A few weeks ago I responded to a post requesting a guinea pig to be taught a type of meditation developed by Sandy Newbigging. I’ve thought for a while that meditation is something I thought I should be doing, but was equally something I struggled with; either because I’m not doing it right or there’s too many thoughts in my head.. so this was a perfect opportunity to go for it, to see if I could stop the thoughts and get my mind under control!

I started meditating using the technique just 7 days ago. 10 minutes in the morning and 10 at night. For someone who thinks a lot, this week has been a bit of a revelation. I started a new job this week, a job which involves speaking a language that frankly I can’t speak. Also, I have always been a bit preoccupied about what other people think of me, so this new position would normally have me pretty nervous and anxious, but this week has been fun, I’ve just got on with my new job and have done the best I can and enjoyed it, no nerves, no worries at all and I have been much less concerned about what anyone else is thinking about me. I’m convinced it is due to the meditation. I generally feel calm and able to get on without too much interference from my thoughts. Every time my mind goes into an imaginary conversation with someone, every time I get into my thoughts, I become aware of what is happening and in that moment I move my attention to the still, silent space that is ever present and it feels so much nicer to be there. It doesn’t mean you can’t use your mind as the useful tool that it is, it just means you don’t get caught up being there. Pick it up and use it when needed and when it’s not needed (most of the time) be able to enjoy the stillness that is always present, even when you have your eyes open. What a gift!

If this is what 20 minutes a day for 7 days does, then I can only imagine what bliss it will bring in the future. I think I can safely say I’m hooked. I encourage you to read his book and experience it for yourself. Om Peace x

Yesterday my snowboard was stolen. It was beautiful. It had pandas on it, wearing various hats and smoking pipes. When I realised it had been taken I was confused as it didn’t seem real, once I got off the mountain we watched everyone else coming off the mountain to see if we could see it, but no joy. My beloved board was long gone. Part of me wanted to be angry, but another part of me knew that was futile and it would only serve to hinder my peace of mind.

Knowing that anger, sadness and grief will only eat me up and not get my board back, I need to get hold of some positives. At the end of the day it’s just a piece of wood/plastic/metal albeit an expensive one; it can be replaced. It gives me nearly a month left of the season to improve my skiing technique, which I’ve been wanting to do anyway. It wont be taking up space in our apartment anymore (grasping at straws?!)

So today I will ski and I will enjoy every minute of it. Every time I think of my board I will breathe and let it go. What have you lost recently that you can turn into a gain? x

Following on from my last blog post JFDI, I have been following my own advice (for once!). I have hurled myself back into my diploma and submitted an essay. Can I have a whoop, please?! I would like to say it was easy and it was in the end, but my brain put up a lot of resistance to the point that I had to deactivate my Facebook account; let me explain.

When I decided to just get on with it and not think about it, my brain couldn’t help but get involved. It made me eat food when I wasn’t hungry, tidy up the balcony, make copious amounts of tea, light the fire, do the laundry, basically do ANYTHING but my essay. I was finding the essay hard, I had put it down a year earlier and so it wasn’t all fresh in my mind and it took some re-learning and searching for the answers I needed. I don’t really find learning from text very easy; I’m much more a person that learns by seeing pictures rather than words, so it’s a struggle and this is what my brain feared, so it kept occupying me with other, less pressing tasks, such as wasting hours on Facebook. So I deactivated my account. I wasn’t enough to just not go on there, because I knew I would slip up. I had to make a move that meant something, so deactivation it was.

So now I had deactivated my account, I HAD to write this flippin essay. Now it felt like the world was on my shoulders, I had decided it would be done by Sunday and all I could see was this big wall in front of me, the wall was my diploma and the other side was where I wanted to be and I’d made it worse by working out how many more assignments I need to complete to get my diploma (and it was more than I thought). This was not a good place for my brain to be; it was feeling even more resistant to playing my game now!

I laid on my bed feeling like I was never going to finish my diploma, so what’s the point in writing this essay? Then Amy messaged me on Skype and I told her how I was feeling and that when she sees me on Monday I would be less stressed then as the essay would be done. Her reply was…

is it possible to be stress free now?
what if it was,
how could you make it happen
whatever method you choose,
ENJOY CHERIE!.

That was it, that was all I needed, with that I decided that I was going to ENJOY writing my essay and started straight away. My brain jumped into gear, as the wall I’d created for it was no longer relevant. Simple as that, I was feeling so much more relaxed and I enjoyed it. I know that sounds far too simplistic, but I assure you it’s the best way and if you really can’t change the way you look at something, then maybe you need to reassess what you’re doing. Either way, whatever you’re doing, enjoy it! x

I was having a Skype chat last night with a friend and we got to taking about how we used to have meetings each week to set goals and encourage each other to get stuff done. She asked me why I thought we had both not quite made it to where we wanted to be, i.e. both working for ourselves, avoiding the 9-5 drudgery and doing what makes us happy. I thought about it and while we had both obviously got a lot out of our weekly meetings and moved further forward, we hadn’t quite got there. We’d moved forward, but gone a bit sideways too.

We could argue that we both moved house this year; me to another country, her to a new city and with that upheaval we’d gone a bit offtrack. But, that would just be an excuse that could be added to a list of many more. I believe what it comes down to, is that if you want something enough you do whatever it takes. You live, eat and breathe it, until it happens. Quite frankly neither of us were/are doing it.

Speaking for myself, I want to be a health coach, which means I want to complete my diploma. I also want to be a brilliant corsetiere, which requires more time researching and developing my skills. I also want to exercise and be super fit, which obviously requires time. Alongside all of this I need an income. So I learned forex trading, but that requires practice before I can generate an income. So I’m working 35 hours a week in order to live. OK that sounds a lot when it’s written down, but is it?

In reality I could easily spend another 35 hours a week working on these things outside of work. It all just requires dedication and planning. So from here on, I’m planning out my days; I’m getting it done. I’ll tell you now I’m scared of committing these words to the page, because what if I fail?! What if I don’t get it done?! The answer is short and simple. JFDI.

After sleeping in a different place for 11 consecutive nights, at last I’m home and it feels great! All that change definitely wore me out and it didn’t help that my diet was less than desirable either. Whether it was the fact that I was in other peoples houses and wasn’t preparing my own food, or that I was in holiday mode or that once I’d had one ‘bad’ thing I then thought sod it, I’ll just eat whatever.. Fish and chips, cakes, takeaway etc all featured, my saving grace was that I did have some lovely green juice at Suzanne’s house and ate fruit for breakfast most mornings (except when I had a veggie fry up… erm make that 2). The funny thing was that I didn’t even enjoy eating most of it, the thought of it was always more tasty than the reality. And the more I ate, the more I craved it! Previous ailments started to resurface; my body was definitely telling me I wasn’t eating what was right for me. Lesson learned.

So here I am, having just finished a lovely green juice and plan to juice for the rest of the day, trying to make up for the last couple of weeks! There’s no point beating myself up about these things, just carry on in the way I know works best for me. The sun is shining and we’re going to go for a walk, collect some spring water and enjoy the fresh mountain air. Bliss! Enjoy your day, whatever you’re doing and don’t beat yourself up if you’ve gone off track, just get back on the way you know works best for you x

As I sit here I can see the sea through the big glass windows, it’s very reassuring to me. Growing up by the sea, it’s always something I yearn for, especially when I’m in big cities where it all just makes me feel a bit claustrophobic. I think it’s the wide open space and calming nature of the ebb and flow of the tides that appeals to me so much.

Between me and the sea are some office blocks, I can see right in and I’m so glad it’s a world that I no longer inhabit. It just feels so irrelevant, so boring, to inhabit such a world. Each to their own of course, but it’s just not for me any more, or at least right now it isn’t. I’m still working out what is for me, I’m pretty sure it lays somewhere in amongst helping others get healthy, being creative and making things; such as corsets and being able to get on and do that with no money worries to distract me. So this week I’ve been learning Forex trading to deal with the money aspect. Forex trading is essentially trading the foreign exchange market. For any of you that know me this will not be a surprise, I will have a go at just about anything. I remember a friend always laughing about me one day saying I was going to be an air traffic controller! Well, I just like to try things….. erm lots of them! How else will I know what is right for me if I don’t try?! So, yes I’ve been Forex trading, not with real money, but I seem to be getting the hang of it and I am enjoying it, so it’s all good. When I’ve made enough money to buy a studio to make clothes in and a health retreat I’ll let you all know! It may be some time….

I’ve been in Bournemouth now for 10 days and I’ve only really spoken to my brother as I don’t know anyone here. It’s been a great environment for learning and reflection and whilst I’m OK with my own company, there is a limit and I think I’m just about reaching it. Good job next week I’ll be back in Norwich and have loads of people to catch up with who can celebrate my birthday with me.

One thing I have noticed is that because I haven’t been exercising for a couple of weeks and mostly been sat in front of a laptop, my appetite has increased exponentially and especially increased for sweet and fatty foods. I’m basically feeling lethargic and want to eat the world… I need to do something, but I can’t be arsed! Ha ha, well at least I recognise what is going on, I guess that’s a start. I think I’ll go for a walk along the seafront, it’s better than sitting here staring at my laptop and at least and I can enjoy the sea because before long I’ll be back in the mountains and the sea will be a distant memory. x

Yesterday I went on a mushroom forage in the new forest; my brother had kindly arranged for us to go on it a few weeks ago. It was such a good day and we found plenty of mushrooms for our basket. It occurred to me more than ever whilst focusing so intently on the ground beneath my feet that the problems that we face as humans are all to do with our lack of connection with nature. Yes, big thoughts for a Saturday afternoon.

This thought process started when John from www.foragelondon.co.uk (our guide for the day) told us that in part of the forest we were foraging in, which happened to be some ancient woodland; around since the times of Henry 8th, had recently been fly-tipped in. Now who on earth would fly tip in a beautiful ancient woodland? It could only be someone who was really quite disconnected from nature. So here begins my musings for the day…

How can we get back in touch with nature? It has to start at home and spread like wildfire from there! In fact with your one and only home, your body. Are you treating it in the most natural unadulterated way possible? Feed your body with the most natural foods; organic, fresh fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds. If you choose to consume animal products, make sure they’re organic, that the animals themselves have been raised on a natural diet for their species and you will feel the benefit both nutritionally and of course karmically.

Don’t forget we feed our body from the outside too. Your skin absorbs what you put on it so feeding your skin with natural products makes sense doesn’t it? You can make your own skincare products so you know exactly what you’re feeding your skin with. A brilliant book for this is The Holistic Beauty Book by Star Khechara.

Then to your home. Unfortunately, the way we build houses includes lots of nasty chemicals which stay in your living environment for years to come. So to avoid this, either build your own house out of natural materials(!), or if that’s not an option open your windows as much as possible to let the clean air in and the bad air out. Also, lessen the number of chemicals in your home by choosing natural paints to decorate with and clean with natural substances. I have found that white vinegar is brilliant at cleaning off limescale on taps, shower screens and getting the limescale out of your kettle. Apparently, you can clean just about anything with a mixture of vinegar, lemon juice and bicarbonate of soda. I say apparently, because I need to take my own advice here, I am not perfect by any means. At the moment I tend to use some ‘eco’ products and use them sparingly, but I know they’re not the best. So this is definitely the point where I need to get connected with my natural cleaning products!

The energy we use in our lives just all seems pretty unnatural to me and it seems to go against nature. We blow things up, we rely on combustion and at the same time we deplete the world of natural resources and make a big mess at the same time. Bottom line is that I believe there are systems that can create energy with no waste, no pollution and can keep us all with a power supply for free. Sounds out there? Good. You don’t have to believe me, these are just my musings after all! Using solar power and wind power is a start in the right direction.

I think if we all started to eat clean food, then there would be no market for dirty food. If we opted for the natural in all areas of our lives more natural solutions would pop up because it would be economically viable for people to create them in a market that wants them. So let’s vote with our money and vote for nature. Let’s support the ‘crazy’ people coming up with natural ways to make energy and let’s all benefit both in our bodies and everything that surrounds them!

Thank you for reading x

Here I am back in England for the first time in just over 6 months. This is the longest I’ve been outside of Blighty ever and I have to say it’s made me notice a few things now I’m back on the Island. Having spent all my time away living in Morzine and then a small little hamlet just outside, I’ve been well away from any kind of hustle and bustle, so coming back to it is a bit of a shock to the system! I’m now in Bournemouth and ok it’s not exactly Oxford Street in London, but it’s so far removed from where I’ve just come from. In France everyone says hello, well ‘bonjour’ not hello; that would be weird. You walk into a shop “bonjour madame” everyone is so friendly; granted if you’re in Paris or a big city in France you might experience something different. It just feels like such a stark difference here, people seem to be walking around looking busy, preoccupied and not really smiling. So I’ve been purposefully smiling at people and I’ve had a few smiles back and some odd looks. However, if you smile at someone apparently they can’t help but activate their smiling muscles even if a smile doesn’t physically appear they get the benefit of feel good chemicals anyway! I think it’s called oxytocin and it’s a love hormone Smile and feel the love!

I’m sure everyone reading my blog is naturally smiley and happy anyway, but if you are feeling stressed or a little bit down, stand tall, crack a big smile and pass it on… 

OK, I feel like I want to explain why I will not sponsor anyone to raise money for a cancer charity. First off, I want to make it clear that I totally respect the fact that someone would want to raise money for a worthwhile cause and provide help to finding the answer to cancer; which affects us all. We all know someone that has had cancer, has died from cancer and maybe even had it ourselves. So I get that, I don’t want anyone dying of cancer anymore than you do and I definitely don’t want to get cancer myself.

Let’s imagine, you’ve trained really hard to run a marathon to raise money for a cancer charity because this is a good thing to do, right? So you hand over the money you’ve sweated buckets for and where does this money go? Well cancer charities give out grants for research; well that’s great isn’t it? We need more research don’t we? Yes and no.

I’ll start with no. For most cancers we don’t need anymore research because cancer cannot survive in an alkaline environment, did your doctor tell you that? Probably not. Cancer can be reversed by changing diet and lifestyle, but that doesn’t make money; drugs make money. Of course we need more research, but we need the right kind of research for the right reasons; for the health of the people, not the profit of big pharmaceutical companies.

We need research into cancer prevention, which for the most part comes in the form of eating an alkaline diet rich in fruits and vegetables, living in a non toxic environment, taking regular exercise… all things that we have control over, however we are lead to believe that cancer just pops up out of nowhere and needs carcinogenic chemotherapy and carcinogenic drugs to deal with it.  Unfortunately, chemotherapy is carcinogenic, one study showed that out of 31 women treated by radiography for breast cancer, 19 of them subsequently suffered with lung cancer – the lung on the same side as the original cancer.

The money given to researchers by cancer charities only goes to big pharmaceutical companies. Independent researchers don’t get a look in. So money is hurled at creating new drugs; drugs that come with side effects, or you could say ‘effects’. If however, there was a natural substance, for example hemp oil, that could treat cancer (as it appears it may well do) it won’t get the big budget research trials and therefore is hard to get decent data to back up the theories.

A great example of not getting the funding he deserves is Dr Burzynski, who has been funding his own research and trials into aggressive brain cancers since the 70′s, his success rate is phenomenal, he uses an extract from human urine to treat his patients, which has no negative side effects, however the FDA have been trying to shut him down for years, for no justifiable reason (other than perhaps he is a threat to big pharma). There is a documentary about this, the Burzynski movie, definitely worth a watch.

Big pharmaceutical companies are there for the profit, they have share holders to keep happy. If preventative measures were educated to the masses and natural treatment plans were in place, these massive companies would loose a hell of a lot of money. Currently Pfizer has a market value of $165.4billion and Proctor and Gamble has a market value of $185.2billion.

So with charities only giving their money to big pharma to create more drugs, the message about prevention is ignored and swept under the carpet. I just cannot support that, so please do not think I do not care when I don’t hand over my money, I’d just rather spend it on fruit and veg. Prevention is better than cure isn’t it? x

I’ve been mulling over my raw week. Something I haven’t mentioned yet is that on the last day I came down with a cold. At first I thought it was an allergy as i was sneezing so much, but it turned out to be a cold. I think it was my body getting rid of toxins/crap it needed to shift, so I rested and let my body get on with it. I haven’t taken any pharmaceuticals for over 2 years, so I didn’t take any paracetamol or anything like that. I did try using a homemade neti pot for the first time (an old contact lens solution bottle refilled with salty water), which was pretty successful at clearing my sinuses, basically you pour salty water in one nostril and let it come out the other, it’s a bit weird, but not uncomfortable as I thought. Just make sure the water is salty like tears, too much and you’ll get a burning sensation. Not nice.

I think all in all the raw week was a success; I feel better physically (except for the cold) and mentally, so that’s all good. I’m still eating a wholefoods diet including a lot of raw food. I want to experiment a bit with my diet to see what works best for me. The day I was most ill this week, Stan made me a big pot of homemade vegetable soup and I sipped that all day, I have to admit that when I was feeling ill, the last thing I wanted to eat was raw food, although I did manage some vegetable juice.

Even thought the food part of this health equation is important, it’s not all about the food. I mentioned before that I wanted to be taking regular exercise and that I was planning to do yoga every day. Well, I managed to do it 5 days out of the 7 and having been ill, I haven’t done any for the last couple of days. Even in that short time, I really felt I was improving and it was helping me, not only physically, but mentally too. Yoga really takes a lot of focus, it’s almost like a meditation which I also struggle with. My mind is so busy! Maybe I should interview people who have managed to get these things into their lives on a daily basis, maybe they can give me some tips.

So I’m working on the diet bit, working on the exercise bit, the meditation bit needs a whole lot of work (or maybe it doesn’t – isn’t that the point?!), now what else is there, oh yes, living on purpose. If you’re not doing that, then what are you doing, living for no purpose? Even though I’m currently working as a cleaner for minimum wage, I feel that my life is far more on purpose than when I had a ‘proper’ job, funny isn’t it? I was sad in that job, I didn’t enjoy it and while the money was nice, it wasn’t getting me any closer to living the life I really wanted. So I left, with no real plan! The best thing I could ever have done.

It all started with changing my diet, I truly believe that eating a cleaner diet, full of fruits and veg is the best start to clearing your mind and freeing up some space for the truth to come in; your truth. Ok, that might sound a bit out there, but just think about it. If you’re hungover most weekends (as I was), eating the anything and everything diet, with all those additives and chemicals racing around your brain, how on earth are you going to be functioning well enough to even have time to think about the life you want, let alone have the brain capacity to process it and more importantly make it happen?! I’m not saying this is you, I’m just speaking from previous experience. If this is you and you’re perfectly happy with your life, then that’s great too, I just wasn’t.

Now I’m living in France in the Rhone Alps, yes I’m doing some cleaning as there are still bills to be paid, but I’m getting closer to the life I dream of. I will continue to learn about health and I help people where I can. I make corsets too, I love making clothes and corsets are my passion. Check out my other website here.. www.boneandbusk.co.uk New opportunities are coming my way, which is so exciting. My surroundings are so beautiful, I have to pinch myself every day. I bloody love my life and I hope you bloody love yours too. You might get reincarnated, you might not, so best make the most of this life now. Come on, what are you waiting for?! xx