Yoga | The Northern Yogi

Lululemon X The Refuge Manchester

July 4, 2019 • By Sarah

This past month has been a difficult one for me personally. I’ve had a lot going on in my private life (more on that at a later date) and I’ve been spending a lot of time trying to heal some hurts. As a dedicated yoga practitioner I know my yoga practice is my anchor when I’m feeling unsettled so I was really pleased when Lululemon invited me to attend their Bank Holiday Yoga event at The Winter Garden in The Refuge.

The class was held in the Winter Garden, an amazing, bright space for a yoga class. Lululemon rolled out their sticky mats, which looked great against the contact tiled flooring. The room is filled with greenery and trees so you really feel a calm aura as you soak in the environment.

The class was taught by a wonderful teacher, Jen Possamai. She taught a beautiful Indian inspired yoga flow that focused on our Agni, our fire. We started with some calming breath work and gradually built up heat flowing through Vinyasa, warriors, balances and even grasshopper pose! The class was complimented by one of the best yoga playlists I’ve heard. I should have asked the teacher to share it but I felt a little rude, like I was stealing her work. Kicking myself now though!

I’m a great believer in messages from the universe and with all the difficulty I’ve been managing lately I was very surprised to find a little quote left at the end of my yoga mat as I rose from Savasana, it read:

“Inner peace begins the moment you choose not to allow another to control your emotions”

Let us let that sit for a moment.

If you are interested in attending a free Lululemon event you can find them here: CLICK

Cruelty Free Face Mask for Better Skin

April 11, 2019 • By Sarah

Cruelty free skincare | Northern Yogi

Beautiful skin is something that most of us aspire to achieve, yet it can mean so many different things to different people, as we all have our own ideas of beauty. To me ‘beautiful skin’ means hydrated, glowing and (if my hormones will allow) blemish free. I love skincare, but there are two my skincare products must be:

Cruelty free.
As natural as possible.

I was recently introduced to a brand that ticked both these boxes, Bella Forever. They’ve created a cruelty free skincare range of face masks that are 100% natural.

You can read more about the natural clay they use here. (CLICK)

Vegan Skincare Blog | Northern Yogi

I’ve recently started using the Mint Cooler Deep Cleansing face mask. The mask aims to remove any impurities from the skin, it’s what clay does best, and absorb any excess oil. It contains sage essential oil which calms and refreshes. It also smells incredible! The mask also came with a cute little application kit containing a mixing bowl, stir stick, a super soft application brush and 3 measuring spoons. I’d recommend adding the kit as it made applying the mask so much easier. Any clay masks I’ve used in the past have been challenging to get the correct consistency and application, this kit definitely helped.

Vegan Beauty Products | Northern Yogi

The mask brushes on really smoothly and feels cool to the touch. It dried well but didn’t have that horrible, can’t move your face, tight feeling. I was able to talk and drink without the mask cracking off. I left it the recommended 15 minutes before washing off with a face cloth. It came away really easily and, again, my skin didn’t feel tight or in desperate need of moisturiser.

I have a problem area, prone to blemishes on my cheek. It’s a recent addition to my life and I’m not sure what causes it, yet. So a day or so after using the mask the toxins from this area of my face started to surface. Clay draws out toxins don’t forget! Don’t let this put you off, what is deep down beneath the surface of your skin will eventually let itself be known. Best to deep cleanse often, with non-toxic products, to keep breakouts down to a minimum.

I like this mask. I like this company. The skincare world is in need of good quality, non-toxic, natural and cruelty free ways of maintaining great skin and Bella Forever definitely delivered the goods.

Products in the blog were gifted, all opinions are my own.