VANESSA’S BLOG

8 steps into Shirshasana:

start sitting on your heels

1. measure the distance of your elbows and shoulders – hold your elbows and put them on the floor infront of you
2. keeping the distance between your shoulders let go your elbows and interlace your fingers creating a support for your head
3. put the crown of your  head onto the floor inbetween your hands. already here start moving your shoulder away from you ears and feel that your forarms are strongly conected to the ground
4. now lift you knees and straighten your legs. (you are in funny downward facing dog position now with your head and your forarms on the floor)
   

   coming into Sirsasana - Headstand

5. walk your feet close to your head and feel the weight shifting on your arms and head. walk your feet as close to your head as possible so that you get the feeling that your feet want to lift of the ground
6. slowly lift on leg and bend the knee, so that the knee is close to your body. when you feel balanced, and only then, you lift the other foot off the floor and also bend that knee into you chest. you are alreay standing on you head now. if you feel uncomfortable to go further just stay in this position to get used it. If you feel comfi take the next step
7. slowly lift your knees and bring them inline with your hips. your feet come close to your bottocks. it helps to really engange you abdominal as well as your lower back muscles.
8. and then from here you straigther you legs into Shirshasana, the full headstand

Sirsasana - Headstand

Benefits:

• increases the bloodflow back to the heart, strenghten the hear and heartbeat and also helps with varicose veins
• builds of muscles and strenghts in shoulders and arms
• increasing the bloodsupply in your brain and regulates the autonomic nervous system
• releases legs and pelvis
• enhances better balance
• stimulates the 3rd eye Chakra – the Ajna Chakra

Contraindications:

• high or low bloodpressure
• injuries in the neckarea
• during menstruation
• don’t do this asana in pregnancy unless your are very familiar with this pose and have been practising it for a long time

Time for a quick update on how the presentation at the Rotary Club on Friday the 5th of august went…


As you can imagine I was super nervous before the presentation. Luckily I had to teach a yoga class in the morning, that helped me a lot to ‘let go’ a bit my excitement and bring my focus back. I realised that it really isn’t about me talking to a bunch of people, but more about the kids that need help. And that helped me a lot..

Luckily my colleague and friend Jennifer who is very much involved in the school came with me to the meeting. She was a great support on all levels. Without her it definitely wouldn’t have been the same!


So here we were, sitting on the big table with about 20 other people. All of them, extremly kind and open and I really felt the good vibes in the group. Also that of course made me feel more comfi to talk in front of them.

The first 1,5 hours passed with club matters, fellowship and a delicious lunch and suddenly it was time to stand up and tell them about our kids and their school.


Wow! You could really feel the compassion in their hearts rising. It was amazing! They showed big interest and had many questions, which is definitely a good sign. Of course in a structure like this, the club first has to discuss the matter internally and that may take some time too, but I have a very good feeling about it and somehow I feel pretty sure that some kind of help will come from that side. Maybe they can’t help us build the school yet, but this anyway a long term aim, but I am sure they will give us a kind of support even if it is some things for an immediate help.


I will keep you posted on any new developments!


Lokaha Samasta Sukhino Bhavantu – May all beeings everywhere be happy and free!

Om Shanti
Vanessa

THE GUEST HOUSE

This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.

RUMI

Hey readers,
I know I have been really bad in writing posts on my blog, but as you know time just passes too quickly. Anyway as you see I write in english now… hope that is alright for the all my german readers.

So where should I start? Puh, so much has happend or still will happen but this is a different story because today I actually want to write about an unsual school project.

As some of you already know, through the Outreach Project of the Ananda Kutir Ashrama in which I am involved since I am in Cape Town, we support a primary school in Nyanga, ktc. It is one of the big townships here in Cape Town.

Now just for a moment close your eyes and visualize a school. See the picture of your imaginary school in full color… see the kids and teachers… really make your picture alive…

And now, open your eyes again.

Sorry, I have to bring you back to reality. But the school I am talking about is not at all like the one you just have visualized.

I think it isn’t even a real school. How can you call a few containers a school?! Well in this country you learn to see the world a little bit differntly. It is not like most of us think it is. And for the kids of this school life is very different.

But let me start at the beginning:

The Stormont Madubela Primary School is an official private school with about 400 kids and 12 teachers. The school has been running since 1988 and always struggelt finacially. It is situated in Nyanga, KTC a very poor community with mainly rdp (Reconstruction and Development Programme) houses and shacks. The school fees for a year are ZAR 15,- / learner. (I want to point out especially for the people who are not familiar with the Rand that ZAR 15,- would be about € 1,50! Less then a Cappuccino!) But even this, hardly half of the parents are abled to pay, because the little they have they need for food.

The department of education funds the school with ZAR 4500,- / year and learner which of course is far away from beeing sufficient. Everything must be paid from that, books, furniture, salaries, repairs etc. So therefore we have the following situation:

The kids don’t have any books, except grade 1 & 2, they have 2 books each child which we just recently bought. And we will buy some more now because we received donations of some dear friends in germany. The teachers only get irregular salaries.
The conditions of the containers, which are the classrooms, are shocking. They have broken windows and floors, the lights are not working well. There are no or only a few blackboards and they don’t have shelves or cupboards. There is a very poor equipped kitchen, put luckily the Ackerman fund togther with Penninsula feeding programm, provide one warm meal per day and child.
I don’t even want to talk about the poor sanitary arrangements and the not existing isolation which makes the rooms extremly hot in summer and freezing cold in winter.
The insufficient security arrangements are the reason why EVERY school holiday the school has a burglary.

The department of education will withdraw funding if the school doesn’t fulfill their standards and they really don’t care how the school will be able to meet their standards, which are things like: every learner must have books, there must be less kids per square meter then there are now (but of course the containers are too small), the teachers must have certain qualifications (but how can they afford further training if they don’t even get a regular salary), the general conditions of the premisis must fulfill a certain standard too, which I completely agree to, but also here, how can the school keep up with out being able to pay for anything.

You see the situation is quite dramatic but the responsible people don’t do anything about it. They only say that it is a private school and that they must take care of them self.

So if the goverment stops the funding the school will sooner or later have to close and that would mean that all these 400 kids would be on the street without even a little chance towards a better future.

I say, this is not gonna happen! We MUST do something about it and why not think BIG? I think we should try everything to provide a proper school for these children. Don’t you agree?

Synchronicity, as so often it happens in life, brought me to meet a man from ‘The Noon Gun Rotary Club’ here in Cape Town. And when I told him about what I do and about the kids and their school, he immediatly said that this could be a project for them and that I should come as a guest speaker and present this project. So here I am now, one night before the BIG event (I am sure it is not big for them, but it definitely is big for me) and I thought I will share this with the world.

So wish me luck and keep your fingers crossed

I will keep you updated!

Love and light

Vanessa

Walk tall, walk well, walk safe, walk free

And may harm never come to thee.

Walk wise, walk good, walk proud, walk true

And may sun always smile on you.


Walk payer, walk hope, walk faith, walk light

And may peace always guide you right.


Walk joy, walk brave, walk love, walk strong

And may life always give you song.




Author unknown

Unter diesem Motto stand unser letztes Yoga Event am Strand von Clifton 3rd Beach hier in Kapstadt.

Ich habe in einem meiner vorherigen posts von dem Ananda Kutir Ashrama und all den wundervollen Menschen dort berichtet. Ein ganz besonderer Mensch, Swami Parvathiananda wurde vor wenigen Wochen diagnostiziert das sie dringend eine neue Herzklappe braucht und ohne diese Operation wohl weniger als 1 Jahr zu leben hat. Diese Nachricht hat uns all sehr unerwartet getroffen. Schnell stand fest das wir unbedingt Spenden aufbringen müssen um diese kostspielige Operation und auch besonders die Rehabilitation (alleine die OP Kosten wurden auf ca ZAR 240.000,- angesetzt) zu finanzieren, denn als Swami, genau wie als Mönch oder Nonne, hat man kein eigenes Einkommen. Das Leben der Swamis im Ananda Kutir wird alleine durch Spenden und den Unterricht den sie dort anbieten finanziert.

So begannen wir alle so gut wir konnten Spenden zu bekommen, jeder auf seine Art. Und so entstand auch unsere Idee mit ‘Yoga for the heart’. Ein Yoga Event das unsere Herzen öffnen sollte um einem Menschen zu helfen der für so viele eine grosse Lehrerin, Freundin und Vorbild ist. Einem Menschen der sein ganzes Leben gewidmet hat um anderen zu helfen.

Gedacht, gesagt, getan. Der 9. Dezember war der grosse Tag. Wir 6 Lehrer haben fleißig die Werbetrommel für dieses Event gerührt und etliche Flyer verteilt, Poster aufgehängt und Emails verschickt. Aber letztendlich wussten wir alle nicht was uns erwarten würde und so war die Aufregung natürlich gross.

Der Abend sollte um 19h00 beginnen und wir Organisatoren haben uns alle schon um halb sechs getroffen um alles vorzubereiten. Wir haben überall Fackeln aufgestellt und Kerzen verteilt und währenddessen schon die ersten Teilnehmer gewinnen können. Die Leute am Strand waren alle sehr neugierig und viele haben sich spontan entschlossen einfach mitzumachen. Und plötzlich kamen immer mehr und mehr Leute mit ihren Yogamatten unterm Arm. Der Trommler den wir engagiert hatten fing an leise beats zu trommeln und der Strand füllte sich immer weiter mit Leuten die bei unserer kleinen Session dabei sein wollten.

Das Event wurde zu einem vollen Erfolg und zu einem unvergesslichen Abend mit Yoga, drumming, Feuertänzern als Überraschung, und einfach tollen Vibes die noch immer in meinem Herzen sind.

Aber seht selber, die Bilder sprechen für sich.

Es ist unglaublich zu sehen wie viel Menschen bewegen können wenn sie zusammen halten. In kürzester Zeit war das Geld für die Operation zusammen und Anfang Januar kann man Swami Parvathi bereits operieren.

Ich bin so dankbar ein Teil des Ashrams zu sein und all diese Liebe erleben zu dürfen. Menschen von überall auf der Welt haben ihre Unterstützung und Gedanken geschickt und alle zusammen machen es möglich das Swamiji noch viele Jahre bei uns sein kann. Das ist einfach nur beeindruckend und umwerfend! Und wir hoffen alle das die Operation gut verlaufen wird und Swamiji sich schnell erholen wird.

Love and light to all of you!

Namasté

Vanessa

As the lotus flower emerges from the murky water in persuit of sunlight,

so can man, in the midth of life,

reach for the higher self.

Both are surrounded by the ordinary

yet remain untouched.

Click hier um die neuesten Bilder einer kleinen Yoga session in Kapstadt anzuschauen…

Namasté,

Eure Vanessa

Danke an die Fotografen Philipp und Lenz

… an 4 super schöne Wochen in der Heimat schwirrt eine Frage stetig in meinem Kopf herum.

‘Heimat’ was bedeutet es eigentlich? ‘Zu Hause’ sein? Wann ist man denn zu Hause? Und wie fühlt sich das tatsächlich an? Kann man es überhaupt fühlen?

Wie kann man sich hin und her gerissen zwischen 2 Welten und gleichzeitig in beiden ‘zu Hause’ fühlen? Und steht ‘zu Hause’ fühlen immer im Zusammenhang mit Heimat?

Meine liebe Freundin hat mir zum Abschied gesagt: ” ‘Zu Hause’ ist dort, wo Dein Herz schlägt. Dafür brauchst Du keine Wände!”

Und ja, das stimmt! ‘Zu Hause’ hat keine Einschränkungen oder Grenzen. Man fühlt sich dort zu Hause wo Menschen sind die einen lieben. Dort wo man glücklich und geborgen ist. Es ist daher ganz normal das man sich an mehreren Orten ‘zu Hause’ fühlen kann, richtig?

Aber wie ist es nun mit ‘Heimat’? Für mich war Heimat immer der Ort an dem ich geboren und aufgewachsen bin. Und zugleich der Ort meiner Wurzeln. In meinem Falle also Deutschland, um genau zu sein München und Italien, Torremaggiore, denn dort kommt mein Vater her und ich habe einen sehr großen Teil meiner Jugend dort verbracht.

Darf mich nach dieser Definition Kapstadt als meine Heimat bezeichnen? Im Grunde nicht.

Wikipedia definiert Heimat folgender massen:

Das Wort Heimat verweist zumeist auf eine Beziehung zwischen Menschen und Raum. Das Wort kann sich auf eine Gegend oder Landschaft, aber auch auf Dorf, Stadt, Land, Nation, Vaterland, Sprache oder Religion beziehen. Mit dem Wort „Heimat“ können somit nicht nur konkrete Orte (die Heimstätte eines Menschen), sondern ganz allgemein auch reale oder vorgestellte Objekte und Menschen bezeichnet werden, mit denen Menschen sich identifizieren und die sie positiv bewerten. Heimat ist die Gesamtheit der Lebensumstände, in denen ein Mensch aufwächst. Auf sie wird seine Psyche geprägt, ihnen „ist er gewachsen“. Was Heimat bedeutet, erfährt insbesondere der im Exil, in der Fremde Lebende. Gegenüber der Fremde wird Heimat im utopischen Sinne auch als der erst noch herzustellende Ort in einer Welt jenseits der Entfremdung verstanden.

Heimat ist die Gesamtheit der Lebensumstände, in denen ein Mensch aufwächst. Dies ist meiner Erklärung ja schon ziemlich nahe.

Was bedeutet Heimat denn für Euch? Und was bedeutet Euch Heimat?

In all diesen Fragen wird mir eines immer klarer:

Heimat ist etwas beständiges, im Gegensatz zu ‘zu Hause’ was sich schon mal ändern kann. Jedoch, und das ist mir besonders wichtig, der Ort meiner Heimat wird auch immer mein zu Hause sein so lange meine Familie und meine Freunde dort sind.

Ich danke Euch allen für die wunderschöne Zeit mit Euch und ich möchte das ihr wisst, auch wenn ich nicht da bin, mein Herz und meine Gedanken sind immer bei Euch!

Namasté

Eure Vanessa

For the best Yogi tea in the world!


The benefits of yogi tea are vast – it’s invigorating yet relaxing, and a great coffee substitute. The spices used in this tea are said to have the following properties:

• Black peppercorns are blood purifier
• Cardamom pods aid digestion
• Cloves strenghteh the nervous system
• Ginger root is healing for colds and flu, and increases energy

In yogi tea, the milk (dairy or soy) helps in the easy assimilation of the spices. A pinch of black tea acts as an alloy for all the ingredients, creating just the right chemical balance, with less caffeine than decaffeinated tea.


The ingredients below make one cup of yogi tea, so double or triple them to make more, as requiered. When making a large quantities of yogi tea, you will not need to use as many spices per cup.


1/4 liter water

3 cloves

4 green cardamon pods, cracked

4 black peppercorns

2 slices of ginger root

5cm stick of cinnamon


Cover and boil the ingredients together for 10-15 minutes. Add a tiny pinch of black tea (you can also use rooibos tea), and let is sit for a minute or two. Then add some milk and retun to boil. Immediatley remove from the heat, strain and serve. (you can add some honey of you like it sweet)