Life is Out There.....

When I shared some of my holiday photos in the last two blog posts I was aware that not everyone gets to go away on wonderful trips and that seeing mine might therefore be a little bittersweet for some.  At this time of year it seems that just about everyone is going away somewhere exciting and, from all the Facebook posts, that everyone is having a fabulous time, all the time! Social media can often heighten the feeling that everyone else's life is better than our own.  

Our yoga practice helps to keep us grounded, reminding us to focus on the present moment rather than going off into the stories that the mind distracts us with. The teachings of yoga encourage us not to compare ourselves to others - there will always be someone else in class who can more easily do the pose we find so challenging and there will always be someone else with a newer kitchen or a more exotic holiday. We learn to have gratitude for the things we already have in our lives and we are guided towards contentment rather than feeling we should be continually happy. We learn that life is rarely completely perfect and we learn to be ok with that. We learn to look for the little things in life - many quite ordinary - which enrich our lives on a day to day basis and we learn to appreciate them. In this way, instead of waiting for 50 weeks of the year for our 2 week holiday which seems to be over in a flash, we can practice participating fully in life as it unfolds, 365 days a year.

  
So, if you're not going away this summer, or your holiday already seems like a distant memory, here are some smaller things you could do this week that might get you out into the sunshine and give you the holiday vibe:

Visit the Travel Photographer of the Year Exibition at Greenwich, London and appreciate the beauty of the world without leaving the country. Winners from this annual photography competition are on display at the University of Greenwich (very close to Greenwich DLR station) until 4th September - and it's free!  Click here for more details.

Here are two photographs from last year's overall winner Marsel van Oosten:

Take a day trip. Get away on a mini-adventure to somewhere you've never been before. How about a day in Bournemouth with a ticket from Southwest Trains for just £11 or a coach trip to Lymington from a new company called Road Trippers set up by one of my yoga students which will take you there and back for £22.50 http://www.road-trippers.co.uk/whats-on-this-summer/.

Can't get to the seaside but want to swim outside in the open air? Here's a link to Time Out's guide to the best lidos and outdoor pools in London. You don't even need good weather for this one - swimming outside in the rain is a lovely experience and means that the crowds will stay at home.

Just sit outside in the garden and read a book. As a gardener, I have a tendency to sit down with the intention to relax and immediately pop back up again to do some deadheading/propping up/weeding jobs I have spotted! This week I'm going to find some time to just sit and read.  If you haven't got a good book at the moment, check out this list of Top 10 Summer Beach Reads from the Telegraph.

Feeling a little flat after the Olympics have finished? I know I am missing the inspiration and enthusiasm from our amazing athletes and all the fabulous tv coverage. But you could go and get a little bit of a Rio fix at the Notting Hill Carnival. Europe's biggest street party with all its colour, costumes, music and dancing takes place this weekend on Sunday 28th and Bank Holiday Monday 29th. Click here for more details if you want in on the fun. 

Pack up a picnic and head out to one of Surrey's top 10 picnic spots according to the Visit Surrey website, or get hold of an ordnance survey map and explore some footpaths and bridleways near to you that you've never been down before.

Talking of picnics, this recipe would be perfect to pack in a tupperware for an al-fresco lunch...

Green Bean Salad with Walnuts & Coriander

This recipe comes from Tibits, one of my favourite vegetarian restaurants which is situated just off Regent Street in London. It's tucked away down a little alley called Heddon Street which means it's not quite so busy and on a fine day sitting at their outdoor tables feels very continental. 

Whenever I go I look for their green bean and walnut salad and, as it's a self-serve restaurant, I make sure to take a big spoonful as it's so tasty. Tibits' recipe uses dried beans but I thought I'd try it with fresh ones as they are so easy to come by. It worked just fine....

You will need:

150g of fresh green beans (or use dried beans if you can get them)
half an onion chopped
1 clove of garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons vegetable bouillon
splash balsamic vinegar
fresh coriander, chopped
handful of walnut pieces
optional goats' cheese to crumble on top

Here's how to make it:

• Cook the beans in boiling water with 1 teaspoon of bouillon until they are soft.
• Drain and allow to cool.
• Gently fry the onions and garlic in the olive oil and remove from the heat.
• Mix the remaining teaspoon of bouillon, the balsamic vinegar, walnuts and chopped corriander into the beans, onion and garlic.
• Serve with some goats cheese crumbled on top.

I'd like to share with you one of my favourite poems by one of my favourite poets. You may already have heard of the contemporary American poet Mary Oliver but, if you haven't, do look out for her work. She writes about her connection with nature. About love and loss and solitude. And it's all beautiful.

The Summer Day

Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean -
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down,
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?

—Mary Oliver

And finally, some more singing with Bobby McFerrin ..... brilliant! 

Look Up, Look Down for a Different View of the World - part 2

In my last blog post I wrote about how holidays help us to notice our surroundings more and that the unfamiliar sights such as beautiful views, sunsets and different flora and fauna present us with feelings of awe and wonder that are often missing from our daily routine. 

Although we use the words 'awesome' and 'wonderful' often as we speak, awe and wonder in their truest sense are more rarely experienced. To me the word 'awe' brings to mind things on a grand, majestic scale. Things that make my jaw drop open, things I cannot begin to understand and am content not to even try to, a deep respect for the power of whatever it is I am looking at. So often these things are connected with the natural world - watching a storm, standing at the top of a mountain, seeing pictures of a nebula, super-nova or other cosmic events. 

The word 'wonder' seems to me to be a softer word - there is less jaw-drop and more contented smile, less of the slight frisson of fear of power and more heartfelt warmth. Think holding a newborn baby, seeing baby birds take their first flight or watching a sunset.

Look out for these occurrences of awe and wonder in your life. They are there, alongside the daily routine, if we choose to see them. I'm in awe of the many physical feats of endurance at the Olympics at the moment, and I'm sure I'll experience it again when I watch the determination of the athletes at the Paralympics next month, and I'll experience wonder the very next time I step into my garden and pick some flowers. Where will you find awe and wonder waiting for you?

Continuing my series of doing things I've never done before in my 50th year...

52 @ 50 no. 8 - Whale Watching

I've always wanted to do this! I have an early memory of standing under the skeleton and model of the blue whale in the Natural History museum and wanting to see a real one, and on my recent trip I was able to fulfill this wish.

Monterey in California is the perfect place to see whales. Close to the shore the sea bed drops away to form a canyon deeper than the Grand Canyon. It's nutrient-rich waters are teeming with krill which in turn support many types of whale as they migrate along the coast. 

Our boat trip lasted for two and a half hours and, although the cloudy weather made for a smoother passage, it was really cold despite our extra layers of warm clothes. Our discomfort was worth it when, about half an hour out to sea our guide pointed out our first whale. Initially spotted by it's blow - the spout of air and water vapour that is expelled through the blowhole as the whale reaches the surface - this is shortly followed by a view of the fin as the whale starts to dive down again. Blue whales have a tiny fin and do not lift their tail (fluke) out of the water as they dive. Therefore, you can't actually see much of them above the surface but, when they come close to the boat, you can get a sense of just how enormous they are. The humpback whales lift their tail as they dive back down and although I didn't take many photos I did manage to get this one:

Woo hoo! It was awesome! Really, it was!

52 @ 50 no. 9 - Hiking in Yosemite - Face to Face with Awe and Wonder

I bought a magazine to read on the plane on the way to the US. It's not your usual WHSmith magazine - it's an independent publication that I found in a shop in Covent Garden. Its colourful cover and its name, Flow, caught my eye as I'm attracted to anything to do with the concept of 'flow' - how life travels along, sometimes smoothly and at an even pace and sometimes tumultuously and over the rocks. The first article I read was entitled 24 Hours of Nature and it was about going on a Muir Trek in the Netherlands. Apparently a 'Muir Trek' is a day of wandering through nature, from sunrise to sundown, with no plan, no telephone and no watch.

This paragraph from the article explains its origins:

John Muir (1838-1914) was a Scottish-born American naturalist, writer and environmentalist. He walked alone through the great outdoors, driven by enormous curiosity. He didn't think twice about going into the woods, especially in storms with thunder and lightning, and watching the forces of nature from the top of a tree. Muir also loved small patches of nature, like his backyard, and he was convinced that a person could find peace and inspiration in nature. He was one of the first to actively plead for preservation of the natural areas in the American wilderness. His letters, books and essays about nature are read by an international audience of millions.

He wrote:

"As long as I live, I'll hear waterfalls and birds and winds sing. I'll interpret the rocks, learn the language of flood, storms and avalanche. I'll acquaint myself with the glaciers and wild gardens, and get as near the heart of the world as I can."

Synchronicity was in play when we arrived at Yosemite National Park and found that the John Muir Trail (200+ miles of wilderness trek ending at Mt Whitney, the US's highest peak) starts right there. 

Our visit to Yosemite was, indeed, awesome. Huge granite cliffs rise from the valley floor, and waterfalls drop back down again. Lush meadows in the valley and easy trails make a good place to start exploring the area before hiking up the many steeper paths to one of the viewpoints which offer glorious panoramas. From Sentinel Rock, at 2,145m (7,038ft) you have a 360 degree, truly awesome view. It's a great place to do a headstand!!

The excitement of seeing a bobcat calmly trotting past our cabin, and a deer with twin fawns who visited to graze in the morning and the evening, added to the sense of wonder I felt in this place and I would love to return there one day to explore it further.

Upside down on top of the world

Hiking the trail

Evening visitors

Mountain warriors

Tree with a tree

Where in the world are you visiting this summer? If you get a chance when you do your yoga practice on holiday, please take a photo and send it to me to share and inspire others to practice wherever they are. Mat or no mat, yoga kit or no yoga kit, the practice is still the same and so are the benefits to mind, body and spirit. 

Jacqui, steady as a rock in Warrior 2 pose

When we do our yoga we are taking care of ourselves in many ways. But self-care goes further than committing to a regular yoga practice. We all know that our lifestyle choices, such as the food we eat, what we drink, how much sleep we get, etc., play a part in how healthy we are now and will be in the future. At the forefront of new research is the health of the gut, and pro-biotic foods which help to increase the good bacteria in the gut such as saurkraut, kombucha and kefir are becoming more widely available.

This article from the Guardian makes for interesting reading and offers some new views about familiar illnesses and weight gain. It's definitely food for thought....

Is Your Gut Making You Sick?

by Ann Robinson via The Guardian

A gut full of diverse microbes – bacteria, viruses and fungi – is essential for a healthy mind and body. And evidence is growing that our modern diet, overuse of antibiotics and obsession with cleanliness are damaging the diversity of microbes that live in our guts, contributing to a range of conditions including depression, multiple sclerosis, obesity and rheumatoid arthritis.

Microbes live in our guts, bodily fluids, cavities and skin. For every one of our human cells, there’s at least one of them. In an average adult, they weigh in at 1-2kg; similar to our brain. Collectively, they’re called the human microbiota and their genes are the microbiome. Only a few microbes cause disease; most are beneficial and live in peaceful symbiotic coexistence in and on our bodies. We need them and they need us. And if our microbes aren’t healthy, neither are we.

Microbiome and the diet

A healthy microbiome protects against obesity, allergies and diseases as bacteria break down food in the colon, providing energy for themselves and useful byproducts for us. These byproducts are essential components of chemicals that affect mood, appetite, metabolism, inflammation and the immune system. Professor Tim Spector of King’s College London says that variations in the gut microbiome explain, in large part, why our kids are getting fatter and why some individuals gain more weight than others on the same diet. There is no good evidence that we consume more calories or do much less than previous generations, yet people around the world are getting fatter, and Spector says that, while genetics play a part, so does the diversity and types of microbes in the gut.

The gut microbiome is mostly influenced by diet and environment. Babies get their first exposure to bacteria that colonise their guts as they travel down the birth canal. Babies born by caesarean section, as at least a quarter are in the UK, appear to be more prone to obesity. Spector explains that a good diet is a diverse one, with a range of fibre and vegetables including artichokes, leeks, onions and garlic. Polyphenols, found in foods including nuts, seeds, coffee, dark chocolate, red wine, olive oil and berries, are used by microbes as an energy source, with beneficial effects on human immune cells. Foods that nourish the microbiome are called prebiotics, and foods that contain the actual microbes, such as yoghurt and fermented milk called kefir, are called probiotics. Fermented foods, such as sauerkraut, kimchi and miso, are combinations of probiotics and prebiotics, known as synbiotics.

Inflammatory arthritis

An international consortium of scientists is studying faecal samples from people with inflammatory arthritis, such as rheumatoid arthritis. Bacterial groups that seem to be increased can be isolated and introduced to rodents, triggering the development of arthritis in previously healthy animals. Professor Michael Dustin of the University of Oxford says that the risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis is associated with genetic predisposition and environmental factors. “But it’s much easier to modify your microbiota than change your genes,” he says. Tests for rheumatoid arthritis can prove positive several years before symptoms appear, so there’s a window of opportunity to try to stave off the onset of the condition. Using that time to establish a more protective microbiota is one approach being studied. Dustin says that we still don’t know whether dietary changes are enough or whether more radical procedures (such as faecal transplants) are necessary.

Diarrhoea

Changes in the gut microbiome can be very dangerous; people treated with prolonged courses of antibiotics that kill a wide spectrum of bacteria can develop life-threatening diarrhoea due to an overgrowth of Clostridium difficile. Faecal transplants (infusions of donor faeces down a nasal tube or up the rectum into the gut) are used to treat these extremely unwell patients, proving that disruption of the gut microbiome can cause serious illness and restoring it to normal can cure the problem.

Multiple sclerosis

About 100,000 people in the UK live with multiple sclerosis (MS), a neurological condition that can cause problems with vision, balance, sensation and movement. Researchers have found specific changes in the microbiome of people with MS that appear to be linked to changes in their immune function. And drug treatment of MS has also been shown to impact on the gut microbiome. Dr David Schley of the MS Society says: “The link between MS and the bacteria living in our intestines is an exciting area of research. Recent studies in mice have indicated that intestinal microbes could influence symptoms. While this early evidence is intriguing, we need to learn more before we can make recommendations over whether people with MS should make changes to their lifestyle or diet.”

Depression

According to the World Health Organisation, depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide. So, there is a lot of interest in the role of the gut microbiome in preventing and treating it. Professor John Cryan of University College Cork says: “We now know that good brain health depends on good gut health. The gut microbiome affects every aspect of brain functioning and human behaviour.” Studies have shown that rats with high levels of bifidobacteria in the gut withstand psychological stress better than those with low levels. And it appears that humans do, too; recent human studies from the Cork group in healthy volunteers show increased brain activity (measured by EEG) and reduced levels of stress (measured by rating scales of anxiety and chemicals in the blood, such as cortisol, that rise in response to stress) when people are given demanding tasks to perform.

“We know that the more diverse your microbiome, the less likely you are to be frail or have cognitive impairment. And a diverse diet is what drives a diverse microbiome,” says Cryan. Microbes from the guts of depressed people have been fed to healthy rats, which then develop depression and anxiety-like behaviours. Other healthy rats, fed microbes from the guts of people without depression, remain well.

“It’s an exciting area but we need to find out just how gut bacteria send signals to the brain,” says Cryan. “There’s no downside to recommending a diverse Mediterranean-style diet that includes lots of fibre and cuts down on emulsifiers, processed foods and artificial sweeteners.” Probiotics sold commercially are largely unregulated, are of unknown effectiveness and may not reach the colon alive. “We can’t even be sure a lot of them get past the stomach acid,” he says. But Cryan thinks that within the next five years we will learn a lot more about which specific bacteria are important and we will be able to test our personal microbiota and supplement deficiencies. “It’ll become like getting your cholesterol checked,” he predicts.

This week's recipe... Watercress Soup

This soup (from Jamie Oliver) is so easy and very healthy too - it is rich in Vitamin C, Calcium, Iron and Folic Acid.  It's like a hot green juice! Here's the link to some nutritional information if you'd like to know more about the benefits of watercress.

You will need:

2 potatoes
2 onions
2 cloves of garlic
a little olive oil
400ml stock (I use Marigold Vegetable Bouillon available at most large supermarkets)
3 bunches of watercress

And here's how to make it:

• Peel and chop the potatoes into chunks. 
• Chop the onion and garlic and fry them all gently in the olive oil in a large saucepan until the onions are translucent.
• Add the stock and simmer until the potatoes are soft (about 15 mins).
• Chop the watercress, removing any really large stems. Add to the saucepan and simmer gently for another 3 or 4 minutes.
• When cool enough to do so, blend the soup in a liquidiser ( I use my Nutribullet smoothie-maker which does a brilliant job on blending soups).
• Add back to the saucepan to reheat gently for a couple of minutes.
• Serve with a swirl of Greek yoghurt or creme fraiche.

The recipe says it serves 2-3 but I needed it to feed 4. It makes a thick soup so I diluted it with more water to thin it a little and make it go further - it worked just fine.

And finally....a book recommendation

Uplifted by my time hiking in the mountains, I dug out my copy of Wild by Cheryl Strayed and started reading it again for the second time. Its Cheryl's story about losing everything, and making an impulsive decision to hike 1100 miles through California and Oregon on her own. The book cover says "Strayed's account captures the agonies - both physical and mental - of her incredible journey; how it maddened and terrified her; and how, ultimately, it healed her. Wild is a brutal memoir of survival, grief and redemption - a searing portrayal of life at its lowest ebb and at its highest tide."  If you're looking for something to read this summer I recommend it.

ps. did I mention I loved the sea otters? Here's a cute picture - not one I took but sharing anyway.....