A weekend of beautiful Herm

What a wonderful weekend! Completely by luck, E and I were camping on Herm and so were able to enjoy what could very well have been the final day of the summer sunshine!!

We went over on the ferry on Friday tea time and my flipflop broke on the boat so it was barefoot walking up to the campsite, with its fabulous, fabulous views towards Alderney and the English Channel. Needless to say we chose what we felt was the best spot in the field with all those fantastic views!


I borrowed E's huge crocs that evening and felt like bit of a clown as we wandered down to the Mermaid and were surprised at the number of people frequenting the place, what with the evening boat from Guernsey full of work parties. It was rather good fun, sitting and watching everybody.



The walk back up the hill was somehow easier in the dark, probably because I was completely blown away by the stars above, and when we reached the top and started walking the path to the campsite, I was doubly blown away by the incredible rising moon. Wow, this is what camping is all about. Completely back to nature again. It was even more superb when I woke in the middle of the night and went outside to have a look. Magical evening skies.

Saturday dawned cloudy but the sun soon shone through and that was it for the rest of the day, bright summer sunshine, hoorah, finally!!!! After a potter around the shops so I could invest in some new flipflops (!), and a spot of breakfast, we headed straight to Belvoir Bay, which was already hotting up. E wisely hired an umbrella and - much to my amusement - a deckchair too. So that was us sorted for the rest of the day.


Belvoir Bay is one of the most lovely beaches in the world - the sand is always so light, full of broken shells, and the sea is always so clear and inviting, albeit often a little cold. However today, the sea was a welcome relief and I love the fact that due to the gradient of the beach, even when it is low tide, you don't have to walk too far to get in! I managed a total of 5 swims, which is pretty good, even by my standard!!

E left me on the beach early afternoon to go and meet his Mum who was joining us for the night, so I carried on reading my book and sunning myself until I started to get a litte restless of the sun, so I practiced a little Yoga in the shade of the corner of the beach, where no one else could really see me. Lovely to practice on the beach like this.


That evening we went and sat under the hall at the harbour and enjoyed the warmth of the evening sun and views of Guernsey and Jethou, before joining the crowds at the Mermaid who were enjoying a spot of line dancing - rather random and far too noisy and busy fr us in the courtyard but looked fun for everyone all the same!!



Sunday dawned overcast and while it felt warm the sun never really shone through. We managed a walk to Shell beach and past one of the old tombs, there are quite a few on the Island, steeped as it is in such history. There are also tons of blackberries out already, another week and they will all be ready to pick. We managed another swim too and I have to say that this may have been my favourite swim of the year - high tide at belvoir, clear seas, overcast and not very many people on the beach, I don't know why, but I found it blissful.


We returned to Guernsey that afternoon and had great fun later that day celebrating my friend, Sarah's birthday in her beautiful garden and house in Le Bigards, a lovely spot in the Forest, a community all of its own(thank you Sarah and Joseph, really enjoyed the celebrations!).


These past few days I can't help but noticing that Autumn has arrived early again - or is it simply that the seasons have changed and the school calendar has not adjusted yet! There is just that smell in the air and the berries are everywhere and the weather is all over the place as the shift occurs...

The sea feels rather warm however!

xxx

The calmness of the full moon!!

The energy of the full moon had well and truly gotten to me by Friday so there was only one thing for it - female company and sparkles!

I met my lovely friend Nikki at Hojos and we sat and chatted in front of the high tide and the rising moon, the sun setting over the other side of the Island and providing a lovely glowing light, enjoying the excited energy of a Friday when everyone has finished work and is looking forward to the weekend ahead. Bliss. We ended up in the Fermain Tavern listening to some great music, it is brilliant that we have the opportunity to listen to and watch so much live music in Guernsey these days. I was home in bed by 11pm, i am in awe of those I know stayed up dancing until sunrise the next day:-)

So Saturday was a slow start for me. It was a busy week last week, on Wednesday i taught 5 hours of Yoga on a summer school to children ranging in age from 7 to 18, followed by an hour and a half adults class in the evening, so that is a lot of teaching and practicing in one day, and I felt it the rest of the week! I have only recently discovered that I nver had glandualr fever last year, more so adrenal fatigue, which is the reason I have been sick on and off this year.

I find it rather ironic that I managed to get sick from teaching too much Yoga and chanelling too much Reiki, but I guess it is a process some of us have to go through. Until this "wake-up" call, I am not sure it would have mattered what i was doing, my learned tendency has always been to work to an extreme regardless of what I am doing. So now, of course, my body has my full attention. It is, of course, all about balance, and for me, well for all of us, hormonal balance...which leads to chakra balancing, which leads to feeling wholesome and well in all aspects of our lives, mental, emotional, physical and indeed spiritual.

It never ceases to amaze me, how hormones play such an incredibly crucial role in how we feel, really brings us back to our roots of why we feel the way we feel, of why we are sick or miserable or depressed or anxious, or can't sleep, or can't lose weight or can't get pregnant etc etc. And yet how little attention we pay to them until something start to go wrong! Oh well, we live and learn. And I am a great believer that things happen for a reason, that everything is part of a process, be that self discovery, healing, embracing our capacity to love in its limitless manner, or just because it is something we are here to learn.

So anyhow, this whole adrenal exhaustion thing reminds me constantly if I am overdoing things and in many ways it has been a blessing in disguise because it has opened up so many new doors and ways of being to me. I wouldn't have discovered gardening or the joy of sea swimming and cooking, and I wouldn't have re-discovered my passion for reading and just being. And now I don't feel guilty for not rushing around like an idiot each day, constantly chasing my tale and working, working, working.



So Saturday. E and I went down to Soldiers Bay, which you are not really meant to do as the steps are unstable, which is such a shame as it is a lovely little bay. We went swimming, the weather was pants, autumn seems to have appeared a little easlier than normal, just as well the sea is so warm, is a joy to swim. We then went and enjoyed a hot drink and chatter at hojos, my new found favourite place on account of the fact you can sit outside, the staff are lovely and they have soya milk!!

We then pottered around a few gardening centres, such wonderful places, would be perfect to teach Yoga in such an environment, in fact I often consider teaching in my parent's greenhouse, what with all that positive and calm vibrational energy from all the much loved plants and trees, such a healing and peaceful environment but there is the health and safety issue of all the glass everywhere!!

Anyhow I bought E a tree. It really needs to be planted and has started dying so they had marked down the price and it really needed to be saved. And we got some lovely large daisies too, which will brighten the garden and remind me of our pottering day together. I could have bought so much, I juts love the beauty and the colour of all those flowers and plants.

We spent the afternoon watching a rather depressing and yet incredibly interesting film by Micheal Leigh, called "Another Year", and well worth a watch if you get the chance. Not so, perhaps, the really violent film that E chose for us to watch in the evening called London Boulevard. Oh my gosh, I am far too sensitive for that kind of viewing and it didn't make for a particularly restful night's sleep!!!



Anyhow the skies last night were incredible. Sadly no view of the full moon, but certainly a stunning sunset from up here in St Andrews. Wow. I put my crystals in the garden regardless, and they are shining brightly today, infused with the moon's wonderful energy. And actually I found the full moon was a rather calm and peaceful one for a change. Not so the week leading up to it, but when it arrived, it felt like calm descended again. Like so many other women, I am guessing those in touch with the cycle of the moon and nature, and certainly those with a regular Yoga practice, will be full moon girls too, so a calmness will have descended on every level with the hormones letting go!!!

Phew.

So here's to a continued calming waning moon, and maybe some sunshine to see us through the rest of August.

xxx

Bring on the full moon!

Wow, what a rollercoaster of a week as he stock markets fell and the rioters took to the UK streets.

I really do believe that the Universe has been trying to get our attention for some time but we keep pretending not to hear and not to notice. Not all of us of course. There is an increasing wave of people coming "back to earth", and quite literally...working with the earth, growing their own vegetables, buying local produce and second hand goods, recycling, helping to create a sense of community, considering their carbon footprint, embracing holistic practices,and adjusting to a potential life without such a disposable income.

So the Universe keeps reminding us...natural disasters, stock market crashes...a paradigm shift in how we are living, back to basics, back to where we came from, back to the time wqhen a house was a home and a way to shelter, not just an investment to make us some money, and a time when vegetables tasted like vegetables and milk came from happy cows who weren't pumped full of hormones and antibiotics...and so the list goes on.

And people get angry because the world is changing...

So it is another powerful full moon tomorrow - have a google search, there is lots written about it out there. Seems we need to hang on tight for a while longer...and I for can't wait for the winds to blow in a lighter, calmer and clearer way of being.

Peaceful weekend.

xx

Peace and harmony, a waxing moon and the world in disarray

With my partner away in the UK, I treated myself to a wonderfully quiet and peaceful weekend doing my own thing.

I read somewhere recently about how important it is for people in relationships to have time apart from one another so that they have time to miss each other and to appreciate each other a little bit more.

I believe this is true, but I also believe everyone can benefit from spending a little time on their own...but I do appreciate that this is not easy for everyone, some people are so used to having other people around them that the idea of spending a day, let alone an evening and indeed a night in a house on their own is really rather threatening.

Still I loved the experience - a whole weekend filled with lots of silence and pottering, self practice, administration, swimming in the sea and gardening. I manaed to mow the lawn at home all on my own and weed the front and back garden and even clear up the pigsty, which I love, it just has such a cool energy.



On a not-so-silent note I did manage to fit in a trip to the Rocquaine Regatta to watch the Space Pirates of Rocquaine, who are absolutely great - Lisa's never ending energy is amazing. Love it. Thank you for the music with the sun setting behind us, Guernsey is so magical at times.

We worked hard at my folks' place on Sunday afternoon tidying up the veggie patch, lots of weeding and rotivating, picking and sorting the crops. It is sad really that we have now pulled up the rest of the beetroot and peas and dug up the rest of our summer potatoes for another season. Mind you I shouldn't complain, we still have lots of lovely beans and aubergines, tomatoes, courgettes, sprouts (yes, summer sprouts, who would have thought?!) and blackberries.

Talking of which, has anyone else noticed how early the blackberries have come through this year, and how you can occasionally smell autumn in the air, and how some of the trees are already starting to lose their leaves...



In fact everything is rather up in the air and blowing all over the place at the moment. Not only is it literally really windy out there but the economic crisis has sent stock markets into a state of turmoil and there are riots all over the UK, and
Harvard-trained academic Lobsang Sangay has been sworn in as the Tibetan government-in-exiles' new political chief, assuming the political role of the Dalai Lama who, at 76, remains the exiles' spiritual leader. if I hadn't seen and heard all this with my own eyes and ears on the news then I would think it is all a bit of a joke.

Seems like we are building up to a potentially interesting full moon this weekend especially if you have a read of this link http://realastrologers.com/weekly-forecast-august-8-mars-square-uranus-opposite-pluto?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Realastrologerscom+%28realastrologers.com%29.



It is a waxing moon at the moment, which means it is growing larger in the sky, moving from a narrow crescent just after the new moon towards the full moon.
The waxing moon grows from right to left and is called the 'right-hand moon' - the crescent is like the curve between the right-hand's index finger and thumb. Full of useful information huh!!

There is no denying the incredible influence the moon has over us and I have read that apparently the two weeks that the moon is waxing is the best time for trying to draw things to you, encourage growth, start new things or to “magnify” certain things in your life (want your hair to grow faster? then trim it during waxing moon. Want to increase your finances? Then focus your energies on improving finances during waxing moon)

When the moon is waxing, we feel more positive, more energized, more outgoing.

Well whether it is the effect of a good and long overdue chat with my Reiki Master the other day, receiving the results of a hormone test, which has thrown so much light onto why I have felt like I have felt for the last 18 months, spending the weekend being quiet with myself or spending lots of time working with the earth, I am certainly feeling very focused, positive and energised than I have felt for a while.

Happy waxing days ahead, go manifest more of what you want, and be careful not to give too much energy to what you don't want.
xx

Sunrise, sunrise!

I was awake super early yesterday so I could take my beloved to the airport for the red eye - the first flight out of Guernsey at 7am. Usually I avoid such an experience, particularly in winter when it is dark and cold outside, but I must admit it was a little bit of a blessing in disguise this time as I got to see sunrise!!

I was on BBC South West on Thursday night too, from 10.30pm to just before midnight, so a late bed and an early start on Friday, but I feel strangely invigorated by it all. The radio show was fab, it was with JKT who is just wonderful, truly has the listeners engaged. Thank you Jen, I really enjoyed being able to talk about Yoga nd energy an all things spiritual with you.

I made the most of the brief sunshine yesterday afternoon and headed down to Saints Bay for a lovely swim backwards and forward across the bay, lovely, lovely, lovely - not only some exercise but also a much needed opportunity to cleanse one's aura after being sat in an office in front of a computer for a few hours surrounded by all that electrical energy; it kind of brings you down to earth and helps one to move from one state of being to another.

I love the fact you can "neti" too. This is one of the 6 "Shatkarmas", or cleansing techniques of the Hatha Yoga system an simply means taking water in and out of the nostrils to cleanse the nostrils and the sinuses. It is a technique renowned for preventing colds and helping with allergies. You can use a pot to help to pour water into one nostril and than allow it to exit from the other nostril and i have done this quite a bit in the past, but more lately I find that swimming in the sea and taking sea water in and out through the nose is much the same thing - I used to do this a lot when surfing without even realising I was cleansing myself in the process!

Anyhow, time to go practice...

xx

Happy New Moon

Happy New Moon and what an exciting one too...

Found this article that says much more about it...

http://astrology.about.com/od/themoon/qt/NewMoonLeo.htm

Phew it is hot and humid over here today, and high tide not until the evening, poor cats are struggling, thoe fur coats are awfully warm!

Time to go picking...

xx

Sun, sea, swimming, summer is here!

What an incredible, incredible weekend we have experienced here in Guernsey - well I guess it is subjective, but I have definitely had an incredible weekend.

It is not every weekend that the weather is so bright, sunny and warm, and the tides so high in the morning and evening, making for a wonderful opportunity to truly enjoy Guernsey at its best and get down to the beach!

I am greenhouse and cat sitting at the moment so am based down on the West coast, which I absolutely love because you can hear and smell the sea from the house and although it is only an 8 minute drive from where I currently live in the middle of the Island, I do feel like I am not only getting away from it all, but also coming "home"!!

Saturday morning was spent in the greenhouse, I just lost all track of time and while it was stupidly hot - I can totally understand why you hear of ladies wearing their bikinis when they used to work in the greenhouses in the height of the horticultural industry - I just lost all track of time. My grandfather was a tomato grower and my uncle a rose grower and now my parents grow, so I guess growing is in the blood somehow. Regardless, I got right into it and ended up weeding, picking and watering.

In fact the picking is actually the most time consuming part at the moment as there is simply so much to pick! The Mirabelle, nectarine and plum trees are laden with fruit, all ripening at the same time, and the runner beans are going slightly mad and there is tons of curly kale and even the peas, aubergines, courgettes and tomatoes are making a go of it too! So I ended up putting a lot of it in the stall at the bottom of the drive for general sale.



I have to say it is great around here at Vazon and especially along our road as you can buy all manner of organic vegetables and of course my Mum's fruit, so you don't really need to buy any fruits or vegetables from the shop at the moment, which is brilliant. Not only that but it is fresh here too, and full of all that wondering prana so it makes you feel so much better.



I was reminded about this the other day while reading one of Thich Nhat Hanh's books about anger and the Buddhist wisdom of cooling the flames. He is an incredible man and I love how he writes about "we are what we eat"...

"Eating is an aspect of civilisation. The way we grow our food, the kind of food we eat, and the way we eat it has much to do with civilisation because choices we make can bring about peace and relieve suffering...the food that we eat can play a very important role in our anger. Our food may contain anger. When we eat the flesh of an animal with mad cow disease, anger is there in the meat. But we must also look at the other kinds of food that we eat. When we eat an egg or a chicken, we know that the egg or the chicken can also contain a lot of anger. We are eating anger, and therefore we express anger...

...So be aware. Be careful what you eat. If you eat anger, you will become and express anger. If you eat despair, you will express despair. If you eat frustration, you will express frustration. We have to eat happy eggs from happy chickens. We have to drink milk that does not come from angry cows. We should drink organic milk that comes from cows that are raised naturally. We have to make an effort to support farmers to raise these animals in a more humane way. We also have to buy vegetables that are grown organically. It is more expensive, but to compensate, we can eat less. We can learn to eat less".

And it is so true. Not only should we consider where our food comes from, but how it has been treated. Plus of course how it is cooked. This is what i love about the whole Hari Krishna set-up, the whole concept of preparing food with love, of chanting while preparing food to raise the energy within the preparer and indeed the room and in fact imbuing it with the energy of love so that you eat that energy and feel better as a result.

Everything we eat has some form of vibration to it and the fresher the higher the vibration and the more healing and better for us. This is one of the reasons I love eating from the tree or plant, it doesn't get any fresher or more energised than that and the fact that my Mum and Dad grow organically and with love - my Mum talks to her plants and even uses Reiki on them sometimes too - means that they are so much tastier than anything else I have ever tasted! Ok so I am biased, but come and try some for yourself - Mum even sells them really cheaply too, it’s her bit for increased peace in the world!!!!

The afternoon was spent practicing Yoga in the garden and helping E with some chores before going down to Vazon for an hour at tea time to enjoy sitting in the sunshine under the wall and swimming in the sea. I just love it down there when the sun is shining and the tide is rising and everyone seems so happy!! In the evening we cycled all the way along the West coast cycle paths from Vazon to L'Ancresse to join a friend's 40th birthday celebrations.

If you live on, or visit Guernsey, then I can highly recommend this bike ride, in the early evening when the sun is going down and the tide is high. My gosh, it is stunning. It is times like this that I am not only o happy to be alive, but so happy to be living in Guernsey. I can't think of any other place in the world I have travelled where I would rather be on days like this. Thank you angels, I guess my karma can't be so bad to have been born here (I doubt I will be saying that in the middle of winter however!!).

Today has been pretty cool too. After watering the garden, E and I managed a quick dip at Vazon before catching the boat to Herm to meet E's Mum who had been playing the organ in the lovely little church over there. She treated us to lunch in the sun at the Ship - thank you V - before I topped up my crystal collection in the shop over there (this is the cheapest place I have ever come across to buy crystals and the shop next door has some wonderful crystal jewellery and angel related paraphernalia) before we went for a walk.



We stopped in at the church on our way to the beach. It is really rather wonderful in there. I seem to think it has been around since the 13th century (although don’t quote me on that) and if you put your hands to the stones inside you can certainly feel the heightened energy in that room. I love doing this, not only can it can tell you a lot about a place but I have no doubt that if the room has a high vibration and you put your hands to it, then you receive a healing in the process. There are some wonderful old and small and incredibly powerful churches out there.



Anyhow the church in Herm has these wonderful flowers growing outside and just has this really peaceful feel to it - I would love to re-create this in my own garden one day, it is the kind of place where you feel you could sit and meditate and just feel at peace somehow. Perfect for a spiritual retreat centre.

We sat down at Belvoir Bay, which looked magical of course as the sea is always so clear and bright and we went for a swim and were amazed to find that it didn't feel as cold as usual - well either that or we have just become immune to it after swimming on the South coast of Guernsey so much!! We walked back along the spine of the Island, past the cows and down overlooking Jethou, before catching the boatback to Guernsey. Lovely.

Back at home we decided to make the most of the sunshine and put together a picnic/bbq and the 3 of us headed down to Port Soif and set up camp with the sun dropping and the tide rising, bliss! What is so wonderful is the fact that so many other people are doing the same thing, all the way along the coast, people enjoying bbqs, picnics and fish and chips on the beach, and swimming too, so many people swimming and in fact I bumped into a lady who comes to Yoga classes and she went swimming 6 times in the sea today!!!

So while the bbq was heating, E and I went for our third swim of the day and probably the warmest too, with the sea covering the warm sands, plus the bay is like a horseshoe and I am sure this traps the heat somehow. Regardless, it is interesting to swim at all these different places on the Island and notice such a difference in the sea temperature.

After dinner V dropped us at the house in L'Ancresse where we had left the bikes the night before (new moon tomorrow mean it was really dark by the time we were ready to leave and I didn't fancy 30 minutes on a bike not being able to see properly even with bike lights) so we got to enjoy the high tide and the beautiful views a little more as we cycled back home to Vazon - there is some lovely bright purple heather on the bank at Albecq, everyone needs a little lucky heather!

So all in all a stunning weekend and I am looking forward to finishing work tomorrow and getting back to the beach, this is certainly a time to make the most of each moment and all those summer activities!

With gratitude and love.

xxxx

Sunny, happy, summer days with love

Wow what an incredible few days of glorious sunshine we have been experiencing here on Guernsey, it seems that summer has finally arrived, and lucky me has been able to make the most of it!

Yes I have to admit that whilst I may have been struggling at the beginning of the week with the whole concept of working in an office, I have reflected and since realised that actually it is what you make it, and as soon as I let go of the thought that working in an office equals a loss of freedom and that whole scary soul-less existence of times long past (thankfully), I have started to appreciate the benefits of contract part-time working, which means I can walk away when the hours are done.

On Thursday I met my spirit cousin Yo, who is over from Devon for the week. We had met earlier in the week for swim in the sea, and while I was keen to take her to Petit Bot with me, she wisely suggested we go somewhere different and so we ended up at Saints Bay and what an absolute joy!

So while Petit Bot was rammed with people, and probably most of the other main beaches on Guernsey too, Saints was refreshingly quiet with only a handful of people making the most of this beautiful bay. And with the tide rising, Yo and I enjoyed a lovely swim backwards and forwards across the Bay, chatting in the process and trying to make sense of the warm and cold patches everywhere!

After a few hours,I dropped Yo off at her brother's house and carried on down to Vazon on the West coast to meet one of my lovely angel friend's, Christine, and her beautiful daughter Jasmine, for another swim. Well, I have to say I have not seen Vazon that busy for some time, it was 4.30pm by the time I got there and the tide was on its way up so people were pushed higher up the beach and onto the pebbles under the wall, so I found a spot and settled on my rug and was amazed how hot the sun still felt and by the number of people still turning up at the beach to meet family and to cool off with a swim.

Christine and I went for a lovely swim across the bay, yet more chatting in the process, before settling back on my spot under the wall to dry off with Jasmine in the warm sun. An hour later and we were still sitting there and Jasmine was inviting me to join the two of them for a spontaneous supper at Crabby Jack's over the road.



I found myself declining the invite on the basis that while E was out for the night I still needed to go home and water the garden and prepare food and catch up on emails etc, and then I caught myself...this day is never going to come again...the sun is shining, it is high tide, I am with a really good friend and her daughter, I have nowhere I need to be and nothing I really need to do and they have asked me to join them for supper at a restaurant with views over the beach. If there was ever a moment to go with the flow then this was it!!

So I went with the flow and enjoyed a lovely supper with Christine and Jasmine with lots of chatter about 2012...more about that another time...before going home and enjoying the beautifully warm, calm and peaceful energy of the garden as the sun was setting in the distance. Really, these are the best evenings.

I guess this kind of set me up for a joyful start today - Friday - knowing that it is not only the end of the working week for me, but the sun has been shining again!!

So after work - and what a jubilant day it was for everyone, it is incredible how different the energy is in the office on a Friday compared to a Monday - I dragged a hungover E to Saints Bay with me for a much needed lay on the beach and swim in the sea. Ahhh, there is nothing quite like getting down to the beach and switching off from everything.

We warmed ourselves in the sun commenting on the lack of people on the beach, which just seems so strange as it is such a beautiful bay and it used to be so popular that it even has its own kiosk and toilet, but these days I suspect people just find it too much of an effort to walk up and down the valley to access the beach - before swimming backwards and forwards across the bay. Bliss!!

Later in the afternoon I had a treatment, before moving down to my parents' house on the West coast to look after the cats while my parents are away for the weekend. I love driving down to Vazon when the sun is shining high and it is a Friday and I have the a whole evening without any commitments!!



So we decided to make the most of the wonderful combination of a Friday night, high tide and beautiful weather, by having a picnic on Vazon with E and his friend C. E and I managed another swim at high tide and I actually stayed in for 20 minutes enjoying the shore break and some body surfing, before warming myself with a cup of redbush tea and tucking into the picnic, yum!

We stayed for sunset, beautiful as ever, I just couldn't imagine wanting to be anywhere else in the world at the moment, we are just so lucky to have so much outstanding natural beauty just on our doorstep - this summer I honestly feel like I am discovering the joy of Guernsey for the first time, like I am seeing it through open eyes for a change...just goes to show what happens when we do open our eyes and go with the flow of things...

Happy swimming!!