Hey there, wellness enthusiasts! 🌟 Ready to step up your self-care game? Let's delve into the world of the Vesta Living Weighted Eye Pillow – a cozy haven that not only brings a touch of luxury but also has a fascinating link to the Vagus Nerve, your body's gateway to natural relaxation. 🌈✨

The Weighted Eye Pillow by Vesta Living: A Retreat of Calm 🌿💖

Our Weighted Eye Pillow is more than just a yoga accessory; it's a holistic relaxation experience. Filled with organic grain for weight and a blend of healing herbs and crafted for ultimate comfort, it's your perfect companion for unwinding after a demanding day.

The Vagus Nerve: Your Body's Stress-Relief Highway 🛣️💆‍♂️

Let's talk science for a moment! The Vagus Nerve, often called the "wandering nerve," is a key player in your body's relaxation response. Connecting the brain to various organs, including the eyes, it plays a crucial role in managing stress levels. Activating the Vagus Nerve promotes a state of calmness, reducing stress and enhancing overall well-being.

The Harmony Between Weighted Eye Pillows and the Vagus Nerve 🤝

The gentle pressure applied by our Weighted Eye Pillow provides a delightful stimulus to the Vagus Nerve. As you rest with the pillow over your eyes, it triggers a series of calming effects throughout your body. This natural response helps lower heart rate, decrease stress hormone production, and envelop you in an overall sense of tranquility.

The Relaxation Ritual: Enjoying Your Weighted Eye Pillow 🌙🌌

1. **Create Your Zen Zone:** Set up a quiet, comfortable space just for you.

2. **Adjust the Weight:** Place the pillow over your closed eyes, letting the gentle pressure work its magic.

3. **Breathe and Unwind:** Take slow, deep breaths, immersing yourself in the present moment.

4. **Activate the Vagus Nerve:** Feel the relaxation spread as the Weighted Eye Pillow stimulates your Vagus Nerve.

More Than a Pillow: Versatility and Style 💫🌸

don’t be surprise if you develop a deep emotional connection with your weighted Eye Pillow. It will become a symbol of self-care and you’ll be so happy when bed time rolls around and you can slip into a deep relaxing slumber.

Choose from our different prints and designs to match your unique style and elevate your self-care routine.

Elevate Your Well-Being with Vesta Living 🚀💚

Invest in your well-being with the Weighted Eye Pillow from Vesta Living. It's not just a product; it's a journey to unlock relaxation, activate your Vagus Nerve, and embrace a life filled with tranquility. Treat yourself because you deserve it.🌿💖

#VestaLivingWellness #WeightedEyePillowMagic #RelaxationRevolution

Whilst I’ll be over here in my favourite witchy dress (I have a wardrobe full of them), making my ancestors altar and burning dragons blood (a type of powerful incense) and collecting pine cones, my kids require the kind of Halloween celebration that can only be described as significantly more commercial.

 Whilst it’s hard to be entirely sustainable in the face of mass Halloween consumerism, there are things you can do for celebrations to stay as green as possible.

 Costumes

 I always try to make homemade costumes from things we already have. One year I fashioned a white shirt into a full Penny Wise costume… and we tore up some old clothes for a zombie. On the rare occasion I have bought a shop costume,  I always ensure that it gets passed on to a younger friend to be used again.  However, shop bought costumes really are a last resort.  They are always made from non sustainable fabric, and I’m pretty sure that despite what the labels say, plastic masks near faces and noses cant be good for you.

Decorations

There are amazing spooky decorations we can make, using the nature around us.  I like to string up pine cones and love using gourds and pumpkins to decorate.  They can be made into some thing tasty after the event..

However, the kids do enjoy a more explicitly Halloween decorations, so in this case, if I have to buy anything new, I buy paper.  Paper banners and bunting that can biodegrade.  Or you can make your own banners from fabric scraps on a sewing machine. Get creative and make things out of waste.  If you have cardboard in the recycling, cut into silhouettes of ghosts and creepy things and stick in windows. 

 If you have to buy new, make sure you take care of what you buy.  Pack them away and use them year after year. There’s something traditional about bringing out the same decorations year after year.  It brings such a nostalgia.

Food

If you’re hosting a party.. focus on food that is simple, local and homemade.  I love a big chilli cooked in one pot at a party.  Throw some spuds in the oven.. and voila.. this can be done relatively easily and with limited plastic. I would advise staying away from plastic covered platters bought in super markets,  There’s always far too much packaging for the food. 

Or ask your guests to bring something.. a salad, a desert. With everyone bringing one item, they can focus on the thing they’re bringing.. Explain to guests that being sustainable is important to you and why in the invitation and most people will understand. And maybe learn something too.

Its important to feel ok about changing something.  We don’t have to continue doing the same wrong thing we’ve done for decades.. announce it proudly with intention.  Make a statement.. “This is how I do things now.” 

This quote by Louise Hay is my mantra…

 “The point of power is always in the present moment”.

 We can change what ever we want.  We just have to decide now.

 

Trick or treating

If you’re headed out for trick or treating.. I recommend staying as local as possible rather than driving.  Maybe your community is great at making a fuss around Halloween (ours is incredible).. If not, maybe you could ask neighbours who would welcome trick or treaters..

 Buying sweets to give out as treats can be tricky, because many sweets today are packaged in plastic.. However, a basic google search of sustainable sweets will throw us some incredible businesses selling sweets wrapped in plant based, degradable packaging.

The clean up

 Try to use the insides of the pumpkins your carve, or any decorative gourds.  Pop on to Pinterest for some inspiration for festive recipes. Compost your pumpkins rather than throwing in the bin.

 Make sure you look after anything new you’ve bought and put it away safe for next year.

 

The main takeaways are this

 1 – always try to use what you already have..

2 – if you buy new, ensure that items are made from biodegradable materials or are high enough quality to last for years to come.

3 – use natures bounty where you can.

Solstice marks the longest day of the year. A potent day in the astrological calendar. Our ancestors built monuments, including stone henge, which on the sunrise light up the monument directly. So we know how revered these cycles are.  

The prosperity of our ancient ancestors would have been directly related to the crops receiving the abundance of sunlight at this time of year.  

And as above, so below. All the cycles of nature relate to us humans too… how we prosper during summer months.  

I marked the day by heading to the Lickey Hills in Birmingham for a panoramic view of the sunrise.. which was at 4.45am today. But it was well worth it.

I went with a friend and we took cake and cacao, journals and a deck of cards.  

Scroll below for the ritual we developed at our recent candle making worship at  Blow Water.  

Markets… not just crocheted doilies in church halls…

Markets… Do you love them or hate them?

They are so much hard work, always take longer than you think to get ready for.

Usually at the weekends impacting social life.

Seemingly entirely unpredictable based on takings and footfall…

But I have started to think about markets as an overall marketing activity… sales are a requirement, but meeting sales targets don’t indicate success and not meeting them doesn’t mean failure.

Markets can be an opportunity to talk about your products and your ethos and really deliver the personality behind a brand.

Customers are entirely captive, they have walk to your stand to engage with you and once they’re there, assume they are interested since they made the effort to come over. It’s a great way to recruit future potential customers, even if they don’t buy on the day you can ask them to sign up to a mailing list, follow your socials and direct them to your website. Not to mention being a familiar face at the next market.

Have postcards on hand to give out to people who don’t even want to engage. If it looks good, they may stick it up somewhere or find it in their bag months down the line.

It can feel clunky speaking to people that are unsure if they want to engage, but approach them anyway. It doesn’t matter if it’s a bit awkward. You don’t have to be perfect and neither to they.

Usually, and entirely in my experience, the other stall holders are wonderful. You can make great connections for collaborations, share info about markets and your businesses, and get an idea for how the market was overall… ie, if everyone says it was slow, chances are there’s an environmental reason people aren’t buying. And if everyone had a cracking day, whilst you didn’t, you have information. You can start to look at why you didn’t perform. Bare in mind, some people aren’t always 100% truthful about their takings, so speak to people you trust.

Some days sales at markets are off the scale. Some magical days, people turn up with cash burning a hole in their pocket. And they can’t wait to buy from you. At some markets, a days work can be that of a good week, or even couple weeks. There’s nothing better than coming home after a super successful sales market.

So whilst markets aren’t a pivotal part of my business plan, they are full of wealth for product based small business and I intend to make the most of the Christmas market season ahead.

#business #marketing #sales #experience #brand #smallbusiness #markets #vestaliving #markets

I never really know what to say on international woman’s day.

The posts that speak specifically about a woman and her achievements for me miss the mark and there’s still too much inequality in the world.

The point is that woman are usually judged to a much higher standard than men. We have to be exceptional to be noted, to be praised.

I want to dedicate my international woman’s days post to the woman who have been living the status quo, towing the line and are exhausted. The ones that have suddenly noticed that they’ve done all the things they’re supposed to, worked hard, looked after their kids and the family and the home. They’re noticing maybe for the first time the discrepancies between men’s and woman’s lives and how their time is allocated. What a man has to do to be exceptional, vs a woman.

What it has cost them to be seen as a good woman. Their physical health, their mental health, their ability to build their own wealth. Their ability to live a life that feel truly authentic and genuine.

The woman that have started to notice that this world with its patriarchal structure is starting to feel like a cage.

The woman that is starting to question. Is starting to commune with other woman. Is working to change the programming of a life time.

I see you.

I see your strength.

I see you if you are changing and I see you if you feel you cannot.

I see you beginning to trust your own instincts… I see you on the beginning of this journey.

This day is for ALL the woman.

I have tagged some of my favourite woman in the post.

#vestaliving #vestasustainableliving #internationalwomansday

Seeing all the #marchmeetthemaker has made me want to share my origin story again…

I came to Vesta in many ways… in someways it feels like a life long path…

I grew up in a socialist home, where we talked often about ethics and people… my mum was a community development manager and my dad a family solicitor so conversations were often political and we were encouraged to think about others..

Along side that I worked in retail always, in a shop, as an account manager developing watch and jewellery ranges for higher street brands and as a lingerie, nightwear and swimwear buyer.

I was made redundant from my buying role after I had my first baby, and got a job working for a very local but very unethical retailer, and left after 6 months or so. I had a renewed realisation that good ethics was KEY.

I started my own kids clothing company soon after and specialised in scandi and British organic cotton brands, but with brexit the profit margins weren’t enough to continue..

Fast forward two jobs, another baby some PND I decided to start another business… mainly watching blue planet in 2018 was the catalyst.

I knew I didn’t want to stand by whilst our seas and marine creatures were being so affected by our human impact of disposable plastics…

I wanted Vesta (named after the Roman goddess of hearth and home) to be a beacon of a better more sustainable way of living..

#vestaliving #vestasustainbaleliving #originstory #meetthemaker #marchmeetthemaker