May Makes All New
My first yoga and malaworkshop.
The first all-day workshop of this year took place at Der Blaue Vogel on 06 May. I think May is a good month for new beginnings - so without further ado I put together some of my favorite activities and offered them as mini retreats.
Kickstart into the day.
We started at 9:30 in the morning with a small welcome in the form of a freshly squeezed juice of crisp vegetables, leaf green and ginger (I don't trust the guests to make the spicy ginger shots until the next time). Since I don't eat anything before yoga and a full stomach is only a burden, but I like a little energy boost in the morning, I like to drink a juice as a kick starter.
If, in exceptional cases, I don't do yoga in the morning, I also like to drink a green smoothie - preferably with greens from my own garden. Since I am currently on a ketogenic diet to shed a few annoying kilos, juice in the morning is doubly good for me in "the stuff" (as we North Germans are fond of saying) and I am not sitting in meditation with a grumbling stomach.
Anahata Yoga and the Five Elements
Afterwards there was an extensive hour of Anahata Yoga with an insight into the Five Elements Form, which I had the opportunity to learn from Peter Clifford last year and now also teach as a certified yoga teacher. Peter Clifford is a young man of 75 (no, you really can't tell by looking at him) and likes to call himself a "household yogi" - which I find quite likeable as a term. He has been teaching yoga for a good 55 years and is clearly an enrichment on all levels. I know of no other yoga teacher who teaches with such a brilliant mixture of diverse experience, great humor, invaluable knowledge (preferably backed up with scientific facts), incredible warmth of heart, open mind and true philanthropy.
With the five-element form Peter hit the right nerve with me. I admit that I still have to overcome myself to make my regular practice a daily one and not a fortnightly one. The fact that with this form I don't have to get out of bed in the morning and get back down on the mat again, but can first "shake myself awake", stretch and stretch with standing forms, so to speak, is very beneficial to me. A little suitable music to go with it and I already have a small, fine morning routine that wakes me up and stretches me without needing a yoga mat. Highly recommended for business travellers and other nomads.
Speaking of desk perpetrators: I was actually able to get a better grip on my annoying mouse arm (and computer shoulder) than with anything else. From an interview with Peter Clifford in the magazine "Yoga-Aktuell" he describes the question about the origin of Anahata Yoga as follows:
Yoga-Actual: What is special about "Anahata Yoga" and where does it come from?
Peter Clifford: Anahata Yoga was developed thousands of years ago in Assam, India. It served to enable people who lived high up in the mountains to live a long and healthy life. The basis of Anahata Yoga, which literally means "Yoga of the Heart", is that we open our hearts completely, without expectations and in true love for ourselves just as we are and look at the things we want to change about ourselves with compassion.
Yoga-Actual: Why is Anhata Yoga so powerful and special?
Peter Clifford: This style of yoga was created to heal, vitalize and energize the pancha koshas, the five energy sheaths of the body, for longevity, health and energy.
Yoga Currently: What is the "Five-Element Form"?
Peter Clifford: The Five Elements form into one aspect of a yoga practice known as "Tattwa (elements) Shuddhi (purification) Shada (practice)" - which means that it is a practice that purifies the body, using the five elements. Shiva describes it in the document Shiva Swarodaya.
Doesn't this "yoga of the heart" wonderfully match the idea of Der Blaue Vogel and Bukowski's poem? I think it's perfect! Because who couln't use a little opening of their own heart and mind? Especially in today's world.
You can find more about Peter Clifford and his current courses worldwide activities on his website. For this first workshop, my dear colleague and friend Caro from Salzburg, who did the training with me, fortunately took over the lesson. More lessons are in preparation and will be available here in the course schedule and on facebook. And yeah... of course there is an Instagram account too. By the way, I especially love my bright yoga room, which is framed on all sides with fresh greenery and has a nice balcony that extends to the garden just below.
It doesn't get much better than this, does it? This beautiful room is located only 10 minutes from the centre of Klagenfurt in St. Thomas am Zeiselberg. If you know your way around: three minutes behind Ikea in the direction of Brückl and you're there.
Vegan Brunch
After the yoga there was an extensive strengthening in the form of a vegan brunch. With my multi-part training as a raw vegan cook with Matthew Kenney, it is a real pleasure for me to try out new recipes and to "veganize" well-known favorite dishes. Why vegan? Because it tastes good. Everybody can decide for themselves how they want to eat and I will not judge or judge anyone. But if you are curious and want to learn something new, you are welcome to contact me and of course you can courses visit me. From raw vegan to ketogenic, gluten-free, etc. - I am there. However, meat has not been used in my kitchen for a long time and the workshop participants enjoyed it very much even without animal products.
Mala Making
Having been well fortified, we went on to the mala-knotting. Malas are necklaces with 108 beads that are used for chanting mantras in the yoga practice. The word mala is Sanskrit and actually means "chain". Strictly speaking, the mala is a prayer chain - just as Christians have the rosary, Buddhists and Hindus have the mala. Such a mala may of course be worn by anyone - no matter what or whom they believe in. Since I am not baptized, I have always developed my own opinion about religion anyway and now wear my mala(s) according to my mood for various reasons: on the one hand because I actually use them from time to time when reciting meditative mantras and like the feeling of the beads slipping through my fingers, on the other hand because I see them as an attractive piece of jewelry that I like to touch.
The way something feels has always been important to me and as a "professional creative" I am probably particularly receptive to it. I also like natural materials and therefore (almost) exclusively use undyed, natural stones and semi-precious stones. "Almost exclusively" because I was not so experienced with the first stones I picked out and a few dyed pearls slipped in, which probably appealed to me because of their colors. No one is perfect. Nowadays I try to avoid these slips, because the natural stones seem much more powerful and aesthetic to me. Spirits argue about the effects of the stones.
Personally, I think I can feel a difference in the stones and I think it's a bit like horoscopes: if it's described positively, I'm happy and in the opposite case I don't let myself be confused. If you want to get a little smarter when choosing the stones on this level, you can either study the books laid out or simply select them by feeling or personal preferences. Nobody will judge this, but rather be pleased if the individual personality finds expression in the self-designed mala. More creativity for everyone! Whoo-hoo!
108 Knots
After selecting the beads and markers (depending on the mala style, they sit in different positions), a suitable knotting yarn made of natural silk (nylon as a vegan alternative) was chosen and the technique of bead knotting was practiced on a sample strand. Including the undoing of a misplaced knot. This can happen and is a good meditation exercise - at least for some impatient spirits. But then... what a joy it was to see how even the most concentrated face started to glow with pride after the last knot!
To make something ourselves and the joy over the result seems to be so deeply rooted in us humans that we can't help but radiate the pure joy about the achievement from within us.
It is this radiance and the joy over the performance of the participants or my students that is my motivation. Whether I develop interactive exhibits for science centers and museums, teach my Swiss students how to do it, give brushbot workshops in my former studio in Berlin, or teach people how to make malas, improve their quality of life with yoga, or give vegan dessert and chocolate workshops, it always remains the same: the joy of one's own "creation" is an original one that describes true happiness.
"You Are the Creator"
As my yoga teacher Peter Clifford always says so beautifully: "You are the creator". "Yes!", my heart screams and jumps a little (very) for joy. "SELBST MACHEN" or "DO IT. YOURSELF." is therefore also the motto of Der Blauen Vogel. If you would like to discover this feeling of deep joy and happiness for yourself, it will be exciting to see what other workshops, courses, mini retreats, excursions, coaching, inspirations and more there will be in the future.