Emme

Yoga & Holistic Training for graceful aging. Inspiration, tips, and practices for an ageless lifestyle of radiance, meaning & joy. Emme is that person.

Be invited to join my space where the Art of Movement meets Wisdom of the Heart. Once in a while, if we’re really lucky, we meet someone who can help us change our life for the better. Initially, with no proof, our minds may fight against this intuition… but this feeling of possibility, often accompanied by a nudge from a quiet inner voice (yes, the one that always tells us the truth), gives us pause. The decision to explore this further could be one of the most important we ever make. A teacher, a coach and a practitioner of healing arts who regularly leaves her clients in wonder and disbelief – relieved as their pain diminishes or disappears; elated as they experience a newfound freedom of movement; empowered by an untangling of old patterns that were holding them back; or surprised by their ability to meet their world with an enhanced confidence to be who they truly are… or even the simple satisfaction of seeing their golf game take a quantum leap – for the people who engage her, Emme is indeed a blessing. Emme, when asked about her work, gladly celebrates her students’ and clients’ stories of transformation, all of which give her deep and unabashed joy. Ultimately, this joy is the power source of Emme’s true gift – one she shares with those who are truly ready for what’s possible, who know that there must be a way to feel better, stronger, happier and more alive. That is her gift, that is her calling.

12/10/2021

For everyone who feels off-balance these days:

Such are the tides of life.

You are where you need to be.

Everything you are experiencing is part of the journey, nothing more, nothing less.

Know that it doesn’t always feel pleasant when we are in the midst of it.

It can feel excruciating and lonely. It feels like we are the only ones not able to move forward, no matter our effort. It feels like we are held back — holding ourselves back — and we don’t know why.

But there are also times where you feel like gliding on rays of sunlight; effortless, joyful, supported, and full of life.

Such are the tides of life.

But remember, you have experienced both before at another chapter in your life that felt similar. There was the same uncertainty, discomfort, worry, painful stretching into the limits of your current state. It’s not a completely new experience. You have been here before.

You kept taking one step after the other. You did it even when tired, exhausted, confused, hopeless. Then one day, you saw clearly again. The clouds passed. And you look back and hardly remember them. By walking through, you got to the next stage.

Do not give up. You are so close. Keep walking. Hold your focus on the light at the end of the tunnel. Feel the feeling when you have walked through the passage of clouds and come out into the sun again. And know that one day you might come upon another passage of clouds.

We are all just travelers on the continuum of our own journey.

Such are the tides of life.

12/09/2021

I often wish I had a magic wand 🪄 when people come to work with me to address their back pain. Not only because that’s where my own story started. I feel their pain - in body and also in quality of life. But also because I know it takes courage and patience and determination to take personal responsibility for our own Self, for our pain and for what have to do to help ourselves.

I hope this post provides clarity to you.

I see you and feel you. Don’t give up, you are so much more capable than you think and yes, you can help yourself 🙏🏼💜.

12/07/2021

Meditations from the mat

How to lift yourself above the inner critic’s voice

Today I am practicing being kind to myself.

Even though I have abundant patience and compassion for others, I often do not extend that gift to myself. I am aware of the voice that comments on everything, from the smallest daily choices I make to how I live my life in general. That voice is not always kind to me, and it can make life a lot less joyful.

Today I am practicing being kind to myself.

"I choose not to engage in a conversation with my inner critic. I am grateful for the deep awareness of seeing and recognizing that this voice is not me. I am grateful that I am not living on autopilot without any understanding but have the power to choose not to engage in this conversation. I am grateful that I can choose not to listen to this voice, but listen to a different voice within me.

Today I am practicing being kind to myself.

I see the effort I AM making even if it looks like I am not there yet, even if I haven't figured out exactly what comes next, even if this phase in my life asking me to step into the next level feels hard. I am proud of showing up for myself, my dreams, and my life. I am present and witnessing what is going on in my life instead of distracting myself away from it. I am completely one hundred percent IN — in my life, and that is precisely how I choose to live. I am proud of moving along with intention and purpose; I do not expect it to be easy. I chose the path, and I choose to to be kind to myself.

Today I am practicing being kind to myself."

#100%in "

12/05/2021

”I believe there is a rhythm to our life, the ebb and flow of energy that influences so much of how we perceive our life to be. A rhythm of how we move, breathe, learn, grow, work, play, interact, recharge, love, feel, sleep, etc. This rhythm is innately personal and changes throughout the different seasons of our life.
The more we get comfortable to live with our innate rhythm and not against it, the more in harmony we feel with ourselves. For me, that is a large part of genuine authenticity.” Emme 💃🏼

12/04/2021

There are days we feel behind. Behind the plans, we have made. Behind our own expectations. Behind the life, we wanted to live. For some, it feels like overwhelm, as if we are pulled into dozens of different directions. For others, it feels like emptiness, there is no direction at all, and we keep looking and looking for it.

We feel behind because we don't trust the process. Because we have been taught to take control over our lives and the better we take control; the happier and more successful our life will be. When this concept doesn't' work, we feel the 'dis-comfort", 'dis-balance or "dis-ease."

And this feeling is a stress response and doesn't only live in our head, in our mind. It lives very clearly in our bodies.

It's a feeling that most experience as tightening in our torso. It often manifests in our neck & shoulders, the lower back & hips, the abdomen, or the chest. Most of us can feel it very clearly if we pay attention.

It's our beautiful fine-tuned nervous system giving us NUDGES to pay attention. It's the MIND-BODY-CONNECTION working at its best. And it works FOR us, not AGAINST us.

When I work with my clients and students, I teach them to recognize and identify the 'nudges' in their own marvelous healing system. The answer to feeling tight and tense is not necessarily to pull and stretch on our muscles and joints ( = flexibility) like we are made to believe when we come to 'do yoga exercises.'

There are so many beautiful and complex nuances, which are personal and individual. I teach you to dig a little deeper and learn to regulate your own stress response through yoga-inspired but also other mind-body practices so that on those days when you 'feel behind,' and your body is tensing up to give you a sign, you have a method to help yourself.

Warm wishes for a peaceful weekend, Emme💃🏼

12/02/2021

‘When looking for ways to feel better in your body, don’t ask for something to protect you from feeling uncomfortable. Ask yourself why do I feel this way? Follow the trail inward to yourself. Explore things within yourself that your conscious mind doesn’t want to look at. A regular mind-body practice will light a path to awareness we don’t have when we live on autopilot in our bodies. And it will train you to understand yourself better, develop the strength to deal with the discomfort of life differently.” Emme💃🏼

11/30/2021

Did you know the shapes or poses we attend to on our yoga mat have a very specific goal:

to discipline or train our body,
to help us develop body-mind awareness and
to quieten our mind by learning how to focus inward

Discipline, awareness, and focus are skills honed by a mindful movement practice and are essential ingredients for a mind-body practice.

Those are also the qualities that I know lead me to better choices in my life.

If I can discipline myself to practice something continuously, I am empowered to take control of my own choices. It’s in nobody else’s hands but mine.

If I have an awareness of knowing what I need in my life to feel strong, resilient, grounded, etc. I can support myself and live life in alignment with my needs.

If I tend to a practice helping me quieten my mind and focus inward, I can better navigate my emotional and mental inner world.

Do you have a mind-body practice that focuses on developing those skills?

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11/29/2021

“A lot of what happens in a random yoga group class is demonstrating the flexibility, strength, balance, coordination you (already) have at that moment in time. It makes many who are not presenting a certain degree of those qualities feel they are ‘doing something wrong’ leading one to think ‘I cannot do this, ergo, I am not good at doing yoga’. That is a mental misconception not addressed in most yoga classes, deterring many potential yoga students from continuing to learn something that could change their lives for the better.” Emme💃🏼

# growth mindset

11/27/2021

How are you spending your free time after the stress of the Holiday week? What is it filled with? What thoughts, energy, and choices are you choosing? Are you even choosing? Or is it chosen for you? Where can I make space for myself if it is chosen for me because of family, work, or other responsibilities? That is an excellent start in a new direction of yoga practice.

If you usually do not ask yourself these questions as part of your yoga practice, I want to invite you to do this today for 15min. Seriously and deliberately.

It’s the practice of self-reflection and a vital part of a yoga practice that is more than physical exercises. Self-reflection leads to self-care. Self-care is that what helps us balance the stress we might have experienced during the Holidays.

How can I recharge today? What do I need to restore my energy? How can I pause from the demands placed on me either from the outside or internally by myself?

Here is are my rest/recovery choices for this weekend: I sat outside in the cool crisp air and soaked in the warm sun rays. I did about a 10min conscious breathing sequence this morning, which I will repeat when I am sitting outdoors with Lilly, and before I go to bed tonight. I am taking the doggies for a long walk in the forest now, right after writing this. I prioritize sleep a lot more these days, and I will allow myself to rest according to my natural rhythm, especially this weekend. I stay away from the internet and social media as much as I can.

Nothing extraordinarily special or complex, just simple things that I know keep me sane. But, I do them consciously and deliberately. I choose them with my whole heart and gratitude that I can do those things.

And that makes all the difference in the world.

What are your self-care choices for this weekend? Are they part of your deliberate yoga practice? If not, why not?
With so much love, Emme💖

11/27/2021

“A Yoga practice that focuses beyond physical exercises is the place where we can discover what we need to be able to take care of ourselves. It’s the ultimate space to pause, to listen with interest to the honest internal feedback and recalibrate, recharge and reconnect to ourselves. For me, it’s a very personal place and the antidote to stress in my life.”

11/23/2021

We live in a state of constant stress. The stress we are experiencing on a conscious level is only a small portion of the stress our entire system is facing every day on a subconscious level.

There is an infinite number of stressors built into modern life as we know it. These stressors permeate us not only on a mental, emotional and energetic level, but they permeate each cell of our physical body as well.

The body needs stress to be able to keep growing and develop the strength of resilience. It also needs rest and recovery to stay in a state of homeostasis, keeping all systems in a stable equilibrium. We all are born with this miraculous design - a self-generating life-affirming system independent of input from the outside.

However, one has to learn where the lines between healthy stress and stress that affects us negatively start to blur. It is in the daily choices of how we live our lives where we control that line.

Many of us are left with very little awareness of how to choose or modify our life in a way that uses the stress to strengthen us and not tear us down. Until we are faced with sickness or dis-ease or emotional pain leads us to a state of deep confusion, constant overwhelm, anxiety and depression.

The last two years amplified the need for us to recalibrate and take control of how we live our lives more than ever in our lifetime.

Yoga can be an excellent training to help us develop the skills to become aware of the stress our system is facing and help ourselves stay in a more stable state of homeostasis. This stable state we then experience in the form of health, love, trust, gratitude, connection, confidence, and freedom.

But it is a very personal and innately unique training that we often do not experience if we only practice random yoga classes in a group setting in a studio or video at home. And if we always rely on someone else leading us in our yoga practice, we never learn to fly on our own.

You are the only one who knows what you need and what choices to make. Learn the skills from a teacher, get training, but do not forget to practice on your own, because only in the stillness and space of your own Being you can find the answers of how to modify and choose a life to keep yourself in a stable state of homeostasis, where you will experience health, love, trust, gratitude, connection, confidence, and freedom.

Into the “stress” of this holiday week, where many of you will feel like you don’t have time to “participate in a yoga class,” I wish all of us joy to experience the festivities with conscious love and gratitude. And yet, at the same time, I hope you do choose to pause somewhere in between and get on your yoga mat - alone, undistracted, awake — to move and breathe and practice that same love and appreciation for yourself — Your Body, Your Mind, Your Spirit.
With so much gratitude and awe, Emme💃🏼

11/22/2021

“How to stop the fight or flight response - also knows as stress: Breathe.” Emme💃🏼

11/19/2021

𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐞

We are never alone in our struggles through life. There are always many more like us who feel the same way. It “feels” like we are alone, maybe because we are surrounded by people who don’t feel what we feel. Perhaps our partner, family, or friends are not going through what we are going through right now, so it feels like they don’t understand. Maybe they don’t even know because we have been shy to share how we honestly feel for fear of being judged or rejected. Maybe it looks like everybody else around us has their life together, and we are the only ones struggling. Maybe we don’t want to be a burden to someone else. There are so many reasons we might feel alone in our struggles.

But we are never alone.

If you feel alone in your struggle today, I want you to know I see you, and I feel with you right now.

We are all in this together, in the same boat.

We are all trying to figure things out while we are living our life.

Nobody is exempt, there are no hacks or shortcuts to relieve how we feel, even if it appears like that.

Only focus on what you CAN do, CAN give, CAN control right now. Let go of everything else.

If you can take a deep breath, you are alive. That is something you CAN do.

And take one baby step after another. Sometimes the steps go backward, and that is OK as well.

But don’t give up hope for a better life, don’t give up trying, don’t give up dreaming. One more baby step is all we need. Don’t try to look at the entire path before you, don’t focus too intensely on the “goal.” It might discourage you to look so far ahead yet don’t know how to get there. Choose one thing you can do to feel a tiny bit better right now. Baby steps...

When we meet again tomorrow, you will already be at a different place. And before you know it, you will look back and see how far you have indeed come.

“Is that YOGA?” you might ask. Yes, Darling, THIS IS YOGA.
With so much love, Emme💃🏼

11/18/2021

My Yoga practice is the place where I learned to sit still with all the uncertainty, the pain, the discomfort, the fear and worry, the pressure, the confusion, the grief — just long enough to realize that the answers are and always were inside of me. Emme💃🏼

11/17/2021

I do not often go to the chiropractor, mainly because I don’t need to. But in some instances, when I feel tweaks in my spine that I cannot release on my own (mostly in my neck after prolonged work on my desktop), I pay a visit to my favorite chiropractor Jason Pease-Chiropractor and get re-aligned again.

He is an excellent practitioner, extremely knowledgeable, a wise teacher to his patients, and a fitness enthusiast I could spend days chatting with because we are so aligned in our view of the human body and how to treat and train it.

After he works on me, I usually sneak in a couple of “deep dive” questions and ask for his opinion on how to improve my training or the function of some part of my body.

One time I asked him if there was anything more I could be doing to improve my hip extension (which I don’t perceive to be where I wanted it to be), he bluntly answered with sincere intensity:

“I know you always want more from your body, and I get it, but you also seem to forget that YOU ARE A WALKING MIRACLE… you are SuperWoman… with a SuperWomanBody”.

I was humbled by his passionate and sincere response. And then it hit me deeply. Because what he was referring to was the fact that I had extensive back surgery 28 years ago, where a herniated disk had severely damaged my sciatic nerve in my left leg and seriously impaired my ability even to walk.

With his remark, he asked me to remember where I came from.

I have not only overcome a questionable prognosis after surgery if I would ever be pain-free even after surgery, let alone be able to do any of my beloved athletic training again. Instead, I have thrived in this body of mine, which led to a career as a training, yoga, and coaching professional for which I am eternally grateful: I AM A WALKING MIRACLE.

There are so many lessons his candid remark offered me that I will never forget. Mainly, despite the fact some of us always try to reach higher, we should never forget where we came from and what a miracle our body truly is.

Thank you, Jason, for reminding me. I will never forget it.

So my reminder for you today:

Your body is not a machine that needs to be fixed; it needs to be cherished, nourished, and taken care of. We all are in some form or another walking miracles. Be grateful for your body right now, remember where you came from, and pledge not to continue to take your body for granted. It has the power to change everything — in an instant.

PS. And if you need someone to trust your body into his hands, Jason Pease-Chiropractor is a marvelous choice! 😉

11/15/2021

We live in a world where people have been taught when we struggle with something, there is a problem that needs to be fixed.

This philosophy works well when we apply it to buying new running shoes when your old ones are worn out. Or your food is spoiling because your refrigerator doesn’t cool anymore.

But it doesn’t work when we apply it to us as human beings because here is what happens:

We look for the shiniest “solution” to “fix our struggles” because all we want is to feel better. Messages everywhere say: “Here, I got a “solution” for you, buy this or do this, and you will feel better.” Feel better and fix your struggle with your body (weight, appearance, vitality, energy, posture, pain, etc.). The list of why we struggle with our bodies is endless.

But all those “solutions” do not address the real reason we struggle with our bodies: the physical or emotional pain we feel deep inside.

And when we sincerely put all our hope into these “solutions” only to see again, they merely patch up our pain for a while but do not help us “fix the struggle” long term; we move on to the next shiny “solution.” And each time, it crushes our soul a little more until we silently give up.

You will not magically wake up one day and be strong, beautiful, full of clarity, energy, peace, and joy because you go to yoga classes.

The struggle doesn’t disappear.

Quite the contrary, a disciplined, regular, consistent yoga practice that doesn’t only focus on the physical fitness aspect will teach us to embrace the struggle. When we learn to embrace the struggle, we transform it into strength, which will empower us.

So I offer you to think about your “struggle” with your body a little differently. Not as a problem that needs to be fixed. But as a sign that you need to start paying attention. It’s an opportunity to learn something about yourself, to spend some time diving deeper and listening closely. So ultimately, we can start loving ourselves more.
Love, Emme💃🏼

11/13/2021

I think one of the greatest tragedies in our human struggle for a better life is that we tend to "give up." We give up when we feel we have tried and tried again and feel we have failed."
Maybe we wanted to

* learn to practice Yoga, meditate, eat better, or exercise regularly
* get mentally stronger and resilient
* look better and be more confident
* create a better marriage/love relationship
* or learn how to love ourselves again

Whatever it is, I know you have at some point in your life tried and didn’t get to the desired outcome, ergo felt you failed. I think we all have in different areas of life. We carry this 'failure badge" like a chain around our heart and try our best and hide it away and pray that nobody ever discovers it. And deep down, we doubt if we shall or even can try again.

It's an interesting strategy we all employ, and I like to suggest we call it "start and stop" rather than "try and fail."

No human is exempt from it. And the more you want something, the bigger the dream, the bigger the wall becomes, which we have to jump if we decide to start again after we stop.

But you might have noticed that our "strategy" of hiding it away deep in our heart and covering it up in a layer of shame is not working.

So my reminder for all of us today is that there is and always will be — what I call — "a tiny corner of your heart" that is still willing and ready to do the work.

Close your eyes for one moment and connect to that place within you. If you don't find it right away, just breathe and stay focused and keep looking for it. It's right there waiting for you — always. All we have to do is focus on it long and intentionally enough not to get distracted and then go: start again.

Nobody cares how many times we have tried before. Nobody's counting, just our Ego. We cannot change the past, but we can influence our future.

It's ok to start again after you have stopped. Not only ok but so empowering. Because that is a badge, you will wear proudly not only internally in your heart but externally: the moment you are brave enough to start again, your life energy will flow, and with it, the way you move, feel and experience life.

And the best thing is, everybody around you will notice your energy as well; it's contagious and will give someone else permission to start again as well. This is how you can transform the "failure badge" into an inner light and joy for life.

Would you please share if you know someone who needs to read this?
With so much energy and joy,
Emme💃🏼

11/12/2021

“No matter how many times you vowed to “do something” and then didn’t follow through. No matter how many times you think you “failed”. No matter how great the pain you feel “knowing” you cannot trust yourself to try again. There is a tiny corner in your heart that is still ready and willing to do the work. Focus only on that!” Emme 💃🏼

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Joy and Passion

Once in a while, if we’re really lucky, we meet someone who can help us change our life for the better. Initially, with no proof, our minds may fight against this intuition… but this feeling of possibility, often accompanied by a nudge from a quiet inner voice (yes, the one that always tells us the truth), gives us pause. The decision to explore this further could be one of the most important we ever make. Emme is that person. A teacher, a coach and a practitioner of healing arts who regularly leaves her clients in wonder and disbelief – relieved as their pain diminishes or disappears; elated as they experience a newfound freedom of movement; empowered by an untangling of old patterns that were holding them back; or surprised by their ability to meet their world with an enhanced confidence to be who they truly are… or even the simple satisfaction of seeing their golf game take a quantum leap – for the people who engage her, Emme is indeed a blessing. Emme could not write these words, being far too humble for self-promotion. Instead, when asked about her work, she gladly celebrates her students’ and clients’ stories of transformation, all of which give her deep and unabashed joy. Ultimately, this joy is the power source of Emme’s true gift – one she shares with those who are truly ready for what’s possible, who know that there must be a way to feel better, stronger, happier and more alive. That is her gift, that is the Emme Factor.

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