When training the physical body in a gym, I know that results only occur slowly over time with discipline. Usually you have to overcome some muscle soreness to gain more endurance, strength and coordination. There is no miracle pill that you can take and just have all the desired results. If you think you are on the limit your trainer walks by you and maybe checks on your pulse only to say "yes, great continue. You are doing just fine." You trust the process and even though you had limited motivation to go back to the gym that day, you are walking out with more self esteem, faith and happiness that you have reached through the hard training. You slowly see the results in your life....

What about if you have to stretch beyond your body and train your mind and soul level? it is the same principle and the key is faith. Faith does not mean having any proof or evidence, it is nothing you can grasp on. Speaking for myself it is true that I believe my life is guided because so many times, all my plans got thrown over board and only when I gave up controlling my life, I was exactly at the place I needed to be. But to be honest, I don't have a clear concept of something called "God" and very little faith and trust to put my life into someone's hand that I don't perceive. I admire the people that have this unshaken faith. Some of my friends are going to Church regularly and it is interesting hearing them talking about their faith. For me this is the path where I have to learn faith right now. Every time I am demanding for confirmation and proof, any signs of evidence that things that I have hope for are becoming real, I am placed back onto the weight machine, have to work harder, sweat and trust that I can learn to have faith. A deep breath, some water and go again...

It is a process of starting all over again for me. Whenever I try to move faster, speed up things that I want, I have to slow down. Like for the physical body, there is no miracle pill for the soul and mind. When shaken to the ground, letting go of everything, I realize that this is the fastest way. I am afraid of letting go, I am afraid of loosing things that I wanted so much in my life and I am afraid of loosing control, of being in control. But that is my experience what is needed right now for me to gain a deeper sense of faith and trust. To grow spiritually and have a sense of my whole self. I don't know any easy way of this process, this is my experience and training of body, mind and soul. Every time I worked through it, every time I am walking out of the physical or spiritual gym, I feel happier, more in my power and slowly see the desired results. 

What does it take to live a happy life? Is happiness the goal of a fulfilling life? What means happiness?

I am very happy to be currently back on Maui. I love being in a warm climate, getting up with a beautiful sunrises and spend most of the time outside. I love having a balanced life between being physical active, spending time with friends, having time on my own and work. Since I am currently working on my book and can write from any place in the world, I feel that I have it all this time on Maui.

Happiness for me does not mean striving for a life without challenges. It is more like a hike up the mountain.Every step is the path to the top and sometimes it is steep, sometimes slippery and there is never a short cut that leads right to the top. Going the path, being on the hike means happiness for me.

Yesterday I had been windsurfing far out in the ocean, just cruising with a friend. All of the sudden we saw a whale about two hundred meters away from us. We both got so excited and were impressed by the splash when he had  hit the big tale on the water. He made our day but we didn't know that it would just get better...

We were heading back towards the beach while all of the sudden I almost run over Mama-whale. I had not seen her at all, there were many white caps on the water. I was so surprised that almost fell in. Yes,  live can be sometimes pretty much a hike with lots of surprises. And they always appear when you expect them at least. Not enough: the baby whale jumped right next to us!

With the impressive big body and power of the whales being so close to us, all the more I did not ignore the little signs and miracles: there were flying small fishes jumping around me and one landing on my shoulder. I enjoyed the reflection of the sunshine in the water, I didn't miss out the breath taking landscaping and the beauty of Haleakala in the the background. I didn't have my camera and that moment can only be captured in my memory but what I learned is that being in the Tao, in the flow of life, means open wonder and seeing everything from all aspects of life.

Happiness is not something you can create with a recipe. Happiness is something that is always available; the question is how to access it. How much are we willing to go through challenges that are only here to bring forth all dimensions that exactly makes the beauty of the mountain.

The last few weeks have been little rough for me. I was returning to Switzerland after a great time on Maui. Can't say that Switzerland was bad at all but definitely challenging. Even though we had a lot of snow  early this year in Switzerland and it was relatively cold which can be so beautiful in the mountains, in Murten the sun hardly ever pushed the fog away. I was working a lot on my book (which will come out hopefully this year) and with clients and thus didn't have time to escape to the mountains. Then the flu was going around and the days for snowboarding were counted.

I had put a lot of effort into a procedure where I would be able to work with clients that get paid from the insurance but just as the year ended, I got the News that I was not accredited. Which seemed a frustration first is actually  a great chance to follow my dreams now. If I would have been accepted, I could not have taken easily the time out on go to Maui; it would have meant being in Switzerland and work full time as a massage therapist. Even though I love my work and am so grateful for all the clients that always come back and all the trust, I know deep inside that my office in Switzerland is not my dream as a full time job...

I had to become real and ask myself: what are my dreams?

I have many dreams and even when life is challenging I never gave up hope on my dreams. I know my dreams quite well, the only difficulty is that sometimes I am lacking faith and trust when everything in my life seems going a different way. I almost lost hope this time when I had to stretch myself further than my normal comfort zone... trusting with faith in a future I have no direct proof or evidence for was the difficult lesson to learn. But exactly this challenge had reminded me again to live up for my name (Nadia means hope) and not give up hope.

With the new year, I see a new chapter in my life: I have packed my"whole life"  into two suit cases again and am currently back on Maui. Not planing directly anything or searching for security where I would know exactly what my next steps would look like; this time it is time to let go, be real and keep focusing on my dreams. I have more hope than ever that this year many of my dreams become reality...Here I am again, riding the waves of live (sometimes with the challenges but with all the joy of the "MauiTouch-signature move")!

Before I was going back to Maui this fall I was staying in Switzerland for a few months and finally realized how much I loved Switzerland and Europe as well as Maui and the States. So far I have been running, always waiting for places that would offer me what I was looking for....The problem was that I didn't quite know what I was looking for.

Of course I always loved Maui and the the beautiful warm climate invited my body to feel good. The sport, mainly windsurfing, was the call that was irresistible. Whenever a year passed that I was unable to go back to Maui, I felt sad and impatient until I had the flight ticket in my hands again. Sometimes I was unhappy wherever I was at that moment in my life and Maui was the perfect solution; I always thought I would leave any problems behind...Big mistake: Maui has such a strong energy that you will be sure whatever you are dealing with in life will come to the surface just as the lava flow as soon as you put your feet on the island.

Over the past few years Maui had been the best teacher for me. It has not always been easy and people at home would just think that I would go on vacation. I had always felt supported and after my first trip to Maui years back, I already had great friends. Every time I went back to Maui, I received more. Not in the form of the currency money but in a subtle way that things I wished for in my life just happened. Sometimes I didn't see it right away but when looking back now I clearly realize how lucky I have always been.

My return to Maui this year was different than in the past: I finally stopped running. I was looking very much forward to going back to Maui but also felt at peace where I was. I felt home wherever my heart was beating.

Maui welcomed me back like always and once I arrived on the island I was so happy. I was able to windsurf again, be with friends and enjoy all that Maui offers. I had a really good time but it was unexpected shorter than I had planned. I had to work through another process and knew that I had to leave Maui.

Acting from my mind did not work any longer and within a very short time I confronted many issues that I feared most in my life. I knew that I had to stop running, turn around and confront my issues. It has been challenging and again nothing seems logical but like a rainbow shows off in all colors, I feel experiencing all the colors in life now. There is not only black and white and the sun does not always shine. But without sun, without rain the rainbow would not be created.

Luckily Maui meant it so good with again and invited me back. After spending a wonderful time and Christmas with family in Switzerland, I am heading back to Maui for a short time to enjoy the waves of life again...

What is meditation?

Finding a secret place? Sitting still? letting go of the mind? Focus on the "inner part" of your body? Be in nature? Live in the moment?...

There are many understandings, imaginations, senses and definition of what meditation means... Here is one definition by Wikipedia online:

Meditation is a discipline in which the mind is focused on an object of thought or awareness. It usually involves turning attention to a single point of reference. The practice may engender a higher state of consciousness. ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meditation

When I recently dropped deeper into a state of meditation I had an experience that was instead of being aware of things around me, thinking process, feelings or focus on breathing, I found myself on a different level: rather than creating a mediation and work with the energies, I allowed myself to feel what is already there. Effortless and most interestingly letting go of all focus. I experienced that when I was able to "shut down" the senses I am usually using (like hearing the sound around me, see the candle's light, smelling the carpet, feeling emotions or pay attention to breathing), I experienced a stillness where was nothing but everything.

I probably have read in many books about similar experiences, learned about "enlightenment" or tried to understand what people were trying to describe with "stillness". It is like learning a language: As kids, we hear the word and make a connection to an event which we perceive through any of our senses, so we would understand and learn the meaning of a word. It is a learning process with thinking involved and through practice we automate the process until we have a picture for example of a dog and can use the word "dog" to express ourselves.

Since we were born, we perceive our environment through our senses (if we have the ability to see, we will see the dog. If we are blind, we are sensitive to perceive our environment through kinesthetic sense for example). We learn from our care takers the appropriate word and automate the picture/sense/feeling etc. in connection with the word and through practice: we learn a language that allows us to communicate through words with people that speak the same language.

Similar to meditation where we get instructions from books, Cd's or workshop, we are trying to usually "learn" how to meditate. The easiest way is to let go of the mind and thinking process first. For example we learn how to pay attention to our breathing...but in fact we are just switching our focus to a different sensation: instead of thinking (which involves perceiving somehow the pictures in our mind), we pay attention to breathing. Our Focus might no longer be in past or future events, we concentrate on the current breathing. This is a helpful step and let us be more "present", moving complex thinking processes that are not present in that very moment to the background. But focus on breathing is still a process of perception (through senses) and thus I experienced it as a hindrance to completely let go of the mind..

What I dropped into was a state like similar to learning a language where the picture (perception) and word is one. Nor learning to word in connection with repetition and practice but rather just knowing... A language where there are no words anymore but everything can be named and known. Difficult to explain and I guess the key is that there is no learning but just dropping into and experience.

To give some guidelines, just image knowing what a dog is when hearing the word before you ever had a picture or correlation to the animal. Sounds impossible? give it a try....

Der Wettkampf steht vor der Tuer…Viele Teilnehmer werden es auch dieses Jahr wieder sein, die sich das Rennen waehrend unterschiedlich langen Vorbereitungsphasen zum Ziel gesetzt haben. Die Motivationen dafuer moegen verschiedene Ursachen haben; fuer den einen ist es nur das mitmachen und die Atmoesphaere erleben, fuer den anderen eine Herausforderung der anspruchsvollen Strecke und fuer den einten oder anderen als erster ins Ziel zu kommen. Doch wie kommt man eigentlich zum Ziel?

Taeglich erleben wir immer wieder Situationen, die uns entweder inspirieren und Anspornen oder denen wir am liebsten ausweichen. Irgend etwas haben wir uns immer zum Ziel gesetzt. Sei es nun koerperlich gesund zu sein, finanzielle Wuensche zu erfuellen oder Erfuellung in der Familie und Partnerschaft. Sie alle beinhalten Aspekte, die wir uns nach unseren Wuenschen zum Ziel setzen. Je staerker der Wunsch, umso mehr mag am Anfang die Motivation sein, doch mit staendigen Rueckschlaegen scheint das Ziel jeweils mehr und mehr in den Hintergrund zu ruecken. Woran liegt es, dass wir uns immer wieder etwas vornehmen aber es dann doch lieber auf den naechsten Tag verschieben?

Irgendwann fuehrt zu nirgendwo. Obwohl wir uns alle Muehe geben, scheinen wir endlos zu scheittern bis wir unser Ziel der Hoffnungslosigkeit frei geben. Das groesste Problem liegt schon beim ersten Schritt der Zielsetzung: Was setzen wir uns eigentlich zum Ziel- das ist die Frage, die uns ganz klar und deutlich erscheinen muss. Durch unendliche Einfluesse und Interaktionen mit unserem Umfeld werden wir immer wieder angespornt eine Leidenschaft fuer etwas zu entdecken. Auch die Motivation die es braucht um das Ziel zu erreichen ist automatisch da. Ploetzlich ist es zum Beispiel der Nachbar, den wir heimlich vom laufen nach Hause zurueck kehren sehen, waehrend wir uns der morgendlichen Tasse Kaffee widmen. Sein Koerper ist fit und er hat ein Lachen auf dem Gesicht waehrend wir uns Gedankenversunken und stirnrunzelnd ueber die Tageszeitung beugen. Eigentlich waehren wir ja auch gerne schon lange mal wieder laufen gegangen aber da war grad mal wieder ein Termin, unpassendes Wetter oder der Koerper streikte. Wir entscheiden uns also dann fuer den Spaziergang irgendwann morgen…

Immerhin wissen wir nun, dass wir eigentlich auch einmal wieder an die Frische Luft gehen wollten und je mehr wir die Tatumsetzung zurueck halten umso groesser wird die Euphorie: Nun ist es ganz klar, den Murtenlauf zu gewinnen wird das Ziel! Die Schritte dazu vergessen wir...Wuerde man ein Kind fragen, wird es mit Sicherheit und ohne Zweifel sich als Gewinner sehen koennen. Kinder sind unbefangen, versetzen sich in ihrer Phantasie in alle moeglichen Situationen und Wuensche sind ohne Grenzen. Egal ob es das teuerste Auto ist, Koenig zu sein oder gleich vier Computer auf einmal. Doch der Wunsch alleine fuehrt nicht zum Ziel, denn unser Umfeld setzt Regeln und Limiten. Was wir aber von den Kindern lernen koennen, ist der Glaube den sie haben wenn sie zum Beispiel eine Weihnachtsliste ausfuellen. Doch fuer die Umsetzung braucht es Fokus, denn zu viele Ziele auf einmal verlieren sich im Dschungel. Die Eltern zum Beispiel wissen nun, dass sie ihrem Kind einen Hund zu Weihnachten schenken wollten (das Ziel ist klar). Doch nun muessen sie handeln und Schritt fuer Schritt die notwendigen Taten dazu angehen. Das heisst sie muessen ins Auto steigen, ins Tierheim fahren, den Hund aussuchen und zugleich zu Hause alle notwendigen Vorbereitungen treffen. Versuchen wir zuviel auf einmal, verliert unser Ziel den Fokus und wir werden aufgeben.

Sobald wir unser Ziel ins Auge gefasst haben und die Handlungen dazu unternehmen, werden wir feststellen, dass wir nicht immer gleich auf Anhieb den Weg zum Ziel finden. Zum Beispiel wird es Stau auf der Strasse haben oder eine Umleitung, vielleicht wird sogar das Auto an dem Tag aussteigen, dennoch wissen wir, dass wir irgendwie zum Ziel kommen werden. Das groesste Problem tritt dann auf, wenn wir unsere Umwege als Scheittern verurteilen. Immer wenn wir etwas nicht gerade so erreichen wie wir es sofort wollen, tendieren wir dazu aufzugeben. Der Schluessel zum Erfolg jedoch liegt im Training: Vergleichbar mit einem Muskel, setzt man sich zwar zum Ziel die maximale Leistung bringen zu koennen, doch dafuer muss man trainieren und trotz “Plateau-Phasen” nicht aufgeben. Misserfolg ist normal und der beste Wegweiser zum Ziel, denn immer wo man merkt, dass es nicht funktioniert, kann man neue Strategien anwenden.

Die meisten lassen sich durch Misserfolge entmutigen. Die Angst vor erneuten Niederschlaegen und eventuellen Blamagen verhindern ein neuer Ansatz von vornherein. Schnell kommen dann eben tausend Ausreden und man gibt lieber auf oder setzt sich ein neues Ziel. Die Angst vor Scheittern laesst uns scheittern bevor wir anfangen. Wer flexibel bleibt, sich die Wege sucht, immer wieder probiert und das Ziel vor Augen behaelt wird nicht aufgeben und mit Erfolg im Ziel sein!

I just finished reading the book "Glueck und Schicksal", Herrad Schenk, which discusses the feasibility of fortune and destiny. It is an approach to highlight the question of how much we can plan our life and how much we are/or not in charge of our success, fortune or destiny.  Interesting to me was reading how the human history has developed certain thinking patterns or possibilities to support ideologies and answers to essential questions and life searching debates.

For example was the belief that God is in charge of everything and thus everything is good the representative explanation and conclusion for sorrow, fate and incidents. This main believe had given hope that no matter how the human race would succeed on earth and struggle through life, there would always be a chance for salvation in heaven, at least for those that behave like God expects. The conclusion and response from the environment was compassion for others. No one wanted to be punsished from God. And this was a main believe that if you don't care for others as much as yourself, you will end up in hell. If someone would suffer, everyone should be alert and care since it can happen to all of us. Recently, with the so called New-Age movement, people started to take responsibility and believe that everyone is responsible for their own luck/failure. Illness is seen as something that is consciously or unconsciously created and everyone is responsible for being sick or healthy, successful or failure. With this approach, the church and its whole constitution moves closer to the background. There is no God in charge and we are not innocent on how our life develops. The believe is that the harder we try, the more effort we put in, the harder we work, the better we will succeed. We are in charge, full responsible and in control of everything. Reality shows that this is never the case; we might see some improment and desired outcomes where we believe to be in control, but lack of the power, knowledge or whatever we believe to be the responsible source, for things that turn out to be different.

The book goes on with lots of details, explanations and true life stories. It is especially interesting to read all those conceptions and understandings of how history, culture and circumstances formed our believe system. It is clear that every believe is changing and we are in a constant search for the perfect explanation. Are we heading towards more perfectionism in our world that constantly strives for more? Why do some people get sick and other don't? Why can some people heal while others die? What is the reason of death; is it the perfection after a life of learning and growing or a new beginning or just the end of the beginning?... There are lots of thoughts that have touched my mind and especially in my profession, working with clients that search healing and support, it is not easy to find a clear definition and explanation for diseases. 

My question remains how can I support my clients in the best way... Today's expectations on doctors and medicine are huge. Most people believe that the doctor is responsible for cure. There is an endless search for the cause/reason of illness and we don't give up until the convicted is found. Only if we can explain the cause and what went "wrong", we can strike for more perfection and improvement.

As a self employee with educations from all over the world, I don't have the status here in Switzerland to roll the bill over to the insurance companies. All of my clients are paying on their own. This is what I think makes already a big difference: if you have to pay, invest your time and sometimes do the "homework" that I recommend, there is definitely a great effort, trust, faith of the client towards more well-being and the desired result. Is this only a logical action of the situation described above; that we all see ourselves as responsible, as in charge and with our effort, intention and willpower we can reach everything? From my perspective, my clients found a balance between self care, self responsibility, hope and prevention that supports their own power for healing. Whether giving our life completely blind into someone else's hand or demand responsibility from everyone else, nor the attempt of pure willpower and force on our own can successfully lead to longterm satisfaction and happiness. I believe that yes, responsibility is the key to destiny. But against the world wide common opinion that responsibility  is linked with strong judgement and conviction, I support the idea of "duty free". What I mean by that is that we should honestly stand up for ourselves with all consequences and responsibility for our action but instead of judging, justifying and blaming, we could also try to simply acknowledge and accept. We cannot change the past, we can learn from it and change the future.

Yesterday I celebrated my 34th birthday. The number does not so much matter to me nor that I am getting older and older. But while it was easier to write about my dad's birthday (see previous post), I have to be honest and share my true feelings here: Birthday is a day that always feels strange and somehow special to me.

First in the morning I had the chance to eat a wonderful breakfast with my parents and like traditionally in our family, the table is always set up special with the gifts as a surprise. Yes, for that matter I am still a kid and am always looking very much forward to the presents. Isn't it wonderful to receive gifts from people that have specific thought about the birthday child and with their own ideas, inspiration and creativity showed how much they care...For me it doesn't matter much if it is something that has a great value in the meaning of the currency money or if is something made by hands: most important that it comes from the heart, even made last minute. I am always very touched by how many people haven't forgotten my special day and feel their love. I love to read all the e-mails and cards and am surprised that my friends care even though I am never at one place long enough to keep the friendship on an intense level. But luckily today, we have the chance to communicate through computer and I am sure that simply thinking of each other keeps the connection.

When I received a beautiful lamp for my living room and a voucher for my future bicycle on Maui from my parents, I felt so much appreciation that I had to fight against tears. Rick, my boyfriend, was back in USA but had left a surprised that my parents had hidden until that morning: a wonderful basket with lots of goodies (ahem, yes I do love chocolate sometimes.. :) )was on the table and while I was reading is card, I could not hold back my tears any longer. Strange, why do I feel such ashamed when crying in front of people? I could buy all those things by myself but that is not the point: receiving with appreciation is a true challenge!

But the day has 24 hours and the surprises didn't end: there was a sweat card with a book from a client and even late at night before the day ended I received a beautiful ring unexpected from a friend. Not enough, today, a day after my emotional day, I received more mails from people and am really fulfilled and happy until my next birthday...I only hope that I can spend more time, and not only on my birthday, with my loved ones!

Now I understand better why some people just want to sleep through their birthdays or make it invisible: if you are really open to feel and appreciate the smallest things and be open, you will automatically deal with emotions. Sometimes this will be a wonderful feeling of surprise and other times this will be disappointments of unfulfilled expectations.

Is is easier, at least it seems to be, to forget about the birthday and just take it like any other day. In fact, it might not even be so important that it is the real day when we were born some times ago, but the day where we feel that we are "special". In reality, an emotional special day brings us closer to our true feelings and I encourage everyone to challenge the birthday if it has been a "boring" day in the past. A card that I had received said it so right:

"Do you really think that you are special because it is your birthday?...

That's not true...."

(and then on the inside):

"you are every day something special!!!"

Rotary Club Murten, "Peter-Jeger-Stiftung", the "Segelfluggruppe Freiburg" and many volunteers, organized a two week meeting for ten youths from different countries of Europe. Since someone had canceled last minute, I had the chance to participate in the camp. I had never been flying in a gilder before and even though I am flying a lot with commercial airplanes, I never had the idea to visit the small airport "Bellechase" near by (in Switzerland). I had been flying with a balloon, smaller aircrafts and helicopters before but gliders are different: they don't have a motor...

Our family was one of the six host families that offered accommodation and food for the boys/girls. Cagri (from Turkey) and Victor (from Rumania), which were staying with us, were very much open minded and interested in the gliding and Swiss culture. During the camp, I made friends with all the young, new "pilots" and learned a lot about each family, heritage, culture and their motivations and goals. We all were new when it came to flying gliders and while some of them had some relatives or friend that had recommended the camp, others just wanted to lean something new. For me, the motivation to learn gliding was to experience the feeling of being in a small aircraft und have direct influence on the course. Every single move you do has a direct influence on how the plane moves in the air and which direction it is going.

Sitting in the back first...but already for the second flight in front.

From the first day on, we could sit in the back of a two seater (Duo Discus or DG 505) glider. During the first flight, either Emil, Patrick, Adrian or Yanik (the four instructors) were sitting in front and we could enjoy a short flight. The plane was pulled by a motor aircraft first, up to about 1200 meters. Then, the yellow handle in the plane is pulled and we were gliding freely in the air. I could not get enough, looked to the right and left, searching for all the places that i only knew from biking on the ground. But slowly I learned that this was tricky: the more you look to the side in the beginning, the more you can feel it in your stomach. This was true at least for me and just before the landing...well, I save the details here :). The next flight in the afternoon was already the front seat for us: we were able to hold the stick and feel the motions and actions of the instructor.

Flying behind the towing aircraft

Every evening there was an event and meal, organized from different families. During the day in the camp, Petra and Family Ehrsam were in charge of the food and always surprised us with great goodies. Most youths were between 18 and 20, girls and boys and different religions, background and lifestyle but we all connected in a great way. It is not easy to leave home for the first time, be in a different country, not knowing anyone and yet going for an adventure with excitement. Sometimes feeling a bit homesick or maybe even being happy to be away and leave problems from the home far away...

The message of the camp "Peace on Earth" was taught in this beautiful way: no matter which language you speak, where you are coming from or what your worries are...we all can manage to learn together, learn from each other and step closer to our personal and community goals. If everyone of the participants, volunteers or organizers take this message home, we have more peace on earth.

Thank you all again!

I was lucky to spent almost the whole winter on Maui where the temperature doesn't change too much between the different seasons. Even though a sweater is sometimes needed at night, the days are still warm and sunny most of the time and a dive into the ocean is always possible. Maui has many different climates and you can choose between desert, rainforest, beach , mountain and be in a total quiet environment distant to the busy world. Or you can enjoy being with friends  and look for more popular places where people gather together.

Since Maui is close to the equator, the daylight is more or less the same throughout the whole year. In summer sunset is after 7pm and in the winter a bit earlier. The whole lifestyle on Maui seem to be adjusted to the nature natural rhythm: Live starts with the sunrise (of course because a lot of people love to surf early in the morning) and ends when it gets dark. For this matter, 9pm is called Maui-midnight there. Somehow I feel tired earlier on Maui and usually I am going to bed early as well. Sunshine, water and surf balances my body, mind and soul and gives me the feeling of happiness, joy, relaxation and power. A lot of people starve for this rhythm and desperately crave for more vacation. Reality, at least in Switzerland, is that most people only have a few weeks holidays per year. But what is real-reality? Well, this is another subject and it would be interesting to write/read more about this... The fact is, that my choice of being "on vacation" for so long on Maui isn't just vacation in the meaning of spending some time off from work. In my business, work is an ongoing education and has many different paths with choices to choose from. When I started to get into bodywork (my first experience before the massage was a Reiki I course), I looked at many different options and how I could best possible complete an education. That time I wasn't sure what exactly I wanted to become and after finishing school with the general qualification for university entrance, I first took some time off and went to Australia for windsurfing.

Thinking that traveling and being away from home or taking time off is just vacation is a mistake. This time off offered me to chance to learn much more in daily interactions and experiences than any classes could have possibly ever offered. Of course, there is no pressure of exams, discipline or predetermined subjects to learn. But there was always a chance every day, every moment to learn, experience and deal with situations. All of the sudden English was fun for me to learn and I enjoyed the interaction with different cultures and people. As much as there was excitement, there was also fear, discourage and struggle. But overall, I returned home enriched and happy and finally took some time off...

I thought I would find my path by going to the university and study psychology which really fascinated my mind. So I signed up at the University in Bern. The classes were full and often time we had to sit on the floor. It was much different than school; the professors hardly even knew any students personal. I felt like a number and spend most of the time home reading and studying because it didn't really matter whether I was present or not. My motivation started to drop more and more and after the first semester I was giving in: I followed my heart and found a different way of reaching my goals. The question was, what was my goal...Sure I had some interest in studying psychology, behaviors and function of the body. Beside making money with small jobs, I started taking individual classes and followed my intuition and advices of friends. Surprisingly, there was no thing like "the one way" or the "perfect education". I experienced that everyone has different views, expectations and choices when it comes to business and in general life situations.

During all the years, I had continued with education and have chosen the path that allows me to create the balance between work, time off, sport, hobbies etc. I continue traveling, "taking time off" on Maui and commit to offer best possible support for people who seek the balance for body, mind and soul. I am very grateful to have this opportunity and appreciate all my clients, friends, family and occurrences that support my path and let all my dreams come true.

If you ever feel like stuck, if you doubt your path, question your daily routine or fixed patterns: TAKE SOME TIME OFF! I would love to hear about your trips, experiences and new inspiration of YOUR time off...

Birthdays, Mother's days, Christmas, Easter... you name it, always an occasion to celebrate and bring people closer together. As infants, the attention and closeness plays an important role on such events. Kids seem to be most impressed by the gifts and as teenager maybe a kiss from the lover is the biggest thing for celebration. What counts when we get older? Is it the food that we are mostly looking forward to? Is it the preparation and excitement of parties we put together or simply tradition that we celebrate as a day off work?

What happens if we put such a day "out of context"? All of the sudden Mother's day become an every day project where we appreciate our parents... or a birthday that is "nothing" special becomes a surprise social gathering?

June 9th, my dad's 69th birthday was such a "normal" Monday that started "usual" with having breakfast together, giving hugs and some gifts. The day went on and nothing special happened until in the evening my boyfriend and I invited my mother and dad to a restaurant to dine out. Strange things occurred before: for example the dog had supposedly  eaten the birthday cake or Rick had taken in the car to repair the brakes just before we wanted to go to the restaurant. My dad  was first surprised by the new restaurant that has opened but with a little trick everything seemed to be "normal"... Only my mom and I were busy in the kitchen and busy carrying food to the car and driving it off to a secret place.

My dad was dressed up and we were all ready to take off. Only Rick was still at the car dealer's place and of course Homer (the dog) was at home because he rolled outside in a field full of dung. My dad gives me the keys and we are heading towards that "new restaurant". The way, of course, goes along the "Murtenwald" (forest) but no worries we have a map:

"Strange, there is no such way..." my dad says. He educates me that after the "Huette" no traffic is allowed. Great, this is the way I am choosing! I comment with "there is smoke near the "Huette" and look at how busy this place is..." But my dad is still focused on the map and wants to move on. Not even my car, parked right in front of the "Huette" (made-up to be at the car dealer's place) can get his attention. Since there is no traffic allowed after the "Huette", I park on the side and can tell that my dad gets impatient... "common, lets go", he remarks now with more determination. I open the door and there comes Homer the dog joyful running towards us. A bunch of people are standing around the fire, beam with joy and greet the birthday boy... my dad almost has tears and is so surprised and of course we all greatly enjoyed the evening with friends and family.

THANK YOU ALL AGAIN FOR COMING AND THIS GREAT PARTY!!!

You can find more pictures of this event in my photoalbum.

Sometimes surprised are more exciting than anticipation and planning ahead. The moment of surprise, even though most of the time just lasting a few seconds, often have a much deeper impact and evoke a long lasting memory. We all know and learn from Childhood on that Christmas for example is always on the same date in December. Depending on our expectations and eagerness, we count the days and time relatively stretches into more hours; time seem to be endless. Once the day is there and we are in the middle of the joy, time shrinks into a few minutes and everything we really enjoyed seemed to be over much faster.

Surprises are at short notice but last long term. Planing ahead is a long term project but most of the time don't leave the same impression as spontaneousness. One reason we might not have the same intensity of emotions when planing ahead lies in the disappointment we  experience when not everything turns out to be as we had planned: We are disappointed when our expectations don't match reality. The other reason could be that we already experience everything in our mind when planing long term ahead. We think about the same action over and over again with few changes we create in our mind. This technique is very real and is actually part of mental training in sport performance and business strategies. Whatever we think is creation and can become real. Our body reacts to thought and feelings and conscious or not, we live through the situation in our mind. This is why a spontaneous act as a surprise, hopefully pleasant, can be "shocking" (new) for our system and along with all the excitement and endorphins create a long term memory effect.

I am looking forward to hear about your experiences that have left a special memory...

Eating is a daily task and almost everyone deals with some eating issues. Can’t forego the piece of chocolate or stop eating bred after finishing the first slice? Are you a late night eater or skip breakfast? Not only the image of the women that is forced to be in shape and seemed to be more concerned with figure control, men also deal with eating issues. Eating issues mostly develop through emotional behaviors. Stress, boredom, frustration, excitement and many other emotions cause eating habits that result in a change of body weight.

What is your experience with emotional eating?