The Healing Root

The Healing Root Healing of the mind, body and spirit through a creative & ancient lifestyle practices ✨🫶

I've started The Healing Root blog's page as a way to create a collective space for support, love, encouragement, openness and connection :) I am sharing my passion of health and wellness as a plant based chef and yoga teacher and would like to create a space where people can talk, ask questions, interact and inspire one another.

What a glorious few weeks it has been. Watching and feeling this little bean grow each DAY is an absolute mind trip of n...
12/08/2026

What a glorious few weeks it has been. Watching and feeling this little bean grow each DAY is an absolute mind trip of note.

I have earned myself a new name: ‘Madame Bumpsalot’ (nickname courtesy á la Seb) 😂.

Grateful to be able to have the time and spaciousness to really feel into pregnancy. To really be fully with this experience of creating life from scratch. To feel the changes and to have the space to adapt and evolve with them as they emerge. To be present with this transition from maiden to mother is a gift.

What a deep, humble, honour.

I hold this reverence with the awareness of JUST HOW HECTIC IT IS of an experience. It is life altering. Magnificent. Strange. Other-worldly. Challenging. Sensitising. Magical.

I have spent a lot of time this pregnancy thinking of all the women who fall pregnant under much less spacious, forgiving and nourishing circumstances. I now look at all women differently; with a compassion and awe that has moved me to tears more times than I care to admit.

To all other mamas out there, I see you.
You are amazing. You’re doing so well.
Be gentle with yourself and the process.

❤️

I have recently been reflecting on just how many versions of self it took for me to be present with the one I am embodyi...
04/08/2026

I have recently been reflecting on just how many versions of self it took for me to be present with the one I am embodying today.

Part of my work is not exiling any of them. But recognising and thanking each of them for their lessons, their challenges, their idiosyncratic insights.

I have SO much to still learn and grow into, but that should not detract from these moments of mindful observation, being with & honouring the road that has already been walked, and the various selves that walked the road. The versions that now collide into the person I am today: a self that is greater/wider than the individual versions yet stripped of the individual identification patterns of each.

Mind you, these transitions into new and deeper selves are rarely - if ever - discrete states of arrival or being but continuous processes of unfolding, releasing, shedding and becoming familiar with the unfamiliar.

Is there anything more truly curious and fascinating than the internal experience of being human?

In these honest moments of self-reflection I look at what I would like to consciously take forward into the next expression of selfhood & also what I would like to leave behind. Or perhaps, what I need to leave behind in order to fully embody what this new version of self is and means.

I thank my lucky stars for having the internal resources and practices that ground me into something larger than myself to juxtapose these reflections against. They help to guide me and keep me aligned to a Truth that is more real and enduring than anything else I know.

Blessed are we for the capacity for conscious, awake relating to the life we live & the subjective experiences of reality that make us who we are.

📷: Katinka Bester

30/07/2026

Why community matters.

We are not made for isolated lives. Our biology, psychology and emotional wellbeing is wired for connected, authentic lives where we realise the importance of inter-dependence & sharing.

We are part of complex ecosystems of belonging where our strengths are able to come together to create more harmonious, balanced & fulfilled lives.

True community is about supporting one another, processing together, building together, challenging and mirroring each other, knowing each other.

The modern wellness spaces often forget this vital part of the equation by creating longevity and wellbeing practices that focus solely on optimisation, efficiency and self-sufficiency.

Let’s come back to the original recipes for wellness.

Community. Sharing. Good, wholesome food. Movement. Sunshine. Playfulness.

26/07/2026

Let’s go back to the basics. WHAT IS AYURVEDA? Where does it originate from? What has its role been? What does it offer and gift us? What are its primary principles & tenets?

Condensing this nuanced & complex modality into such a short video is so challenging; so much nuance is lost! But we have given it a good go.

Ayurveda dates back THOUSANDS of years. It originated it India & was actually the primary medical system there before Western medical systems were introduced. It provided curative AND preventative medical wisdom/care.

It’s in Ayurveda’s knowledge of preventative care that this modality particularly shines. Ayurveda believes that in order to prevent illness, disease & even injury we need to live in balance. The more imbalaced our daily choices, habits, routines & rhythms are, the more likely we are to create dis-ease in our body-mind systems.

Ayurveda is fundamentally informed by the principles of nature. And in recognising that as humans we are PART of nature, Ayurveda recognises that, as a result, we are deeply impacted by these natural elements and forces.

In essence, Ayurveda is the art & science of living in right relation to our senses, our bodies, our minds, our communities and to nature. And when we live in a way that is aligned to this, vibrant health, vitality & longevity are accessible to us.

As we become familiar with this modality, we are better able to understand the subtle language of the body as it communicates with us about our current moment states of balance & imbalance. And as we become familiar with the framework Ayurveda offers us we will know how to create subtle balance to correct imbalances.

It is an incredibly wise modality, one that offers a wealth of knowledge & wisdom that is not only rich in theory but also in practice.

There is a common rhetoric in the yoga world that “on the other side of resistance is the medicine”. And while in many m...
22/07/2026

There is a common rhetoric in the yoga world that “on the other side of resistance is the medicine”. And while in many moments that is true, there were also MANY moments where that is not true.

Sometimes, there is a deep wisdom in the resistance we have to meeting ourselves on our mats. PARTICULARLY if you are someone with a history of trauma. Without inquiring honestly into where the resistance comes from, you could be causing more damage than healing by pushing through resistance. Here is why …

Yoga is INCREDIBLY effective as a healing modality. It offers us a pathway to re-establish a trusting relationship with ourselves & allows the body to feel safe again. But it is also INCREDIBLY effective at excavating trauma material. THIS IS A GOOD THING. We NEED this trauma material to be dislodged & sequenced out from the body.

BUT, we need to do this safely. To do it safely, we need to be aware & atuuned. And we need to do it SLOWLY. This is known as TITRATION: releasing stored trauma energy move from the body in a small, conscious doses.

In trauma work, there is something known as the window of tolerance. This speaks to the amount of stimulus/stress that a person has safe capacity for. Any stimulus that exceeds this threshold can cause a person to become dysregulated or re-traumatized. People with trauma have a compromised capacity for stress until they learn to slowly EXPAND/grow their tolerance for sensation, memory & somatic experiencing.

Resistance can be protective. And sometimes, resistance is warning us that, “right now is NOT the time to push trayma material to the surface due to limited current moment capacity.” In these moments, the most wise & compassionate thing to do is NOT push through resistance but to instead get curious about the origin of the resistance & allow your practice to change if necessary.

GIVE YOURSELF PERMISSION to pull back when you need to without judgement. I wish someone had told me this years ago so that I could have been gentler with my own healing processes & yoga journey. ✨

📷 Teri Robberts

19/07/2026

The Soma: a single word that really holds the weight of an important concept.

The concept is:

That we are made up of many different parts of self. And very rarely when I refer to “I” or “myself” am I just referring to one of these domains of Selfhood as the primary organising entity of the information that is received & gathered & digested from the world around me.

The word SOMA therefore implies a recognition of the fact that we are, in truth, a complex web of interwoven parts of self that constellate to form the totality of who we are as perceiving & meaning-making individuals.

And what’s more is that all of these different channels (the different parts of self) and ways of knowing the world are made REAL and meaningful THROUGH the body. When we anchor all of these domains of self through the body, they become embodied forms of knowledge and wisdom. When knowledge is embodied it becomes more enduring and meaningful because the body is a very direct and honest channel of knowing the world.

DID YOU KNOW that 80% of the information that we gather from the world around us takes a bottom-up approach - meaning that it moves from the body and nervous system up into the mind and only 20% of the information takes a top-down approach from mind first into the body. This means that the body is a very reliable and responsive site of intelligence that we can and should TRUST & HONOUR 💛

In Somatic healing practices, the word SOMA is used a lot as an all-encompassing word to include all aspects and parts of self that come together to form how we make meaning & organise our experiences.

17/07/2026

According to Ayurveda, foods & lifestyle choices have subtle energetic effects that impact our own body-mind systems (or somas).

The more aware we become of these subtle energetic impressions, the more empowered we become in our daily food & activity choices in terms of choosing what might best support us in our quest for balance & health in a given moment ✨

I love that this framework takes the focus away from foods being “good” or “bad” and instead encourages an understanding of what the effects of certain foods will be on the psyche & body.

Heating and cooling foods both have their place, depending on what the person needs in a given moment ⚖️

🔥 Heating foods encourage stimulation, circulation, agni (digestive fire) & activation of the mind and body.

🌊 While cooling foods encourage calmness, ojas (immunity), soothe inflammation & reduce excess fire/Pitta.

Ayurveda works with opposites, so if you are in a heated state, eating or doing something that is modeately cooling will bring you back into balance. In states of coldness, doing or eating something that is heating will be most supportive.

🔥 Heating🔥
Ginger
Chilli
Garlic
Pepper
Rosemary
Red meats
Eggs
Chickpeas
Corn
Pineapple/Sour Citrus
Coffee
Black tea
Olive oil
Peanuts
Fermented foods: sauerkraut, kombucha, vinegar, yogurt

🌊 Cooling 🌊
Fennel
Coriander
Mint
Watermelon
Cucumber
Avocado
Coconut
Berries
Apples
Lettuce/salad
Mung beans
White beans
Most green veg
Coconut oil
Pumpkin seeds

16/07/2026

In Ayurveda, your prakritit or “birth constitution” refers to your unique ratios of each dosha, which is created at conception.

What creates your prakriti, is the doshic ratios of your parents at the moment of your conception. The different ratios of each dosha create your bio-individual blueprint or guidemap to living a life of health, vitality, vibrancy, longevity and optimal wellbeing ✨

Ayurveda believes that to live in harmony, we must align our daily food & lifestyle choices to our birth constution. When we stray from this primal blueprint we will experience imbalance & illness which makes itself known in subtle symptoms in the body at first, then eventually louder more demanding symptoms.

Each person has all doshas present in their birth constitution, but at different ratios. It’s these differing ratios of each dosha that accounts for the inter-individual differences present between individuals.

Each dosha is made up of 2 elements found in the natural world. The elements are: earth, water, fire, air & ether.

Each person is made up of all of the natural elements mentioned before, however usually one (or two) doshas (therefore 2-4 elements) are predominant. This means that the elements present in each different dosha will have qualities that are mirrored more prominantly in our psychology, morphology, physicality, our gene expression, our immune system/illness patterns depending on which doshas are higher in that individual.

I will be sharing more videos on doshas soon to break them down into digestible and easily understandable nuggets.

Prana Mama: I believe in creating sweet treats that support the physical body, nourish the spirit & enliven the pranic f...
15/07/2026

Prana Mama:

I believe in creating sweet treats that support the physical body, nourish the spirit & enliven the pranic field.

Sweet treats shouldn’t leave you feeling sluggish, heavy & tamasic.

The Prana Mama sweet treats are created to be daily, sattvic pleasures that add valuable nutrient boosts to the postpartum mama: encouraging optimal lactation, recovery & gentle healing.

These treats are high in healthy fats, supportive natural sugars from dates & raw honey and are JAM-packed with high quality superfoods.

We use specific postpartum & hormone supportive nuts and seeds such as pumpkin seeds, h**p seeds, walnuts, pecans & almonds in most of our treats to add necessary macro & micro nutrients.

The postpartum period can be a beautiful & challenging time of cocooning, nesting, connecting, transitioning, integrating & figuring this new chapter out. It’s so important to have nutrient-dense, nourishing meals & treats at the ready so that you have the time & energy for whats most important: presence ✨.

Postpartum is a rare & special time. A time where mama & papa should not have to worry about cooking & cleaning but instead have undivided attention for connection time.

Taking orders soon from the 1st of September (package details to come). Ideal for pregnant women & postpartum couples but packages are open to all people (whether pregnant/postpartum or not however when taking orders, please keep in mind that pregnant & postpartum women will be prioritised during busy periods).

💛

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