German Goodies

After seeing this picture, you will surely understand why my (previously half-empty) suitcases were packed full and over the weight limit on my way back to the US...

Hmmmmmmm....

Greetings from Lake Constance!

I'm visiting part of my family down in the south of Germany. Holy moly, I forgot how gorgeous it is down here!

This is lake Constance, on the other shore you can see the Austrian and Swiss Alps.... beautiful :)

A Story about Healing and Bikram Yoga

Healing from a severe back injury... after years of other training methods only brought partial relief... finally being completely free of pain, 20 years after the injury... Is this a miracle? A fairy tale?

I would say it's neither. It took and still takes a lot of work (90 minutes in the hot room, several times a day, is serious work!), but Lisa did it!

Thank you for sharing your wonderful story of Healing, Lisa! It's very aptly titled Why I will do Bikram yoga until the day I die.

Namaste :)

Currywurst Pommes :)

A friend of mine finally took me to one of my favorite places to eat Currywurst. Thank you!

Yummm, Lil' Turtle is also enjoying this German delicacy :)

OK, OK, I admit it's not the most healthy dish, but it tastes awesome. I'm sure the Americans would appreciate it as well, if somebody brought it over the Atlantic for them to enjoy! Hmmm, maybe it's my destiny to open Detroit's first Currywurst place... ;)

Home Connection

It was hard to leave our new home for three weeks. Now that almost two weeks have passed, it's still hard... I'm ready to enjoy my last week in Germany a lot (no more work! lots of family time!) and get back home soon.

Meanwhile, I'll be snuggling with Lil' Turtle, while his momma Miss Turtle is hanging out at home with my boyfriend.

 

(Lil' Turtle is trying some good German food: Rahm-Schnitzel.)

You'll be united soon, my dear turtle friends! Promise!

Hotel Room Yoga

Oh my gosh, after 10 days away from the hot room, I was going insane... back unhappy, skin unhappy, hair unhappy, tummy unhappy, mind unhappy. Paired with days packed full of trainings, project work, more work during "breaks", and business dinners, I felt like crap.

Time for Hotel Room Yoga. I set up some towels and tried to practice in front of the mirror which was not well positioned at all... and of course the heat was missing... oh well, I made it work.

After 90 minutes of Bikram's voice from my iPhone, I was feeling happy and healthy again. Yay!

(You can buy Vol1 Standing & Vol2 Floor Series here or on iTunes. You will get a complete 90 min class given by Bikram Choudhury himself!)

I'm in Germany.

I've made it safe and sound. I have eaten Currywurst Pommes twice so far (yay!). I'm living the business travel lifestyle (a lot of work, eating out every. single. meal) and it's kind of annoying. No yoga so far; I miss it.

More interesting posts to come (hopefully). I just didn't want my readers to think I've drowned in the Atlantic ;)

Namaste.

First day of school

Today is an exciting day for our friends' puppies... first day of school! They're going to meet other puppies, and learn stuff, and play, and wrestle... Yay!

Here's a new pic of them... they have grown so much!

They have really stolen our hearts... I'm more of a cat person, but they are just so sweet and snuggly and playful ♥

What do you tell prospective (Bikram) yogis?

A few colleagues have recently asked me about Yoga. They are interested in improving their health problems and have heard that yoga might just be the thing to try. They have heard that I'm "into yoga"
and want to get a feel for it.

AWESOME!!! Come with me, we can go today! It'll be awesome, we can go every day! ... Hmmm, maybe that's not the right approach. I'm not going to lie, in the first few months I might have said that to a few people and scared them off. I was super excited about Bikram Yoga (still am!) and I wanted to share it with everybody! NOW!!

Thing is... not everybody is ready and pushing them in this stage is counterproductive. I have learned that quite a while ago. Today another colleague asked me about Yoga and said "But you do Bikram Yoga, right? That will be too much for me with the heat and all." What would you have said to the person?

I didn't want to overwhelm him with information, but I wanted to make sure he feels welcome to try. He will NOT be the only one who is new to this/feels too hot/cannot touch their forehead to their knees. I calmly told him why the heat specifically helps us (stretch and heal our bodies & deal with circumstances beyond our control). I also informed him about the beginners special (two weeks unlimited for 25$). If he is interested and ready for it, he will research himself or ask me again. I do not want to push it on anybody :)

So what do you tell people who are interested in (Bikram) Yoga? Do you try to "sell" it?

Those *bad* classes.

All of us Bikram yogis seem to have them once in a while: class is hotter than noon in the desert, the drama among the fellow yogis (people talking, groaning, smelling, walking around during balancing postures), the body does not want to cooperate, the mind cannot rise above... and it all adds up to the worst class you've had in a while :(

This was pretty much my class last Thursday. I tried and tried to not let the disturbances phase me during class, but wasn't very successful. I felt like the class smacked me in the face. (Now this sounds overly dramatic to me, but it is how I felt.) I can actually physically explain what led to this crappy class, but I won't bore you with the details. Anyway, I've had some awesome classes in 2012 so far, so it was kind of a surprise.

My advice for other in this situation is usually: "Go right back the next day. Usually the next class after a *disastrous* one is a great one!" --- but I don't think I've ever taken my own advice (unless it was during a challenge).

No, I didn't go back on Friday. Or Saturday. Or Sunday. I just didn't feel ready, so healed while snuggled up on the couch, had some quality time with my boyfriend & his family, and did some packing for my upcoming trip. I will go back to the hot room today. I know I will desperately miss it during the three weeks in Germany, so I will take advantage of my last week here. Bikram's CD (on my iPhone) will be coming with me on my trip and I see some hotel room yoga in my near future :)

Namaste.

What I miss: Currywurst Pommes Mayo

Hands down, my favorite German fast food item is Currywurst, a sliced up bratwurst (sometimes they use a different sausage) slathered in curried ketchup... LOVE! A side of french fries (Pommes), of course with lots of mayo... oh man... it's been tough to make do without this in the past year.

Currywurst with Pommes Mayo, also lovingly called Mantaplatte

(picture somewhere on flickr, couldn't find exact source)

BUT!!! Not for much longer will I have to long for it desperately. My flight to Germany is booked, and in less than two weeks I expect to indulge in this delicacy again :)

I will be in Germany for three weeks, two of which will be work-related travel and one will be vacation! I can't wait to see my family and friends! It also feels really funny that I will be away from home for three weeks... or will I? Where is home, anyway?

I'm just happy and excited and anxious and everything at once! Yay!

Regional Yoga Asana Championship

On Sunday I got to watch the Regional Yoga Asana Championship. The winners get to compete in the National Yoga Asana Championships in March. It was amazing to see a variety of yogis and yoginis perform their routine on stage. Young, old, big, small, long-time and short-time practitioners, they were all inspiring and amazing and left the audience feeling positive. We couldn't help but smile and root for all of them while they demonstrated their strength, concentration, hard work and determination.

Participants get judged by experienced teachers on physical strength, stamina, balance, flexibility, breath, concentration, and grace. You see, it is not about being able to perform picture-perfect postures, but about diligently working with your body and mind. The focus for the participants is not to compete against each other, but rather to show what they can achieve with yoga. It was very apparent that the participants and the audience were rooting for everybody to show off their personal best!

BTW, these events are organized by USA Yoga (a non-profit organization) and are meant to raise awareness about Yoga Asanas (the physical part of yoga: practicing postures). USA Yoga is working to get Yoga Asanas qualified as an Olympic sport! Now THAT would be the greatest way to increase awareness throughout the world! *crossing fingers*

★ Congratulations to all participants and ★ 

★ Thank You for sharing your practice with the world! ★

★ Winners, good luck in the Nationals! ★

Now let's get to the eye-candy... check out the winners, male and female :)

 Allan Santos

Jennifer Cohen (?)

_______________

PS: This is the 2011 International Yoga Asana Champion, Joseph Encinia. Watch til the end... it's worth it!

For more information about the championship, check out USA Yoga.

(The Magic of) Practicing on Consecutive Days

In the first half year of my Bikram Yoga practice, I tried to keep an "every-other-day" schedule, for example taking a class on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday. I figured, since I cannot come every day, this would be the next best thing.

Along came my first 30 Day Challenge, and after that a few months during which I struggled to keep a regular schedule. Somewhere during those months, I came to a conclusion: practicing every other day is not a great plan and certainly not "the next best thing" to practicing every day.

For some reason (or probably multiple reasons), practicing on consecutive days is so much more worthwhile. The classes seem easier (by no means easy though), the postures get prettier, and most importantly, the health benefits are greater.

-- Awesome! Now how do I do it? Ideally, I want to take class three days in a row, then take a 1-2 day break. Yeah, that is still a huge time commitment, but as everything in life, fitting class into my schedule has gotten easier with practice. It's still never easy (just like class), and so December & January so far have not looked too good.

I love looking at November for inspiration though (in my favorite App "Calendar Tracker Lite"):

Awww, I want to practice like this every month ♥

Here's to hoping I'll have a few months like this in 2012!

Resolutions

When everybody around me seemed to be talking about New Year's Resolutions, I've started thinking back and I can honestly say that I've never made any before. When I though about it some more, I've come to realize that I probably never will make any, either. Not because I'm so perfect already (ha!), but because I'm a very self-reflective person. I think about and re-think my life/relationships/goals/yoga/nutrition/everything all. the. time. If a change is needed, it is implemented as soon as possible. I don't see a reason to wait for a new month/moon/year.

Recent plans/changes/resolutions or whatever-you-wanna-call-its:

• Green smoothies: drink as often as possible, at least one per day. (The challenge: having fresh ingredients at home, preparation time.)
• "3 days on, 1 day off" Bikram yoga schedule (The challenge: lack of time/funky work schedule, balancing quality time with myself and/or my partner.)
• read more (The challenge: same as with Bikram class.)
• cook more (The challenge: same as with green smoothies.)

Sooo, the common challenge seems to be time-related. All of these things are quite time consuming (what isn't, right?) and I have recently added 1.5 hrs driving time to my work days, sooo... Yes, I often have to prioritize and no, I have not been able to achieve all of those goals satisfactorily in the same week. But that's life or at least: that's my life. I'm not going to beat myself up about it, because ultimately, all those goals are supposed to make my life better and not more stressful than it already tends to be.

Maybe I should have added another major goal: balance.

Namaste :)

Happy New Year!

I hope you had a wonderful and positive start into the new year! (Better late than never, right? :) )

My break was much needed and very much enjoyed. Having the puppies around was a great experience and brought us much joy and snuggle time. (It was also much more work and worry than I had anticipated, since they are still very young. We will not be getting our own puppies anytime soon! At least not in this top floor apartment without a fenced in yard.)

The cutie pies :)

Snuggle time :)

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, dear friends and readers! I hope you get to spend the holidays with your family and loved ones.

We will have a family dinner (BF's family) and then unwrap our presents tonight, on Christmas Eve, just like in Germany. Here in the USA most families seem to unwrap presents on Christmas day morning (December 25), but my boyfriend suggested we unwrap tonight, just like I'm used to from home <3

Hugs to All! Enjoy the holidays!

A little peek (Puppie Love)

Here's a little peek at what I will be doing over the holidays:

Don't get too excited. We will only have them for 3 days. They are our friends' new puppies and they have to travel for three days, so my boyfriend and I will be watching them (and snuggling them until they are sick of us!)

When we visited them yesterday, our friends said: "Oh, thank you so much for watching them. We really appreciate it!" Are you kidding? "WE really appreciate it," I answered! Who wouldn't want to have these guys around for a few days? (OK, maybe non-dog-lovers, but we DO love us some doggies, especially puppies!)

Are they the cutest little things on earth, or what?!

Carpooling

You guys all know that I lived very close to my office previously. It took me about 5 minutes to drive to work (without any traffic lights it would be more like 2 mins). Now that I've moved, that has changed a little. It takes me about 35-40 minutes each way, every day, ugh! Not so awesome for this spoiled European. (I am used to either walking or cycling to work/school.)

I didn't have high hopes that I would find somebody to carpool with... while people do carpool here in the US, I thought that a 35 minute commute is NOTHING for Americans and that nobody would be wanting to carpool for such a "short" distance... wrong! I actually found a colleague who was willing to. He was tired of driving so much and lives only 5 mins from our new house :)

We're aiming to carpool for 2 out of the 5 work days, yay! (Gotta go to yoga straight after work for the rest of the days!)

The job (December edition)

I'm a (mostly software) engineer, working at a relatively small subsidiary of a German company. Even though normally, my day consists of sitting at a desk in front of a computer, we also produce and sell hardware... as in big time. It's just that normally, I don't have anything to do with it... exceeeeept...

... when December rolls around and it's time for "all hands on deck in the lab". Stuff has to be delivered this year to make our customers and our 2011 numbers happy. That means that even the engineers get to play around with wires to get these systems out the door by christmas. We get to see what out technicians usually deal with all day. A change in the routine... fun! For a while... ;)

Full circle

It's my blog's first birthday today... Happy Birthday!

Photo from ABC Cakeshop & Bakery


These last few days have really felt like I've come full circle in the last year. It's winter again, just like when my journey started. I've been packing boxes again, just like I did a year ago. This year has been quite the ride, and it's been hard at times of course, but it's also been AWESOME! I am SO SO SO glad I took this job and opportunity to move across the ocean.

It's going to be my birthday soon, and then Christmas, so normally this would mean seeing my family and friends. But alas, not this year. This has definitely caused me some heartache. I have been away from home often, even as a child (boarding school), so I felt basically as prepared as one can feel before moving across the ocean to live on another continent. I had never been away for more than a year at a time though and now I can honestly say: I know what "homesick" feels like.

My new friends and friends who feel like family have been wonderful. I have really enjoyed having them around for holidays and special occasions, but... on occasion it makes me miss my family even more. Never fret though, as a trip to Germany is in the works. It will not happen before 2012, but oh well! I will enjoy the anticipation until then :)

Anyway, I am proud of myself and happy and grateful for all the new friends and old friends, and family, and supporters, and helpers I have had this past year.

♥ Thank you so much, All! ♥