Meeting best herbalist in Angelo store

Few days ago with Martin we visited Angelo store in Ubud, the little shop packed with herbal remedies, raw food and natural skin care.  I had known Angelo – the owner of the shop and well respected local herbalist, since 2012 when I first visited Bali.

Upon meeting Angelo, I reminded myself that I came a long way since then on my personal pathway to healing. I remembered as I become more awake in my life I noticed subtle changes at first in the way I think and feel. I started to love myself more and pay attention to what I eat and what I apply to my skin. I soon learnt that I was surrounded by products that contained lots of chemicals and I decided to commit not to apply any more of them to my body.

As I grew over 150 variety of herbs this year, I become more tuned to their frequencies and healing abilities.  Entering Angelo store brought me back to my connection with all these wonderful plants once again. I was once more guided to work with them and bring healing energy to others. My connection with plants goes beyond the botanical and material layer. I know it when I connect to Aloe vera plant or coconut palm trees here in Bali.

Angelo  includes his whole family into his business enterprise and everybody helps him to manufacture his beautiful products and to serve his clients. When you enter his shop you can feel very loving, positive and carrying energy straight away. And this also is reflected in his products that are truly made with love.

  I had yet again a true insight into Balinese family and culture. It’s so different to western style of living, where each member of family is living their own separate lives. Here multigenerational families live together and go around their daily business as a union. They have their houses organised in one big compound where they eat, celebrate and work together. There is little privacy and there are no secrets. Everybody knows about what others are doing.

NATURAL REMEDIES WORKSHOP WITH ANGELO

We had a great day discovering the secrets of manufacturing his products and went through a workshop of making your own skin care, healthy drinks and oils. It was magical. We also received special massage from Angelo's brother, who is a local healer, truly lovely guy.

We came back home packed with the remedies and creams we made ourselves at Angelo store ready to apply it to our daily routine here in Bali.

We brought with us:

“Turmeric Jamu “– healing drink made from turmeric, galangal, tamarind, betelnut leave and brown sugar. It’s got antiseptic, antioxidant, antibacterial, blood purifying properties. Brown sugar helps to add more natural sweet flavour to it and it’s very helpful when you suffer from any gastric &digestion problems, it can help with menstruation pain too.

“Balinese Lily Body Exfoliant” – Body scrub made from ginger, galangal, rice, coriander, clove. Once applied onto part of your body it helps with all kinds of pains and aches, rheumatism, arthiritis. It’s got antibacterial, exfoliating, , calming qualities and help to ease anxiety.

“Balinese massage oil” – made from Balinese Spices, aromatic bali flowers and leaves and Coconut Oil. It’s very smooth, moisturizing, calming, balancing and it can act as aphrodisiac. Again helps with aches and pains and arthritis.

“Fresh facial and body mask” – made from Aloe vera, Wild Yam and Avocado. It smoothing, moisturizing, cooling, refreshing. It packed with vitamins and nutrients and acts as skin tonic as well.

“Hair Tonic Oil”- made from candlenut, coconut oil and tropical herbs. It’s got amasing nutty smell and it acts as natural hair conditioner.

Angelo and his family work in his shop tirelessly from 9am – 9pm and whenever I ask them if they are tired, they say : “not at all, we have our family together and love gives us energy… “

I feel privileged and lucky to have found Angelo and connected with his products with pure living energy embedded in them.

To find out more about his products that we now sell in UK check www.angelostore.co.uk
 or visit Angelo in Ubud  www.rawfoodbali.com/resources/specialty-stores/angelo-store/

Our new range of products that we worked on together coming soon…

Bali the Island of Gods

"Lets listen to the silence - in nature, in our heart and in God's Love."

It’s almost 1pm in Bali and I am sitting at the weranda in Rishi – beautiful retreat accommodation near Ubud, gazing at the rainy view with lush abundance of Bali flowers and coconut trees growing in the owner local paradise garden. 

It’s a beginning of wet season in Bali. The freshness of the rain awakes my senses and I feel very tranquil and calm. It’s so nice to be able to watch the rain and not get cold at the same time, that’s a privilege of tropical climate in Bali. My body goes through
transformation already as my skin is able to freely breathe again.

Being exposed to more sunshine and gentle wave of humid warmth is making me feel alive again. And it’s been only few days since myself and my fiancé arrived in Bali from UK and we already feel like at home.

No surprised that I decided visit Bali again. This small Indonesian island has powerful magnetic field and despite the distance from Europe it’s been calling me for long long time. I feel very privileged and grateful  that my life path  led me here again to Ubud, where I am discovering myself again, except this time not on my own anymore but with loving partner. They say: Happiness is when shared, and I truly believe in this.

So what makes Ubud so special that makes visitors from all over the world and all walks of life convert into permanent Ubudians...?

Despite being a small village green town in the middle of the island and quite far from commercial touristic beach resorts, Ubud attracts tousands of tourists per year beacuse of its unique spirit and thanks to rich Hindu tradition. Ubud always somehow been a thriving center for alternative medicine, medicinal herbs and healing.

What is so special about Ubud and why I came back?

One of my many passions is art and indigenous crafts. When I first came to Ubud in October 2012 I felt like arriving in the arts and culture Paradise. There is nowhere anywhere in Bali that you will get a chance to visit so many different art shops, galleries, painting workshops. I was overwhelmed but the number of paintings, sculptures that you can explore here. The place has got therefore a special artistic, and almost dear to say hippie vibe as the local expats opened their own designer shops with jewellery, clothing, healthy snacks and arts. As you drive through Ubud, you notice that almost every house offers arts and crafts workshops along with mini stores to sell their goods.I was very keen to learn traditional Balinese detail drawing, so myself and my friend sign g up for the class.  It was held in a small family house turned to the small café and workshops studio. The session was very pleasurable and I soon realised  that Balinese drawing can be a great concentration and meditative tool. I highly recommend these workshops if you can escape your busy travel schedule and try something artistic. Numerous villages around Ubud offer wood and stone carving, batik painting, egg painting and even traditional Balinese dance workshops.

HEALING, YOGA, HEALTHBeing on the pathway to healing  I am searching for better work –health balance. I find that I can bring back that state of bliss and harmony when I am surrounded by beauty, nature and likeminded people. My main reason for coming back to Ubud this year was for healing and health purposes mainly and also a chance for me to find out if working and traveling is possible. Many people come to Ubud passionate about healthy living. You will find here abundance of healing centres, retreats, spas and yoga studios.It’s a perfect place to explore alternative healing. 
To find out more.. follow my blogJ  

Morning Pages

Morning Pages

It’s almost 6 am in the morning, in Bali. I couldn't sleep from 4am anyway so decided to write some ”Morning pages”; this is a concept or a writing tool introduced by Julia Cameron the Author of the “Artist way”- a book on enhancing your creativity, connecting to your inner child healing through series of guided tools that you can do yourself by following Julia’s 12 week programme.

When I first did the programme few years ago, I can honestly say that it change my life. I committed myself to regular diary writing each morning for 3 years.

In “Artist way” Julia gives you lots on guidance on how to write them, but the basics are that you just have to “ turn up”  on the page, preferably as early in the morning as you can and then allow yourself  to write everything that comes to your mind, following your heart as a compass.

 In the beginning you will find yourself going through, what I call: “mind clutter” and lots of writing “blocks” but eventually you will get used to it and you will let yourself go.  What you might find after a while that you will find it easier, day by day, to express yourself and “turn up” on the page each morning with excitement.

 It was a long process for me and I wasn’t sure what to write about. I had these mental blocks, and the voice of “critic” in my head, constantly telling me: What are you doing here? You are not a writer, you are dyslexic, and also what you are about to write is boring anyway. Wow... Looking back I was really in a state of deep self-criticism and judgement. Through my daily writing practice I discovered layers of misconceptions, disbelieves about myself and the world, but soon I was able to be gentle with myself and let it go, bit by bit, like pealing the layers of onion. I realised that Julia gave me amasing therapeutic tool to self discovery and healing.

After few months of writing I found myself  on the exciting inner journey,  talking no only to myself but mostly to God, Divine, the Great Creator.  I also realised that this process allowed me to connect more to my feelings, emotions. Each morning I was able to reflect on the events of the previous day and welcome each new day with childlike inquisitiveness and gratitude.  As my daily writing practise grew, I felt very protective over my time in the morning and peaceful space that I needed for the writing to flow smoothly. 

I discovered that committing to the ”Morning pages” process became  commitment to self-healing and essential hygiene for the mind, body and soul.

Welcome to Pathways to healing

Welcome to Pathways to healing.

I created this blog to share with you my inner and outer journey to healing.

I hope that you will find lots of inspirations here as I go along.

Thank you for visiting me.

Olenka