Innholdsfortegnelse for New year 2020 i In The Moment

Welcome to our special New Year issue. I’m so excited to bring you your Vision Board Kit for 2020. This year, we want to encourage you to be purposeful and passionate, to deepen your connections with the people, practices and places that bring you joy. I find it helpful to begin with a bit of blue sky thinking – setting the ‘how’ and the ‘when’ to one side for a moment and allowing myself the freedom to just explore the possibilities. Of course, there are things I’d like to do that are not (for now at least) realistic, but I have found that being open can reveal ideas – and solutions – that I might not otherwise have considered. As a working mum, I know that my default response to…

#nudetravel Celebrate a healthy dose of body positivity and wanderlust with these accounts that encourage us to truly embrace nature wherever we go @bummingaroundtheworld @getnakedaustralia @serenityhartsyou @n_wanderings WHAT IS? JANUHAIRY It’s a movement encouraging women to embrace our natural body hair by pledging to let it grow for a month, all in the name of raising money for charity. Ditching the razor and helping others? Sounds like a win-win to us! Find out more and get involved @janu_hairy Starring… you! Whether it’s belting out Adele in the car or going for it with a Beyoncé-style boogy, dabbling in performing arts on a regular basis could be the key to good health. A recent report published by the World Health Organisation found that singing, dancing and acting has long-term positive effects…

“I know how you feel.” How often do we say this, when lending an empathetic ear to a friend over a cup of coffee? While empathy can be useful in helping us to understand what those we care about are experiencing, it’s also important not to over-empathise and become swamped by other people’s feelings to the extent that we neglect our own. Some people, for whatever reason, are just more sensitive to other people’s emotions, finding that they really do feel what someone else is feeling. We share and connect through our feelings every day. Very few of us grow up without experiencing a full range of emotions, including disappointment, pain, anger – along with happiness and joy – and retain that information, which helps us relate to those around…

Sattva: The Ayurvedic Way To Live Well by Eminé & Paul Rushton (Hay House UK, £14.99) Celebrating the holistic wisdom of Ayurveda, Sattva offers an accessible and in-depth guide for all those wanting to embrace a more conscious and balanced way of living. East by West, by Jasmine Hemsley (Bluebird, £25) With 140 delicious recipes and plenty of Ayurvedic tips and advice, this book was inspired by Jasmine’s personal journey with food and healthy living, and champions the idea that our meals should nourish, sustain and repair. The Ayurvedic Self-Care Handbook by Sarah Kucera (The Experiment, £12.99) Featuring more than 100 different rituals, Sarah's book aims to improve your physical and emotional wellbeing by reconnecting you with your body’s natural rhythms and giving you the boost you need. A Pukka…

1 You’re having a birthday party at your house, do you invite your work colleagues along too? A Yes – I am very close to the people I work with B Maybe one or two, but I prefer to keep my professional and personal life separate C No – we don’t have anything in common 2 You have a problem with an extended family member, who do you vent your frustrations to? A Anyone who will listen B A close friend, but definitely not my family C Your private journal 3 After investing in an expensive new coat you’ve been saving up for, you decide to: A Be honest and tell others how much it cost if you’re asked B Give a ball-park answer without revealing too much C Say…

Follow the lead * By spending time in the company of someone who is open with you, you’re more likely to feel comfortable to follow in their footsteps. Judge less * Give love and acceptance to others, and be ready to receive the same in return. Make time and space * Create dedicated time to speak to someone you trust. Let them know that it is difficult for you to open up, but you’re going to try to be bolder. Be curious * According to Brené Brown, an open heart is crucial to being brave. Yet, when you feel fear, you’re more likely to put on ‘armour’ to self-protect. The antidote to this is to stay in the zone of being curious instead. Book it in * If you’re struggling…

For every stage Ease yourself through the menopause with A. Vogel Menopause Support, a herbal food supplement containing a group of substances, soy isoflavones, which provide nutritional support through all stages of the menopause. It also contains magnesium, known to help with symptoms such as tiredness. £14.99 avogel.co.uk Super sage Recommended to help ease period pains and the symptoms of menopause, sage contains high levels of antioxidants and has anti-inflammatory properties. As a dietary supplement, take 1ml of Nature’s Answer’s Sage super concentrated 1000mg organic extract in a small amount of water each day. £10.99 kijaniliving.co.uk Energy boost Help to overcome the tiredness we can all feel at this time of year with a Vitamin B12 Spray from mykind Organics. Containing organic, non-GMO vitamin B12, this vegan spray has been…

Regardless of weight or fitness levels, most of us will have experienced that puffy, bloated feeling. It may come from looking in the mirror and seeing a face that doesn’t hold its usual contours, a ring that doesn’t slide easily onto your finger, or from slipping on a pair of jeans that somehow just don’t feel right. It can also manifest in a sensation of lethargy or sluggishness. It may even be something as subtle as the movement of your arm against your body as you walk… Before you banish the baguette and forgo the latte, however: have you checked in with your lymphatic system recently? ‘Detox’ has become something of a buzzword, with everything from juices to nifty little gadgets claiming to help achieve it. As it happens, the…

High contrast Medina isn’t scared of introducing pattern into her interior, and bedding is a great way of experimenting with something a little bolder than you might be used to! This simple monochrome jacquard set would look fabulous paired with a few colourful cushions and a nice bright throw. £12 for a double set argos.co.uk Support small Mix high street buys, vintage pieces and work from independent makers. Acquiring a selection of art prints direct is a great way to bring individuality to your home as well as supporting smaller brands. MyPaperHouseShop offers her work as digital downloads to print yourself, or as ready-made Giclée prints. £7.19 etsy.com/shop/MyPaperHouseShop Colour happy A monochrome home always benefits from a few pops of colour and Medina’s choice of bold yellow is a great…

When I asked a friend and fellow mature student if she had any advice on how to make study work financially, she replied by saying, “Seat of pants? Skin of teeth?”. I found that curiously reassuring. Making room in your life for further education knocks your finances in two ways: there’s the time it takes to study, and there’s the cost of the course itself. A double whammy. And for most of us, our finances can be precarious at best. The impact certainly will be felt somewhere and that shiny new student discount card is not going to plug this hefty gap. Of course, student loans are available for many courses, and some subjects like teaching even have financial incentives. Specific funding varies according to each institution, and UCAS offers…

FEEL GOOD This year I’m going to look after my mind and body Goals like ‘lose weight’ or ‘join the gym’ are the kind that tend to motivate us in January and fade into the background by Feb. Stop and think about why you want to make these changes. If your intention is to adopt a healthier lifestyle, use your vision board to concentrate on how you want to feel – be it more energetic, more motivated or, perhaps, more positive about your relationship with food. Break down your wider aims into small, achievable goals. Want to get fitter? Be realistic about your starting point. If you’ve not had time to exercise lately, signing up for a half marathon could be setting yourself up to fail. Instead, you might begin…

It’s the conundrum of recent times – we love to travel, but we also now know that too much can damage the environment. If you’re a natural-born wanderluster who dreams of new adventures, it can seem impossible to choose between a plane and the planet. But a solution is at hand! All we need to do is learn to look for fulfilling experiences closer to home, at least from time to time. I’m writing this column while sitting by a fire in a cabin in rural Wales. Outside the sky is clear and studded with stars – inside, I’m snug as anything. At New Inn near Hay-On-Wye (newinnbrilley.co.uk), owner Daphne has amassed a collection of weird and wonderful dwellings where you can spend the night – my cabin, a ‘60s…

1 JESSICA HARRIS Jessica is a freelance health and beauty writer, blogger and content creator living in the Suffolk countryside. Follow her on Instagram @jessicasharris_ and read her top beauty tips at twentysixstyle.com Learn how to stay fit and nourished at every life stage on page 42 2 CAROLINE ROWLAND Founding editor of interiors and lifestyle publication 91 Magazine (91magazine.co.uk), Caroline has an eye for design. See her latest projects at patchworkharmony.co.uk Take a look around blogger Medina Grillo’s upcycled home with Caroline on page 66 3 XENIA TALIOTIS Wellbeing and travel writer Xenia loves to discover new things and meet new people, sharing the lessons she learns along the way. Xenia writes about anticipation on page 30 and heads to Kihnu island on page 98 4 KIRAN SIDHU A…

Well Far Whether you’re just starting out or chasing a PB, this podcast has you covered. Each week, host Amy Lane talks tips and tricks from tech trackers to syncing miles with your menstrual cycle, as well as talking to experts and offering a guided cool-down session. Another Mother Runner Runners and mothers Sarah and Dimity are joined by a coterie of co-hosts and guest experts to discuss topics relevant to all female runners, from training to nutrition, motivation, mental resilience and TMI issues! I’ll have another Running coach Lindsey Hein chats to well-known female runners of all ages and stages on everything from racing to favourite TV shows and balancing their love of running with family life. Perfect motivation if you’re training for a new challenge.…

Are there things you do at around the same time every day? Brush your teeth in the morning, for example, do some breathing exercises before bed, or sit down with a cup of tea at 11am? If so, you could be benefitting from some of the Ayurvedic principles of dinacharya already. For those who are unfamiliar with Ayurveda, it’s an ancient philosophy which can trace its roots back 5,000 years to India. With a strong focus on balance, intuition and harmony, it provides a holistic approach to health and today there are people adopting its teachings across the world. According to Ayurveda, nourishing our individual pattern of energies (or dosha) is key to ultimate wellbeing. And this is where dinacharya comes in. Relating to a daily routine of specific self-care…

Q My problem is that when things go wrong, I always blame myself. If I arrange an outing with my friends or family and things don’t go to plan, I blame myself. It can be anything from things like worrying about people not liking the menu or the venue, to trains running late and people getting stressed out. If I’m hosting at home, I feel like the food I prepare is inadequate and that people won’t like it. I just want things to be right and although I realise that life isn’t perfect, I give myself a hard time. It makes me not want to do things because I feel like whatever I do is not going to be good enough. My parents have always found it hard to entertain…

I was in my late thirties when I was diagnosed with clinical depression. At the time, I was the burnt-out board strategy director of a top advertising agency, working eighty-hour weeks. These hours would’ve been understandable had we been working for world peace, but debating what song a sunflower should sing I’m sure shouldn’t have kept us in the office quite so long! Having spent my life consumed by the mantra, ‘failure is not an option,’ I became rigid and joyless, staying in the business way longer than was good for me, or the people around me. When the diagnosis came, it was clear I needed to make some changes – and quick. Amid the constant stress and exhaustion, my yoga mat had become the only place I felt at…

It’s surreal to see the calendar flip to the year 2020, an entirely new decade. I look back at the 2010s, remembering that it was in these formative years that I started living more simply and sustainably. I never knew that I would be so steadfast with these lifestyle changes as I was often the type of person to catch onto trends and let them go, so I wanted to share my learnings in case you too are keen on adopting healthy habits or lifestyle changes for the new year. First, know your why. With every lifestyle change that occurred in my life, there was a clear ‘Aha!’ moment. For minimalism, this moment came to me as I was looking through my closet. I’d always loved shopping for clothes, thinking…

Smartphones. We use them for a dizzying array of reasons – and the possibilities they open up are incredible. Yet it’s easy to develop an unhealthy relationship with our phones: compulsive checking, comparing ourselves to others or feeling mentally scattered. It can feel like our lives revolve around our phones, rather than the other way around. People I speak to tend to agree that they would like to be more purposeful in how they use their phones. It’s just that this is easier said than done. I recently discussed this with Jonathan Garner, whose business, Mind Over Tech, helps people to explore their relationship with technology and build habits that fit their particular life contexts. The idea came from his time working as a web developer, when he had the…

1 Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellman Lucy Ellman’s eighth novel is feat of resilience in itself. It comes in at 1,000 pages and is told mostly in a single sentence, relating the stream-of-consciousness of an American suburban mother. Comparisons to James Joyce’s Ulysses come easily, but Ducks, Newburyport is very much its own thing, in style as well as subject. Her unnamed narrator’s mind runs between the urgent and the trivial; the present business of running a household and her memories of the past; the great global terrors of global warming and tyrannical world leaders, and the fleeting self-criticisms and confused words that skip across a mind. All this means that Ducks, Newburyport comprehends an astonishing range of emotions, often within the space of a few words, ranging from the…

It was not long after my daughter was born that we started to explore slow living. It all began with a gradual realisation that time is a precious commodity that you cannot get back. Becoming a mother highlighted to me how fleeting time can be as I watched how quickly our baby was growing into a little girl. During this time, I had a recurring conversation with many people. We would talk about our difficulties balancing the challenges of life – work, parenthood, paying the bills and running a home – with this desire to slow down. When I looked a little closer, I realised that I had, in many ways, always been a proponent for slow living. From a young age, I remember wanting to feel connected to my…

Perfectly in tune When your body clock is still adjusting after returning from Japan and you’re up at silly o’clock, it’s so comforting to have In The Moment to enjoy. Even better to find Japanese art cards and an article about Kaizen inside! Alison, via Twitter Focus on the positive Just wanted to say thank you for publishing such a valuable magazine. As a male reader I have found it really beneficial to sit down and look into the wellness of my lifestyle. I have made a choice to focus primarily on the state of positivity. I enjoy the various articles that look into anxiety, tips on writing, and being active in the kitchen. Whenever I read In The Moment I choose a cosy café in London and embrace the…

SOY SESAME JACKFRUIT STIR FRY 1 Mix 2 tbsp sesame oil, 1 tsp ginger, 1 tsp chilli powder, 1 clove minced garlic, ¼ cup soy sauce and 3 tbsp veg stock to make a marinade. Add 300g Upton’s Naturals Original Jackfruit, stir, marinate for 1 hour. 2 Meanwhile, combine 2 tbsp chilli powder, 2 tbsp soy sauce, 2 tbsp sesame oil, 2 cloves of minced garlic, 2 tsp of fresh grated ginger, 3 tbsp of tamarind, 1 tsp cornflour and the juice of ½ lime to make a sauce. Add Sriracha, if desired. 3 Heat 1 tbsp oil in a wok over a medium high heat. Cook the jackfruit on all sides for 5-6 minutes, then set aside. Add 1 tbsp oil to the wok and increase the heat. Fry…

Jacynth Bassett is the founder of the-Bias-Cut – a pioneering online fashion boutique dedicated to fighting ageism within the industry. “So many women are treated as invisible by the fashion industry – largely due to their age,” says Jacynth. “The majority of clothing that’s aimed at the mature demographic is dowdy, boring or unflattering.” It was a shopping trip with her mother that inspired her to start the boutique. “Like me, my mum had always loved fashion and style, but since her late 40s she had started to feel demoralised by the experience of shopping thanks to the frumpy styles on offer, the younger models used in imagery and even the attitude of shop assistants,” Jacynth remembers. Tackling that ageism became Jacynth’s mission. She started working on creating a contemporary…

An important part of Ayurvedic teachings is the idea that we each have a dominant dosha, or body-mind type. There are three main constitutions – vata, pitta and kapha – which translate loosely to air, fire and earth. “You can think of these as energies that influence bodily functions, from biological processes like digestion and breathing, to thoughts and feelings,” says Sebastian. “We all contain all three doshas, but it’s our particular combination of them that makes us who we are. “It takes a little time to discover your dosha and the art of living in harmony with nature,” Sebastian adds. “But once you know, you’ll then be able to understand what helps you thrive; what foods to eat, how much sleep you need, what exercises are best for you…

Loss, even one you know is coming, puts a crater-sized hole through your plans and routine, forcing you to slow down and abandon many of your have-tos. In March 2017, we lost my dad. I slowed down for eight weeks, doing only the essential and what I wanted to do. Here’s what’s so fascinating about this time: despite how heartbreaking, confusing and lonely grief was, that time had a lot of unexpected joy in it. Out of routine, I had time to myself to just be. Odd as it was, the slowness meant being present to my feelings, and I prioritised self-care and listening to my needs. I often didn’t have to be anywhere, and I shied away from being online. Sometimes I did nothing at all, plus when I…

When you consider that blogging as a career was essentially an inconceivable idea 15 years ago, then it’s understandable that most of today’s successful bloggers did not start out as media professionals; and DIY blogger, and now published author, Medina Grillo is no exception. For many, sharing thoughts, ideas and inspiration via an online platform starts out as a hobby, a creative outlet in the first few years of motherhood perhaps. For Medina, her early career was spent in healthcare, mainly working night shifts as a nurse so she could be at home in the day for her young son. As she juggled being a mother with a demanding job and household chores, Medina was feeling the overwhelm that so many of us can relate to when she suddenly realised…

There is no instant fix when it comes to cultivating healthy habits; it’s an ongoing practice. But simply bringing awareness and curiosity to various aspects of our relationship with our digital devices is the crucial first step. An advantage of a mindful approach is that, through it, we cultivate the art of paying attention on purpose, which is so useful in all spheres of our lives. Another central feature of a mindful approach is embodiment. When my friend Jasmin told me about how she tries to stay present when using her smartphone, she talked about creating space to reconnect with herself, adding that “the best gateway to do that is through the body”. She told me about somatic check-ins that help ground her in her lived experience. “During a conversation,…

This was the question I sent out to my newsletter subscribers towards the end of last year. And the response I received was overwhelming – so many competent, reliable people who find it somehow impossible to follow through on their plans, dreams and promises. Few of us would ever dream of simply skipping a business meeting, or not showing up to lunch with a friend. Yet when it comes to the commitments that we make to ourselves, we find it so unhelpfully easy to procrastinate and postpone. Learning the piano, building a new website, writing a page of that book every day. We know what the end goal is, and perhaps even identify the steps needed to get there – but when it comes to taking that daily action, we…

It’s Saturday evening in Tallinn, and the city is buzzing. The hop-off-hop-on cruise passengers are back on board, and the locals have reclaimed their city. Elegant couples wrapped in Burberry fill the newly opened galleries, enjoying the kind of art that would have earned the artists a hefty prison sentence – or worse – in Soviet times. Those days are history, and Estonia’s capital is wearing its cosmopolitanism well, even leaping ahead of some of its west European counterparts with award-winning restaurants, microbreweries and dazzling new arts centres. The past is there for all to see, in its gothic churches, baroque palaces, art nouveau theatres and Soviet-era public buildings, but its eyes are set on the bountiful future that awaits it. Four or so hours by road and sea from…

Pick a new route Go Jauntly makes mapping a new ramble a friendly and interactive experience. The app suggests walks based on your location and uses photos to point you in the right direction. With walking guides to everything from Kent’s lavender fields to the Brecon Beacons, this is the perfect way to explore a new place. Free (in-app purchases) gojauntly.com Protect winter skin We know that getting out for lots of fresh air is good for us, but the chilly weather can quickly play havoc with your skin. Protect it with Grown Alchemist’s simple, organic and cruelty-free skincare. Their hydra-repair day cream soothes skin with camellia and rosehip oils – pop it in your backpack wherever you roam. £31 grownalchemist.com Toasty boots These boots were made for adventures. Trainers…