting and the philosophy of yoga! 

And of course, the culinary (often sweet) delights you share with each other (and me) after your practice. No doubt we could easily put together a 5 star vegan cookbook. May be a project for another year?  For now, we are still onto your  ashtanga stories through Rob and me interviewing you! You can already read about Luise and Toivo. Anne will be interviewed next! (If you haven't previously already signed up to participate in this project, you can still e-mail me to contribute. We would love for you to join!)

Heads-up: Sinterklaas will make an appearance to all you dedicated practitioners again this year, I told him to bring something useful and practical for all of you this year (so sorry no candy this year!!) and can't wait for him to show up :) If you recently moved, do share your postal address with me - then I can pass it along to SK...!

For me this year was also very special - and still is.  It taught me lots (again, and again) about the dynamic, ever changing nature, of life - and that there is much beauty in the unknown if we don't put a plan on it. I also ponder much about what is truly important in life.  One of the things that pops up is taking time and sharing time with dear folks.  The concept of time itself, mind blowing. 


2018 - Important Schedule Changes  Change is a sign that there is life, nothing is ever static. To serve you better, 2018 will come with changes. Teaching on both ends of the day is rather hard on me, while spreading teaching over both ends of the day does not allow for extended practice times on either end. Now, I have been sitting for some time pondering how to offer a better and more sustainable schedule to you, and realized it's time to change. 

As of January, I will teach extended morning hours and only one more evening class: Tuesday evening Mysore 17.30-19.30.  See the new schedule and descriptions here. 

I'm really excited to expand the morning hours, thereby offer teaching earlier than 7.30h and later than 9.15h.  Besides Tuesday evening there will be no more weekly evening class. The decision to let all other evening classes go wasn't an easy one, but it feels right. - I encourage all to join the morning classes as feasible (you can also come for your moon and yin / restorative practice in the morning). It's the best to practice in the morning.

As of 2018 we will also have a pranayama & moon sequence class every Wednesday 10.00-11.30 (and once a month on a Sunday). Fridays we have what I call a Mysore Plus class - where you can come start practice chanting 6.45-7.10, then at 7.15 we start practice in a led style with more technical explanations and attention to fine details, this led class then continues into a Mysore style class as of 8.00h (thus you can either start at 6.45, 7.15 or after 8.00). On Sundays we have a Mysore class, while once a month this will be a led moon sequence class.

I am sad we won't have our weekly Yin & Restorative class anymore. I really enjoy teaching this class and know how beneficial it is for all. There will be a Yin & Restorative Yoga Workshop about every 6 weeks on a Sunday; and you can join the Mysore classes for an individualized Yin & Restorative practice at any time.

I understand that these schedule changes may not work for all of you - I am sorry.  If that appears to be the case for you - before giving up, I want to ask you to give that shift to morning practice a chance! You may not feel that it's for you (yet) - but from what morning practitioners report (and my personal experience) it's the greatest present you can make for yourself and your day: giving space, time and care to yourself first. Your day unfolds differently having practiced first, in a more peaceful and calm manner, all along while you can excel at your other activities with great focus. Give it a try! You probably won't regret it. The practice is also intended to be a morning practice, the morning as an auspicious time of the day, planting the seeds for the day...

The choice to let most evening classes go wasn't easy, but this is a honest choice for myself. In case this affects you deeply, please come and talk to me.  I am here to help.

(The online schedule will shortly be updated for 2018.)

Then, I will try to rent out our beautiful school to other teachers  of body, mind and soul practices for Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday evening  - and during the afternoons. If you know someone who may be interested, please pass the message along - thank you.

Lastly a poem from Rupi Kaur (and a tea cup my mom gave me to remind me of my Uckermark roots - thank you mom!)

And here we are already at the last of the fundamental poses: Parsvattonasana!!
Spend some time this and next week to review all the names of the fundamental poses!

Intense Side Stretch
Parsva = Side
Uttana - extended, intense
Asana = pose

Here, Marije is demonstrating the ekam position of parsvattonasana, just before dve (coming into the state of the asana). Marije Joosten is one of our practitioners. It's always a pleasure to see her at practice!

Hello dear Practitioners!

A week has passed and it's time to move along with the names of the asana. Let me know how your learning is going, either drop feedback below or at practice at the school!

This week the four versions of the wide legged forward fold: prasarita padottanasana A-D!
An easy week as all four asanas have the same root name.  
Although easy, get on it!

Wide stance forward fold
Prasarita = wide stance
Pada = foot, leg
Uttana = intense stretch, extended
Asana = Pose

Last week we came up to Parivrtta Trikonasana, excellent! 
So this week, it's time to move on to the next poses! Here we go!

So, as for your next couple of practices integrate the names of the poses prior to those and these two into your practice. You can easily say them to yourself just before entering the pose during every practice. Yes! Do it and soon, very soon, the name of the asanas is a piece of cake. Really!

To heal our bodies is to heal our relationship with the earth. To regain our ground is to regain our aliveness, and the foundation of all that follows.

Dropping back and coming up from urdhva dhanurasana was a long process for me, years of self practice and once in a while receiving help and encouraging smiles from my teachers. The process taught me lots about a steady strong foundation inside as out, compassion inside as out, overcoming fear, opening up the heart, being part of something bigger and not apart from it, and that between going back and forward there is a steady space of being. The process also taught me the value of patience, acceptance, letting go of an internal agenda of how I wanted things to be but honoring the pace of my body (overall, physical, mental, energetic, all had to simmer, marinate in certain ways not to break down the system).

But this post is not about backbends, this post is more about taking the time for ourselves to be with ourselves. For me this is practice. In practice I am with myself and cannot escape (myself), distract myself, no music, no passing landscapes, no-ones lead to follow but mine.

Practice is a great teacher.
It gives me a chance to introspect while times are passing, it gives me a chance to pause and feel, encode the workings of my mind and beliefs, observe my actions/reactions. From becoming aware of what I do, I can create an opportunity to change if I notice and feel in my body that how I go about something is not benefitting me really. There is no room for bullshitting myself in this practice.  It's not easy to face my own bullshit and to not just hide/tug it away somewhere. But over the years I also learned that this confrontation brought about - and continuously is bringing about positive change, beneficial directions, new turns and chapters - and yes! - there is still lots to learn here, the bullshit is ever unfolding, or something like it..... **Sorry about the expressions, my PhD research was literally involving feces and letting it explode, it seems to stay a big topic in my life, hehe. 

Yet with no doubt, through practice, we learn that we are responsible for our actions and the echos they have.

And yes, with this practice we become more strong and flexible physically (and this can be a point that we sometimes get attached to), and it makes us feel alive in all places of our body (how you feel physically has a huge influence on how you feel mentally and emotionally, and vice versa....) - yet the true magic for me is the development of inner strength, flexibility, and self-knowledge.

Self-knowledge seems to be really something, especially in these times.
(also still so much to learn... how many life times more? ;P )

This modern world can be demanding in all sorts of ways. Just from my humble observations, it seems very demanding for most of us.  For example, technology is evolving more and more, working opportunities get increasingly outsourced, work contracts have a time stamp on it making work force more exchangeable and short-lived. We are far removed from where our food comes from, and have no idea (and perhaps never even asked ourselves) how our food was treated before it reached our mouths. We take on high expectations for our ourselves and the people we associate with as we conform to norms of looking and being, as we collectively believe we are are not good enough as we are, we have to look/be a certain way, have to acquire certain goods, fake likes and sympathies, so that we feel accepted and enjoy external status.

All these demands have an array of effects on us where we seem to collectively sideline ourselves, and with that sadly our planet (wtf), where we become confused about our own value as a human being, confused how to find foundation/ground and validation in ourselves (instead of reaching to something/someone outside of ourselves), about how to even be with each other, and about our true needs (compared to our wants to make us feel good or patch up a void)....

In order to not get derailed and walk ignorantly with open eyes within this glitzy forest of instant gratification, it is  important for all of us to source ourselves in one way or another, check in with ourselves, find some moments of stillness to resist becoming numb and robot-like (sorry robots). To take time for ourselves, is still a choice. A choice we can all make.

Choices...

We all have choices how we are with ourselves and how we are with the earth and people around us, we do have agency. Moreover, we are not separate, we depend on each other and the world. Sadly the natural riches of this world are steadily ceasing while we are bound to our screens but lack eye-contact with another, slaves to instant conveniences, nurturing a disconnect between head and body, we know a lot probably more than ever but we seek outside ourselves for foundation, meaning and fulfillment, inside ourselves we are rather poor and lack wisdom.

Collectively, we numb ourselves with all sorts of distractions. Stillness, being with what is, being with feeling, observing rather than reacting has become a scarcity in this fast-paced material world. But how are we really going to make decisions that feed and nurture us (us as a person, us collectively, and also the earth) in the long-run and not just to satisfy an impulse or fill-up the feeling of disconnect with something material. Having a relationship with yourself is the most important relationship there is in this life, this one feeds all others.  There is responsibility in relationship.

​How do we really want to be as humanity? No need for anyone to do drop backs or backbends, yet in this ever evolving time with more and more to do and knowledge to obtain, take you-time/quiet time away from outside prickles and go inside asking yourself what matters to you, what gives you meaning, how do you want to live? What does it mean to be human?

Can you be with yourself when it's quiet and there is truly no distraction?

Personally, I don't think everyone needs to practice yoga to find stillness, but any sort of being alone with oneself, observing, going into the level of the body and breath, with no distraction and measureable goals to obtain - find some sort of way to source and nourish yourself from the inside.

​May everyone find a way for themselves to hear their inner compass so to maneuver through this world in a peaceful, graceful and honest manner,

#writestheonewhostillhaslotstolearn
#justmyunorganizedpondering