The digital world. My friend, my enemy, a great help and a big distractor. I know you all know this feeling of aimlessly scrolling through Facebook or Instagram, watching photo’s, video’s, ads etc. without even being aware of what you're looking at. This digital age is so time-consuming and I feel that’s really disturbing. I’m not saying that I’m any better, I am totally guilty of this, but also very aware and willing to make it stop.

My life changed completely (again) since halfway september. I moved houses, from the city of Antwerp to a cute small town in the middel of forests and fields in Belgium. Everything went very quick (as it almost always happens in my life) and there wasn’t really time to consider options or if it was actually a good idea to move here. My gut-feeling, my instinct told me it was, so I did it. With the consequences of having to deal with people that care about me who were questioning my decision. I think the people around me are used by now that I’m very impulsive, but also fickle minded sometimes, which doesn’t really help if I try to convince someone that I’m doing the right thing and that I’m completely sure about my decision. “I’ve heard that one before”. “That’s what you said last time as well”. How can someone be completely sure about what will happen in the future?! The only thing that we know is that everything is temporary. The only certainty we have in life is that it will end at some point. The rest is a blank canvas that we are able to color with our decisions in our life-journey. As many of you know, I like bright colors. I like to paint sunsets and pretty things. I like to color my life with adventure and exploration, without having to think what the outcome will be. That doesn’t mean that I never think about the future or consider what’s best for future-Gwen, but I don’t like to waste any time being in a situation where I don’t feel like I’m growing as a person. I like to evolve myself and often this happens drastically in my life.

Okay I’ll fill you guys in this with this ‘abstract’ story. I can imagine it doesn’t really make sense if you don’t know the details. On a side note, I’m a big fan of abstract art, since it triggers your own creativity and imagination, which we tend to lack in this digital time. We can’t help it, thats how we are programmed these days. So here’s the full story; I moved in with a man. The man of my dreams. A man I just met a few days before I moved in. So you can see where the ‘judgement’ comes from. I myself even looked in the mirror and asked myself; ‘Gwen, are you f*cking kidding me? Is this a joke? Are you really sure this is a good idea? Is this not going to result in pain and suffering and another heartbreak and.. and.. and.. What if it goes wrong?’ I told myself, that I’m absolutely sure that this is a good idea and that there is no pain I can not handle. I face the fear of getting heart-broken with open arms, since I’m so full of love and trust that whatever happens, will only make me grow.

The man of my dreams welcomed me in his house, which is now my new home. I’ve never felt so much at home anywhere in the world. Maybe this sounds a bit strange, since we don’t use electricity and running water, so I’m showering myself with a bucket of rainwater, heated up by the wood-stove. If I want to wash my hair he helps me by holding the bucket and slowly let the water run out so I can use both hands. How romantic is that!? I’m also way more aware of how much drinking-water we flush through the toilet on a daily basis, since I now carry that rainwater in buckets, to flush it in the toilet. It makes me so much more aware of how we can do little things to help and save our Ancient Mother Earth. But not just the house feel like coming home. It’s mainly the man.. Wherever he is with me.. But also his family, the cute town we live in, the nature and beautiful garden he made. I’m totally in love with him, with life, with myself and everything around me!

Within a few weeks I opened my own Yoga- and Massagestudio at home and everything really flows. It feels like everything goes like it’s supposed to go and I’m so grateful and calm and so so so full of love. If I made the wrong decision of moving in here straight away I don’t believe things could flow like this and go so well. I’ve you’re curious about the Yoga and/or Massage, check out my brand new website I’ve made in a week, because I have so much creative and creating energy! www.yogagwen.com.

Another part of having so much energy at the moment is that I’m taking better care of myself now. I’ve struggled with a lot of health issues in the past, like bladder infections, migraines, regular flu, gut-problems and low on energy. Due the stress in my old jobs I even had a burn-out and signs of depression that still pop-up every now and then. But also because I’ve always been quite active in my life and I’m always trying out different (extreme) sports, like horse-riding, snowboarding, skateboarden, surfing, mountain biking, rock climbing etc. I’ve had some sincere inflammation in my joints, especially my knees. One of the reasons this happens is my hyper-flexibly in my joint (not my muscles). They over-stretch very easily so my ligamen get overstretched a lot when I’m not focussing on my body-position. This inflammation causes that I’m not able to do all the activities I love, because my body needs to recover first. It’s very frustrating sometimes and I really need to practice patience and give my body time and gently strengthen it so I can do what I love again. It even influences my income and my job, since I’m teaching Yoga en doing the massage, which are both very physical jobs, I really need to be careful with my body. The lesson now is to really practice what I preach and in my classes I really take care of my own body, while teaching, which means that I can’t do the full physical practice in all my classes, but instead I’m guiding more and this also helps me to see the students and progression more. So again, I believe this is for a good cause and hopefully makes me a better teacher as well!

At this moment I’m doing a 10 day Shred detox! I’m eating/drinking no gluten, no dairy, no alcohol, no coffee, no refined sugar or processed food. I’m adding loads of organic fruits and veggies to my daily meals, drinking loads of mineral water and fresh tea and I’m taking extra capsules that bridge the gap of the necessary 10 to 13 servings of organic, sundried fruits and veggies the body needs everyday. I’m also working out for at least an hour a day, mainly that’s cycling, or running or skateboarding, as long as it is active and outdoors. To make sure my body recovers I take (non-GMO) soy-based protein shakes that really nourish my body. I feel so much better already and I truly believe doing this on a regular basis, like monthly it will help me to stay fit and active for a long time. If you’re interested in doing a detox yourself, just pop me an e-mail and I’ll get you started!

I’m also getting back into Ashtanga Yoga and I’m doing my home-practice every morning before I start teaching (gently of course, with the full awareness of my body and her needs). Since I’m moving a lot outdoors I get so much oxygen and I didn’t even know I lacked the vitamins and oxygen before I started doing this detox. I feel so clean and refreshed and I have to say this is also helping me in being productive and active during the day. I’ve started doing detoxes a while ago and I’ve tried many different things because I truly believe in the power of the body to heal itself as long as we keep it clean en nourish it. Some of them worked and some didn’t, but now I found a way to cleanse myself and keep me going at the same time, without starving myself or being hangry, hungry or even really f*cking weak so I can’t move a muscle. I am more then happy to share with you guys what I found out to be a healthy way to take the best care of your body possible. I feel this is my life-mission. Inspire others to live a happy, healthy and peaceful life in their full potential.

There are many times where I feel like I ‘need’ to share more of what I’m doing on Instagram and Facebook to inspire people in this healthy life-style, but I feel the need less and less to be online. So I told myself that there is no necessity in doing this. So I can’t promise you daily tips and tricks, but I can promise you that I will share what I feel like sharing, when I feel like sharing. For now you have to just deal with that. That doesn’t mean that if you have any question, you can’t ask me. You can always pop me a text or an e-mail and I will answer you on the right time. For me that feels like the right balance.

So I will talk to you guys soon, or maybe not, but defiantly later. At some point. ;-)

With love,

Gwen