Author: Alexandra Kreis

Since childhood, I have always felt happiest partaking and learning in communities while passing on my knowledge to help others. Having dealt with many health issues, I searched for healing beyond the obvious by connecting the dots between internal and external: ancient healing methods, food rhythms, body practices, and meditative reflections through music, art and nature. My primary tools to stay balanced have become self-expression and -application and Coming Home to the Here and Now

Tapping the Creative – Tesz Milan

Posted on by Alexandra Kreis

Creativity is a soulful expression. A spiritual practice, even.

We’ve seen or heard it in visual arts, music, and songs, even in dance. For many centuries, people have used the creative to express spirituality, faith, and belief. It was actually through this that it was passed on to the succeeding generations.

When I encountered this episode’s guest, Tesz Milan, she had left singing for over a decade but she had just finally come into owning that she was creative.

To Tesz, being a creative director for other businesses is very much like a musical—you have a story that you’re telling as a singer and you’re creating that story for others. It was her way of connecting to all of what’s unseen. And she’s using her creative output as a way of drawing that energy and creating things for others to feel that for themselves in whatever shape that is in their lives.

In this podcast, we give light to the realities and practicalities of and around the artistic expression. Behind every awe-inspiring act, work, or sound is a whole being poured in in the process of its creation.

Tesz narrates how at the beginning, when she was starting off as a singer, difficult conversations about compensation and the struggle of finding a balance between that and cultivating the creative.

In places like finance or medicine or these more easily understood professions, we have a concept as a society of how we’re going to compensate for those services, whereas for artists, it’s so tough. So one has to know what they’re going into when venturing to art and the creative as a full-time commitment–it takes a lot of time, energy, perseverance, and courage to continue doing what artists do and not get paid right away.

And as an artist, especially with as quickly as digital has taken over our world in the way that we express and communicate our artistic and creative abilities, putting oneself out there to connect with others has been both challenging and exciting at the same time.

Catch this enlightening “insight from the inside” by Tesz Milan! Only here at the Outer Travel, Inner Journey podcast!

Links mention in the podcast

Pocket Quotes

  • Let me listen to your message. I bridge what you’re trying to communicate to your audience to who you are and what it is that they want and need in their lives. – Tesz Milan
  • Every time I’m being creative, it is a spiritual practice. It’s something that I do to feel connected to all of what’s unseen. And I’m using myself and using my creative output as a way of drawing that energy and creating things for others to feel that for themselves in whatever shape that is in their lives. – Tesz Milan
  • It’s so easy to have dreams and visions, but it’s very hard to bring them into this world and stimulate the subconscious. There’s always a sense that if I say my mantra often enough, I probably am going to get it. But it takes real action to get things down. – Tesz Milan
  • Music is a part of our spiritual makeup or our spiritual being. – Tesz Milan
  • The easiest way for me to feel discouraged is when I don’t feel like what I’m doing is actually reaching anybody. – Tesz Milan

Guest Bio

Tesz Milan, formerly a singer and performer, is a Creative Marketing Director and Copywriter. Her creativity helps businesses communicate their purpose and the value they bring to the world.

Elaine Butler – Changing and Loving Her Life Through Exploring Sustainability

Posted on by Alexandra Kreis

Life Through Exploring Sustainability! In this episode of Outer Travel, Inner Journey, we look through the eyes of a prolific sustainable living activist, Elaine Butler. She maintains a website wherein she shares information about concepts related to sustainable living and what can people do if they want to start living in harmony with nature.

Her journey started when, as a young mother, she wanted to contribute to improving the world, to be part of something bigger than herself. She joined an environmental political party in Ireland and heavily lobbied for environmental policies for 4 years. She realized in the process that the more she researched, the less she knew, especially with the basic things about environmentalism and sustainability. She noticed that even simple things like the disposable coffee cups that she drinks from are neither recyclable nor biodegradable. From then on, she kept a record of everything she was learning and shared it through her blog.

For her, the last 6 years of living sustainably are not only about choosing differently, it’s living with a different set of priorities. She chooses to live opposite the traditional way of overconsumption, overindulgence, and convenience. In trying to avoid buying stuff, she opts to borrow, lend, repair items or get them second-hand. To do this she connects and operates with her community, interacting with people more than the traditional way of living.

Elaine underscores that taking action on climate catastrophe in every way possible should be encouraged. Instead of waiting for billionaires and large corporations and pointing fingers to act on it and be responsible, individuals can start somewhere simple which eventually, along with like-minded people, will make an impact. She emphasizes that everyone should take the first steps in protecting the planet, no matter how small that step may be.

Elaine lives in a way such that the planet’s health and resources will still be available for future generations to come. She said sustainability and climate chaos exposed how interconnected humanity and nature is. And being in harmony with nature is also reconnecting with ourselves and our communities.

Sustainability

Links mention in the podcast

Pocket Quotes

  • Sustainability is living in a manner that protects the planet and resources for future generations. Similar to the native American way of approaching things where they make decisions with the next 7 generations in mind. – Elaine Butler
  • We all have to do our bit. Rather than pointing a finger and saying “well, I’m not doing anything because that person’s not doing something”, I would rather do my bit and point finger at the other person and say “well, you need to try harder”. Whereas (if) we all just stand and watch the world burn pointing fingers at one another, does it really help us? Even if it’s not fair, it doesn’t help anybody to do that. – Elaine Butler
  • Overall, what we have to do in the overdeveloped world is to reduce our consumption levels. They are just, completely on whack, they are not sustainable. – Elaine Butler
  • I feel more connected to humanity. The challenge of sustainability and climate chaos is that we now are seeing how interconnected we are. – Elaine Butler
  • I am doing this because I believe it’s the right thing to do. I do think my life is so much richer and so much more rewarding doing this than it was previously where I struggled to know what my purpose was and I don’t feel that now. – Elaine Butler

Guest Bio

SustainabilityElaine Butler is a designer and environmentalist, managing her website Living Lightly Sustainably in Ireland since 2016. She shares in her website practical ways on how to live a sustainable lifestyle. She has appeared in various radio shows and contributed to a number of newspaper companies and websites. She gives talks and on sustainable and zero waste.

Harnessing Sexual Energy to Align One’s Self – Carole Piriou

Posted on by Alexandra Kreis

What we do in our day-to-day lives circles around how society has shaped our thoughts, priorities, and where we should put our energy into. Women, in particular, are expected to be mothers, homemakers, wives, and breadwinners, without considering their genuine wants and deep desires.

In this episode, our guest will talk about how we can start living the fulfilled lives that we envision by being attuned to what our body needs and harnessing our sexual energy and power toward self-alignment and actualization.

Carole Piriou, the founder of The Wisdom of Desire, is a mother, a wife, and a life coach. She is a French mother of twin girls living with her husband and his twin sons in the Netherlands.

Women in a similar situation may be overwhelmed, having to manage a full household and a job. Society sets expectations on the role of women at home that acting on their creative endeavors and deepest desires are almost always put in the backseat. In the process, women lose themselves, the feeling of being alive and desired, which forces them to live draining and unfulfilling lives.

Carole supports women who want to overcome that kind of life by helping them release the pain and tension they have from within and reconnect with their passion. She shares that women should align themselves with their inner guidance – be in the moment and listen to their bodies, especially in their pelvic area. It may be deemed taboo to society, but women should not be ashamed of freeing themselves and harnessing their sexual powers and desires. Sexuality, sensuality, and wanting the feeling of being desired is not confined to a certain age, look, or body type. For her, fulfilling these wants will help the head and heart be aligned and let energy in the body flow more naturally.

Sex and sexuality are a part of self-empowerment. Carole works with women to heal from trauma and find their pleasure again. She helps women rewire and re-sensitize the nervous system, identify what is pleasurable for them and the amount of power they have in their bodies. In doing so, women can redirect and focus their energy on their specific goals and desires. Carole guides women in finding the balance between wanting to do something and acting on it. Not trying to conform to society and valuing oneself and passions will ultimately boost one’s confidence, creativity and revitalize their life.

Energy

Links mention in the podcast

Pocket Quotes

  • All of us are trying to find what really is our purpose and what really keeps us aligned, and there’s a lot of healing to be done on that part, first of all, questioning the expectation we put on ourselves, about what we should do and what we should achieve. Working with sexuality and sensuality is coming back to the very primal source of ecstasy and bliss, and rediscovering your body as a source of endless pleasure. – Carole Piriou
  • We come from a society that for centuries has been unsafe for women to tap into that (sexual) power. How do we repress that in ourselves? Body shame, body hatred, we take too long in bed, we have too much in our heads, we’re broken, orgasms are not for us, we give up on ourselves. We develop this numbness towards this part of ourselves because it’s painful to feel all of that. We internalize it as our own fault like we are broken. – Carole Piriou
  • As long as we have shame, fear, and guilt with a really important part of our body and our being, it mirrors in other areas of our life: how confident you are in your job, in being intimate with not only your partner or yourself, but with the world, with reality. The level of you being comfortable with reality is affected with how intimate you can be with yourself. – Carole Piriou
  • There is a balance between doing and being. And when they are in sync, it’s really beautiful to go and do things in the world and go make impact. – Carole Piriou
  • You are not broken, you have so much aliveness in you. We all have this inside of us, we all have this power, this confidence, this pleasure. It takes some work to release all of these, but it’s possible for everyone. And life on the other side is amazing. – Carole Piriou

Guest Bio

EnergyCarole Piriou is the founder of The Wisdom of Desire established in 2021. She works one on one with women to restore their desire, aliveness and creativity. Part of her work is to reconnect them with their sexual energy, pleasure, and orgasms. She goes to the root of the problem and creates more bliss for women. She studied sexuality coaching with Layla Martin for 6 years and also uses jade eggs in her coaching. She loves to learn continuously to gain mastery on her craft. She is French but has been living in the Netherlands for 15 years with her family.

Making The Best Out of Your Every Day With Vedic Astrology

Posted on by Alexandra Kreis

For thousands of years, humankind has been looking at the cosmos as a guide to our daily lives, internal and external relationships. Ancient and modern, western or eastern, there are a plethora of systems on astrology that people subscribe to in order to understand themselves and the world around them. In this episode of Outer Travel, Inner Journey, we will look at Vedic Astrology and how embodying its principles can improve the way we see things and live our lives. Kathleen Whalen, the founder of Conscious Calendars, shares with us how she and her clients are guided by Vedic Astrology in their day-to-day experiences.

Kathleen starts by explaining that Vedic Astrology, which originated in India, is different from Western Astrology which is more recognizable and currently more popular in mainstream culture. It is the ancient understanding of the cosmos, rhythms of the sun and moon, and natural rhythms of people. These living tones give us indications on how to live a balanced life as an individual in a spiritual path and among people.

Kathleen recognizes that there are people who are adamant in believing in such systems, thinking that astrology will dictate or interfere with their lives and decision-making. For her, Vedic Astrology offers a different perspective on a situation that one is experiencing, still in a space where people can operate based on their personal choices. She elaborated that for example, the colors in the Vedic calendar can be implicit in ways that will teach individuals to look beyond and deeper than what’s on the surface to be able to truly appreciate their experiences. The practice of being aware, being present, and connecting with oneself is at the heart of being human.

There are days when the actions one may take have a greater impact in the future, so taking positive steps not only for oneself but for people around them is important as well. Kathleen says that in green days, the most positive of days, sometimes you are the ones giving answers, the ones giving help to somebody, by spreading kindness.

Astrolgy

Links mention in the podcast

Pocket Quotes

  • It allows a perspective, and it’s not about imprinting anything. It’ to allow us more space in our day to almost shift our perspective and be able to have more resilience. And if a green day wasn’t the perfect day, it’s all the more reason to look back and say “where were the silver linings?” because there really are some secret gifts that came on the green days. – Kathleen Whalen
  • Present in being is a method of becoming more aware and more grateful and more in the moment. – Alexandra Kreis
  • The Golden Hour is the time of day when we can create ourselves and re-recreate ourselves. – Kathleen Whalen
  • The actions we take on a green day have a greater karmic fruit at some point in the future. – Kathleen Whalen
  • Most people who are disappointed are passive people. They are like “oh the green day wasn’t that perfect” and I’m like, what did you do on a green day? Did you spread kindness more? Were you someone else’s answer? We can receive answers on green days too. Sometimes we’re the ones giving someone else help.  – Kathleen Whalen

Guest Bio

AstrologyKathleen Whalen provides solutions and guides professionals and individuals working in stressful environments to improve their mental health and well-being by employing Vedic Astrology and Chinese Medicine. She has a background in allopathic medicine, lab research in immunity and neuroscience, and has degrees in Biochemistry and Chinese Medicine. She is the founder and creator of Conscious Calendars and has been serving the international community with its products since 2006. Through her work and consulting tools, she has helped thousands of individuals and companies see opportunities ahead of time to succeed. Kathleen is currently residing in the United States.

Fierce Young Female Poet Finds a Way to Speak Like Rumi

Posted on by Alexandra Kreis

Introducing fierce young poet in Women’s Month! And what other fantastic way to start a new season at this time than to celebrate the different feminine and feminist contributions of women (and alike) in our quest for identity, truth, and ingenuity.

This episode’s guest echoes what I had in mind when I first started this journey: Women need to be heard.

And like me, she also felt we can have a hard time finding our voices through in this current conundrum of truth, self, and soul-search.

You would relate to Chelan Harkin, author—Of the Mystic Poet behind Susceptible to Light, on a lot of different things:

Before she published her book, she had a mountain of limiting assumptions and fears including assuming that poetry by a male voice would be more respected. But into the depth of our mess—fears, limiting beliefs, anxiousness—a journey to her truth evolved this ecstatic mystical poet.

A passion project, no matter how much you loved the idea, will never come to fruition without action. Chelan had been wanting to publish for years, not consciously knowing she was waiting for her fairy godmother to discover her and birth her unto the world. But when she finally brought herself to it and out the mystical poet in her: it just took her THREE sweeping weeks!

The paralysis of perfection and this idea of binaries—same as in the analogy of sexual and gender binary—make us so limited. It’s either right or wrong, success or failure, now or never.

Key takeaways: we can start where we are when it comes to sharing our gifts and desires. There’s beauty in sharing things when they’re in the process; before they get completely all tidied up. Because even then, it starts to evolve our gift because we start to get feedback and be in a relationship with it.

Do not wait too much. We do not have to wait to start gifting them to the world until they’re perfect. BEGIN NOW.
Poet

Links mention in the podcast

Pocket Quotes

  • When we open our eyes, the inner experience and what we share with others become more aligned. That became my path into my essential self—my inherent light. – Chelan Harkin
  • We don’t have the answers. But you probably have noticed the truth because it was sometimes just a pain in the pit of your stomach. That’s how I know I’m hearing the truth for myself: when somebody speaks to deep truth, it comes from a state of being in integrity with emotions.  – Chelan Harkin
  • To be truthful is to be really responsible for ourselves. – Alexandra Kreis
  • With hypnotherapy, I had this new connection with poetry. It put my whole system, my whole being in a state of such profound safety and relaxation that my consciousness was able to sink down. – Chelan Harkin
  • Play creative. Be creative. If it comes from your own truth, it will come through.  – Alexandra Kreis

Guest Bio

PoetChelan Harkin grew up in the Columbia River Gorge and it was here that she first fell in love with creative writing. She has been writing poetry for over a decade and in 2020 she published her first book of poetry “Susceptible to Light” a collection of her best poems from her early teens and twenties. Her work is highly influenced by other mystical poets including Hafiz and Rumi and has reached an international audience on a scale she called ‘beyond her wildest dreams’. (Cole Goodwin)

 

Steffo Shambo – Tantra Yoga for Men

Posted on by Alexandra Kreis

Tantra is the practice of being in a full relationship with life, a living connection with what is opening yourself, your senses, awareness, and emotions to the present moment, and experiencing reality from that place of openness. It creates an active merging of body and spirit. 

 

Many people tend to associate Tantra with the awakening of the senses and connection. Sometimes, even with an unbridled lust for life and sexuality.

 

Some practitioners say that Tantric practices are more of a strategy that helps quiet the mind and soul and helps activate sexual energy in an individual. It helps instill a better sense of wellbeing and higher states of consciousness, igniting the overall mind, body, and soul of an individual.

 

In this podcast, Steffo Shambo, a men’s relationship coach, talks about tantra yoga for men. He is the founder of Tantric Academy. He helps empower men to realize and tap into their full masculine confidence, intimate power, and their ability to connect with themselves and their partners on a deeper level than ever before.

 

Men have challenges, too. Sometimes, it is even harder to navigate because of societal stereotypes. Historical roots of movements for women empowerment have gained momentum and advances and paved for general acceptance of personal development concepts. But it men, it’s another story.

 

Steffo, through his work in Tantric Academy, and in this episode, gives advice and tips for men on how to reflect within and be better partners in their relationships in a Tantric way.

 

He’s also in for some eye-opening conversation about men’s challenges and some ways to address that. Don’t miss this out on Outer Travel, Inner Journey!

Links mention in the podcast

Podcast Highlights

  • 4:26- 5:28 – Classical Tantra
  • 9:31-11:04 – Men and Women’s Awareness
  • 12:13-16:52 – Transformation
  • 20:23-21:57 – Dark Night of the Soul
  • 22:46-24:04 – Coaching Journey
  • 29:40 -31:27 – Transmissions
  • 32:55-34:27- Modernization
  • 37:14-38:48 – Gift of Words

Pocket Quotes

  • “Masculine and feminine can meet in a place of healing and equality. That’s really what the planet needs right now and what helps to bring the world to a better place.” – Steffo Shambo
  • “I had my own challenges, journey and suffering that helped me let go out in the world to seek answers and transform myself.” – Steffo Shambo
  • “My purpose is to help one man at a time to become integrated and whole again.” – Steffo Shambo
  • “For me what’s most important for my clients is not the format, it is the result and outcome.” -Steffo Shambo
  • “When we fix that micro relationship, we also fix the macro, on a global scale.” – Steffo Shambo

Guest Bio

Steffo Shambo is the founder of the Tantric Academy. He is a men’s relationship coach and hosts a mentorship program called the Tantric Man Experience, that has transformed hundreds of men’s marriages from all around the world. His specialty is helping men realize their full masculine confidence, sexual power, and depth of connection with their spouse.

Amanda Rose – Insightful Sex Education

Posted on by Alexandra Kreis

We’re back in the house with Amanda Rose – to enlighten us on this topic that we don’t necessarily find easy to talk about in other spaces.

Sex education is meant to lead us to great sex, a better understanding of ourselves, and a deeper connection with our partners.

When you know and understand your body, you can communicate to your partner easily and thus increase satisfaction. And that builds confidence in each and a strong bond between them.

Amanda Rose talks about these in our two-part episode with her.

The types of Erotic Blueprints and learning your erotic language to express what turns you on and turns you off are some of the keys she’s sharing to open the doors to sexual pleasure for your partner and from your partner.

With no holds barred, Amanda continues to take us on in this enlightening conversation about how we can discover our own language, better understand a partner’s language, and how to use this road map to embrace and fulfill our desires. And to actually free ourselves!

Amanda also shares some of her expert knowledge on kinds of orgasm and playing the gender role. Understanding that pleasure can come from within or without, there’s an exciting way ahead—a wonderful journey—that you and your partner can traverse together or separately. And you’ll get heaps of advice from here!

As a certified and experienced sex educator, she’s has helped many couples figure out problems in their relationship and we’re lucky to have her bravely share her work with us in this podcast!

This is an important conversation you don’t want to miss!

Links mention in the podcast

Podcast Highlights

  • 3:11-4:14 – Internal Pleasure and Erotic Blueprints
  • 5:54-9:11- Gender Roles and Orgasm
  • 10:47-11:26 – Shame of Orgasm
  • 20:56-21:51 – Sex and Religion
  • 22:06-23:44 – Sex Education
  • 26:03-27:34 – Pleasure Responsibility
  • 30:07 -30:44 – Pleasure and Respect
  • 33:28:34:04 – Sex and our Nervous System

Pocket Quotes

  • “There’s so much focus on orgasm as the ultimate goal and we are so fixated on that in our heads that we miss the rest of what’s going on.” – Amanda Rose
  • “When you take the goal off the table, there’s all this pressure that goes away.” – Amanda Rose
  • “Shame isn’t attached to orgasm, it’s just the shame that lives in our body. When you open yourself up and to be seen and maybe some of that gets triggered.” – Amanda Rose
  • “Be fully present and alive. If I’m fully present and consciously alive and feeling what’s happening in my body and what’s happening around me, that to me feels orgasmic. It feels like I’m fully expanded.” – Amanda Rose 
  • “I turn to sex but sex is god, sex is creation and it’s my version of god.” – Amanda Rose

Guest Bio

Amanda Rose is a certified and experienced sex educator. She has been privileged enough to help many couples figure out problems in their love lives. Coach and long time doTERRA Wellness Advocate. She works with people who want to bring more pleasure, excitement and self expression into their lives. Amanda is here to help you remember who you are, and to remind you of the magic words “pleasure, consent, sovereignty and communication.”

Marcelo‌ ‌Valansi‌ ‌-‌ ‌Building‌ ‌your‌ ‌Community‌ ‌

Posted on by Alexandra Kreis

During the time of crisis in Costa Rica’s real estate and industries, some of the contractors and developers lost their projects. But during the profound lull that followed the crisis, a new idea was born stirring the direction of real estate development in Costa Rica. La EcoVilla was born and it grew to become home to many.

In this podcast, Marcelo Valansi shares how he started building this community. It started out as a dream and a conversation; an idea of a visionary who decided to put his dream of living in harmony with the environment into action.

One of Marcelo’s passions is to enjoy nature, sail, dive, travel, explore, learn from different cultures and meet new people around the world. Marcelo has extensive experience in developing residential and commercial projects of different scales in countries like Argentina, the United States, Panama, and Costa Rica.

Marcelo’s vision about home and his innovativeness gave birth to a new home for many other people. It started as a businessman’s idea about developing new projects. But its purpose grew to regenerate a site and to create communities that leave an impact, accessible, profitable, and sustainable. Because building and caring for our community is actually part of our relationship with nature.

Communities and the place we live in are meant to be a home—a place where we feel cared for, a place we care for, a place of connection, peace, and alignment. In much the same way that communities—as it is people living together more than just structures beside each other—is a source of support, sense of belongingness, and co-creation.

Come and envision your community and learn how you can make it true from Marcelo Valansi! Sharing his experience and insights at Outer Travel, Inner Journey!

Links mention in the podcast

Podcast Highlights

  • 2:28-4:22 – Marcelo’s Turning Point
  • 4:57-5:46 – Disconnection to People
  • 7:33-9:32 – Adjustment of our Planet
  • 13:22-14:05 – Creating a Village
  • 16:56-20:32 – Definition of Community
  • 22:00-28:12 – 9 years of Growing a Community
  • 32:43-34:29– Marcelo’s Challenges in Life
  • 35:21-37:53 – Support System
  • 38:55-40:16 – Achieving your Dreams

 

Pocket Quotes

  • “We will not survive as a species. I feel that the planet is much stronger than us and that they will likely to wipe us.” – Marcelo Valansi
  • “If we start planting trees to regenerate the ecosystem, we can live  in harmony with nature and we can produce more than we consume.” – Marcelo Valansi
  • “Everybody should be empowered to lead or contribute to a community that can work.” – Alexandra Kreis
  • “If we want to see a change in the world, we cannot keep giving the same education we  receive that brought us here.” – Marcelo Valansi
  • “Life is too short. We all have dreams. It’s really important to make them happen sooner than later.” – Marcelo Valansi

 

Guest Bio

Marcelo Valansi is an innovative entrepreneur who is dedicated to the design, development and implementation of self-sustaining regenerative projects and communities. Marcelo has extensive experience in developing residential and commercial projects of different scale in several countries, such as Argentina, the United States, Panama, Costa Rica.

Nicole Henkel – Yoga and Politics

Posted on by Alexandra Kreis

For sure, you’ve read this many times before: yoga is more than just a movement exercise. While we see many videos, platforms, or even apps that offer yoga as part of a fitness program, the full meaning, and benefits of yoga are beyond the sweat and calories you burn out during each practice.

For those who’ve been in the practice, yoga is a mind and body practice. Yoga is a way of life—of a constant union of the mind and body into the space and energy we’re moving in.

The ancient Indian practice of yoga combines meditation, breathing, and precise postures and poses to make a connection with thoughts, body, and spirit. People who practice yoga say it leads to a state of physical health, relaxation, happiness, peace, and tranquility.

Its range of benefits won’t fit the space for the description of this podcast!

Yoga changes lives. This episode’s guest, Nicole Henkel, can attest to that as yoga changed her perspective, even led her to politics. There’s something about yoga that penetrates right to the heart and those who begin their yoga journey often find themselves feeling more compassionate about other people and the world around them.

In this podcast, Nicole Henkel, a well-trained yoga teacher, talks about yoga and politics. She teaches yoga full-time for more than a decade and has taught yoga worldwide. She also shares about her journey being a yoga teacher and the moment she discovered she had cancer.

Nicole is also sharing motivating words about how yoga helped her when she had cancer and how it changed her life. But yoga is no magic pill. It’s the change that happens in you that is.

Join Nicole and Alex in this next episode of Outer Travel, Inner Journey!

Links mention in the podcast

Podcast Highlights

  • 3:36-7:05 – Yoga and Politics
  • 10:15-15:18 – Nicole’s Journey
  • 20:29-23:47 – Is yoga a magic pill
  • 24:56-27:12 – Fighting
  • 27:44-29:45 – What Yoga means to Nicole
  • 30:47 -31:46 – Meditation
  • 33:19-35:52 – Yoga and Righteousness

Pocket Quotes

  • “We don’t know how far we have to push ourselves in order to see the boon that’s waiting for us. Sometimes it comes in horrible ways until we wake up and get really clear.”  Alexandra Kreis
  • “You have to be conscious and you have to connect to every power and force.” – Nicole Henkel
  • “I’m a dreamer to make this place better.” – Nicole Henkel
  • “I’m a cancer survivor. Yoga made me change my life.” – Nicole Henkel
  • “Be brave enough to be the change.” – Nicole Henkel

Guest Bio

Nicole is a yoga teacher for more than a decade and has taught yoga worldwide. She has trained with renowned yoga teachers like Sri Guru Dharma Mittra, who enabled her to deepen her knowledge about the Marga Asthanga and Vinyasa Yoga.

Nicole studied anatomy and physiology intensively and incorporated aspects of yoga therapy into her yoga classes. She has a deep knowledge of Vedic Chanting and Yoga Therapy within the Krishnamacharya yoga mandiram.

Kerstin & Astrid Walsh – Three Musketeers

Posted on by Alexandra Kreis

Blood is thicker than water, they say. I think this goes especially for the bond we share with our family, like the unconditional love of our parents, or the friendship of our siblings.

So for those who have, we’re lucky to have siblings—we just don’t realize it.

Even more than the friends or parents, siblings have been right by our sides through the awkward, embarrassing, joyous, and miserable times of our lives. Siblings are our first friends.

But relationships between siblings can be complicated, especially in childhood.

Remember fighting over your toy or favorite costume. We fight and argue but at the end of the day, we laugh with them over dad’s jokes or our favorite cartoon.

Also, there will be points when we believe them to be our biggest rivals. But we feel the proudest for them nevertheless.

This episode’s guests, Kerstin and Astrid Walsh have stories we can relate so much with. And they’re twins! The bond and friendship they share is truly inspiring. And like most of us, it’s not all flowers and fairies. They had their challenges, reflections about time and space, the life we’re living in, our communities, and more! But the understanding they share even of the differences is something we can all learn from.

It is always great to have friends you can go out with, get drinks with and do things with. But it’s important to have friends you can actually connect with.

And most importantly, friendship—even among siblings—is about growing together and apart.

A truly inspirational conversation!

Links mention in the podcast

Podcast Highlights

  • 6:19 -9:12 –  Being Twins and Friends
  • 13:32-15:12 – Kinds of Friendship
  • 15:55-20:05 – Changes for Being Apart Together
  • 20:26-28:42 – Quantity or Quality of Friendship
  • 32:47-35:47 – Idea of the Musketeers and Friendship
  • 42:42-46:20 – Where do I belong?
  • 48:00-49:15 – Astrid Little Metaphor

Pocket Quotes

  • “Weather conditions will get more unpredictable, everything gets a little bit more wobbly and unstable, but we’re going to have to look after each other.” – Kerstin Walsh
  • “We all strive to be able to be independent and look after ourselves.” – Kerstin Walsh
  • “Just being together has been a kind of support, even when we’re not speaking or doing anything.” – Astrid Walsh
  • “Belonging is not only something that we feel we can have a place in this world but also with people seeing us in this world, recognizing us and affirming our status of life.” Alexandra Kreis
  • “Time and space are key elements for creating friendships.” – Kerstin Walsh

Guest Bio

Kerstin Walsh is an artist born in Meppen, Germany in 1976 and later lived in Germany. Together with her twin sister Astrid, also an artist, she explored the world, collecting a BA in English Literature and Sociology (University College Dublin 1998), a HDip in Social Policy (2002) and a Masters in Social Work (2005) University College Cork.

 


Astrid Walsh is an amazing visual artist from Ireland. She has done numerous individual and collaborative exhibitions across the country and received awards and recognitions for her work. She first started her healing journey and discovered Ayurveda when she was undergoing treatment for Lyme disease in 2003.