m7-stineglem-blog

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Nothing ever just happens TO you. You make everything happen. Whether you know it or not. Start creating your reality. You are the part of the story you tell yourself every day (at Frederiksberg City)

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Nourish yourself with what you need so you can be filled with energy and soak the best out of everything and enjoy all the magical things that are all around 💕✌🌸🌴🌞 #okaytobeintrovert #rechargeyourway #ownbalancefirst #thenyoucantrulylive

#ownbalancefirst #okaytobeintrovert #thenyoucantrulylive #rechargeyourway

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Fun day shooting new videos for GOSH Copenhagen today ✌ #funjob #goshshoot #goshcopenhagen @goshcopenhagen #goshgirl #makeup #beautifulmakeup #goshpro #goshmakeup

#goshshoot #makeup #goshcopenhagen #beautifulmakeup #goshmakeup #goshgirl #goshpro #funjob

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Tasks and Survival Tips for Others

If other students in the future are interested in something like this - yoga, holistic approach, mental health, etc. - I definitely recommend going for it.

My first piece of advice is to explore your own interest and passion - thoroughly! I don’t just mean spending an afternoon brainstorming, but taking the time daily to envision, reflect and write ideas, and feel with your heart what you desire, what makes you bubbly, what brings a smile to your face and ignites your flame. And don’t start this process a few weeks before you have to find an internship - it’s never too late. Always be dreaming, always be inspired. 

Second, let go of doubt, and don’t try not to worry too much about what ‘most people’ are doing or if your choice is ‘good enough’. Chances are, that if you are following your passion - you are good at it and/or willing to put a whole lot of effort and energy into it! This motivation is what will move you forward, and in my opinion it’s the true recipe for success. If you feel like your internship is preparing you for what you want to do, go for it! I think GNH is a great program that gives you knowledge and insight about so many things, but when you have your internship, it’s your unique opportunity to take it the exact direction that you dream of!

Third, get to work! If one and two are in check - this should be easy. Working towards a dream is hardly work, and if you are struggling a lot with finding motivation to put in effort to find an internship and the whole preparation process, then maybe you should reconsider what you want. Stay on track and have several back up plans, and don’t rely on one internship place to be the one and only. Lastly, be persistent, go with your gut and make it happen when the timing is right! Don’t wait for it to come to you, pick up the phone and make the communication happen - it’s your interest, and you have to show them why they need you. 

Fourth, accept and have patience, but know your limits. Always see what you can gain from a situation, keeping a positive outlook even in the darkest of times, as well as be patient with things, but know when enough is enough. When your health is sacrificed over longer periods of time or you sink into a deep whole after giving it efforts and many tries, be wise and courageous enough to let go. Never ignore problems, but prioritize reflection time to come up with solutions and act accordingly. Realize that you are the judge and ultimate decision-maker in your life, and decide what’s worth it and what’s not. Nobody else can do that for you, and there is no way else to do this than to take the time alone and reflect.

Try not to have too many expectations and bring an open mind. Anything and everything can happen, be prepared to deal with it. You always gain something from everything, but the moment you have too many specific expectations, it is much easier to feel disappointment and negative emotions if they aren’t fulfilled, even if you actually gained more from something else. I know from myself that I easily can get sucked into a certain idea and then feel like it has to be followed through and fulfilled, get absorbed into an illusion that it’s the only was for success, and all other options will be a fiasco. Always be open. 

Lastly, enjoy yourself and find balance. Sounds so easy, but it can be one of the hardest things. Try to always enjoy what you are doing, it’s simply more fun! And on of the many other benefits is also that you will attract much more positive energy this way and allow other people to enjoy your company more, which in turn will give you more good energy - a great spiral upwards. Try to keep it going up and avoid falling down, since the climb up can be quite the struggle. Find a balance between the fun and less fun things. Explore the place you’re at, and push yourself to make adventures and make memories. This time is only here now, it won’t come back. 

#beopen #envisionyourdream #dreambig #gowithyourgut #exploreyourmind #letgo #accept #patience #nodoubt #love #beinspired #enjoy #findyourmotivation #workhard #makeiteasytoworkhard #passionisntwork #drive #motivation #itsyourlife #youretheboss #gowiththeflow #everythingisagift #youalwayslearn #gnh #internship #phMetropol #gnhinternship #globalnutritionandhealth #copenhagen #costarica

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Wow Stefanie! I’m sorry you had to go through that - I feel with you! 

I think it’s inspiring that you took action in this way and researched the topic, which is a very important yet neglected one. I like your explanations and and questions. Especially the whole problem of inadequate movement, especially with kids - why can’t we create a lifestyle where we do more of what we are meant to do and thereby live longer and happier, when we can create so many other things these days, not to mention disasters?!

Injuries, biomechanics and rethinking technology

As you might have noticed, my blog has been kind of silent the past few weeks. It’s certainly not because I haven’t been busy. I’ve been so busy in fact that I just kept forgetting to log on and let you know what has been going on. Add to that my reflection on the use of technology in my personal and professional life (lately resulting in a massive, conscious decrease of it’s use), sprinkle on a bit of procratisnation and viola = no posts.

But I am back now, with a stack full of reports ;-) I will be posting each subject in a different post so that this one doesn’t end up being as along as a book……

For starters, I want to share with you how I stumbled quite unexpectedly into a field of science not that well known (or at least not out there like nutrition is): biomechanics and how it relates to health. It all started when I sustained an injury about 3,5 weeks into my internship (so about 3-4 weeks ago.) I  woke up one morning and the inside of my calves were in massive pain. They were not sore from the running and jumping that I had been doing at work, but felt as if I had literally torn my muscles. Walking, bending ect was painful, jogging excruitiaing. I could not figure out why and how I could have gotten something like this. Never in my life had I had pain like this. So I did what I alwas do: I researched. Because I did not know exactly what I had done, I also decided to wait and see what the pain would do over the course of two days before going to the doctor.

My research revealed the following: the pain could be either due to excessive body weight or the wrong footwear. Since I’ve been the weight and I am right now for quite a while and have been doing exercises just fine, I figured it had to be the latter. Which surprised me. You see, I had been wearing these super cool, new (as in these were the first special pair I’ve owned), supportive sports shoes. The kind that advertise that they are so good for the feet…….well, turns out they are so good at doing their supporting job that they inactivate and thus weaken your foot muscles, which impacts your calf muscles, which impacts your hamstrings and glutes…… all the way up to your head. Although this is true for everyone, this is specifically signifacant in my case because usually I wear cheapo, flat shoes, which require more muscle activation than the supportive shoes. Basically I weakened my feet which led to my injury. Now if someone always wears these supportive kind shoes, then the muscles do learn to adapt, though the foot and legs never move in the optimal way they were designed to do.

Well, I decided to go back to my flat sport shoes to see if what I had just learned was correct (if not I would go to the doctor). Lo and behold, the pain immidiately decreased when walking and bending. Jogging still hurt. So I put magnesium on my calves (for muscle regeneration) and took it somewhat easy for two weeks with the running at work (not easy to stand on the sidelines watching the kids play tag). Thankfully, my calves have now completely healed.

The research about supportive shoes vs. non-supportive shoes led me to the whole barefoot vs shoes debate. Although I am and have always been a bit barefoot biased due to growing up in Papua New Guinea, I decided that I wanted to know the actual science behind how the body is aligned and moves with and without shoes and the impact that has on the musculature and ultimately health, and not just rely on my own personal experience. After all, I am studying to be health professional, and if something like a shoe can do damage to me, then it might be doing damage to others. This study, of how the body and all the bones and muscles ect act on each other and is influenced by environmental factors such as shoes, is called biomechanics. What I have found so far is highly fascinating, but also makes me want to throw out all my shoes, and furniture and spend all my time correnting bad alignment. But I’m not going to do that, and neither do I advocate doing something so rash. However I am starting to make some changes in my personal life for better movement. When it comes to sustainable health change no matter whether is is nutrition or exercise, or movement: the mantra is= one change at a time.

So far these are some of the things I have learned:

-Your foot has about 25% of the bones and muscles of your body! Unfortunately most people (including me) don’t utilize the muscles to their full potential and most of them are quite weak. This is largely due to lives lived wearing (tight) shoes which act like casts on our feet.

- Wearing anything with a heel (that means anything that elevates the heel of your foot above the balls of your foot which is basically almost every shoe) will significantly, negatively impact the angle of the way your bones stack on top of each other, which impacts the load the bones get, which can impact the develpment or prevention of osteoporosis. It also impacts the shape of your muscles, which impacts the shape of the blood vessel which impacts the flow of blood…….

-Any and all movement creates loads and affects our body. The question is the type of movement*, the frequency of the movement and the load that is created and how that impact health in good or bad ways.

-There are ways to strenghten the foot and leg muscles and transition to footwear and a life that has more movement*.

*When I talk about movement I mean literally moving or not moving your body: anything from sitting, to sleeping, to walking. Exercise is often equated as movement. Exercise is a very specific type of movement, but not the only movement we do.

Some questions that have arisen:

-If shoes do have such a negative impact, why are we forcing our children to wear them, especially during PE (an most kids prefer to do it without shoes anyway…at least that has been my observation)? Is preventing a stubbed toe more important than strengthing their muscles for longterm musculoskelatel stability? Is there a happy medium between the two?

-If movement is so important ( ‘sitting is the new smoking’) why do we make kids sit in desks for the majority of their time? Can a classroom be rearranged furniture wise to accomodate more natural movement? How can that be achieved? Throught education? Policy? Will such a classroom still produce good learning? Better learning? What about adults and work?

-How can interventions be developed to educated people, especially adults on alignment, movement, foot health? Are there such things out there already? Do I need to create something?

I don’t have any answers to htese questions yet. But I hope to find some in the coming months, perhaps years.

Although biomechanics is nothing that I can use right now in my internship with the kids, I wanted to share this because learning doesn’t just happen in boxes. We are always learning (or at least we shoudl be), and one thing can lead to another thing and eventually you can use both in a new situation. So for me as a developing health professional, I am very grateful that I have stumbled upon this topic of biomechanics, even though it took and injury to get me to look for information. Right now my research is helping me with my muscles, feet and alignment, but I hope that in the future I can pass that on to others. This blog is unfortunately not the place to go into depth about the topic and I certainly have not learned everything there is to know about it yet! I just wanted give you a short glimpse into my learning path.

If you really want to do some of your own reasearch about foot health, alignment ect I can really recommend the following website where I have been getting a lot of my information so far: www.nutritiousmovement.com

As always, read and apply the information on this blog and the above named website at your own risk. Use your brain and good judgement. Also, I am not being payed or rewarded for naming this website.

#justmove #thinkaboutyourfeet #move #exercise

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Describing a Challenge - Or 3

Unfortunately, I feel like I had quite a few challenges, but some of them I have already written about. The toughest parts of the past few months has definitely been: The many challenges and disappointment of my internship in Peru and changing it, being ill, and breaking my foot in Costa Rica. These are some of the obvious obstacles that I had to overcome, and that made my trip a bit more eventful than I had hoped. Like a also mentioned in my earlier post, I learned a lot from my change of internships - about listening and trusting myself and intuition, taking action, and creating a plan/solution in a time of weakness. It can be hard while in the middle of something, to see clearly and feel certain of your own judgement - it’s always hard to make a huge decision to change everything around, and I definitely had moments of doubt, feeling like I could’t figure anything out. Being sick in Peru all the time didn’t help this either. But I felt lucky to have a great support system at home, and also allowed myself to think and feel it through. After my decision was made to get out of there, I had to do a lot of planning - plane tickets, finding new internship (!!), emails with supervisor, filling parents in on the situation, meetings with the internship hosts, etc.... It was overwhelming and took a lot of energy, but I was very satisfied afterwards, feeling like I left in the best way possible, without doing any damage anywhere, and even achieving a few neat things while there. This was very important to me, and I always made it a priority to think about all the others the same way I was thinking about making the situation better for myself. And I learned, once again, that many of my worries, like usual, didn’t even end up being a problem when I left, which was a relief. In the end, I quickly and desperately took action and found a new internship in Costa Rica, changed my flight, and used my contacts nearby to get a ride and recover at my friend’s place before leaving. I was obviously very motivated to leave, which helped my see solutions in this situation. Skyping with my parents was also extremely important, and gave me a lot of strength. 

Right after I finished my internship and was planning to explore Costa Rica a bit, but also had to cancel everything that I had been looking so much forward because of my accident with my foot. After 11/2 week of slow days, just staying at the hostel recovering, I had a doctor look at my foot, who immediately sent me to get an x-ray (7 hours away by bus), and from there things went really fast... I found out it was broken and had to do a ton of communication with my insurance in Denmark, who ended up flying me home business class to get surgery immediately. But at least I really got to enjoy 5 days in San Jose, the capital, at a super fancy hotel that they paid for - that was awesome! And surprisingly I could walk without too much pain, since my foot had healed a lot in just 2 weeks - too bad it had haled wrong and the bones were split apart! Acceptance was a huge part of this whole thing. Just accepting the situation and being at peace with the fact that it’s beyond my control and with the situation, instead of against it. And quickly realizing that it’s a waste of time to spend negative energy on it, so why not embrace it, take it for what it is, and laugh? And boy I laughed.... I had a fantastic time on the 11th floor, huge room, ordering food, room service, air conditioning (!!), movies all day in a huge bed, a gym, a huge pool, breakfast buffet, shopping, interesting people, smoothies and coffees around town... Pure ‘city life’ luxury compared to the jungle i was in. It was actually quite okay that the ‘sending me home process’ by the insurance company took a few days! I was almost sad to leave, but knew I need some fixing, and hotel life quickly got boring. I have always been good at shining a light and finding the positive, and I was feeling very thankful for that, being alone in this tough situation. 

But instead of only describing these obvious fiascos, I want to also look into something deeper, that you don’t really notice on the surface and that I haven’t mentioned before now. For whatever reason, I don’t know for sure, I was in a very still/alone/independent/searching/learning on my own mood during my stay most of the time. I don’t know exactly how to describe it, but I will try. Even though I’m social, I almost just wished the noise would stop when someone struck up a conversation with me, which happens often, when living in a hostel. And doing things on my own was so amazing, freeing, calm, and rewarding. I enjoyed the peace, space and privacy exceptionally these days. A lot of my work for the internship was also on my own. I was given several books that I quickly got completely absorbed into, like I was nonexistent and in another world. Time was still and I was just reading for hours and hours some days. It felt so incredible, and I was very inspired. Then I would write for hours and hours. And this cycle repeated itself, sometimes too much? I don’t know. For me it was perfect. I went with it, and decided not to interrupt this interesting process, a dive into the unknown, that felt so intense and rewarding. My challenge was the guilt that sometimes arose from having these kinds of days sometimes. The voice in my head telling me that my time could be spent differently, that voice that always has to evaluate everything and feed you with greed for ‘accomplishing more’ and ‘being better’. But the truth was, I had to put the voice to rest, I was so impressed by what my mind was going through, observing the subtle changes, which was also part of what allowed me to let go of this negative energy and enjoy. Simply just enjoy once in a while. Simply just feel love for what I do in the moment and neglect the mind’s tricks that it loves to play. One of the books I was reading was funnily enough a lot about that exact process. So I slowly let go of guilt and made a steady plan for my goals and tasks of my internship to stay on track, and found a balance between work and play. I think balance is a huge challenge for me in many areas, but something I constantly acknowledge and work on. I have always been kind of an ‘all or nothing’ person. So as simplistic as it might seem, I worked quite a bit to find my own balance in paradise, where the soul and heart has a tendency to take over, and I felt really happy that I could make everything work out - with a good balance. I can’t say exactly how I found it, but I did a lot of reflecting and meditating, prioritizing, feeling, and talking to Joe, my host and yoga teacher. On the other side of this challenge was a huge sense or relief and reward, like a weight was lifted. That’s when I knew things were how they were suppose to be, there was no doubt. 

As cliche as it might be, I truly and deeply believe that everything happens for a reason. And now I can really say, that I not only believe it but have felt it. I read the Law of Attraction - an incredible life changing book! - and I began feeling, in a way I can’t explain, so many things on a much deeper level, and getting signs in the weirdest way, that let me know why things happened the way they did - like with my foot for example, but also in many other situations. So many things began to make sense like they hadn’t before, and I knew now, that nothing was ‘random’ - nothing ‘just happens’. It was very interesting, that’s all I can say. I don’t know what else to say, because I do realize that it sounds kind of absurd. 

All in all I can say that I enjoyed everything, in different ways, and that I learned and gained a lot from each experience. I see them all as gifts, and without them, how would we gain the strength and show ourselves how strong we truly are? And how would we truly appreciate what we have? Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I love all my gifts. 

<3 

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Explanations and reflections on how I worked with my learning objectives

Hey again. So finally - here’s my blog post about my learning objectives. This post is a bit late because I had to make new ones for my new internship in Costa Rica, and they recently just got 100 % finished. I am home now, and therefore can probably reflect even more on how I worked with these objectives. I was suppose to stay a week more in Costa Rica and travel a bit, but since I broke my foot running in the ocean and tripping on a rock, my insurance flew me early back to Denmark because the x-ray showed that my bone was broken, and I needed surgery ASAP. I had let my foot heal a bit on it’s own for about 1 1/2 week, icing it and taking good care of it, walking more and more as it quickly got better - BUT.. the scan showed that I needed surgery, which I wasn’t expecting at all! So now I’m at home, trying to find peace with not being able to do a lot, and just hopping around with my cast and crutches for a few weeks. But of course I’m still doing yoga, fun stuff. 

Back to the objectives...

My first one is to teach private yoga classes to an inexperienced target group, designing routines to fit their personal needs in order to improve health and well-being. I was really excited to do this! But at the same time nervous, because yoga is something so dear and delicate to me, and the last thing I want is to be one of ‘those’ teachers that I have tried, that just don’t ‘do the trick’. I know it’s very subjective, but I always just want to give everyone as great and inspiring experience as possible. Luckily, I was teaching private classes, which I intentionally made my goal, since it’s much easier to have focus on one person and make yoga sessions to fit that one person as best as possible. I really enjoy this one on one teaching, and I especially enjoyed teaching people who don’t have any experience, building everything up from scratch and watching not only their progress but also their increase in motivation when they feel the amazing benefits on their own bodies. I had a slow start, and wasn’t teaching until after a weeks in, since I was a bit hesitant and doubting my skills. But it helped a lot to accept this feeling and do something actively to feel better. So I went to a lot of yoga classes with my teacher Joe (who is also my internship host), and also talked a lot with him about how he teaches and why, since he has a TON of experience and has ben doing it for a living for many years. He inspired me a lot, and also gave me yoga books and other books to help me, which I really enjoyed. I even recorded some of his classes and transcribed them, so I could practice more. The first time I taught was actually for two travelers who were just looking to try it out one time - one had a little experience and one none. It was a great and spontaneous way to break the ice for me and get started with teaching, and kind of nice for some reason, that it was a one-time lesson. It went really well and prepared me to teach more, feeling more confident, and enjoying how much they appreciated it. My second client became a regular, and I really enjoyed working with him over a long period of time and watching his progress - not only physically, but also his attitude! I worked with him for about 4 weeks, and what began as some exercises to help the pain in his shoulder, turned into regular yoga, and even a healthier diet change. In the outdoor kitchen at the hostel, I helped him prepare meals, taught him about nutrition and gave him advice about simple changes with a great impact. In this case, it wasn’t so important to make a strict plan (which wouldn’t suit his lifestyle anyways), but it was more important to make sure it was manageable and easy for him, so that he would stay motivated. This was, more smaller changes can be made over time accordingly. I’m a strong believer in ‘slow and steady wins the race’ and ‘There should be no end, just a way’. Especially this guy showed me the meaning and importance of this, and I appreciated his honesty and openness. He is a Tico (from Costa Rica), and has a very different lifestyle and has a different culture. This made my work so interesting and I enjoyed learning so many new things and get some insider information about the town as well. Some things could get in the way of his healthy plan, like not having any money, or working at night. But we worked around it, and I helped him find his motivation as well, using elements from coaching. It was so cool to see everything fit together - yoga, coaching, nutrition, and physical activity - and see how closely related everything is. Later on, on his own, he even began running on the beach some days. 

I used most of my strategies I wrote down, but one of my key strategies was to create my own yoga programs and create my own style of teaching. And this one I had to try not to focus too much on, because I found that when I spent too much time trying to make ‘the perfect class’, I always felt stressed and could never really finish. Instead, through trying to teach in practice, I realized that it went much better when I didn’t try to strictly stick with theory, but instead brought an open mind to the class and adjusted/created the class on the go, according to who I was teaching, their needs, and how the class flowed. After all, it’s impossible to predict what direction a class will take, and therefore you shouldn’t prepare too much beforehand! It reminded me of when we had our first coaching clients at GNH - here it was also very important to just be fully present and feel the situation/session, instead of over-thinking and trying to come up with ‘the next right question’. So I learned a lot about teaching by doing it - learning by doing! It’s just one of those things, where there’s no other way - than stepping out of your comfort zone and taking action. Letting go of the fear of not being good enough, and instead tell yourself that you have an amazing gift that you simply just want to share with others. It helped me a lot to step into the mind of them for a bit, and remember that no matter what, this is most likely a cool and unique experience for them, where they will learn something new and feel good in their body. And, they also chose to be here themselves! :-)

My second learning objective was to conduct coaching sessions with at least one person. As I mentioned earlier, I also coached one of my yoga clients. I also had another client, where it was ‘only coaching’. We met three times, regular coaching style, where we sat down and had our sessions. I knew the guy already from the town, and he was very open to trying coaching, so lucky for me, it didn’t take a long time to find someone. I refreshed some theory before we met, but also remembered my thought from teaching yoga, and how I wanted it to be very natural, and focused more on a good natural flow this time, than remember all the right questions in the right order etc. I remembered that this was one of my refections after coaching at GNH - I wanted to be less in my head and more present. The first session was a little nerve-racking, but no too bad. And the last two felt very natural and I enjoyed it a lot. The relaxed setting of being outdoors in the beautiful nature helped a lot as well I think. I didn’t record the sessions like I wanted, but I wrote down notes about how they went immediately afterward, which I also think is very helpful. 

My third learning objective is to gain insight into how starting your own health business works, and get a clear idea of what goes into the initial beginning phase as well as the maintenance. I was excited to learn about this, since it is very relevant for my future plans, and something that’s hard to get insight into, unless you know someone who has been/is there. I observed and asked many questions about everything, feeling very comfortable with Joe, which helped a lot. I appreciated his openness and took it all in. I quickly learned how big a part promotion and advertising plays - I was a bit overwhelmed at times, since I am not used to this way of thinking or doing this kind of work. Wow, it takes a lot to not only make a good product to sell, but ALSO to get people to buy it! Joe showed me how to get online, and I helped promote his business online. This was very new to me, and I had to just try out different things, typically working on it mid-afternoon in the shade, during the hottest time of the day, when it was impossible to do anything else than sit and remember staying wet to enjoy the breeze every once in a while. Also, every evening around sunset, I walked on the beach and talked to people about what we offer and seeing if they could be interested. I struggled with this in the beginning and don’t like the idea of talking to people with a sort of ‘hidden intention’ - but I talked to Joe a lot about it, who has been doing it for many years, and he is a pro! It comes so natural to him, and he really helped show me how to keep it simple, without pressure, friendly, and casual. I slowly got the hang of it, and began seeing it more as small-talk with others, helping them out by giving advice if they were new to the town, and just filling them in on what we offer if they should be interested. I don’t think I will work too much with this in the future, since it’s not my favorite thing, but the fact is that I really learned how big a part it is in a business and how much it affects everything. No matter how good a product you have, you have to get it out there, have customers, and sell. 

My fourth learning objective is to assess the lifestyle of yoga as a whole and discover different perspectives in order to investigate if personal experience backs up the scientific evidence I have found about the benefits of yoga. First, I wanted to actually find real evidence, other than just from online articles promoting yoga. It was really interesting to read actual review articles from PubMed on the topic and get more insight. I also talked to people after yoga classes about what yoga gives them. I made sure to write it down, as well as write down a lot of my own reflections throughout all the weeks. I learned so many interesting things, way more than there is room for here. Looking inwards and working from there is such a rewarding journey, allowing you to discover that it’s rarely the outer circumstances that need work, but that so much can be fixed if you start within. Acceptance of what is, and allowing it, fully understanding the gift of it, no matter what it is, leads to a huge sense of inner peace and relief, allowing for the mind to relax and the heart to open, giving and therefore receiving more and more love. And what can be greater than that?

<3 

I’m so thankful for all the incredible things that I have learned above and beyond my learning objectives as well - about myself, life, people, culture, my dreams, goals, visions, future, etc.   What a gift - something I will have forever, and only build more onto from here - on my never-ending loving journey. 

#gnhmetropol #gnhinternship #globalnutritionandhealth #learningobjectives #wowilearnedalot #costarica #learningbydoing #internship #phMetropol #metropolcph

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Photo Essay II

#gnhmetropol #globalnutritionandhealth #internship #phMetropol #gnhinternship #costarica #yoga #photoessay

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Photo Essay I

#gnhmetropol #gnhinternship #phMetropol #costarica #puravida #work #internship #lifesgood #isthisreal #globalnutritionandhealth #yoga #beach #sunset #vegan #santateresa #paradise

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When giving a Thai massage turns into playful yoga time 😄 oops.. #thaimassageoryoga #winwin #megusta #hostellife #santateresa #Costarica #Puravida (at Disfrutalo Resort)

#santateresa #costarica #megusta #puravida #hostellife #thaimassageoryoga #winwin

[m7-stineglem-blog]

Create your own high

I am observing my own mind, in a yoga trance, a deep constant meditation, a blissful state, a journey within. Gaining so much insight. Finding out how the mind works, how to detach, how to accept, to love, how to flow and just be. I’m exploring and feeling how to create my own high, my own bliss, true happiness within. The pleasure that every single human being is seeking. The joy from deep within. The satisfaction that many people go to extraordinary lengths to get a glimpse of, but unfortunately too often in a way that negatively affects their health. This I want to change. I crave to show everyone that it’s possible, to give them a taste of flying and flowing, just with their own breath, truly feeling life, being totally in the moment that anyone can create with their divine selves. With only pure love, observing the mad world around us, but accepting the abstract imperfections and impermanence of all. Letting go of fear. My calling is to help all to release the urge to turn to outer substances to reach their high. To stop mindless actions that can be detrimental to health and at best give them a short lived rush only to return to a deeper low. I promise it’s true, happiness is always readily available anytime you want. You don’t need help from outside, just spend time within. Yes it is harder and yes it requires work. There is no fast way, but I promise that it’s worth it. I promise it’s the only way to get what I know you truly want. It’s such a strong energy, and it can’t be denied, that it’s the only one worth chasing, but you must go deep inside. I know it’s a scary place, but you need to stay, hold on steadily, or you’re mind will melt you away. Please don’t use the quick fixes that tempt you, but go in your heart, and you’ll discover what’s true.

Helping others reach their natural state of happiness without the horrible noises of the mind trying to take over is something I enjoy working with because it is so vital! Helping people begin or continue their journey of working with their mind is crucial when it comes to health and steering away from things that only give short lived pleasure. All bad health habits arise from wanting to feel good, but seeking it in the wrong place, so if I can help by showing a healthier place to find it and show people how to not only feel it, but create it, that can eliminate the need in the first place to seek pleasure and happiness elsewhere than from inside. It’s all in the mind, and people should start there, they would accomplish so much more. But we tend to think on a very physical, practical and scientific level in our world today. But the more that discover the truth, the more can spread and share it with the rest of the world. It’s jut a matter of time. It’s a truth that can’t be denied, and fortunately is felt and discovered by many already. Many are awake, and many more to come. Slow and steady wins the race, as they say, and all we can do is practice every day.

#createyourownhigh #flyhigh #soulwork #seekwithin #truehappiness #finditnow #happiness #dream

[m7-stineglem-blog]

A typical day ‘’at the office’’

Hello again!

I’m finally getting into the flow of things and have a lot of things going on here and there with my internship. There is a lot to be done and way too little time it seems!! But all is interesting and a learning experience that I enjoy every second of. 

So my internship place is at my yoga teacher Joe’s Healthy Life Therapy, called 3HeartsWellness - http://3hearts.me/ 

There are so many interesting things to learn in many different areas, all from creation and promotion of your own business to how yoga can ‘fix’ your body and mind on so many levels. 

I have many projects going on, and I’m doing a lot of different things. For example: doing yoga every day, talking to people about yoga and their health, learning how to build up yoga classes and series, learning how to be the best yoga teacher I can be, reading about the science of yoga and the body, getting out there and promoting 3HeartsWellness talking to people I meet, and preparing for my first coaching session here. 

Every day is different, but it always begins with yoga, an open heart, and no expectations, other than to see the sun set at around 5:30. Between yoga and sunset is when I get to work. It can be any of the above mentioned things, or anything else that pops up. Right now, I am getting really into yoga philosophy and how / why it works. I am building up a class together with my teacher, and I am preparing to teach it soon on the beach, at a spot he found, where we will set everything up. I look forward to this and to really practice my role as a teacher and giving back. This is the beginning of a journey I am dreaming of continuing in the near future. 

My next project is to coach, and yesterday I found my first coachee here! I am really excited about that, and will definitely write about it once I have the session. 

I am also out talking to random people about 3heartswellness and really learning by doing! There is a lot of psychology behind how to talk to people when you know that in the back of your head you have some kind of intention of ‘selling’ something, even though it’s not a typical ‘seller approach’. I struggled a lot with this in the beginning, but I find it easier now with practice and learning from Joe. Now it’s more like making friends, helping them out with advice for anything, having a talk about their vacation, health, or other things, and just being relaxed and taking it easy. Then helping by offering some of the things that 3heartsyoga can do for them. It can be anything from private yoga, massage, different kinds of therapies, retreats, and even beautiful vacation rental homes. 

All in all, I’m learning a lot! I am so happy to be here and feel so inspired every day. I feel like a sponge, just taking everything in. This first part of the internship has give me a lot of insight, and I feel like the second part now, is going to be more hands on, and I will both teaching yoga and coaching clients. Stay tuned to see how that goes, and wish me luck!

[m7-stineglem-blog]

Goodnight from paradise 😘 Amazing late night conversations with a very wise and sweet guy from the hostel - the magic happened after everyone left to go out on the biggest night here, which is Thursday. This inspiring deep talk has given me more than an infinitite number of nights out partying can ever give me. So nice hearing great words that resonate so well with your soul. And amazing feeling to be so at peace with where I am and accepting what I like and prioritize in my life. It's a journey. I am so thankful for this inner peace and deep love that I feel all around and don't have to search for, but can find everywhere and create myself 💕 #wordsofwisdom #fuckbeingcautious #mynewfriendantonio #findyourtruth #acceptyourego #makepeacewithyourmind #followyourintuition #feelmorethinkless #todayisallyouknow #livenow #noregret #goforit #magicalsunset #santateresa #Costarica #puravida #hostellife #love #compassion #wisdom #peace #yoga (at Playa Santa Teresa, Costa Rica)

#feelmorethinkless #love #fuckbeingcautious #livenow #goforit #mynewfriendantonio #makepeacewithyourmind #followyourintuition #yoga #peace #todayisallyouknow #magicalsunset #compassion #wisdom #findyourtruth #acceptyourego #santateresa #costarica #noregret #wordsofwisdom #puravida #hostellife

[m7-stineglem-blog]

If only everyone would stop to explore Their dreams, their visions, instead of ignore The fact that you attract what you put out Never second guess, there is no doubt That you can create your future yourself If you don't begin now, then when else? #Montezuma #lunchwiththemonkeys #monkeyfriends #waterfalls #lawofattraction #dreambig #explore #followyourdreams (at Montezuma Beach, Costa Rica)

#followyourdreams #montezuma #explore #waterfalls #dreambig #lawofattraction #lunchwiththemonkeys #monkeyfriends

[m7-stineglem-blog]

Thankful for another incredible day 👌 #dreambig #envisionyourdreamfuture #goforiteveryday #makeyourdreamsreality #nolimits #dreammore #yourcreateyourfuture #powerofthoughts #lawofattraction (at Playa Santa Teresa, Costa Rica)

#nolimits #dreammore #goforiteveryday #makeyourdreamsreality #envisionyourdreamfuture #yourcreateyourfuture #dreambig #lawofattraction #powerofthoughts

[m7-stineglem-blog]

I had my first week of work last week, which went really well, just getting into everything and feeling healthy again as well. I will write an update soon about my work here. For now, here are some pictures from the weekend and some of my free time. I try to capture the beauty and magical vibrations in this city, located on a huge crystal……Enjoy ☺

[m7-stineglem-blog]

Update - New Internship in Costa Rica

What. A. Trip. Now I am here, finally in Costa Rica. Feeling alive again. So many things have happened the last few weeks… Where to begin.. I ended my internship in Peru at the Eco Yoga Park. I couldn’t stay any longer in the conditions there, I was constantly sick and drained of energy. I wasn’t happy or satisfied with what I could do when feeling bad so much of the time. Many other things also weren’t working out there, and putting it all together made me feel like everything was a hopeless disaster. So I made a hard but very important decision to leave, carefully considering a lot of things in this intricate process it inevitably is. I managed to leave in a good way, and I was reassured of my decision in many ways, as several people freely and without my request told me about how they know how it is there, and they also aren’t satisfied, and realize that it needs to change. I wish all the best for the sweet community, which is beautiful in so many ways. I had been so lucky to meet an incredible girl from a city very nearby (but living in Barcelona for 10 years) on the airplane coming here. She was in town for 1 month visiting her family. She has one of the biggest hearts I have ever encountered, and she was always in contact with me while I was there, and standing in the reception the morning after I had written her in the evening that I needed to leave now. She invited me to stay at her place for some days with her family, where I enjoyed to just relax, have wifi, be in a hygienic real home, see some of Peru, and be with her loving family. Everyone including her ONLY spoke Spanish, and not a word of English. I was so thankful to be forced to practice so much, even though I was really exhausted at times from thinking! But I love Spanish and always want to get better, so it felt so good to be having real conversations together, laughing, and just enjoying each others company. Knowing I had to figure something else out, I felt so empty and weak at the Eco Park, using all my energy trying to figure out another plan. I contacted my friend in Costa Rica who I met in December, since him and his wife run a health business, including so many things and philosophies that I am very interested in and believe in. Joe has been a huge inspiration since I met him in December in his yoga classes, and my whole body immediately crippled with excitement when thinking of the possibility of doing an internship for him in Costa Rica – In the magical city of Santa Teresa, which I discovered and feel in love with in the winter holidays. Pretty soon I had it all settled – it was a YES from Joe, I bought the ticket, got the GO from school, and – Here I am! I couldn’t be happier – I’m back in my paradise – In the jungle, by the sea, connecting with nature, doing yoga, learning everyday, being inspired…. This is life – I couldn’t be happier. PURA VIDA

#internship #costarica #gnh #metropol #changeofplans #byebyeperu #globalnutritionandhealth #phmetropol #health #yoga #love #paradise