This blog series is my offering to you, a chance to see how Ayurveda is weaved into my life & how you can apply these principles to your own life.

TO INHABIT

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A fair amount has been happening recently. Not just physically but mentally. A shift of sorts.

In my Inner Nourishment world I have made some big decisions. The hardest one was to close my private Facebook group at the end of May. The group has been a great source of connections and a great way to share what Inner Nourishment is doing and to development Nourish & Flourish. I enjoyed the process of creating and nurturing the group and I am truly grateful for those who made a big contribution to the group over its 15 months. I really appreciate those who have been both vocal or quiet observers. My decision was based largely on the amount of time I needed to spend online, not just managing the group but also in creating content. If you have been following along you will be very aware of how minimising time online is a constant goal of mine. This set up just wasn’t working for me and I have no energy to fight the algorithm! I am a little sad about it winding down but there was also a certain relief that came with making the decision. I will still remain on Facebook, instead utilising my own personal page to keep you all informed. It will be less structured than the group to allow me to be a little more free and spontaneous.

I also decided that my static grid on Instagram would be a final grid rather than seasonal, this reduces the creation output. The grid acts like a shop window for anyone visiting my account. That is enough for me. I can still pop some reels on there when I feel the need and I can use stories to update followers on events and releases. This decision has also brought with it some relief too.

With my new programs out in the universe it gave me the opportunity to reassess how I spent my time with Inner Nourishment. The two decisions will give me the space to explore some ideas that I have and what I find most rewarding. This period of reflection raised the usual theme of work life balance. Does that need to exist with Ayurveda – it is how I live my life – can work and life become interchangeable? We all know where this leads….boundaries! Another topic of discussion recently.

I arrived at a place that I have named inhabiting. Inhabiting my life as it is right now. After the work, the training and the building. I am here. I have reached my goal of creating Inner Nourishment, of creating accessible entry level training programs and providing accessible teaching and guidance. Now is the time to inhabit my life. That doesn’t mean no further growth. I am going back to the Charaka Samhita texts – I even ordered myself the 4 volume set from India – to dive a little deeper. And I also have some plans to expand the in person offerings but more on that as it develops.

Inhabiting was a word I sat with for a while. What do I mean by inhabiting? Well, we spend much of our time planning, striving and doing. There is nothing wrong or bad about that. It is a Pitta activity and my Pitta years have come to an end. I have moved in to my Vata years. And in this I am more about just being, taking things a little slower, to be more intentional. To simply inhabit the moment and the life I have created for myself. Being rather than doing. Time feels like it is speeding up some days and I want to intentionally slow that down by not being so busy and productive all the time.

So as I entered this chapter of inhabiting I was presented with a perfect opportunity to embody this little shift. And it is a little but meaningful shift, as much about perspective as what I physically spend my time doing. I had just finished a little décor update in our conservatory, I love Dishoom and wanted to bring a little more life and character to a room we use a lot, particularly when the family are all at home. I was happy with my new set up, switching the unused gin trolley to a chai trolley, adding some extra kantha blankets and rearranging things a little. Feeling happy with my little refresh I turned to our hallway which needed a proper repaint. Initally my thoughts were just to pick a new paint colour and get the job done. But as I started it got me thinking. Thinking about how out home had been a calm but somewhat functional space for so many years. I had never been one for lots of decorative stuff. Lots of cushions and blankets because who doesn’t want to be warm and comfortable? But as I looked the at hallway it had fallen into the grey paint trap (in a north facing space), shoes and dog walking kit a the door and a few plants (and some dreadful lighting which I avoided using!).

This sparked a stream of thoughts about how we use and live in our homes. How each space can feel different and how function often dictates. Living in a space and often working in it too is reason enough to ensure that your surroundings are supporting you. Not just aesthetically but as an entire sensory experience. Everything we are exposed to each day needs to be processed. Reducing that effort is a win – win. I have a lived in home, not a show home but that doesn’t mean it can’t be curated to support how I use the space within it or to be used to indulge the senses rather than over or underwhelm them.

With Love

Claire

I know that my environment is important to my wellbeing and that our homes are our primary environment. This is one space that we have maximum control over. The more I thought about this the more I realised how I had treated our home as a functional living space. It had done a fine job of supporting that functionality, a young family, lots of entertaining and sleepovers and of course a place to prepare delicious food. I had mostly considered the hallway as ‘just’ the entry point to our home. Not bothered about it too much as long as it functioned. Over time I have come to understand that the quality of our surroundings plays a role in our wellbeing. The two aren’t inseparable and in fact Ayurveda is based on the premise of what our environment provides impacts our internal balance.

So as I pondered paint colours I also thought about what I wanted to the hall to feel like – for the first time I saw this as a space that welcomes us home, what greets visitors. While we don’t sit in the hallway the experience of using it can add an element of pleasure. Suddenly it mattered so much more than before. My husband had taken up the stair carpet to ensure it wasn’t messed up with the painting, this led to a conversation about whether it got put back down or not, this opened up what else we could do with the decorating job, unpeeling the carpet was like unpeeling the whole space to start again with fresh eyes. It had performed its job as a hallway – abeit a bit grey and unexciting – but it didn’t say anything more.

There are no prizes for guessing what I started leaning into next…where was my inspiration going to come from?

The walls needed to be warmer than the grey that it was replacing but being north facing it needed to be a light enough colour. Chiapas is a creamy colour with warm terracotta undertones so that was going to be the back drop. Opening the space up a little and providing a great canvas for my finds.

As we started work my husband pulled up the carpet. Within minutes of beginning the carpet conversation we decided to not put the carpet back or replace it but to sand the stairs and paint them. Before finishing the job we decided to only paint the risers and to stain and wax the treads to keep some wooden warmth. Not the plan we had but once the carpet was taken up I couldn’t imagine having it back down again. The carpet had provided some warmth under foot but it was somehow weighing everything else down.

Onto the gallery wall, I began collecting antique and vintage photo frames and sorting through old photos. Vinted was a brilliant hunting ground. I also painted a large mirror that we have had for over 20 years to look distressed in the same way the jali panel looked. I was super impressed with my first distressed paint work! A couple of frames also got a paint treatment.

It was wonderfully nostalgic looking for photos to put on the wall. We have never been that house with lots of photos but I wanted to replicate that beautiful family history feeling that these gallery’s bring. My mum and dad’s original wedding photo, my grandparents on holiday, many many years ago. I don’t know who took the photo but they are casually wandering the streets of Spain, not a staged shot but real life. I’ve always wanted to frame this photo but we just don’t have family photos’ out in house – have we been the only ones?? Of course I needed some photos from our trip to India, the architecture of the Gatore Ki Chhantriyan is stunning so that was going to be the main one. Printed with a vintage touch, it looks fantastic and has already had several compliments! I found an unusual sized frame, long and thin. This has housed some sentimental pressed flowers. The rest are a mixture of family photos. I am so happy with the result. It has created a wall of art that is far more meaningful than a single piece of purchased artwork. Oh and map of Jaipur to anchor the collection.

It has been fascinating to look at what we removed and what we wanted to put back. For the first time the hallway was being decorated with intention. A ‘welcome home’ moment, the entrance to where life is inhabited, not just the passage into the kitchen and lounge.

I love the gallery walls in Dishoom but I didn’t feel that a full Mumbai / Iranian café look was quite right for our hallway. It works in the conservatory as it hints of Iranian café, it is of course where we gather, chat and eat. It is comfortable and lived in. The hallway was a predicament, it couldn’t take the dark wood of Dishoom and I didn’t fancy sanding many years of white paint from the spindles and balustrades. The gallery wall was still a must. I then found a beautiful giclée print on Etsy of a haveli entrance, the colours were perfect, then came a jali panel from Rajasthan. So that was that, a haveli inspired hallway was in the making.

The final flourish was getting some resin to burn – partly to dispel any damp dog smells but to also to complete the sensory experience. I have a little burner that can be used for dried herbs and spices (the black cardomom is a winner!) or these small resin granules. I chose Frankincense, Myrrh and Copal to help purify the air a little. Another simple addition that carries more weight as part of the overal project than it does on its own. The aromatics lift a mood better than any physical item can.

I didn’t think this project would become such a nourishing exercise. To transform a slightly unloved hallway into a space that not just warms the senses but makes me smile a little as I catch a glimpse of a photo has been a real pleasure. In another chapter I would have chosen a new paint colour, rearranged the plants and that would have been a functional tasks completed. This time the plants have been rearranged but they have new terracotta pots to tie in with the whole new look.

As I settle into my inhabiting chapter I remind myself about how my grandparents lived. Travelling on a tight budget, my grandad would drive my mum and her siblings to Europe in a camper. No sat nav, no mobile phones. Simply an intention to travel and trust. As I return to the Charaka Samhita and its ancient wisdom I am also reminded that my own family has lessons to teach too. To live simply and to relax into life as it unfolds. Ayurveda has always understood this power and to embody that in my own way has felt amazing.

My new chapter is unfolding and I am learning to allow that to happen more naturally. In all aspects of my life I have had recent lessons to remind me to truly let go of expectations and to to flow.

The next decision was lighting. We had some rather dated chrome fittings with those moveable spotlights attached. Way too bright for my liking – I rarely used the downstairs one prefering not to be blinded!! We bought some simple dome shaped lights made from metal with a wooden effect, the inside is a warm gold colour so they cast a warm muted light to softly guide you rather than announcing the stairs like an airstrip. A complete transformation is the darker hours!

What a difference some of these small things have made. What started as a necessary painting task turned into a whole new space which welcomes me everytime I come home. Even moving up and down the stairs feels like a mini trip down memory lane now.

Taking out the silver and chrome elements and replacing them with brass or muted golds has completely warmed up the space. Another lesson learnt, the small things can make a huge impact. Those brushed chrome handles never hit my radar but the new brass ones help to hold the whole scheme together.

Haveli print that inspired the whole project

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