Finding Balance: Nurturing Body & Mind in Turbulent Times

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Welcome to “The Spirit of Yoga” podcast, where we delve into the depths of nurturing body and mind in these turbulent times. I’m your host, Burkhard, joined by my co-host Kirsten, both from the Akasha Yoga Academy. As we navigate through the challenges and shifts of the modern world, we’re confronted with a profound question: How do we find balance amidst the chaos?

In today’s episode, we explore this question and more, examining the intersection of personal responsibility, collective influence, and the urgent need for self-care practices. Join us as we reflect on the current landscape, acknowledging the individual challenges we face while also recognizing the broader societal and environmental factors at play.

To kick things off, we ponder: How do our individual choices and past actions shape our present circumstances? And how can we take personal responsibility without falling into the traps of regret and blame?

As we delve deeper into the discussion, we also consider the larger structural forces at work, from the accelerating pace of technological advancements to the looming specter of global crises. How do these external pressures impact our mental and physical well-being? And how can we cultivate resilience in the face of overwhelming uncertainty?

But amidst the chaos, there lies an opportunity for growth and transformation. We explore the power of nurturing practices, both for the body and the mind, as essential tools for navigating these turbulent times.

From movement and relaxation techniques to sleep hygiene and dietary habits, we uncover actionable strategies for cultivating vitality and resilience.

And as we wrap up our conversation, we leave you with a challenge: to embrace the spirit of nurture in your own life. Whether it’s through simple daily rituals or more profound lifestyle changes, let us each take a step towards finding balance and harmony in this ever-changing world.

Join us next time as we continue our journey into the heart of yoga and wellness. Until then, remember to nurture yourself, body, and mind, for in doing so, we nurture the very essence of our being.

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Overwhelm like easily it’s such a massive overwhelm like it’s like a it’s a massive scale um almost naturally triggers most of us into reactivity uh reactivity at the level of mental health um that we fall just in depression and anxiety that this is just the reaction that comes up um or a

Reaction of shutting down closing of becoming numb as we have been uh talking earlier or potentially the other way trying to hyperactively you know like position yourself uh fight for your right and your positioning running into burnout uh by trying to make It action welcome to the spirit of yoga we are Kiren and bat from the aasha yoga Academy and today’s podcast we explore the topic of nurture as our response to these very Rocky times that we are entering at this moment I believe you can feel it too we personally definitely meet the shakiness

The rockiness of these times there’s on one hand like such a strong calling for expansion for meeting the next level for growing out of the existing and to come into a greater part of ourselves but at the same time there’s a lot of shakiness there’s a lot of rocking in this and um

I see it in my personal life um I see it all around in in my community relationships fall apart families fall apart we personally just gotten kicked out of our apartment with a two weeks notice which is not so easy for a family just to find something a new and no time

We are facing difficulties in our business and I just see it all over like Health diagnosis that are not very happy and and I just see the boat rocking I just see it shaking I see it rocking I feel it uh very much myself um and I see also

How it can easily lead to a personalization of the situation to feel you know like that’s my problem to feel that um my issue like um that’s happening to me but actually um in my community I see it pop up and yeah everywhere that the boat is shaking and

I know that Bard you are very versed in news and Global situation and um in the state of the world and it’s again and again so good B to talk to you uh to get perspective like you’re very good to put um personal into global perspective and

Actually with that change a little and see a little and gain distance uh so Bard you already talk about it for a while I know that uh we talk about that already for a while but I feel it’s just now really personally hitting for me for

Us um can you share a little what’s happening yes there’s of course the individual challenges which do also have to do with our own choices our own responsibilities our own answers to the challenges of life where we might be stuck in certain old patterns and tendencies and where it’s our individual

Limitations conditioning and even also acknowledging shortcomings mistakes which we made of course there’s no sense in regretting and uh blaming and shaming ourselves that’s not the point and the solution uh but there is of course also something in taking personal responsibility uh for the ways in which

We screwed up in the past uh so there is definitely that element of in some ways the individual element to that uh consequences of previous actions which we are facing now so yes that matters and is of great importance but as you were pointing to there is of course also

More General Collective Tendencies and developments which are influencing and almost determining our individual life so seeing our own individual life in the bigger picture is of course super relevant and uh then as you described not taking it personal because of that it’s it’s not my fault it’s if there’s

An economical crisis and the Crash then it’s not necessarily that I screwed up uh because of that I lost my job no it’s just because of the circumstances uh in the economy not even my manager my boss who respons for kicking me out just uh macroeconomic uh Society uh structural

Tendencies in the collective uh are just putting pressure onto the individuals so seeing both sides of the coin is generally um important uh double perspective and uh in a way multi- perspective which we need to take because there’s so many elements and factors so that as a general uh

Introduction and seeing the changes and uh disruptive changes which are happening in the modern times is a key um where we have a lot of acceleration happening a lot of speeding up of life and of lifestyles of Technology of necessities and requirements so that automatically puts a pressure onto the

Individual of trying to keep up uh and then combined with running after carrots of wanting to keep up uh so uh the hamster wheel in many ways is accelerating uh so then it’s only normal that we feel the consequences of that and that we feel tired and run down

Burned out from that over intensity uh on all the hyperactivity and multi-channel acceleration that we are confronted with so that’s in a way on a structural perspective a key to not take it personal but see the bigger picture context yeah and I just uh remember or memorize

A very recent conversation that we had that um I was so overwhelmed by the state of nature and how man meets nature and at fut just like we are reaching the capacity like we are running into collapse like especially here um in Indonesia it’s very um tangible because our development is a

Little uh slower and more behind uh when it comes to garbage when it comes to plastic when it comes to a pollution um and I felt like really helpless and felt so much the need you know to change and the responsibility for for taking action but it’s actually like really

Um yeah a global system setup system in which we individually can do a little but actually it’s not even possible like many of this developments um are not even really possible to to change and address and fix or solve um as an individual like thinking of the global heating thinking of um

Yeah what’s happening with our air with our water with resources and I feel this can really lead into a bit of a desperation and I feel that’s quite a dangerous state to come into to come into this desperation and numbing basically and and feeling just overwhelmed and

Uh cut off from life and action and um participation in a way exactly yeah this in a way helplessness has a danger to tip over into hopelessness yeah and like you say a desperation and then a giving up and a numbing and then also uh withdrawal only into the individual

Because I just see clearly that I cannot fix the world’s problems it’s so overwhelming their scope of as you mentioned pollution garbage water contamination uh the air getting toxic uh in the city areas and even in rural areas where we are in so all these external factors which are frequently a

Result of no governmental decisions policymaking uh conditioned by lobbyism by big corporations Etc uh then even if we try to change something it’s like hitting our head against the wall um trying to somehow fight this hopeless fight and then it can uh turn into a numbing turning around going back to the

Individual I can anyhow not change anything about the world shutting down and just giving up on it and then also becoming like a almost like a like a contributor to the problem you know I give up I can like what difference will it make if I change my

Actions I might as well also participate in the trashing of the planet uh because I anyhow cannot fix it what difference will it make so these are common Tendencies which we discussed actually already decades ago when we were living in Berlin it’s it’s nothing new uh this

Has been around for decades and actually centuries it’s uh the changes are inevitable uh in nature uh and on this planet in humanity it’s normal but what is definitely happening is in the last years and decades an acceleration of the changes that I mentioned before which comes a lot from um scientific progress

Discoveries and even more so from technological advancements and progress uh in the devices in the whole electronic technology and as we discussed in the previous pod uh and will continue also in other episodes um artificial intelligence as one of the Prime examples of that acceleration so then as we discussed before the

Overwhelm the burnout from just like too much and then shutting down that’s on the one hand psychologically but almost at the level of the nervous system the the body just shuts down it’s just like too much overflow of information news and then the negative devastating desper

Eration and uh over the recent years the war is picking up again around the world um which also had been happening before in different African Middle Eastern and Asian countries uh the war was an ongoing topic so it’s of course also a matter of media attention um nevertheless these uh obvious conflicts

Uh between Ukraine and Russia as well as Israel and Palestine are so much in our face now uh and they’re so devastating in their peculiar uh in a way also disruptive potential um for the Ukraine Russia it’s obviously this whole old topic of the European peace Mission and

East West Cold War topics coming up again uh Etc so this is a a decade long if not Century old conflict flaring up again which was pacified for a few good decades after the second world war to a certain level and especially since the Germany reunification ation we had uh a

Period of unprecedented peace on the European continent uh so that is uh challenged in many ways and the Middle Eastern conflict is also not just the Israel Palestine conflict but also there’s so many connections with Syria and uh Lebanon and Yemen and Iran possibly getting drawn into the conflict

And so on that gives memories of the previous Afghanistan war even before Iraq war and even more at stake there so in a way a flaring up of the War uh crimes again and that is of course always a challenging period and undermines our morality and questions

Our sanity what are we doing as a modern civilization and I feel very much that this overwhelm like easily it’s such a massive overwhelm like it’s like a it’s a massive scale um almost naturally triggers most of us into reactivity uh reactivity at the level of

Mental health um that we fall just in depression and anxiety that this is just the reaction that comes up um or a reaction of shutting down closing off becoming numb as we have been uh talking earlier or potentially the other way trying to hyperactively you know like position yourself uh fight for your

Right and your positioning running into burnout uh by trying to make it um none of those answers are responses or actually really answers they’re more like reaction um triggered reaction and we have been contemplating this of course as being so dearly involved in yoga meditation and Consciousness differentiating what’s personal uh what’s

Eternal being in this swinging game of personal identification and um freedom and we feel that a response a healthy response is to nurture to really nurture and to be nurtured there’s two parts to nurture right uh there is to nurture which is like the active part like the active car taking

And there is to be nurtured and To yeah work that into life to make that really a topic a conscious topic um in life and to bring uh nurturing into many different aspects and there is so many aspects we can um actively work with meeting the situation um in a more peaceful and more sane and uh more

Conscious way like we can on a very physical body it starts like it is so important that in these times we nurture ourselves uh the bodies from movement practices to relaxation practices to sleep hygiene to diet um there’s so much uh to work into the nervous system even with breath based

Practices um do you want to share like your three best practices I know that you’re researching that topic a lot because you’re quite um excited about uh about longevity Health um the physical aspect of it like what would you say like is your top three nurturing

Practice if you would boil it down from all that you know like what’s really effective but also not taking too much time like uh realistic so what’s effective and realistic in your mhm yeah I can share uh three headlines and one bonus I put on top of it we actually

Recently had a YouTube video where I was going in Greater detail of those I’ll just summarize we have the main different areas where we can cultivate that that vitality and that uh in a way resilience to nurture our being on the different levels to have that strength

And ability to uh have the stamina to re persevere and resist through those challenges and waves we need to have that um period in our life where we regenerate Revitalize and maybe even rejuvenate in that so the three plus one areas uh you mentioned already the Sleep

Surprisingly crucial and it is there the of course the duration of the sleep but also the depth of the sleep how restorative is it actually or am I having semi nightmares half night long uh and I’m still waking up more or less uh wrecked so length of the Sleep depth

Of the sleep and what is more and more um being clear in the research that the Rhythm and timing uh for the chronobiology uh the circadian rhythms uh is key that we have as much as possible um even Rhythm that we don’t change our bedtime and wake up time the

Classic is the weekday weekend shift which many people uh are doing um but also even in daily life this kind of two hours earlier later everyday changing uh this is actually a predictor uh of various diseases this is more and more proven in uh big scale scientific

Studies so that’s the Sleep topic how long how how long how deep and when the Rhythm timing uh the Circadian rhythm maybe to share just uh personally um I was also physically a bit shaken just very recently and I fell to actually get out of uh caffeine from

Coffee made a substantial difference I’m still drinking tea enjoying tea a lot but I feel tea is so very different in um how it influences actually the Sleep um the sleep and also kind of the um overall energy level throughout the day so this made for me a massive difference

To shift from coffee to machela um and the other one is that I find personally Yin Yoga is something that really deepens my sleep like talking about with the deepening the Sleep uh when I practice 20 minutes half an hour Yin Yoga in the late afternoon

Which I try to do regularly um it has an effect um for me it works uh just maybe it might be yeah helpful good hands-on experience exactly uh so afternoon evening and especially then also mid late evening winding down ritual uh to go offline have some um Blocker on the

Smartphone on the device is to not have the stimulation and over stimulation in the evening is a key uh and then also reducing uh light exposure in the evening in general especially the blue bright white light dimming the lights towards uh the soft and red light frequency um makes a whole difference so

There’s many ingredients of that but we just sleep is really something to to it’s a it’s a famous German proverb actually sleep is the the best medicine uh and this is very true and scientifically very clearly proven no doubt about that so sleep hygiene to use

A technical term for it um and then as a second topic of course we have the movement the bodily uh exercise topics and those can be uh seen in at least three different categories we have the cardiovascular where we have the zone 2 cardio and uh the also High intensity

Training full intensity of zone five uh so the basic cardio of just moving um but then also the going all in into exhaustion on the cardio side then the strength resistance training in different forms and also balance stability stretching would be a third element on the physical side but this is

You know overwhelming who has time to do cardio every day to do stretching every day to do uh yeah yeah yeah I give you one example for daily movement uh what I just established in U my office here is to have a standing desk to not just uh

Sit all day long um but to have a standing desk and then I have a little treadmill which just cost like $8 or something uh and I walk on my standing desk so even though I’m uh working quite a lot these days on the desk uh for meetings and other periods of the

Working day um I just do strong walking while working uh so having efficient combinations uh like this can make the whole difference uh to here and there squeeze in something and of course the standard famous ones which we still don’t do taking the stairs instead of the elevator and uh whatever taking the

Bicycle instead of the bus uh and all these things where we can weave it in sure it takes then maybe 3 seven minutes more but it might extend our lifespan in the long run and make us more vital towards that aging period which inevitably will come yeah yeah I’m

Personally just into my morning yoga routine into asno practice and they’re kind of also having part part like a part vigorous practice or like more uh strengthening practice and more chill and out practices um but I feel actually I’m missing uh the cardio I I did run in

The past and I feel how that really makes a difference physically on the Sleep also and um as well on Mental Health um running is if your joints allow also really beautiful one exactly whatever is realistic uh and whatever also comes easy for me for example the

Real running on a treadmill doesn’t make sense for me I just cannot do it uh and even also the indoor bicycling thing I cannot do it and so on uh so my cardio is athetic Dan I go once twice per week uh in the intensity of jumping around like crazy

In these drug-free uh High Vibe parties as we have them here in Bali and they are available in most cities in the west uh so check out ecstatic dance very wild and intense and definitely breaking a lot of sweat there so um everybody as they flow us you know like not making it

A chore but uh finding something which brings joy and then comes more naturally to integrate it into the I think that’s the key to establishing routines not to have them have to do is every day or every week but uh find something that really brings joy and maybe not some

Times it takes a little bit to establish a routine like a little bit from coming from inertia into into an establishment of routine but it’s really I would say essential to find something that brings joy and happy happiness and that you love to do um not only taking care of

The body but taking care of mental health at the same time exactly how to nurture our being on the different levels and the interesting thing is that uh those two which we talked about so far the sleep and the physical exercise it’s not just a physical thing for the

Regeneration of the organism on a cellular level the organs and all the rest um but there is this obvious direct connection between the physical and the psychological so no if we are depressed going for a run uh can make the whole difference no it just wakes us up shakes us up and

It’s very difficult actually to be completely down and depressed uh after you’ve been jogging for half an hour and doing some Sprint spurts in between Outdoors um uh it’s it just shakes you out of the stagnation and out of this heaviness and just mobilizes activates the system uh and the biochemistry of

The physical directly influences the psychological and emotional and speaking about the mental health aspect I feel what US is really important for nurturing um this levels the emotional level the mental level of being is on one hand to really very regularly tap even though it’s short into something

That is Joy bringing yeah to really make space in life for whatever it is singing maybe that’s also just the singing on a motor bike or um in the shower or in the shower or painting with your kid or whatever kind of also with kids like finding activities that bring joy uh to

You as well and in this way uh yeah bringing joyful activities regularly into our life and connections connections to family connection to friends like isolation is uh something very hard I feel feel on our mental health so I feel it’s really important to even though like when we are in in

Times that are Rocky and shaky and we feel we have to cut edges you know like we uh have to make time to make life’s ends meet it might be that we um don’t uh consider a call with our mom or uh meeting with our friends uh for a cup of

Tea don’t consider that actually relevant and rather cut it out in order to make life more efficient but actually it’s really important I feel to um to not do that but to keep connections um loving connections and relationships alive very much yeah it’s actually one of the three plus one

Points on my list that you asked about exactly so the Sleep the exercise um and I skipped the third one and that would have been my bonus what you mention relation and communication uh related to the psychological and emotional well-being uh it’s a key ingredient um which on the

Most fundamental level uh can be even linked to uh having a purpose having being somehow useful uh contributing to something bigger than my own ego centered mission and goals uh and being in this Synergy of a community uh being connected to my roots in the family that’s of course also for

Nurturing super crucial um because especially in uh challenging times in The Bad Times um is where we can also see which friendships hold and last and in way we get to know our real friends that uh stick with us and support us even through the challenging times so it

Can be also in a way a clarifying and no falling back uh onto this uh support network and on this nurturing nourishing ground which we had from our upbringing from the early uh baby childhood years the mother nurturing us literally um to cultivate that connection to Our Roots and uh

Establish uh as much as the limitations allow a harmonious integrated way where we um in a way overcome this frequent uprooting and um disidentification isolation as you mentioned overcoming that separation tendency and reconnect uh to the roots can be a key ingredient to then know something meaningful the

Things which really matter because we tend to know run into career or other goals achievement this and that uh and this can be more or less ego centered or isolated me and my partner me and my family and so on and then we forget the bigger picture the neighborhood the

Community the family uh so it’s in a way a beautiful ingredient also of challenging times that human beings come together again right um unfortunately also in the bad kind of you know it can unite a country when they fight against another country it’s actually a famous

Trick also in politics to just start a war and that kind of Unites the country we against us against them and so on so it’s been misused in the bigger picture of politics uh but it’s also a beautiful ingredient of community building that we kind of come closer together support

Each other many of us uh have experienced that in covid where in the lockdown periods um yes it was difficult uh to cultivate this connection we were try to be isolated but still we also came back to the essentials staying longer at home spending more time in the

Smaller circles Etc right uh so there’s also a beauty and potential in those challenges to cultivate uh communication and relation in the neighborhood family uh Community circles more supporting each other and I maybe this is personal but um I feel it’s not a high frequency of meetings with friends and it’s also

Not a big number uh that are required for this nurturing um but like this consistency like I have a few friends and I’m just we talk on the phone just once a year or twice a year and we’re so connected um so connected um and this is

A very nurturing friendship in a way of just knowing each other in one’s life and I found that actually I don’t require a high number uh um of friends and high frequency of meeting friends I feel for me that’s actually rather depleting and challenging for me it

Works much better um and has done this really nurturing quality of a few really good friends exactly it’s more about the depth of a relation and friendship uh not so much about having so many shallow superficial acquaintances and Friends uh so it can be few but deep and quality

And even the number of contacts that’s in a way one of the beautiful signs of a friendship that even if we didn’t manage to keep in touch on a daily weekly or monthly basis we didn’t even meet for half a year one year no contact but then

Once we are together again it feels like a homecoming and as if it was last week that we chatted last and uh in this way have that heartfelt connection which is also so nurturing um so all those psychologic iCal elements and emotional connection Mutual Synergy in the

Community uh it’s of key importance to go through challenging periods uh we’re in this together and we’re not alone in this uh that know gives um connection meaning empathy compassion Mutual support and then it also comes in waves individually how we have our good days and bad days and in

The relationship we can and balance each other out one day I have a bad day and my friend partner family member has a good day so we can lift each other up Etc give each other hope and uh encourage each other it’s a a key element for that nurturing Vitality that

Trust and strength so it’s a key element which uh would have been my bonus in the yeah what’s number three number three is uh still an open one um and is a crucial ingredient and literally represents the nurturing uh it is um nutrition nutrition for nurturing uh healthy

Vitalizing food uh intake can make the whole difference uh of course for our physical body but also psychologically emotionally so it’s a challenging topic uh to talk about and generalize because there’s so many recommendations expert opinion tips and tricks what to do what not to do and schools of schools of

Thought and U people get actually strongly emotionally invested in their diet choices and uh uh it’s tends to be pretty dogmatic about the plant-based versus the carnivorus diets and the Paleo versus the this and that blood group diets and low carbs and low fat and everybody has a different opinion

And the scient ific uh research also seems to prove both of them at the same time even though it seems to be contradicting and people get uh very overwhelmed actually by this one um so without giving any uh dogmatic and specific advice on it uh we can just see

That uh balanced and uh in a way whole food diet is definitely scientifically proven to be beneficial as compared to the highly processed food so this is very clearly that this overprocessed supermarket food industrialized over production with like 33 ingredients in one package out of which half of them we

Cannot even pronounce uh these type of pseudo Edibles are not really food and they’re not really nurturing and there’s so much Clear evidence around that I just want to jump into that we discussed that um just the other day on a zoom call um we were talking also exactly

About that about diet and of course what’s the right diet do I have to be vegetarian to be a yogi and the reflection that I gave in that I was just inspired by what I recently read is that really what we are physically comes from what we eat sure

We always so basically I’m banana I am chia seed Like I’m made from my chia seed breakfast um the body is made from my salad the body is made uh maybe from my French fries the body is made from my I don’t know what so just like this eating and

Becoming a completely different physical matter is so miraculously and that’s just a beautiful contemplation as we eat like um to eat in contemplation like hey that thing becomes that thing uh it’s just insane in a way and I fear having that in the heart um makes food

Choices also much easier like do I want to be like this chemical stuff that I have no idea what it is and what it does like do I want to be that this is my body exactly yeah we are what we eat is the famous saying and for some reason uh just half

An hour ago when I was on my way to the studio here I actually had exactly that same thought it’s a um kind of pseudo popular pseudo scientific popular science uh statement that uh after around seven years all of the atoms and molecules in our entire physical body

Have been replaced so it’s an ongoing gradual process uh of metabolism of new input and eliminating uh old waste product um and that apparently allegedly even holds true for the bones and uh just this morning uh I was actually wondering like does it really also hold

True for my teeth I was worrying about my teeth a bit I had some issues and I was like no no they can also restore themselves because even there the molecules and atoms even in the bones and I was wondering even in my teeth will they be restored also and there is

Actually evidence even for teeth being restored with proper dietary choic incredible it’s so miraculous that’s crazy exactly so choosing wisely what we put into our being with what we nurture ourselves because obviously that is uh the fuel and if we put good quality ingredients in then will be

Easier for our entire organism both on the physical but also on the energetic and emotional psychological levels to be fueled and nourished nurtured in a revitalizing way that we actually have the energy uh and that we have the attention to think clearly and move smoothly through these challenging times

So there is a lot a lot of research over the last years and decades uh being conducted about the connection between the gut microbiome and first of all other parts of the physical organism uh no for example immune system related uh or being uh strengthened from the digestive system and how that uh

Connects to each other vascular system obviously the INF famous cholesterol topics and so many others sure we’ve heard about but more and more research is also coming out um about the connection between gut microbiome and the psychology how it directly influences the brain and there’s by now

Very clear evidence um that even mental diseases and challenging emotional states such as anxiety and depression are directly linked to imbalances in our gut microbiome um this famous statement that there is actually more uh bacteria and microorganisms in our gut then we have cells own cells in our own human

Body so that’s no doubt that there’s more bacteria than human cells some statements which even dare to say there’s they outnumber us there’s three times five times maybe seven times more bacteria and microorganisms in our body then we have own cells and it’s basically completely uh not understood

It’s completely uh unknown how the synergies and how the processes go yes they put a lot of effort in the research and we’ve understood this and that some detail here and there some hints and uh evidence of this and that but it’s mostly um an unknown territory for modern scientific research I’ve been

Researching there also a new evidence about the oral microbiome for example and how that is related because it’s also so close to the brain and if we have infections and imbalances there how that can change our mindset Etc um and in all cavities ears nose genitals you

Name it uh there’s microbiome uh and the specific um balance there which can be disturbed of course by the antibiotics um briefly on the which many people are not aware of uh I mentioned the mouth microbiome it’s a huge problem uh the an bacterial mouth washes which I think in

The US I forgot the number like more than 50% 60 70% of people in the US use these kills 99% of germs and bacteria in your mouth rinse your mouth every day once twice with that but it kills everything it kills everything and it’s like it’s like antibiotics where we now

Have heard of like ah the antibiotics are not so good for our gut bacteria um and then we need to take prebiotics and probiotics to build it up again but the same is true for the mouth because the digestion starts here and there’s so many connections there so um it’s been

Linked to heart disease and other physical diseases that uh and um high blood pressure uh because people use antibiotic uh and antibacterial mouth mouth rinse mouthwash so things like this just educating and making better choices this just uh one headline of so many which could be given um

So the digestion we come from the topic of diet food uh nurturing us ourselves with nutrients uh it’s of course directly also related to what is called the bioavailability meaning what I can absorb okay it’s one thing of putting nutrients into my system LS of artificial vitamins ex artificial

Vitamins for example uh do they really get absorbed are they having a high bioavailability do they really stay in my organism or as the joke goes is it just creating expensive urine am I just po peeing or pooing them out again because they just don’t stick um so

There’s lot of nuances on the absorption of the nutrients we are eating and there it’s again also about the timing the quantity the type of ingredients also suitable to our organism to the seasonal rhythms etc etc so nurturing ourselves on all levels and that of course then

Relates to the digestive tract and the digestion actually starts in the mouth already I remember already 15 years ago I was teaching in our anatomy classes how the breakdown of starches actually starts with a saliva in the mouth yeah that’s a basic which has been known for

Quite a long time uh with some enzymes and digestive juices coming from the saliva sure but this is just the tip of the tip of the iceberg more and more scientists are discovering how in this masticating chewing mixing the food with the saliva juice the digestion actually starts there it’s a signaling happening

Which prepares the Digest gestive tract and so on so good habits uh for food um can make the whole difference of course generally I’d say like bringing Consciousness to what we put into our body and onto our body like um just see for see it for what it is and just ask

Yourself if this is what you want to be exactly yeah and there is uh just to give one more example uh we are what we eat sure we absorb all of those chemicals and all the stuff we stuff ourself with um but not to underestimate also other aspects like creams for

Example the skin is the biggest surface metabolism metabolic organ of the body where we yes we excrete things not just sweat but also waste materials and uh uh pH balance for acid alkaline gets regulated via the skin and bya the breath um so the skin is a huge

Metabolic organ and then if we stuff it with chemical creams and lotions and so on part of that also gets absorbed so it’s in in ayurveda the ancient Indian science of Life U they would say don’t put on your skin what you wouldn’t also eat yeah so would you feel comfortable

With eating your cream no but why do you put it on the body because the pores also absorb that just give one more example where our choices and decisions make a whole difference and can then accumulate over time uh so choosing wisely to nurture ourselves to be in a

Strong vital condition to face all those challenges yes choosing wisely but also stay relaxed um find out what really you know matters and makes a difference for you like I just recently completely cut out gluten again um I didn’t have any issues with that as I was younger as I’m aging more uh

Gluten I have definitely a reactivity in my system uh to gluten uh take that out makes a big difference for me so also don’t get obsessed about every tiny detail but like find the major things that are nurturing um cut out what’s definitely not serving and find a happy balance I

Would say exactly finding that balance because the in a way obsessive avoiding and uh know this kind of too contracted trying too hard to be perfectly accurate uh I think it’s called orthorexia is also almost classified as a disease we only the cleanest only the best and it

If it’s not uh local organic and seasonal and raw gluten-free and everything free U then it’s just going to poison myself and then I just feel it already coming and so on uh so there it’s also uh it’s almost like a psychosomatic disease from the Mind into

The body if We Fear all these pollutants and get uh in a way paranoid and obsessed about it um that also can have negative consequences uh I was just um three four days ago um listening to some experts uh who are a lot into this measuring and biot tracking and

Optimizing for athletes and so on and uh they were describing also tendencies in these you know biohackers and uh athletes Peak Performance people that was actually Andrew Gulpin who is a expert in this field coaching famous Tim Ferris on that and what he was speaking on was um how for example sleep trackers

Um also can make people paranoid about their sleep um so this sleep score which we get from the new smart watches and so on first of all it’s definitely not 100% accurate and frequently it’s not even 90% but rather 80 70 60% accurate and um so we cannot really draw conclusions

From it and then the tenant see how the mind gets obsessed with it and if the Mind sees like a low sleep score like who I only had a 55% sleep score and it should be at least 80 otherwise I’m like degenerating and withering and dying and

So on then because people wake up and then they look at the Sleep score only 5 55 that’s a psychosomatic thing and they tested that in the laboratory literally that they told people kind of like wow your sleep score was really bad last night even though it wasn’t so they

Fooled them into it and then were like oh really uh or and then they let make them uh let them do a performance tests and then they scored worse on the same test as compared to when they would have been told you had such a good regenerating sleep you’re such an

Amazing sleeper like 98% such a good performance in your night and so on and then they would perform also better in the test so don’t underestimate how these things the me mental paranoia can cause lots of trouble to the body also yeah I feel that a super you know strong call

To the disconnect that’s happening kind of that I don’t feel uh if I’m sleeping okay or not but I need something to measure to tell me am I okay now uh does my watch say that I’m okay um did I eat the right things um am I okay

Now yogis would come into a state that um this is intuitively um perceivable I just recently took a yoga course and it was quite a bold statement that that the leader made he said hat yogis after 2 and a half years of practice you should be feeling the moon phase in your body

Every day you would need to you should know it’s uh 5 days after full moon if you’re not your practice is not very efficient um so Yogi is really trained into of course developing this um receptivity this perception this refinement it it’s it requires uh quite a a refinement of perception and

Intuition development of intuition and just also connection right to uh to the given so also trusting um a little that your inner Compass also matters and sometimes maybe our sleep is craft completely craft but energy level is so high because of very different reasons so also not uh boxing

It maybe be a little too much it it can become a bit too paralized and through this partialization um more the global impact is not seen so much so I would like to uh jump on to energetic um hygiene I find it is really so important um probably similar important than sleep

Um the environment that we’re energetic environment that we’re surrounding ourselves with like if we are in environments that are highly stressful stress is uh is um contagious um if you are not stressed you go somewhere working uh where there is a high stress level you get that even though it’s not

Your stress um so energetically also just choosing wisely um where to go and where not to go of course sometimes there’s no choice right um but just being aware of the environments in which we are using uh in which we are moving and you know if we know we are moving in

A high stress environment taking measures afterwards before of grounding coming down pram simple nostril alternated nostril breathing um I feel or also uh chemicals have quite a strong effect on our energetics on one hand uh dietary chemicals we touched upon that already as substances like um coffee or

Heavier substances um alcohol and uh and all of it um drugs recre recreational drugs like both of that um impact our energetic system heavily and um I feel this is of course um my heart being in yoga um my perspective being energetic um this is something to really look into

Because in my observation energy is what fuels both and connects both uh the physical body and also our mental emotional state um and we have choice and um a possibility to take action on this very energetic level to balance one or the other kind of to respond to what’s happening let’s say I

Have a high stress environment work environment um maybe pranayama in the morning and in the evening just 5 minutes 10 minutes Nana pranayama um would make actually sleep possible um or some yin yoga or whatever um that we can do um so I feel the energetics and there especially in awareness of our

Surroundings um is something that I feel or that for me personally is essential because I’m I’m quite absorbent um and I just fear to Choose Wisely where I want to be and where I don’t want to be exactly what we surround ourselves with is then mirrored

And reflected in our own being uh so we’re not just isolated entities but more or less our being has a receptivity and sensitivity sometimes we are kind of dull and numbed down and uh blockheaded uh and don’t even notice but even if we don’t notice consciously still there is

An impact and the more sensitive and refined we get the more we notice also the consequences uh of the surroundings the environment the people um so anyway you are what you eat but you are also what you surround yourself with it’s a famous statement also uh that we become

In a way the sum total of the five seven people we surround ourselves with so the um social context our friends family community surroundings has a huge impact uh on our lifestyle and our future Destiny um and as you speak uh on the energetics um there is of course this

Not just on a no mindset psychological emotional uh getting inspired or sucked into some negative uh mindset Etc not just psychological but also energetical which is by the modern science still not fully understood and explained uh but for the yogi is actually a very clear reality and as mentioned the more

Sensitive we get the more obvious that becomes and then having also related practices which help us to purify and cleanse the energies again without getting paranoid that is also we’ve seen that in uh some people where they’re kind like oh no I cannot even go there I will be energetically contaminated and

Then I need to do one week of pranayama to get rid of all this negative energy and I need to Shield myself and protect myself with crystals and mantras and so on uh and while these things can work like putting a golden shield golden egg around our ourselves and so on there is

Techniques and protection techniques which do work um but it is also there again a mindset thing as we discussed before with example on the nutrients and food uh that um no we don’t get obsessed and paranoid about it but we also not ignorant and stuff ourselves with Hyper

Processed chemical food of course we would also avoid that the same we would avoid toxic people uh and toxic um poisonous surroundings which are contaminating ourselves of course we Choose Wisely and would prefer to avoid such uh unnecessary excessive exposure frequently we don’t have a choice but if

We can choose why not yeah just the last story maybe about um energies and purity of energies uh the yogis of old um I was just very recently reading that the yogis of old they greet each other with Namaste they don’t touch each other because they want to stay in their

Energetics and not pick up Karma energy of anything because like uh the work is towards complete um freedom and in this way the greeting of the Divine and me uh to the Divine and you is kind of yeah done untouched so to speak to to keep uh to respect on one hand the

Energetics of the other and also to stay energetically in your state that you’re working on I found that quite um interesting yeah it’s um I’ve heard related statements of know the some yogis also discouraging uh people to get massages because then you also directly energetically connect and interfere with

Other people and pick up stuff which uh might not be beneficial and so on uh and many related approaches it depends also on the type of yoga the type of path uh the personality also where we are at in our journey the the time of the year or

Even also the time of the year in the spring summer we’re more outgoing in the winter more withdrawing in uh women’s Cycles it can be know periods where it’s more outgoing and where I can cope with all these influences and other periods where I need to be more nurtured

Protected um so being so uh aligned and attuned with that and finding one’s own balance around that yeah definitely um it’s also a personality thing um so some people are more and a typology thing no some people are more on the sensitive receptive side and they easily get

Overwhelmed so they need to be a bit more careful and cautious with that and maybe counterbalance counteract uh and uh either avoid or strengthen their resilience against it uh other typologies can be more on this resil iant and uh you know like they don’t pick up anything so there’s also many

Typologies who are like like famous examples also actually of yogis also a classical thing who would even on purpose try to prove it by kind of eating poison po it’s a famous thing I don’t I don’t absorb anything I can like I’m so resilient I control my digestive

System I am in charge and nothing happens to me so just for the for the sake of the experiment there’s historic cases where yogis try to prove it like this um so both has their um their time their season for different typologies and different paths in yoga so finding

That balance um we talked a lot about this I mentioned repeatedly this um no paranoia Obsession of like oh I cannot anything um but also the other approach of just completely ignoring and thinking that I’m invincible and nothing can uh uh ever interrupt my strengths and my Vitality disconnect than disconnect can

Be numb uh and in the long run also have negative impact and know the poison accumulates and I think that’s a really beautiful um topic that you open um which is self inquiry kind of um we’re speaking about Rocky times how to answer or meet Rocky times

And we touched very much the worldly part the transient part of um of Our Lives of our current lives um but I feel that the spiritual part that Spirit um it’s an invitation to actually dive deeper more consistently with more focus into Spirit um into selfing quiry

Into um Stillness to regularly touch Bas with that that’s not shaken um and to learn to make space between my anxiety about what I’m eating and what my body will be or my sick body falling apart um and that’s me where you know I’m broke like

I I lost my job I cannot feed my family um this part um of reality the transient part of reality and to be able uh to connect touch base with that part that’s more stable more consistent it’s almost like a a place in which we can find rest not

Really find rest because it’s not like that um but it’s also not really breaking but it might feel like that because our experience is like that swinging into the worldly part in to overwhelm and swing that’s that’s very um a very common state actually in the spiritual Quest like when we’re on the

Path that we’re kind of swinging or um recently somebody described it as being on a bridge um in between and sometimes being here sometimes being there um and to regularly make space very regularly make space uh to touch surface to touch spacee with spaciousness with that that’s not

Shakable not only not shaken but not shakable with that that was uh before we were born that which is still after we die and this is um something through meditation practices through pranayama practices asna pranayama meditation through self inquiry integrated self inquiry into the day or also um self

Inquiry practices in final relaxation or in your sitting and meditation um I find really important to ground into that um to help to make space in between that’s moving Wild and um you basically yeah to clarify the context we can see all the movements all the changes all the

Challenges uh in a way on the surface level where there’s so many waves and tsunamis and earthquakes and shaking and falling apart and then coming together and reconstructing rebuilding balancing and so on so that’s on the surface level all the strong movement and waves and

And then we can try to find within our personality some you know solid trust family network connection vitality and some stable ground of meaning purpose in life my project some continuity and so on so that’s in a way uh a personal stability um kind of a relatively stable

Ground in the midst of the storm and chaos but then in a way even deeper what you were just touching upon is in a way the ground of being that existential core of isness that pure existence which is so stable that it is even Beyond stability and movement yeah

Uh it’s that Eternal being that isness that suchness of life which is just ever presentes always here Beyond past future Beyond before after beyond my hopes and fears and then I get lost and then I stabilize again no beyond that below that so regularly

Connecting to that is a key to be in the spirit of yoga yeah right so I feel this shaky Rocky times are really an invitation to prioritize had to spring clean in a way our life to you know look a little bit into what does really matter what is essential

What contributes to my health and the health of my community not only at a level of physical health but emotional health um spirit and I feel this challenging times they especially urge us to do that um if we are not able to start prioritizing if we’re not able to

Come to Center this is a dangerous place that we are easily invited to fall um and to get lost and it’s quite a bit of a way to come out of it but of course if that is um what’s meant to happen um it’s right

Too but I feel I love and I think it’s a yogi way of um meeting life I love to see the nutrients we initially spoke about mistakes and what so strongly came it’s like a mistake is only a mistake if you don’t take actions of uh learning

From it if we keep on being with that and repeating that then it becomes a mistake otherwise it’s a stepping stone of growth and in this way I feel challenging times are really an invitation uh to prioritize and to Center and to go for it so a very inspiring exploration of

Nurturing our being of having that resilience that strength that stamina that stability at the level of our body mind to in a way withstand the strongest storms the biggest waves which are in a way bound to come our way confront us and yes we had many challenges over the last years

The topics of black lives matter the Urgent me too movement yeah uh we had the whole pandemic lockdown situation now we have wars flaring up possible conflict between China and the US us elections with many question marks coming up there artificial intelligent in intelligence is in break neck speed

Of development uh disrupting our society so this apparent New Normal uh which we were in a way anticipating after the lockdowns okay now it’s a bit like this and a bit like that it’s never going to be normal again it’s going to be an ongoing disruption over the next years

To come life moves forward life moves forward and it’s uh going at a very accelerated fast pace so we better be centered clear grounded nurture ourselves so we have the resilience to withstand even the strongest storms so this is what we have the yogic practices and techniques for so much daily life

Wisdom of cultivating our Vitality regenerating and revitalizing our being to be centered and stay stay in the eye of the storm right so this was wisdom in motion with the Akasha family keep shining and the spirit of Yoga