My Path to Yoga

I was about 15 years old when I first got in touch with Yoga, back then I suffered from strong migraine attacks. My Doctor suggested that I try yoga for relaxation, on his recommendation I visited to my first Yoga Class. 

I was completely new to yoga and I remember I felt a bit funny doing the different postures, especially the breathing techniques. My Mum joined me for the class and I had to hold myself back to not starting to laugh. Nevertheless afterward I felt the benefits, I was more relaxed and simply felt good. I didn't practice regularly and with time I lost sight of the practice.

My next journey into yoga began in Sydney, two and a half years ago. One of the benefits of modeling is that I am able to travel the world for work. Luckily it brought me to Australia, which had a huge impact on my yoga journey.

Everything happens for a reason and if I look back on my life events, I see the connection in each of them. 

Typically as a model going to Australia, I stayed in Bondi Beach. Let me define Bondi for those who are not familiar with it.

Bondi is a beautiful tiny and fun hipster suburb in Sydney. It's full of healthy brunch places, coffeeshops (I love the coffee culture Down Under), Surfers and of course yoga studios.

From a disliking-coffee-person, I turned into a coffee-loving-yogi. Bondi has one of the most famous Australian beach called Bondi Beach. Dress Code in Bondi? Swimwear, barfoot or sports clothes. 

Australians also call it the ”Bondi Bubble” because you literally live in a bubble and you barley leave it. Honestly, I loved my little bubble, yes I got a little stuck there, but I had all I needed and I loved spending time in Bondi.

My friend motivated me to sign up for a Yoga membership next door. We ended up going every day, sometimes even twice a day.

Our morning routine became waking up early, getting an almond cappuccino and attending an early yoga class. Yes, it sounds cliche, but if I think back on it, it was such a great time and experience which still makes me smile. 

Bondi beach is a place, where people work out at 6 am or even earlier. I NEVER thought that I would be able to wake up that early just to go to a yoga class and I also had no intention of doing it. Guess what, after a while, I gave it a try. I woke up at 6 am to go to a Sunrise Yoga class.

I felt the magic of early morning hours and understood why people are in love with it.

It is a beautiful way to start the day with the sunrise, to see the first rays of light and watch how everything slowly wakes up. A sense of peace fills the air at that time. 

This experience taught me to be open to new experiences and try new things, especially if they are out of my comfort zone. I am happy I stepped out of my comfort zone, otherwise, I would have missed this wonderful experience. 

Now I say ”Yes I will try”, instead of ”No, I can't.”

I love the quote:  ”You are confined only by the walls you build yourself”

In the beginning, my main driving force to practice yoga was the physical benefits. I wanted to be in perfect shape and I knew that yoga would help me with that. My Practice was very fitness orientated. Through daily consistent practice, I felt not just a positive shift in my body, but with my overall well being. I felt more calm, content, peaceful and happy.

As time passed I recognized that yoga helped me on my path of reconnecting with my Body.

I found in yoga a way to heal my body and mind.

A long time I was fighting against my body and it was hard for me to accept my body as it was. My Body Image was negative, even though I was very thin. I was striving to achieve an unhealthy body shape and even if I reached a certain amount of weight it was never enough.

Through yoga, I started to listen to myself again and to be kind and compassionate with myself. It is very therapeutic to be on the mat, to move, to feel and to stretch my body.

After Australia, I kept on doing my own yoga practice at home and it became part of my daily routine.

I was very lucky to attend a yoga meditation retreat in Bali, which changed my life in a positive way. At the retreat, we only practiced Kundalini Yoga.

In Kundalini Yoga you practice different breathing exercises, physical postures and chanting and meditation to unlock and awaken the kundalini energy, which lies coiled, serpent-like, at the base of the spine. It is a powerful tool to reprogram your mind if practiced consistently. 

After Bali I went through many transformations, I stopped watching TV, started to read a variety of self-improvement, self-awareness, and spiritual books and started to meditate daily. I constantly increased and worked on my self-awareness and started to do more things that made me feel good about myself and be happy.

I learned, that the time you invest in yourself, is the best investment you can make. 

It was the first time that I practiced Kundalini Yoga, I personally love it. In my opinion, it is the most powerful and transforming style of yoga you can do.

On my retreat, I met two girls, who worked as yoga teachers, which I found very inspiring and I could imagine to do it as well.

It seemed like yoga started to follow me along my path. 

My experience in Bali encouraged me a lot to continue going my own way and listening to myself. I want to do things in my life, that feels good for me, which makes me feel alive and fulfills me.

I felt the urge to have a new experience, that's why I decided to go last summer to Istanbul. I wanted to go to a place, where I've never been before and where I don't know anyone. I wanted to be free and have no obligations towards others. Somehow I had Istanbul in my mind and I asked my agency to send me there for work. 

The process of organizing everything was quite fast and one month later I was on a plane to Istanbul. Funny enough my apartment was 10 mins by walk from a yoga studio (Cihangir Yoga). I remember that I jumped around in my apartment because it made me so happy.

Especially, because there was a special event on the upcoming weekend. The yoga studio where it took place, was quite far away. I decided to confront myself with a challenge and use public transportation. It took me over an hour to get there with the metro and tiny buses. It was definitely a unique experience and I quite enjoyed finding my way alone through a city with a population of 15 million people. When I arrived at the studio, I had to smile to myself.

I must really love yoga, to travel so far just to attend a class. 

I fell in love with the vibe of the yoga studio, I met wonderful people there as well.

The community aspect of yoga is another part that I love. I know wherever I go in this world, that I can find a place where I have the chance to meet like-minded people.

Yoga is very grounding for me, which I am in need of because I am traveling a lot and I constantly find myself in new environments. 

My six weeks in Istanbul were a wonderful experience. I practiced yoga one or two times a day, which helped me to improve and deepen my practice.

My love for yoga was constantly growing and I became more and more passionate about it. It makes me feel  good in my own body, it increases my creativity, my self-awareness and it helps me to connect with myself on a deeper level. 

My time in Istanbul strengthened my desire to do a yoga teacher training even more. My main intentions were to deepen my practice, I love any experience that transforms me and helps me grow.

Furthermore, as I mentioned before is that I found in Yoga a way to heal myself and I see many people who struggle with similar self-image problems as me.

I observe that many of us are disconnected from ourselves and our bodies.

Everything from society to media is limited to our physical appearance, to have the perfect body is kind of a status symbol. We define our self-worth based on our physical look, which is a loosing game. Nothing will ever be good enough or perfect enough.

There is no such thing as perfection and it is especially the imperfect things, that makes someone beautiful. It is the light, that someone radiates outwardly.

Yoga strengthens and connects you with your inner light. If you feel good in your own skin, you will radiate it outwards, no matter which size you wear.

Our body is a gift and we only have this one, so we better start to take care of it and love it.

I want to pass my yoga experience to other people and help them to feel good in their bodies.

I was looking for a long time for the right yoga teacher training. First, I intended to go for one month to somewhere like Bali. The problem was that most of those trainings are expensive, which I found difficult if I have never practiced with the teacher before. It is like in school, every teacher is different and has a different style, which may not always appeal to everyone. 

I knew, that my yoga studio in Istanbul offered a yoga teacher training with a duration of 8 months. Of course, this would have been my first choice, but I didn't know how to combine the training with modeling. Especially if I had to be there every second month. 

Well, here comes the lesson: surrender and trust! 

Somehow everything started to shift this year in April and I spontaneously had to go to Istanbul. I arrived exactly one week, before the yoga teacher training started, which is just once a year. It was obvious, that the universe presented it to me on a golden plate. I just had to take it... and I did! So far, it was the best decision I could make and I am very happy about it.

This event contained another lesson:  Anything is possible once we decide that IT IS POSSIBLE! 

I am excited to see what will happen on this journey and how teaching yoga will influence my life. All I can say is, that I am very grateful, that yoga came into my life. 

I highly recommend everyone to give yoga a try. Don't judge it after just one class, try different styles and teachers, you will find one that resonates with you; sometimes you just  have to meet the right teacher or visit the right studio. 

Remember, yoga is a process and you WILL feel the benefits over time. 

Yoga is your own personal journey!

Enjoy the ride!

Three Lessons

Life is an ongoing learning process, every experience and situation is shaping us. There is a lesson in everything and if we start to see and embrace them, they will help us grow.

Here are some lessons or better yet ‘realizations’ I had over the years, that I would love to share with you.

1. If you don't love yourself, no one else will!

I started Modeling at an age of 15 and it has been a tough business. First of all, I am very grateful that I have had the opportunity to do what I do, it opened many doors for me. Modeling gave me the opportunity to travel, to see the world and to expand my horizon. It has and continues to confront me with many challenges, which help me to grow. I wouldn't be where I am today without modeling.

BUT... it is a tough and superficial business where people judge and reject you on a daily bases. It causes You to question yourself A LOT and you always have to rebuild the belief in yourself. You have to develop a thick skin and try to not take things personal, which is very hard, and I am honestly still struggling with it.

My lesson from this whole experience is the importance how to truly love yourself. If you love yourself, you will radiate it outwards. Everybody has it, the chattering and criticizing voice in their head telling them things like: “You are not good enough” or “You will never be able to reach your goals”. The fact is, that this voice isn't serving you and instead is blocking you in many ways. Would you want to be friends with someone who is constantly trying to make you small? No, you would want to be friends with somebody who is listening to you and is up lifting.

I observed that many of my fears, insecurities and self limiting beliefs were based on my lack of self-love.

So what does it mean to love yourself? In my opinion, loving yourself means taking good care of yourself, which includes eating good food, taking care of your body, being active and listening to yourself. Furthermore, it is important to create healthy boundaries and learn to say no! I often find myself, having a hard time saying no, because I don't want to be impolite. Even though, if somebody is crossing your personal space, it is your right to say no. It seems hard at first, but by working to stand up for yourself, you will feel empowered.

Loving yourself also means becoming conscious about your self-talk!

We often don't realize how hard we are on ourselves! The negative self-talk seems normal to us, but by doing it that we disempower ourselves even more.

I learnt that you are the creator of your life and that you have the power to change your thoughts. If you can create disempowering thoughts, you are also able to create loving and supportive thoughts.

Ask yourself: “How do I want to feel?” And “Which thoughts and beliefs would support it?” It feels strange and like a lie at first, the negative voice will try to fight against it, but with time and dedication they will transform in a beautiful way.

I am working daily on becoming more conscious about my thoughts through journaling, meditation and affirmations. Of course some days I feel better than others, but it is about consistency and taking small steps that move you forward.

Finally, I would say that loving yourself is all about respecting yourself and that you make decisions that feel good for you.

I am curious what it means for you to love yourself?

2. People love to talk, no matter what you do!

It actually doesn't matter what you are doing, if you are working on a big career or you are just chilling out in life. If People want to talk about you, they will find a reason for it. I personally made peace with it and for me “the talk” is just mirroring their own insecurities.

Why should you invest your limited amount of energy in talking about other people if instead you could invest the time in yourself?

Furthermore, think about the amount of energy you wasted when you got upset about what other people said about you. It's simply not worth it, it is best to accept it and let it go. The next time when you are upset about something ask yourself: ”Is it worth disturbing my peace?”

It is a process and daily work to slowly let go of what other people think, but it is also liberating.

We grew up learning to seek the approval of others, to feel accepted and worthy. The truth is that we will never be able to meet other peoples expectations, it is just limiting us and holding us back. It is about breaking free from other people’s expectations and starting to listen to your Soul.

Live your life for YOU and for nobody else.

You don't owe anyone an explanation for what you're doing in your life.

Just go your own way, do the things that feel right for you and stay true to yourself!

3. The time you invest in yourself, is the best investment you can make.

I fell in love with the process of learning about myself and I became very passionate about self-growth and self-discovery. It is one reason why I created this blog, to share my experiences and to inspire and motivate others on their journey.

Our whole life people told us what to do, how we should behave, what is appropriate and what is not. We believe what we have been taught and that it is the only truth. We are living our life, but we always have the feeling that something is missing. The missing piece is the knowledge of ourselves.

We invest so much time in learning about all kinds of things that are outside of ourselves, but we barely invest any time to look inwards.

Self discovery for me, is about questioning everything you have learned and that you think you are. It is about stepping back, starting from zero and being open to everything new as well as questioning your beliefs and discovering where your heart starts to tingle.

I believe, that if you choose your own beliefs and find the things that feel right for you it will give you true meaning to your life. Furthermore, I feel that everybody has unique talents and life is about discovering and embracing them. If you work for something, that you are passionate about and want to share with the world, it will fulfill you on a deeper level.

There is more to life than just the typical eat, work and sleep cycle.

What I love about investing in myself is that, it helps me to change my perspective with challenging situations in my life. I once read the quote: ”You can’t control the events and circumstances, but you can control your reactions to them”. This is so true because you always have a choice on how to react. What comes around, goes around. If you learn to consciously respond instead of unconsciously react, you will make your life way easier. I learned that I always have the choice to perceive a situation in a positive or negative way and the negative way, will never be beneficial for me or the people around me.

Every Experience is a chance to grow and I feel that the Universe is always presenting us with situations that contain a lesson within, even if we often don't want to see the lesson.

These three lessons are based on my experiences and are from my point of view. We all perceive life in a different way and I think it is beautiful to share it. Everybody has something to say and we can learn from each other's experiences.

I am curious what your life lessons are? Share in the comments below xx

Create a Morning Routine to Have a Sweet Day

I became a huge fan of having a morning routine, starting the day in a good way determines your whole day.

Imagine a day when you wake up, you push the snooze button five times to get a bit more sleep, you check your phone and you read a not nice message from a friend. After checking out other people’s life on Instagram, you jump under the shower, you grab a quick bite and coffee while you realize you are already late to work. So your day continues, you rush out of the house, you are stuck in traffic and when you arrive at work, you are already in a bad mood. 

Now imagine a day when you wake up before your alarm goes on, you leave your phone on flight mode, you sit down to do a conscious breathing exercise and you give yourself the time to feel your body, after a night of sleep. You go to the kitchen, put on your favorite music, make a coffee, get a notebook and write down some Intentions for the day.  After Breakfast, you make yourself ready and go relax to work. 

If you have the choice, which day would you choose? Probably the second wouldn't you?

Here is the thing, you do have the choice! Humans are creatures of habit, often we are stuck in a routine, that isn't serving us and we know it deep down. We want to change something, but we have an excuse to feel better: „I don't have time“. Which is not necessarily true, if you would get out of bed 20 minutes earlier, for example, you would have more time.

Yes, it is hard to change something in our routine, because we did the same routine for the last five years. Furthermore, we would need to step out of our comfort zone. 

So why would you want to change something? Simply, because it is good for you and I can tell you from my experiences, it will have a huge positive impact on your life.

Five years ago, in the morning my first move was switching on the TV. I made Breakfast and ate it in bed, while it was hard for me to get up because my bed was warm and cozy (especially in Winter). Most of the time, I chilled too long in bed, watched some random TV Shows and had to rush to leave the house. 

I felt restless, tired and wasn't really conscious of how my morning controlled my whole day.

Everything started to change when I got more into Yoga and started to increase my overall awareness. I became aware of how different i felt in my body and mind because of Yoga and Meditation. I started to listen to myself and saw how my unhealthy habits controlled me. 

Furthermore, I began to read a variety of books, about self-awareness, self-improvement and spiritual books (for example The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle). 

I just felt I want to change something, so step by step I started to integrate new things into my morning and day. 

Nowadays I love my mornings and the time for myself, I feel more productive, content and happier throughout the day.

How does my morning routine look like?

1. I wake up early, most of the time I wake up before my alarm goes on. By waking up early I create more time to do the things that nurture me, so I can really dedicate my time to Meditation for example, without feeling pressured, that I have to leave the house soon.

2. I drink hot lemon water. Drinking hot lemon water in the morning has many benefits from improving digestion, hydration, better skin quality, and other things. Personally, I just enjoy drinking it first in the morning and I love the taste. 

3. Journaling. I write down things I am grateful for and I set my Intentions for the day. I am guided by questions like which Qualities do I want to embody, what do I want to achieve in the next 24 hours or how do I want to feel?

4. I meditate every morning and I love it. Meditation sets the tone of my day. One of my favorite is a Guided Meditation by Deepak Chopra (you can find it on Youtube). 

5. Yoga Flow. Yoga transformed my life in many positive ways. I became very passionate about it, that's why I recently started to do my Yoga Teacher Training. Yoga helps me to wake up my whole System and it feels great to move my Body, after sleeping.

6. Breakfast. I am a Breakfast person, it is actually my favorite meal of the day, that's why I always try to make enough time for it.

7. Since two months, I am actually taking an ice-cold shower every morning. Trust me, I never believed, that I would be able to do it when people suggested it to me. One day, I stepped out of my comfort zone, now I really enjoy it and it helps me to truly wake up. 

The length of my morning routine depends on the time I have to leave the house. Even on days, where I have to leave earlier, I set my alarm early enough to start my day in a positive way.

My personal morning routine is supposed to be an example and Inspiration. Every person is different, so choose things that feel good for you! Furthermore, choose a ritual, that makes you feel excited to wake up in the morning.

If it is hard for you to meditate, just try to do something mindfully. Meditation is not just sitting on the floor with your eyes closed, even mindfully preparing food can be therapeutic and is a form of Meditation.

Think about your why? Why do you want to change something? Why do you want to start your day positive? Use your why as your driving force! 

Try it out and transform your life.