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The days get shorter and colder in London, but never mind – there are plenty of wellbeing events happening in the city this autumn. Such as Mind, Body and Spirit Winter Festival, one of the key events in the spiritual scene in the UK. The Baoli team couldn’t miss the chance to go and discover yet another bunch of inspirational brands to bring them to you.

Amongst many dozens of amazing health and wellbeing companies, brands and individuals that were showcased at the Festival, we have carefully picked a few most inspirational ones that we strongly encourage you to try.

Niki’s Organic Balms are simply great to keep your skin moist, soft and happy. And they smell like little pots of sunshine! The secret is in a rich blend of natural organic plant oils and beeswax along with essential oils that help you protect your skin. The products have been developed by professional reflexologists and include a wide range of scents, such as lemon, cinnamon, lavender and rose. A great skin moisturiser that should always be in your purse.

The Baoli has always been a big supporter of ethical businesses so we were glad to discover yet another inspirational ethical brand, jewellery by Kerstin Laibach. Its sustainability credentials are quite impressive -made out of recycled precious metals only; chemical-free crafting; suitable for vegans; 10% of sales donated to wildlife… Atelier Laibach’s holistic approach and meticulous principles assure that every measure is taken to craft the most environmentally balanced pieces. And on top of that, the jewellery is exquisitely beautiful and elegant. Luxury with a clear conscience!

Bedlinen with spiritual powers? Yes! That’s what Ni-Ma is all about. The designs of Ni-Ma bed linens consist of powerful energetic symbols channelled by a known medium and author Nicole Valentine. Each of them has different properties helping replenish your energetic fields. The bed linens are ethically produced in Portugal out of 100% pure cotton. For example, the bed linen with the Ra Na Wa symbol (pictured) gives energy and protection. The Baoli team member hugged a pillow with the symbol and experienced the positive effect first-hand. To replenish your energy whilst asleep couldn’t get any easier!

Tags:   eco-home · events · gifts · natural cosmetics · wellbeing

From a yoga practitioner, to a yoga teacher, to teaching children’ yoga, to specializing in teaching children with special needs to setting up a truly special yoga centre in North-West London and aiming that every UK child had the chance to receive the gift of yoga. Meet Jo Manuel, Founder and Executive Director of Special Yoga Centre, the UK home of The Yoga for the Special Child programme.

What made you decide to get into yoga for children with special needs?
I had been teaching yoga to children for a while before I was introduced to the work of Sonia Sumar, the founder of the Yoga for the Special Child. When I got her book, I knew this was what I wanted to do and more or less got on the next plane out to train with her in the USA.

What can yoga do for children with special needs?
We work with children who have conditions like cerebral palsy - yoga can help them with motor planning and coordination, relaxing tension, pain relief, improved speech. Children with autism become more connected with their bodies, get better at motor planning, self-regulation. Every session is created to support each individual child that comes to us.

Do you provide any support for the parents?
Parenting a child with special needs can be especially difficult, and we support the parents in many ways: free massage, a shoulder to cry on, yoga classes for themselves, a place they can come and be nourished and supported, and also meet other parents.

How many children benefit from Special Yoga Centre services?
Currently we have 20 practitioners of yoga for the special child and we are offering yoga to 550 kids each week.

Do you do any work with schools?
Our yoga practitioners visit around 22 schools weekly. We are also launching a new programme Get Ready to Learn aiming to create calm classrooms whereby children are doing yoga on a daily basis. Our aim is to launch this programme in all mainstream and special schools in the UK and beyond.

What is your vision for Special Yoga Centre?
I would like to see yoga being part of the curriculum in both special and mainstream schools, and us to be a service provider for the NHS. We are looking at monitoring and evaluation programmes to support this. For example, we have a research project in its early stages with UCL and Harvard to look at the benefits of yoga for children with autism.

What is your biggest achievement to date and do you have any more dreams?
I don’t look at my achievements. I am truly delighted that 6 years on the Special Yoga Centre continues to thrive and is positioned to grow and offer its services to more and more children.

What are your secret wellbeing rituals to keep the work-life balance right?
Practise, practise and more practise. I could not do what I do without yoga.  I also take time off with my children to replenish and restore myself.

The Special Yoga Centre is one of the chosen charities for this years OM YogaThon Challenge at The Yoga Show in London Olympia, Saturday 29th October 2011. To find out more and to take part in OM YogaThon and raise money for their charity visit OM YogaThon.

For more information about The Special Yoga Centre and their upcoming events please visit - www.specialyoga.org.uk

Tags:   charity · events · exercise · health · wellbeing · yoga

Every year, when we start carving the pumpkin, I always look out for a great new recipe that will make an exciting treat on our Halloween table. After the success of last year’s ‘Pumpkin Goats Cheese Gratin’ I am happy to share my new find with you. Originating from Riverford Organic you still have a chance to order their organic veg box with a wonderful selection of seasonal squashes and pumpkins, just in time to turn this delicious warm and spicy autumn recipe into your Halloween feast - and don’t forget our exclusive special offer and get yourself a free Riverford Organic cook book.

Ingredients

1-1.25kg wedge pumpkin or butternut squash
1/2 star anise
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon sugar
salt
50g lightly salted butter
2 tablespoons oil
1 small onion
1/2 tablespoon cumin seeds, coarsely crushed
1/2 tablespoons coriander seeds, coarsely crushed
2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
2.5cm piece fresh ginger, peeled and grated
1-2 green chillies, de-seeded and chopped
handful of fresh coriander leaves

1. Peel the pumpkin, discard the seeds and cut into 2.5cm chunks. Place in a saucepan with the star anise, turmeric, bay leaf, sugar and salt. Add 150ml water, bring to the boil, then cover and simmer gently, stirring occasionally until the pumpkin is very tender - about 20 minutes. Do not drain.

2. Just before serving, re-heat the pumpkin. Heat the butter with the oil in a small saucepan over a fairly high heat. Add the onion and fry until golden. Raise the heat and add the crushed cumin and coriander seeds, frizzle for about 20 seconds, then add the garlic, ginger and chilli and cook for about a minute more.

3. Transfer the pumpkin to a warm serving dish, mashing it slightly as you do so and pour over the sizzling butter. Stir lightly to streak the butter into pumpkin, then scatter with coriander leaves to serve.

This recipe is one exception to the rule that pumpkin and squash should not be cooked in water. The liquid becomes an integral part of the spiced puree so no flavour is lost. If there still seems to be a copious lake of liquid when the pumpkin is done, boil hard for a few minutes to reduce.

Tags:   diet · food · nutrition · organic food · recipes

If you are planning to visit The Good Health Show this weekend (15-16 October) in Telford, make sure you come and say hi at our Baoli stand - P72. We would like to have a chat and to welcome all our new members who subscribe to Baoli newsletter during the show, we will enter their names to our BIG PRIZE DRAW for a chance to win one of our current competition prizes. Good luck, it could be you!

The prizes include:

1 Shanti Sundays Gift Set by Shanti Sundays
3 Yogagenda 2012 by Yogagenda
1 Lotus Wei Energy Mists by Being Content
5 Mind Body Spirit Tickets by Mind Body Spirit
5 OM Yoga Magazine Subscriptions by OM Yoga Magazine
3 Baoli Bamboo & Organic Cotton Tees by The Baoli

Tags:   Competition · events · gifts · wellbeing

After receiving this beautiful poem in my inbox, that was written by a dad of a 10 months old baby Rachel who suffers a brain cancer, I turned off my computer and spent a whole day with my gorgeous daughter Maya. We both had lots of playground fun, smiling, reading, playing hide and seek and just enjoying being together - something we should do more often!

TO MY CHILD

Just for this morning, I am going to
smile when I see your face and laugh
when I feel like crying.

Just for this morning, I will let you
choose what you want to wear,
and smile and say how perfect it is.

Just for this morning, I am going to step
over the laundry and pick you up and take you to
the park to play.

Just for this morning, I will leave the
dishes in the sink, and let you teach me how to put
that puzzle of yours together.

Just for this afternoon, I will unplug
the telephone and keep the computer off, and sit with
you in the backyard and blow bubbles.

Just for this afternoon, I will not yell
once, not even a tiny grumble when you scream and
whine for the ice cream truck, and I will buy you one
if he comes by.

Just for this afternoon, I won’t worry
about what you are going to be when you grow up, or
second guess every decision I have made where you are
concerned.

Just for this afternoon, I will let you
help me bake cookies, and I won’t stand over you
trying to fix them.

Just for this afternoon, I will take us to McDonald’s and buy us
both a Happy Meal so you can
have both toys.

Just for this evening, I will hold you in
my arms and tell you a story about how you were
born and how much I love you.

Just for this evening, I will let you
splash in the tub and not get angry.

Just for this evening, I will let you
stay up late while we sit on the porch and count all the stars.

Just for this evening, I will snuggle
beside you for hours, and miss my favourite TV shows.

Just for this evening when I run my
finger through your hair as you pray, I will simply be
grateful that God has given me the greatest gift ever given.

I will think about the mothers and fathers
who are searching for their missing children,
the mothers and fathers who are visiting their children’s
graves instead of their bedrooms. The mothers
and fathers who are in hospital rooms
watching their children suffer senselessly and screaming
inside that little body.

And when I kiss you goodnight I will hold
you a little tighter, a little longer. It is then,
that I will thank God for you, and ask him for
nothing, except one more day…

Tags:   personal · thoughts · wellbeing

Music and yoga go hand in hand for Maya Fiennes. A professional pianist, Maya brings the sound of music and the joy of mantra into her yoga practice. She is a passionate advocate of yoga for everyone and chose Kundalini as her yoga style for its ability to deliver strong and immediate effects to the body, mind and soul.

Maya Fiennes is leading several workshops at The Yoga Show 2011 in London and we had an exclusive opportunity to speak to Maya ahead of the Show.

How did you first get into yoga?
As a classical pianist and performer I was looking for something to help me concentrate. Yoga was a perfect way to achieve that.

What inspires you about Kundalini yoga to other yoga styles?
It is a very direct form of yoga and as such has an immediate and very powerful effect. It balances all my energies and makes me feel alive and strong.

Who are your spiritual teachers and what lesson or wisdom have you learned?
Shiv Charan Singh taught me Kundalini Yoga and he taught me how to just be and make the most of who I am, rather than try to be who I am not.

What is a secret to your wellbeing leading a busy life of an internationally renowned yoga teacher?
To stay focused and organised, making sure I take time for myself to restore my energies.

When did writing your own music come around? Are you a professionally trained musician?
Yes, I was professionally trained as a pianist and studied at the Royal College of Music in London. It feels like I have written my own music all my life.

What part does your music play in your yoga classes?
My yoga is all about my music. I choose songs, chants and pieces according to the kriyas we do and the music helps my students to break through all sorts of barriers. We dance, we sing and we laugh through my classes.

Tell us about your latest DVD ‘The Mantras’. What is your message behind this series?
Again it is about the music. Mantra vibrations have a very powerful effect on our minds, bodies and souls. Mantras can be healing, uplifting, restoring and re-energising. I choose mantras according to what I want my students to achieve, be it “Balancing their hormones” or “Accepting Love”.

Describe to us what’s a typical day of Maya Fiennes like and how do you balance life with work?
I wake up early and do my morning asanas and meditation to give the day a purpose. I have a proper breakfast, with fruit and fibres, as that is very important for the day’s energy. I then get on with my day, get my daughters to school, give private and group classes and have meetings to discuss my DVD productions and other activities.

You have a successful career of an international yoga teacher, you have released musical CDs, yoga DVDs and books. Is there anything else you would like to achieve?
I want my yoga to touch as many people as possible worldwide, so I am now working on a Teacher Training programme for Mayaspace Yoga which will hopefully be released in 2012.

What have you got planned for The Yoga Show in London this October?
I am hosting several Yoga for REAL workshops as to me yoga is about Real Life and how to make it great! The themes will be Yoga for Real Power, Pleasure, Presence and Beauty and in the classes I will do yoga, which gives my students the tools to be stronger, happier, more present and feel beautiful.

For more information please visit Maya’s website: www.mayaspace.com
To book workshop with Maya at The Yoga Show in London go to: www.theyogashow.co.uk

Tags:   events · exercise · health · yoga

This has been our family and friends’ favourite meal and a popular choice by everyone at many occasions, even people who claimed not to eat or like beetroot at all. We prepared this beetroot pasta in many variations, including lasagne, so the choice is yours as the key really is the delicious beetroot & cheese sauce.

My boyfriend calls it ‘his secret’ but since it has been so highly praised by everyone and requests for the recipe have been pouring in I thought it’s about time to reveal it and share this delicious treat with all beetroot lovers out there. Especially, when it’s in season now and you can get a great local produce from your farm or market…

Ingredients

3-4 Beetroot (medium size)
3 Spring onions or 2 Small red onions (or any onion of choice)
1 Goats Cheese
1 Creme Fraiche
Fresh Thyme
Parmesan
Olive Oil
Balsamic Vinegar
Rocket

Beetroot
First you need to cook the beetroot, either roast or boil. We like to roast them whole in a baking dish with a splash of oil and balsamic vinegar until they are nicely cooked and soft. Leave till cool enough for you to peel off the skin and grate into a bowl keeping all those juices. Be aware, you will end up with purple fingers!

Pasta
Get your water on the boil and add the pasta. While it’s cooking start working on your sauce.

Sauce
Soften finely chopped onions in a pan with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, add some fresh thyme leaves. Then add you grated beetroot to the pan with the crème fraiche. Simmer over low heat until the crème fraiche is runny and you have a lovely pink sauce. Add goats cheese chopped into small pieces.

Pasta & Sauce Union
When the pasta is cooked, drain and combine the pasta with sauce. You can either serve up now with some grated parmesan and rocket (the contrast between green and pink looks beautiful) or put the mixture in a nice oven dish with some grated parmesan and place in the oven for 10 minutes to crisp up. Dress with rocket and a drizzle of olive oil before serving at the table.

Tags:   diet · food · nutrition · organic food · recipes

Indian Summer is here and the sun is still shining. Why don’t you make the most of it and get the body feeling more calm and relaxed before the gloomy and cold days of the upcoming season sneak in. It’s great to practice at home or in the garden while the BBQ’s and picnics are still in a full swing.

So what poses does Nisha Gera, a specialised yoga teacher, Reiki practitioner and hypnotherapist, recommends to do when you are busy and haven’t got time to get to a class.

Downward Dog (Adho Murka Svanasana) is one of the best poses to help with digestion, lengthen the spine and release the neck or work the arms and legs. As she likes to say ‘a Down Dog a day keeps the doctor away’.

1. From Childs pose (Balasana) stretch the arms out in front and hands shoulder width apart with the fingers evenly spread.

2. Come onto your hands and knees having the knees directly below your hips and your hands slightly forward of your shoulders. Spread your palms and fingers and turn your toes under.

3. Exhale and lift your knees away from the floor. At first keep the knees slightly bent and the heels lifted away from the floor. Lift the sitting bones towards the ceiling.

4. Then with another exhalation, push your top thighs back and stretch your heels down toward the floor. Straighten your knees and draw up on the knee caps.

5. Firm the outer arms and press the bases of the index fingers actively into the floor. Firm your shoulder blades against your back then widen them and draw them toward the tail bone. Relax the head and release the muscles around the neck.

Always be aware and use props if you have carpal tunnel syndrome, or bend your knees if you have tight hamstrings.

Another fantastic pose to do on a warm day with a little time on hands is Warrior 1 (Virabhadrasana 1) as it feels great to get off your shoes and feel the grass, stone or sand under your feet.

This pose expands the chest to facilitate with deep breathing, relieves stiffness in shoulders and neck, tones the calf muscles and energises and builds up stamina.

Students with shoulder problems should keep their arms parallel and if you suffer neck problems keep looking straight ahead.

1. Stand with feet hip width apart and step the left foot back approx 1-1,5 leg lengths.

2. Keep the right foot pointing forward and then take the heel to the floor. Keep the left foot pointing forward as much as possible with both feet approx hip width apart.

3. Draw back on the right hip, evening the hips parallel to the front.

4. Bend the right knee and lunge into the right leg.

5. Draw muscles up above the left kneecap and move the outside edge of the left foot towards or onto the floor.

6. Extend up through the arms with the palms either shoulder width apart or together.

7. Gaze up past the hands only if the neck feels totally comfortable.

8. Hold and breath for 8-10 breaths and repeat on the left side.

If you would like to learn other yoga poses to benefit your wellbeing, join Nisha for her Yoga & Wellbeing Weekend in Shoreham, Kent on 7-9 October.

Tags:   exercise · health · wellbeing · wellbeing tips · yoga

Surfing in the Isle of Wight can make you stronger and fitter. It can also inspire you to make a positive impact on the world through fashion. This is exactly how the idea of Rapanui was born.

With £200 in the pocket, two university graduates, brothers Mart and Rob Drake-Knight spotted a business opportunity in the fashion industry in the middle of recession. They started an eco-fashion company that won numerous awards for its outstanding traceability. We quizzed Rob about what Rapanui is all about…

What is Rapanui’s eco-profile?
We make clothing from natural and organic fabrics in a Fair Wear Foundation audited, wind powered factory. We make it easier for people to see where clothing comes from and how it is made so they can make informed choices. It’s called traceability.

What can you find out about the product through traceability?
Think about what you’re wearing, where it came from and how it was made. How much energy went into it? What kind of chemicals? Who sewed it together? You can investigate the complete supply chain of all our products.

Do you think it’s really important to people where their clothes is coming from?
It’s not that people don’t care – they just don’t know. If they know, they will be able to make an informed decision.

What is your mission?
Fashion has a huge power; we want to turn “eco” into a mainstream trend. Through our brand we are trying to inspire people to help them make more eco-friendly lifestyle choices.

Are you determined to make a world a better place?
If we can inspire people to make wider lifestyle choices in going green, and to spark a change in the industry then I think we have done our job in making a contribution towards sustainability.

Where do you think the future of fashion lies in terms of sustainability?
It’s all about being really open with your customer and giving them the chance to make an informed decision.

What have you got coming up?
We have just launched a new women wear collection: tops, shoes, hoodies and leggings. We are using eucalyptus in it – a fully sustainable raw material.

Do you live eco-friendly live outside of work?
I cycle to work couple of times a week – it’s a 30 mile round trip! I do all the normal stuff like recycling and energy saving. Martin and I are both into sustainable fishing, hunting, we like growing our own food. We are very much into surfing too.

What does wellbeing mean to you?
It’s about the right work-life balance and enjoying every day.

For more information on Rapanui’s traceability and their latest collection, please go to: www.rapanuiclothing.com

Tags:   ethical clothing · sustainability · wellbeing

There isn’t a weekend now I would miss out on the warm invitation of the late summer sunshine and get out to enjoy the nature whether it’s a stroll along the river or a picnic in the ever changing Kew Gardens. Lately, however, I have become to enjoy getting more physical and involve my family too…

My most favourite thing at the moment must be putting the roller blades on and do a few laps inside the Richmond Park while giving my 10 months old baby girl a fun ride in her buggy. We both love it and we even entertain the passers-by who it seems have never seen anything like this before. I find it very strange though because London with its many parks and flat surface offers some of the best locations for this mum & baby fun exercise that has been so popular around Prague where I originally come from for years. Hey, London mums (and dads), it’s time to join in!

You don’t need to be a huge yoga fan to enjoy some of its basic principals whenever and wherever you feel like it. But trust me that taking your shoes off, feeling the fresh grass under your feet and grounding yourself while taking deep breaths, watching the beauty of green trees and blue sky around you and letting your thoughts pass by will do you more good than you may want to admit…standing on one foot or not!

Tags:   exercise · health · personal · wellbeing · wellbeing tips · yoga