1 Minute Inspiration - Newsletter
Recently I've started to feel the urge (and courage) to share some of my insights. It feels vulnerable at times to share what's really happening inside but it also feels right. I hope you will enjoy it!
How to care without losing your smile
As some of you know, I have been working with recovering addicts for the past 4 years. I teach yoga, mindfulness, Tension Release Exercises and Conscious Communication in one of the biggest rehab centers in Chiang Mai, called The Cabin.
I love to work with people in recovering. I often feel moved seeing my clients’ courage and the rawness of the path they are on. I often wonder if it is harder to be in active addiction or in recovering, suddenly feeling all the emotions that were “numbed” by the alcohol, drugs or other ways to self-medicate. They are amongst the bravest people I have met in my life. They are also carrying an incredible amount of suffering.
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I love to work with people in recovering. I often feel moved seeing my clients’ courage and the rawness of the path they are on. I often wonder if it is harder to be in active addiction or in recovering, suddenly feeling all the emotions that were “numbed” by the alcohol, drugs or other ways to self-medicate. They are amongst the bravest people I have met in my life. They are also carrying an incredible amount of suffering.
Read more
Spiritual practice to dissociation?
“Open your eyes for a moment,” says my TRE (Tension/Trauma Release Exercises) Provider during one of our sessions. As a yoga practitioner and teacher, I’m so used to closing my eyes when I practice. “Experiment to see if you feel more present with your eyes open or closed,” she explains. I try. I realise that when I have my eyes open, I can both feel my body and be aware of what goes on in my surroundings.
This simple remark sparks my curiosity. “Some people need to close their eyes to be able to feel what is going on in their body. Others close their eyes and their mind drifts off into LaLaLand. They dissociate from reality,” she explains. It never occurred to me in all those years of teaching yoga that I might lead people into dissociation by asking them to close their eyes!
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This simple remark sparks my curiosity. “Some people need to close their eyes to be able to feel what is going on in their body. Others close their eyes and their mind drifts off into LaLaLand. They dissociate from reality,” she explains. It never occurred to me in all those years of teaching yoga that I might lead people into dissociation by asking them to close their eyes!
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My wrinkles, my story
August 2018
It all started with a few wrinkles next to my eyes. I smile a lot so those smiling lines have become deeper with every smile, carving small rivers on my skin. In 2015 and 2017 I gave birth to my beautiful boys Tao and Namo. More changes in my body. My breasts are not what they used to be. The skin of my belly has some stretch marks, the little “love handles” never seems to loosen their grip on my waist and my diastasis (separation of the rectus abdominis) takes its time to grow back.
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It all started with a few wrinkles next to my eyes. I smile a lot so those smiling lines have become deeper with every smile, carving small rivers on my skin. In 2015 and 2017 I gave birth to my beautiful boys Tao and Namo. More changes in my body. My breasts are not what they used to be. The skin of my belly has some stretch marks, the little “love handles” never seems to loosen their grip on my waist and my diastasis (separation of the rectus abdominis) takes its time to grow back.
Read more
Take a shot of... calm
March 2018
Our lives are pretty hectic these days. We are told that we need to work hard, get our next promotion, earn money, become the best, save for the future, answer instantly and mean something to this world. Add a child to that and you have a pretty spicy cocktail of stress and challenges on a daily basis. Our body tenses up, we hold our breath, we clench our jaw, abs, fists, butt. Whether we realize it or not, a lot of us live in a pretty “activated state” in terms of our nervous system.
I know this all too well as I inherited of a sensitive nervous system. Since I was 6 years old I experienced moments of strong anxiety and sometimes panic attacks. When I was 23, I experienced my first mindfulness retreat in Plum Village, Thich Naht Hahn’s retreat center, and that sparked a journey of inner transformation for me. One that is closely linked to my own nervous system.
Read more
I know this all too well as I inherited of a sensitive nervous system. Since I was 6 years old I experienced moments of strong anxiety and sometimes panic attacks. When I was 23, I experienced my first mindfulness retreat in Plum Village, Thich Naht Hahn’s retreat center, and that sparked a journey of inner transformation for me. One that is closely linked to my own nervous system.
Read more
The Sacred Art of Pausing
May 2017
The light switches to red. Frustrated, I stop, looking at my watch. “Why do I have all those red lights today? Really bad luck. I will be late again for class,” says the voice in my head. My body is tensed. I’m holding my breath, waiting for green with suspense. I notice I’ve been rushing all day like a “chicken without a head” we say in my home country, Belgium. And then I remember…
I take a deep breath in and out. Relax my shoulders and belly. My feet are firmly planted on the ground. I instantly feel better. The red light has become a sacred pause in my day. One that has the power to change the course of my life...
Read more
I take a deep breath in and out. Relax my shoulders and belly. My feet are firmly planted on the ground. I instantly feel better. The red light has become a sacred pause in my day. One that has the power to change the course of my life...
Read more
Yeay! Free online classes
January 2017
Hey now you don't need to travel around the world to take a class with me :-) I'm starting my own little Yoga Channel!
I already have 3 videos ready for you to enjoy, from the comfort of your home!
I follow online classes all the time and it gives me that extra little push I need when I get lazy, that extra bit of inspiration when I feel down ;-) New videos once a week, stay tuned!
Take a class with me
I already have 3 videos ready for you to enjoy, from the comfort of your home!
I follow online classes all the time and it gives me that extra little push I need when I get lazy, that extra bit of inspiration when I feel down ;-) New videos once a week, stay tuned!
Take a class with me
I belong, I am strong
October 2016
See that tribe up there? That's my awesome family. I'm so grateful for my parents and siblings that are so warm, real, loving, courageous and bring so much JOY in my life!
And you might wonder "why is she talking about her family?" Well let me share a little aha! I had recently...
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And you might wonder "why is she talking about her family?" Well let me share a little aha! I had recently...
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"Live on the edge, otherwise you're taking up too much space"
April 2016
See that little blue dot there on the left of the picture? That's me with my 7 month little Tao on my back during our recent trip in New Zealand! The wind was blowing 80 km/h and it was hard to walk straight. It was quite an adventure :-)
You might wonder: "What the heck were you doing there?" Well,...
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You might wonder: "What the heck were you doing there?" Well,...
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I send it out about every 3 months so don't worry, I won't flood your email ;-)
I send it out about every 3 months so don't worry, I won't flood your email ;-)
Heart Inspiration
A collection of poems and quotes that inspired me over the years.
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The Journey
One day you finally knew what you had to do, and began, though the voices around you kept shouting their bad advice-- though the whole house began to tremble and you felt the old tug at your ankles. "Mend my life!" each voice cried. But you didn't stop. You knew what you had to do, though the wind pried with its stiff fingers at the very foundations, though their melancholy was terrible. It was already late enough, and a wild night, and the road full of fallen branches and stones. But little by little, as you left their voices behind, the stars began to burn through the sheets of clouds, and there was a new voice which you slowly recognized as your own, that kept you company as you strode deeper and deeper into the world, determined to do the only thing you could do-- determined to save the only life you could save. - Mary Oliver |
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Sweet Darkness
When your eyes are tired the world is tired also. When your vision had gone, no part of the world can find you. Time to go into the dark where the night has eyes to recognise its own. There you can be sure you are not beyond love. The dark will be your home tonight. The night will give you a horizon further than you can see. You must learn one thing. The world was made to be free in. Give up all the other worlds except the one to which you belong. Sometimes it takes darkness and the sweet confinement of your aloneness to learn than anything or anyone that does not bring you alive is too small for you. - David Whyte |
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Everything is Waiting for You
Your great mistake is to act the drama as if you were alone. As if life were a progressive and cunning crime with no witness to the tiny hidden transgressions. To feel abandoned is to deny the intimacy of your surroundings. Surely, even you, at times, have felt the grand array; the swelling presence, and the chorus, crowding out your solo voice. You must note the way the soap dish enables you, or the window latch grants you freedom. Alertness is the hidden discipline of familiarity. The stairs are your mentor of things to come, the doors have always been there to frighten you and invite you, and the tiny speaker in the phone is your dream-ladder to divinity. Put down the weight of your aloneness and ease into the conversation. The kettle is singing even as it pours you a drink, the cooking pots have left their arrogant aloofness and seen the good in you at last. All the birds and creatures of the world are unutterably themselves. Everything is waiting for you. -- David Whyte from Everything is Waiting for You ©2003 Many Rivers Press |
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It Felt Love
How Did the rose Ever open its heart And give to this world All its Beauty? It felt the encouragement of light Against its Being, Otherwise, We all remain Too Frightened. - Hafiz |
"One day the queen of hearts decided there would be beauty
she stilled the wind and let the rivers burn low
settled the currents and soothed the rumbling earth
to quietude
she closed her eyes and sang the song of her heart
and allowed things to be."
- Jodi Waugh
she stilled the wind and let the rivers burn low
settled the currents and soothed the rumbling earth
to quietude
she closed her eyes and sang the song of her heart
and allowed things to be."
- Jodi Waugh
“I have come to accept the feeling of not knowing where I am going. And I have trained myself to love it. Because it is only when we are suspended in mid-air with no landing in sight, that we force our wings to unravel and alas begin our flight.
And as we fly, we still may not know where we are going to. But the miracle is in the unfolding of the wings. You may not know where you're going, but you know that so long as you spread your wings, the winds will carry you.”
― C. JoyBell C.
And as we fly, we still may not know where we are going to. But the miracle is in the unfolding of the wings. You may not know where you're going, but you know that so long as you spread your wings, the winds will carry you.”
― C. JoyBell C.
"Remember what you are and let this knowing
take you home to the Beloved with every breath.
Hold tenderly who you are and let a deeper knowing colour the shape of your humanness.
There is no where to go. What you are looking for is right here. Open the fist clenched in wanting and see what you already hold in your hand.
There is no waiting for something to happen, no point in the future to get to. All you have ever longed for is here in this moment, right now.
You are wearing yourself out with all this searching. Come home and rest."
- Oriah Mountain Dreamer, from the book The Call
take you home to the Beloved with every breath.
Hold tenderly who you are and let a deeper knowing colour the shape of your humanness.
There is no where to go. What you are looking for is right here. Open the fist clenched in wanting and see what you already hold in your hand.
There is no waiting for something to happen, no point in the future to get to. All you have ever longed for is here in this moment, right now.
You are wearing yourself out with all this searching. Come home and rest."
- Oriah Mountain Dreamer, from the book The Call
