Everything is already here – You just need to see and take it

When I was a child I would go on a five-day trip with our local catholic youth group over the Pentecost holidays. A great opportunity to get in touch with ourselves and nature. We slept in tipi tents, played outside in the wilde and ate from metal bowls. We used the woods as our toilette and in the evenings we would sit around a campfire and sing songs together. This singing with guitar accompaniment was one of my favourite parts of the day. Even today I still remember it vividly when we sing mantras in our kirtan group. I guess my path of Bhakti yoga, the yoga of devotion, startet back then without me even knowing it. But there’s another moment that had a significant impact on the further course of my life which I would like to share with you today. During an outdoor game we called station race during which we had to complete different tasks at each station, we came to a gorgeous meadow. The grass was high. Wilde flowers everywhere blooming in the bright sunshine. Our task was to lay on our backs in the grass and close our eyes. Then our supervisor read a text section that went somewhat like this: „Perceive your body lying in the grass. How does it feel? Can you hear the birds? Can you feel the wind and the sunshine on the skin of your face?“