Beautiful Books about Plants and Herbalism

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The more I learn about Yoga and Ayurveda the more I want to deepen my knowledge and connection to plants and our planet. From nutrition to botany to herb drying. From creating herbal soaps and shampoos to cultivating a herb garden for tea and remedy making. To learning the symbolic and folklore meaning of flowers and plants to learning how to dye clothes with plants. As well as wishing to study both a herbalism course and botanical illustration diploma one day; needless to say I’ve been doing a lot of self study on the world of plants and how to bring them into my every day life- I’ve even been trying to learn how to make a traditional Canang Sari which is a Balinese flower offering. I’d love to swamp my home with house plants, herbs and botanical illustrations too.

Until then, I am collecting books to read and here are some lovely books I recommend any plant lover would love on their shelves.

Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer

    This is a beautiful book that straddles the place between scientific research and indigenous wisdom. The author narrates the book and her down-to-earth storytelling is personable and sweet. She has such a wonderful way of teaching the science of how a whole variety of plant life lives and adapts in the world, while seamlessly blending in indigenous stories and commentary on climate change and environmentalism. She holds all the feelings in one handwoven basket – the fear and frustration at the decimation of so many species, the awe at how other species have adapted, and her own vulnerabilities and hopes about the future. It’s like taking a long nature walk with a very wise friend, who points out the beauty and resourcefulness of the plant life all around us.

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    Manifesting the Home and Love I want

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    It all started with a film and a book. I didn’t realize back then at the age of 15 when I watched “Practical Magic” how much of an impact it made upon me and how I envision my life. It sounds rediculous to say that a movie inspired how I wished to live, but actually it gave me a visual map or a basic mood board on what lifestyle I wanted to manifest when I grew up. In many ways I knew early on that I wanted to be a sort of earth mama, not necessarily be a stay-at-home-mum but to just be more present as a mum (if I become a mum), but even if I physically don’t become a mother to my own children, I am still a nurturer to other things and other beings.
    I definitley see myself surrounded by dogs, a black cat and numerous house plants to care for as well as a herb garden and a bee hive.

    You all know of my 5 year plan which has now come to completion. I’m very well traveled, I’m also qualified as a yoga teacher, women’s circle facilitator and reiki practioner with knowledge on mental health, nutrition and counseling skills. I’m now right there at the top of that mountain that I’ve climbed for 5 years and I see another mountain to climb in order to manifest the greater life picture.

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    Magic in the Mundane: An illustrated short story

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    Illustrations of an Elephant Hawk Moth &  Broad Bordered Bee Hawk Moth.

    I’ve spent the last two months living in a tree house surrounded by jungle and fireflies and an orchestra of frogs singing crooked lullaby’s to the skies to send the thunderstorms to sleep. I lived with a goddess who wore a dress made of forests and with eyes so deep like worlds within world within worlds. And whose name reminded me of trinkets and raindrops. A hummingbird dances around her heart when she smiles.
    We laughed. We cried. We had morning tea together and turned the pan black by accidentally burning the rice in our cupboard-like kitchen that we shared with a friendly gecko.

    I managed to convince new friends on the yoga teacher training that I am indeed a mermaid and that my sea coloured dress morphs into a tail at night and that the fireflies following me turn into silverfish that swim in the air and circle around me when the moon is fat. When I sleep I am taken back to the ocean by a humpback whale who navigates the way with a lantern and her brass compass.

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    My 200hour Yoga Teacher Training with Jai Wellness

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    It’s November 2018 and the summer months before was a time when everything in my old life, fell apart. I had been waiting, saving and planning for a few years to make certain dreams manifest and now was the time. I’ve just turned 33 and I’m living back at my Dad’s house with my belongings in boxes, I’m feeling depleted with low self worth, yet I spend every day attending the local leisure centre’s gym to keep busy, prepare my body and visit the library to research which yoga teacher training I felt called to do? It seemed like the necessary next step to encourage me to change my life.

    I initially had other ideas which I believed I was dead set on on at the time, over the past few years I was planning on doing my training on a Thai island; until I discovered Jai Wellness. This company piqued my interest because they advertised as a Holistic yoga teacher training with the inclusion of Ayurveda. With my love of holistic education, creative therapies and alternative medicine plus my basic knowledge of Ayurveda and my growing passion for nutrition and Herbalism, this training seemed to tick all the boxes and bring all the things I love together as one. How unique and magical?! I believe soon after being in contact with the lead teacher, reading a little bit more about the training, checking dates and discussing everything with a close friend; within a week of finding Jai Wellness I quickly secured my place with a deposit. It all happened so fast and it felt serendipitous.

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    Reiki Training Level 2 with Joanna Lewins

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    I was in Bali for two months to do two life changing courses. Leaving 10 boxes of belongings in my mum’s attic and only taking two small suitcases of essentials with me, I left England late February with a flexible plan and an open heart. I was already booked onto the Women’s Circle training which lasted ten days in Ubud and then I went on to do my 200 hour yoga teacher training in Canggu for 22 days.

    Then something unexpected and amazing happened. I found the courage to miss my return flight, extended my visa so that I may stay in Bali for another month and I returned to Ubud with a new friend who was my roomate on the teacher training. Janie and I had a general plan to be site seeing buddies for two weeks before we go our separate ways. Residing back in Ubud and staying back at Gerebig Bungalows one morning I am checking my social media platforms and discovered that a Reiki therapist and teacher that I love, Joanna Lewins, was holding a Reiki Level 2 training in Ubud, on the day I was supposed to catch my return flight and she was facilitating it literally ten minutes away from where I was staying!

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    Ubud: Gerebig Bungalows

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    Finding accomodation in Ubud, Bali can be both easy and have its challenges too. It all depends on your budget, if you have no problem renting out a luxurious villa for yourself or group then you will see a variety of places to choose from and this is because Bali has sky rocketed to fame due to Elizabeth Gilbert’s “Eat. Pray. Love” so this means prices have shot up too. Bali is still cheap in comparrison to Western standards however a lot of Western business owners living in Bali expect tourists to pay Western prices. Most budget travellers will struggle to find something lovely that isn’t a hostel and isn’t close to Ubud town centre. My advice would be to find accomodation owned by locals, prices will be reasonable and you are supporting a Balinese family who will most likely love and care for you much more than the Western businessman who is only after making a profit.

    After many hours researching, I found the perfect place- Gerebig Bungalows! The price is reasonable, its architecture is based on traditional Balinese huts, breakfast can be included in the price if you wish and that includes an array of fruits, pancakes, cooked spinach, egg with toast and so on. Scooters are available to hire, airport transfers can be booked and the managers can also assist you in planning day excursions.

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    Best Friend Adventure to Bali

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    Since last summer of 2018, I was already planning my trip to Bali to do two trainings that were pretty much back to back. The first one was another women’s circle training with the Be Woman Project and the second was to finally do my yoga teacher training. The reason I wanted to do another women’s circle training with my teacher Sharada is because even though the first training I did with her in Ibiza was life changing, I felt I needed to deepen my knowledge a little bit more. Since it was on a work exchange contract I spent some of my time needing to help assist in the training whereever help was needed, whether that was in the kitchen, making social media content or tidying up the altars. I felt that if I was going to go on to lead my own women’s gatherings, I need to really consentrate and be fully in the moment.

    Finding out my teacher is running a women’s circle training in Bali got me thinking to do my yoga teacher training there as well so I kill two birds with one stone and enable myself to live in another country to really intergrate with the culture and feel settled. But that’s another story for another blog post….

    My best friend Nicola has done so much for me over the years and although she has never asked for anything in return, I have always felt guilty for being unable to give back. I’ve always wanted to be there for her the way she has been there for me. Since, as a musician she performs and organizes a women’s performance night once a month called “We Want Women”, I felt she’d truly enjoy and deserve a spot on the women’s circle training happening in Bali and it would be a fantastic opportunity to have a best friend holiday since we’ve never been able to do anything like that together.

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    Belly Dance Video to Istanbul Grooves

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    It has been a while since I show cased my belly dance practice and I felt called to have a playful practice at my local gym who kindly let me use one of their studio spaces one Sunday afternoon as no classes were on at that time. I had two hours to myself to be in the moment and unabashedly move my body. To me body movement is a form of creativity, the body is a living sculpture and it is important celebrate what it can do, its a marvellous machine to explore life in!

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    Imbolc Blessings and Intentions

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    “May the blessing of the rain be on you; the soft sweet rain.
    May it fall upon your spirit so that all the little flowers may spring up, and shed their sweetness on the air.
    May the blessings of the great rains be on you, may they beat upon your spirit and wash it fair and clean, and leave there many a shining pool where the blue of heaven shines, and sometimes a star.”- Traditional Irish blessing.

    We now return to Imbolc, light a candle in a private corner of your home. Bring your face close and let its flame dance its teasing warmth across your skin. Track your breath, slow, slow in and slow, slow out, relaxing ever deeper into the physical movements of your body with breath.

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    Vietnam: Sa Pa

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    After spending four days in Ninh Binh for Christmas we took a sleeper bus to the Indo-China mountains, also known as Sa Pa. Sleeper buses are freaking amazing and we should have them here in the UK. The beds are comfortable and my inner child joyfully enjoyed knowing I’m sleeping comfortably on a bus! Imagine if we had sleeper buses from Scotland to Cornwall, and you’d wake up to your destination!

    Sa Pa was a place Jon really wanted to get to, considered a very special place by travellers because how many people can say they’ve visited the Indo-China mountains? Due Vietnam being a very long country, the weather tends to differ all year round depending where you are. For us traveling in December, the south of the country was beautiful and hot but the north was bitterly cold, even colder than the UK. We were not fully aware how cold it would be or that in Sa Pa, no hotel that we found had central heating which made our stay feel even chillier.

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