About The Videopodcast

We have highly evolved technically as a species, however we are behind in our emotional, interpersonal and spiritual skills. We separate ourselves from the earth, from each other and from parts of ourselves - parts, that could be our very sources of aliveness. Wholehearted Living brings mindful and embodied strategies to your home, your workplace or your team to boost wholeness, aliveness and authenticity in every aspect of life.

“Are you married?” asks Basil Alexis Zorba in the movie “Zorba, the Greek”. "Am I not a man? And is not a man stupid? I'm a man, so I'm married. Wife, children, house - everything. The full catastrophe." This notion inspired Jon Kabat-Zinn´s book “Full catastrophe living” and this video podcast.

It´s not about being married or not, having a house or children. It´s about embracing the raw, often messy, confusing and painful aspects of life.

I have put vast research, sweat and pain into how we could possibly achieve that goal. Now is the time to share with you, what I find most valuable and what I call wholehearted living. It entails:

• being radically true to oneself 
• practicing to allow life to be what it sometimes is: different from expectation, painful, scary. Being with not against our ambiguities, vulnerability, shame and pain. 
• seeking out new, embodied paths and decisions
• using our innate power of non-judgemental awareness and connectedness to heal and thrive. And last but not least
• finding grace and humbleness in deliberately searching and seeing the beauty in life. 

I hope the methods and thoughts I present here serve you and your team.

With Love.

Imke

Coaching, Training, Yoga

Mindfulness and Stress Management Trainings for Teams

Embodied Decision Making, Change Processes and Conflict Management for Individuals and Teams

Do you have difficulty making up your mind? Do you sometimes dwell endlessly on whether you should visit your parents for Christmas or not? Whether you should accept that offer or not? Or whether you should do this job or rather another?

Well, welcome to the club!

But even if you´re quick at making decisions: we´re all eventually affected by so-called decision-fatigue because our mind simply tires with the amount of choices we make each day. 

Min 1.48: So, I want to give you a method today which allows you to make wholehearted decisions which feel just right in your body once you have made them. And you know why they feel utterly right in your body?

Because they include all your inner parts.

Min 2.43: First step in making a wholehearted decision is to identify the different voices in your head (because as you probably know, there is often more than one otherwise decision-making wouldn´t sometimes be so difficult). Listen to which voice is the loudest, …, then go deeper and sense, which other voices arise from your body. 

Min 3.33: Second step is to give these voices names. 

Min 4.10: Third step is the most important: it is to wholeheartedly  l i s t e n  to the voices. Wholeheartedly here implies that since the heart does not judge, you look beyond the claim they make and try to understand what they need. 

Min. 4.58: Fourth step is to let the members of your parliament discuss. You are the kind moderator. Try to be appreciative and kind. So, in the end, in our example you might come to - what I call a happy team solution because it reconciliates the interests of different voices: 

You might need a few rounds and come up with more ideas to check if all the members in your parliament are satisfied. you´ll spot this harmony easily by how your body feels – we have a felt sense of “just right” when what we decide on is congruent with what´s important to us.

If you want to learn more on wholehearted living, check out or subscribe to the you tube channel "Wholehearted Living" or to my newsletter (on the right) and you'll get informed every time there is a new video and blog.

I hope you find the decisions that make you feel the most authentic and whole!

Love, Imke

Why can we react to emails similarly than to tigers? In this video you find:

- a short explanation about how stress works and why we often create more stress for ourselves.

- 3 techniques to help calm the nervous system:

1. Min 6:52: The Steam engine

2. Min 10:33: The Gorilla Technique

3. Min 13:00 : Eternal Breath

The good thing is they don't take a lot of time, work directly on your nervous system and you can do them anywhere anytime.

I hope they help you to destress (please excuse the bad recording). 

Much love, 

Imke

Do you know this situation: you finally sit down to meditate, you´ve got your cushion all set, switched the phone off, put your timer on, sit in your perfect upright position and when the bell rings you don´t have a clue where your mind has been the last 10 minutes? Your attention was everywhere, except here?

This video discusses how we can meditate with more ease and teach our mind freedom by becoming aware of thinking.

Min 1:36: I want to put the spotlight here onto how are minds work. THINKING is what it is trained to do (and at the end of the day that can come in quite handy sometimes). In fact it´s hardwired to go back and forth, analyzing the past and screening the future for potential threats or yummy rewards – this is how we survived several million years. And it´s not just going to stop doing what it is programmed to do, because we decide to light some nice incense and let the smartphone ring it´s sweetest bells. That would be like telling a dog not to bark. You can entice it to do other things instead of barking.

So let´s give the guy some credit, take into account what it´s good at and what not and move forward, shall we? 

Min 2:26: What does somebody who has meditated for a long time does differently compared to someone starting with meditation?

Min 3:45: How does compassion come in and why is it so crucial?

Min 4:45: What is mental flexibility and why can we learn it through meditation?

Min 5:38: Is there something wrong with thinking? 

Min 6:22: How to de-fuse from negative thinking

Min 7:06: Meditation Practice

I hope this video is useful for you, if so subscribe to "Wholehearted Living" so you get informed or pass it on! Thank you so much. Do you note differences in your life since meditating? I would love to know. You can reach our to me via email or in the comment section on Youtube. 

Wholehearted wishes!

Love, Imke

This video takes you through two intense breathing techniques to get your energy up again during a day stuck in front of the computer or to help you start the day.

Min 0.30: 3-fold Action Breath - stimulates the sympathetic nervous system and get the heart pumping a bit

Min 4.50: Horizontal Breath - helps expand and increase blood and energy flow

Hope you enjoy these methods! 

Reach out if you have questions or want other methods :-)!

Much love, Imke

How can we be well in groups? We need company and we need the feeling to be connected to others. But sometimes working or living together with others can be the hardest thing. We sometimes struggle in our relationships with our relatives, friends, colleagues. How can we commit and contribute to a group and not lose our need to act and decide autonomously? 

My assumption is that we as a society are just beginning to learn social intelligence. (Read more on this thought in my article "Learning to grow together" also suggesting three ways to practice).

Alina has co-founded a small community in what formerly was a sheep farm in the middle of nowhere and shares her thoughts on how to grow together, how they use conflict as a way to heal trauma and why raising kids in a community comes with a different challenges than raising them in the city.

Check it out! The conversation is in German.

Is your neck stiff or are your shoulders tight? Join me in this 15 min sequence to release tension in the shoulders and neck. Its  great to start the day with this but you can practice it anytime during the day. All you need is a blanket or a chair.

I hope it helps you!

Get/stay well. Love, Imke