Jane Alexander's Blog, page 9

Treadmill versus trail, starring Sportsshoes.com as fairy godmother

So, really, who on earth wants to exercise indoors when the sun is shining? Come to think of it, who wants to exercise indoors at any time?  I mean, which view would you rather have?  This? 

Or this? 

Okay, so I’m very lucky. I live in the most stunning place, but surely anywhere has to be better than a sweaty old gym? 
I’m back for another shot at learning to run (the last couple of attempts ended ingloriously with injury and a lot of sulking) and this time I’m deter...

Magic and memory, the sea and the stones, red and reader...

So, I wanted to go back to Culbone, to the tiny church in an isolated Exmoor valley that helped inspire my first attempt at fiction, Walker.  But memory plays strange tricks and the path I was sure would lead up into the woods, led instead down to the beach... And the pebbles were speckled and spotted, seal-smooth pelts.  And water-washed wood, with all the weight sucked out by tide and time. So we turned back and found the true path, tucked away where it shouldn't be, where it wasn'...

Five flat stomach myths - and how to lose the ab flab

Don't laugh but I went shopping.  And I bought:
- a small rucksack
- three pairs of sports socks for James (I'm all heart)
- a t-shirt that says 'Aaaaggghh'  (because, well...)...
and...and...and...
- a bikini

Yes, you read right.  Now I haven't possessed a bikini since I was eighteen. But there was this Monsoon voucher I've had for about seven years (yes, I'm that bad at shopping - in fact it was so old it was actually a paper voucher rather than a plastic card) and I thought, what...

Come on baby, light my fire! Beltane, May Day, sex and freedom.

It's May Day!  Are you gonna light your fire?  Here's a snippet from my book The Natural Year , now available for Kindle.  
The lessons of May are about freedom, about energy and about determination. It's a dynamic time - not just of growth but of destruction too. An old friend of  mine, Shan - a pagan priestess and therapist - says, "Freedom is stressful - it means making decisions, balancing opportunities, it means the freedom to break." She points out that many marri...

Esalen massage with John Orum - Let go and relax, damnit!

So I was lying on a massage table at the Emelisse Art Hotel in Greece, giving a little sigh of pleasure because truly there is little in life I like more than a damn fine massage. 
John Orum is one of the personal trainers at Hellenic Healthy Holidays.  He does far more than just make you sweat – he integrates bodywork, psychology, nutrition, strength and conditioning.  I tell you, if I lived in London (and, okay, if I had the dosh) I’d sign up for regular sessions with him...

Om Shanti? F**k yeah! (Bandha me sideways)

Yay! Yoga day.  You know how I love my yoga, right?   Now I fully accept that not everyone shares my enthusiasm and, truly, I was the same for many years.  My mother got into yoga in the sixties – she used to wander around the house in her black footless tights and long-sleeved, scoop-necked, full-bottomed leotard with some kind of symbol on the front (no, not the Om, some kind of star).   Sort of a bit like this...Anyhow, when my mother embraced something, s...

Why Kili and Tauriel won't snog in The Hobbit

So I watched The Hobbit – the Desolation of Smaug over Easter – cosied up by the fire with a dog on my knee, wearing a beanie.  Yes, yes, I know, I know.  I said I wouldn’t watch it; said I hated The Hobbit .  But a few people told me to stop being so picky, so finickity, that I should forget about how it bears precious little resemblance to the book and that I should ignore the fact that it’s been stretched so far that its plot might snap into three overworked exhausted pieces. ...

Noah, Ham, Eggs, incest and Arne Naess.

We never go out as a family...well, barely ever.  Should it worry me, I wondered?  I asked one of my family-friendly friends about it and she laughed bitterly.  'Sure, we go out,' she said.  'But it always ends in tears. Someone has a hissy fit, someone gets drunk, someone sulks, someone stalks off and we all come back not talking to one another.'  'But at least you try,' I said wistfully.
So last Sunday I watched people talk about trips to the beach, to the park, to t...

Please help my lovely talented friend

Now then.  My friend Solange Noir, Soli.  You've met her - and her stunning photographs - before. Here. And here.

Here's the thing.  Soli needs to move.  Pretty urgently.  And, like most of my dearest closest soul friends, she's...well...pretty broke.  She's been offered an amazing place to move to in Tucson and now she's just gotta get there.  And, yup, America's a big place and moving is expensive so...she needs funds urgently.

And it occurred to me t...

Gomasio, pomegrates and ras-al-hanout - cooking for mind, body and soul

Okay, so I've been trying to cook a bit more.  Make more of an effort, kitchen-wise.  And my inspiration this week has come from the divine Shruti.  Shruti runs Fairfield House, a vegetarian bed and breakfast in Williton in Somerset - mid-way between Minehead and Bridgwater.  Fairfield House also hosts gentle detox weekends, silent meditation retreats and mindful cookery courses.
Shruti's food is all cooked with total mindfulness and love, and somehow you can tell, by...