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Off to a different 2021!

Off to a different 2021!

The last hours of 2020 are here…a year has gone by so fast, a year that has been far away from being normal. A year that seemed endless at times.

For me personally it was a year full of change.

Being out of a stressful job and trying to find comfort after a hard 2019. On the last day of the year I can reflect and look back. It wasn’t easy but most of the time I am fine. Being without something to do is not my piece of cake so I started a 200 hour yoga teacher training. A journey close to my heart which gave me lots.

I learned, I studied, I looked within, and in the end I got my certificate and couldn’t be more proud.

There are still lessons to follow, Ayurveda, a whole new and interesting field, yin yoga, what I need most during the „not-so-good“ times and who knows what else.

Of course there is Covid and it gave me some really bad anxiety attacks but it also has shown me what a strong bond we have in our marriage, how wonderful my family is. It has been tough and still is, the toughest for me indeed is to see what happens to humanity. There are unfortunately so many out there not „believing“ in a pandemic that I start to wonder where such a misconception comes from? The ignorance scares me more than the virus itself. We are sticking to the rules since day one, being cautious and staying away from others sometimes more than anyone asks for. We kept our son at home from March until September and that was the most intense family time since he’s been born.

Somehow Covid is a gift for us. Not that I adore a virus but being able to see the good in the bad is what keeps us going.

Shift your focus and you’ll find comfort in the darkness.

We are curious to see what the new year brings – we will go through a lot of changes, start new jobs, which will be exciting and hopefully without many disappointments. We are good in what we do, so bring it on 2021. And until then let’s enjoy that we are who we are, with all our imperfections and flaws, we are not perfect but so isn’t anyone else.

We are alive, we love, we fight, we laugh and we cry – all belongs to the big circle of what life is.

Off to a different 2021!

There is no guarantee that it will be better but be assured it will be different. We can make it different because we have it in our own hands.

Be the change you want to see.

Live the peace you want to see.

The sun will set one last time in 2020 and ahead are 365 new sunrises, a whole new year of making it better.

Let’s all focus on the good and all will be fine.

Get over safe and sound.

Off to the new and let go of 2020.

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Mindfulness – Where to Start

Mindfulness

Mindfulness – Where to Start

One big topic in the whole mindfulness area is “Searching for Peace within”.

This is what spiritual masters are telling us. You can buy stickers, telling everyone that peace is to be found within yourself, almost everywhere. The truth is, the majority of people is living with a chaos within instead.

I am one of them. I try to tame the chaos, sometimes more and sometimes less. It depends on my mood, the time I find just for myself and on how I feel. 

When I’m relaxed I don’t bother myself with the search for something higher. I assume that there seems to be at least a bit of peace inside of me as otherwise I wouldn’t be relaxed, right?

When I’m completely stressed out and need it the most, then I find everything inside of me but peace. I find thoughts running in circles, I find anxiety, I find millions of things I wanted to start, finish, read, write or think about. But the peace that should be found there seems to be buried under all of this.

Sometimes I start to think that I would be able to find it when I could also sit under a palm tree, a turquoise ocean in front of me and a yoga shed behind me. The truth is, I wouldn’t find it there either. 

We cannot leave our mind behind – wherever we go we carry all our thoughts with us.

– Lena Kraima

The chaos would travel with me, wherever I go, I’ll take my mind and soul with me. 

A more practical approach to mindfulness is to start with small pieces. 

We all strive for the big picture, the successful, happy, content and calm person who seems to rest fully within. 

There is barely a person like that alive – don’t get confused by snapshots of the lives of others. We all don’t know what is going on within a person, sometimes we don’t even know what’s going on with ourselves.

Instead of searching for peace start with changing your thoughts, with tiny baby steps. Don’t overload yourself with ‘I should be grateful, I should be helpful, I should be, …’. This is how you get lost.

This is a wonderful page to dive deeper into this topic of mindfulness.

How to include mindfulness into your daily routine?

These are small examples on how to change the way of thinking without failing. The more often we do something, the more likely it will turn out to be a daily habit. Live it instead of forcing it.

Morning Routine
  • Each morning after you wake up drink a glass of warm water and ask yourself what you are grateful for in these few minutes. (Is it the sun raising, the smell of the winter morning air on the open window, a snoring of your cat, the smell of coffee from the kitchen, that you have warm water without many efforts,… there will be million of examples.) What are you grateful for?
  • If you find more time include a morning meditation into your daily routines.
An all-time favourite, remind yourself of what you think and become an observer
  • Watch your thoughts as if you watch yourself from an outside position. Don’t allow negative thoughts and instead replace them by positive. 
Daily routine you can include any time
  • Shower meditation – therefore you don’t even need an extra five minutes, you just take the time which is normally probably filled with a ’to-do’ list in your mind. 
  • Read something inspirational- it can be a book or also newsletters, there are some great ones to subscribe to.
  • Eat mindfully – whatever meal it is. People sit and check their phones instead of enjoying the food they have in front of them. Mindful eating is not only a good habit, it is also a healthy habit. You body will thank you.
  • Focus on one thing at a time. Multitasking is not a virtue – better and more mindful is to finish one task before starting the next and put your full attention into each.
  • Connect to Mother Earth – nature is relieving stress, it is recharging our batteries. Of course we cannot access a forest daily when we live in the city but even the smallest corner of a park can be your place, standing on a river and listening to the water, there are always possibilities to connect. Stare at the heaven above you, watch clouds or birds flying by. 
  • Move your body. I don’t want to call it exercise or sports because whatever it may be, it will be beneficial. You can dance for 10 minutes if that’s what you prefer. Take the stairs instead of the elevator, walk or cycle to work, do some yoga, there is no wrong or right, the importance is to keep your body active and move your muscles. 
Whenever needed
  • Deep breathing exercises…this one shouldn’t be too complicated because we need to breath anyway. Instead of reading the news on the train to work, take 5 minutes and immerse yourself into deep breathing. 

The more we focus on what we think and how we treat ourselves, the more likely we will find some peace. It all starts within us. That’s the most important part, if stress starts within us (and yes, it does) it will be less if we overlay it with happiness so that stress can’t find its way up. If you are happy you won’t be easily stressed. There is certainly peace within everyone, we just need to set it free. Take away stress, take away pressure and anxiety, also take away criticism and self-doubt, take everything away what you stacked onto the peace and you will find it. 

I am a perfectionist and this perfectionism is my stopper – once you know it you can work with it.

Learn that you are allowed to relax even though you could work, or clean or write or whatever – there will always be something to do and if I never take time for myself I won’t relax at all. It is hard to let go of something and there were times when I wasn’t able to sit on my couch as long as there was something to clean and sort in my flat, means I barely sat there just to relax. But believe me, the dishes won’t run away, they wait until you come back to the kitchen and they are not worth giving them the allowance to disturb your peace of mind. The little dust layer you see on a shelf won’t kill you while sitting in meditation, it will wait until you are ready to wipe it away. 


Let the “peace within you” be a part of your life – don’t neglect it because you are too busy to enjoy peaceful moments.

– Lena Kraima

Mindfulness is nothing out of reach and surely not unreachable. Every tiny step towards being mindful is already lived mindfulness. 

Don’t be blinded by big words, extensive ceremonies or spiritual rituals. All of it won’t diminish your mindfulness – you do what you can and this is perfectly fine.

We all struggle and fail and we all search for a deeper meaning in our life, don’t we? But what is that deeper meaning – it differs from person to person. In the end all that counts is that you are feeling good! Go for what makes you happy.

Namaste you beautiful souls and thanks for reading <3

Learn to think positive when feeling down
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An extra very merry Christmas

An extra very merry Christmas

This year was extreme in all directions and I have not much left to say other than wishing for a better 2021 for everyone.

Enjoy the quiet Christmas days, indulge in good food, Christmas movies, books, whatever brings you peace and joy.

What I would like to do today is adding a bit more gratitude to everything. We often get occupied in the festivities and in the end everyone is stressed and tries to put a smile on the face – why not slowing down a bit.

If 2020 taught us something great, then that slowing down can make a change.

Lena Kraima

Have a look at what you hang on the tree, is it maybe raising childhood memories? Smell, there’s a certain Christmas smell, a mixture of fresh tree, last minute baking, the dinner cooking, perfume and candles. Soak in the atmosphere. Yes, it is different, and yes, we would have loved to have it like usual with more family and with friends included. But instead of being sad about something we cannot change, let us be happy about what we have.

When nature slowed down in spring we have seen wonderful recoveries, maybe this is the time to recover and heal. Slowing down is good for everyone. We all rarely take the time to do it actively, now we are supposed to do it and should see it as a gift.

I look forward to good food and the wonder of Christmas through the eyes of my son. Long walks in nature and maybe a few snowflakes would be awesome. Technology gives us possibilities to connect as well. We cannot meet everyone, but we can video call loved ones in almost every corner on earth. This privilege is often forgotten when people complain.

What are you grateful for today, what does slowing down do to you in a good way?

Let’s collect wonderful moments and remember all the good of 2020. Showing that we are not guided by negativity but are able to enjoy what we have and being thankful for the good in our life.

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Being right…

Being right…

… is not a virtue – being kind is.

Just a little reminder at times where people start discussing for multiple reasons.

Be kind, don’t judge, rather leave quietly instead of engaging with rage.

We all walk around not knowing perfectly where we go, so be gentle with the lost ones, be kind to the confused, we only see a change in humanity if we start to change ourselves first.

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Two weeks until Christmas

Two weeks until Christmas

Two weeks until Christmas

Unbelievable, isn’t it?

This year started with so many hopes and dreams… And all of a sudden we reached the end of this year.

Two weeks until Christmas literally means that I would start now to run in circles. This would be the time to go to malls, into the city, do the Christmas shopping. But instead, instead I sit here and type patiently. A hot steaming tea on my left side, part of a chocolate Santa on the right side. My husband went outside with our son, it’s just me and my thoughts.

Two weeks – normally that sounds short and like not enough time left, but this year nothing is normal. If you ask people to go two weeks into quarantine it sounds for them like a lifetime.

What happened this year seems like a massive slow down

A slow down with different names. Call it lockdown, partly lock down, quarantine or light lockdown. In the end all had the very same effect, they slowed down our life. And sure, you can start now to complain. It took the economy down, many people struggle, that is correct. What is also correct is that complaining will not change that. I don’t want to focus on the bad and rather focus on the positive. There are lots of positive effects all this had. You need to open your eyes and your mind and I am sure you will start to see them.

This has nothing to do with a pandemic induced slowing down but it may help anyone to see what you can do to slow down in a healthy way.

Enjoying Life in the Slow Lane

Going from 100 to 0 is by far not an easy task and I can tell you from my own experience that it needs strengths. Sounds strange, right. Many people think as soon as you slow down you are completely relaxed. It would be nice but unfortunately it is not like that.

Slowing down is a process of learning.

Many people cannot let go of their routine, of their “how things should be” and doing nothing is harder than some can imagine. It’s also for a reason that many are falling into a depression once they are retired, life was busy and all of sudden there seems to be nothing. And this void needs to be filled, but how. Adjusting to a slower lifestyle takes time and exercise as everything else in life. Finding out what you need, what you want, what are the things that make you happy, all of this is new.

And one other thing just before I start to get comments on how privileged I am. Yes, I agree and I am fully aware of that. I know that my position here is not one which has been affected and shattered my life, but many who are able to sit down and read this blog are in a similar position, right. I don’t deny all the tragedies, but I barely believe that people who are affected beyond imagination will sit peacefully in front of a web device and read my words.

So, what are the positive effects?

Focussing on one self is something fully positive. Do you know who you are? Who are you besides your profession, besides your role as partner, parent, sibling, or whatever it is. Who are YOU? What makes YOU happy?

We all focus lots on what others expect from us, how we should be in this life. I think the first step is learning to let go of these expectations and focussing on your own self.

Train yourself to let go…

Once this is accomplished as first step you may surrender into the slow pace of your life and find out what you want. Mindfulness and gratefulness are two big words, and they are so important to find your way. See what you achieved already, be thankfully for all the opportunities you had in your life so far. Instead of running and starting something new take care of yourself. Self-Care is often so underestimated although it is definitely very important. Only if you are properly taken care of you will have the strength, the power, the endurance to start something new.

The Importance of Self-care…

I’m at the verge of going into another stage and although I think that my prior job has been purposeful I am thirsty for something with even more depth.

Turning inward

These times are times where we all have more time than we ever thought to focus on where we are, what we want and how we want to move forward. The pandemic is a huge change in everyones life, why don’t we start to embrace the possibilities instead of focussing on the restrictions?

A mind can never be restricted, which is good and dangerous at the same time.

I would like to hear all the positive things that happened to you, what did you learn, what has been accomplished, what makes you happy?

For me, I can truly say we have such an exclusive family time – seeing our son growing is a gift and we can focus better as we don’t hurry from here to there. Our eating behaviour changed for the good. We always loved home cooked meals, but with less shopping and more planning it turned into a more local and sustainable direction. Neighbours are supporting each other more than before. We discover the nature around us with different eyes. We have time to read, to be creative, to do what we love together.

Everything in life has two sides – focus on the good! And of course stay healthy. Namaste

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Why should everyone include some Yoga in life?

Why should everyone include some Yoga in life?

Ok, I know, I told you that I am attending a yoga teacher training and of course I think that everyone needs yoga. Cliché? Maybe, maybe not.

It’s not easy to answer a question like that because obviously Yoga Teachers need students to teach and the more a teacher can teach the more he earns. 

But believe it, there are still people on this planet who are NOT fully focused on financial success. 

I would lie if I tell you that a yoga teacher does not want to earn money, of course, like for anyone else money is needed to cover costs, to live, eat, stay warm. But one truth is that not every yoga teacher wants to earn ridiculously high amounts to afford a beach house in the Caribbean, a yoga temple in the jungle or a fancy studio in Manhattan. There are teachers who love to teach, simple as that, who work to see students succeed on their own personal path.

What social media is often telling us about yoga is not the deeper sense. It’s great to have pictures of awesome yoga poses in stunning places, but that’s surely not the sense of yoga. 

Let me give you my opinion as an almost graduated teacher about yoga.

Or better, of what Yoga is NOT.

It’s not the latest fashion of yoga pants and shirts – you can do yoga in any comfy clothes, even in jeans if you like.

And no, it is not about being as flexible as a bow. Nobody needs to be able to practice every available yoga pose to include some yoga in their life.

You cannot touch your toes and that’s ok – you still can do yoga, and eventually are able to touch your toes in a while.

Studios are too expensive for me or I don’t like to practice in front of others. Don’t worry, you just need to find a place at home where you can start, that’s all you need.

To start a yoga journey you simply need one single “thing” and that’s you!

Wherever you are in your life, it is never too late to begin with yoga.

Yoga is a way to bring your body, your mind and your soul together into a state of serenity. 

You read right, it is not purely moving your body, it is much more than that. Many use Yoga simply as sport, which is fine and beneficial, but it’s not all which yoga has to offer. And just because it offers lots you don’t have to indulge in all aspects, it’s your choice.

The main point is that whatever you choose from the yoga buffet – you put it on your plate.

You may choose chanting because you love to sing, perfect. Or you may choose asana practice but only to relax, that’s perfect too. Maybe you may choose to read the yoga philosophy and gain deeper knowledge, a wonderful choice. In the end you may stand in tree pose each morning for 10 minutes breathing deeply in and out, you are doing great. 

Whatever you choose, it is a step into a yoga lifestyle which is yours – yoga is unique as are we. 

Maybe in one month I am too stressed to get more done than 15 minutes each evening before bedtime. But these 15 minutes are grounding me and allowing me to have a restful sleep. One month later I have enough energy to do power yoga classes twice per week and start each day with a meditation. 

Why include yoga in your life? Because we realise very quickly what’s good for us. And to listen to this inner voice, this feeling deep inside of us, is one of the most important parts on our yoga journey. 

If it does not feel good, then please don’t do it! 

We should never go beyond our abilities, because we can hurt ourselves. We all can work towards goals. If we set these goals for ourselves you will realise that some are reached easily and some will take time. Yoga teaches us patience as well. 

In the end a yoga journey is different from person to person. You yourself choose what you want to include. One thing is sure, whatever out of the various fields of yoga you will choose, it will be beneficial for you. Chanting, Pranayama, Asana, it all sounds exotic but if we call it mindful repeating of intentions, breathing, moving it is something many already do without calling it Yoga.

The most important for me, and this is what I want to share with others is the following. Nobody is perfect, everyone has worries and struggles in life. When Yoga can be one part which brings peace and joy and relaxation, then it already does a wonderful job.

Yoga Props – what you need and what not