Sunny August

It is always a rather still time of year, August. Everyone goes calm and quiet, many are away, desire seems to sleep for the month and the sun bakes everything to a brown crisp unless you have been in London for the last two weeks. I returned from my weeks in the French forest to find my garden so verdant and enthusiastic it was rather alarming. By contrast, the Yoga Festival, where I was camping with all manner of dark and mysterious creatures, was sunny and bleached until the sun set and then the forest came alive with huge spiders, giant ants, mosquitoes with inelegant appetites and rampaging hedgehogs with a penchant for chocolate biscuits.

I am here for the week and then off again, but the very lovely Tara will be answering queries and posting out orders whilst I am away. She is also happy to see you in the shop, by appointment only. 020 7701 9269

I have started my winter production which is going well. All made in England, all within three miles of my house, which feels very patriotic and also reduces the stress levels somewhat magnificently.

Beautiful corduroys, linens and silks. The colours are rich and warm, the textures wonderful, all easy shapes to wear and to pull together with good boots, great waistcoats and endlessly useful shawls.

 

 

 

The U breath

If you would like to increase your sense of being present, calm and here, right now, this amazing breath opens the energy flow in the spine. It unblocks the ida and the pingala, the two spirals that turn up and around the spine and then descend through the shushmana, the central spinal cord.

Sit comfortably, either in a chair with the spine vertical or on the floor, cross legged. Take your right hand and hold it up in front of your face, placing your right thumb under your right nostril. Your palm faces to the left, your fingers go straight up. Close your eyes. Inhale through the left nostril very slowly. Hold the breath at the top then take your right index finger and close the left nostril. Exhale slowly through the left nostril. Slowly inhale through the right nostril, hold at the top. Return your right thumb under your right nostril to block it and exhale through the left nostril. Inhale through the left nostril very slowly. Hold the breath at the top then take your right index finger and close the left nostril. Exhale slowly through the left nostril. Slowly inhale through the right nostril, hold at the top. Return your right thumb under your right nostril to block it and exhale through the left nostril.

It is to be done slowly, inhale for 6 seconds, hold for 6 seconds, exhale for 6 seconds.

It is simple if you slow down and follow the instructions slowly and deliberately with eyes open for two or three rounds. You are making a U shape with the breath. This creates an incredibly calm sensation in the mind and body and brings you completely into the present moment. It is fantastic as a pre curser to any other practice like before yoga or running.

 

 

Dates for your Diary

My Wednesday afternoon Kundalini Yoga class at Alchemy in Camden is small and lovely. It is a very wonderful and Alchemical place to be so if you have a free 90 minutes one afternoon do come and join me. It is a class about working with the Kundalini Energy in the body. Very lovely as a topic.

On September 11th & 12th Devotion and I will be in Cambridge at the Mind Body Soul Show. It is a lovely show. I have several stage performances and a workshop, too.

I am speaking at the French Narcotics Anonymous Convention in Paris on September 25th. If you would like details please let me know.

The 2nd & 3rd of October is Mind Body Soul in London, at Earls Court. Always a great show. Again, it will be Devotion and I will be teaching on stage and in workshops. If you like the etheric, psychic and alternative sides of London this is a great show.

The build up the Yoga Show has started. This year the dates are 29th, 30th & 31st of October. This is a fantastic show of you want to deepen your yogic knowledge, work with dynamic teachers, find new clothes, books, DVDs….. everything to do with the commercial aspects of yoga is there. It is fun. Again, I will be teaching a lot both on stage and in workshops. If I get any tickets to give away I will let you know as soon as possible.

I am looking for a venue in Central London to host a Devotion Emporium before Christmas, in November. If you have any suggestions for locations do please let me know. Chelsea Town Hall is fully booked, the Soho Hotel was a little to hidden away. But if you know of a good, central, easy to get to location, please email me.

 

Summer Cooler

I was recently in Kuwait for a week. It was hot beyond description and where ever I went to eat or drink there was always this utterly delicious minted lemonade. It is refreshing, cooling and very easy to make.

For 1 litre of lemonade: 4 lemons juiced
6 long sprigs of mint leaves removed from their stalks
3 dessertspoons of sugar or to taste
2 trays of ice cubes cool water to make up the measure to 1 litre
4 tall glasses with ice

Blend all the ingredients in a blender rather than a magimix till the mint is little green specks and the drink is a luscious pale green. Pour over the ice in the tall glasses and serve immediately. Delicious.

For more Summer recipes do look at the Sacred Chef DVDs.

 

 

 

Looking sideways

Have you come across the wonderful, talented and visually out there Lady Gaga? She has had some well written pieces recently in the press and this is one of my favourite. http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/20/lady-power/?emc=eta1

If you love beautiful wood, hand made objects, creative use of line and form, then this is a lovely site: http://www.nicwebb.com

I did not know that I need a European Health Insurance Card when travelling in the EEC. Apparently it entitles you to free or cheaper medical care should illness or an accident befall you. The website is easy and it is free. https://www.ehic.org.uk

It is quite possible that you have moved beyond the joys of parenting teenage kids, of it may never have been on the list of possibilities. But if it is, this website is good for the whole morass of sexuality….. http://www.iwannaknow.org/

I am enthralled by Bill Brysons' book At Home. Thoroughly interesting and easy to read about the house. How it came to be, grew, was used etc.

And at the same time really enjoying A Perfect Red by Amy Butler Greenfield. It is a history of how the colour red emerged and it's effect on trade, fashion and politics. Quite fascinating.

If you ever have the opportunity to read or give good stories to kids, especially girls, then English Fairy Tales and Legends was fabulous. Rosalind Kerven has pulled some gems together. Isadora and I loved them all.