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Halloween Post: Do Something that Scares You

23/10/2018

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I actually really dislike Halloween. I never liked dressing up as a child, I hate face paint and makeup. And I get nervous knocking on people's doors even if they're expecting me. Not to mention the mockery it makes of All Souls and the remembrance of the dead. Oh well, an excuse to talk about being scared.

Another thing I hate is scary movies - I'm prone to vivid dreams and horror films only encourage nightmares. However, I am a big fan of doing things that scare me in other ways. I was reminiscing with my friend Rebekah recently about when we did a bungee jump for my 28th birthday. I still get an anxious feeling in my chest when I think about standing with my toes over the edge of the high platform, with my ankles tied together by an elastic band. I can still relive every moment: the few seconds of free-fall, the rope stretching, the ground rushing closer, the doubt in my mind, and a scream escaping my lips. Then the bounce. I knew I was safe as I soared upwards, only to plummet once again. The adrenaline, the sense of achievement at over coming my fears, and ticking something off the bucket list - that's what I loved about it. 
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There's definitely a difference between the bungee jump kind of fear - where your rational mind knows that there are numerous safety measures and the person that went before you was fine, but your instinct tells you it's crazy - and the fear of going on your first solo trip, starting a new job or going somewhere you've never been before. I remember the feeling of dread as I watched the ground disappear through the plane window on my very first long haul flight alone. 11 hours of solitude to contemplate exactly why I was going to a strange and vaguely dangerous country alone. It was a similar feeling to starting a new job. The doubts creep in. Am I good enough to do it? Will I make any friends? Will I get lost? Look silly? Am I wearing the right clothes? Even going to a new yoga class makes me scared! I worry I won't know the regular routine of collecting blocks, cleaning mats or even which way to set up my mat.
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So why do it? If these experiences induce so much fear then why bother? Well, firstly it is impossible to entirely avoid an experience that scares you. And as we know, practice makes perfect - so the more times you do something that scares you, the better you'll get at dealing with it. That's not to say that the experience is any less scary - only that you know you managed before, so you'll have more confidence that you'll manage again. Secondly, once you get over the scary part, the thing you're doing is hopefully worth it! After my traumatic 11 hour flight (I tried to drink myself to sleep with gin and white wine but just ended up tearing up at all the films I watched), I looked after super cute baby monkeys, met wonderful people and saw giraffes on safari. The second yoga class is always less scary than the first because you know where things are and you can enjoy the experience of practising with a new teacher with fresh perspectives and ideas. As for starting a new job - every day you get to prove how good you are and every day you'll get a little less lost (teaching in a big secondary school where all the floors look the same takes a little longer, I assure you). 
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Thinking rationally, you can view being scared as a kind of cost/benefit analysis. What will I gain for going through the fear? Is it worth it? For many people, the buzz of a bungee jump is not worth the money, hassle and shear terror of actually jumping. And for some people, seeing wild animals on safari isn't worth flying alone to South Africa. That's ok, you don't have to be an extreme adventurer all the time. Whether it's going on a Tinder date (oh the fear! What if we don't recognise each other? What if she's a complete maniac? What if she looks at me and runs away?!), asking for help at the gym, getting lost in a new city and asking for directions - give it a go. How else are you going to find your perfect partner/know what those machines are for/find your way to your hostel?

​But what about 
joining a new club? You'll be nervous the first time, you might get lost, not know where to put things and need to ask for help. But being part of a new community is well worth that initial step. If you're the kind of person that finds new situations difficult then you can work at getting better. I used to get self conscious dining alone. What if people think I'm a loser and haven't got any friends? The truth is, most people won't even look at you, let alone think you're a loser. Bring a book and a notebook and busy yourself with people watching or reading. I know I go on about this, but JOIN A CLUB! Cycling from London to Windsor sounds quite daunting doesn't it? Join a cycling club and most of the planning is done for you and there'll be people around if something doesn't go entirely smoothly. (Search Pedalling Girl Gang on Facebook if you identify as female and want to actually cycle to Windsor). 

Don't let fear stand in the way of trying something new and awesome! Whatever level of scared you're at, challenge yourself to do something you really want anyway. London-based folk are welcome to join me on adventures so we can be scared together. Keep an eye on my facebook page for events, or contact me using the form above. Let me know what scares you - comment below.
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Race day tips: Royal Parks Half Marathon

17/10/2018

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After the Royal Parks Half on Sunday 14th October 2018 I’ve now completed five half marathons, two 10ks and a full marathon. All the events have been very varied but these race day tips apply to them all.


  • Plan your fuel - I don’t usually eat before I run in the morning but the distance and the extra time everything takes means I need to eat on race day. On Sunday I had a small bowl of cereal with soy milk and a black coffee about 2.5 hrs before the start time. That’s enough time for digestion to get started before the running does. Try not to eat anything you’ve never tried before as you don’t know how your body will take it.



  • Arrive early - you don’t want to add to your stresses by arriving to the event as you need to be lining up. There are usually queues for bag drop and toilets and parking may take longer than you think. There were loads of loos in Hyde Park on Sunday but I still had to wait ages!



  • Stick to the plan - during your training you should have worked out what pace you want to go at. I was aiming for 1:50 so knew I needed to run at about 5:10 per kilometre. Again, plan nutrition. I don’t use gels or anything for a half marathon but try them out in your training to see if you want to use them.
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  • Stretch and refuel afterwards - I almost always forget this! There’s so much going on at the end and you’re so pleased to have finished that stretching gets forgotten. I remembered on Sunday and felt pretty much fine on Monday. I always bring my own snacks to refuel but you usually get given free goodies. I recommend a vfuel protein shake to hydrate and support muscle recovery as well as dried fruit for some sugar. My stomach can’t take too much too quickly after a long run so I eat little and often for the rest of the day.
  • Enjoy - if you’re like me then you may put pressure on yourself to achieve certain times. All the hard work leads to one chance to get a good time. Be organised and you’re more likely to enjoy it, stick to your plan and you should run the time you’re capable of. And if you’re slower than you want to be or something goes wrong? Well, there’s always next time.


I hope these tips help. What do you find helpful on race day? Or what is a mistake you’ve learnt from? Let me know, comment below!

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Tough Mudder: mud, team work and bamboo kit

10/10/2018

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My sister Alice told me she'd signed up for Tough Mudder and I thought she was mad. "Why would you pay money to get muddy and electrocuted?!" Fast forward a few months and I some how find myself in a field in Surrey doing a (not very good) guided warm up to loud music with a man shouting instructions down a microphone. Oh well, YOLO.

                        ***SCROLL DOWN FOR TOUGH MUDDER TOP TIPS***

My excellent team - You don't make friends with salad - was captained by Tash (the sister of my sister's boyfriend), with Larry (the husband of the sister of my sister's boyfriend), Charles (the friend of the husba....), Tim, Elliott, Alice and I. Thankfully the others had some prior experience and strong muscles. I actually really liked that team work is such a strong element of the event, especially when being hauled over various structures.
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But what to wear for such events? I was kindly given some bamboo activewear by Bamboo Clothing - and wore cropped leggings and socks made of the softest bamboo fibres. My leggings were super flexible (great for lifting one's feet when clambering over high things), and were thick enough to provide some protection when crawling along the floor under barbed wire (sounds really fun doesn't it?). The socks are like wearing little, fluffy clouds surrounding my feet - which was great for the 10.2 miles of trail running. I enjoyed the wooded footpaths that made up the course, and amazingly didn't have any trouble with blisters despite having wet feet almost the whole time. I also wasn't sure if I'd ever get them clean but they washed up just fine and don't look any worse for it. I *heart* bamboo socks.

Watery obstacles were frequent and ranged from ducking under large tubes, sliding into ice water, swimming (only because I couldn't do the monkeybars - new life goal I think) and jumping from a 5 metre high platform. I'm not a natural water baby and found these obstacles the toughest. I only jumped from the platform because Tim was shouting at me! And I was really grateful to a fellow mudder for guiding me under the large tubes. The bamboo socks did a great job, but the leggings retained the water for longer than synthetic materials, encouraging me to run faster to warm up.

The parts of the event I enjoyed the most were the more physical challenges involving team work. I was particularly proud of giving a strange man a piggyback! Being hoisted over walls by Charles and Elliott and helping Tash and Larry carry a large log was a bonding experience. The final obstacle - Human Pyramid - was impossible to complete without help from others. We splashed into the water at the bottom of the slippery slope (yes more water) to give a leg up to another mudder reaching her team. Once we'd worked out a strategy, everyone helped everyone else to the top even though we were all exhausted.

Why would you pay good money to slide around in mud, get electrocuted, bruised, soaked, ruin your clothes and spend the rest of the weekend exhausted? Because the sense of pride at the end is enormous. Because the sense of achieving something as a team feels good. And facing a challenge and overcoming it is what I love to do.

TOUGH MUDDER TOP TIPS
  1. Fuel and refuel - have a good breakfast. You'll get a few snacks (don't worry, vegan ones) but you'll be active for three or four hours. Refuel at the end. I had a VFuel UK protein shake as soon as I could, to aid muscle recovery.
  2. Kit - trail shoes are a huge asset. They will allow you to grip even during the slippery paths. But don't bring anything you don't mind getting potentially ruined (my old trail shoes went through the wash and are now fine).
  3. Friends - it's all about team work. Pick some good mates or volunteer for the chance to make new friends.
  4. Enjoy - don't want to do a particular obstacle? You don't have to. Want some help with being pulled up/pushed over/encouraged/guided under? Ask anyone. 
  5. Book early! - Tough mudder isn't cheap to enter, and it gets more expensive the closer you get to event day. Book well in advance to get savings.
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Thinking about entering but have some questions? Got any top tips for obstacle courses? Comment below :)
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Yogific Vegan and Yoga Festival, London 6th October 2018 Guest Post!

8/10/2018

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Rachael and I have known each other for years and years and years and... we share a love of travel, music, yoga and yummy vegan food! Rachael had a great time visiting the recent Yogific festival and has kindly reviewed the event for all of us to read. Find links to all those mentioned at the bottom of the post and let us know if you were at the event too.


Rachael is a musician and travels for work on cruise ships. She enjoys sharing her vegan finds on Instagram when travelling and back home in the UK and is passionate about sharing the vegan message. Find her on Instagram here. Rachael writes:

On 6th October, I made the journey down to The Halley Academy in Greenwich, London to attend my first yoga and vegan festival by Yogific. Firstly, I want to say how nice it is to see yoga and veganism together in a joint cause. It's great to see the yoga world embracing veganism. As many students of yoga will know, veganism aligns with Ahimsa, the first of the five yamas from Patanjali's eight limbs of Yoga. Ahimsa translates as non violence. To not cause pain to or kill anyone. It can also be to not cause mental harm as well as physical. One who observes Ahimsa succeeds in eliminating feelings of enmity. So, it is clear that this can extend to non human animals as well as human beings, because at the end of the day, what have animals done to deserve the pain they suffer at the hands of humans? We should all be equals.

So I spent a good 8 hours at Yogific browsing the stalls, attending classes and eating delicious vegan food! The first item on my agenda was a meditation class by Dhriti Mehra, of Vibrance4Life. This was a lovely meditation to start the day and I really enjoyed it. I normally do better with guided meditations (I can't stand sitting in silence trying to quiten the monkey mind!) and Dhriti gave clear and direct instructions in her session. It involved imagining white and pink light; the white to wash the dirt away, and the pink to bring love and energy back to the body. Afterwards, I found her at her stall and she gave me a lot of her time talking through my worries with me. She was so sweet and patient, I will definitely be following her work. She also does holistic massage, homeopathy and shamanism.

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After this I bought a few things from some new companies I hadn't seen before. First up was Iuvo Skincare - an organic, natural and vegan beauty company. Now, there are quite a few companies that use the same tag lines of vegan, organic and natural  popping up these days, but what I liked about Iuvo was their little perfumes which are made from essential oils (no nasties!) which are in a mini roll on tube, making them very easy to apply to your pulse points to give a nice fragrance. I also bought a shampoo bar and deodorant from them, but have yet to try both, so I'll be writing an Instagram post on these at a later date! The products weren't too expensive either considering they are organic - the shampoo bar being £4 and small perfume was £9.

The next stall I came across was Silver Bamboo, which sells natural, cruelty free, vegan eco-friendly products. Phew! Joshna was running the stall and was very friendly and chatty. Now this is where I made a really interesting purchase which could be a bit taboo, but let's talk about it here....reusable menstrual cotton pads! I've been seeing adverts for these pop up all over the place recently and wasn't thinking of giving them a go, as I couldn't see how they could work. But, I had a look and decided to take the plunge with a starter pack. (Ladies can look up the website for further details as I won't go into too much right now!) The awesome thing about buying one of the Eco Femme pads from Silver Bamboo is that they support a women's empowerment project in India. Rural Indian Women's collectives stitch these pads and they are then ethically traded. This means they are available to Indian women at cost price so as to be affordable, and are sold internationally to help sustain the project. And, for every pad sold, a pad is donated via the Eco Femme Pad for Pad program to an underprivileged Indian girl. How awesome is that? I also bought reusable cotton pads for removing make-up - £10 for 8 pads - and a pink glass straw. Groovy!

My next stop was to visit Emma Nissim, a lady who makes lovely ethical clothing from bamboo. She sells mainly T-shirts, tank tops and jumpers in bold colours and they are all printed with animals such as elephants, turtles, owls, butterflies, bees any many more. Each animal has a story behind it too, which is so heartening. The Elephant (which I'm obsessed with) is an Elephant who she saw when visiting Thailand about 8 years ago, and the turtle is inspired by a friend of hers who had rescued a turtle. (That's me modelling the top in the first picture!). Emma has a shop in Greenwich, so I would advise any locals to stop by and visit her shop as I'm sure it will be full of lush clothing!

After a quick hot chocolate (made with rebel mylk) to keep my hunger at bay, I went to a pranayama class. Pranayama - or breath work - is something that I know I need to get back into. I studied yoga last year in India, and pranayama was an important part of our morning session. The passive pranayama work can really help to relax and calm you, so I was glad to be reintroduced to this today by Ravi Dixit,from Ravi Yoga. This fellow was quite interesting and very enthusiastic about teaching pranayama, and once he started saying all those familiar sanskrit words, I felt it all coming back to me. Bhastrika pranayama (breath of fire), Nadi Shodhana pranayama (alternate nostril breathing), even Simhasana (Lion's breath) which I hadn't tried before, all left me feeling revitalised. (Note to self - must start practising pranayama again).

After my pranayama class I met Rebecca from Unity Healing Arts, who did a mini healing session using singing bowls with me. I also attended her class later in the day where she did healing for about 40 of us, which was really wonderful. This lady has travelled the world and seen it all! You can look her up on Instagram as well as her dog, who she saved from the streets of India. She hopes to work with her new pup Indie in healing people. Find her links below to follow her and Indie.
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Food wise, I tried the Indian curry sausage from the company Vausage which was great comfort food. Prices weren't cheap - at £7.50 for a sausage in bun with a few condiments - but the quality is good. And as I write this post, I am eating one (or two) brownies from baked by neelu which are absolutely scrumptious and gooey!

With so many stalls and activities I didn't get round to see everything. However, here are a few more that I wish I'd caught up with: Indicrafts.uk and A Curious Herbal. Indicrafts make cheap harem pants, skirts, scarves and bags in a unique indian style, and A Curious Herbal is run by a lady called Lizzie who practises Reiki and marconics and has a small shop in Greenwich. I will also do a plug for a gentleman who runs his own Thai yoga massage company. I met him a year ago at the Omyoga show and bumped into him at Yogific, he is trained in traditional holistic Thai yoga massage and works in the Sydenham area (can travel to client's homes). He has a special autumn offer of £30 for a 1 hour treatment or £45 for a 90 minute treatment. If you're in that area, please do check him out at spiritualthai.co.uk.

Despite the miserable weather, the Yogific event was thoroughly enjoyable with a small fest vibe - not too crowded but enough people there to see that plenty are engaging with the worlds of yoga and veganism. Yogific will now travel to other places in Britain and Ireland til next April, and past events have been in places such as Holland and even Delhi. After browsing through their past events, I realised that I was meant to visit their event in Kingston last year but wasn't able to go due to a bad toe! I'm so happy that I eventually managed to attend a Yogific event, and by hearing about it through Emma Nissim, thanks Emma!
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I hope Yogific keep spreading the positive message of yoga and vegan together in a harmonious relationship and to inspire people to make the change to making their lives better. Thank you for a lovely day Yogific :)

Links
@vibrance4life, www.vibrance4life.com
@iuvoskincare www.iuvoskincare.com
@silverbamboo www.silverbamboo.co.uk
@unityhealingarts/indietherescuedstreetdog
@bakedbyneelu, www.bakedbyneelu.com
www.indicrafts.co.uk (currently under construction)
@acuriousherbalelixir, www.acuriousherbal.co.uk
Please note these are people and companies that I like myself or purchased from at the festival, and are not advertising or supporting me.
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Seedlings Magazine: vegan food, adventuring and more!

2/10/2018

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Seedling magazine is a brand new ezine covering topics from mindfulness, vegan food, adventuring and much more. I’m delighted to have contributed to the premier issue.


Have a read and let me know what you think. In particular:

What did you like most?


What what you like to see in the next issue?


When are you going on your microadventure and can I come too please?



Comment below!


Download here
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    Hannah the traveller

    is a travel and lifestyle blog with focus on running, vegan eating and of course global travel.

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