Enjoying Nature, Creative Space and Holistic Juicing

This week i've been enjoying spending lots of time in nature, meditating, walking, journaling and thinking.  The trees are looking beautiful now, many brightly coloured with blossom and i've loved standing outside with my camera, taking photos.

I've also been busy creating this week.  Lots of art journaling, soul art and vision board making.  In fact I think I have a slight obsession with cutting up magazines.  It's extremely healing and calming, looking for inspiring words and pictures and putting them all together to make something beautiful which really inspires you.

Last Thursday I took part in Soul Art Day with Laura Hollick.  She uses a process called bodymapping where you draw around a part of your body and then make it into something creative using paints collage etc.  Last year I painted, this year I used mainly collage. The theme for me seemed to centre around my dream of traveling to India to do my yoga teacher training. I like to dream big! 

On Saturday I held my first Holistic Juicing Retreat at my house for two friends.  I was an amazing experience and really good practice for me as I set up my business. 

The day included juicing workshops, guided meditation, goal setting, vision board making, a reiki and crystal healing session each, oracle card reading, life coaching session, holistic mini facial and some raw chocolate brownies.

I also have my new massage table so everything is coming together nicely for my business and i'm feeling very excited.  An eventful and amazing week.

Juicy Mornings

I make a fresh juice every morning, after yoga, and it really does make me feel so alive and full of energy.  
It's lovely when the boys want to get involved too, so yesterday Luke made our morning juice and it tasted delicious.  These are the ingredients that he chose.

Apples

Pineapple

Tomatoes

Ginger

Spinach

Cucumber

Carrots 

Lemon

Broccoli

Banana

Avocado

Maca

Spirulina

Wheatgrass

He had lots of fun choosing the ingredients and chopping them all up, and said it was very tasty.  One very happy young man.

This morning I made us all a ginger shot, followed by a beetroot and carrot juice. This is the recipe.

4 Carrots

1 Large Piece Of Beetroot

3 Apples

Small Piece Of Ginger

Small Handful Of Parsley

Simply juice and enjoy!

Crystal Healing, Art Journaling, Planting Seeds & Family Time

It's been very busy over here this last week, there's been lots of exciting things happening and time seems to be going so fast.  

I guess the most exciting thing which happened was on Monday morning when I received my crystal healing certification, as well as a beautiful card from my teacher.  I couldn't stop smiling after i'd opened it, it really was an amazing feeling and makes all the hard work and late nights so worth it.  I felt very proud of what i'd achieved.  Taking this course was truly life changing and not only did I learn so much about crystal healing, but I now feel a little more confident that I really can make my dreams come true.  Holding my certificate in my hands proved that anything is possible.

  

Also on Monday, I began the art journaling course which i'd won a free place on with the lovely Shannon.  I read through the notes for days 1 & 2, and it felt so right, so perfect, everything I read made me feel so uplifted and inspired.  I was definitely meant to do this course. 

It's given me so much to thing about, and I love Shannon's thoughts on creating a self-discovery ritual and making sure your lifestyle supports your growth.  I think i'll be doing lots of reflecting and meditating over the next few weeks. 

I love the thought of using creativity to help move towards your dreams, helping you to discover who you really want to be, and where you really want to go in life. 

Like most people, I do feel blocked a lot of the time, or find that creativity has to come after other things in life, but i'm now determined that it will be one of my priorities. 

So i'm creating a morning ritual based around self-care and creativity.  This is how it will go.

5a.m Wake up, clean my teeth, dry body brushing, shower, massage.

6a.m Green tea, then yoga and meditation, outdoors if the weather is nice enough.

6:45 a.m Morning pages and art journaling. 

7:30a.m Make a green juice for me and the boys. 

I already know that the mornings when I get up and do yoga I feel amazing, so incorporating this with journaling will make it even more special.  These are two things which I really love to do, and I know how healing they can be.

Last night I stayed up late with my art journal, I put on some inspiring music and I sketched and simply enjoyed the process.  I didn't worry whether it was perfect, I just enjoyed feeling the flow. 

Another thing which made me smile this week was seeing lots of the seeds we'd planted last week beginning to come through. I always love this feeling, and my dream is to create a self sufficient garden, where I can grow as many herbs, fruits, vegetables and flowers as possible.  I have lots of work to do, but i'm really enjoying learning lots about gardening and living a self sufficient life.

So far we have have lavender, calendula, chives, basil, oregano, tomatoes and sweet pepper. We also have some blueberries in the garden, along with a lemon tree and a goji berry tree.  

I've also enjoyed spending some lovely, quality time with the boys this week  Last Friday, Luke took part in a dance show with his street dance class.  It was so lovely to see him up on stage, and the whole class did an amazing performance.  I was so proud of him.

Luke has also enjoyed building lots of Lego and we visited a new Lego shop yesterday which he loved.

This is a navy base which he built, not official Lego, but it's really cool.  He then spent hours playing with it.

On Saturday, the boys and I took a trip to the farm again, and had a lovely few hours wondering around, stroking the animals and having a drink and snack in the farm cafe.

Then yesterday Luke and I took a trip to Leeds.  We had a drink in a cafe, looked around the shops and  Luke had sushi in a Sushi Bar.  

I'm also very excited to have booked on an Oracle Card Reading Certification course with Denise Linn.  It's in November and i'll be travelling back down to London for a long weekend.  I'm very excited, Denise is one of the most inspiring women i've ever listened to, I have lots of her books and I took a course with her January which was amazing.  I'm a little nervous again, but i've already proved to myself that I can do it by going to London alone last year, and I know it will be an incredible, life changing trip.  

So it's been a very eventful few days, and i'm feeling very positive right now that things are finally coming together.

Animal Adventures, Raw Foods & Art Journaling

Today we took Luke for a trip to a local farm.  He really loves animals and is always excited to go anywhere like this. He was very happy to be able to stroke lots of the animals today and said it was the best day ever.

We saw cows with their calves, sheep and lambs, pigs and piglets, chickens, rabbits, horses, ponies, turkey's and ducks.  

Luke learns so much more from actually doing things, and getting involved.  This is how he enjoys to learn.  He loves to visit places such as farms and museums, and trips like this are a big part of our homeschooling journey.  We love to get outdoors and go on adventures as much as possible. Making it fun is so important.

Back at home, i've been busy in the kitchen, creating new raw recipes. I made stuffed tomatoes today, and yesterday made a raw chocolate cake.  Both recipes are on my Raw Foods page.

I was also very excited to find out yesterday that i've won a place on an online art journaling course starting on Monday.  It's a course i've been thinking of doing for a while, so I was so pleased to have won. I'll have more to share next week when I begin.  

So it's been an eventful few days here, now i'm going to settle down with my herbal tea and another slice of my raw chocolate cake.

Enjoying The Moments

I'm enjoying looking back at my photos from the last week and reflecting on some of the lovely moments, the small things in my life that I am very grateful for.

Seeing a beautiful rainbow on a dark, rainy day.

Nourishing my body with a green smoothie.

Making raw chocolates.

Reading my new book.

Writing in my journal.

And celebrating my birthday with a lovely nature walk.

These are the lovely moments that create lots of happiness.

Now i'm going to finish off my birthday snuggled up on the sofa watching a dvd with my boys.

Journaling From The Soul

Journaling has always been very important to me, I find it very healing and creative, and I try to make some sacred time each day to sit and write, sometimes in bed, sometimes outdoors in the sunshine.  I love to journal after meditation, when I feel so calm and relaxed.

I have a few different journals, and each one has a different purpose.

I have my red floral journal which I write in every morning.  This is where I write my morning pages, from The Artists Way, which involves writing three pages as soon as you wake up.  I also include other journal work from other courses too.

I have a gratitude journal where I write all the things i'm grateful for.  This can be anything from quality time with the boys, time in nature or simply feeling happy and healthy.  Focusing on the positive things in my life is so important, and I love to look back at this journal quite often.  

One other thing I like to write in my gratitude journal is the funny things that the boys have said.  These are the things that i'd probably have forgotten, but writing them down means i'll never forget and looking back at them always makes me smile. Memories like those should always be remembered.

Then I have my art journal where I write, sketch, draw mandalas and anything else I feel inspired to do.  I've done courses in creative journaling and I love to fill in this journal with creative and colourful sketches, and not worry about them being perfect. 

I also have a journal which says "Believe In Yourself" on the front.  My word for this year is believe so this was the perfect journal for me.  My goal was to believe in myself, something i've always struggled to do.  So after I had some creativity coaching at the end of last year, I got an idea to write down all the things I do in my life that i'm proud of, big or small.  I've called it "My Inspiring Life" which came from an intuitive painting course that I did with Flora Bowley.  It's something positive to look back on when I feel overwhelmed or unsure.  I've included things such as qualifying as a reiki healer and crystal healer, attending courses, doing things which scare me, doing something really good with the boys and other positive steps i've taken. Anything which I can be proud of doing goes into this journal.

So my advice to anyone is to buy the most beautiful journal you can find, one that you love, that inspires you, and pour your heart out.  Your writing does have to be perfect, it just has to come from your soul.

Crystals, Meditation and Family Time

We've had a very busy week, with Luke doing extra hours at dancing, preparing for the next show in two weeks and Dylan training hard at taekwondo as he is grading in a few weeks, then competing in Holland at the end of May.  We've also managed to meet up with friends this week too, which was lovely.

We did, however, have one day where we had no plans at all, and it happened to be the sunniest day of the week.

I manged to find the time to take my green juice, yoga mat and crystals out into the garden for some crystal meditation.

I love to meditate outdoors and i've really missed it during the winter, and very snowy spring, so I was happy to have the chance to get in the garden again for some time on my mat.  Sitting there, with the sun shining on me, listening to the birds singing was a lovely experience.

Meditating with my crystals makes it even more sacred.  The energy from them is so calming, and they really help me to focus and relax.  Here I am using my two rose quartz, two of my favourite crystals which I take everywhere with me.  Rose quartz are associated with the heart chakra, and are very good for helping with self-love, something i've been working on quite a lot recently.  They are also very balancing and I always feel very protected when I hold them.

After a lovely, peaceful half an hour, Luke ran outside and asked me to play with his Nerf guns with him.  Not quite so peaceful, but very good fun.

We ran around together playing, whilst Dylan played some football on the driveway.

It was good fun, and apparently I made a very good medic.

Then we came inside where Dylan and I had a game of chess, and, as usually, he won.  

It was really lovely to have a day to relax and enjoy spending time outdoors together, creating lovely memories.