My #meditatingmidwife buddy! Guest blog #altbeautyblog day 12

Today I received this beautiful picture and email from my fellow meditating midwife Shujana.

Shujana and I started working together at the Homerton almost a year ago and we have shared the journey of becoming newly qualified/preceptorship midwives together. We began our placement on the birth centre at Homerton almost 5 months ago and I have come to know her as an extremely caring and generous Midwife, with a special and beautiful spirit.  

As well as sharing our midwifery journey we have also discovered our shared love of Paris and Love of Yoga/meditation!

Shujana actually grew up only a few minutes from the flat in Paris which I now share with my boyfriend Tristan!

I recently signed up to my local Vinyasa Yoga centre in Paris only to find out, the following day, that this was the very same yoga teacher who Shujana had practised with throughout her teens! We have thus (naturally!) come to the conclusion that we were Sisters in a former life!

Sometimes the world throws some very special people in our path, in some very special ways...

Thanks to Shujana for sharing this beautiful picture and her practice with us xxxxx

‪#altbeautyblog day 10: morning Marina Meditation

29th July: Quebec city

Morning meditation on the harbour.

Sun on my face. Sounds of bikes, birds, boat....bliss 

‪#altbeautyblog day 9

28th July: Montreal!!

Morning meditation in Our Air bnb on rue Saint-Catherine! 

‪#altbeautyblog day 8

27th July : Paris Charles de Gaulle airport.

Listening to Ayala Gill meditation mp3 in the departure lounge!

‪#‎altbeautyblog day 7

26th July: At the Paris Flat. Rainy day meditation

Doing Peter Renner's welcome everything meditation. Blissful

‪#‎altbeautyblog day 6: meditation in motion

25th July

Yesterday I hopped on the Eurostar and arrived in Paris feeling excited and inspired for my holidays.

My marvellous boyfriend Tristan had organised for us to go and see a 'spectacle' at the Carreau du Temple in the Marais, with Yoann Bourgeois, who is a stunning acrobat, trampolinist, performance artist, and director.

This piece 'Leaving room,' was an incredibly beautiful and poetic melange of modern dance, jonglage, ariel, and trampolining. The highlight was a 'morceau' where Bourgois literally floats from Terre-to-Air repeatedly rising and falling, between trampoline and a flight of stairs.

This juxtaposition between flight and gravity, ascension and fall, highlights the delicate fragility of human nature and existence: A metaphysical masterpiece exploring the subtle balance and interplay of cosmos and pathos.    

Mini-Meditations before, during and after the performance, in this magical space at the Carreau du Temple, made the piece all the more intense, beautiful and touching.

‪#‎altbeautyblog day 5

24th July

Today was a bit of a struggle! I was feeling quite lethargic so I did a lying down meditation MP3 recorded by my wonderful Yoga/mindfullness teacher Ayala Gill, and also listened to a meditation on the 'CALM' app on my iphone.

On days when I lack motivation I find it easier to listen to an MP3 as it guides me and enhances my focus.

After the lying down meditation, I felt refreshed; it was like waking up from a little micro-nap, and I went to meet my friend Bea for coffee, feeling much more energised and inspired.

Even on days when one is lacking motivation and energy, a lying down meditation can be nourishing and refreshing! Enjoy!

Your best You #altbeautyblog Day 4

Your best you

I learnt this meditation from my Yin Yoga class this week and really enjoyed doing it again on hampstead health today.  When I emerged from this meditation everything looked so beautiful and I was absolutely glowing.

I can’t remember it exactly as it was taught to me but this is the jist:

(You could do it with a friend and read it out to each other). Enjoy!

Establish yourself in your meditation.

First imagine yourself in the clothes you are wearing today.  Visualise yourself, your body now, the age you are now, in front of you.

Then imagine this self: glowing, radiant, happy, beautiful, content [insert any other positive imagery here!]

Imagine yourself in your optimal physical health, optimal emotional health, optimal spiritual health, your optimal mental health.

What does this optimal you look like?

What does this optimal you feel like?

Now keep this image in front of you and turn up the colours, turn up the volume and the intensity… make it even brighter, even more beautiful, even more serene [again insert any other images here].  Shine brightly into the most wonderful you: optimal physical health, optimal emotional health, optimal spiritual health, optimal mental health.

Now start to bring this image towards you, let this optimal version of your merge with the you sitting here now. Feel how beautiful you feel, feel how resilient you feel.  Feel what this best version of you feels like, in your heart, in your whole body...Optimal physical health, mental health, emotional health spiritual health.

Allow yourself to feel this optimal you, and know you can access it whenever you wish to.