Ready to go!

Soon I will be on my way to Dagsås Yoga Mangalam to have five whole days filled with Kundalini yoga, raw food, healing and sharing. I must admit I am a bit nervous this time because I´m going to be evaluated when it comes to my teacher skills in the Kundalini Yoga field. Well, I just have to trust that it will work out fine. Otherwise I will just have to do it  again. It´s like when you try to get your driver license in a way.

Five days of detox. What an opportunity to clean the body from old stuff. (Hope I will not starve to death!) This time I´m not going to cheat with chocolate stashed away in my suitcase. I´m going to do it the hard way. Wonder how I will feel when I come back again – hopefully revitalised and a bit lighter in every way.

One thing I love to do

One thing I love to do is to take portraits of people. In fact I would love to do that on a professional basis. I could really see myself doing that and I know I would be good at it. Maybe now is the right time for me to start to do what I really love to do instead of what I think I should do?

Here are som photos I took outside the Getty Museum in Los Angeles last summer of my oldest daughter and her friend.

I´m searching…

I´m searching for that unconfined and unrestricted woman inside of me who oblivious of time and space completely focused and present creates without fear and pretension. I know she is there…I get a reminder of her existence now and then and it´s a mix of both pain and joy in my heart to feel her presence.

Now it´s the time for me to get in touch with her. Through breathing, meditation and Kundalini Yoga. It´s scary but I just have to do it.

Candlelight supper

Yesterday I invited some of my old friends to see my new home and to have a chance to just sit down and talk, eat and laugh together. Nowadays it seems like we have so little time for each other. All of us are busy with our own lifes and responsibilities. So even if we really want to spend more time together the days and weeks and months are passing by without meeting. It´s really sad!

Well , I had a really busy day before my guests arrived with shopping groceries and preparing all the different dishes. Mostly new recipes, which made it a bit tricky. Among other things I made a sweet potatoe tortilla, which was quite nice and figs in the oven with blue cheese, honey, seasalt and balsamic vinegar sprinkled on top. Yummy!

Some of the things I like in my home

Materialistic things shouldn´t be so important in your life they say, but according to Feng Shui all the things you choose to surround you with carry some sort of symbolic meaning – they can either make you happy or said, prosperous or miserable.
Much of the stuff I have around me came to me in some kind of mysterious, magical way. They were just there when I needed them. Many of the things were abondened, thrown away and needed some one to appreciate them.

To have this madonna and child over my bed is a true blessing.

Smiling Monkey gives me comfort and keeps me safe.

So I don´t loose track of time and miss my appointments.

My new cobra telephone from Rabauke together with the delightful penguine couple which in fact is a lamp with scent that makes my evenings more comfy and cozy.

I´m not a big IKEA fan but once in a while you can actually find something nice there, like this bedspread which suits perfectly whith the rest of the stuff, like my lovely red chair and my green watering pot.

What on earth would I do without this neat piece of furniture?

Lately I have been focusing on old and very used ladders of all kinds. Preferably with stains of paint on them. This one was thrown away and found a new home with me.

When I moved to my new apartment I needed storageplace for all my stuff. Luckily I found this lovely piece of furniture at FABRIKEN. In the drawers I keep all my recipy books. Where would I have put them otherwise?

Compact kitchen

It can be a bit challenging to prepare meals in this tiny kitchen…

but I´ve managed to produce some good cooking already.

Something new…

Yesterday I got some new inspiring thoughts about what to do with myself from talking with people who inspired and uplifted me. One thing for sure – If you just spend time with yourself in your own head, nothing good will come out of it. You need other people´s wiev and you need to reach out and share your wishes and dreams with the world around you.
My problem is that I  easily get discouraged. My mind is filled with doubts and hesitation – Am I good enough? What is the use of making an effort anyway? Are the type of questions that tend to take over when I´m about to start a new project. The negative mind is taking a hold on me and makes life more difficult than it needs to be. I know in  my heart that I have some wonderful talents that I could make good use of and people around me always encourage me to show more of that side – so why can´t I believe in myself?
Right now it´s like something is growing inside of me waiting to get out in the open. It´s small and vulnerable and it needs a lot of care and attention. I know it will be something beautiful when the time is right for it to come out in the open…
Meanwhile I´m going to sooth myself with listening and chant along with this beautiful mantra which I learned yesterday…
Sat naarayan wha-hay guroo;
haree naaraayan sat naam

Be cool, be calm and keep yourself together…

Do not compare
If you want to be happy.
Do not blame
If you want to be happy.

- Sri Chinmoy

If you want to get somewhere you have to set your intention and start with one step. After that you take the next step and so on. It´s easy to get overwhelmed if you picture all the work you have to do to get to a certain point. Just do what you can do right now in the moment and be satisfied with that. And don´t compare yourself with any other human being. It only takes away your energy and makes you dispirited. You are what you are and that´s just fine.
Every day we have the opportunity to take what comes to us and make the best out of it. It´s no use to blame yourself or others for things that didn´t go the way you expected. To be angry doesn´t help much. It´s only your ego that feels hurt and wants to act out. And you never really know what is good and what is bad in the long run. So just go with the flow and try to stay calm and humble. In that way you can use your energy in a good and constructive way which will benefit not only yourself but the entire universe.
Shanti
Shanti
Shanti

Yoga for life

I´m fortunate enough to have the opportunity to practise yoga at Hagabadet in Gothenburg. There I have met some outstanding yogateachers – each one with their own unique style of teaching. They are not only very good at what they do – they live and breath yoga and they inspire me with their devotion and enthusiasm. This evening I went to a yoga class with Otto Silverstolpe. He is such a humble and genuine person and when things tend to get a bit too serious he will tell a joke to make us giggle while we are trying to get the position right. Tomorrow I will attend a kundaliniyoga class with Mija Griborn - so full of enthusiasm and shining from within. Every thursday evening Carolina Svedberg shares her wisdom and love through her vinyasa yoga.
I´m truly blesssed!

Evening walk

In the evening I sometimes take a walk down to Röda Sten and enjoy the seaside. It´s such a special place with an almost magical feeling about it. Today I brought my camera with me and I started out with trying to capture the scenery. Rather boring photos as a result but then I started to get interested in all the traces made by human beings like graffiti and also surfaces with different kind of scares and marks and paint. You can see some of the results under the category Abstract.