Being rock solidly open in times of new uncertainties

For quite a few weeks you haven’t heard anything from me. I really didn’t know what to say. When I wrote my last blog I still thought I’d go to Italy to hold the May retreat. In March I still thought it would be best not to follow all the crazy news and do conscious living in the moment where I am - hoping it all will pass soon. Then there was a phase where I followed the news and also the “unconventional” news to try to make sense of what is happening. I followed the news in Australia, in Germany and Italy and also talked to my friends in Sweden - so I really had a broader view. But guess what: it made me only realise that the news are not giving us all there is to the story, to the facts, AND it made me feel exhausted.

So then I came back to myself, to my own centre to what I know is the most healing and sane thing to do and also the best way to be of most service to the people around me. Yes, it sounds nice “getting back to one’s centre”.
How does one do that? The only way I know how to do that is through taking a moment of quiet, sitting in silence. The best time for that is in the early morning or in the evening when the world around you is quiet. When a lot around you doesn’t make sense anymore you know that you just have no chance but making yourself feel comfortable with the uncertainty. And you also might have realised that when we thought all the time being safe on the ship we are collectively on and when the outer world made us feel safe that all that sense of safety was really just a mirage.
In Yoga we go into real meditation (not into mind fantasies like visualisations), where we experience space - space within and the space without (outside), and then these two merge into being one. Once you observe your breath as though you are the outside observer of the movement of your breath and the breath itself, you can experience yourself being in the world but also being the world - you don’t identify yourself with your body, nor with your emotions nor with your thoughts; you connect with your essence.

Now these practices and experiences are a bit more difficult to get to especially in times like this if we numb ourselves with “comfort foods”, maybe a few (too many) drinks in the evening and in general too much intake of vitality-, clarity- and creativity-suppressing means like lifeless foods (lack of fresh green and raw fruit and vegetables), long hours of screen time with a lot of non-uplifting content, too much sugar and sugar drinks or too many “mood brighteners” (from too much caffeine, tobacco to alcohol etc.).

So I found it best to fall back on the many decades tried and tested Mrs Snook’s Gut Cleanse. (check out this amazing book with the unique vintage gut cleanse, a diet that even now, nearly 90 years after it was first developed and has a legion of fans across the world. https://www.gretapuls.com/book-store ) And the podcasts I can also highly recommend: https://www.rawthepodcast.com/episode-3-gut-instinct
Knowing about the gut-brain connection some of my clients started using this “special lock down time” when working from home (or not anymore) to reset themselves and I enjoy accompanying them on this journey.

We don’t know what the time after covid-19 will be like, but we can know that resetting ourselves to be rock solidly open for change is the best we can do for ourselves and the ones around.

If you are looking for a way to set a solid foundation to your daily duties now done at home check the link to “Living Consciously Now” https://www.trybooking.com/BJKYQ