The Living Beehive

Today, Wednesday 30th November, The Living Beehive is unveiled at the Durban Botanical Gardens in South Africa. The art installation, funded by the Department of Environmental Affairs and the UN Industrial Development Organisation, is an ecosystem consisting of a living roof and walls constructed over a high technology steel frame. The design is based on the traditional Zulu Beehive huts and contains vegetation and forest and wetland plants all of which are needed to help combat climate change as they store carbon, prevent downstream flooding and reduce the impact of severe weather and surges not to mention their role in providing food, water and material for grazing.

THE LIVING BEEHIVE DOCUMENTARY - PART 1 from iKind Media on Vimeo.

Herts Holistic Hero - Carl Sagan

The image you see in the above video is the Earth. It was taken by Voyager 1 before it lost contact, 6,000 billion kilometres out past Pluto. The image was generated by NASA as requested by Carl Sagan.

Carl Sagan, 1934-1996, astronomer, astrophysicist, cosmologist and author. Sagan promoted SETI (the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) and wrote 'Contact', on which the 1997 film starring Jodie Foster was based. He co-wrote and narrated the award winning series 'Cosmos: A Personal Voyage'. Sagan holds many awards and honors received both in life and after his death including the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal and the Pulitzer Prize for his 1978 novel, 'The Dragons of Eden'.

Image courtesy of here

Holy Food

His Holiness the Dalai Lama appeared recently on a special episode of Australian Masterchef. He was unable to pass judgement on the food favouring instead to combine their special beauty and taste. He revealed he enjoys bread, tofu, cheese and mushrooms and also desserts.

He was served a variety of vegetarian dishes including a Sri Lankan curry with roti bread and gnocchi, of which he said the contestant "had tried his best."

Childhood Fears

Last night, and several times now, my six-year-old son has had what you might describe as a 'night terror' or a 'waking dream'. He cries out, moaning and thrashing his arms and legs. When we try to speak to him, he is vaguely responsive. He appears asleep, yet may have his eyes open and just stares vacantly with a frown as though he does not recognise us. Its quite upsetting, particularly because you do not expect your child to have nightmares. What can he possibly have been exposed to that would lead to such terror?

My husband tells me he too used to have terrifying dreams around the same age. He once dreamed that he had to deliver all of the milk to all of the world and couldn't do it. He woke up traumatised. Are dreams in childhood, as they are in adulthood, a reflection of the sub-conscious mind and personal fears? All I could do was climb into bed with my son, stroke his head and sooth him with some reiki and calming words "nobody can hurt you, you are strong" to which he replied 'I'm just a scaredy cat"...then he was snoring!

Image courtesy of here and thanks to Nicola Douglas at The Entrepreneur's Advocate for leading me to look up Lev Yilmaz whose cartoon (above) seemed apt for this article.

Herts Holistic Hero - Dwina Murphy-Gibb

Dwina Murphy-Gibb must be the most spiritual person I've read about. It could have something to do with her Gaelic roots, she was born in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. Dwina is an author, poet and an artist, though you would expect nothing less from someone who is truly inspired by her homeland and has a lifelong interest in Irish history and mythology. Her other interests are esoteric studies, colloquial dialogues, religion and social politics.

Dwina is Patroness of the Order of the Bards, Ovates & Druids, a group founded in 1964 dedicated to teaching and practising the spirituality of Druidry. Nature is a fundamental focus of Druidry and has evolved with a truly holistic approach to life. All creatures, animal and human, are equal with neither having supremacy over the other, therefore we must be environmentally aware and responsible and ensure the web of life is sustained with care, respect and honour. Hence why the central activity within Druidry involves ceremonies and gatherings, particularly honouring the solstices and equinoxes.

Dwina's books include Cormac The Seers about the legend of Cormac mac Airt, a great High King of Ireland and his battle to fulfil a Druid prophecy. Her dialogues appear in a humorous collection called The Gabby Aggies about Mrs P, a woman who believes it is her duty to solve the world's problems, but then she does live at The Fingerpost in Ireland, a point where five roads meet and as all these roads lead to her door, knowing everyone's business is meant to be.

Dwina's Star Child Collection of art is beautiful and is reminiscent of those images you would find on Tarot cards of which Dwina has studied and been in awe of since she was nine years old.

She is currently taking care of her husband, Robin Gibb (Bee Gees) who recently revealed he is suffering from liver cancer. Herts Holistic send their very best wishes to them both.

Image courtesy of here

Recipe: Chocolate Tiffin

Don't worry about the calories, its the season to hibernate and eat rubbish! We all fight it, but nobody succeeds and this is such an easy recipe, you'll be making it once a week...

You will need:

150g dark chocolate

150g milk chocolate

250g pack of Digestive biscuits

100g unsalted butter

150g golden syrup

100g dried apricots, chopped

75g sultanas

75g marshmallows (optional)

60g pecans, chopped (optional)

The best part is the first part. Place the digestives in a bag, seal and bash them using a rolling pin. Place the chocolate, butter and syrup in a bowl over a simmering pan of water, stirring regularly until melted. Remove the bowl from the heat and stir in the biscuits and other ingredients. Line a square shaped tin with cling film, leaving extra to hang over the sides. Transfer the mixture to the tin and spread evenly, then level the surface using a masher or the back of a large spoon. Place the tin in the fridge for 1-2 hours to set. Turn the cake out, remove cling film and slice into squares. Cup of tea. Done.

Take Me There...

Neuschwanstein Castle, Bavaria, Germany, constructed 1869-1892. The castle has the architectural style of Romanesque revival and was designed by Christian Jank. It was the inspiration for Disneyland's Sleeping Beauty Castle.

As far as idyllic locations go, Neuschwanstein Castle is top of my list. I would go here in the Autumn to witness the magical colours and I would expect a jug of German beer and some wurst sausage to eat on the terrace ;-)

Share your dream location with Herts Holistic www.facebook.com/hertsholistic or feel free to leave a comment below...

Deepak Chopra's Leela

Deepak Chopra's Leela is an interactive home entertainment concept to aid with relaxation and meditation. It's available for the Xbox 360 and the Wii and contains some beautiful exercises to help you focus and stay centred. You can create mandalas, measure your breathing and shift planets and blast rocks as part of a meditation to draw your attention to specific areas of the body. It's definitely on my Christmas list. To get a feel for Leela, you can create and explore mandalas on the Facebook page right now...

Herts Holistic Hero - Lisa Connell

Your brain is your most powerful organ with the largest part, the cerebral cortex, containing an estimated 15-33 billion neurons. It is the structure at the centre of the nervous system and is 'the mind' to the rest of your body. Its amazing functionality and anatomy need not be explained, all we know is that the brain is precious.

Imagine being informed that you have a tumour growing in your brain. In addition, the tumour is located in the centre, out of reach of surgical intervention and therefore, inoperable. Its not a cancerous tumour or immediately life threatening, yet it may as well be, because this tumour will grow. Imagine going away with this news. How would you process it? How would you deal with it?

Lisa Connell is 31 years old and was informed in August 2006 that she had an inoperable tumour, a benign meningioma, in her brain. I met her recently at a beauty training day and she is a vibrant personality, attractive, young and seemingly care free. She did not divulge anything to anyone on that day, but I took it upon myself to look at her website when I got home and...well...I read with surprise. Lisa suffered with symptoms such as double vision, extreme tiredness and severe headaches. She was told by doctors to rest and avoid stress - obviously to Lisa, she found the advice useless and was also told that it was unknown how long she had to live....possibly years, possibly just months.

Mind over matter really exists in Lisa's case. She was inspired by a friend of her father who himself had lived with a brain tumour for ten years and was living a normal life through exercise and healthy eating. Lisa wasted no time in working on her recovery from the symptoms that plagued her. She joined the gym, enlisted the help of a fitness instructor and turned things around. She is now in control of her life and balances her work with the correct amount of rest and relaxation. She helps to create awareness of brain cancer, working with various charities to raise funds. Lisa created B Inspired Beauty, offering a range of bespoke beauty treatments to help others feel good and confident in themselves. You can find out more about Lisa and follow her progress here.

Image courtesy of here