2006-2007 Activities
Please follow the links below to see what I have been up to lately:
Treo Communications: Freelance web design, IT support and training business
Divya Yoga School - Spiritual Community Board: Teaching yoga and supporting the spiritual community in Sydney and the rest of the world
Travel Log 2007: Traveling the world with Paul, and living back in Denmark for a while
Iron Butterflies: A new business enterprise with Paul
Chakra Healing: Book a healing here!
Denmark
I was born in Copenhagen, Denmark where I grew up with my brother, mother and father in
a small apartment in the center of the city. I had a pretty troubleless childhood, always
playing and involved in activities like sports (esp. tabletennis), writing, school, radio,
youth club, dancing, theater, etc... By nature, I was always thoughtful and curious -
asking the big questions like where does the universe end?
If you don't already know, Denmark is this small country consisting of a peninsula, two
main islands and hundreds of small islands. Furthermore, Greenland and the Faeroe Islands
are self-governing dependencies within the Kingdom of Denmark. Yes, Denmark is still
referred to as a kingdom. And you can still imagine the old times when going through its
many petite towns paved with cobblestone and marveling at the many beautiful castles and
old architecture which still prevail. The horses have been exchanged by cars, and the
streets have traffic lights. Denmark is located in northern Europe, neighboring Sweden,
Germany and Norway. Being a Kingdom, Denmark still has a royal family (a queen and a
prince) that represent Denmark, but in 1953 the monarchy was replaced by a unicameral
legislature, The Folketing.
In ancient times, the Danes were better known as the Vikings that took over half of
Europe by sea, as they had great skills in boat building, trade, and combat. They were
known for their violent and brutal behavior, but as it were they were also good farmers
and had great skills in craftsmanship. Some of the places they went to raid, like e.g.
northern England, groups of Vikings eventually settled down and assimilated into the local
culture. Thus today a lot of towns and English phrases in areas of England are of Danish
origin. The Vikings are said to have gone as far as to the northeast Coast of the United
States in Rhode Island (this was of course before Columbus!). It is also a fact that for
many years Denmark was much more than a bunch of islands it is today; parts of Northern
Germany, Sweden and Norway were Danish territory at one point.
Modern time Danes are known for their excellence in information technology, service
industries, trade, manufacturing, small enterprises, science and invention. Denmark still
masters a lot of things, now just within its narrow borders. It supports one of the
highest living standards in the world with well-developed social services - such as free
medical care and education for all of its citizens. Also, it boasts a per capita gross
national product that is one of the highest in the world.
Denmark is the land of Lego, Danish Butter Cookies, Danish Bacon, Marzipan, Piet Hein
furniture and inventions, Bang and Olufsen, Tivoli, Beowulf, The Little Mermaid,
sexual liberation, etc.
Some famous Danes are/were: A.P. Moeller, Niels Bohr (astro-physicist), Piet Hein
(inventor, writer, etc.), Tycho Brahe (astronomer), Hans Christian Andersen (writer),
N.F.S. Grundtvig, Søren Kierkegaard (philosopher), Bertel Thorvaldsen (sculptor and
painter), Isaak Dinesen (Karen Blixen) (writer), Carl T. Dreyer (film maker), Lars von
Trier (film maker), and more.
For many years, during my undergraduate studies and a two year break from the
university (where I primarily lived and traveled in New Zealand), I worked for Tivoli, a
famous 175 year old amusement park located in the center of Copenhagen. I worked on the
amusements, collecting tickets and controlling the machinery. I had many fun hours in sun
and rain giving people a good time in that cordial work environment.
In 1996, I graduated from the University of Copenhagen with a Bachelor Degree in
English and Media studies. That same year I was accepted to a Master's program at the City
College of New York. It was time to move out of my safe and cozy shell, and test my wings
once more.
New York
In 1996, I came to New York with the burning wish to develop my English and my writing
skills, which came true. It was a very exciting time for me, first coming to New York.
There were a lot of new things for me to absorb and deal with, and I learned quickly to
move more swiftly and walk my way through the New York streets as if I had been born here.
I found (and still do) New York to be a friendly, exciting, and inviting place to be, so
many different people living next to each other in a relatively peaceful manner (driving
with road raging New Yorkers isn't a lot of fun though). I learned so much, found more
confidence, and my writing matured. In 1998, I proudly graduated with an MA in Creative
Writing and English. That same year I had worked as a tutor at the ESL department on
campus. I quit the teaching work shortly after my graduation to find myself working for an
NGO.
Lawyers' Committee on Nuclear Policy
Since 1998, I have worked for Lawyers'
Committee on Nuclear Policy first as an Administrator, now as a Program
Associate. LCNP is a New York-based non-profit educational association of lawyers, legal
scholars and citizens that engages in legal and policy research, education and advocacy in
support of nuclear arms control, disarmament, and nonproliferation and of rule-of-law
based global security in national and international settings.
Working for LCNP is another way for me to get involved in peace work
and help to make a change in the world which has been an urge in me since I was a kid and
started wondering and posing questions about the world and why some things just don’t
seem to be working very well. I enjoy my work very much – the people involved in this
kind of work are beautiful and I have a sense of freedom here that I would not have in a
big cooperation. And I keep expanding my areas of work, acquiring new skills, and learning
as I go along.
It is a critical time in the history of mankind, and I think it is time we start to
rethink our methods in dealing with our human nature, the conflicts that inevitably arise,
the emotions we face every day, our longings, fears, and insecurities. So far we have done
pretty well. We have overcome a lot of difficult situations. We adapt very easily and some
times grow too fast for our own good. Technology has sent us flying into the future.
Science has shown and explained things that were incomprehensible yesterday. Now where did
that generation go? Can our hearts keep up with the pace of things? When are we going to
realize that our emotional intelligence has been neglected (we are still just a child
handling these many complex contraptions and discoveries), and the actions we make in life
are still very much governed by our emotions? I think peace work goes beyond intellect, it
embodies the basic patterns of behavior that seeps into the mother milk through our
environment. If the world is full of rage and violence, we have all partaken in that
creation somewhere along the line. How do we imagine tomorrow or simply today, when we
wake up in the morning? What thoughts and energies do we put into our day-to-day living?
These are very valid questions, just as important as what governments/groups do or do not
decide to do. I have much hope and faith in our potential as people. We are capable of
doing anything we want. So what is it we want for ourselves, our families, others,
tomorrow’s world? We need to reevaluate that and begin to take responsibility for how
we want to shape our lives. We are all capable of what we have been given. It is a matter
of how we choose to tackle it. Our attitude, our emotional intelligence and capacity for
forgiveness are vital to how we can learn to empower ourselves and others. There are many
roads to follow in order to achieve this, so we need many different people with different
skills and visions – and that is exactly what we have. We are almost there if you
look at it like that.
Writing
Since I learned how to write, I remember writing. Stories in school, making up stories
when playing with my brother, doing improvisation theater growing up, but most importantly
I remember writing in my diaries diligently. I never was much of a talker, unless the
right inspiration or motivation comes to me, so the medium of writing has always fitted me
very well. I have never lacked motivation or inspiration to write. It is my world, my
creation, and no one there will judge or disturb me in my creating not even myself. I
simply enjoy the journey too much. My gift is that I never lack imagination or playfulness
to see beyond my own four walls; there is enough out there and in here to create stories
for a life time. I have dedicated myself to live my life with an open mind and heart. It
may mean that there will be disappointments and hurts, but I am learning to breathe and be
present present with whatever I am doing and to trust that I will get stronger and more
balanced. The passion and love I have for writing I also have for people and for life in
general. I practice my love and wonder for life through my writing. And I have discovered
much new about myself and my surroundings through this practice.
If you open your eyes a little more and feel your heart pumping that vital energy
through your body, you may just experience the wonder and beauty of being in this world.
Growing up I learned to pay attention and I enjoyed exploring my own imagination. As a
baby, I have been told, I could spend hours by myself, playing without ever asking for
company or being discontent. As a teenager dealing with what most teenagers deal with one
way or another, I discovered writing was an excellent way of grasping what I was going
through, learning to feel comfortable with starting the journey to knowing myself. I
started out writing poetry in high school, reading or showing them to piers and sharing my
thoughts with friends. Slowly the writing became more a part of my life. I still
didn’t feel I had absorbed and observed enough to write stories yet. That came on my
first travel to New Zealand, twenty years old. Since then I haven’t been able to stop
writing stories. It just makes sense to me. It fulfills the part of me that longs to share
and give. It took another six years before I began to write Above
the Underground – my first novel to be completed. This was after I started
doing yoga, and this book is on a personal level really about the beginning of the
exploring of my spiritual side.
Yoga Tantra
Since my travels in New Zealand where I was first exposed to the spiritual realm of
life through a good friend, and in general being exposed to literature and friends of
spiritual orientation, my curiosity and interest in finding some answers to all of the
questions or rather thoughts I had had since a kid grew tremendously. In the beginning of
1996, I heard of a tantric yoga school NATHA
located in the center of Copenhagen, and soon I decided that that was where I would
investigate these matters more deeply. It became the beginning of a very interesting and
much deeper level of my life, reaching more deeply into the layers of who I am and my
potentials. I began to practice and study yoga and tantra, and a healing in the deeper
layers of my psyche and body began to happen. I went on a new journey within myself,
putting together some very important pieces of the puzzle of me. My awake journey as a
healer really started there, but it wasn't until June of 2001 that I finally realized that
completely. Read more
Healing
During one of my longer stays in Denmark over the past six years (summer of 2001), I
began to study the healing system created by Martin Brofman: The Body Mirror System. June of 2001, I took my
certificate in the Body Mirror System and started practicing this healing system. Going
deeper into this, I realized I had practiced healing for many years without truly
realizing it. Healing work to me is about practicing the art of being present lovingly and
openly, and having faith in the gifts and abilities we have been given, which
connect us to this life and the people who are in it some way or another. Healing is
essentially about love, practicing the art of unconditional love and inspiring that in
others. The rest is merely techniques and belief systems, which are good to have, as a
means of communication or creating bridges between different realities, but without the
presence and love, techniques are useless. You can read more in depth about this healing
system at: www.healer.ch
Moving Forward
Lately I have been thinking a lot about the stories we tell. Since
I started working as a healer, I have become more aware of the way people use words and
how they share their stories, what they put emphasis on. I watch the most prominent media,
Hollywood movies and the news, and I see the stories they tell are very similar. You deal
with conflicts by using violence, you avoid speaking of yourself and your limitations (the
real reasons behind conflicts), you find someone else to blame for how the world is. Even
though most people may feel that they are alone and have to deal with life like that, we
cannot let this emotional state fool us. We are not alone. We are so very much affected by
everything that goes on around us. And the stories we tell and the way we tell them affect
us very much. The world is a network and somehow we are attached in ways that sometimes is
beyond our comprehension. It is a beautiful thing. It means there is always hope, and
feelings of isolations and deprivation are only a fragment of what is reality.
The stories we tell. I have been thinking about that, and I think there
is something I can offer here. I would like to show that we can tell new kinds of stories
and the stories can transform our lives like they have for me. I would like to see more
spiritually oriented fiction out there. I think there is a need for that. I would like to
teach how writing is another tool for self healing and healing of others. I would like my
voice as an artist, healer and peace activist to grow stronger and clearer so it can reach
out for those who want to listen.
Since I was little, I have been dreaming of how I can contribute to
making the world a happier place to be, even if it is just a remote nook of the world. My
ambitions have always been great, but I have also been aware that in this process I need
to take care of myself, become and live what it is I believe in. I have to find a sense of
strong balance before I can manifest anything. It has been a deep journey so far, I have
gained much wisdom and love; I have given much of myself every moment, every day. I have
taken great risks, I have been courageous, and I have been thoughtful. I guess, my true
motivation for digging so rapturously into life has been curiosity, playfulness and an
urge to learn.
