Pick Me Up (Recipe): Super Easy To Make Ice Cacao Drink with NO SUGAR!

March 10, 2017September 29, 2022 by Dominique

A few weeks ago I went to this really cute cafe that was essentially a WALKING VIDEO AD for a wholesome lifestyle. By this I mean every single person that hung out there was clear-skinned, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. I was grabbing a coffee for my mum and I wanted something nice to drink for myself, but not coffee since I’ve been off that since my 40 day practice which was, gosh, ages ago!

Anyway, my beady eye spied the iced cacao drink on their menu and it turned out to taste exactly like Milo! I’m not going to lie, I have a soft spot for Milo where my childhood memories are. We don’t keep it in the house because we don’t keep sweets or snacks or any type of processed food. My Dad has a separate storage area for his snacks but that’s a different story. My Mum was always really strict about what I was allowed to eat when I was growing up and despite my Grandma’s best efforts to sneak junk food into me (like Swenson’s ice cream after ballet class!!!!!!!!!!) those habits are locked in. I’ll have the occasional sweet treat or fried food but I feel better when I’m eating nourishing foods. But MILO, yas, I remember the taste of Milo so when I had a sip of this cacao drink it blew my mind. BUT I was kind of weirded out by JUST HOW MUCH it tasted like Milo… how did it get to taste so sweet? Have you ever tried pure cacao? It’s BITTER. It does not tasteth like chocolate milk. Probably all those antioxidants in it. Methinks there was some form of sugar in it. I couldn’t tell from the menu. It’s like those chai lattes you get from some cafes. They’re made from a concentrate and have milk poured on top. So nice and easy to drink but I wasn’t going to regularly order something that was sweetened beyond my control.

Plus it cost a lot you guys! $5!!!

I did some mulling over and turns out, this is super easy to make and you can totally save your pennies. Buy me flowers to say thanks or something with the money you save haha.

And even though I didn’t use sugar or dairy, it kind of tastes like chocolate milk! Success!

Tip: This is a great go to if you’re trying to replace your coffee habits with something else. Just don’t go crazy and have 3 – 5 glasses a day ok! One a day is plenty!!

RECIPE

You’ll need:

Almond Milk – half a glass

Cacao Powder – 2 tablespoons

Honey – 1 tablespoon

Ice Cubes (unless you prefer a hot drink)

Boiling Water

*If it’s possible, use organic ingredients. Make sure the almond milk is UNSWEETENED, that’s kind of the whole point of doing this, right? If you don’t like to use honey, try maple syrup.

Method:

All you need to do is heap in the cacao powder into a heat proof glass with the honey. Once you add in a splash of boiling water and mix, you have your concentrate. Super easy! I don’t like to heat up honey but I make an exception in this case.

Top up with ice cubes, or if you want your drink to be hot then fill the glass up 3/4 with hot water – you’ll want to have warm almond milk to fill the glass the rest of the way up.

Pour almond milk over the ice and stir.

DONE!!! (Keep the change!)

P.S. I also like to add in supplements like magnesium oil. Since I’m drinking, right? Just do a quick scan of your supplements to see if they can be mixed beforehand, usually they just don’t mix well with dairy.

Anyway I hope you enjoyed that, if you tried it out, let me know what you think! x

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Now you might be refreshed enough that you feel ready for a yoga (only 10 minutes!) or a Pilates workout! xx

Nog: Vegan Egg Nog in less time than it takes to say Bah Humbug – A Christmas Miracle Recipe

December 24, 2016 by Dominique ♥ 2 Comments

A very cool comedian asked the audience for a show of hands, who was in their twenties. And then she said,”Yer all soft this generation. I could take an entire row of ya out just by feeding you eggs or sumthin’.”

I’ve got a few people in my household with allergies but 100% of us love egg nog at Christmas time. The math just won’t add up tho.

Christmas Eve is our busiest day production wise. Amongst all the cooking and baking today I was getting through with my mum, I was handed a recipe for dairy free egg nog by my dad. But it contained egg yolks, a no go for another person in my family. And you needed to do this thing with a saucepan and heat things up and oh gosh, I just wanted to throw things in a bottle, shake it a little and shove it in the fridge.

Which is kind of what I ended up doing and it was a success!!! You’ll want a blender but if you don’t have one just shake the mixture in a bottle to make it frothy.

I shall name it NOG.

Ready for it?

Here we go, VEGAN EGG NOG or NOG

Makes 1 litre ish

Ingredients

1 litre of dairy free milk, I used half almond milk and half coconut milk. UNSWEETENED

Splash of maple syrup

Cinnamon, ground

Nutmeg, ground

1 tsp vanilla extract, or 2 tsp if you like vanilla, I used 2 hehe

Method

Put all the above in a blender (or the bottle) and blitz until frothy. With the cinnamon and nutmeg just shake in as much as you like, you might like it more nutmeggy than cinnamoney or vice versa.

Pour into a container and store in fridge to chill.

When you want to serve, give it a shake (the spices tend to settle at the base) and you can add a dash more nutmeg, cinnamon or both on top.

TA-DAAAAAAAH!

Of course you can make it alcoholic if you wish, I’d suggest something like Frangelico maybe? (But I don’t think you really need it.)

Merry Christmas! x

Here’s me at four in the morning wielding saucepans with mascara under my eyes which is weird, I haven’t worn mascara for three days and I wash my face all the time.

Goddess Vibes x Drill Exercise: Be Kind and Stay Still = Strength.

June 21, 2016January 17, 2017 by Dominique

“perhaps just get more kind to yourself and those around you”

— apt words from my June horoscope

Once in a while I’ll stumble upon a horoscope, article, instagram and marvel at how perfectly these small happenings are timed to lessons and themes I am currently working on. For instance, the last few months have been really focused on the concept of kindness and softness. They’re NOT easy! It has taken so long for me to break down my need to never show softness and never backdown to really embrace how being soft can be a different kind of strength. Life isn’t just about how good a smackdown you can give or how feisty you can be. It’s terrifying and exhilarating to find that within all that being gentle, deep down there is a reservoir of true strength to withstand all outside forces as well as all the inner crazy. The best defence may be a good offence in sports but in life the best defence is inner strength.

Continuously working on the ability to stay perfectly gracefully still despite everything going on will build up your strength reserves mentally as well as physically. You’ll only get stronger this way and you’ll always feel centered, because your center is strong! Today’s drill is the perfect physical illustration of that wonderful kooky circular logic. You’re staying as still as you can, whilst working on strengthening your core and you won’t need to do a single crunch, hurray! It works for me and I hope it will for you too. Try it and let me know!

Enough chit-chat from me, let’s do this.

THE STAY STILL [~~Working title~~ I’m sticking with this – besides aren’t we over ‘labels’ already?]

Repeat this exercise 3 to 5 times, several times a week and you’ll definitely feel stronger physically and hopefully get closer to experiencing grace under pressure, even if it’s merely during the course of a yoga class. It will be worth it – eventually that grace will translate to beyond your physical class!

Start in a kneeling position
Place your hands either side of your knees
Lean your weight into your hands and press strongly into the ground as you exhale
Breathe your belly button in and up towards your spine
On your next exhalation squeeze your knees towards your chest
Hold as you breathe in and out for 5 rounds of breathing (something like the picture above)
Inhale and squeeze your knees in a little more then
Lower down on your next exhalation. (Finally!)
Advance this by squeezing one heel off the floor and hold.
Super advance this by squeezing both heels off the floor. You’re basically ready to levitate.

If it feels horrible for the front of your feet then you can start off kneeling with your toes tucked under. As you press up you will come high up onto your toes. When you’re stronger you can try again with your feet flat.

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A suggestion: We are all mirrors. What we see in ourselves, lack or abundance, is what we will see in others. So see with your heart and look for beauty, grace, kindness and magic. And leave it at that. #viberesponsibly

A post shared by Ｄｏｍｉｎｉｑｕｅ🍃🐚🌊🌙☀️✨🌺🌴 (@dominiquefrancesca) on Jun 7, 2016 at 7:08pm PDT

Tips

Your back will naturally round — go with that instinct.

Use your midsection to pull your knees into the curve of your body. Squeezing your inner thighs together will help activate your core just that extra more. As much of your weight is off the floor, not just dangling into the fronts of your feet.

Even though your back is rounded, don’t hunch your shoulders into your ears! And don’t scrunch your face! All the work is deep, deep down in your core. The rest of you is to resemble the surface of still water.

What it do?

I’m glad you asked. This will work your entire core as well as your ability to maintain your straight-arm strength. With your knees sucked in as close to your body as you can you’ll notice how hard your belly is working to keep that knees to chest connection going. The back gets a great stretch too.

Alternatives for wrist issues

Just do the same thing but laying on your back and imagine your pressing your hands into the ceiling and pushing it away. You’ll still get all the benefits and you’ll have a great time curling your body away from the floor. NOT EASY. You’ll know you’re doing it right because you’ll just know.

You can build up as you get stronger by doing the alternative in addition. Make the two versions part of your regular strength exercise.

Friday Feels Groovy: Picnics at Sunset and Soulful Tunes

June 17, 2016June 21, 2016 by Dominique

(Image from Tumblr)

It’s starting to rain over here (which I love) but at the same time I can’t help wondering:

Who would like to go sit on the beach at sunset eating gooey pizza out of the box and talk about the universe and our souls and magic and maybe not talk at all because

everything is so

perfect

?

Easy Recipe: I don’t even like noodles but I can’t stop eating these. Plus Chinese Vocab!

June 6, 2016June 15, 2016 by Dominique

“These are amazing. What did you put in here?” he mumbled through a mouthful.

“My childhood memories.“

There are certain things that you can’t get at Chinese restaurants. You gotta go to someone’s home, sit in their kitchen and watch as wheat noodles are boiled, drained, tossed in sesame oil and then stir fried with some simple vegetables.

THE BEST.

You gotta.

I don’t even like noodles! So go figure. Ok that is a huge generalisation – I like rice noodles, spaghetti and those glass noodles made of green beans. But when my mum cooks noodles this way, I can’t get enough.

超级简单清炒面 | Ultra Simple Stir Fried Noodles

Vocab:
超级 (chāo jí) Super/Ultra
简单 (jiǎn dān) Simple
清炒 (qīng chǎo) Stir Fry
面 (miàn) Noodles! (the character doesn’t include the exclamation point but I just get really excited talking about food)
Doesn’t matter how many times I read the instructions on the back of the packet, I’ll always cook noodles for a small group of 10. Come over for dinner?
Or do it yourself:
1. Cook appropriate amount of noodles (ahem)
2. Drain noodles and toss with sesame oil and let cool, lift the noodles to let the steam escape. You don’t want the noodles to stick together. THIS TAKES AGES. Alternate arms and repeat. ~~FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE.~~

3. Stir fry veggies – heat the oil, then add in your crunchy veg, the less crunch stuff and then your flavourings.

(OIL, CRUNCHY, LEAFY, SAUCEY or OCLS which is not helpful at all, sounds like some kind of college and actually makes things worse?)

I like using coconut oil and then for flavouring I add chilli, white pepper, sea salt. I like my food light but you can add soy sauce of course. Also, I can’t eat too much soy products. IF you were to use soy sauce, get yourself a good quality ‘Light Soy Sauce’. Don’t just grab that bottle of soy sauce with the red pouring cap thingy, there is an entire world of soy sauce out there. I used to take people on tours of Asian supermarkets and we stood in the sauce aisle for ages discussing all the different flavours you can make. A world of soy sauce.

Tip: When stir frying veg, you want the pan to be HOT and you want to move FAST so the veg still says crunchy and the colours stay vibrant. Leafy greens can be thrown in last as they will cook so quickly.

I love when I get a bit of char on my veg. Just a little, not too much. It’s either a sign of a good hot wok OR a wok that needs washing. Let’s all agree it’s the first thing, ok?

Another tip: When adding your liquid flavourings, such as soy sauce, pour AROUND the sides not onto the stuff. And don’t go crazy, you can check later when the noodles go in if you need to add more to adjust the flavour. You want to be able to taste the strands of noodles that you just spent forever tossing with sesame oil. Not a mouthful of light soy sauce. The noodles are THE MAIN EVENT.

Oh, my mouth just filled up with saliva. Man, I love food!

4. Hurl everything together in the pan and toss somehow. You may want to add more sesame oil. The sesame oil just makes the noodles SO fragrant and helps with movement.

Oh, remember that sauce aisle? Get yourself a good quality sesame oil too. You should be able to SMELL the fragrance wafting from a sealed bottle. And it should smell like nothing on earth compared to the regular cheapo version.

I’m not asking you to sit down in the middle of the supermarket and taste test all the different varieties of sesame oil. Just have a sniff, don’t get the bottle too close to your snoz because that grosses people out. Once you get yourself one that smells amazing you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about and you will look back at the cheapo one you used to own and laugh and move on to bigger and better and brighter things.

Confession: My noodles were still a tad clumpy, I was too slow to get them out of the boiling water and I needed to let them cool a little longer but I was HUNGRY and my arms were bored with tossing. So it was go time! Hahaha. They were still AMAZINGLY tasty. This is meant to be an easy fool-proof recipe for hungry/lazy anyway, and turns out, IT IS! Trust! You WILL be triumphant, no matter what!

H-H-Ha-Happy days.

5. Eat and eat and eat (ABOUT TIME!)
🍜

If you have leftovers, they taste so good chilled!

Here’s another version that my mum did whilst she was in town to visit me. She used shredded omelette with shredded carrot and a little bit of spring onion. Again all done with the above steps and it was AMAZING. I want my Mommy now. And I want those noodles back in my life right now. Excuse me whilst my heart and stomach have a quick weep. Pretty much the best meal of my life. (I know, could I BE more dramatic?)

Those prawns were the size of my plate and they were so good and also they were about $10 each. I’ve never spent that much money on something that came wrapped up in A LEAF. But they were SO GOOD. Saving up my pennies to one day buy one more.

Look how shiny.

*DROOLS ALL OVER KEYBOARD AND SHORT CIRCUITS LAPTOP*

Ok, if you think shredded omelette is a great idea but who can be bothered, just fry an egg and slide it on top. I love when the yolk is still a little gooey and it MINGLES with the noodles.

Or just you know, whatever. They’re good any which way.

Plainish; with shredded chicken (or really just one shard because I got really lazy and really hungry); or with a fried egg.

It’s 9:30 in the morning and I must go get myself some noodles for breakfast. According to TCM it’s great to have warm meals.

Don’t quote me, I WILL manipulate random pieces of information to suit my wants. (I call these my convenient theories, of which I have many)

And right now noodles: I WANTS IT.

Enjoy and chat later! If you tried making these, lemme know! xx

What’s for dinner? – Easy recipe for when you need a weekend to recover from the weekend

January 18, 2016June 15, 2016 by Dominique

How was your weekend? We took it really easy, it’s my first weekend back in town so naturally we had loads of laundry and chores to catch up on. The last thing I want is to then have to drag myself out for dinner but I also don’t want to expend my remaining energy on making dinner but I want home food.

It’s all too “I know what I don’t want but I don’t know what I want but I know I want it now.” I KNOW! TIRESOME!

What then?

This Spicy Vegetarian Cous Cous Goreng has been a breakthrough over here. I always have a few random odds and ends hanging out in the veggie drawer of the fridge. When I make cous cous I can never make just the right amount there’s always an extra container of it. I keep a few spare packets of spice paste so all I do is just grab everything and throw it together and dinner is done! It’s so satisfying and warming, best of all you can just make it in the one pot and that’s as good as it gets, washing up wise.

So so easy! It’s my new favourite way to have cous cous. And you can sneak in all those vegetables.

Ingredients:

Your choice of cooked grains: rice, cous cous, quinoa, oats, barley etc

A packet of spice paste (don’t be afraid to try other flavours too! Great ones to use are green/red/yellow curry paste)

Chopped veg (the softer the vegetable, like leaves, the less time it needs to cook)

Bit of oil, I like coconut oil, but use whatever you like

Options: fried egg, shredded meat, or leave out to keep it vegetarian

And yes, I am using my rice cooker to cook dinner. There’s no gas for my stove but I will always find a way hahaha.

Enjoy your Monday! xx

Yoga to Move into Stillness

December 12, 2015January 17, 2017 by Dominique

So legend has it that when you can’t sleep at night it is because you are awake in someone else’s dream.

Please stop dreaming about me whoever you are.

Aaaaaaaahahahahaha allow me to cackle away merrily whilst you take the time to roll your eyes.

I’ve been struggling to sleep properly and it seems to be some sort of excess nervous energy from prepping to go home for the holidays. This time next week I will be back home and ohmigoshonlyafewmoresleepstogoooooooooooooosomanythingstodosolittletimetodoitin.

You know those jitters?

Verrrrrry similar to the kind a kid gets the night before Christmas. Who could possibly sleep?! It’s just all too exciting. TOO being the keyword. Too much going on. Around us and inside our heads. Without an outlet to channel all the excitement into, those sensations spill over everywhere and amplify existing feelings.

There is a lot happening during holiday season and all that change can be stressful on a body.

Resisting the change causes friction which leaves me restless and kinda twitchy. Then as I lose sleep I become tired and cranky. The cycle continues on a loop. When I was younger I couldn’t figure out how to settle myself down and found myself buffeted along by the things that kept happening TO me no matter how hard I tried to avoid them or take full control. I felt so resentful and frustrated. Did I have a target on my back?

Now I kind of understand it is up to me to decide if I want to struggle and kick my way along or flow through change. But the way is always THROUGH the obstacles or the change. And whilst I can control some aspects there are many others that I can’t. Discerning what I can and can’t change, much like the serenity prayer, are key to giving me the space I need to regain a sense of calm.

Try reading the next two paragraphs out loud slowly and with intent:

I remember that I can control my breathing. I can inhale fully and exhale completely. I can move my body as I breath slowly and deeply. I can give complete attention to moving my body with my breath.

And with that I feel my heart rate calm down, my stomach ceases to twist into knots, my eyebrows unfurrow and my mind quietens and I move into stillness. Then I can sleep soundly and deeply. I wake up feeling joyful and excited about my days. I will nourish my body with fuel so I have energy to go about my day. I will move my body because it feels good to be active. I look forward to anything that comes my way. I feel content with the present moment because it is perfect.

I hope following along to this short video helps equip you with a sense of calm as you go about preparing yourself for this holiday season. Please practice safely and take good care of yourself.

Namaste.

Learning to Fly: Quick Tips – Yoga Arm Balance Workshopping

December 4, 2015January 17, 2017 by Dominique

How was your cyber weekend? I tried to get into the sale action but I found myself overwhelmed by all the sale windows popping up on my ‘puter. And also we had some major blackouts so that just felt like a sign from the universe.

“No shopping for you, specifically, you. You means Dominique.“

I didn’t have anything I needed or simply wanted but tried to pass of as needed anyway. And I found myself thinking why don’t we just have everything 20% or 30% or 35% or whatever% off year round and we will buy it when we want to. The sort of “I’ll call you” type of response to an invitation to tender. You too? Yeah.

A girlfriend and I were chatting and figured if groceries had a cyber Monday though, different story. But groceries being groceries and economics working the way they do, that didn’t happen. So instead I saved my pennies and worked on editing a video I filmed just before my trip to Bali.

Oh yeah, haha, I went to Bali for a few days. And all I came back with was a lovely time, great memories, a full tummy and a tan. Tell you all about it another time, I really want to post this video first, if it ever finishes uploading though. A little tricky with all the power blackouts we have been having.

This will just take 1000 minutes — Be with you in 142 minutes. I kid you not five minutes later the little bar said it would take another 183 minutes. What’s with the strange math? hahaha

So let’s chat a bit more about what we’re doing in today’s video whilst this baby loads.

This is a preparatory posture. Some people will know the full version of this pose as Flying Pigeon Pose or One Legged Pigeon Balance. In Sanskrit this pose is called Eka Pada Galavasana. People tend to drop the Eka Pada when referring to the posture and just say Galavasana although B.K.S. Iyengar listed Galavasana and Eka Pada Galavasana as two different postures with the latter being the one we will prep for here.

Gimme a second to squint and count, yep, got the right number of vowels in there. Sometimes one needs to check, you know?

Some Sanskrit here: Eka means one and Pada means leg… soo far so got it. Galavasana is the pose named after the sage Galava. The word for pigeon is Kapota. I know, I know, confusing! When I first started paying attention to the names of postures a lot of them just sounded like Something Something Blah Asana. I just couldn’t get a handle on the front part. And I got a whole lot worse before I got anywhere near better by the time I went for training.

Every second sentence out of me was, “Whaddjyamacallthis?” As soon as I managed to remember one name I’d promptly forget the previous one I had learned.

But a lot of people will know what you are talking about if you happen to mention flying pigeon. But you’d both need to be talking about yoga postures otherwise things just get really confusing obvs. The shape of that front bent leg leaning against your arms is the same as the one-legged version of the posture performed on the floor. Just know that the pose goes by more than one name.

I am calling this version we are attempting Itty Bitty Pigeon Pose because that back leg is not yet stretched out as in the full expression of the posture, it’s still tucked in close to the body. This makes it a little easier to focus on locating that exact tipping point you need to get the balance going. And here we thought we’d never see the likes of Physics again after high school.

The video is pretty straight forward, but make sure you are warmed up before you launch. For example you can go for a 20 minute march around the block, or you can do a few rounds of Sun Salutations, or a few cycles of my easy to do 2 minute yoga sequence (here).

Yoga is all about expressing curiosity and learning new things. So once you are up, try stretching out that floating leg and see what happens! Fly, birdie, fly!

[gasp] I’m flying, Jack!

C’mon, if I didn’t say it someone else would have. What a line. And they totally could have both fit on that door. Move over Rose, blimey.

IMPORTANT: Please be aware that if you are not yet comfortable in a plank position, you may still need a little more time before you visit this. Don’t rush! In the Ashtanga practice for instance, this posture is in the third series. THIRD! There are people (cough, me included) who may or may not just stay in Primary for the rest of our lives. B.K.S. Iyengar rated the intensity of this posture as 21, the most difficult posture being 60. So take it easy, slow and steady. Taking the time now to develop a strong foundation, smelling the roses along the way, will save you the heartache of hurrying before you are ready and perhaps even hurting yourself. You need to be careful and practice safely. Be kind! Enjoy the scenic route! How often do we get the luxury of taking things slow?

Happy workshopping!

Questions? Holla! Feel free to discuss down below any of the following:

Who B.K.S. Iyengar?

What Ashtanga?

Kapota what?

Is this still yoga?

What does Galavasana look like then?

What does it take to rate a 60?

Who Jack? (Where have you been…)

What door? (See above re: Jack)

Does anyone else feel terrified when they see flying pigeons IRL?

Meditation for Beginners (Breathing) and a Zen Story

November 17, 2015January 17, 2017 by Dominique

Good morning!

And I’m getting through that pile of videos to edit. *pow pow* If you had read what I wrote last week about procrastinating you would nod and be like *high fives screen* and then I would high-five you back and be like, “Thanks!”.

So there is an old story about a rich man who goes to the zen master asking how to become enlightened. He’s got the money, no sum is too big, how much.

Hmm, free. Plus two years, if you meditate everyday for one hour so says the master.

Whuuuuuuuuuuuuut. Okay, okay. How about if I meditate everyday for five hours? How long then, huh?

Oh yes, that will be very good. Twenty years.

HUH!$*&%#@$?!

That isn’t exactly how the story goes, there are a few variations. That’s my take on it.

And how about this expression:

“You should sit in meditation for twenty minutes each day. If you are too busy then sit for an hour.”

I love the humour in these stories and sayings. A person can interpret these stories in so many different ways. I’ll have to share with you some of the comments a few people made about one particular zen story I came across sometime, remind me?

In the meantime, I have a meditation video for you! It is thirteen minutes long but if you want you can skip through the introduction and chat straight into the practice portion. But it’ll take you twenty years.

Kidding!!!

I’m a big fan of the two minute format. Here’s the link to my two minute yoga video Hurrah for Yoga in Pyjamas. Big fan of anything I can do in pyjamas too.

If you’re all “Nah, I got time to hang” then stay tuned for the outtakes. There are many. I was waiting for my washing machine to finish before I started recording and it kept whirring promisingly as though it was wrapping up. And then I’d hit record and the washing machine was all “Haha no.” But it ended eventually.

Ready? Here we go:

Here is a quick starting point for people who want to get into meditation and have been meaning to but always say they don’t have enough time. One day, I will get around to meditating. Ha! Today is that day!! After my washing machine finished spinning hahaha.

If you’re anything like me, your daily to do list can stretch as long as your arm and then some. When it comes to actually tackling things you start to wonder where exactly to start. Too much happening so many feelings! This is the BEST time to meditate so that you can resume (or start) work feeling focused and calm.

A lot of us think we need hours set aside to get meditation right but sometimes a minute here a minute there and just quiet breathing is all we need to notice a huge difference. This is where we start today, the breathing, which is the most important part. If we can turn all our attention to our breathing, there is nothing else for our mind to do and everything becomes oh so still.

You can repeat this short breathing exercise as many times as you like, be sure to keep the body and face as relaxed and tension free as possible to really get the benefits. Anytime you feel as though things are getting too much during the course of your day, you can turn to this breathing exercise. I hope this makes a difference!

The exercise starts at 5:32 if you want to jump ahead, please do so. We finish with a very light bit of self massage to our brow area. When we first wake up the area can often feel quite heavy and puffy. This is also an area that often remains tense throughout the day without our realising. If you’ve been worrying about something this will be especially helpful in helping you to feel energised and ready to face the day.

Thanks so much for watching. Please let me know if you enjoyed that and if you have any special requests, comment down below. X

“Dear Friend” or “To Soup, With Love”

September 14, 2015June 15, 2016 by Dominique

JOE (V.O.)
I am in Vancouver.

He stops… Hits the delete button and erases the message.
He starts typing again:

JOE (V.O.)
I was stuck in a meeting, which I
couldn’t get out of it, and there was
no phone.

He backspaces to erase “there was no phone.”

Screen now reads: I was stuck in a meeting, which I couldn’t
get out of it. Joe sits there thinking for a moment. Then he
starts typing.

JOE (V.O., cont’d)
The electricity went out in the building
and we were trapped on the 18th floor and
the telephone system blew too.

He stops and looks at it. Then he types:

JOE (V.O., cont’d)
Amazingly enough.

He sits looking at it.

Then he deletes the whole thing.

Sits looking at the blank screen.

Excerpt from

You’ve Got Mail

by Nora Ephron & Delia Ephron

Based on:
The Shop Around The corner

by Nikolaus Laszlo
2nd Final White revised
February 2, 1998

I have lost count the number of times I have watched You’ve Got Mail. And the number of times I think of that scene with Tom Hanks trying to explain himself. Deleting the keys (two finger typing style) and then making a mawkish expression at his dog who is very much #judgingyourightnow. I have been Joe for the last, oh, however long it has been. I had drafted a whole bunch of things but stopped short of posting until now. I won’t go on much further in case I delete everything and am back to staring at a blank screen. But this is where I am today. Here I am, enjoying the familiar.

Catching up on laundry. Staring at these printable daily organisation template thingys on Pinterest. Wondering who prints all this out? And then uses them everyday? Wondering how people have it so together they can organise their Pinterest boards so neatly. Getting up every hour or so to stretch my back out on my yoga mat. In my bathrobe. Trying to remember if I took my vitamins this morning or if that was yesterday morning. Scratching my head over a Sudoku puzzle that just has me stumped. Scooping minestrone-ish rice soup into a bowl. Ah, the soup. Now, that’s good stuff. When my youngest brother was in preschool, I would pick him up after school and walk him home. He told me on one of these walks that his favourite morning tea snack was tomato sauce and rice, all for 40 cents from the tuck shop. I remember being his age and loving tomato sauce with rice as well. Tomato flavoured anything. I still remember the look of bemusement that flitted across my father’s face as he watched me merrily dousing my fried rice in tomato sauce. There was an Italian restaurant that my family frequented when I was little. An entire wall was covered with hooks and resting on each hook was a two handled stoneware soup bowl. My memory leads me to remember that each bowl had a name emblazoned across it, or perhaps just under the hook, only for the most regular of customers although my mind stops short of deluding me into thinking that I had one with my own name on it. Although considering I drank enough minestrone in that place…

I still love minestrone but perhaps times have changed. It never tastes quite the same as when I used to scoop it out from that scratchy stoneware bowl, always trying not to scrape the bottom, but unable not to, whilst my parents exchange greetings with the owner as he brings out the chianti.

Minestrone-ish Rice Soup to eat in your bathrobe

You need (the quantities are guessed, I will tell you now that I am absolutely terrible at estimating):

Passata, say 500ml or a tin or two of tomatoes, whatever you have

Knob of butter (or not)

Splash of cooking oil (I use coconut oil but olive oil is good too)

Spring onion, a stem, chopped, or an onion, chopped

Carrot, one or two, chopped

Potato, one or two, chopped, if you have any (or none at all)

One cup of rice, rinsed

Your choice of greens, rinsed to hurl in at the end

Basil, oregano, parsley – fresh or dried

black pepper

teaspoon of sugar (only as needed to counter the acidity of the tomatoes, I used coconut sugar)

Vegetable stock cube + 500ml or vegetable stock, 500ml

Method:

Hurl butter into a hot saucepan with the oil so the butter does not burn.

Add the chopped carrots and onion in. If you wish you can sprinkle a little salt on the onion so that it does not burn but if you stir diligently you will be safe.

Sauté for 5 minutes or so then add the potato if you have any.

A few more minutes and then in with the passata/tomato situation that is available to you. Be prepared for splattering. Add the water or stock (lucky you!). I had a half bottle of passata so I just filled it with water to get the last dregs of red pulp out into the pan. Bring to a boil. Throw in stock cube, pepper, sprinkle in dried herbs if using them. In with the rice.

In the end the sugar was needed so that went in as well. You may or may not need salt, I didn’t. Then simmer until the rice is soft. I like my greens just, just done so I turned off the heat and then stirred in English spinach.

Chuck on the fresh herbs if you have any and black pepper. Dash of butter or olive oil on top if you’re feeling fancy/indulgent.

Eat in bathrobe. Scrape the bottom of the bowl to hearts content. Avoid staining fuzzy socks.

Hours later, discover bathrobe needs to be soaked.

Our Zenaissance

we are changing

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