Katharina Hren
Katharina Hren is the yoga-loving Mom of Gustav who flies by the seat of her pants in the non-profit community while serving as a multitasking administrator and yoga teacher. She attended the Freie Universitaet in Berlin and UW-Milwaukee and earned a Master's Degree in Foreign Language and Literature. More importantly, she values the lessons learned as she pursues a degree in happiness.
In Captivity …The Sky is Always There: Stories of Healing
It matters not when the healing begins. What matters is that there is a conscious intention to be an active participant in our healing by changing the stories that we tell about our experiences. I had to work to forgive my captor, the disease of alcoholism, in order to be free of an old drama of resentment and hurt. Compassion was the missing key that helped me to understand the lock that seemed to trap me in my painful experiences.
Food Revolution: Peaceful Minds for Healthier Bodies
When I introduced the warrior yoga poses, I asked the kids how we could be peaceful warriors. We talked about how we can make peace in our minds and bodies by standing firm in who we are no matter what anyone asks of us and who others try to tell us we are. Yoga as a practice helps bring unity to mind, body and spirit.
Is Graffiti Art?
The other day my son and I were driving through an area that he referred to as a “wasteland” due to the construction and some abandoned buildings. When he saw a beautiful mural on the side of the building, he said “Now that’s hope.”
Silent Resistance
Lately I have been asking myself what I would have done during the Holocaust had I lived at that time in Germany. I’d like to think I would have done something to resist the Nazis. I’d especially like to think I would have risked my life and spoken out. But of course I cannot know [...]
On Becoming a Food Revolutionary: Baby Steps
Ever since I saw Food Inc. and Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution, I’ve been thinking about how to become a food revolutionary, given the fact that I am not a cook or a gardener. Because I’ve been hearing about Will Allen and Growing Power, which is just 15 minutes from my house, I decided to take [...]
Food Revolutionaries
British chef Jamie Oliver is on a mission to change people’s lives by challenging them to cook simple dishes using fresh food rather than processed food, but more importantly, he has gone in the schools to change the way our kids eat. Having already started a revolution in English schools, Jamie decided to start with [...]
Best Friends
Since grade school I haven’t been sold on the idea of “best friends”. To me the concept of best friends implies checking in with the same person on a regular basis, spending most of your free time with that person, going to the same places, doing the same things, and sharing the same interests. I [...]
boundaries of relationships
In my poetry I play with the boundaries of relationships and try to turn identity labels on their heads. I believe that our prejudices stem from our families of origin and reveal themselves as weeds in subtle and not-so-subtle ways in our various relationships. Parenthood caused me to recognize some prejudices that I didn’t realize [...]
Walls Meant to Fall
I was born in a divided city, a city of walls, Berlin. I was born on the side of color graffiti, where people partied all hours of the night, and intellectuals held court. My mother always said that I was a Berliner at heart, for I had my own sense of style and a sassy [...]
Sammy Rangel “FOURBEARS: Myths of Forgiveness”
FourBears: The Myth of Forgiveness: isn't a simple memoir; it is a graphically illustrated guide from tortured child, to remorseless beast, to healing and change. This book is about helping others find their way out of their history and into the here and now. Proof that what once held you down can now hold you up. After the book reflects on a horrific upbringing it looks to offer key and ground breaking insights of the inner workings of the mind of a victim and later a perpetrator of hate and violence. Service providers working in treatment centers and institutional settings would greatly benefit from this work. Anyone facing issues with forgiveness and change might find a process toward healing and recovery.
Recommended Reading
Frank Meeink—Autobiography of a Recovering Skinhead
TJ Leyden—Skinhead Confessions
Arno Michaels—My Life After HateMusic
Wizard Fingaz & Soul Sathe embarked on a collaborative project known as Tribal Sorcery · deep conscious hip-hop
