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We once were young – is it too late now?

30 Apr

And what does all this have to do with cake?

Learning to age does not come natural to me

Sometimes I wonder if it is all too late, if I have missed all the good chances and will now be left only with crumbs. I know that it is not even that late in life but the future no longer looks vibrant and youthful. I feel a little mournful, a little disempowered, a little defeated, a little scared.

Somewhere along the way I have forgotten to keep dreaming, and if you asked me what I would like to do then I can no longer answer. This is partly because I have ‘grown up’, I realise the magic of youth only as youthfulness quietly drip drops away and as the understanding grows that age requires selfcare and yes, also financial means. I feel weak and not empowered and hardly optimistic.

Why am I sharing this with you?

Because I hope to turn this experience around. Because I want there to be a permanent marker in this moment in time so that I can refer to it when I feel stronger, more optimistic, safer. More joyful. And then I want to share the experience with you. Not as a slide show of ‘other people’s sunshine photos’ but as something that you can grasp a slice of for yourself.

How does that sound? Can I do it? If I can then you can, too. If it is for me and within my reach then it will be for you and within yours, too.

Let’s share a ‘slice’ of this

The image below is of Jason, when we were both strong and felt like everything was still in front of us. He, too, feels that he is no lonnger 24. Let’s bring Jason along on this project. Let’s get back onto the yoga mat, let’s carve out some time, some space. Let’s conjur up the little leftver discipline to take good care of our future selves. If we do, I bet that we will be happy about it.

Please consider following me here and on my main blog http://www.over7seas.com because I am not entirely sure yet where I will share the progress. Most important: let’s start together. x

Today’s first task:

  1. Make sure to be hydrated & creaky joints and weak muscles benefit. Pour yourself 3 medium-large glasses of water, bonus points if you use warm water from the kettle. And make sure to drink them in the course of the day. (It’s not even as much as we probably should drink, but start there. Pour a 4th or 5th in case you are a few steps ahead of the rest of us..)
  2. I’m purposely not giving you a longer list because getting properly hydrated is already a job. Work on this and let me know how many glasses you managed to drink in the course of today, tomorrow and each day of the coming 7 days.
  3. Please tell me in the comments.

Sharing a slice means sharing feeling better. There currently is no actual cake involved but if you take part in this little selfcare challenge I might share a very, very tasty recipe with you. Yes, a recipe for cake if you really would like one..

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New posts coming soon

22 Feb

It is 2024, where has the time gone?
After a long hyatus plans are finally in the works to resume my holistic practice.

It will be a few more months before I will have more concrete updates.

See you all soon.

Oh, and the website might change its name to better reflect the future direction.

Countdown to the New Year 2019!

30 Sep

I am not joking. I started a project yesterday to guarantee that 2019 will be off to a strong start. There are roughly 125 days remaining until 2019. It occurred to me how we have this ritual of making new year resolutions to begin the new year afresh and start our life anew. Well, what if instead of feeling that this year is pacing past me and I can’t catch up with it, what if instead I approached it differently? So decided to begin this project that I called: ” Beginning The Rest of My Life” it has multiple steps and parts but part one is simply this:

Challenge myself physically. In my case this means stepping back onto the yoga mat, away from therapeutic yoga and daring to return to a practice that takes its inspiration from Mysore, from Ashtanga. I need to tell you more about this in the coming days but right now I just wanted to share that I am starting this new journey, I am starting the rest of my life right now. I have completed day 2 and am filming myself & creating an audio diary in the process.

The next post will be “Day 1: The Rest of My life”, keep an eye, it is coming soon.

I have two hopes for this project, part 1 is self interest, creating a documentation to check my progress. Part 2 is to share with you something that might inspire you and give you ideas for improving your own life in some way, too.

For now let me just say this, I have been letting myself down for a long time. I have praised myself for what I am achieving and for what I am doing to better myself, but I have made excuses for the things I know I need to do but didn’t. I want to change that. I want to commit to positive change completely not partially, because I want complete change for the better, not only a partial change.

See you in the next post: “Day 1: The Rest of My life”

In the meantime, let me ask you, what is in your life that you know would help you if you did it but you are avoiding? How could you benefit from a change of habits, actions, jumping over hurdles?

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from a photography session with my Thai Massage teacher Somwang Khachenniam

23 Feb

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before I left Chiang Mai I took some photographs for my Thai Massage Teachers Somwang Khachenniam & Kea Metawarin Kap. This is one of my favourites from the few closeups that I shot that day.

Incredible teachers & thai massage practitioners.

about my teacher Somwang Khachenniam

31 Jan

This morning I learnt that Somwang Khachenniam and Kea Meta Kap together with a team are opening their own Thai Massage Spa & hopefully school below the South-East corner of the Chiang Mai old city moat.

I will share with you a google map address as soon as I have it confirmed.

In the meantime if you are looking for my incredible teacher then please get in touch with me and I will help you find this outstanding team! I do not make recommendations lightly: these are some of the very best teachers and very best practitioners of Thai Massage that you will ever find.

 

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ajarn (teacher) Kea Meta Kap – Chiang Mai, Thailand

my incredible Thai Massage teacher Somwang Khaccenniam

14 Sep

my first and primary Thai Massage teacher Somwang Khaccenniam is soon opening a school and massage business in Sendai, Japan. Absolutely worth travelling to this location, all the more so because she is going into business with the authentic Thai restaurant owner who owns the entire building and makes delicious thai food.

If you are sincerely interested in reaching out to Somwang for training or classes then I can put you in touch. Somwang’s English is fluent but direct. She is lovely but will keep your focus tightly on your practice. You would expect nothing less from a person who has worked for the massage school Wat Po for 15 years without taking a holiday! For at least the last 10 years she was the head teacher of the Chiang Mai Chetawan Wat Po school. Under her strong leadership the school flourished into a superior learning environment.

A photograph that I took for my Thai Massage Teacher Somwang Khachenniam who is opening school in Japan! Can you believe how amazing this is for her!!!

A photograph that I took for my Thai Massage Teacher Somwang Khachenniam who is opening school in Japan! Can you believe how amazing this is for her!!! (model: Jason Stropko, who also studied with Somwang)

The current team of teacher as well as the new head teacher (left behind after Somwang’s departure) are fantastic and incredible in their own right. You would be very well advised to entrust yourself into their care.

I am certain to return to Chiang Mai to study with Nuy, who stays on at the Chetawan Chiang Mai Wat Po school, who knows so much about herbal thai medicines, about balm making, about thai element theory (and more), the other senior and supporting teachers are fabulous and some became good friends to me. I will always return to Chiang Mai to spend time with these wonderful teachers.

And simultaneously it is time for me to start saving to visit Somwang Khacceniam in Sendai, Japan and add a new teacher to my list. Nephyr Jacobsen, who runs the Naga Center School for Thai massage in Portland, Oregon. I already had the amazing opportunity to take a 10 week Theory course with her (which I hope to repeat this year, if she has space for me, as it was THAT good) and would love to deepen my practice and learn how she approaches Thai Massage.

Now offering Thai Massage in San Francisco & Oakland & Berkeley

23 Jun

I may already have mentioned it but I have now arrived in California and am still looking for some wool blankets to use instead of a Thai Massage mat. I found that working on a few wool blankets layered on top of each other was really good for me as the practitioner (the wool left me feeling more grounded than synthetic and spongy mats) and so far clients have felt good, too.

As I am only just arrived 3 weeks ago I am still in need of good recommendations for 100% wool blankets (70% + other fiber would also be ok). Tomorrow I will be giving my first treatment to a volunteer. We will film the massage session and add it here to my website to give everybody an even better idea of how a massage treatment looks and what to expect during your own session.

My Thai Massage study and practice history

1 Jun

JANUARY – APRIL 2015

I was in Thailand continuing my Thai Massage Training as well as the online Theory Program, additionally I photographed a lot and eventually learnt my first Tok Sen techniques from a very good teacher. (I’ll tell you about this in person, in short: Tok Sen is a vibrational therapy, very useful in releasing very tight muscles prior to a Thai Massage treatment.)

MARCH 2013

4 weeks study trip to my school in Chiang Mai

APRIL – MAY 2012

5 weeks study trip to my school in Chiang Mai

OCTOBER – JANUARY 2011 – 2012

Started learning Traditional Thai Massage (with my partner Jason) at the Chetawan Wat Po school in Chiang Mai, with a student to teacher ration of:  1-2 teachers per student! (This was possible as there were very few tourists in Thailand due t the nationwide serious flooding) We were extraordinarily lucky getting this level of attention for our first 3 months of study. The head teacher of the school is outstanding and became my teacher until today (2015)!

Foot massage and Yoga

2 Jul

Hampi central temple:

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the past 2 weeks have been a little quiet, my hands hardly touched a foot or back or leg and the yoga mats have been quiet, too. I worked a lot on setting up an online presence that really still needs a  lot, lot, lot of work to fine tune it. Today I finally had a client, 90 minutes Foot massage, which was great. You start wondering what you are doing in the world, when you don’t get to practice / share what you know. The same goes for Art, too. I haven’t made much new work in the past year, taking a back seat, training in Massage and Yoga, taking time out to think through priorities. Health is an amazing gift, the bottom line is: make use of this and preserve it. Everything else will follow suit.

This week there are some bookings for Thai Massage and early morning yoga practice. I am happy to have a new student who would like to practice Mysore Style Ashtanga. This is really special for me, it takes me back to my time with Pattabhi Jois, the founder of Ashtanga Yoga and the wish to return to practice with him. He died 2 years ago and instead of studying with Sharath, his grandson I practiced another Yoga style with a very nice teacher, Bharat Shetty, who runs Yoga India, also in Mysore.  Yoga India follows it’s own sequence which is related to the way Iyengar approaches his teaching. We used no props however. It was great studying here. This is also where I qualified for my Teaching qualification.

But from friday I will be practicing and teaching Mysore Style Ashtanga, self practice. 7.30am, 3-5 mornings a week. I have room for 2 more  students with / without experience, you should be dedicated to attending 3 mornings a week. Practice is done in silence, except for instructions. There is the option of joining the group as the students from the morning batch finish and leave. For this you may arrive at 9.00am, and start practice when a mat becomes available (with isntruction of course). Expect your practice to take between 45 minutes in the beginning to 90 minutes as you progress.

ASHTANGA Mysore Style Classes & YOGA INDIA style led CLASSES initial schedule: Please see the Yoga page


many Links to me… / “All roads lead to Rome”…

18 Jun

Professional artist: www.birgitdeubner.com

Buy professional Fine Art prints: http://www.etsy.com/shop/Birgit75
View & buy doodles: www.etsy.com/people/over7seas

I have an irrepressible blog habit… some on this list are very new, some ancient, some very active, some less so. View: www.over-the-seven-seas.tumblr.com/  Read: www.overthesevenseas.blogspot.co.uk/ & last but not least drink: One Daily Cup of Coffee http://onedailycupofcoffee.blogspot.co.uk/