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Picture a leisurely getaway, the gorgeous late spring warmth and sunshine on your skin as you take part in a beachside morning yoga class before revelling in the delicious heat of a detoxifying sauna, drinking a fresh green juice and then sinking into massage heaven and relaxing by the indoor or outdoor pool for the rest of the afternoon. Sound like much needed bliss?

Infrared Sauna = ultimate relaxation

You’d be forgiven for thinking I’m talking about a Balinese retreat. Thankfully this one is closer than you think! We are incredibly lucky to have Leisa from Embracing Health Retreats making the trip over to WA to host one of her world renowned 8 day ultimate wellness and relaxation retreats in Busselton from the 23rd of November til the 1st of December.

Leisa is a leading Australian naturopath, live and whole (raw) foods expert, fatigue specialist and detoxification expert who is dedicated to making you feel vibrantly alive and renewed during her retreats.

The retreat is being held at the local Grand Mercure Apartments at Geographe Bay, Busselton in November, and offers a week of fun, relaxation and world class health education.

An example of the amazing raw food that will be giving you loads of energy!

“My passion”, says Leisa, “is to bring together groups of people and teach them how they can use everyday foods to improve their health. With the rise of chronic diseases such as obesity, Type 2 Diabetes, heart disease, and cancer, there has never been a more important message than how what you eat can change your life.”

And changing lives is what the Embracing Life! Retreat is all about.

So what does this amazing oh-my-god-book-me-in-right-now retreat include?

♥ Luxury accommodation for eight nights
♥ All food and drinks from Friday evening to Saturday morning
♥ All activities including Yoga classes
♥ Two x one hour healing therapeutic massages
♥ Two food preparation classes with our Raw Food Chef Extraordinaire
♥ One magical Art Therapy or Sound Healing Class
♥ A Wu Tao Dance Class
♥ Unlimited use of Sunlight Sauna (bliss!)
♥ Unlimited use of resort facilities
♥ Options for booking extra Day Spa treatments and Colonic Irrigation where applicable
♥ All workbooks and lecture notes
♥ A gift bag on arrival containing lots of free goodies valued at over $100!

Check out the Embracing Health website for more details, including cost and how to book in!!

And tell me…

Have you ever been on a retreat before or wanted to? Did it change you in any way?

I’d love to hear from you! 🙂

Be well,

Annette

xoxo

This is a sponsored post.

Sometimes you see something inspiring, and just want to share it immediately so that everyone can feel the way you felt when you saw it. These two videos evoked one of those moments.

A beautiful testament to yoga, love and connection – check them out if you want to be inspired, and let me know what you think!

This first one has been around for quite some time:

The second one just came out last week & shows the yogini in the first vid, with her husband along for the trip this time too:

I want to be this flexible some day!

Anyone think they can give these guys a run for their money?!

Be well,

Annette

xoxo

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The power of positive thinking has resurged in recent times thanks to ethically dubious sources such as Rhonda Byrne’s The Secret, as well as a far more pleasant upsurge in wellness exercise programs like Yoga and Tai Chi. Anyone who has participated in something as common as a Yoga program can attest to the focus on wellbeing and inward calm – processes like breathing exercises, guided meditations and the setting of intentions are all wound up in the Yoga experience, and I think we can all agree that the feeling of a decent Yoga class is one of the more dizzily euphoric – perhaps topped by tripping and falling into Jeremy Renner’s lap. Maybe.

One of the more pleasantly materialistic side effects of this popularity is the product focus – beautiful LuluLemon exercise gear, indestructible branded yoga mats, even homewares with definite Eastern slants have flourished, and one of the more beautiful and enjoyable sides of this is jewellery – Yoga/Wellbeing specific jewellery, created with precious stones and with the intent to focus and improve the outlook of the wearer.

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Ananda Designs is the brainchild of the charming and lovely Christina Zipperlen, dividing her time between Bali and Perth while designing and overseeing the creation of her pieces. She collected stones as a child, and inherited two special pieces from her mother, inspiring her further studies into semi-precious stones and their meanings. The fruits of her labor are stunning, handcrafted pieces with stones relating to their unique functions – to restore wellbeing, to detoxify and cleanse, and to balance.

“My daily yoga practice has become a very special time in my day, allowing me to deeply connect with myself and just be, and leaving me with such a beautiful feeling of inner peace. My wish is to spread this feeling to everyone who wears my jewellery.” – Christina

♥ The gorgeous Christina

And Yoga laces the whole way through the collections: Yoga-centric terminology like “Shanti” and “Santosa” reappeared through the product listings, and as an additional dose of sweetness, all the rings bear the word “love” engraved into the inside band. It’s a gorgeous touch and bears testament to the level of detail and work that goes into each piece. Additionally there are detailed listings of the chakras and their aligning stones, to help a buyer more specifically target their custom made piece.

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Of particular interest (personally) are the Malas – a long chain of stone beads that accompany a traditional priest or monk in prayer, in much the same way as rosary beads are used. There are a pre-determined number of stones for the short and long lengths, and the effect is truly gorgeous. Definitely at the top of my shopping list.

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The pieces are created in Indonesia and Bali, 10% of each sale going to the Sacred Childhoods Foundation, an organisation preventing child trafficking and prostitution. Similarly the stones are sourced from ethically viable sources, and it’s rather nice to have such good intentions surrounding a piece of jewellery. It also helps that they’re beautiful.

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Ananda Designs has a brand spanking new website, and a corresponding Facebook page. I think my yoga practice would benefit from a Mala. Yep, definitely.

Have you heard of yoga inspired jewellery before? Keen to incorporate some into your routine? Leave a comment below!

Article by Suzanne from Don’t They Know Who I Am?

Be well,

xoxo

♥ Beautiful Purple Kale!

Hola! So, how ’bout this weather we’ve been having? I’m a big rain fan – so long as I’m warmly tucked up inside, complete with dressing gown, socks and a cup ‘o herbal tea. Venturing out into it is another story.

These past few weeks I’ve been flu-stricken and in the final two weeks of my Public Relations course, as well as having taken on an internship at an agency 2 days a week. Needless to say things have been HECTIC and I haven’t been able to update as much as I’d like. That doesn’t mean we’ve been laying dormant though, we have SO many exciting things in the works… so as always, stay tuned, and check out the wonderful bits and pieces that have been rocking my little wellness world this week! Xo

♥ Purple Kale

Pictured above is the cruciferous vegetable of my eye this week, the delightful purple kale. When I spied this beauty at The Boatshed Market in Cottesloe on the weekend, I could not contain my excitement! Granted, the whole trip to Boatshed was exciting as I’d never been there before and it is just AMAZINGLY well stocked with fresh produce. Pricier than your average store, but I feel like it’s worth it.

This violet vegetable has been on many adventures this week, being mixed into a smoothie one day, gently steamed the next and is about to be made into some delicious kale chips! A+++. Love me some alterna-kale.

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♥ CNR Cafe Vegan Breakfast

My new favourite. So many vegan, vegetarian and raw options at CNR that your mind just might explode! The vegan breakfast (above) is in-cred-ible, and it’s available til 3pm all week. Including Sundays. I will be doing a proper review of it shortly, but it is definitely one of my new faves to head to when I have some extra pennies in my pockets. The vegan brekky is $18, so not the cheapest morning eats in town, however it is insanely delicious and filling, features macadamia & pepper nut cheese, house made beans, toasted ciabatta, pan fried mushrooms and tomatoes, caramelised onions AND potato chippy things.

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They also do a killer green smoothie, breakfast of vegan champions! Check them out.

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♥ Stuart Watkins’ Bali Yoga Retreat

If you’re looking for an incredibly inspiring yoga filled getaway, then look no further. Join Stuart Watkins for 7 days and 6 nights on the north-east coast of Bali at Villa-Boreh with daily yoga, sun drenched relaxation and an array of soul nurturing activities including jungle treks, secret waterfall visits, hot springs and dolphin hangouts! Vegetarian and vegan meals will nourish your body, yoga will nourish your spirit. Find our more details here!

What’s inspiring you this week? Please feel free to share with me and spread the crush-love!

Be well,

Annette

xoxo

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Good Friday in Kings Park, amongst the picnicing families and children hyped up on chocolate, was the location for the first of two Flow Yoga events hosted by Stuart Watkins – yogi extraordinaire – to raise money for the charity Africare.

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About 50 people turned up to support the cause by taking part in THREE HOURS (!!!!) of yoga, meditation, dancing and heart-opening.

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The array of delicious and nourishing treats available on the day was fantastic. Organic juices from Found, vegan raw food bites from Raw Rev, Goji berries & cacao nibs from Loving Earth, water from Antipodes and an amazing raw cheesecake from The Raw Kitchen to finish things up!! Not to mention some home made coconut bliss balls.

♥ RAW MAPLE, CINNAMON AND APPLE CHEESCAKE! ♥

Here is a video from the day that’s just surfaced too! Brings back nice memories 🙂

The event was beautiful, some Wellness WA readers and writers came down and we all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. I highly recommend everyone attend the second one, details can be found here!

Be well,

Annette

xoxo