What is your Wild Abandonment?

What does Wild Abandonment mean to you? If you are a mother it could mean leaving your baby at the coat check while you dance the night away and if you are a gardener you have an image of your flowers ravaged by weeds. At first glance it can seem like a negative, something frivolous, to be ashamed of but really the image that is conjures is one of release, freedom and total nakedness!

As I walked bare foot in the park today I told my friend Siobhan that I was obsessed with wild abandonment, a sense of exploring with no limits, loving with no shame and experiencing a life that stimulates all your senses.  It is I added "quite an intense way of living" leaving few moments when the mind is happy with what is and a feeling of always wanting more.
Over the past few year I have become aware of my thrill seeking tendency and made my 2013 mid year resolution..... "to be present in every moment" because otherwise I am always somewhere else!


I spent much of this year "about to go...." or "....just back" and it consumed my life. Everything squeezed into three week blocks. So in an attempt at not being homesick for being away  I chose to spend the summer here, me myself and I, no escaping, just being, no bungee jumping, just being and it has been an interesting journey to the wild abandonment within.


My yoga life teaches me to be present, to breath and be present, to move and be present. Mindfulness, awareness and connection are words I use to guide people to a sense of stillness and ease. And there is something so beautiful about not having a need for anything other than what is, to be content with the here and now.

I will never loose my thirst for adventure and why would I want to?! but it is essential to find a sense of wild abandonment in our every day life. In the freedom we give ourselves, the choices we make, the friendships we keep, our teaching and our passions. We don't need to be climbing a mountain or tight rope walking to feel that sense of adventure, we just need to be present and true.  

Wild: Not tamed or domesticated
Abandonment: to yield (oneself) without restraint or moderation; give (oneself) over to natural impulses usually without self control.

In Short......Get naked, mind body and soul.

x

Chocolate Sunday Smoothie

I was peckish and it was too cold to go outside so I made a wholesome filling smoothie from what ever I had in the house, not usual household ingredients I grant you but once you are on the chocolate smoothie path they will become staples!
about 1 1/2 cups of Home made Oatmilk
2 tablespoons raw Cacao Powder
teaspoon Maca
handful of goji berries
dessert spoon of Coconut palm sugar
dessert spoon of ground flax
drop of rose essence
drop of Vanilla essence
1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon to taste
1/2 teaspoon probiotic powder
1/2 banana
3 ice cubes

The healthiest Sunday tea time you ever had ;-)

Happy homemade Granola

The best rainy Saturday morning remedy, delicious Green Tea and freshly baked homemade granola.

Grab a saucepan and place over low heat.
Large Table spoon of coconut oil, desert spoon of coconut palm sugar or sweetener of choice, vanilla essence and lots of organic oats. Stir well and put on a baking tray, then place it in the oven or under the grill.
Keep an eye on it as they can burn pretty quick.
Remove from oven and add maca powder, cinnamon, goji berries, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds.
I don't cook the seeds as I usually soak and dehydrated them, this starts a germination process which releases enzyme inhibitors and makes them more nutritious and easier to digest. The heat would kill these now live nutritious seedlings. If you haven't soaked them then it's ok to cook them.
Let cool and add rice milk or Kara coconut milk or eat warm directly from the pan!

Oats are brilliant at calming the nervous system and helping heat the body through winter. My father always reminded me that the Scottish won their battles on the staying power of their porridge.
Cinnamon balances blood sugar levels and is packed with Anti Oxidants.
Maca is an incredible root that the Inca's used to increase energy and stamina. It's also amazing at balancing hormones and renown for increasing sex drive.
Goji berries contain many of our daily macro nutrients and have been proven to increase energy levels, athletic performance, calmness and the feeling of health and happiness.
What more do you want from your humble Granola?!
p.s make a small batch unless you have diamond force self control. By 1pm I had eaten the lot..........and am working on my new found super human powers :-)

Cook Off!

In an attempt to ease us softly into and carry us gently through winter my friend Anna and I decided to start hosting small, relaxed dinners. Surrounding ourselves with people we love or those who are loved by people we love and to experiment with delicious new recipes.
Last night we initiated the group with Roast Pork, a large salad full of treats and twists, new Potatoes and a raw chocolate Ganache.
A veritable feast for a Tuesday night.
Our choice in menu was extremely impromptu and having had grand plans for a rack of Lamb the butcher was out of stock and Anna bought Pork, which neither of us had ever cooked before. Having both been vegetarian for many years the source and appreciation of the meat is very important to us both and something we keep at the forefront of our minds.

While Anna was in charge of the roasting I decided that we needed a healthy salad full of sweetness and crunch. Cranberries, apricots and toasted nuts sprung to mind and this is what I ended up with.


Green salad leaves, spinach, pea shoots and tender leaves
Walnuts, pumpkin seeds and cranberries all toasted
Dried apricots finely chopped.

With a dressing of:
Olive oil
White wine vinegar
Freshly squeezed orange
Grated ginger, more than you think if you like ginger
Tamari soy sauce
Honey
Salt and pepper

You will have to taste and explore flavours as I did but it wants to be fairly sweet to go well with the pork.
Thanks to Kyril's advice I toasted the cranberries making them chewy and caramelised and also discovered how these tiny power berries were farmed.
Nutritionally they are a great source of Vit E( Alpha Tocopherol brilliant for anti ageing) and Vit K, as well as a good source of dietary fiber, Vit C and Manganese.
Grown in northern Europe, Canada and northern states of the US they are in season now so make the most of them.


The evening is really about sharing, discovering and connecting and food is a wonderful way to do that.
I feel blessed to have a love of good food, a passion for exploring and a wonderful soul family to share in the Journey.

So "Cook Off " is born and I look forward  to our winter cocoon of  fodder,friends and frolics.

Spiced pumpkin soup for breakfast please.......

I love having friends over and often forget how much. So this weekend in celebration of Halloween and in honour or my friend Santiago who was over from Mexico, I decided to have a Pumpkin Soup party.

For bites I oven baked some cashews in a little olive oil and spices, The most heavenly healthy nuts you've ever tasted.
Then we had Soup..............
Everyone asked for the recipe so I promised to share it. It's more ingredients than a recipe as I tend to be quite free style in the kitchen but here is a good guide:

2 medium Onions gently cooked in coconut oil
A dash of Braggs Amino acids (amazing healthy salt replacement made from essential amino acids, find it in any health food shop) and or salt and pepper
Add One medium/large pumpkin/butternut squash
4 cans of coconut milk, or Kara the lighter coconut milk used for drinking and cereals
Thai Green spices, garlic, green chilli, lemongrass, galangal, kaffir lime, coriander
(You can also use a pure healthy ready made paste. I love Thai Taste which you can find in all good super markets.)
Taste and season, I love a bit of spice but you can also leave out entirely.
It fed about 12 people in cups not bowls, but with some left over that I had for breakfast with guacamole and oat cakes, before I went to rehearsals for a film and had to do Yoga moves in 4 inch metal heels! an usual Saturday

You are welcome for dinner any time, to cook or taste, share and enjoy.
Let me know how your soup tastes and any freestyling you got up to that could add to the Pumpkin soup experience x

You can do Yoga!

........Simple steps to overcoming the initial challenges of Yoga.

1.   Start at the beginning

You maybe sporty and fit but yoga is complex and getting to know it and feel comfortable with it can take a few sessions. It is understandably disheartening to see the person next to you wrap their leg around their head when you still can’t detect your toes. Beginners gives you a chance to know the basics, start at your own pace, understand your body better and get to grips with the simple balances and sequences before you move on to more challenging things. Don’t be ashamed to start at the beginning

2.  Explore all the options

Finding the right class at the right time that’s not too far away can be a challenge. But there are many options to choose from. You can go to a studio for a group class, gather some friends in your own home or at work or even do one to one sessions. Find out what works so that you can have a regular practice and see real benefits in your body and life.

3.  Find the right teacher

For both your physical and mental evolution on your Yoga journey you need to find a teacher who will guide you in the right way. You may not know what you want from your practice but you will know if you feel great after class! Physically challenged as well as mentally stimulated. Find a teacher that pushes you to explore your practice and that you feel comfortable with.

4.  Find a style that suits you

There is yoga for everyone and finding a style that suits you is vital. You may like a slow relaxing class that is restorative or you may like something more dynamic and flowing that gets the heart rate up and the body moving. Each style has its challenges and you can even chop and change depending on how you feel. Never feel stuck. Yoga is about harmony and flow so enjoy exploring what works for you.

5.  Practice regularly

To do anything properly and really reap the rewards you have to be doing it regularly. Just as the other focuses in your life from work to relationships, Yoga requires a certain degree of commitment and dedication in order to fully appreciate the power of the practice. One day a week is a good start and already a huge commitment in our hectic lives but you may find yourself wanting more

 6.    Stop trying to be “Perfect”

There is no perfect in Yoga, there is just you, your body and the way you move. It is your own Warrior 1 and nobody else’s shoulder stand. All our bodies and minds are different, responding and reacting to life and its hurdles in our own unique way. Striving for perfection will only lead to disappointment. Yoga teachers are there to guide you, keep you safe and share their knowledge. Helping you to understand that “Perfect” is a much bigger place than you thought.

         7. Don’t Let your Yoga Ego get in the way.

We all want to be amazing at everything we do, run faster, jump higher, bend further. But with yoga you have to know your limits and they can be quite humbling. You might never be able to do what the person next to you is doing, not in a million years, know that before you start and just go on your own journey. You are your bench mark, so shed your yoga ego and enjoy where you are today without being lazy ;-)


Laurella@yogamovement.co.uk

Why don’t you do Yoga?

1.   You think you can’t do yoga

Too stiff, too old, too highly strung, I have heard it all. It’s like saying you are too dirty to take a shower. If you feel like you can’t do yoga you probably need to start! If you’re feeling stiff and immobile it will reflect into all aspects of your life.  If your mind is racing you will carry this constant tension in to everything you do. Yoga opens your body, calms your mind and is a wonderful tool for coping with life’s madness.

2.  You have a pre conceived Idea of Yoga

You think yoga is just easy stretching and have images of plant eating, grass sniffing, middle aged women floating about in your head that just keep you as far away from yoga as possible. But it can be hugely challenging mentally and physically for even the fittest of us. Give yourself a month or two to explore different kinds of yoga with different teachers. Many of my clients are amazed by how incredible they feel and how much they look forward to class.

3.  You Underestimate the Power of yoga

No one can appreciate the power of Yoga until they’ve tried it. I know because I have lived it for 13 years and certainly didn’t start because I knew how amazing it was. I just wanted to stretch and not feel so stiff after a sparring session or long run.  But it’s much more than just a stretch and so much more comprehensive as a workout than you ever thought. It will change your life in more ways than you can imagine, infiltrating every aspect far beyond your yoga mat. After time you will understand why you dedicate so many precious hours to yoga.

4.  You’ve heard Doctors and Osteopaths say Yoga is bad.

Doctors have heard horror stories of people being injured through mal practise and people pushing too hard too soon.  But Yoga comes in many forms and can be tailor made to your needs and desires with each session. Yoga is often seen as farfetched and extreme. The western world is unfamiliar with this Indian practise so can feel threatened by it. But those people who think outside the box and have turned to yoga when their backs were bad and their bodies stiff and sore have had great results. Yoga mobilises you, mind and body, it increases your body awareness and allows you to rediscover your freedom of movement. Find the right yoga for you.

5.   You’d rather go for a run.

I hear this all the time. “Why waste my time doing boring yoga when I could be running and burning fat”

But put simply you can’t replace yoga with a run. But I would go so far as to say you could replace your run with yoga!

 I love to run and it’s true that there is a certain degree of meditation in running but the stress on your body, cortisol and lactic acid build up can leave you exhausted, toxic and in worse shape than before you started. And it’s important to have something to counterbalance it. If you are an avid runner then you probably need yoga even more than most. Yoga and running are hugely complimentary to each other and you would be guaranteed to see improved results in your running and overall fitness, not to mention reducing your risk of injury by adding 1 or preferably 2 yoga sessions a week.

6.  You do Pilates instead of yoga

I am a big believer in Pilates, have practised it for years and use many of its principles in my Yoga teaching. Pilates is about the body and the mind, created by the athlete Joseph Pilates at the beginning of the 20^th Century, it deals with structural issues relating to posture and primarily core strength.  Yoga is a philosophy dating back some 5000 years and brings in to account the mind, body and spirit, working deep into your subconscious by way of different postures, breathing and meditation. Pilates is a work out and great for strengthening and toning the body. Where Yoga is a life choice, an amazing vehicle to strengthen and tone the body but more importantly connect you to your soul, calm your mind and allow you to live peacefully and honestly in our mad, frenetic world.

7. You’ve over thought every aspect.

We are taught to analyse and over think everything. You have already decided that yoga is boring and you will never be able to lie there and breath without falling asleep and snoring. You’ve decided it’s too hard and there must be easier options. You think chanting is for hippies and will make you giggle and when you roll up to sitting there is a high chance you will fart and the teacher will expel you from class. It is incredible the capacity we have to create resistant to things that might push our boundaries, when sometimes we just need to explore and have fun. Yoga enables you to let go, no judgement, no rules and no bench marks. It is a place of liberation, a practice for freeing the body and soul. You just need to go to class and let the yoga do the work.

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