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The date is set. The prep for the big premier is almost done. There will be cameras (at least one), there will be a red carpet (or at least a mat), there will be glamorous guests (yes, really!). The countdown to my first live yoga session has begun. Nervous? Me? Oh yes.

Winter in the city

New favourite

"A true friend knows your weaknesses but shows you your strengths; feels your fears but fortifies your faith; sees your anxieties but frees your spirit; recognizes your disabilities but emphasizes your possibilities."

William Arthur Ward

Time to say good bye

With mixed feelings we closed the leadership programme with a day of integration. Everything that we have been working with for the last eight months came together in one way or another in a massive learning review. The peak was the individual presentation of each and every participants' personal model for leadership, linked back to a painting they did at the beginning of the programme. Very strong, sometimes emotional and with a lot of passion.

If I had any doubts about leaving the security of an employement to focus on leadership development, then my conviction that I'm doing the right thing was topped up by feedback and reactions from the last couple of days.

What's Kate up to?

Kissing Lea T. apparently.

(Love Spring/Summer 2011 cover)

English pub in Stockholm

We decided to leave the office to continue our combined catch up and business conversation à la London-style, in the pub. Ale, lager and salt & vineger crisps; a much more inspiring environment than the stale conference room. The seed to a new idea. Plenty of fertile soil. Give it some water and some sun and the beginning of a flower meadow is born.

Recharged

You know you have had a blossoming time off when your boss points out that your energy level is annoyingly high... What can I say? Not much, just enjoy for as long as it lasts.

Sunday cooking and philosophy

The more you dwell on the past, the more room it gets in the presence. And less room is given to explore and enjoy life as it is today. Wise words from fellow yogini in India and something Adorable and I discussed over yesterday's dinner. My first cooking attempt in a month was characterised by flavours as diverse from Indian curry as it gets: cod in mustard sauce and semi-mashed potatoes, followed by blueberry pie. Still no wine.

Back with the girls

It's not just my body that is back in Stockholm, but slowly the mind is following. After a Saturday filled with long walks in pretty winter landscapes, time for reading in favourite armchair and yoga in front of the fireplace, it was time to face the city. Girls' night out with Little B, Adorable and Sweetest M in Chic Bohemian Resto. The catch up on the last month's happenings included:

• Closures - what we left behind in 2010 with the label "DO NOT RETRIEVE". Old dates where the closures were left hanging in the air for years. Recent dates where the developments stopped and the best before date passed ages ago. The end.
  
• New boyfriend. Wish to put an "s" on the noun, but the ratio is currently one in four. But he is a keeper.
  
• The Indian learnings and whether we brought back any visible changes (other than the suntan that is fading every minute). Is meditation to be recommended? Did we bond with the rest of the group? Is India a go or no go?
  
• Chanel's nailpolish number 505 - my birthday present from Cool P. Apparently in big demand when it was first launched and it was sold out for ages, resulting in boyfriends and husbands searching for it in airports and cities all over. And they learned the number by heart and can still talk about it. Huh!
  
• To balance the nailpolish discussion we also had a debate on whether humanity is good-hearted by nature or if there are people who are truly mean.

Le week-end continued with a big refurnishing project. Something you can do if you have a boyfriend. Or a girlfriend staying over. In this particular case I think I prefer the company of Adorable who appreciates the importance of how many centimetres of the carpet should go under the couch and who knows the difference of where to place a cushion.

The Indian yoga shala

The much missed natural warmth and light in the Indian yoga shala. Now replaced by radiators and candles.

The much loved welcome committee

Back to the armchair, back in the flat, back in Stockholm, back to winter. Met by the contrasts of somber colours, sounds embedded in cotton and the silence when no sound requires attention. The delicate smell of snow and winter. Everything is so clean.

Favourite sister and youngest nephew were my welcome committee. Little nephew chatting more than ever, sister's tummy growing bigger; the differences from one month ago are evident. Sushi, yogi tea and dark chocolate. And setting the date for the filming of my final yoga instructor exam. A live class for real people.

No internet

All of a sudden the technology gave up and the internet access disappeared for days. No explanation other than “it’s a state owned company” i.e. it’s outside our control. An exercise in acceptance of what is. Somehow I think it was meant to be. To not be tempted to read work emails and start planning for next week. To just be here and now. And to enjoy the yoga with undivided attention, not to mention an afternoon in the sun, before packing and saying good bye to Isola di Cocco.

Sleep instructing

The room was small and there were no yoga mats. The five participants were of mixed nationalities so all of a sudden the instructing had to be in English. One of the participants was standing with crossed arms doing nothing, the others did something but without really following any of my instructions. Then one of the participants started to give out competing instructions. What do you do? You wake up!

My dream created a worst case scenario for yoga instructors.

Only three mornings left

Soon the terrace outside our cottage room will be replaced by the armchair and the fireplace inside my flat. Both have their charms.

Not for the boardroom

Neti – cleaning of the air passageways. Can't really see this happening in the boardroom. Or in my flat in Stockholm. Not sure about this one, but now I know what it feels like.

Something for the boardroom

What would happen in the boardroom if I asked everybody to close their eyes for a moment to contemplate a certain question in silence to then come back to the room and share their thoughts?

To begin with, I’m pretty sure my boss would cheat and keep one eye opened. But on a more serious note I think the time for reflection and listening to answers from the inside is underused in the business environment. The expectations of what to say and not, the competition for airtime, the positioning of interests and people; all work against a moment of silence.

When the time is right, when the atmosphere is open, when the people in question are ready, I will work up the courage to give it a go. If nothing else, they will remember the meeting afterwards.

Patanjali, Winnie the Poh and others

The homework was to find quotes or references in Yoga Sutra or Bhagavad Gita to inspire five different philosophical themes to our future yoga classes. When we got enough of Patanjali, Krishna and Arjuna we could also refer to Winnie the Pooh, Alice in Wonderland and alike. After consulting the Sutras for hours (there is plenty of wisdom to play with), it was a fresh breeze to read some words of wisdom from a Pooh. Like this one. A very remote sensation in India and possibly a quote which would be rather difficult to use in a yoga class as a theme. Or not…

The more it snows (Tiddely pom),
The more it goes (Tiddely pom),
The more it goes (Tiddely pom),
On snowing. And nobody knows (Tiddely pom),
How cold my toes (Tiddely pom),
How cold my toes (Tiddely pom),
Are growing.
(Winnie the Pooh)

Ice cream treat

It must be a sign that you have been staying at a place for longer than the average guest when you can say they are offering the favourite ice cream on the dinner buffet.

Boot camp or Ashram

More or less, this is a normal day at Isola di Cocco’s Yoga Instructor Boot Camp:

5-5:30 am: Wake up

5:15-6:15 am: The Golden Hour – time to be quiet, write, reflect, meditate. This is a personal add-on in room number two; the other rooms probably have “sleep” on their schedules.

6:30-8:00 am: Yoga practice, either led by our instructors or we practice on each other.

8:00-9:00 am: Breakfast, including but not limited to egg, fresh pineapple and mini bananas. The mango trees are blossoming right now so we are too early to enjoy the outcome.

9:00-11:00: Detailed walkthrough of modules and asanas with a focus on the biomechanics and how to correct a position based on the most common needs.

11:00-11:20 Coconut break. The natural way to recharge the body with salt and water to avoid dehydration. More mini bananas. We have learned that there are twelve different types of bananas and that the red bananas are considered to be the most exclusive kind. Too posh to be used in cooking, only used on its own!

11:20-13:00: The detailed walkthrough continues.

13:00-16:00: Lunch break and time to study (preferably by the pool). Or time to visit the massage centre or beauty parlour. The three hours pass much too quickly every day…

16:00-18:00: Yoga history, philosophy, communication or meditation.

18:00-19:00: Time for shower, relaxation and reading. Sometimes homework.

19:00-20:30: Indian buffet dinner with delicious curries, fish and vegetables. And a table full of desserts for people who like cream cakes and jelly in different colours.

20:30-21:30: Tea and talk. Or read and sleep.

21:30: Light is out.

So may be the rigid schedule at Sivananda’s Ashram shouldn’t provoke the repulsive feeling it did. But there was something in the atmosphere that communicated an air of avoidance from life. A place for hiding. All students wearing the same white trousers and yellow t-shirts. Rules for how to eat and when to sleep. All lessons and talks mandatory. Something between an American college and a religious sect… And if you wanted to leave the premises you needed permission on a yellow card where the time for how long you were going to be away for was authorised.

Very interesting to experience, very happy I didn’t have to check in.

Life in Sivananda's Ashram

Meditation

Why meditate? To quiet the chatter of the mind to be able to hear your inner voice. To re-establish the link between the body and the mind. Or to make it less serious, why not just calling it stopping any new input from entering the mind and socialise with your breathing for a while. Just sit.

It’s a natural part in our yoga practice and yesterday we spent almost an hour trying out different meditation techniques. The challenge I find is how to integrate some of these most fundamental principles IRL. Why have we stopped doing something that should be so easy? To just be, do nothing, think nothing. The constant flow of information, the constant lack of time and the never-ending search for more happiness (be it a new car, a higher salary or love) somehow got in the way.

Somewhere along the line we lost the ability to just be with ourselves and breathe. Or have we never had that ability? As the concept of meditation has figured in all the old texts from thousands of years back, it may be that the biggest challenge for human beings is exactly this. May be sending a man to the moon is a piece of cake compared to quietening the mind.

Tired body, alert mind

I could barely make it up the stairs to the dining hall this evening. My body is trembling from exhaustion after a day with six hours of physical yoga lessons. The planned classes on rhetoric were replaced with hip openers and back bends as a result of an instructor being stuck in the Indian traffic somewhere. So instead of playing with words and communication we played with hips, backs and arms. All day.

May be evoked by exhaustion, the cravings for what is not available are now popping up. Like a strong latte. And dark chocolate. I’m not complaining. The climate, the fresh fruit and the service, which enables us to have full focus on the yoga, weigh up the lack of Italian coffee. But it’s nice to know that there are a few things I would normally take for granted that I will notice much more and appreciate when I get back home.

Before then, plenty of more things to be learned, experiences to be had and another Indian excursion to attend. Tomorrow it’s time for Sivananda’s Ashram!

Belladonna cure

There is more than one benefit of being at the same place as other yoga students, but the benefit I’m especially grateful for today is the interest in and attitude towards homeopathic remedies. One of my fellow students brought half a pharmacy to India and she shares it generously. So today I started to treat the beginning of a sore throat and temperature with the otherwise poisonous herb Belladonna. Evil should with evil be treated… I’m already feeling better.

Must dash

There are post-exam celebration drinks to be had by the pool. Part one of the Sanskrit exam is now completed. The conversations we can have are all around sitting, standing or lying down, often combined with an animal name or a body part. So if the mingling by the pool is to be done in Sanskrit we have some limitations in terms of topics. But I must say I'm proud to now know the word Utthita Eka Pada Rajakapotasana, so I may just throw that one into conversation now that I have people around me who will understand what I mean...

Launch of the sequel!

Mission Impossible 2 is being launched in a couple of hours. In this sequel the audience amounts to a group of eighteen and to make it even more thrilling, there is a film camera present. There is no way out. It will all be captured to be watched and analysed later this afternoon. A gentle reminder to self that I’m doing this out of free will and that I’m enjoying it…

Hotspots in Kerala

A day off from time off

Work at home feels very remote, especially when our yoga days are long and intense and the head is jam-packed with new knowledge. So to say we have come to our first day off, meaning a day off from paradise, I’m almost forgetting I’m already having a month off from something else. There is a routine even in paradise and even in paradise some change of scenery is necessary.

So today we are off to see more of real India. The buss leaves our oasis around nine o’clock to take us to the very south of India where the three oceans meet and where wise men used the spot for insightful meditation. Our one day Indian culture excursion also includes a Hindu temple and a visit to the latest Bollywood movie. So we are moving between the extremes, which seems to be rather normal in India.

But first practice time with Sweetest M. We are doing a dry run of the full ninety minutes class to see if we can synchronise instructions, breathing, biomechanics and corrections at the same time as we are completely present and at the same time as we are consciously using voice and body language to emphasise the words that should be flowing like water. Right now there is a slight feeling of mission impossible…

The shade challenge

Today’s challenge is to resist the temptation of the pool at lunchtime, stay in the shade and study biomechanics and asana instructions. A couple of hours to allow new knowledge to find its’ place in the yoga jigsaw of one million pieces that is forming in my head. Can’t really complain – life in the shade is a fairly pleasant experience.

One more hour until pool-time

Coconut moment

The beginner yoga instructor

How many ways are there to say lift up the arms? Raise, circle, stretch… What is the most logical way to explain a yogic push up, i.e. chaturanga dandasana, including the necessary tips on technique in the right order? How can you limit the use of the word “feel”? A highly over-consumed word in yoga instructions. And how to come to the point as clearly and quickly as possible with a calm outlook and relaxed approach as you don’t want your participants hanging around for too long in downward facing dog or plank as they will slowly grow to hate you.

The first bobbling attempts as a yoga instructor have been as sweaty as being a participant, if not more. Instructions on technique, breathing and corrections. Seeing the individual, being there to finetune the position or just to give a comfort massage to make it more enjoyable.

It’s time to back off on being a Performance Princess and think that this is something that can be studied and learned by heart. Allow new knowledge to sink in and mature. Accept being a beginner and welcome the fact that there are many mistakes to be made and much practicing to be done before I’m ready to face real participants!

Dream painting, taking stock and focus

Visualising a personal dream painting. A sometimes difficult exercise as I believe we suppress our dreams when they feel far-fetched. May be that’s why I think this is such a good exercise. It was my coach and good friend who developed it and we have used some of it in our leadership training.

Looking back at 2010 and contemplating on 2011, what can you learn and what do you want your life to look like? Here are the questions that I brought with me to India; not the kind of questions where there is one right answer or where you can give an immediate answer. More the kind of questions you need time to contemplate, chew, discuss and dream. Answers that are somewhere in you, but need some searching and digging to appear…

• What do you consider to be your major achievements in 2010?
• What concerns and/or challenges have taken most of your attention during 2010?
• What do you consider your main disappointments in 2010, if any?
• How did you limit yourself in 2010? What habits and/or thought processes do you need to drop going forward?
• What did you learn about yourself in 2010? What are the most important realisations in the year?
  

Imagine you are looking at a painting with all your dreams. Think big and feel big! This is not the time to analyse. It’s a dream painting! Now...

• What are the different categories of dreams?
• For each category, what are the 3-5 dreams you may achieve in 2011?
• What are you ready to attract into your life in 2011?
• What are you willing to let go of in 2011?
• What is your theme for 2011?
• What does your ideal day look like in 2011?
• What is going to stop you from achieving all this? What are the risks? What are you going to do about that?

2011

If the first day of the year sets the flavour for the rest of the year I’m looking forward to a cracking 2011. To wake up rested with a feeling of clarity. Half in the cooling shade and half in the nourishing sun, slowly taking in the impressions of Kerala, God’s own land. Knowing that the breakfast buffet I
is waiting with fresh fruit and omelette à la minute. Knowing that new learnings will be reached during the continuous yoga discussions. Knowing that a cooling swim in the pool is close and that the midday siesta will allow for time to read, rest and just be.