For Yogaakademins retreat I made simple raw dishes like lasagne, pizza, cauliflower risotto, curry pumpkin sauces, the yoga girl taco, shaved salads, sprouts and rice paper rolls.

To ground us I made warm curried rice with nigella seeds, sweet potatoes in the oven, sun flower pate and warm soups.

Simple salads with seasonal veggies and loads of fresh herbs. I picked nettles, dandelion, blackberries and rose hip from the grounds around us.

I fell in love with the lemon balm, the great ginger and fresh turmeric root form the local market making tea and infused waters with.

Goats cheeses and for the last dinner I grilled dorado and makrill with shaved lemons and limes. Stuffed with lemon balm and salad onions.

So not totally raw that´s the way I like it. I wanted to show how plant food can be part of any persons diet when added in smal portions. Keep it simple and make fun. Less diet and rules, it´s just another way to prepare food.

Better to add to your regular menu and see if that dish suits you. Use your own favourite spices and find recipes as inspiration.
Give it some time. The flavours and textures will feel a bit new in the beginning.

But with time your taste buds will become sharper and you will need less artificial additives and less of everything.

The reaction in the different yoga groups where that after a day or two the vegetables and fruits own flavours became more apparent. Sweetners and salts where not needed to the same extent.

I used olive oil, sesame oil, coconut oil, tamari, miso paste, sea weeds, nut butters, turmeric, acai, spirulina, sun dried tomatos, dates, raisins, cold pressed apple cider vinegar, lemon zest, chili, fenugreek, nigella seeds, black mustard seeds. I pickled onions and beets.
Pimped everything with zucchini blossoms, sun and burdock flowers.

We went to the market without an agenda saw what was in that day and just went wild.

Endive and sunflower seed pate

Raw pate

One of many raw lasangas

Coconut cauliflower rice

Cauliflower rice and peaches

Lunch time

Raw taco

Tacos

Boosters and sweets

Simply perfect

Curry lentil sprout rice

Sunny

Celery root and apples topped with seaweed cashew cream

Lunch time

Raw cacao mousse and berries

Veggies

My kit for the week

Raw pumpkin and coconut soup

Steamed greens

Watercress salad with sesame oil

Dinner time

Miso marinated broccoli

Swiss chard and shaved roots

Baba ghanou

Raw tiramisu

Life practice

I was totally worn out and sick when I boarded the plane to Biarritz. At home I wake up 45 minutes earlier to do my practice.
Peoples reaction to this is why?

I can´t see how I could not. Daily practice has been part of my life for the past 16 years in one form or another.
It´s a thermometer of my physical, mental and emotional state. It gets me through the days and mirrors where I am.

Of course the physical aspect is a big part of it, even more so when not working as a yoga teacher.
My body is active the whole day and stress is the key ingredient in my life at the moment.
Ideally it would´t be like this but life is seldom ideal. I´m working with and thru whats around me. Trying to not get sucked into the dramas at work and in my personal life.
Of course this is impossible but with the practice it becomes very apparent what I can change and what I can´t. This makes it easier to focus on transforming a shitty situation into something productive.
I have not succeed with this the weeks prior to my trip.

So even though not part of the yoga retreat as a student and with work to be done both there and else where.
The nature, silence, people, making food the way I love to, local organic markets, and with time to really practice every day made me feel a little bit less fragmented than when I left.

And we’ve laughed a lot. Josefin, Peter, Isabel, Gonzalo, Jessica and Shay where a great crew.
Yogaakademin and Surfakademin are run by Peter, Jens and Josefin. They are travel agencies for yogis and surfers looking to deepen or learn to practice yoga and surf in different parts of the world.

Vera learnt how to surf with Surfakademin who took her to the beaches along the coast of France and Spain to find just the right waves.

New friends where made and I remembered a part of me that has been neglected for far to long.

Love

Peace

Power

Nature

Freedom

Movement

You know when you have that last swim of the summer. You enjoy it and it feels great but it also feels kind of bitter sweet.
Like you know it won´t be the same tomorrow.
You can walk to the same spot look into the water and turn around because now the magcic is gone.
Summer has left the buliding. Like a lover has left you and you him.

All is like it should be you have new grounds pave and other paths to walk.

But it also feels a bit sad. Those feelings feelt will not to come again, you get reminded that life changes with the seasons and you have to follow along.

I always turn Miss. Melancholy when this happens. I want to turn around and throw in the towel no matter how good my life is.

To get out of this slump I do three things.

I meditate and practice yoga.
I stare into a wall and daydream.
I plan ahead and keep busy.

Meditation and yoga is a remedy that works well. Like brushing my teeth. It just does its thing.
Staring into the wall and daydreaming I try to do when by myself….. People don´t really get this part.
Plan ahead and stay busy was very easy this year. Things have finally fallen into place and I´m very busy.

Apart from my jobb this fall I`m booked to fly out on the 17th of september with Yogiakademin to Biarritz. I get to indulge in my passions yoga, food, be by the sea and also I get to bring someone I love with me.
This will be my vacation this year. I´ve worked too much and need to breath a bit.
At the moment I don´t feel happy. I feel kind of sad, tired and far away from myself.
That´s what happens when you focus on one thing and loose the rest. That´s what happens when you leave to much of your life in other peoples hands.
You should never have to prove yourself just be who you are.

MORE YOGA

Then in october and november I´m going to cover a few classes for AnneSophie/YogaKungsholmen when she is of to India.
A-S was my yoga student and went on to be a great theacher on her own. Funny how life turns out:)
I´m glad yoga is moving more into my life after a long absentness.

SOAP AND WATER GIRL

About beauty and all that shit. People think I eat cleaner than I do. My regime is my life.

I love my coffee, pizza, chocolate and I eat loads of it. I move around all the time but then when I rest I´ve learnt how to be still.

This is all I do. No fancy creams on my skin or luxurious workouts. I´m just soap, water and some simple stretches everyday.

Anyway as I always say let pictures speak more than my words

Catwalking

Getting my make up done at the Björn Borg fashion show

Fashion week lunch by the lily pads

The last of the summer in a glass

Like a healthy apple pie…

Yoga girls TW

Wheat grass shots

Raw sushi

Market made plant food

Without make up

With make up

Raw beauty

Sweetness

Farmers market love

My idea of a sandwich