Hello! I’m a raw food chef from Italy.

I studied architecture in Venice and worked for 3-4 years in a company of light as a designer. I never liked the idea to spend my life in front of the computer and always had a passion for a healthy lifestyle. When I started to eliminate meat and fish, step by step I started to eat more raw food and my passion came alive.

I studied this philosophy with books and practices. And as I witnessed amazing benefits in my own life, I decided to start teaching others about raw food. Art and creativity has always been part of me and I try to put my inspiration on the plate, using lots of colors to encourage the appetite with different tastes.

Italy has always been known for good food. Italians love to eat. Italian tables are full of fresh flavored food. With every main meal there is always a large fresh salad. Italy is rich in diverse vegetables and fruits, Italians are known to eat a lot of vegetables. In recent years there is a growing interest in raw food, fruitarians, 80/10/10 diet – it’s alive everywhere.

There are many social gatherings and dinners based on raw foods. Raw food is now amongst nutritionists, natropaths, doctors, personal trainers who inform others about the many benefits of this lifestyle; people who tell their stories of sustainable consumption and healthy living.

This is a general Raw menu in Italy:

Breakfast: Juice of carrots, beetroot, apple and ginger with carrot cake.
Snack: Dried fruit
Lunch: Radicchio with dried tomatoes and sunflower seeds
Snack: Raw tart with blueberries
Dinner: Pappardelle pasta of carrots with ricotta seeds
Dessert: Peach sorbet

How Italy loves pasta! We are always in demand for recipe’s which will show how to make raw bread or a typical Italian dish (pasta, ravioli, rice). I want to present this recipe to you from the south of Italy “Taralli”.

Taralli is a special Apulian recipe, a genuine snack for adults and children. Taralli can be sweet or savory. Savory Taralli may be flavored with onion, garlic, sesame seeds, poppy seeds, fennel, pepper, chili or just salt. Taralli are oval shaped about 1 to 1.5 inches in circumference. This recipe is great when traveling, when you are not able to buy fruit.

This is a savory version:

Ingredients:
1 cup millet flour (millet flour makes “Taralli” crispy)
1/2 cup pulp sesame
½ cup soaked buckwheat
1 cup of green olives
½ cup water or less
salt is not needed because of the salty olives

Put all the ingredients in a food processor until the dough forms into a rough mass. Pinch walnut-sized pieces of dough, roll first between your hands, and then against the wooden cutting board, so that the dough forms a thin rope, about ½ inch (1 cm) in diameter and 4” long (10 cm). Shape each rope into a ring, and seal the edges together by pressing lightly, then set aside the Taralli rings on a teflex sheets. Season with cumin and put in a dehydrator at 42 degrees for 12 hours or until perfectly crispy.

Enjoy the flavors of Italy!

Neli Todorov writes an active blog http://nelisraw.blogspot.it/ and shares news of workshops and events on her facebook page

I wasn’t sure about writing a detox blog this year because it seemed predictable, but something clicked inside of me and I wanted to write about how we can learn to listen more about our body and know when it is time to reboot or reset the button.

There are many reasons why people have the need to clean out the cobwebs. Here the main reasons:
overindulgence
chronic-stress
   fatigue
sluggishness
digestive problems (bloating,skin problems)

Results:
Gain more energy
increase vitality
refined senses
clear mind and focus
positivity
inspired and motivate

Realigning with our internal guidance system is the reason why I detox.  I love the way my food-mind -body comes into balance. We need to learn how to listen to our body’s and know when it is time.

Here is a really simple plan.

1 big glass of warm water with Lemon or Apple cider vinegar upon rising.
1/2 an hour later 1 smoothie

    Ginger/Mint/Mango Smoothie

2 cups firmly packed Greens: spinach, kale, collard, purslane,
1/2 cup mint
1/2 lemon with rind for bioflavanoids
1/2 avocado
1 mango fresh or frozen
2 cups water
1 Tbs. spirulina, hemp powder, maca, optional

Blend in a high speed blender until smooth

Drink lots of water during the day

   Coriander, Spinach Sweet Potato Soup

2 cups Spinach or Kale
1/2 cup coriander
1/2 avocado
1-2 Tbs. Coconut oil
1/2 sweet potato cubed
1 small nob tumeric fresh
2 cups water

Blend in a high speed blender and consume around 4 pm

Daily skin brushing – The skin is our biggest organ, by invigorating the whole body we allow the toxins to come out.  It’s a  really simple process to get the skin smooth and glowing, and also great for those stubborn cellulite areas too!

Sauna – infra-red saunas are the best, but any sauna will steam-clean you from the inside out. Make this a weekly habit for a month and just feel the difference.

Exercise – this means walking, yoga, swimming – get out and about as much as you can.

Meditation – Find a nice tranquil place and make this your special meditation spot. Just 15 minutes a day with the intention of being still and quiet will do wonders for you.

By making small changes to your routine you can experience great benefits. It doesn’t mean you have to go-hard or go-home, it doesn’t mean you need to restrict yourself and push yourself to the edge every time. Just a few simple additions to your daily life will bring a spring back to your step, and you never know perhaps they will become a regular part of your  life.

Be happy, love life and shine!

The breeze on your face is good for you.  That air conditioning (or heating) just dries you out.

The ground beneath your feet–be it grass or dirt or sand is good for you.  Wooden floors are nice, don’t get me wrong, but they are inside!!

When you practice outside beneath an open blue sky you look up and feel almost as though you are a part of it. It’s breath-taking.

When you open your eyes from savasana to behold a starry night you can’t help but feel at peace.

It’s awe inspiring.

When you start your pre-dawn practice and watch the sun rise, you feel the sun’s rays shimmering on your skin.

It’s radiant.

When you practice in nature you are continually amazed by the beauty of the world around you.

No matter what wallpaper is pasted, what music is played, or what statues are placed, I will never find a better place to practice than the great outdoors.

On days when I feel exhausted, I always feel better if I just open a window or door.

On days when I think I can’t practice, I simply step outside and find myself drawn to move or sit quietly and meditate.

It might be freezing, it might be boiling. It might be windy, it might be raining.

I simply pop my head outside and figure out what I need to wear and where I can be as sheltered as necessary without ‘succumbing’ to the elements.

It can be hard. Sometimes you need to be creative. But it is always worth it.

One of the main elements on our retreats is to get connected to mother nature. To be inspired and supported by the simple things in life.

Why don’t you try for yourself?  Expose yourself to the outdoors and feel yourself embraced by nature.

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www.artofliferetreats.com

All these elements are really important to able to get into a seated lotus position. In the West our chair-culture has prevented us from developing these movements and openings. So when we start to practice yoga, just sitting on the floor is our biggest practice.

Moving the spine in different leg positions allows the softening to happen. The ideal way to get into any pose is to move into it without any assistance. By focusing on active movements we develop the muscle intelligence without having to force any joint into a position that might not be ready. In Padmasana so much care needs to be taken around the knee area, but both the hip and ankle joints can also be compromised if these areas are also too stiff.

Just like we cross our arms easily, our legs should be able to move just as gracefully. One of the easier ways to practice lotus is in a headstand where gravity works in our favour. But to do this, first our headstand needs to be proficient so do take care.

So in your normal practice focus on active movements with the usual standing hip opening poses (forward bends, lunges, trikonasana variations, warrior variations, gadjastan variations) as well as moving actively (no hands) into sitting poses.

Make sure to actively externally rotate the hip that should be externally rotated in those postures.   Also make sure to remain active in the pose so as not to not sink into hips. Use principles of activating muscles while in lengthened positions.

We can see how a more natural bodied person, Ramali can come into a pose like Padmasana (lotus) with ease and without hands.

Ramali takes her legs into position in two very smooth movements. This is what we are looking for in our practice.While Sonja can do this first thing in the morning, with no preceding warm ups or movements, as we can see in the video she still has a slight ‘sawing’ action to get there.  It’s all a practice.

This article was not written to dishearten.  But for us to think about the truth and reality of what our body is able to do of its own accord.

Based on ideas of active movements and trying not to force your body into position we encourage students to try to move their legs into postures using just their legs. This brings much more body awareness ~ play around with it when you are next on the mat!

Happy and safe practicing.
Oksana

Join us on our upcoming retreat
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