the closest thing to magic

I had my first training session in moving things through thought-power. It's all scientific!

That's how it works:

First, my friend the neuropsychologist pluggs my brain to a machine while I'm thinking of certain hand movements. After 30 min. of rigorous thoughts-workout the machine has figured out the patterns in which my brain imagines these moves. Then it's my turn to train speed and strength of imagination - the goal is to reach and hold the maximum level of activation the computer has measured.

The screen in front of me shows a hand and a glass. I have to stay motionless - no blinking, no swallowing. At first, nothing happens. Then, suddenly, fueled by my thoughts, the hand on the screen starts to move, approach the glass, and take it. The better I imagine the movements, the closer I get to the glass; after a while the hand grabs the glass in a split-second.

In the end I feel like I heaved a crate of beer with my brain - without lifting a finger... Now if that isn't magic...

you can't jump into the same river twice

time.
Zeit.

Indo-Germanic:
dā. "to divide, cut, tear apart"

The "now" that is now, is no longer the same "now" in this very moment,

or:
"You can't jump into the same river twice" (Heraclitus)

However:

The "now" that was once remains unbroken in art,

or:
Heraclitus was not quite right...

Vermeer's Milk Maid

The constant flow of time in a calm flow of milk. The jug hasn't emptied since 1658.
(Check for close-up to see the impressive study of fluid in motion...)

Francesco Furini, Lucia

the smell of skin, the taste of dismissal, flicker of candles, rustling of fabric

Lucia, the saint of light, bathing in intimate chiaroscuro - between seduction and abstinence. Her charms are obvious, in contrast to her attribute, the eyeballs.

Bruno Liljefors, Jaybird

cool air, the smell of rotting leaves, surprise, infinity, fragility

The artistic point of view of a professional hunter.

Anders Zorn, A Premiere

laughter, the gurgle of water, gooseflesh, the sound of splashing and encouraging words

In uptight Europe, Anders Zorn turned portraits of Nordic "shamelessness" into gold.

it's there but it's not

Yay! I found a tutor for my thesis! Well, this announcement isn't that spectacular since sombody had to take care of me anyway. On rare occasions however, I can get incredibly resolute in the face of (universitarian) bureaucracy. I tracked down a teacher who is in fact already retired, I persuaded him due to my hazy but great ideas and he agreed to help me write my thesis after my straightening out of the concept.

Eternal growth: Francesco Zucchi, La Primavera

After two weeks of hesitant reading I'm beginning to doubt my sanity - since writing about "time" would involve a lot of phenomenology. And phenomenologists really aren't nice people. Most of them just don't want anyone to understand their thoughts. At least they don't want me to follow them. Maybe I just reached the limits of my cerebral capacity. Or phenomenology is nothing but the philosophical incarnation of a tale called "The emperor's new clothes"... Pretending to understand things that never made sense anyway... Owww - come on, let me dream....

Eternal death: Matheus Bloem, Still life

So... time... the thing is that it doesn't even exist. Although everybody knows time, it has always been terribly difficult to define what it is. Take physical time, for instance. There was the need of a precise definition of time, so we built atomic clocks. Assuming that we have 5 atomic clock and 1 shows a different time due to a technical problem. The 4 other clocks will reprehend the 5th for giving the wrong time. But theoretically, they could be wrong too. In this case, time is given through a majority of votes. Before the physicists we had ancient priests, medieval merchants, astronomers and even popes to give us time. Difining time means the possibility to coordinate all kinds of processes happening in different places. "Possessing" time means influence over work rhythms, the flow of money and goods, and many more. Ultimately, it means power over growth, evolution, and death. More power, more money.

Paolo Uccello, The Battle of San Romano. Early study of movement: the body in time and space

So, time doesn't really exist, but it has the power to make us ridiculously wealthy if we happen to walk on the bright side of life. On the other hand it is an unsatiable Big Eater - nothing can withstand it. Pretty impressive for a nonexistent thing, eh?!
Have you ever tried to picture time? I mean T-I-M-E; not a clock or a number, your wrinkles, children growing up, the four seasons, an hour glass or the expiry date on a yogurt. Try it. I bet it won't work. Time ultimately needs space to be grasped by the human mind. Time has to be imagined connected to an event or an object, otherwise it remains an empty formula.

How about the ultimate absence of time? Ever tried to imagine that one: eternity? Or, worse: eternal space? A friend told me that his mother comes close to black-out every time she attempts thinking of the endlessness of the universe. Well, it is a brain twister...

to whom it may concern...

Thoughts from this morning's walk to university:
I'm thinking that I don't like to see chocolate-Santas sold in the middle of October.
I think that I like how the old guitar-playing cowboy in the city looks at me every morning with this knowing smile, without knowing me. I like to smile back.
I think that I should discipline myself to look the beggars in the eye.
I'm thinking about how I live my life: being thrown into the unknown by an astonishing security net, making it more solid every time I fall back. So the trick is the jumping!, I grin and I walk past a ticket shop...
Un ballo in maschera, I'm thinking about me in a black dress, gold, velvet, an orchestra, and then I remember two black and silver masks, the Night, a crazy Frenchman, an asylum, glittery stars and a crazy croud.


Then I think of Victor and Ingmar, who kept me busy one year ago - this year it was Otto... I remember being undetermined whether I should be homesick or not. Approximately one year ago I was cooking a huge pot of pumpkin soup that would change my life.

A potage might be a strange symbol for this past year, but that's just what it has been: warm, rich and very filling. Thanks to all the responsibles, but especially to the one who added the piri-piri.

what's behind it?

What's inside?

Mary Kelly's lighthouse of feminists' experiences

I've been thinking for a while now how to write about what I saw and learned at the Documenta 12, a big exhibition of contemporary art in Kassel, Germany. Time to write it down before the memories fade completely...

As usual, I already forgot most of the names and all the "important" stuff. What I remember quite well, though, is a way of thinking, a state of mind and the kind of bliss resulting from heavy intellectual labour...

I remember a group of people under the guidance of an admirable teacher, getting cerebral exercise in onion-peeling; finding layers within layers, within layers, within layers...

I remember being more than relieved to find myself with people and most of them not confusing their dislike of a work with its being art or not.

I remember thinking, rethinking, twisting things, looking at them again and again, feeling - really dissecting them... Asking zillions of questions:

Simple questions, but hey, once you start there's no stopping: What's the artist's object? How is it transferred? Why this way? Why not another? Do you actually understand the accompanying text? [good one!] Where does it come from? Where is it going? References? Memories? Facts? Beliefs? And - in what way can a museum destroy art?

I remember transformative experiences: meeting a work of art, not understanding it, and stepping away an hour later being all enthusiastic. I remember going to bed at night still brooding about something I saw, or heard, or felt, trying to catch it and find out what's behind it...

I also remember tired feet, an ugly city including pretty depressed looking people, a yummy turkish dish (forgot the name again...), cheap beer from plastic (?) bottles and lunch packages made from the hotel's breakfast buffet that fell apart in their paper wrappings after being tossed around for hours in our bags. Oh yes, and long busrides...

Alexander in battle, mosaic from Pompeji -
a still familiar viewpoint of history...

... transposed into "magnet" by Simon Wachsmuth
"Where we were then, where we are now", 2007

Celestial Teapot, 2006/07

Lukas Duwenhögger's proposal for a memorial site for the persecuted homosexual victims in the Third Reich

disgression concerning a noteworthy custom

In Styria - especially in the Southwest - summer weekends are readily dedicated to pilgrimages up a serpentine path; the destination of the travel being a so-called Buschenschank.

The term Buschenschank is composed of a) the Busch; meaning "bush" or "scrub", and b) Schank/Schenke; meaning "tavern" or "bar": in old times, a pine twig was attached above the door to indicate the bar was open. The drinks served, though, have nothing to do with pines, but with far more delicate plants: vines, of course.

Another famous term for Buschenschank, namely Heuriger (more typical for Vienna, Lower Austria and the Burgenland) renders more precisely the actual noteworthiness of the entire institution: heurig meaning "of this year" tells us that the wine served in a Heuriger is "young"; made during the last year. And, most importantly, a Buschenschank/Heuriger is allowed to serve only its own wine, must etc. Food is usually locally produced as well.

Despite the clarification of all this it remains rather difficult to render the pilgrim's bliss when sitting amidst the vine, the late summer sun in his face and a glass of some "noble drop" in his hand. Due to this dizzying kind of bliss the way home down the serpentine can actually prove to be quite adventurous, yet, faithful and loyal to Bacchus, the pilgrim humbly accepts all occurring hardships...

Old People's Home

Peng Yu & Sun Yuang: Old People's Home

Picture: Nicolas Lackner, Landesmuseum Joanneum

It was a cynical, eerie and saddeningly comical sight:

13 wheelchairbound wax dodderers dancing a hopelessly disorganized and clumsy ballet in some sort of arena inside the museum (Kunsthaus Graz).

Rolling towards the visitors with senile determination, stopping in time just to bump into each other and get stuck for good...

An old man looking like Arafat, fast asleep and drooping backwards, did not notice that he got pushed around in circles by some other semi-concious wheelchair driver, until visitors took pity on them and disentangled the tragicomic spectacle.

With white hair, age spots and wrinkles, these old men looked alarmingly real - you'd expect them to snore, or cough, or startle up. But - nothing. Still, the inanimate handicapped stirred up much puzzlement, compassion as well as reservation. Despite the inanimatedness of the mobile exhibits, visitors and museum staff involuntarily found themselves in the role of nurses and caretakers in the Old People's Home.

(One of the countless China-exhibitions at the moment: China Welcomes You, Kunsthaus Graz, until the 2nd of September)

blues

so...

here I am...

Austria is green and beautiful and comforting, liked it used to be.
The climbing plant under my window has finally reached the balcony.
My home smells like it used to and they still sell Mannerschnitten.

Everything is really fine except that I don't want to be here.

My mind is moving through change as gracefully as a cat thrown into the bathtub.

Pray for me... (I mean it)

1st week in Greece - Athens!

What a change, coming from quiet, idyllic Lund to a city like Athens!

Today is Sunday and it's quiet – no construction noises, few sirens, only the traffic of downtown Athens, the dogs and the birds. But the days before – my God! - it was crazy!

This city – how to describe it? - from the first two hours on I had the impression of it being an animal, constantly roaring, breathing, barking, booming, lurking about all around me. Half of Greece's population lives in this seemingly neverending concrete jungle. Although every big city is stressful and restless, Athens is so far the most extreme I've ever seen. It is fun, the first few days, to walk the streets in the constant alertness needed to make it in a big city. But then, when your feet start to automatically avoid dog poo, human pee or construction holes, you have the freedom to look up and see people's faces...

I admit that I forgot how much human appearance is shaped by the surroundings. In Athens, the unnerving chaos and madness of this city, and maybe also the hardships of life in Greece in general, have carved deep signs already in young people's faces. All seem to walk with difficulty from some sort of invisible weight. Especially women carry their worries in tilted basins and on rounded shoulders. What strikes me most, having lived almost a year in Sweden, is that almost everyone in this city looks unhealthy – apart from the stress of Athens' everyday life, let's not forget the abundance of cheap fast food, the daily consumption of meat, and the clouds of cigarette smoke that seem to engulf everything...
In a way, I feel very sad for what has happened to Greece – it becomes evident that this country was not really prepared for so-called “modernity”. Theo tells me that almost everyone here owes tremendous amounts of money to the banks (due to a scam organized by politicians, stock exchange companies and foreign companies in '99), and my innocent mind is still struggling with the fact that in a European country corruption and cheating are practiced on a daily basis. Politicians and companies do not even care to hide their money-making schemes from the public. All in all, it's sad.
Under all of this, though, I see amazingly lively and passionate people. So far, everyone I've encountered has been very warm and hospitable. It's refreshing to meet people who have their heart out on their jacket, and not burried under many layers that can only be passed through repeated proofs of trustworthiness. Also, I see that many people here carry in them a sort of faith like I have never witnessed before – it's not really dictated by doctrines or intellectual efforts, it comes directly from the heart (and I guess, it is also what saves them...)
I'm really looking forward to see more, since everyone tells me that Greece is wonderful, except for Athens...

huh?!

Some spammer added a comment/article to my post about my hometown Graz, telling me all the things I did already know about the city (and some of them I had already written). But here comes the funny bit: after mentioning the "excellent connection of Graz to Vienna Airport" (3 hours, haha!), the article says:

Graz is also noted for its excellent transport planning policies which have ensured the city benefits from efficient public transport, low levels of congestion and good environmental conditions.

Right under this - how should I call it? wishful thinking? - comes a picture of the inner city, drowned in smog.

I really don't know if this guy and me are talking about the same city. But you never know, maybe some things have changed in my absence?

Ah, I'm really looking forward to coming back...

the planet

Here are the links to an award-winning series of documentaries, called "The Planet".
The series aired on Swedish television, so don't be irritated by the Swedish commentators in the beginning, and the Swedish subtitles - everything else is in English and good quality. Enjoy!

The Planet - Part 1
The Planet - Part 2
The Planet - Part 3
The Planet - Part 4

touristic procrastination

Each time I go to Copenhagen, I have this plan in my head of things to do and see. But somehow I always end up having visited none of the points on my list, because I usually stumble upon something else that keeps me for hours.


This time: the Botanical Garden. This is like the most magical place on earth (if you assume that the earth ends somewhere around the borders of Copenhagen, humhum). And the little hill in the center is the place to go if you're in for some dazzling olfactory experiences... *mh!*

appendix & update

The cliffs near Ales Stenar

Afterword to my trip to southern Scania.
Not a lot of pictures.
Plus, I didn't take my camera to lovely Stenshuvud National Park.

Anyway.
I just hate stealing the illustrations for my blog from the Web...

My life here might be pretty idyllic, however, the topics I'm currently dealing with aren't. The spring term is nearing its end, the deadlines for papers, presentations and assignments are approaching, merciless professors are handing out even more papers, students are frantically working and missing the most beautiful days of the year :(

But, let's face it, I am learning a lot, right now...

Park at Häckeberga castle

I have just finished an enormously interesting book dealing with King Leopold's colonial terror regime in the Congo. In only ten years, the people working for the Belgian used up half of the Congo's population - an estimated 8-10 millions - in the chase for rubber and ivory.

Obviously, the other colonial forces wolfing down the African cake weren't any better. Still, cutting off heads and hands doesn't become an acceptable act, just because everybody does it.

The international movement against the Congo atrocities sprung from one man, E.D. Morel, and was one of the first and biggest, regarding human rights. Mark Twain participated in the Anti-Congo protest marches. Today, however, the whole story is forgotten.

All in all, Hochschild's book was a totally enjoyable and enlightening read:
King Leopold's Ghost

I am currently reading another high-class book for my course on religious terrorism:
Charles Kimball, When Religion Becomes Evil. Kimball presents five warning signs of corrupted religion, and tries to offer a series of correctives for each of them.

This course belongs, in a way, to one of these academic experiences that have deeply transformed my way of thinking, of researching, and my overall approach to relevant matters.

Let's face it - whether you're having a spiritual practice or not, whether you like religion(s) or not - they're gonna stick around for quite some time... And they are shaping our political, economical and social reality to such a great extent, that we ought to find a way to talk about and deal with these matters without being either afraid of being looked upon as a loony, nor ending up in the realm of blind beliefs, or total speculation.

Ales Stenar

With my group for this course, I am preparing the presentation of a Ugandan rebel/religious terrorist group, the LRA (Lord's Resistance Army). This group is (partly) responsible for one of the worst humanitarian emergencies worldwide - I doubt however, that anyone in the West has ever heard about it. Here is a blog on all recent developments: Uganda Watch

The deeper I delve into the subject, the crazier and hazier it gets. I ended up in a spider's web, where everyone seems to have their hands entangled in some dirty business.

The idea of a second, invisible reality known in many traditional myths, is often presented as an enormous spider's web that connects all beings, spirits, thoughts, places, and times.
Working here in Lund, I start to understand...

scanian paradise

Warning! All pictures are stolen - didn't have the time to upload my own - yet...

Since my days here in Sweden are numbered, I took the opportunity to explore more of the country this weekend. Scania can be so heartachingly beautiful!
The people may be a bit reserved, but nature definitely isn't - at least this time of the year - and shows off in its most provocant colour combinations: bright blue sky, painfully yellow rapeseed fields, imbedded in fresh greenery, framed by the dark blue Baltic Sea...

Häckeberga castle

Some idyllic lakes and castles on the way...

Ales stenar

Ancient stone monuments...

Stenshuvud National Park

... and a multitude of national parks.
Stenshuvud definetely is my favourite. The forest there seems to have been cut and pasted from a children's fairy tale book.

Not to mention the breathtaking atmosphere on top of the stonehead: the shoreline can be seen for several kilometres (nothing but fine white sand and according soundscape), there is wind, and wild birds, and peace.

Yep.

I hope Greece can keep up with that ;)

the march of the emperor

This is one of the most amazing (!) documentaries I have ever seen: March of the Emperor (La marche de l'empereur) . You can watch it here for free (bad sound, though, I'm sorry...)

Wikipedia tells me that the peguins started their journey around a month ago (90 kilometres to walk, for them that's approximately 40 days and more) to get to their breeding place. About now, they should have found their partners and mate. The girls will lay their eggs and walk back to the sea to find some food. The guys will have to wait for them with an egg between their feet, no food for more than 3 months, and additionally withstanding lethal windstorms and temperatures from -60° to -70° C...

This is why the Arctic explorer Cherry-Garrard said:

"Take it all in all, I do not believe anybody on Earth has a worse time than an Emperor penguin."

Oh - and you should definitely watch the following ad :D *lol*

being selfish

Now that the cold season is definitely over, I have to get myself used to people again. Spent most of the weekend in Copenhagen, being completely knocked out by the masses of bodies moving everywhere around me. Lund is such a cosy little place, I'm simply not used to having strangers stepping on my feet and breathing on my neck anymore. Not that I ever really did... Anyway, you know what I mean, don't you...

The result was that I spend 4 days longing for my bed from 10 in the morning; pathetic.
As always, Yoga did the trick.

I just burped out another depressing assignment on the terrorist's mind; very intellectual and too philosophical as usual, and - worst and much to the despair of my teachers - I do mean my idealist ideas...

Now I'm free to relax into my monday-evening-occupation: running my fingers through some luxurious, deliciously soft Alpaca wool and transforming it into a gorgeous, extra-light and extra-warm cardigan just for me-me-me! After all the work for everybody else (pullovers, bears and countless mittens for the shop) I feel like I want to start wrapping myself in handmade purls and stitches.

Yay, call me grandma.

up the little hill

The other day, up the little hill just before where I live, I could see the horizon again. I could smell the sea, and the wind was mild.

When you feel memories bubbling up, so old you probably didn't even exist when they were created,

when the warmth of the sun on your face wakes you up in the morning,

it's spring for sure.

A song that smells just as fresh and clean as spring-time:

baby born

The baby is born, finally!

It took its mommy 60.000 stitches to make, 9 kilograms of wool (although she's certain it weighs less, strangely enough), and 70 days of labour. It's got a front, a back, arms and cables and everything:

It's ready now to roam this earth with its new owner. Farewell, baby!

Ŝtrumpetoj malaperis!

Imagu, amikoj, loĝi en loko (apartamento, fakte) kie ĉiom da viaj vestoj malaperas ĉiom da tempo!

Hieraŭ, plia paro da miaj ŝtrumpetoj malaperis!
Tiuj estis belaj ŝtrumpetoj!
Estis tre belaj, purpuraj ŝtrumpetoj!
Fakte, estis la plej belaj ŝtrumpetoj en la tuta mondo!
Kaj nun, neniam mi povos porti ilin!

La knabinoj ambaŭ diras ke ili ne estas ŝtelistoj, sed mi trovas ke iliaj visaĝoj aspektas tre strange. Tro strange, fakte. Tial mi aktivigos mian esplorpovon kaj solvos la misteron! Estis unu paro de ŝtrumpetoj tro multa!

parsva bakasana!

Uncork the champagne!

Usually it's when you stop forcing them that things finally happen. That's what I have to keep telling myself whenever I practice the more challenging poses: stay playful and just try, but do give your very best.
So, when I suddenly felt my feet up in the air and my knee perfectly balanced on my arms this morning, I felt like... mmmh... I have tried parsva bakasana many times before, just to avoid the humiliation the next time I try to carry a beer crate up the stairs. And all these times, I remained clueless about how my crow should actually take off... I could do a crow, but a side crow requires even more strength, it seemed.

This is a beautiful pose. A wise person writes that it unites surrender and strength; and, well, he's right. It's everything; a nice twist for the lower back, a balancing pose, a tremendous strengthener for the torso, and a lot of fun because your body is in a totally unusual position - prepare to be startled...
You basically squeeze everything you have (legs together, knees to belly, feet to butt), you pull, you push, and when you feel like a muscular ball under high voltage, you simply lean forward - you trespass the point on which you fear that you might crash-land on your nose - and give yourself to gravity. Tada! And now the cherry on top: breath deeply.

it will pass...

"How are you?", a planet asks the earth.

"Ah, I'm not well at all", the earth replies. "I have homo sapiens."

"Oh, that one. I had it too - you'll see, it will pass..."

white!

How come people are always surprised by the weather?

How come Swedish people are surprised by the cold?
How come they are surprised by snow?

I just don't get it - we had 30 cm of snow yesterday (and a storm that almost blew our house away) and in the bus this was discussed so excitedly as if we were all living in the Sahara and snow was something totally alien...

And a strange Swedish lady advised as not to be stupid and stop those dangerous snow-fights at once! Who would have guessed that these balls of fresh, fluffy cold material can turn out to be lethal weapons?

clever ways to save money, part 1

Haha, so the friendly cosmetic surgeon asked me to remove the pictures that I had posted here a few weeks ago, because (see comments...) of my violation of his patient's privacy. This makes sense to me, since the photos of the lady are really really well hidden from the public sphere on his website... And I'm no criminal, so I'll undo my mistake and just put links.

Even if this man has done a wonderful job and you can't actually make out the tiniest evidence of his surgeon's knives even coming near her face, I'm a bit sceptical... I wonder if buying the same look (or a even worse one) for at least 1000€ isn't a bit expensive? So, people, even if the idea of transferring the fat from you behind into your cheeks and lips, or having holes cut into your eyelids, or getting your nose broken sounds oh-so-tempting - don't do it. But feel free to check the pictures of all the poor creatures who didn't get the warning in time - it's a lot of fun...

And here comes the lady who's privacy I hope I could now avoid violating (don't be shocked by the unbelievable non-alikeness, it IS the same person!)

Before After

P.S.: Dear mister surgeon, I'm sorry I am such a hopeless case. Maybe consider including this in your repertoire for people like me.

fences

I admit I haven't been a very assiduous blogger these days...

Coming back to Sweden was somehow difficult and simple at the same time - many friends are gone for good now, and I am soon entering the second half of my stay here. The days I still have to spend here are going to be less and less, and I don't know if I'm more freaked out by the fact that I will have to go, or happy to collect this experience...

In the last week of January, I found myself in an almost nightmarish situation. Have you ever dreamed of being on stage without any clue of what to say or do, not even knowing the character you should play? It was a little bit like this for me, when Oleg's friend Thomas asked me to participate in an Esperanto-concert this same day. I said yes and found myself on stage approx. 90 minutes later, playing songs I barely knew on an instrument I knew even less (Melodika), but it was fun - and definitely a challenge. I was surprised by my own coolness, hm.

At the moment, I'm desperately trying to find where my courses take place. It's Kafkaesque: no informations, no contact-persons, no schedules, no nothing. Also, when I finally think I found the place, I go there and I find that there is a completely different course going on. It seems that my lectures are like little animals that escape every time you think you caught them.

Yesterday I treated myself and decided to go and buy some food. I realized that I have been living on an almost empty fridge since I came back (don't worry, there are some people who care for me...). I guess it was the trauma of coming back and being expected to pay 4 Euro for 4 miserable tomatoes which has held me back from providing myself with edible stuff...

So far, I guess my life doesn't seem to be very exciting, but I tell you, the show is going on inside... Since I came here, I feel like I'm on a roller coaster, or some sort of highway of self-experience. I shake up the boundaries of what I think I am, or what I think things should be like almost everyday. It comes naturally to try different ways and although it seems all so small I am astonished by the results. I'm especially interested in all these things that are linked to this notion of "femininity" - I dug up a lot of strange ideas from inside myself of how women (and therefore me, too) are supposed to be, and I'm having fun challenging myself to disappoint my own expectations. For instance, who would have thought that it was so difficult for me to go out without make-up? ... -
So, I went out without make-up.
And observed.

Voices in my head telling me I'm the ugliest creature on earth and should rather go home and hide under the blanket. Insecurities I have no idea where they come from. I'm especially amused by this conviction of mine that one layer of mascara would change it all... And what happened, you'll ask? Nothing. No-one making fun of me or looking repulsed. Let's say: no-one even looking (ok, I'm in Lund...). So: I'm free to do it or leave it.

It got all so smooth since I started to consciously get the "what-could-people-think"-fence out of my way; so I keep going.

There's more things going on, but I keep them for another post (matter of holding up the suspense...)

where Downward Facing Dog is man's best friend...

Those of you who know me a little bit better, know it's pretty hard to stop me once I start jabbling about my N°1 passion. Yes, I am a citizen of the land of crows, downward and upward facing dogs, warriors, swans and other strange creatures...

But aside from poses with complicated names that make you look like a pretzel, even the simplest Yoga pose can have astonishing effects on your physical and mental condition. You can do it to gain strength, loose weight, relief pain, get really sweaty, encrease your respiratory volume, health, contentment or whatever other physical or psychological goal you may have. But the beauty of Yoga is, that here - for once - there's nothing to achieve in reality. You don't do it to be able to bite your toe-nails (unless you enjoy the taste). You do it for the sake of what it is - the joy of being alive.

So, if you want to give it a try: here's two podcasts I discovered a few months ago and which I find wonderful:

• YogAmazing: Rather short classes (approx. 20 min.) with a very passionate and sympathic teacher. I'd recommend it to beginners who have never tried Yoga before. Technical basics are well-taught, as well as psychological and philosophical approach.

• YogaToday: A long class (1h) every day. 3 different teachers, a lot of different styles, but the focus is always on the meditation in movement. Classes can get very vigorous - at least I sweat all the time - so to focus on security and your own limits is very important. In my eyes, the technical aspects are taught in a fantastic way; which gives you a bigger inview on how your body works, and enables you to move deeply into each pose. And you'll learn how to integrate what you learn on the mat into your everyday life (movements, actions, thoughts).

Happy New Year from Austria...

Happy New Year to all the Australians, Austrians, Americans, Belorussians, British, Canadians, Chinese, Finnish, French, Germans, Indians, Italians, Japanese, Mexicans, New Zealanders, Russians, Spanish, Swedes, Vietnamese, aaaand Greeks!
All the best to you!!!

I ate a lot of sweet fish-formed cookies, ...

... watched strangers hug and hugged many unknown people, ...

... and melted little tin-figures above a candle, ...

... threw them into a bowl of water ...

... and read the future in the bizzare forms...

It's going to be a year full of challenges, surprises, wise dogs, winged feet and blooming eggs...