read | the art of seeing

I read John Berger's 'Ways of Seeing' this recent summer while on holiday with my very good friend and her family (who very kindly invited me to join them on their trip to France) - let me tell you, I had such a lovely time, but now I am digressing from my point!  Right now I am striving to rekindle the ideas that the book aroused in me at the time. I just hope that I will be able to reproduce some of the immediate responses I had to the book and the views expressed in it. 'Ways of Seeing' was another book on my preparatory reading list for university, and it turned out to be a very intriguing and enlightening read.

If you have read it, I'd love to know what you thought! Whether you have different ideas or similar ones, we all have something to say.



I think that Berger brings together the complex with the more simple or essential, by writing about abstract and thought-provoking ideas and inserting images throughout the text that plainly demonstrate concepts in their own right. This kind of format is also a reflection of one of the important aspects of Berger's argument, that of what we see being fundamental to what we know. The book comprising of many essays on the nature of sight, Berger further emphasises the great influence that seeing has upon knowledge by forming half of his essays solely out of images of works of art. This, as you might be able to imagine, was a challenging obstacle in the reading - but a very interesting one! 'Reading' an essay which is entirely pictorial, without the commentary of any words at all is something very different.  Your own gains from the book is only dependent on what you bring to the pictures, and that is all. The onus is on the reader to interpret and speculate, to comment and expand, and to build the narrative of what they are looking at.

Much like how it is in the real world?

"It is seeing which establishes our place in the surrounding world; we explain that world with words, but words can never undo the fact that we are surrounded by it". 

John Berger, 'Ways of Seeing', 1972

And as we often do in the real world, the essays exclusively made up of images made me want to know how they were interconnected, to search for a meaning. We are not content with only one interpretation of our surroundings, that is, from our own perspective. We are obsessed with a common ground or objective story that explains what is going on around us. Berger added to my growing belief that this is an illusion. We brandish ourselves and our vision at the world, which is our way of seeing, but this may be completely different from the next person. In other words, we bring to the world, the world does not bring to us.

Many parts of the book would doubtless ignite debate at a feminist grouping, and, written by a man in the seventies I am sure that we can pick out some implicitly derogatory statement about women somewhere. For example, Berger expresses some very controversial ideas on the difference between masculinity and femininity, that seems to polarise the sexes in a very large way. Nevertheless, I think that he posits some very interesting meditations upon the female nude. Berger explores the female presence, which he considers to be a defining characteristic of a woman, certainly one which separates her from the male. The presence of a female, shown through her "gestures, voice, opinions, expressions, clothes, chosen surroundings and taste" is depicted as something so much a part of her physical entity, and this indeed has much to say of men and how they regard women. On the other hand, male presence, Berger suggests, must be taken as relative to how much dominance they are demanding by suggestion.

This may be an idea that has naturally emerged out of old-fashioned thought, however, I think that Berger is saying something which would have meaning in today's time. There is so much evidence of women who have developed feelings of self-consciousness by having a perception of the female presence that they believe through which they are assessed for everything they do. There is no evidence, however, to prove that men do not also entertain such ideas about their own presence in society. This may be another concept for debate.

I apologise if this post did not cover much ground.  Keeping aware that everyone has a different way of seeing, please let me know your thoughts, and if you have read the book, you probably will want to argue your own view. Berger definitely writes about so much more than what I have given reference to here. What I would say is that 'Ways of Seeing' is an inspiring collection of ideas that has challenged the way I have thought about art and sight, and inevitably, life. Berger makes you think about everything differently and aims to make you see the entire picture.

live | prague

I've just got back from an amazing trip to Prague!

It's a fantastic place to go and see.  Even though it's cold, there's so much to see, you forget about the temperatures and just get excited about all the history.

I went to Prague with my friend Nab, and she was an excellent travelling companion! We made a great team, deciphering all the Czech language signs (AKA looking for the English ones...) and converting Czech Korunas into Pounds to work out if we were getting a good deal.

Lucky enough, there's tons of great deals in Prague, even in the mega - touristy areas.  Nab and I managed to do the three days of eating and sightseeing without spending more than £60 each! So, if you want a holiday on a budget, I recommend it!

We found our holiday via Wowcher - an amazing website, if you've not used it before.  Have a look at all the great travel offers they have going: here.

Transport
We stayed at a lovely hotel called the Hotel Saint George, which was really close to I.P. Pavlova station.  From the airport, you can get a three day travelcard for about £8 which allows unlimited travel on any of the city's buses, trams, trains and the funicular! Oyster seems fairly extravagant now! As the hotel was so close to the station, we were able to do lots of sightseeing, with the comfort of a warm hotel room only a couple of train stops away.

Day 1
On the day of our flight (which left super early - the taxi came at 3.30am!), we were very tired and hungry when we arrived, so we dropped off our bags and went out for lunch to a fantastic little Cafe called Bio Zahrada, which was quite close to the hotel.

It was such a lovely little shop - at the front it was a small home-run version of Planet Organic, and there were a few seats where you could sit and enjoy a delicious herbal tea, a freshly brewed coffee, or a delicious looking slice of cake - all made of fresh, organic, healthy ingredients.  There were raw confections, wonderful healthy versions of traditional Czech treats, and it all looked fantastic.

At the back of the shop, there was space for lots of people to sit down and have a bite to eat.  The cafe is open until 9pm Mon - Thurs, 10pm on Fri and 8pm on Saturday.  It's closed on Sunday.  They have a small selection of food on offer, but all of it is freshly made and delicious - so you know you're not getting anything microwaved or out of a packet.  On our first day, I had a yummy cous cous salad, and Nab had a slice of quiche and salad.  The lady who runs the shop was very friendly, and helped us decipher the menu.  She also recommended a tea for me that was not yet on the menu - limeflower!  It tasted delicious - a little like chamomile.

National Museum

At Bio Zahrada, Nab and I were also introduced to the Czech version of the Nakd bar - bring on the Life Bar.  So amazingly delicious - these bars are similarly only made of fruit and nuts, but there are some decidedly exciting flavours, including Maca, Cherry and Baobab (really zingy and a massive Vit C hit!), Fig, and Brazil Nut.

On the first day we also went and explored Wenceslas Square (named after the Good King himself!)  Here we saw the National Museum (which is closed for renovation until 2015), and then had a look at the Jan Palach memorial (where a Czech student burned himself to death to start the revolution against communism).  We enjoyed looking in all the shops that line the busy boulevard, and then checked out the little cafes at the end of the street.

The Jan Palach Memorial was little more than two bulges in the pavement that had been fashioned to look like a cross, but the story behind the memorial was quite something.  When Jan Palach was only 20 years old, he decided to take a stand against communism and try to do something to make the Czech people begin an uprising.  The plan was to burn one student every week until the communist regime was overthrown.  On the appointed day, Jan Palach doused himself in petrol in one of the most famous squares in Prague, and set himself alight.  However, he lived for three days after this.  He told his fellow students - it's not worth it! His demonstration wasn't having the effect he wanted - the Czech people weren't (yet) beginning to stand up.  Even though when he died he may have thought it was in vain, in truth, he began a worldwide movement, and eventually this fed back into the Czech psyche as people began to take their stand against communism.  A very brave and noble man.

Jan Palach Memorial

We were feeling really tired by this point, so we ended up getting an early dinner at PAUL near I.P. Pavlova station, and heading back to the hotel.  On the way there, we found the Czech equivalent of Tesco Express - and bought an array of chocolate, biscuits and other fun stuff to take home or have in the hotel room.  And then we crashed!

Day 2
Nab and I were so impressed with the hotel breakfast! Everything was on offer - cereal, toast, cake, pastries, fruit, salad (!), potato soup, porridge, eggs, sausages, meat, cheese etc.  Wow.

We spent the second day exploring the Old Town.  We crossed the historical and beautiful Charles Bridge, walked through the town and took the funicular railway up to the Strahov Monastery. Unfortunately, the signage wasn't brilliant up there, and we didn't actually make it to the Monastery.  But we did enjoy a lovely walk through the woods there, and got to see squirrels being extremely adventurous, and a woodpecker, doing what he does best, and pecking at the wood.

At the top of the hill (called Petrin Hill), there is a lookout, designed to look a little bit like the Eiffel Tower.  It's not quite as beautiful, I have to admit.  But, it did serve as a good place to stop for a bite to eat, in the warmth, and I enjoyed a mozzarella and tomato salsa panini for the first time in years!

Both Nab and I were slightly dismayed to find that we had to pay to use the toilets.  However, Nab got the better deal! As soon as we arrived at the top of Petrin Hill, I was looking for a loo.  There were signs in front of the 'Eiffel Tower' monument that indicated a WC to the right, so we walked off to find a slightly morose looking outbuilding.  Unappetising though this building was, I decided that if I was going to stay on the hill for any length of time, I was going to have to make use of it's services.  Although only asking for 20 koruna, I was expecting a slightly nicer state of affairs than that which greeted me... Nab and I also commented on the people that ran the building (literally sitting in a room between the men's and women's toilets, with the TV on) probably had the most boring job we had ever thought of.  Nab was lucky, and needed the loo later than I did.  She ended up paying half the price to use the much nicer facilities inside the 'Eiffel Tower'.  The 'WC' sign was put up to lure silly tourists like me to the outbuilding, thinking if there is a sign outside the building, there can't be toilets actually inside the building.  Don't be fooled!

We walked part way down the hill and then jumped on the funicular to take us back down to the city.  We then took a tram to get to Prague Castle, the biggest attraction in the city.  It is enormous and so beautiful.  Quite different to Buckingham Palace, so definitely a must-see.  We walked around the huge complex, and enjoyed particularly St. Vitus' Cathedral.  It's breathtaking, especially when it gets dark.  The stained glass windows were amazing, with each fragment of glass being so very tiny and precise.  The outside of the building is as pretty as the inside - there are mosaics everywhere, and one doorway we saw was entirely shrouded in gold that glinted whenever the sun peeked through the clouds.

We also had time to see Golden Lane, which is within the castle complex.  It's basically a street of Tudor looking small houses, where all the workers would have lived.  It's been turned into lots of little shops now, and we spent some time exploring these.  This is where I bought my postcards, and a magnet for Aunty Shirley! One of the shops was selling beautifully handmade cosmetics made out of Czech beer! Unbelievably, they smelled really good, and seemed to do my cold and dry hands good!

After having pondered the beauty of the city and the size of the world for a bit, overlooking Prague at night, we decided to walk back to the tram stop to head back to the hotel for a quick freshen up before we went out for dinner.

We decided to go back to Wenceslas Square for dinner, as we had spied a lovely looking restaurant called COMO serving Italian and Japanese (weird combo, I know) food.  It was really quite fancy looking, and yet the menu featured prices that wouldn't have been amiss in Pizza Express!

Nab decided she would go for the duck breast with apple puree, a fondant potato and sauteed green beans.  As for me, it was time for a big bowl of pasta - I opted for a pasta Arrabiata with olives and parmesan, and a side salad.  I was hungry from all that walking around! For dessert, we went for ice-cream, being too full to take anything else.  Nab had her favourite, strawberry (which was very fruity!), and I had my favourite (vanilla) and tried a new flavour too (cinnamon).  If anyone knows where to get cinnamon ice-cream in England, please let me know as it was absolutely divine.

Day 3
On our last day, we had to get up pretty early because we wanted to take a tour of the main sites to see in Prague.  Amazingly, it was completely free and was fantastic!

In the morning, we were pretty tired as we had stayed up late the night before.  We ended up quite rushed over breakfast and then check out.  European hotels are great in that they seem to let you keep your luggage at the hotel before and after check out so you can do some exploring without being weighed down.

Once we hit the train station, we were worried to see that part of the train line (the part that was due to take us back to the airport that night!) wasn't working.  Oh no! But, we had bigger fish to fry right then, and made it on time to the tour starting point, right in the central square of Prague.

The tour was run by Sandeman's New Europe - and I booked it before we left using their website.  We had a great tour guide called John Paul - he was really animated, and brought lots of the history of the town to life.  We spent some time in the main square seeing a church that was the inspiration for Disney's Sleeping Beauty Castle, and the famous Astronomical Clock.  It's an amazing piece of machinery, and has been keeping accurate time for over 600 years! It also tells you what time the sun will rise and set, and gives you the phase of the moon.  It has a second component that tells you the season, the sign of the zodiac, and the day (along with the Name Day - which is why Europeans seem to have two birthdays!)

The story of the man who made the clock is rather more macabre.  As the King of Prague was so impressed with his new clock, he got his followers to creep up on the expert clock-maker in the middle of the night and cut out his tongue and gouge out his eyes! All this, just so that Prague would be the only place on Earth to have a clock this fabulous!

We also visited the 'Lego Preggo' - an interesting sculpture by the famous artist David Cerny.  In the spirit of Czech 'rebirth', you could physically climb up inside this pregnant lady sculpture, and then be 'reborn'.  Our tour guide had a particularly confident volunteer to demonstrate!

Our guide also took us to the Jewish Quarter of Prague, which I would have loved to have spent more time in.  Although it has now been rejuvenated, it was once in terrible condition, and very cramped.  The other people of Prague would not give the Jews any more space to bury their dead even when their graveyard became full, so they had to pile up the Earth and bury 120,000 people in 15 layers in their cemetery.  It was an awful place, in the true sense of the word - I stood their listening to our guide tell us the stories of bravery and hardship that people from this town had to endure, and I was truly awe-struck.

We took a very late lunch at Bio Zahrada once more, and then began our very long journey home.  We ended up walking, taking two trains, taking a tram, walking again, taking a bus, and then the aeroplane and finally a car ride to get home!

Once I got home, I was tired, but very happy.  The rest of the family were all up watching 'The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel', which I very much enjoy, so I sat downstairs snacking on (my favourite guilty pleasure!) Belvita breakfast biscuits before heading to bed.

A super holiday and very much recommended for anyone who enjoys culture and history.

Enjoy today!

- rosinaviolets    x

make | market salad

A delicious lunch idea that you can change up to meet your own fridge-limitations.  (Aka - you can use whatever you've got in your fridge!)

It also looks good enough to serve people too!

Our version is powered by parsley.  This fiesty herb is more than an ordinary garnish.  A couple of tablespoons give you more than your daily vitamin K requirements, which means strong bones to you and me! This salad would be delicious with a pitta bread on the side too, if you want it more substantial.  The best part is the combo of the Dijon vinagrette and the aoili.  If you manage to get some chives in there too, your getting a bit of antibacterial and antiviral action up in there, with lots of additional good antioxidants and flavanoids.  Yum!

Market Salad
(Serves 2)
- 1 big tbsp natural yoghurt
- 1 tsp lemon juice (and zest, if you've got a lemon to hand)
- 1 tbsp capers
- 1 dessert spoon chopped chives
- 1 dessert spoon chopped parsley
- 1 1/2 cups boiled salad potatoes, sliced into halves
- enough salad leaves to feed 2 people (we used a mix of finely shredded romaine lettuce and swiss chard, but you can use whatever you've got!)
- another dessert spoon chopped parsley
- 1 tomato, cubed
- 1/2 cup cooked broad beans (or whatever beans you have)
- 1 tbsp Dijon Vinagrette (see recipe below)
- 1/2 red pepper, sliced thinly (we used 1/4 red, and 1/4 yellow pepper as we had them in the fridge!)

• Mix up the aoili (natural yoghurt, lemon juice and zest, capers, chives and parsley) 

• Toss the aoili with the potatoes and the cooked beans.  Put this to one side whilst you make up the rest of the salad.  

• In another bowl, combine whatever salad leaves you are using with the tomato and the parsley.  Toss with the Dijon Vinagrette.  

• Place 1/2 of the potato mixture on each plate and top with the salad leaves.  Garnish with the pepper slices, and finish with a grind of black pepper.  Yum! 

Dijon Vinagrette 

Makes about 1 cup (will keep in the fridge for 1 week) 

-1/4 cup Dijon mustard 

- 3 tbsp olive oil 

- 2 tbsp honey (or more or less, depending on how sweet you like it) 

- 2 garlic cloves, minced 

- 1/4 cup sherry vinegar 

• Whisk all the ingredients together.  

If you want something quicker, you can just take a spoon of your Dijon mustard and combine with your favourite vinegar.  Shake it up and pour over the salad.  Nice! 

Enjoy today!! 

- rosinaviolets    x

live | craft | all natural

Inspired by the all-natural stalls at the Om Yoga Show (which you can read about here), we decided to have a go at making our own face masks.

I had visited Lush for the first time (can you believe it!) over the weekend, and really enjoyed discovering the hordes of new products they had in store.  I couldn't believe you could make all of these things naturally (or using the most safe and limited number of chemicals).  I was intrigued... surely, if most of this stuff is natural, I could make these things at home too?

I listened carefully to the lady at Lush telling me about the face mask ingredients, and noted that the one she recommended for me (Brazened Honey) had (obviously) honey, but also lime juice, fennel, ginger and coriander.  It also had an exfoliant, which in this case was ground almond shells.

I thought about how I could make this more easily at home, and came up with a pretty good concoction, I have to admit!

Our face mask is really simple.  So simple, you can make it at home in the time it takes to make your morning porridge.  It also tastes good... don't know if that's a benefit or not!

Here's our 'recipe' for homemade face masks!

Honey Face Mask
- 1/2 cup oatmeal (the exfoliant)
- 2 tbsp honey
- 1 ripe banana, smooshed
- lemon or lime juice, to loosen

• Mix all the ingredients together to form a paste.  
• Massage over your face and focus on the areas that need a bit of a scrub.  Leave the mask on for 10 - 15 minutes, and then wash off with a cloth or just under warm water.  

There are so many varieties of ingredients you could use to do this - I think it will be fun to try out different versions of this base recipe.  I know the honey and banana are rich rehydrators which counteract the scrubbing abrasive action.  They also make the face mask smell (and taste, should you happen to get some in your mouth!) good.  

Quite shocked at my oatmeal-face... ;)

No way to make this look attractive... but it works!  It's quite messy to put on your face
so I would recommend doing it in the bathroom.

Once you've got the face mask on, you can relax in a nice warm bath, like Sarah did.
Or... you can clean the kitchen floor, like I did. ;)

Afterwards!  It makes your skin feel so soft and clean!

Our make-up free faces!

If you give it a try or vary the recipe, let us know! 

Enjoy today!! 

- rosinaviolets    x 

wear | new hair

Yesterday Sarah dip-dyed my hair!

I've had it cut shorter as well, and felt like a bit of a change.  What do you think?

We used the L'Oreal Wild Ombres Kit in No. 1 (for light brown to dark brown hair).  It was
really easy to use and came with gloves and a nice conditioner to use afterwards.
It also gives you a brush to use to apply the lightener.

My 'before' hair

After Sarah finished applying the dye.
I sat in the bath with a towel round my shoulders that I didn't mind getting
dirty.  I would advise also to wear a shirt that buttons through,
so you don't have to contend with getting it over your head
when you come to showering the dye off!

After I'd showered the dye off, I used this Argan Oil leave-in conditioner from Avon.
It smells amazing and leaves your hair silky soft.
I would recommend using a good conditioner on top of the one the kit provides, as lightening your hair
really strips it and leaves it feeling quite dry.

Once I'd dried it!

make | nourishment

Think about what your Mum always made for you when you were ill.  Chances are, it was some kind of soup.  Throughout history, it seems, soups have been used as a healing aid for recovery from illness.  This recipe includes great life-generating plant ingredients which taste great as well as do you good.

It's getting colder outside, which means our favourite veggie - the butternut squash - is coming back in season.  It's really good for you and is an excellent source of Vitamins A & E for healthy hair and skin.  

If you can, it's best to buy butternut squash organic.  Like other veggies that take up a lot of water as they grow (like cucumbers, and cantaloupe melons), it has a propensity to absorb chemicals from the soil into it's edible parts.  

This soup is really warming and has a hint of the Orient too with its ginger kick.  Ginger is famous for healing, and if it's fresh it can be used to boost immunity to winter sicknesses.  It's a diaphoretic (it increases perspiration - as it's hot - and therefore is a good cleanser), warms up the body and eliminates cold.  It improves digestion and assimilation of nutrients too.  The soup also features garlic, which can ward of bacterial infection.  

Aunty Pam kindly bought us this amazing piece of kit.  Microplane graters are amazing for everything from ginger
to parmesan to garlic!

I used fresh ginger in this recipe (I just forgot to photograph it!) but if you've not got any, we always
keep these amazing frozen packets of herbs in our freezer.  You can get them at Waitrose
and they are invaluable for trying new recipes requiring fresh herbs.  There are all your favourites like parsley
and basil, as well as some fabulous mixes like the Thai mix (a personal favourite as I love lemongrass!)

As you've probably guessed, I made this soup for Dad to help him ward off infections.  

Regardless of all that, this soup is really delicious, so please try it when you've got a butternut squash lying around!  I'm sure you'll enjoy it.  

Enjoy today!    

-rosinaviolets    x

Butternut Squash and Ginger Healing Soup 

- 1 - 2 tsp coconut oil 

- 1kg butternut squash, peeled, deseeded and cut into edible-sized chunks 

- 1 big leek, or 2 small leeks, washed well and sliced 

- 4 cloves of garlic, crushed 

- 2 tbsp fresh ginger, grated 

- 1.5l vegetable stock

- zest and juice of 1 lime 

- handful parsley, leaves only, chopped finely

- freshly ground black pepper 

• Heat the coconut oil in a big pan.  When it's hot and coated the bottom of the pan, add the squash and leek pieces and saute them for a few minutes.  Add in the garlic and ginger along with a splash of stock if you need to, and saute until the leek is soft.  

• Add the rest of the stock to the pan, and boil.  Bring back to a simmer, and simmer the soup for 10 minutes (until the squash is cooked, but still holding it's shape).  

• Turn the heat off, and stir in the lime juice, zest and parsley.  Season with black pepper, to taste.  You can serve it like this, or you can blend it if you would prefer it smooth.  

 

live | om

What a truly amazing and stimulating show for new age gurus and curious newbies!

Yesterday Emily and I nipped up on the train to London for the 'Om Yoga Show' in Olympia National, and what a sight we experienced! Taking place this year over three days on the 24th, 25th and 26th of October, the show is an annually held function offering several yoga classes (with a special allocation for children), workshops, lectures and an exhibition displaying the kaleidoscopic array of health, ayurveda and yoga products out there on the market. See the website for the show here. Naturally, this was a must-see event for us, and resulted in our return home with a stack of leaflets and lots of amazing food, some of which was bought and some free! We were pleasantly surprised to see just how many people have been touched in some way by yoga and the spiritual and healing side of it too - it had the effect of creating a sense of connectivity among all of us who were there and increased the power cultivated in our yoga classes.

The classes

We took part in two fabulous yoga classes during our time at the show:

1.  'Yoga for Addictions' with Jo de Rosa.

You can check out her profile on this website;  http://innerguidance.co.uk/about-us/. This class was advertised as a yoga for easing those addictive habits, be it booze, sugar or, wait for it, anxiety. I think that as humans we have a tendency to assume the role of the victim, ruled over by another power tempting us into behaviour we know is bad for us. It keeps us in a ceaseless cycle of destruction. For me this class was definitely good for releasing bad energies that I have been tackling these past few weeks! We loved it, and by the looks of it so did the other people around us.

Jo explained that it's important with overcoming any addiction that you recognise when you are being triggered, and do something to remind yourself of the reason you are trying to release the addiction.  She found the strongest reminder through yoga.  Whenever she felt triggered, she would do sun salutations to remind herself of her own strength.

One half of the class was also based on meditation.  This half was really incredible as both Emily and I found that we were able to focus inward even though we were at an amazingly busy show and there was lots of noise all around us.  Jo explained that we are not our thoughts.  She had us visualise ourselves watching the movie of our life playing out on a TV screen.  We can observe our past, our triggers, our unhealthy behaviours, from a position of infinite health and abundance that is already inside us.  Through meditation we learn that what we desire from ourselves is already there, we just need to tap into it.  It made both Emily and I feel powerful in the best sense of the word.  

2.  'Keep the Prana alive!' yoga with Roberto Miletti and Francesca Cassia, ambassadors of yoga clothing brand Wellicious; http://www.wellicious.com/.

Prana is a sanskrit term for the moving and creative universal life force, physically present in the human body from the time of conception. It is commonly understood in Indian medicine as responsible for the body's life, heat and maintenance. If we are honest we felt a little lost in the first part of the class because there seemed to be a lack of guidance and instruction, but it came into action with Roberto's awakening and uplifting approach to keeping the prana energy alive. With chest opening movements and deep twists, the practice left us feeling powerful and happy in the moment. 

To our excitement, we watched 'Voga', a new workout combining the breath and movement synchronicity of yoga with the 80s dancing phenomenon of Vogueing that had prevailed in New York's drag ballrooms. The sharp and dramatic movements of Vogueing instill 'Voga' with a cardio element and an expressive feel. We think it looks like such fun! The traditional yogis are no doubt miffed by this new angle on the exercise, but so what if it makes you feel good! http://vogalondon.co.uk/

Lectures on offer included introductions to meditation, learning how raw foods can effect your yoga practice and using yoga for developing the flexibility of the brain. This was an area of particular interest for me from my studies in psychology of neuroplasticity. We had aimed to sit in for the lecture on how yoga can change the brain, but we found ourselves distracted by the allure of the stands and missed it! Among the products advertised these were some of our favourites (along with some more wacky ones).

Nakd

http://www.naturalbalancefoods.co.uk/nakd/

Possibly our favourite food brand - the Nakd stand had an offer going that meant we could pick 18 Nakd bars for £8! We were so happy to try out the new flavour, which is seriously so delicious and tastes just like a Bakewell Tart. We bought several of the Bakewell Tart flavour with the intention of giving them to our Dad, who loves a Bakewell Tart! If you have not before experienced the indescribable taste and texture of a Nakd bar we suggest you should go out and buy yourself one now.  They are made only of fruit and nuts, and smooshed together (cold-pressed) so they remain raw and full of nutrients.  

Aduna

http://aduna.com/#

This stall was beautifully decorated in bold and colourful African-inspired design, reflecting the small-scale African producers from which they source their natural ingredients. We were drawn by the Baobab Superfruit Powder they had for sale having heard of Baobab fruit and wanting to learn more. The powder can be used to increase the nutritional value of many different foods and meals, due to its vitamin C, fibre and antioxidant richness, and does not endure any transformation whatsoever, drying naturally on its branch.

The powder actually tasted amazing! Sweet and citrussy - it would be great in a tangy smoothie in the morning.  

The Sophrology Network

http://thesophrologynetwork.co.uk/

We thought this was a really forward thinking idea. It seeks to combine the best of Western and Eastern approaches to dealing with our life events and recommends a focus on the use of our inner resources. It offers multiple techniques such as yoga, meditation, relaxation and hypnosis as tools to be used in a fully practical and active sense for maintaining peace in our lives.

Vita Coco

http://vitacoco.com/uk/

Emily first tried coconut water from the Vita Coco exhibit at the show and loved it! We both are astounded by how sweet such a vitamin dense drink can be! That said, it is not too sweet by any means, but just a great alternative to water for a different taste and more hydration. They also had a great offer on their organic coconut oil, which we did not take advantage of when we first met with it - a big mistake! They had all sold out when we came back, so take our advice and buy while you have the chance!

Merkaba

http://www.violetflame-merkaba.com/en/merkaba/merkaba-activator.html

We both agree this was the most odd stall we came across, but there was a very warm and kind man who tried to get us to have a look at his product, and for that we were happy to show some enthusiasm! In principle the product is a 3-D structure interspersed with crystals which you sit beneath. It is believed to emanate a strong energy and ease you into a deep meditative state. Some people have presumably received some benefit from it...

Satya Jewelry

http://www.satyajewelry.co.uk/

Just beautiful. Honestly - you need to check out their website.  

Conscious Chocolate

http://www.consciouschocolate.co.uk/

We bought three bars of these! Conscious Chocolate hand-make organic, raw, vegan chocolate made from primarily wild ingredients. There are so many different flavours, all of which are great tasting. Our favourites are Cheeky Cherry, The Nutty One, Goji and Coconut and Lion's Roar. 

We will definitely be coming back again next year - thank you to Tracey for letting us know about it!

Namaste!

- rosinaviolets    x