After the crazy baby month that was SS13, find peace of mind at the stress free .com of world famous yoga teacher and i-D contributor Nadia Narain.
Even if you don’t do the yoga, and just listen to Nadia Narain’s video and audio yoga and meditation programmes, through headphones at work, her voice and measured instruction is soothing for the soul. Of course that isn’t the point, and you should be inhaling and exhaling, bending and stretching as she tells in order to successfully co-ordinate your mind and body, and rid yourself of the daily grind. Teaching since 1996, Nadia started yoga to help restore the balance in her fast-paced life and her client list now includes Kate Moss, Jools Oliver and Sam Taylor-Wood! (read their testimonials here.) Nadia’s recently relaunched website is a mecca of yoga, scented candles and good-feelings. She runs a blog within the site, offering everything from good-food recipes, to posts about her experiences on 8-day silence retreats and she-power TED talks by Gloria Steinem. Here Nadia tells i-D online about relaxation (complete with 6 minute meditation video), healthy eating and RADICAL ATTENTION during silence spells…
If you only have 10 minutes in the morning or before bed, what’s the best way to use it and relax? In the morning I try and always make sure I have time to not rush, I find being calm in the morning is always a lot more beneficial than trying to get another 10 minutes sleep. I always try and do something in morning even for just 10 mins. Sitting quietly, a little yoga or a walk in the park. In the evenings I’m pretty tired from teaching or trying to manage the new site whilst trying to keep a personal life! Essential to a good night’s sleep is a bath. Light my candles, put the salts and oils in and soak. Sounds so cliche but it works!!
What’s your favourite meal at the moment? Could you share a recipe? My favourite meal at the moment is soft poached egg with buttered kale, barley miso sauce and toasted sesame. This comes from my friend Christoph at rocchus.com.
Recipe:
- Blanch the kale for 5 minutes in boiling salted water. Cool straight away in iced water and dry in a salad spinner.
-Poach a large organic egg in simmering water for 4min.
-Toast the sesame in a dry pan.
-Make the raw barley miso thinner by adding some off the boil water or stock
-Heat up the kale in a good amount of grass fed butter
- Put it all together on a Sunday morning.
There’s a piece about silence retreats on your website, why is silence good for the soul? The silence sounds daunting if you haven’t tried it, And even when you have it still is pretty intense. But what it does is the most incredible thing for your whole system. It slows everything down. Your whole nervous system gets a break. You pay attention to all the craziness that goes on in your head. You start to be more attentive and focused. One of the best terms I learnt this year after doing a dozen silent retreats is RADICAL ATTENTION. Just paying attention. Rather than trying to do 10 things at once. Eating, talking and walking and seeing that if you took time to do each thing you do it better. It creates SPACE in your head and that allows for much more creativity. And when you are quiet you notice your surroundings more, rather than being bombarded with information and being in your head, you pay attention to nature and your heart. It’s a good feeling. Especially these days when computers, phones, twitter etc keep us constantly occupied. I was watching an interview with Gloria Steinham and she said, “I was in a taxi and my I phone didn’t work so I was thinking instead!”
For details of classes, to buy candles, DVD’s and CD’s and for peace of mind, visit nadianarain.com
Text: Sarah Raphael
Image (top): Nadia with friend celebrating New Year, by Mario Sorrenti
Image (bottom): Nadia with her goddaughter, printed in SOUL
