2025 review: ... turning 70!

​... and a good year it's been, eeven though that "70" continues to be quite confronting. But let's look back, starting with new year's wishes:

January and February tested me with the Dutch grey weather and a week of coughing, but it also had me busy with plans to possibly start university again as a marker for turning 70: I got very close to applying for a comparative religion program (which later in the year was made impossible because I needed to get a Dutch language test which I wasn't able to do within the deadlines), here's a pic of a day in Amsterdam exploring the campus:

So I took this as a sign, letting go of the idea of going back to university without much pain, and intensified my learnings on the yogic path. I started a 4-year course on Japji Sahib (Kundalini yoga philosophy, focussing on the poetic "Song of the Soul" by Guru Nanak) online and two 1-week modules (April & October) of level 2 Kundalini yoga teacher training in Schoorl, here in the Netherlands, close to the beach.

Oh, and not to forget the systemic constellation work course in the spring!

​In June it was time for our BFF-weekend at the beach and we got lucky with the weather even though it was not really warm yet:

All of July and the first week of August were taken up by the annual roadtrip with the husband, a great and wonderful one again:

... and, boy, did we see a lot! Bretagne, Pyrennees, Toulouse, through the Alps to Nothern Italy and Croatia, and leisurely back through Hungary, Austria, and East Germany! A won-der-ful experiece!

The rest of August and September was relatively calm at home in Almere, with the preparatory work for the White Light Festival (big 5-day yoga event in Jan 26) slowly gearing up, trips to Germany to see son and grandkids, and some visits to Amsterdam as documented below.

October then was a BIIIIG month with lots of different experiences: I hammered my own singing bowl in two weekend workshops:

I flew to Toulouse for a few days with my sister there (to assist her in driving up to NL with her dog for a breeders' show), visiting two Buddhist monasteries near her.

But also fit in a few days in seclusion to study Kum Nye in a small Tibetan retreat center in Northern Holland:

Then there was a little health scare because my son had discovered a lump in my armpit and with my breastcancer history this was worrysome and needed checking out ... so I got a sonography and after a week of waiting got the all-clear!

November saw me superbusy preparing for my ashram stay in Portugal (had to have all xmas preparations ready before leaving on the 20th) and, of course, celebrating my turning 70. This was done in style in a wonderful hotel in Winterswijk, all organized by the husband.

... and then I was in Portugal in Guru Ram Dass Ashram for the rest of November and December right up until Christmas.

​And what an experience THAT was: getting up at 5:00 for 2.5-hour morning practice every day (which turned out to be suprisingly easy, even though I am a night owl in normal life), doing a bit of Seva and meeting the most wonderful people from all over the world, creating friendships as if in a melting pot ... and having off-time at the breathtaking beaches nearby and beautiful Ericeira which could be reached with a local bus within 20min.

... and then it was Christmas in Toulouse again, wonderful family get-together, fabulous food, all lovingly hosted by my sister's mother-in-law ... rounding off a year that was full of new experiences, new learning, growth ... sooooo very much to be grateful for!