After struggling with mental health issues for many years (indeed, my whole life) I have finally found myself in a position that I never thought I could be: Happy. I have started this blog because every single thing included here helped me. For me, this space is an outlet. It is a place I can document my successes, my lessons and my tools. It is a reminder of how far I have come and it is something that is mine. I would like it to be an environment where the mind, body and soul can be nourished and celebrated, because we all deserve that. Every single one of us. We all have our battles; let’s face them together.

Food

Changing the way I eat and my attitude to food was a huge step forward for me. I began to look at food as the way to fuel my body which sounds weird but it was not a view I had always taken. I also did some research (a book called The Psychobiotic Revolution was a huge eye-opener for me), undertook some trials and some errors and found a way of cooking and eating that made a huge difference to my mental health. I also found that it is not just the actual eating of delicious and healthy food that have helped me: it was the combination of actually cooking it, the creativity of creating recipes and (sometimes) even the washing up. It carves out a time slot for me to create, fuel my body, listen to music and (usually) dance in between stirring and chopping. In today’s food culture there’s so much shifting and changing, so much restricting and overthinking when it comes to food and while I think it’s good to have an awareness of what we are eating and its impact on the environment (for example), I think that the most important thing is that food nourishes both the mind and the body. The recipes I have put on here are full of vegetables and flavour but I hope that they will help you to find your creativity when it comes to cooking. Each recipe is just a base; feel free to add, change, substitute and recreate. Meat can be added to almost all of my recipes but they do also help to reduce your meat consumption if that’s what you would like to do (meatless Mondays have become quite popular). Overall, the food recipes I put on here are not setting out a particular diet, and I will try my best to include recipes that can work for all ways of eating. They will be yummy, comforting and spark a love of food. So, get into your kitchen, pull out those utensils, crank up your favourite music and enjoy the you time that cooking and eating give you.

Yoga

After undertaking my 200 hour yoga teacher training course, I have learnt about all of the yogic strings that connect to the mind, body and spirit. What I have learnt about the philosophical side, the history, the sanskrit, the prana, the breath, the sutras and the chants has deepened my yogic practice in a way that I didn’t think I would be open to. Yogic practice is thousands of years old and for some reason I find ancient wisdom a huge comfort in such a modern and suffocating society. It reduces the human body and mind back to a fundamental state that can transcend daily stresses and pressures. Some of you may find the things outside of the postures and physical practice too far-fetched and hippy dippy but that is absolutely fine: I hope to be able to write about yoga in ways that can help you develop a bespoke and personal practice that moves you closer towards having a happy body and mind.