Posts

Coconut Rice Pudding

‏I accidentally on purpose ending up cooking too much rice, so that I can make this Coconut Rice Pudding the next day.

This is really quick and simple dessert to make, or could be used as a breakfast dish.

‏I am not one to be too strict when it comes to cooking, however, I will advise you to refrigerate the rice as soon as possible after it is initially cooked (you can run the left overs in cold water then place in the fridge in a sealed container). It can be reheated the next day but do not keep it longer.

‏This really is a moveable feast, so feel free to experiment with whatever goodies you have in your store cupboard, the ingredients below are just a suggestion and I change it every time depending on how much rice I have and what is lurking in my fridge or cupboard.. (some grated coconut or seeds sprinkled on top make a nice addition, for example)

‏Serves 2
‏Vegetarian
‏Vegan
‏Skill: Easy
‏Time : 10 minuets with pre- cooked rice (white or brown, though white is more pudding-like)

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Wind Down with a Yoga Moon Salutation

This Yoga Moon Salutation can be used as a gentle warm up or wind down for an evening’s yoga practice.

 

 

How to practice a Moon Salutation:

  1. Start in Table position on the hands and knees, knees about hip width apart and hands below the shoulders.
  2. Come up onto the finger tips and step the left foot forward between the hands into a lunge (if you are newer to yoga you may have to lift your hand or assist your foot into position).
  3. Come into a ‘square lunge’ and get your balance.
  4. Inhale, raise your arms up overhead, hands in prayer position.
  5. Exhale, lean back gently (avoid this move if you have any back injuries)
  6. Inhale, release the backbend.
  7. Exhale, lower arms to shoulder level.
  8. Inhale, lengthen spine,
  9. Exhale, twist to the left.
  10. Inhale back to centre,
  11. Exhale, twist to the right.
  12. Inhale back to the centre.
  13. Exhale lower the right hand to the floor and raise the left arm.
  14. Inhale back to the centre.
  15. Exhale lower the left hand to the floor and raise the right arm.
  16. Inhale back to centre.
  17. Exhale return to Table position.
  18. Inhaling sit back to heels
  19. Exhaling reach arms forward and rest in Hare posture.
  20. Return to Table posture and practice the same, this time with the left foot forward in the lunge position.

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Need to Relax? Try this Short Relaxation for Busy People

Here is a short guided relaxation for busy people; known as ‘Yoga Nidra’, or yoga-sleep.

 

It is mental health awareness week so I decided to share this yoga nidra. I hope that you find it relaxing.

The purpose of this yoga nidra is to let your body fall into a deep state of relaxation but for your mind to remain awake. It aids a deeper state of relaxation than just sleep alone.

I have been giving guided yoga nidra relaxations and meditations for well over a decade now. This recording is from the early days, however, many people have enjoyed it, so I hope you will too! I will add different relaxations and meditations to my You Tube channel from now on, so please subscribe if you want to access more yoga tips and stress-relieving techniques.

Happy relaxing!

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Finding Strength in Weakness

How can you find strength in weakness?

‏I am learning that it is OK to have weaknesses, to be perfectly imperfect. Sometimes, being weak and asking for help takes more courage than being brave or ‘just getting on with it’.

 

“I am willing to be wrong. I am willing to be passionate about something that isn’t perceived as cool. I am willing to express a theory. I am willing to admit I am afraid. I am willing to contradict something I’ve said before. I am willing to have a knee-jerk reaction, even a wrong one. I’m willing to apologize. I’m perfectly willing to be be perfectly human”

 – Donald Millar

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Cancer support

BREAST CANCER AWARENESS MONTH: CANCER SUPPORT

People who know me will know how deeply my family has been affected by different types of cancer, breast cancer included.

It is difficult to know how to help when first involved with someone affected by cancer, be they a cancer patient or carer. So, here is a list of Dos and Don’ts I have compiled, from my humble experience:

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Autumnal Apples with Sausage and Red Cabbage

An Autumnal recipe with braised red cabbage, apples and vegetarian sausages:

‏ There was an almighty storm the other day, as a result most of the apples were blown off the trees in my back garden. My daughter and I went out to pick up the windfalls that lay about beneath the branches, dusky red jewels nestled in the green grass.

‏In previous years I had a larger harvest and set to and making copious amounts of chutney or applesauce. This year I didn’t want to go into the whole production line of chutney-making, but I did want to spend some time on a recipe to celebrate our modest apple harvest.

‏I decided to make braised red cabbage with apples and veggie sausages. In the past I have tried several recipes for braised red cabbage, to varying degrees of success; I find the stove-top versions make the sugar in it more likely to burn, this recipe is done in the oven and cooks to perfection.

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Instagram Account Hacked? How to get it back.

‏ ‏So, my Instagram account was hacked,

just in case the same happens to you this is how to get it back.

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Keep Calm and Carry On

‏I discovered something wrong with my Instagram account when I tried logging in after a mobile phone update. I couldn’t recall my password and so logged in with Facebook. When I started to log in I was welcomed to Instagram, and prompted to create an account. “Strange…” I thought, as I had my account with Instagram for about four years. Anyway, at this point there was no option to turn back so I just carried on creating the new account as prompted.

‏Once I had a new account I was able to see if there was any evidence of my original @yoga_ocean account. It had completely vanished. I searched people and tags @yoga_ocean and nothing appeared. I admit I was beginning to panic at this stage: had I accidentally deleted it or disabled it? Had I lost it forever? I sent loads of messages through my new account to the help centre but to no avail.

‏I suspected that somehow my Instagram account had been hacked (I am not 100% sure how. It may have been linked to a a dodgy app that hacked my mobile phone, though there was also suspicious activity on my linked yahoo mail account. If any of your accounts are hacked I would recommend you log in from a safe computer or device and change the passwords to any social media accounts and any linked email accounts that may be compromised).

‏Check Hashtags

‏I found out that my account still existed because I had used unusual hashtags on some posts, #yogaocean being one. I searched #yogaocean hashtags and there was one of my pictures. I clicked on it and saw that it had a new username attached. I clicked on the user name and found my original account. It still existed! My advice is if you do not use hashtags, or if your hashtags are more general, then incorporate some unusual hashtags on your posts should you need to find them. (#yoga has over 55 million posts, #yogaocean only 245, for example).

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Do You Rebel Against Yoga? Join the Club!

‏I have a confession: Sometimes I rebel against  yoga ….

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We have all been there: we want to practice yoga but there is something stopping us. “I’ll practice tonight” we tell ourselves, or: “Maybe not tonight, maybe I’ll get up early tomorrow morning and practice before breakfast” –  and then we lie in. Why do we rebel against yoga, time and time again? This is a question that is close to my heart as recently I had found myself rebelling against yoga.

Misunderstanding yoga

I believe one of the reasons that people rebel against practicing yoga is the desire for perfection and the fear of falling short before they even start. There is a perception (often perpetrated by yogis themselves), that yoga practitioners glide through life on a rainbow cloud of bliss: somehow immune to everyday human experiences and emotions; never to get sick or injured, sad or upset, angry, proud, jealous, lazy, or any of the other Seven Deadly Sins.

‏It is a fallacy. Yogis, like everyone else on the planet, have all of these experiences. Let’s face it, if you are in excellent health and are naturally enlightened, then you have no need for yoga. Does that apply to anyone you know? Not me, that’s for sure. Everyone finds yoga for a reason.

‏Recently, I saw a yoga meme that read:

‏“I don’t know why people think yogis are together, we are all here because we’re mad”.

‏That made me laugh.

‏Yoga is not just my passion but it is also my business, which in itself causes conflict. I have been making changes to my business to incorporate major changes in my life, (including a new found love of the ocean and the therapeutic benefits of being with the sea through surfing).

‏And then I stopped.

‏I rebelled against yoga.

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First Time Surfing… A Love Story.

What can you expect the first time you go surfing?

Everyone will have their own experience; their own reason for first dipping their toes in the ocean, surfboard clutched nervously under one arm. I will share with you my experience, perhaps it may sound familiar to those of you who recently took up surfing, or hopefully dispel any concerns someone might have should they want to give it a try; it may even remind seasoned surf instructors what it is like for your average Joe / Jo taking their first lesson so they may perhaps be a bit more forgiving of our ineptitude….

For a start, I admit to being very nervous the first time I went surfing.

I recently confessed this to a surf instructor friend of mine who laughed and thought I was joking. “How could anyone be nervous of trying to surf?” Read more

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Taking the First Steps: Starting your own yoga practice

Do you want to start your own yoga practice?

It is challenging to take up something new, especially taking the first steps towards starting your own yoga practice at home.

We have all felt that same sense of trepidation starting a new activity; there is a sense of excitement but also an underlying feeling of foolishness… What if I am rubbish at this? This is my story of how I started practicing yoga.

In these days of instagram and selfies, I see photos of yogis performing wonderful postures in beautiful locations all around the world. Scrolling through some of these images, I had a sudden flashback to how difficult it was for me to step onto my first yoga mat. Specifically, the first yoga mat that I had purchased. I had been to a few classes and decided to buy my own mat. I remember unwrapping it and rolling it out on the living room floor and just scratching my head…

What do I do?

Where do I start? Read more

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