MEET EMMA LANDOLT, WELLBEING AND YOGA EXPERT

To launch our Chakra collection, we have partnered up with Emma Landolt, a wellbeing and yoga expert, who is taking over our Instagram page (10th -17 October!) with yoga poses posts to help balance each of our chakra.

Photo Credit | Leyla Ramadan & David Pearson

We asked this beautiful woman and soul to share with us her best wellbeing tips, here are her answers...

What’s your daily routine to a healthy body and mind?

I try to give myself some time every morning to come to myself, even if it’s just 5 or 10 minutes on my yoga mat in child’s pose or sitting on a cushion breathing. Even if my mind is racing and composing to-do lists I try to find some time to watch, listen, come back to the breath, give myself love and compassion and to offer a feeling of gratitude that we are alive, healthy and conscious.

If I do have some me-time then a good hour or so of practise is my highway to a super-good day. Simply finding the awareness to what your body needs and taking as many or as few postures necessary to help you feel more complete. Each day can be different, no rules, no routine, but just taking the time to balance the body, to create calm in the mind and to find peace in the spirit. It really helps us to stay present, grateful and aware throughout the day.

'Give yourself time everyday, even if its 5-10 minutes to be present' (photo credit | layla ramadan)

And when those stressful situations occur as they always do, it reminds us of that place of refuge which we can retreat to and find strength and peace.

Do you have any good 5 minutes remedy to calm down stress?

Yes! You can do this easily sitting in a chair, sitting on the floor or laying down. Place your left hand on your heart and the other at the base of the belly, at the pelvis. Close your eyes. Feel the heat from the palms as you rest your hands on your body. Take deep conscious breaths, over and over. Feel the breath enter the belly, filling the body with fresh positively charged energy. Feel the hand rise as the breath fills the body and feel the body contract as the breath washes away. Feel the breath moving up into the chest and lungs filling the diaphragm with a wave of cleansing life force. Feel the body rise and fall with this wave of energy. Feel through your hands the pulsing of the blood as the heart beats.

Know that your body is wise, intuitive and holds you tenderly. Repeat the mantra “ I am safe. I am loved. I am supported. In this moment I choose peace, I choose rest, I choose ease. In this moment everything is perfect and exactly as it should be. ”. Keep breathing deeply.

Breathe your way back into your body and feel the calmness of peace, rest and ease. Give this process 5 - 7 minutes of your conscious time. It's simple, it works and it realigns your third eye chakra with your heart and base chakra. It gives your mind the break it so desperately needs. It brings peace back to your inner being.

Where did your last Wanderlust take you?

My last trip was in August to Kenya to stay with an interior designer friend on Diani Beach.  It was my first time in Africa and it felt big and ancient and powerful. We spent some blissed out days in our friend’s boutique beach hotel surrounded by white sand, baobab trees and monkeys. It was one of the best beaches ever for yoga! After the beach we went on an incredible Safari in Tsavo East National Park….we watched a pride of lions around our camp in the moonlight!

Photo Credit | Emma Landolt - Safari in Tsavo, Kenya

The problem with wanderlust is that it is never satisfied! I fell in love with Kenya and would like to go back to East Africa as soon as possible! I am planning a yoga retreat at the beach apartments in Diani and then possibly a bit more wanderlust-ing to Tanzania and Mozambique. The more you travel, the more you travel!

Your top destinations to practice yoga and find inner peace?

South Goa. I did my yoga teacher training in Agonda and have returned to teach each year…my yoga heart is there. The beautiful, colourful, spiritual practice of the people, the lovingly tended shrines, the fresh flowers every day, the magical Hindu gods smiling from every wall, the dusty friendly cows ambling along the roads, the chaos, the noise, the spices and incense, the mangos and the coconut palms…nothing else is the same. When I’m there I am home.

Photo Credit | Layla Ramadan - Emma practising the asana Wild Thing in Goa

Failing South Goa, a beach…any beach. To practise beside the sea is for me the most powerful way to connect with nature, joining my breath with the breath of the ocean, and allowing the immense power to instantly bring me back to inner peace.

For more information about our amazing friend Emma visit her website and Instagram page:

http://www.sacredspacestudios.co.uk

https://www.instagram.com/emmalandolt/