Pad Yatra through Norway
Together towards future // August 14 - 21, 2026
A wonderful surprise and a joy for all of us!
We could hardly believe it: The Gyalwang Drukpa composed this wonderful song especially for our upcoming Pad Yatra through Norway.
With great dedication, our filmmaker Björn and our editor Holger—in addition to their regular work and late into the night—created this moving piece from the footage we’ve gathered so far. They gave us their efforts from the bottom of their hearts.
Our deepest and most heartfelt thanks go to the Gyalwang Drukpa!
Dear Kunga Shonu, we also extend our thanks to you for this magnificent musical arrangement, as well as to Björn and Holger for their dedication and generosity.
See for yourselves.
Together Towards Future with Live To Love
The Kickoff
// August 14, 2026
We couldn't be happier: The Gyalwang Drukpa has come to Norway especially for the Pad Yatra! To our great delight, Gyalwa Dokhampa is also present and is honoring the Yatra as well.
The Gyalwang Drukpa and Gyalwa Dokhampa plant oak trees
Today, the Gyalwang Drukpa and Gyalwa Dokhampa planted and blessed oak trees in Norway. One was planted in Domkirkeodden in Hamar, in the presence of Director Per Oyvind Riise and the site’s gardener, Hildur Hauksdottir.
The second oak was planted at the home of Gunnar Østgaard and Elisabeth Guldbrandsen, who contributed greatly to the planning and implementation of the Pad Yatra.
We are very happy about this auspicious start.
Your Live To Love Team
Public Talk: The Future Begins Now
// August 14, 2026 at 7 p.m.
The Pad Yatra kicked off in the evening with an inspiring public talk. The Gyalwang Drukpa and Gyalwa Dokhampa shared profound insights and personal perspectives on a wide range of issues that are shaping our times - and on which many people are reflecting. A central message that the Gyalwang Drukpa returned to time and again was the importance of our connection to nature. We must relearn how to live with nature, to perceive it, and to see ourselves as part of it. For when this connection is lost, many things fall out of balance. We lose our bearings and sense of direction. At the same time, according to Gyalwa Dokhampa, our focus today all too often revolves around our own self-improvement. Yet a significant part of the answers to our challenges lies in another question: What is good for other people and our environment? When we begin to ask this question seriously, not only does our own view of the world change - but so does the way we live in it.
Gunnar Østgaard led the evening in a lively, inspiring, and entertaining manner. With his thought-provoking questions, he continually gave new impetus to the discussion and created space for an in-depth dialogue. To our great delight, the mayor of the municipality of Stange also addressed our guests of honor and participated in the lively discussion. We would also like to extend our special thanks to Roar Kjærnstad, who, with Mostu Skole, has created a wonderful place for connection, culture, and diverse exchange. It was an evening full of inspiration, camaraderie, and important insights—and a powerful start to what lies ahead.
The Future Begins Now.
Your Live To Love Team
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, dear Gianna!
// August 15, 2026
On your birthday, we wish you all the very best - the joy of resounding success in all your blessed projects and endeavors, the blessing of the very best health, and restful breaks in the most beautiful circumstances.
Your birthday is always a birthday for Live To Love as well, because without you, none of our activities in Germany or originating from Germany would exist - such as the Pad Yatra through Norway, which begins today.
THANK YOU for taking us along to bring the message of Live To Love into the lives of so many people and animals.
Live To Love opens hearts, touches the lives of so many, connects people, strengthens Mother Earth—and shapes an inspiring future.
Happy birthday today and every day!
With gratitude, respect, and love
Your Live To Love Team
Your birthday is always a birthday for Live To Love as well, because without you, none of our activities in Germany or originating from Germany would exist - such as the Pad Yatra through Norway, which begins today.
THANK YOU for taking us along to bring the message of Live To Love into the lives of so many people and animals.
Live To Love opens hearts, touches the lives of so many, connects people, strengthens Mother Earth—and shapes an inspiring future.
Happy birthday today and every day!
With gratitude, respect, and love
Your Live To Love Team
Day Two of the Pilgrimage
// August 16, 2026
The Pad Yatra, led by the Gyalwang Drukpa, continues to take us through Norway’s pristine landscape - yesterday marked the second day of the journey. Early in the morning, the Gyalwang Drukpa offered us a profound teaching on the nature of our mind. He used the lake where we had spent the night as a metaphor: calm and still on the surface, yet constantly in motion and of immeasurable depth. Our mind, too, holds this boundless potential. If we learn to work with it using the right methods, we can experience its natural clarity and vastness. Nature itself, according to the Gyalwang Drukpa, can be a precious teacher in this regard—it invites us to pause, observe, and rediscover our own essence. And so the journey itself became an experience of this teaching: We hiked along quiet, clear lakes, through vast, powerful forests, and along enchanted paths. Amid this pristine beauty, that special space—where the mind can find peace and open up - emerged time and again.
For a mind at peace is the foundation for genuine compassion - and for actions that serve the well-being of others.
Love is Action!
Warm regards,
Your Live To Love Team
The Third Day
// August 17, 2026
Today’s pilgrimage was entirely guided by a profound mantra taught by Gyalwa Dokhampa: “Whatever comes, accept it. Whatever does not come, do not chase after it.” Deeply inspired by his teaching, we walked today’s path without trying to force anything. The weather, the food, the fatigue, the encounters, the silence - everything was allowed to be just as it was. We didn’t cling to what was pleasant, nor did we reject what was unpleasant. We accepted what came our way; what didn’t, we let go of. That was precisely what made today’s pilgrimage such a special experience: for a moment, not having to achieve anything or fear losing anything. Not reaching for the next destination, but simply being present and moving forward step by step. Today’s Padyatra was thus less a journey to a specific place than a practice in letting go. A reminder that we don’t constantly have to seek, hold on to, or avoid anything. Nothing to achieve. Nothing to lose. Simply walking, accepting everything as it is, and simply being.
A peaceful sense of freedom spreads, and we wish this feeling upon all beings throughout the world!
Warm regards,
Your Pad Yatra Pilgrimage Team
Day Four of the Pilgrimage
// August 18, 2026
This morning, the Gyalwang Drukpa gave very profound teachings on how our mental attitude determines our experience. Judgments that lead us away from wholeness often give rise to extreme viewpoints. The world we experience is shaped largely by our mind. A place is not, in and of itself, sacred, beautiful, or bad. Our perception and our attitude are what give things this meaning. That is why spiritual practice begins with our own motivation:
Am I open-minded, or am I fixed in my views? Do I see what is, or do I see only my own ideas about it? A pure perspective does not mean having to find everything beautiful. It means not unnecessarily categorizing things as “good” or “bad” and clinging to those judgments.
We may enjoy beauty without having to possess it. We may experience difficulty without rejecting it. Both may come and go. Openness means fully allowing the experience without becoming attached to its form. In this spirit, we set out on today’s hike, which once again led us through the indescribable beauty of Norwegian nature, where we experienced moments of deep stillness, surrounded by a community of fellow pilgrims who have already become very familiar to us.
Warm regards,
Your Live To Love Team in Norway
Day Five of Our Pilgrimage
// August 19, 2026
To walk the same path together,
to pause together at a spot along the way,
to sit together in silence,
surrounded by the paradisiacal abundance of Norwegian nature.
Not just to walk side by side,
but in the same spirit—
open, attentive, and grateful.
The masters’ contemplations
become the light that illuminates the path,
and guide our steps inward,
while the path unfolds outward before us.
We walk together,
we pause together,
we listen together.
And with every step,
the path becomes more than just a path:
a journey into silence,
into the present moment,
into the sacredness of being.
Grateful for the path.
Grateful for the community.
Grateful for every step.
Drukpa
Gyalwa Dokhampa
Day Six of the Pilgrimage
// August 20, 2026
In the Vast Realm of Transformation
Everything arises and passes away
through conditions.
There are the conditions of nature,
the changing weather,
the traces of culture and time—
and those conditions that we ourselves create.
We plan a journey,
prepare a path,
open a space for encounter.
Just like this pilgrimage,
which, through many hands, hearts,
and countless conditions,
has become what it is:
wonderful.
And therein lies a profound mystery of life:
Nothing comes into being on its own.
Nothing lasts forever.
Everything is interwoven,
everything is interdependent,
everything changes.
What is joy today
was merely a possibility yesterday.
What is an encounter today
will be a memory tomorrow.
And yet nothing is truly lost -
it merely dissolves
and becomes part of something new.
Everything comes into being and passes away.
Everything transforms
in the eternal space of being.
Last Day of the Pilgrimage
// August 21, 2026
Width
What arises from conditions
does not arise on its own -
and what arises
also passes away.
So Shunyata whispers:
Nothing stands alone.
Like clouds in the vast sky:
They gather from countless conditions,
take shape for a while,
move on, dissolve -
not as a loss,
but as part of the great transformation.
On our pilgrimage,
the masters’ profound words became a quiet inner path: encounter, insight, letting go—
and this quiet wonder at
how intimate closeness can become
when we don’t have to hold on or cling.
And last night -
laughter, music, colors, dance,
a beautiful, creative celebration.
Light and radiant,
and joy itself
created, for many moments, the most beautiful conditions for celebrating our past Yatra.
Perhaps this is the deepest expansiveness:
that we can meet one another
without holding on to each other -
and precisely in this
draw ever closer to one another.
Interfaith Dialogue
On August 21, an interfaith dialogue took place at the invitation of the Bishop of Hamar, Ole Kristian Bonden, featuring Gyalwang Drukpa, Gyalwa Dokhampa, the Drukpa Kung Fu nun Lopon Tingdzin Zangmo, Gianna Wabner, and various representatives of other religious and faith communities. It was a very pleasant and inspiring conversation.
