I read that in Iceland you exchange books and then take them to bed (with chocolate) to read on Christmas Eve. I thought this sounded so cosy and wonderful that I resolved to extend the tradition by doing the very same for as long as possible over the Christmas period. Let’s just say that Christmas 2015 was pretty blissful and I probably ate my way through a kilogram of festive chocolate coins whilst turning the pages of various books.

My other Christmas tradition is equally ‘small child’ like and consists of spreading out my Christmas wares to admire. The image shown is actually from Christmas 2014 and pretty much set the tone for last year: wholefood cooking and yoga (although I concede I thought more of yoga than actually practiced), organic perfumery and unguents, jade prayer beads and ethical clothing. My single concession to a ‘grown up’ Christmas came in the form of a bottle of EFA oil. It’s turned into a Christmas tradition.

2015 Christmas goodies to be featured soon…

Yoga Saves the Day...

I don’t really use this blog as an emotional sounding board, but I was sorely tempted to mid-week. Too much travelling, too much work, too much stress. I decided to b-r-e-a-t-h-e through it. Lo and behold the benefits started pouring in. I made a statement a while back that I’m not a fan of blogs that ‘push’ products. However, my first benefit of the b-r-e-a-t-h-e policy was to stumble upon Saree which is a few doors down from Uhuru, the health shop on the Cowley Road in Oxford. Selling ethical/organic/fairly traded clothes, shoes, accessories and household kit, it’s a friendly gem of a shop. I have been searching for a pair of draping, soft yoga pants for ages, and I found them here. The next day I managed to pick up some kelp noodles in London’s Chinatown, and then the working week ended last night with a blissful John Stirk yoga workshop. Things are good here ...