Friday 28 August 2015

Magical forest hike today. #paulssonpaleo #simlångsdalen #barefootsandals #mudbetweentoes


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Yoga Teacher Training AKA Boot Camp

Where should I begin???

I am training as a Hatha yoga teacher and I have just returned from my first nine days of yoga teacher training at Yogayama in Stockholm. The experience was overwhelming, to say the least. It was hard work, fun, tiring, challenging, humbling, thought-provoking and so much more.
Lidingöbron before 7am
The days started with an eight km long cycle for a 7:30am start; 2.5 hour long yoga session with chanting, kriyas (cleansing techniques), pranayama (breathing techniques), meditation and asanas (physical yoga). 10am breakfast, followed by lectures, discussions and technique, and lunch in-between. At times, it was hard to keep focused, but mostly, it was so interesing that the time flew by till it was time to cycle, legs aching, back to where I was staying.
10am chia pudding breakfast in the sun.
During our nine days, we were drilled in sun salutations, learning hand/foot placement, which muscles to engage and how to make our (and others') practice safe. Then we learned about many other aspects of yoga and being a yoga teacher; history, philosophy, chakras, pranayama, meditation, kriyas, pedagogy and anatomy. I felt so fortunate to be surrounded by kindred souls and learning from such amazing teachers. Everything was interesting and intriguing, but I was surprised that philosophy was the most thought-provoking.
Sitting on the floor, taking it all in.
"Yoga Chitta Vritti Nirodaha" or "yoga is the cessation of the fluctuations of the mind". In other words, you do yoga to achieve stillness of the mind and you aim to stop identifying yourself with your thoughts. For me personally, this means that I understand that my thoughts are not what define me as a person and that just because I am thinking something, it doesn't mean that it is the truth. This is really difficult for me, as I am a very introvert person and I have chat going on in my head all the time! I could go on and on about this, but I'll leave that for a face-to-face discussion in future.
Perfecting the downward-facing dog
The potentially scariest part of the training was starting to guide my fellow trainees through yogic breathing and sun salutations. There were so many things I wanted to impart on my pretent class and I was scared to forget something. Apparently, I did alright and didn't forget too many things, but I definitely need to practice more - watch out everyone in my proximity!
Warrior I on the roof terrace.
Now I am back home at PaulssonPaleo HQ, doing my own yoga practice and homework, and I am looking forward to the next installment of yoga boot camp in a couple of weeks!

Two little jars of goodness! #homemade #selfsufficient #rhubarbchutney #sauerkraut #fermentation #paulssonpaleo #paleolifestyle #gift #blog #movetoSWE


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Thursday 27 August 2015

The Mills Visit

Off foraging…yay! (image: N.D.Mills)
We had Family Mills pay us a visit in the middle of their Swedish Summer Road Trip from Gothenburg to Mora. It was great to see them all again, especially as Tora had a couple of friends, Freya and Hugo, to mess around with for a couple of days.

Grilling meat.
The weather was fantastic and we were outside everyday, walking, foraging, swimming, and BBQ'ing - all in all a great couple of days. Whilst we grilled meat on the fire pit, we finally made good use of the rustic log table we made with Liz and Laurence (guests in June!). It was great and blends in perfectly with the natural surroundings.

The Table.


Wednesday 19 August 2015

Monday 17 August 2015

Double, Double Toil and Trouble. Fire Burn, and Cauldron Bubble.

There is no fire involved in what we are making, but there are loads of jars of vegetables bubbling away in our kitchen and we are bubbling with excitement!
We are currently planning our courses for this fall and first off is a foundation course in fermenting. We are chopping, stomping and researching, ready for the 6th and 19th of September. Check it out on our website here.

Friday 14 August 2015

Monday 10 August 2015

Self-Sufficiency Update

So, I thought I'd give an update on the self-sufficiency project we have going on... I don't know about the rest of Europe, but we probably experienced the coldest and windiest spring in living memory in Sweden. We had to keep reminding ourselves of this, so that we didn't get discouraged by the slow progress in the vegetable patch. It is only when our fellow vegetable growers complained about losing two thirds of their squash plants in the cold that I could relax and think "it is not just me or the land that can't grow vegetables!"
Beautiful rainbow chard
Up until the middle of July, we had some lettuce, onion tops, chives and radishes from the vegetable patch. Nothing else was done yet, regardless of how many times a day I inspected progress.
Parsnips for a fermentation experiment
Everything has started ripening now and August seems to be our month! Carrots, parsnips, courgettes, potatoes, cabbages are all doing great and we are finally able to be self-sufficient for our vegetable needs. Hooray! We'll see how long we can go on.
Our hens have finally started laying eggs again after aaages. Two were looking after chicks and one was just broody. We are far from self-sufficient on eggs, but with with the addition of two hen-chicks hatched this year, we will be a little bit closer next year. For now, we will just enjoy their quirky company and thank them for the great fertiliser.
Finally! Keep the eggs coming!
Foraging has been really successful with blueberries coming out of our ears and Mamma Paulsson finding mushrooms in the woods. The lingonberry season is just starting and there are more mushrooms on their way. Exciting times ahead.
This was just the start of the blueberry frenzy

This is what I wrote in April: Self-Sufficiency in Kannesten.

Carrot of the day. Purple dancer. #paulssonpaleo


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