Did you know that turmeric has anti inflammatory properties and is jam packed with anti oxidants?...it is so powerful that it is being seriously investigated by pharmaceuticals for use in anti cancer drugs and even as a treatment for cancer.

Check our the Spa Holiday Recipes on our website for some top nosh tips. They use ingredients like Chillis are high in vitamin A,B and C and release endorphins that help lower cholesterol. And don’t start me off on garlic – ok I know it doesn’t leave the most pleasantly fragrant breath but it is a powerhouse of medicinal properties. It can assist in lowering blood pressure and cholesterol, it is a natural antibiotic (try rubbing a garlic clove on painful teeth or gums – the immediate results are amazing!).

I went to a great Thai cookery class today at the Saffron House Cooking Academy and it got me thinking about how Asian cuisines are jam packed with ingredients that are so good for you, and how food can be such a potent therapeutic tool. I don’t just mean getting your 5 a day but incorporating a variety of spices and herbs that can enhance your wellbeing.

So many of the Wellbeing Escapes Spa Holidays use food to enhance the whole wellbeing experience. I don’t just mean learning how to cook to assist keeping the weight off but incorporating a variety of spices and herbs to harness their healing benefits. Many of the spas we feature also offer cookery classes so you can take some of this knowledge home with you. Two of the best cookery classes I have had are at Chiva Som and the Six Senses Sanctuary in Thailand.

My parting Thai spa cookery tip is boiling a pan of water with lemongrass stalks and boil to make a tea (you can use a bit of honey for taste if you like). It’s very calming and a great way to relieve stress. Use ginger instead of lemongrass if you are coming down with a cold as ginger has high anti inflammatory properties and can help build your immune system.

To read more about our fabulous luxury spa holidays visit our website www.wellbeingescapes.co.uk

Gong Meditation

It’s a Friday night at the end of January and instead of the usual drink (and a few) after work I’ve decided to try a Gong Meditation class at the Alchemy yoga centre in Camden. Perhaps it’s partly hangover from a particularly austere January or that fact I’ve been writing about detox all month, but I fancied ringing the changes, so to speak. Hey – a prolonged New Year’s resolution is better than nothing right?

I hadn’t got much of an idea of what to expect, except that there’d be a gong involved and I was pretty sure, but not completely sure, that I knew what one looked like. In my mind I’d imagined someone banging away solemnly on a gong, a bit like a Zen Buddhist. Maybe there’d be some chanting. Maybe we’d just lie there. Basically I hadn’t a clue.

Alchemy in Camden came recommended to me by a lovely yogi friend of mine, Steph Knight, who highly rated the classes there. They have a special offer on where you can try as many classes as you like for 10 days and only pay £10! It’s a great way to find a class that suits you. Gong Meditation sounded like the perfect initiation to the centre, which is hidden away amid the hubbub of Camden, just above the recently converted Stables Market. Inside it’s all bleached wood and serenity. A particular vibe and buzz to the place practically bounces off the walls and faces of those inside.

‘Gong’ as the class quickly becomes abbreviated to, is to be held in the circle room. Colourful cushions, yoga mats, and cosy red blankets line the walls which the people already laying on the floor have helped themselves to. Following suit, I take one of each and find a space. Three gongs stand majestically at the back of the room. When the teacher arrives, the room has completely filled up, the class is obviously popular. Moshik, the teacher, takes us through some simple Kundalini yoga exercises to warm us up, including breath work and some prayer like chanting which some people seem to know and others don’t. We’re instructed to keep our eyes closed, which I don’t quite manage as I want to check I’m doing it right!

When the time arrives, the lights are dimmed to nothing, and we lie back on our mats covered in the blankets. Memories of fireside camping trips spark in my head. Everyone is quiet and gently breathing. The gong starts. At first it’s low and trembling, just a small vibration moving through my head and shoulders, torso and toes. The sound is ethereal and incredibly beautiful, not at all what I expected. It’s pure music. Gong chimes tingle all the way up into the ceiling’s vaulted wooden rafters. Sometimes the sound is sparse and whispering as if I was in the far reaches of outer space. Other times it swells so loud I’m filled with vibrations to the point of bursting. Every cell in my body is resonating, realigning itself with this music, drifting and gliding as it washes through me. There is no teacher, there is no room there are no people there is just this sound, this amazing incredibly unworldly sound.

As the gong gradually fades, like the embers of a fire, you can also hear a few snores of The Very Relaxed rising with the sounds. The gong slowly vibes down and we rise slowly from the meditation into a final prayer before leaving into the chaos of Camden on a Friday night. From one frequency to the next.

For more on the benefits of meditation visit www.wellbeingescapes.co.uk, also to read an interview with a meditation guru here

Top Natural Muscle Relaxants

During a recent Tui Na (Chinese)Massage, my therapist commented on how tight my muscles are. I thought about what the causes are and I'm sure none are unique to me: tensing up when stressed, high impact cardio exercise, bad posture to name a few. So here are some natural options to relax those muscles when you are feeling the tension.

•Take Magnesium Supplements. A well known muscle relaxant which most of us don’t get enough of in our diets. Highly effective for avoiding aches and pains after exercise. Take before you go to bed to help you sleep.

• Have Hot & Cold Showers. Not something that would immediately come to mind as relaxing but it really does work, especially after exercise. A hot shower will relax the muscle but will also increase inflammation, so follow it immediately by a cold shower that will increase circulation and decrease inflammation. A bit of a shock at first but you get used to it and it’s very exhilarating!

• Try Yin Yoga. Deeply restorative, you hold postures for a long time, stretching and opening your muscles in a very gentle way. A fantastic wind down before bed time. (You will need a bolster) Highly recommend Simon Low’s yin and yang yoga dvd which has a dedicated section.

• Good old Massage. All different types are relaxing and will help your muscles soften. Try sports or tui na for a more vigorous massage that will concentrate on specific muscles or Thai Yoga Massage for a nice big stretch!

• Correct your posture. Bad posture is very common caused by muscle inbalance. Certain muscles will have to work harder than others resulting in tension or pain. A good personal trainer will be able to analyse your posture and put you on a regime to help strengthen the weak muscles. Alternatively try the Alexander technique or Pilates.

• Rest. So many of us feel the need to keep going, setting ourselves more goals to achieve. Be gentle on yourself and when you feel tense, sore or tight, get plenty of “me time” to rest and restore your body.

Stella

Study shows holidays can help people live longer

When I read this in the press a few weeks ago I thought that it must have been a bad news day given they are stating the obvious. The Australian study said that taking holidays increase happiness, better health and could be prescribed in the future by doctors for depression . Oh yeah, I hear you ask, who will pay for that...the taxpayer, especially when we are reducing a record deficit! But what we don’t factor in is how much of tax payers money is used to prescribe drugs for depression.

The study triggered a thought process on what people are looking for from their holidays and how this has changed over the years. The old style fly and flop holidays have gone out of fashion, particularly for professional people, who are now demanding more from their valuable time off. They have been replaced with experiences where you can learn, heal and grow in a beautiful environment. It’s about getting results and coming back with a return on your holiday investment.

We have seen this over and over again with our clients . For many of them sitting on a beach with a bit of pampering every now and then is not enough. They want to achieve something and come back with knowledge, tools and feeling rejuvenated so they can deal with the additional stress everyone is encountering at work nowadays. That is why we are extremely stringent with our quality checks for our wellbeing packages and all details are thought of, from the quality of the treatments, to the food and other activities to name a few.

So its all moved on to be about R O I - think about how your next holiday can give you a return on your investment and hopefully help you live longer.

Stella

Stress Vaccine is Bad...or is it?

I read a report last weekend about scientists from California developing a vaccine that will reduce ongoing stress. On a simple level, this is how it works. When we are in a stressful situation our fight or flight instinct produces a hormone that helps us deal with the situation. Unlike animals, this hormone will not disappear once the situation has been resolved but will linger to produce toxic chemicals that go straight to the brain and undermine our immune system, contributing to the onset of disease. So, the scientists are working on a vaccine that will neutralise the bad hormones before they can damage the brain. Apparently this is years away but trials have been very effective on rats.

I have a bit of an internal conflict going on about whether this is a good development or not. There are so many “natural” tools to help to reduce stress that I consistently advocate. Yoga, meditation, exercise, having fun with friends, holidays (especially wellbeing escapes)....the list is endless so why can’t people adopt techniques that are proven to enhance wellbeing and reduce illness?...the answer is many people can and do and many people are open to finding out more.

BUT there is still a big chunk of the population who thinks its all a bit mumbo jumbo and prefers to pop a pill or have an injection for instant results. Can we convince those people otherwise?...probably not, so the vaccine can actually have a positive effect on those who wouldn’t use any natural means anyway. I also have a vision of lots of calm, happy people with less aggressive behaviour and more positive vibes. Am I dreaming?...possibly not.
Stella

Pre Holiday Tips

Every year I get super stressed before I take my spa holiday. The run up to the date of travel is horrendous with self imposed personal deadlines adding to the obligatory work deadlines. This year I decided to do it differently and force myself not to get into a frenzy .
For those who haven’t yet gone away here are some tips to take away the stress of travel and burnout before you go:

• Do NOT try and leave your home spotless before you go (many of us have inherited this from our mothers). Yes it’s nice to come back to a clean place but it doesn’t need to look like a show home!

• Ditto with the laundry – just launder all the clothes you want to take on holiday

• The day before you travel try and eat your evening meal by 7pm and make it low in carbs. This allows your digestive system to work before bedtime giving you a better night’s sleep. There is nothing worse than feeling exhausted before you get on the plane.

• Cut down on stimulants and drink plenty of water a few days before travelling. This helps with jet lag and also reduces water retention. Even on some short flights you can feel sluggish and look puffy and bloated when you arrive (not a great beach look!)
  

• If your flight is not too early, try and do some stretching before you go to the airport so your body doesn’t feel knotted and tight during the flight

• I always travel with my holistic silk massaging slippers and lavender eye mask (even for short haul flights). The slippers are great for flights as they have magnetic insoles that help with circulation and massage your feet. www.holisticsilk.com

For more advice before you take your luxury spa holiday visit our website!

Happy travelling!
Stella

MEDITATION Comes Out of the Closet

Excuse the pun, but I have had meditation on my mind for quite a while now. As someone who used to meditate at least once a day over 10 years ago, I don’t need convincing about the benefits. So why did I stop? You know how it goes...I convinced myself that I was so busy that I couldn’t find 15 minutes a day to practice something that would help me stay healthy, calm and focused and actually be more productive!

I tried to convince the sceptics around me of the proven benefits, flattening the 60’s image of bearded Indian gurus, mung beans and middle aged hippies sitting cross legged in circles chanting and smoking joints. What a difference 10 years can make in perception and image! It seems that the media machine is working hard as journalists cover the topic in broadsheets and glossy magazines to push meditation into today’s sober baby boomer consciousness. You know why? There are more and more stories being shared by high-powered, top of the power chain execs that meditate as part of their success regimen. Even the medical profession has reached a state of consciousness as the NHS now prescribe meditation to help treat depression, high blood pressure and even diabetes. Scientific research conducted at Harvard and the University of Massachusetts is routinely quoted to prove that this is not some far out practice only for disciples of the Beatles sojourn to India a few decades ago.

So I feel like the universe is telling me to pick up where I left off. I recently discovered www.getsomeheadspace.com which is a good introduction to meditation that you can do online. If like me, you want to a face to face session to start or kick start, check out www.londonmeditationcentre.co.uk.

Here at Wellbeing Escapes are working on a range of meditation holidays, so focus and watch this space.

Stella