Having difficulties in life is a part of life. Hopefully they don´t show up too often, but if they do I have the perfect medittaion for you!

​This is a simple and ancient meditation to resolve conflicts we have within ourselves. Do it and see what changes occur. Lead yourself through. The moment the body detects that the air is out and it will start to adjust and balance the entire system.

​I took a long vacation - the longest ever - over the summer and did nothing basically. I needed some time to rest and slow down. You can think as  yoga teacher I have the most relaxed and comfortable job in the world, but it can sometimes be too much even in this occupation. I do love my job, I´m living my passion. Love meeting all my local yoga students, clients, online students... But after thinking, as I had a lot of time for it this summer, I realized I need to let go of something. Making some space in my life. My local yoga classes are expandning, and I don´t have enough time or energy to do everything that I want anymore. So I decided to take a break from blogging on Healing from within with yoga & food. Just let it rest for a while and focus only on one thing for a while. For how long I don´t know. Will I come back? I don´t know. 

So this is kind of a goodbye for a while. Well, I´m still here. Still reachable on my email and social media. My website with all helpful information is still up.

Love and light

​Helen

​More than 10 years ago I got burned out. I was totally exhausted for some years, and it took many years to recover from this. And still today I can fall back in this pattern, but not as bad. It doesn´t take years to get back on track anymore. When it is has been bad, it can take a couple of weeks to recover. The good thing when you are a yoga teacher or practicing yoga is that you get more aware of your body and soul. You notice earlier the signs that it has been too much and can do something about it pretty immediately. Press the brake and use the amazing yoga tools you have.
​
It´s summer (in northern hemisphere..) and many of you are soon going on vacation. And before vacation there can be so much to do. It has been for me at least. So in this blog post I want to give you four tips what you can do when you are exhausted or maybe before you even get there. There are so many great yogic tools on my website you can use, and you´ll get some of them below.
 ​

In this short yoga sequence you will do three yoga poses and one meditation that will help you to start your day in a gentle way and become calm.  This yoga sequence is good for you that are very stressed, have a lot of pain or not so much time to do yoga.
To start your day with some yoga, if only for 10-15 minutes, can make a huge shift in your life. If you want to make your yoga practice into a daily routine that sticks, start slowly with 15 minutes and increase the length over time. If you want to know more about this you can read about it here.

If you are not familiar with root locks (Mula Bandha) you can check out this video.

Here is also another video with the meditation.​

I would be so happy to hear how this sequence feels for you. Let me know in the comments below!

One meditation I have used a lot in my life when I felt a lot of pain and when I´ve felt a kind of hopelessness in my illness is a meditation with a mantra. I love mantras. They are partly the reason why I continued with yoga. This particularly mantra is a powerful healing mantra. There are many meditations with this mantra, but the meditation I want to share with you is this one.
This is how you do:

You sit in easy pose with your spine straight. Or you can sit or lie in a position that is comfortable for you when you´re in pain. I´ve been sitting on my heals (rock pose) singing this mantra many times.
You find rock pose in this video.

Sing the mantra:
RAA MAA DAA SAA, SAA SAY SO HUNG
​

There are many beautiful recordings of this mantra. I have a playlist here if you want to check them out..

Here are some of my favorite artists:
Snatam Kaur
Satkirin Kaur
Mirabai Ceiba
Seda Bagcan
​

RAA means the energy of the Sun: strong, bright, and hot. It energizes and purifies.
MAA is the energy of the Moon. It is a quality of receptivity, coolness, and nurturing.
DAA is the energy of Earth. It is secure, personal, and the ground of action.
SAA is the impersonal Infinity. The cosmos in all of its open dimensions and totality is SAA. Then the mantra repeats the sound; this repetition
is a turning point. The first part of the mantra is ascending and expands into the Infinite. The second part of the mantra pivots those
qualities of the highest and most subtle ether, and brings them back down. It interweaves the ether with the earth! SAA is the impersonal
Infinity. Then comes
SAY, which is the totality of experience and is personal. It is the feeling of a sacred "Thou. " It is the embodiment of SAA.
SO is the personal sense of merger and Identity.
HUNG is the Infinite, vibrating and real. The two qualities together (SO and HUNG) mean, " I am Thou . "
A s you chant this mantra you complete a cycle o f energy and g o through a circuit o f the chakras. You grow toward the Infinite, then you
convert the llinkage of finite and Infinite at SAA. Then you revert back to an embodiment and blend of purity.

(from the KY teacher manual Level 1)
​

This is the first time I´ve been singing  a mantra live in a video. If anyone would have told me I would do that, let´s say 10 years ago, I would have said they are crazy. No way!

I remember when I was working as a spa manager and every time I passed the yoga room and heard them singing mantras I thought it was very weird. Six years later (after being burned out as a spa manager...) I became a yoga teacher, singing mantras all the time. Actually it was mantras that made me love yoga. I have even recorded a mantra song now!

Things can change. Thinking patterns can change. Life can change.
♫♫♪♫♫♪♪♫♫

​To have a strong and healthy immune system is so important for your health. It fights viruses, bacteria and parasites that is or comes into your body. The immune system is in many parts in your body: the lymph system, intestines, bone marrow to name a few parts.
There are many ways to strengthen and keeping your immune system healthy. One way is to do it with nutrition and medicinal plants. Here are my three favorite drinks I use to strengthen my immune system.

Chaga is a mushroom that grows on trees (mostly birch trees). It is  considered to be a medicinal plant in Asia and had a lot of good health qualities:
 
Chaga is good for:

• the immune system (has a high level of antioxidants)
• supports normal cholesterol
• reduces inflammation
• Antibacterial
• Antifungal

 
In studies it has been shown to help people with cancer and psoriasis.
You´ll find the chaga tea in health stores (or on birches).

How you cook:
You can consume chaga in different ways, but my favorite is to drink it as tea.
Normally you cook the chaga for about 30-60 minutes, strain and drink. You can cook pieces of chaga or powder.
You can re-use the mushroom and cook it until the water is lighter.
​

Pau d’Arco is another medicinal plant that you can make tea of.
It is the inner bark of a tree that grows in South America.

It helps to

• Boost your immune system
• Get rid of parasites
• Reduce inflammatory processes in your body

 
You´ll find it in health stores.

How to:
Take 1½ tbsp in ½ liter of water (17 oz). Boil slowly in 15 minutes.
Strain and drink.
I use double doze when I feel a cold coming.
​

Another favorite immune boosting drink I have is Ginger- & turmeric shot.

Ginger is an ancient spice with a lot of benefits. It works anti inflammatory, good when you have a cold coming, menstrual cramps, nausea etc.

Turmeric is an ancient root with a lot of healing properties:

• Kills fungus
• Lower blood cholesterol
• Anti inflammatory
• Helps to boost immune system

Lemon is a ntarual sourcs of vitamin c that is important for your immune system.

Honey also helps to boost the immune system. remember to buy a good quality. 

In turmeric it is curcumin that is the key ingredient for healing properties.

Here is a recipe:
- 200 g fresh ginger
- 50 g fresh turmeric 
- Pinch of black pepper (helps to absorb the curcumin)
- 1 liter (2 pt)  of water
- ¼ C cup honey (or Stevia if you prefer)
- 2 pressed lemons

How to:
Grate the ginger o turmeric (use gloves so you don´t get yellow). 
Place it in a pot with water. Add the black pepper. Heat to 60 C (140 F) and hold the temperature for 20- 30 minutes. 
Strain and let cool to 40 C (104 F), pour in the honey and stir. When the drink is lukewarm squeeze in lemons. Pour in the glass bottle and store in refrigerator. 
​
Take 20 ml morning and during cold periods or ongoing inflammation, take morning and evening. 
​Store in the fridge for about 1 month



What is your favorite immune system boosting treatment? Please share in the comments!

When I started this website 2012 my purpose was to share my knowledge with women around the world. I have endometriosis and got rid of most of my pain with yoga, food and other lifestyle changes. Since I´m extremely bad at making up names I called the website "Yoga for endometriosis" and my URL www.endoyoga.com. I was thinking it would be easier for people to find my website with that name. But in the last two years or so I´ve not felt so good with this name. I think it is because it constantly reminds me I´m ill. So I started to figure out a new name. At first I was hesitant. It´s a big thing to change name. Many knows me under this name by now. 
​

But if it is one thing I´ve learned over the years and especially the last year, it is to follow my heart. No matter what. That can be extremely scary. To listen to what your higher self, subconscious mind tells you to do is not always easy. But if you want to stay in your own power, do what you love the most and if you want to grow, this is so important.
I also had some followers who had pointed out to me to change the name. As yoga teachers we say that our students are ours best teachers. Yes, you teach me things as well! So this made me even more clear on changing the name.
So I listened to my inner voice and followers. Made a decision to change the name. I believe the power of words are very important. What you think or say affects you from within. So working with a website with a name that makes you feel uncomfortable is not an option. It has to change.
My boyfriend, who is my biggest support in everything I do, thought I would keep the URL www.endoyoga.com. It´s a good name, short and easy to remember. I was hesitant at first. Endo is a short name for endometriosis and I didn´t want that name. But when he said what it means in Greek things changed.
Endo means: within, inner, absorbing, or containing.
Yoga means: union.
So endoyga can be translated to union within, which I found beautiful. I interpret it as healing from within or that your soul is meeting your higher self and is united with help from yoga. I could probably go on and on in different meanings. So I decided to keep the URL and when I did that, the name of the website finally came (after two years of trying to figure it out).
​
Healing from within with yoga & food.
This is what it is about. To heal from within. This is what yoga does and this is what food does. And both yoga and food have been my biggest help in my health.
​

Actually not so much is changing. It´s just that the name will be more accurate when it comes to the content on my website. I know some readers have been a little confused by my blogs and videos, as they not only are about the pelvis. My belief is that we are so complex. Both physically and yogically. It´s more than an illness in the pelvis when you have endometriosis or other pelvic pain. It has to do with immune system, digestion, inflammation, stress and more and very often you can also have other symptoms that is not pelvic pain. For example back pain, anxiety, headaches etc. So basically what I write about and do videos about is the problems I have (or had) myself and what I hear many of you have.

When it comes to the yogic part, it is about energy and your chakras. You need to balance your chakras with good kriyas (yoga sets), breathing exercises and meditations. It´s deep stuff. It is about transformation. It is about healing from within.
 
With that said: No nothing is going to change. I´ll still write about and share my knowledge with you as before. Things that will help with different problems: endometriosis, pcos, pelvic pain, lower back pain, headaches, digestion, tiredness, stress, anxiety and personal/spiritual growth (just some examples). Just as before. I´ll try to give more inspiration when it comes to food though. More recipes and tips.
​

As this website is having a makeover at the same time and a new name I want to celebrate! I want to give you a very important yoga program for FREE. It is a yoga program that is called Starter package 2 in Sweden. It is a kriya, a yoga set, that is used a lot in Mediyoga (the yoga form I teach).
This yoga program helps you to get more flexible and have less pain in hips, pelvis, lower back and shoulders. Your stress will decrease and you will get more balanced and empowered. But to know how you will feel, the best is to try it!
Three videos in three different lengths (depending how much time you have) and they are downloadable. You´ll also get pdfs with yoga basics and yoga instructions.

Enjoy!

​It is 2016 and a new year! I´m always very excited when a new year is coming. It´s a good time for a fresh start and making changes in life.

I first wrote this blog post to my local yoga students. What I hear from them is that they really want to start their yoga practice at home but it is so difficult to get started. Then I was thinking: that this is probably a problem for most people.

So I want to share my best tips so you get started with your yoga practice at home. Because the truth is: When you get a regular yoga practice you start to notice the benefits from it. It starts to shift and transform you in a deeper way. You get more aware of your body and mind. You start to change in your way of behaving and thinking. You love yourself more. You become your best friend.

So here we go. My best tips to finally get started with your yoga practice at home:
​
(Further down you have a pdf you can download and answer some questions to make the shift easier for you)

​My first advice is to only do one thing at a time. I know many of you want to make a lot of changes, especially after New Year. You want to lose weight, eat healthier, clear clutter, start exercising, go to bed earlier, be in nature more often etc. (Oh yes, this is my list! ☺ ) For some of you it´s no problem doing everything at once, but for most of us it is. You get too overwhelmed. Starting with many changes at once decreases you change to success. Monofocus is the big deal.
So start with one thing you want to change or start with. For example doing yoga at home.
​

​Ask yourself why you want to do this. Think for a moment. WHY do you want to do yoga at home? Do you feel calmer, more energized, happier, less pain, better sleep and more focused? And WHY do you want to feel this way? Do you want to be able to do more fun stuff? What fun stuff? Meet more friends, go out in nature more often, start that course you´ve wanted for so long but not had the energy to start?
​

One thing I often hear is that you don´t have time to incorporate yoga into your day. It feels totally impossible and overwhelming to get that into your schedule. It is useless to set a goal that you are going to do yoga every day for one hour if that is not even in your fantasy. When you set a goal it needs to be realistic. It must be possible for you to achieve. So always when you set your goal, make it realistic.

Decide how much yoga you want to do
So when setting a goal, first decide how much you want to do yoga in minutes. Can you do 15, 30 or 45 minutes, or is that too much? Then start with 5 minutes, and from there you increase over time. The first week 5 minutes, the second week, 7 minutes and the third week 10 minutes and so on,
that´s how you´ll succeed. After a while you want more. You want to feel more of that feeling you get after the yoga practice.
 
How often?
Decide how often you want to do your yoga practice. Do you want to do it three times a week, 4 times or every day? What is realistic for you?

When?
Decide what days you are going to do yoga and WHAT TIME. Do you want to do it in the morning, or is that not realistic? My advice is to try do it in the morning. You´ll have the benefits from the yoga practice during the day and it is more likely you actually will do it.
Now – write in your calendar when you are going to do your yoga practice. This step is very important. What you see is what will happen more likely.
 
Where?
Ok now you know when and for how long you want to do your yoga, it´s time to find a space to do it in your home. It doesn´t have to be any fancy, just a practical place where you can have some time for yourself.
 
And while you´re at it, make your practice into a ritual. There has been shown that rituals make it easier for us to stick to our habits. Maybe you cam light a candle before you start, and sit in gratitude for a moment. 

What I hear from my clients and students is that it´s so much easier to do yoga when you have instructions like audios or videos. You just need to focus on what you are doing and not about time and what comes next in the sequence. Here are some suggestions from me if you want to start (my own products):

• Free streaming videos: check out my you tube channel. There are many videos. Choose what you need right now and try that one.
• Audios: I only sell audios to my local students, but in two of my programs there are audios included (as well as instructional video). Empower & Balance is a good yoga program if you want to strengthen and empower yourself. Connect & Heal is great if you need to connect to your heart and getting a nice and calm yoga program.
• Videos: In my course Breathe and open up you have 10 videos with yoga. They are different length and different combinations from the same yoga program. A very nice yoga program if you have big problems with endometriosis pain.

All of my yoga programs come in different length so you can choose depending on how much time you have.

• Yoga timer: If you want to do a yoga program in your own way or maybe after my pdf´s you can download a yoga timer for free. You find one here. 

Here are some pdf´s I´ve made, if you want to use a yoga timer and do a shorter sequence: 
Three yoga poses you can do in bed
Three yoga poses for lower back pain
Three yoga poses to lower stress
​Three yoga poses for better digestion
​

The family
When you are making changes in your life it is important to have support, people that are supporting you with your changes and cheering on the way. Start to talk to your closest family members what is about to happen in your life. Tell them what you are going to do and why. That you need their support to succeed. Who knows? Maybe they want to do yoga with you?
​
Friends
Maybe you have a friend that you can do your yoga practice together with and support each other in the process? You can plan together and talk about your experiences together.
 
Book a private session
If you don´t know what kind of yoga program or how to plan your yoga practice it can also be great to have a private session. In this session we talk about what you need and you get a yoga program that is for your needs. I also check via email and with a follow up how you are doing, and that can give you more motivation and security.
You can read more about it here.
​

In yoga as in so many other things when it comes to transformation in your health you need regularity and consistency in your practice. In studies in Sweden it has been shown that practicing yoga for 2-3 days a week helps you to lower the stress hormones and gives you an increased well being. I also hear from my yoga students that coming to my classes once a week makes a big difference in their life. But what could happen if you do your yoga more than that?!  Let´s say 4-7 days a week? Your life would probably change in so many ways!
 
 
As human beings we are made to have habits. When you do one thing in the same way, the same time, and in the same place for a longer period of time, it´s like a re-programming in your brain. Your body and mind automatically does things without so much effort and resistance. For example you brush your teeth every day, it is automatically done. Why? Because you get the reward. Your teeth are clean and you have a fresh taste in your mouth. You have built up this habit over a long period at the same time, place and way. It has become a habit.

In the yogic tradition it is said that it takes 40 days to change a habit. That you need to do it every day for 40 days to make the routine into a habit.
 
So try your yoga program for at least 40 days. Write in your calendar when and how long your practice is going to be. Keep up with the yoga practice and try to do it even though you don´t feel great every time. What I hear a lot from clients and students is that sometimes they don´t feel good before they come to me. Maybe they have headaches, pains etc but they feel better after so it´s worth it.

Below you have a pdf to get you started to plan your yoga practice at home. There are questions that will help you a lot to stick to your yoga practice and not quit.
 
I wish you a wonderful new yoga year!

Download you pdf here!

I dont know about you, but I consider myself to be quite sensitive. You know that highly sensitive person? I easily absorb the energy of others and loose my own energy and power because of that. Maybe you recognize yourself in this?

I have several strategies to cope with this. You can read about some in this blog post and in this.

I also have an amazing meditation that helps you with this. You can download it as a MP3 and listen to it whenever you need! A meditation to take back the energy that belongs to you. This meditation is in two parts. First you get rid of energy you have absorbed from others. In the second part you take back what is yours. Your power, energy, good qualitites, love, eenergy etc. Enjoy! And let me know how it works for you!

To download: Click the picture below. Right click and save as. Or on smartphone: hold the picture and save link as...

In one of my yoga classes this fall, we´ve been doing a yoga set to strengthen your intuition. I don´t know what you think about when you hear the word intuition? For some of you it´s probably something totally normal and for some of you maybe something strange and ”New age”.  The last 6 months or so I´ve noticed more than ever how my intuition has helped me in my life and it has been very important for making decisions and helping people. So in this blog post I want to share my thoughts on intuition. What it is for me, how it can help you in your daily life and how to strengthen it.

What is intuition?
The word in itself means:

• direct perception of truth
• fact
• independent of any reasoning process
• a keen and quick insight, the quality or ability of having such direct perception or quick insight

It can be about having a sense that something is going to happen or that something is just right without having any idea how that message is coming to you. It´s just there in an instant. It´s like you feel it in your gut. It can be a feeling of reading between the lines, having a knowledge in a certain situation or/and to, in a sub-conscious level, comprehend something.
​
In the yogic tradition it is about strengthening your awareness and that is making you reach and get in contact with your inner teacher, your higher source of wisdom. Here you can see every moment in different aspects. You have the ability in every situation to feel what is best for you on a long term.
Personally, and I think many others of you, maybe know your intuition or at least have a sense of it. The hardest thing is to follow your intuition, to not act from fear and instead trusting your gut and having self–reliance.

 Maybe you hear that inner voice, whispering to you what you should do (or maybe it is even screaming at you) and you just ignore it and don´t act after your inner wisdom and knowledge, with the result that you in the end will not reach your goals or develop personally and spiritually as much as you wish.

​How do you know it is intuition and nothing else?
 
The sense of intuition is normally an instant feeling. Sometimes it can be difficult to distinguish your feelings. The feeling is immediate and sometimes another feeling can come quite rapidly after the intuition-feeling. It can be a feeling of fear or anxiety for example. I believe the intuition is always right, but that can also mean that you have to step out of your comfort zone and do things that can be challenging for you. And we need that reach a higher level of development personally and spiritually.

If you step out of your comfort zone and learn how to listen to your intuition you´ll be able to make right decisions in life and it will be easier for you to interact with people and also help people that are close to you. Life will be more fun, authentic and joyful. Not only to you, but also to people around you.

It is possible to learn to recognize the feeling of your intuition. The feeling is immediate, you know that gut-feeling that comes in an instant? When the feeling is right you sense excitement, a ”yes-feeling”. If you feel resistance or ”no-feeling” the decision is wrong. Sometimes you can feel confused or not sure, then you should wait and not take any decision at the moment.

If you don´t know if the intuition is a feeling of excitement you can ask yourself: from a scale 1-10 how much excitement do I feel right now? If you are closer to 1 the excitement is very low and your intuition tells you to not make that decision. If it is closer to 10 it is totally right!

​How can you strengthen your intuition?

❤ To be in contact with your intuition you need stillness. You need to stay away from stress. There are many ways you can do this. Here is a list of my 4 favorite yogic tips to lower stress:

• A breathing exercise to lower stress and anxiety
• Do a guided relaxation
• Try this meditation to lower stress (it´s my favorite!)
• Do these three yoga poses that helps to lower stress

 
 
❤ Visualizing helps you to strengthen your intuition according to the yogic tradition. It helps to balance the left and right brain hemispheres. Using pictures and ideas can help to “reprogram”  the brain. Here is one meditation that includes visualizing and also strengthens your electromagnetic field (the aura).

❤ In the yogic tradition the intuition is connected to the third eye point. This is the sixth chakra (in the kundalini yoga tradition). In the yoga I do, we always focus in the third eye point in the asanas as a way to connect and make it easier to focus, but it also helps to strengthen your intuition. The third eye point, or the brow point as it is also called, is in between the eyebrow 1,5 cm in (0,6 inches).

There are many yoga poses, kriyas and meditations that help to strengthen the third eye. Some poses are for example the bow pose, cat & cow pose, baby pose.

 In studies it is shown that about 80% have big problems with their back sometimes in their life. This is also something I hear from my students in my classes and from women with endometriosis & pelvis pain.
When it comes to lower back pain it is important to take a closer look what causes the problem.
There can be so many underlying causes for this: Bad postures, misalignment in the pelvis, weak muscles, stiffness, emotional problems, stress, sitting too much and moving too little etc. 

I also think that sometimes you need to do parallel treatment. I do that sometimes. For example you can go to a physiotherapist that helps you with your problem and at the same time you do a yoga program that suits your issues. Or you go to a chiropractor and keep a personal yoga program or relaxation exercise at the same time. It can be good to keep a conversation with your health care practitioner/ therapist about your yoga to know if it is ok to do certain yoga poses (or with your yoga teacher).

The Yogic view on it
I also have problems with lower back pain and yoga has helped me a lot. Sometimes yoga is all that it takes to get rid of it and sometimes I need help from a professional physiotherapist.
I also know that sometimes you need to go deeper what is the cause of all the pain. In the yoga tradition, if you look at it from an energetic perspective, it is connected to the lower chakras, especially the root chakra (depending where your pain is).
The root chakra is connected to your stability in life, feeling grounded and secure. So having a problem here can be related to money problems, insecurity, family issues etc. It is about taking care of yourself, do what´s best for your health, eating well, exercising and living a healthy life. To have a good relationship with your family. Being able to not get stuck in old beliefs so you can move forward. If you have any of these problems it can be worth working with them.