Conscious Crete Newsletter

In each newsletter I would like to introduce a talk or conversation from people who have accompanied me in my spiritual development.  I would like to start this newsletter with Krishnamurti and his talk about problems.  You can listen to it following the link  at the end of this article. I was very touched by this discourse because it highlighted to me that we are all deeply conditioned, but rarely question or recognize it. By conditioning I mean  the sum of all values, beliefs and 'musts' that have been imprinted on me at a moment when I was too young to question them. If we would recognize that everybody on the planet is deeply conditioned maybe a better understanding of the other could arise. Because what I reject in the other person is maybe not contained in me because I was exposed to a different set of beliefs and values. So I don't reject the person but his conditioning. This could then lead to something like compassion or even understanding for t...

  Sta monapartia me thn Eleni / On the trail with Helen Hi everyone! My name is Helen and I love exploring Crete, the mountains and the trails.  I am excited to share with you some of my favourite routes 🙂 Malaxa - The Overlooked Mountain I want to start off with Malaxa which is the closest mountain to Chania yet often overlooked!  It is  only a 15 minute drive from the centre.  There are 2 main starting points at the bottom: 1) either to the East which is by the Arts & Craft village close to the highway or 2) on the West side of the mountain from the village of Nerokouros . And one at the top: If you prefer to start at the top then the best place is in the village of Malaxa. If you start at the bottom, the trail system there can take you up to the village of Malaxa, even higher to the antennas, round the back side with epic view of the white mountains. Traversing across the mountain you will pass numerous churches nestled into the mountain side and ev...

I remember my first family constellations session as if it was yesterday even if in reality it’s been more than 15 years since. I am now a family constellations facilitator and I have experienced probably hundreds of sessions, yet that first one sticks. I had heard of this method from my sister and I felt so intrigued and mistrusting at the same time that I needed to experience it on my own in order to discard the possibility of my sister having gone crazy. The whole concept of a gathering of people that work together for the healing of one of them (the client) was totally new to me. Another thing that was intriguing and almost unbelievable was that a member of the client’s family could be accurately represented by a random member of the group who knew nothing of the person they were representing. If you have never experienced a session of Family Constellations, you might be as confused as I was regarding the method. So, I will give you a bit of background further in this artic...

  Is This Really A Community? The essence of community is best depicted by the Tibetan symbol for thunderbolt in the picture below. In this image, each figure holds the left hand up, in an attitude of receiving and the right hand down, in an attitude of giving. All the individuals taking part in the circle make an unique contribution to create a unified and vital whole, a whole greater that each individual itself.         For me this is the essence of community. Putting together our skills and energy in order to create a greater whole that can be beneficial to all of us. In my past life as an international negotiator we spoke about making the pie bigger in order to be able to share it with everyone around the table. Community is not only about giving as it is not only about receiving either. It is really about this balance between giving and receiving.   My proposal to you is that we keep creating TOGETHER this vibrant community.   ...

With more people than ever experiencing stress and anxiety, many are turning to yoga for help. With a lineage over 5000 years old, yoga is a holistic method that aims at inner balance. Although in today’s Western society, the main focus of yoga is on its physical postures, it is through looking at the ancient yogic scriptures that we can better understand the mechanisms of stress and how yoga can h elp.   Is Yoga only about postures? The Sanskrit root of yoga is ‘yuk’ meaning to ‘yoke’, or unite. Essentially, yoga describes union. The union of the body, mind and soul.  Through this union, the yogi can see their true self, and unite with the truth of the universe. Through this union, the mind is calm. Rather than focusing solely on what happens on the yoga mat, the yogic wisdom invites us to explore how we interact with the world around us.  As it is from this interaction that stress arises, observing how we do it is often the first step towards a balanced life. ...

Wh at is it about ? First of all: actually it is not a "healing" (which we are not officially allowed to speak of anyway without appropriate healing training), but a harmonization. We are already whole and complete in the holistic sense, but many stories, experiences and problems in our past have made us forget this. Working with sounds is a deep reminder of our primordial state of perfection, of a natural oneness with ourselves … It is all about resonance. We all live in fields of resonance, if we are aware about it or not. We can use this knowledge to uplift ourselves and harmonise ourselves and our surroundings.     Mankind has always sought the reconnection to unity in innumerable different forms including via sounds. This knowledge was present in all native peoples. Today, sounds are used either as wellness, to simply feel good, but also to get access to   deep transformation processes . The Magic of Sounds Sounds have the wonderful ability to go beyond the...