All posts by YogawithManja
Blue Moon Transformational Health And Yoga Retreat in Costa Rica
Blue Moon Transformation Health and Yoga Retreat
in the gorgeous Cañafistula Valley in Costa Rica
January 2018 started the new year with two full moons in one month, therefore the second moon is called a blue moon. As if that wouldn’t make the timing special enough yet, there happened simultaneously a full lunar eclipse. For me, reason enough to make this time all about looking inwards and bringing awareness to the shadow aspects of our mental and emotional life. The larger cosmic cycles are a great reminder that our lives go through cycles as well – after work comes rest, after excitement a quiet moment, and back to pushing forward and then resting again. Can you see where I’m going with this?
Why would you want to go on a yoga retreat? And what is all this talk about transformation and health about?
There sure are plenty absolutely amazing resorts, beautiful beaches, and other destinations out there in the world that just wait for people to come and spend a relaxing vacation with them. If that’s all you long for – some time out from work, sunshine on your belly, and hanging out in a beautiful place – go for it! No hard feelings. Just know that what I’m inviting you for is so much more.
I’m committed to offering you:
- a body cleanse with locally sourced, fresh, plant-based food
- hold space for you to feel safe to do your inner work
- guide you through meditations, breath work, and yoga practice to help you to realign with your true purpose
- help you make shifts to heal old wounds, limiting beliefs, and negative self-talk
- guide you to a positive outlook on your life, so that you can bring compassion and love to your family, work environment, community, and yourself
- teach you about herbs, trance work, and energy healing – to help you stay balanced and centered, and make lasting changes towards a mindful lifestyle.
And that’s not all! While being still and listening inwards is important for healing and soul-purpose-alignment, it is almost equally important to create excitement and joy and lots of motivation to say fully YES to life. So, I invite you to go with me on daring tours, expanding your comfort zone and reviving your ability to get excited and feel the feelings and burst open into laughter and awe.
This is personal – the people who decide to join a retreat with me are ready, internally, for a deeply spiritual experience. It’s not just about “hanging out”. The people who take time for this trip are like you – seekers, students, open-minded, and heart-centered – that don’t just practice yoga to maintain a sexy butt but as a practice for healing, personal growth, and mindfulness.
The Inner Space Meets The Open Sky
Vegan Yoga Retreat, September 2 thru 5, 2016, in Destin, Florida
Time to reset, to breathe salty air, detox the body while learning how to prepare healthy meals, daily yoga and guided meditation to allow all of you become spacious and feel connected with the Divine source of our all being and with the amazing possibilities available for your life.
Review by Linda C.:
“I wanted to thank you Manja for a wonderful weekend in Destin at her yoga retreat. I am on the go with so many responsibilities and I rarely take the time to relax. (I realize now) At Manja’s retreat, I was able to use her theme of inner space meets the open sky to help me refresh and come back with a new outlook. In this intimate setting we felt supported; mind body and spirit. Nutritionally with excellent meals, teas and snacks, with all the amenities for the body (including Reiki session) breathe practices, asana practice, and nourishment for my soul in meditation and yoga Nidra. Plus plenty of free time to read, relax in the hot tub, at the beach, and engage in enlightening conversation. I feel more equipped now to face my busy schedule with greater knowledge on how to handle stress. Much gratitude”
My Work With Reiki – A Pure Blessing
How little did I know when I first started working with Reiki. As a matter of fact, I thought I knew why I was interested in learning more about it but really, I had no idea what I would get myself into.
Over and over, when working with my clients, I am blown away by how fast Reiki works, and by how much it exceeds my expectations of what it can do.
Practicing Reiki has been an extraordinary lesson in letting go of my ego. Letting go of what I think would be best for my client, but simply trusting into the Divine Source of all life that healing will always be provided at it’s own pace, where it is needed the most, and only to serve the highest good.
One of my clients came to me with severe disturbances in her life, and asked me to guide her through a Past Life Regression session. For a variety of reasons, I don’t use past life regression in the first session that we meet. My client was severely impacted by family trauma, causing a whole lot of hardship in her current life including financial issues, an inability to find and keep a fulfilling relationship, sleeping and eating disorders, plus trauma-related behavioral challenges in her children. When she entered my practice the first time, she was drastically underweight, deprived of sleep, plagued by anxiety and panic attacks, and just overwhelmed by completing daily life tasks. Only two sessions later she started smiling, came in happy and almost bubbling over by wanting to share how much better she felt already. After about six weeks, she had visibly gained some weight, her complexion went from very pale to a lively glow, her eyes had gained their shine back, and her anxiety was gone.
Another client scheduled Reiki sessions with me after her husband had died way too early, and left her and two teenage aged children behind. She was overwhelmed by grief and had a hard time fighting back her tears. She felt lonely, cut in half, like she had lost her vision for her life and her sense of belonging. The first session was energetically very intense. Only two weeks later, she showed up to her follow up session – with a big smile on her face, a loud “thank you” followed by “I feel like I have my life back”! Oh wow, I was so touched and happy for her!
Over the past two years I helped clients with fertility issues, helped them to dissolve unhealthy relationship patterns, overcome depression, sleeping disorders, anxiety, and addiction.
In severe cases I combine Reiki with hypnotherapy and take my clients into a safe, deeply relaxed and highly suggestible state of trance. If appropriate, I include healing crystals into Reiki sessions – selecting crystals to amplify the healing energy channeled to address physical, mental, and emotional challenges.
When things are not going well in your life and the same patterns keep appearing, Reiki can loosen the emotional chains holding you back, after which they can be released so you can focus on your purpose here on Earth – what brings you joy, and how to attain your personal power and take charge of your life.
People who open up blockages and let the energy flow through may experience an intense rush. People touched by Reiki Universal Life Force energy strive for self-improvement and for the higher good of all concerned. People become more loving with each other. Sharing kindness from the heart is possibly the noblest thing a person can do. Have the courage to live your light!
Crystal Reiki
Crystals have been used for centuries as tools for healing. They are selected for their variety of frequencies and properties. Crystal Reiki utilizes the frequencies that reside within the earth and amplifies them through the power of Reiki energy. The earth vibrates at a specific frequency known as the Schumann resonance. Traditionally this resonance is thought to hover around 7.8 Hz though it varies from region to region. Indeed, believe it or not, the earth behaves like a giant electric circuit.
This is interesting because science is beginning to understand that we are deeply connected to the earth’s resonance. These frequencies are thought to impact our autonomic nervous system, brain and cardiovascular system. But not only are there naturally occurring frequencies that impact us, but also man-made frequencies such as wi-fi and LTE. Assumed that we understand ourselves as electrical beings, think electroencephalogram or electrocardiogram, and thus us being deeply intertwined with the global electrical circuit of our planet’s electromagnetic field, we understand that it is very well possible that artificial frequencies such as the use of mobile phones can create interferences with our system that can cause imbalance. But also natural events such as peak solar flares can cause shifts in the earth’s geomagnetic activity with effects on human health. Shifts in the earth’s geomagnetic activity are correlated with hospital admissions, death from heart attacks and strokes, as well as many other physical imbalances such as depression, fatigue, mental confusion, and even the number of traffic accidents that occur.
How Crystal Reiki Works
In a Crystal Reiki session, you use individually selected crystals and place them in a specific layout around and on the recipient and then allow Reiki energy to flow through you into the crystals and then the recipient. Just as sunlight shining through a crystal prism creates facets of light, Reiki energy passing through the crystals will create a specific energetic resonance within the recipient that their body will then use to harmonize imbalances. The presence of Reiki energy amplifies the energy of the crystals and helps the bodymind of the recipient focus on specific areas of the body, conditions or levels of awareness that are ready to heal. In a Crystal Reiki session, Reiki energy is coming from above through the crown chakra while the crystals used in the session bring in a grounding energy from the earth. Together these energies work seamlessly.
Although crystals are considered a part of the mineral kingdom, minerals are less transparent than crystals and darker in color with a consistent chemical structure. Minerals are thought to strengthen the physical aspects of the body such as bones, tissue etc. Both minerals and crystals can be used to help balance the recipient in a Crystal Reiki session.
Crystals have the ability to absorb, channel, focus and emit energy. They can generate energy through a process known as the Piezoelectric effect. This effect occurs when pressure is applied to the crystal which then generates energy. In the same way, if a voltage is applied to a crystal such as quartz, it will bend or slightly change its shape. We all consist of electromagnetic energy. When holding a crystal, your frequency interacts with the crystal, creating a similar type of Piezoelectric effect. The crystal vibrates and the energy it creates can be transmitted to your own internal energy pathways. The energy of Reiki will infuse the intentions of the practitioner and recipient as well as the energetic properties of the crystal to create a unique high frequency.
Additional Resources: Global Coherence Initiative: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3833489/ http://www.item-bioenergy.com/infocenter/consciousintentionondna.pdf (handout)
http://image.gsfc.nasa.gov/poetry/ask/q768.html
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/news/gallery/schumann-resonance.html
Healing From Spinal Injury
“If it doesn’t challenge you, it doesn’t change you.” – Fred Devito
The year 2001 was a fantastic one for me. After graduating from college, I spent the rest of the year traveling and literally dancing through my life – one month in Sevilla, Spain taking Flamenco lessons, a trip to the Greek isle of Patmos studying and developing a new performance on the path of Ancient philosophers, one month on a road trip through Southern France visiting medieval cathedrals and festivals to learn renaissance dances. I returned to Berlin in Germany to prepare for yet another great trip to perform as a dancer in South Africa. But hey, the year wasn’t over yet, and one day during training, I landed a failed somersault so unfortunate that three of my vertebrae got fractured by the high impact of the fall. Plus, not just my bones got fractured, but also the spinal discs in between got damaged and their fluid leaked out.
The spinal exhibit to the left shows compression fractures of the T11, T12 and L1 vertebrae as experienced by me. Usual treatment of injuries like these would be open surgical incision and spinal fusion with placement of titanium screws into T10 and L2, fixation rods to bridge the fractured bones, and maybe additional bone graft material to stabilize the back.
It might sound like an advanced treatment. However, the surgery itself bears the risk to injure the spinal cord. The titanium stabilizer allows patients to get out of the bed and the hospital pretty soon – after only two weeks or so – but at the same time the spine will become stiff – just like the metal rods that bridge the bones. With no chance to move and be squeezed and released the spinal discs can’t receive important nutrients and thus, can’t regenerate. At even though patients are able to walk and be released from the hospital soon, they aren’t fully mobile. In several conversations with doctors I learned that one frequently occurring issue is that when patients try to exercise or engage in physical labor such as lifting things or bowing forward, that the titanium screws break out of the bones. It’s not the screw that breaks, but the bone, because the spine tries to bend and can’t.
Therefore for me as a dancer surgery was the worst option ever. I stubbornly insisted to allow the bones to heal conservatively. Each tissue in our bodies regenerates at its own pace. While a bruise heals after one week, and the taste nerves of our tongues renew every two days, broken bones require four weeks to heal. I had to lay in bed for four weeks straight – no getting up allowed at all! Then I spent another six weeks in rehab, learning how to move and walk again. Under supervision of a physical therapist I exercised to build strong core muscles and started some weight training. I swam on a slow pace half a mile every day in the sanatorium’s pool, because the support of the water was more comfortable than standing upright. My entire focus was set on healing. And boy, was I happy and proud, but I was also stiff, and scared of falling again. I thought that that was it. Certain movements I would never be able to do again.
Well, things changed dramatically when I came back to a more regular yoga practice again. In baby steps, I started rebuilding inner core muscles and pelvic muscles to support my body’s weight and a good posture. Through practicing gentle back bends I strengthened my back muscles, and started to mobilize my spine through twists. Forward and backward bending, twisting, and stretching helped to transport nutrients into my discs, squeezing and releasing them like little sponges. While western medicine teaches that damaged spinal discs can’t regenerate, I report that mine recovered fully! Lastly, I rebuilt my confidence and overcame the fear of getting broken again through practicing head-stands.
Healing From Cancer
As a young woman of 21 years of age, I received one of the most shocking and scary news of my life. I got diagnosed with uterine cancer. I felt, I was way too young to have cancer and couldn’t believe it at first! It went bad fast, within only three months my doctor told me that she scheduled me for a hysterectomy, and demanded I should take a week off to get admitted to the hospital.
The proposal to remove my uterus was plain unacceptable for me. So, I asked my doctor, what are my chances if I’d refused the surgery? She said, “I don’t know.” I asked, “Oh my, is it that serious?” She said, “I can’t know, within the 25 years of my practice as a gynecologist, you’d be first patient to refuse the surgery.” Wow, another shock! So, I said, “Well, in that case I guess, I am the first one, because what you are offering me here is not healing but crippling me. I want to be a mom one day, and you can’t have my uterus.”
Then I walked out of her office, and thought, what now? I realized that simply saying no to surgery didn’t solve my problem. I started looking for alternatives, and found a doctor in Berlin, who practices Traditional Chinese Medicine. He was able to deliver an explanation for what caused the abnormal cell growth that made perfect sense to me.
At the time I was a student in college, also working for the college both as project coordinator for a comprehensive federally funded research study and as a tutor, working on the weekends as a performer to pay all my bills. On top of my workload, I was smoking cigarettes, drinking way to much coffee, eating always on the run, taking the contraception pill (artificial hormones), and never sleeping enough. I basically put my body under permanent stress from all sides. Leading that sort of lifestyle caused lots of stress on my liver and spleen, requiring them to constantly produce stress hormones to keep my body running and performing at high level, thus reducing its capacity to produce progesterone and estrogen. It came to the point that my liver couldn’t handle the load of toxins anymore. So, how smart is nature, my body increasingly used my menstruation to detox. However, the uterus is not a detox organ, it’s a reproductive organ. My lifestyle so to say caused an abuse of my uterus by having it flush through loads of toxins over an extended period of time. This caused the cells to get clogged and reproduce with abnormal growth.
My immediate response to the diagnosis was to change my lifestyle:
- I quit smoking
- quit taking the contraception pill
- stopped drinking coffee and switched to green tea.
- My gynecologist laughed about me, and said that it was good that I quit smoking but that this wouldn’t cure the cancer. I just thought, wait and see, and realized that with menstruating every month, I had a new chance every month to influence if my organ would regenerate with healthy or abnormal cells.
- Well, she was right insofar that I had to do more: Next I fasted – pretty drastically – for four weeks I ate only fresh squeezed raw juices, including mostly green / herbal juices, and green healing clay. I lost a lot of weight and didn’t look healthy for a while, but the goal was to completely detox, cleanse the colon, and the liver. My goal was to get rid of excess nitrogen compounds in the body and increase oxygen levels in the cells, no more animal proteins, no more sugar, no more toxins = and the cancer would starve.
- After fastening I started rebuilding my strength and health by eating a raw vegan diet for almost two years. My cell values started getting better and better, and after 10 months I was absolutely cancer free! I sticked with the raw food diet for longer simply because it made me feel really good. I felt pure, light, energized, and focussed. Former struggles with headaches, insomnia, brain fog, fatigue, and bloating were gone. However, living organic raw food vegan is indeed a social challenge. Therefore after about two years I settled for a vegan diet, which in my case means, that I eat everything plant-based plus cheese and honey. I don’t eat eggs nor meat nor poultry, don’t drink dairy milk nor any other animal based products.
- Today I’m a mom of three healthy children. During my pregnancies and years of nursing, I followed a vegan diet. All three children are born at home. I’m cancer free – 20 years later – and today I also know that there are several other alternative ways but raw food to heal cancer. Cancer treatment certainly doesn’t have to mean additional harmful attacks on our organism and immune system.
- Stay tuned for more to follow on how to heal naturally in the coming blog posts.
Pranayama Breathing Techniques
Synchronizing Movement and Breath During Surya Namaskar (Sun Salutation)
Three Part Yogic Breath is the essential breathing technique we use to prepare ourselves for and during our asana, mediation, chanting, or further pranayama practice. Expanding and contracting our diaphragm to breath deeply and with full awareness, helps us to come to the present moment, to take control over our mind and our emotions, increase mental stamina during challenging poses, and enter a calm state of mind before savasana.
Nadi Shodhana also known as Alternate Nostril Breathing, or as Anulom Vilom pranayama, is a powerful breathing technique that prepares us in a deeper way than the basic diaphragm breathing for our meditation or savasana. It helps release accumulated tension and fatigue. The breathing technique is used to clear out blocked energy channels in the body, which in turn quiets the mind and harmonizes emotions. On an advanced level nadi shodhana can be practiced in combination with bandhas and breath retention.
(nadi = subtle energy channel; shodhan = cleaning, purification; pranayama = breathing technique)
Kapalbhati Pranayama is an intermediate breathing technique also known as Skull Shining Breath, and Breath of Fire in Kundalini tradition. Kapalbhati combines a forceful exhalation with a passive, automatic inhalation. It is a highly energizing abdominal breathing technique bringing oxygen into the entire body, thus sometimes causing a slight, temporary light-headedness. At the same time this practice increases mental clarity and focus. The forceful breathing cleanses and strengthens the lungs and abs.
(kapala = head; bhati = shining)
Pranayama Breathing Techniques: Introductory Workshop
Reiki Session Offer
Reiki is the Universal Life Energy that flows through all living things.
Reiki is right for you if you wish to:
- balance your energy system
- regenerate your cells so that they can reproduce healthy and be better oxygenized
- support your healing from physical illness and from emotional trauma
- boost your brain’s capacity, sharpen your focus, improve your memory and willpower
- increase your spiritual awareness, be more sensitive and receptive of intuitive insights.
Customized for your individual condition treatments can be conducted:
- in silence
- while playing relaxing music
- using binaural waves
- applying healing crystals
- adding essential oils.
Reiki is not a massage. Reiki treats the energy body, which then in return has a positive impact on our emotional, mental and physical wellbeing, literally enhancing and balancing the energy in each of our cells, inducing frequencies that allow healing, allowing our cells to stay healthy, and reproduce healthy.
Reiki may cause emotional responses which indicate that you start to release old trauma and heartache.
The effects of the treatment may not all be noticeable immediately but rather unfold over the course of one week. You may experience:
- signs of detoxification including light headaches and unclear skin
- deeper, more restful sleep
- remembering dreams clearly
- decreased desire for “comfort drugs” including wine, chocolate / sweets in general, and coffee
- heightened awareness during meditation.
General instructions:
- be open and ready to receive Reiki energy
- provide your Reiki practitioner with details regarding your health history, any chronic ailments, or acute issues
- children under 16 need to be accompanied by a parent or guardian during treatment – consent for a healing session is needed by both parent/guardian and child
Sessions are recommended to last between from 30 to 60 minutes. During a session, the entire body will be treated, no need to undress at all. I have my own treatment table and blankets to help you feel comfortable.
I offer Reiki Sessions upon appointment at Sterling Hot Yoga & Wellness, or, if it would be more convenient for you, in the comfort of your home. I also offer Distance Reiki.
Call 251.234-4771 to schedule a session!
I’m looking forward to meeting you and sharing with you the Universal Life Energy.
Blessing your way always! – Manja
Reiki For Children
Children in our modern world are exposed to many stress factors that even adults often have difficulties to juggle. These stress factors include long hours of learning and following behavioral rules at school, pressure to be successful, not being allowed enough time to eat mindfully while at school, consuming highly processed foods, being exposed to polluted air, water and pesticide residues on food, and being exposed to electro-smog to name just a few. The resulting symptoms are quite similar to the ones developing in adults: disrupted sleep patterns, eating disorders, anger, depression, anxiety, general nervousness, diminished self-esteem, inhibited capacity to focus and learn, again to name just a few.
Reiki is a gentle way to restore and balance our children’s energy levels, and thus teach them to relax and to be mindful about their subtle energy system from an early age on for them to benefit from all life long. When children receive Reiki, they simply relax and are willing to embrace with you this feeling of peacefulness that is generated. Reiki has a very calming effect, thus promoting relaxation and confidence. Children are able to unplug and get the time they need and deserve to tap into the Universal Life Energy.
Little babies can also get positive impacts of Reiki. It is helpful for soothing colics and for teething babies as the treatment will ease the pain. Usually children, babies, and teenagers enjoy Reiki because their bodies respond quickly to energy treatments.
Reiki Benefits for Children and Teenagers:
* provides a tool to cope with depression and anxiety
* improves concentration
* supports relaxation and sleep
* improves concentration
* supports relaxation and sleep
* soothes pain and promotes recovery from injury, infections, and surgery
* calms and restores balance
* empowers self-esteem
* helps with conditions such as hay fever, asthma, and seizures
* calms and restores balance
* empowers self-esteem
* helps with conditions such as hay fever, asthma, and seizures
Reiki can be very helpful with attention deficiencies and hyperactivity.
Since Reiki works on all levels of the body – mental and emotional as well as physical – the body will be able to use the energy to find balance in its own way.
What is Reiki?
Reiki, originally developed and taught by Mikao Usui in Japan, is based on the concept of an universal life force, which flows in all living beings (and surrounds us as well known as the Self or the Divine or God or the one and only truth), and which we can access through prayer, attunements, alignment of our chakras, and then channel it onto others through our hands. The syllable “ki” means “life force”, and it refers to nothing different but what is called “qi” or “chi” in other Asian, primarily the Chinese, traditions, the breath of God in the Christian teachings, and “prana” as known from yogic, and Ayurvedic philosophy.
Reiki is a simple and natural method of spiritual healing and self-improvement that everyone can use. It is administered by “laying on hands”. Reiki energy work is safe for pregnant women, seniors, children, and even babies. From thousands of individual experiences it is known to reduce stress, promote relaxation, and harmonize imbalances. Reiki treats the whole person including body, emotions, mind and spirit. It is believed that a person’s “ki” or energy should be strong and free flowing. When this is true a person’s body and mind is in a positive state of health. When the energy becomes depleted or blocked it comes to symptoms of physical dis-ease or emotional imbalance. The Reiki practitioner can channel universal life energy into the patient, or more precisely be the channel through which the patient draws energy in, to activate the natural healing processes of the patient’s body and restore harmony. For this reason Reiki works well combined with other medical or therapeutic methods to relieve side effects or promote recovery. Reiki works because it connects the universal life force energy with the body’s innate powers of healing.
While Reiki is spiritual in nature, it is not a religion. It has no dogma, and there is nothing you must believe in order to learn or use Reiki. In fact, Reiki is not dependent to belief at all and will work whether you believe it or not. The energy will always go where it is needed the most.