Sprouts are probably the best food you can have and I personally have sprouts as the backbone of my diet (i.e. every meal for me is large portion of sprouts with other fresh foods on the side/mixed in).

Sprouts are full of vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and complete proteins. They are also biogenic – meaning they transfer their life energy directly to you.

When the sprout seeds are sprouted their plant hormones are activated, their starches are broken down into easily assimilated vegetable sugars, their proteins are broken down into easily assimilated amino acids, and their fats are broken down into soluble fatty acids.

Sprouts are alkalising, life-generating, revitalising, and full of energy, and I simply can’t recommend them highly enough.

You can buy sprouts already grown from the shop, but I think it’s much better to maintain a home-grown crop.

A.Vogel make a really good sprouting “greenhouse” in which you can grow your own sprouts at home. They also do a really good selection of seed mixes. Depending on the seed mix you use the sprouts will take about 3-5 days to grow. All you have to do is put the seeds on the sprouting tray and pour water through the greenhouse twice a day. Then once they’ve grown pluck them from the tray and store them in your fridge (they’ll keep for a few days).

I started off with a single greenhouse and would sprinkle the sprouts on top of my meals, but when I realised the healing and energising power of the sprouts I quickly invested in a second greenhouse and promoted the sprouts from garnish/topping status right up to diet-staple level.

With 2 greenhouses on the go you’ll have enough sprouts to live on like a cow lives on grass! Don’t worry if you don’t eat them all either. You can blend the excess sprouts into soups and sauces and smoothies, or give them/sell them to friends (and it’s always better to have too much than not enough).

The seed mixes I’m particularly fond of and recommend are (from the A. Vogel range): Fitness Mix, Strong Aromatic Mix, Mild Aromatic Mix and Broccoli. All of these will take just 3 days to come through, except for broccoli which takes 5.

The A. Vogel greenhouses I use have 3-tiers so what I like to do is plant a new crop each day (i.e. have a 24 hour lag behind each tray) and that way I have a fresh harvest on rotation every day.

You can get these sprouters (a.k.a. germinators) online and they’re less than £20 each including delivery. The seed packets are just over £1 each and contain about a tray-and-half of seeds. By growing 2 trays simultaneously I get though about 10 seed packs per week which costs about £10 - £12 which, when you look at the price of a lot of organic produce in the shops, I believe is very good value especially when you take into account the home-grown organic freshness and the high level of quality nutrients involved.

The following post is based on a conversation I recently had with a old school-friend of mine, Tom. I've posted the rough transcript of it up here along with a few inpirational videos to illustrate the ideas. Enjoy:

Tom you can be anything you want to be, but you have to choose in advance what you want and then start work on cultivating the belief that that’s what you are.

A lot of people try to achieve in order to believe. To take a topical example, an athlete might think: If I win this gold medal then I'm great. But this isn’t the attitude of a champion. It’s not the right attitude for getting the medal. The attitude of the champion is to believe in your greatness and worthiness of the medal in advance. This is the real training. It comes from the foundation of this strong positive mind-set.

Look at Usain Bolt. His mind-set has been grown to the point he has enough energy and strength of belief for the race to be won before he’s even set foot on the track. He has decided in advance that he’s going to be the winner of the race, and he believes it. That’s why he looks so calm and relaxed before each race. He’s ready. He’s won it already in his mind and he’s just turning up to collect his prize.

Same with probably one of the greatest champions in sport, Mohamed Ali. The bulk of his work was of the training of his mind to build an unerring belief that he was the greatest.  That doesn’t mean there’s no physical training to get up to world champion-level, of course there is, but that training is backed by conviction of belief. Belief is coming first. Always first.

The mind is really very powerful. Far more powerful that the physical body. If the mind believes it can do something then seas can be parted and mountains can be moved. If you believe you might win the race, or that you could possibly win the race then that will be the case: uncertainty.

But again, this belief needs to be built in advance. It need to be grown, which takes time and a persistent input of energy and focus.

Beliefs need to be cultivated. Just saying I’m the greatest at this that or the other doesn’t immediately make it so. This thoughts and goals have to be fed until they have some genuine emotion behind them. Because it’s that emotion, that realness, that creates the outward experience of greatness.

You can start making a change in your belief system today. The first thing to understand is that we all choose what we think. Sometimes it seems that thoughts choose us, but these are just ingrained patterns of thought that have gathered momentum and/or ingrained themselves over the years.

At any point in time you can catch what you’re thinking and direct your mental attention towards something else. This is mental focus. And it’s very important if you want to create your life as you want it because we always become what we think we are. Always.

“But how do I know what to think? I don’t know what’s right for me, I’m confused, I’m lost,” some people say. “What should I do?”. And this is where emotional guidance comes in. Your emotional body will tell you if you’re heading in the right direction. If you’re feeling right then you’re thinking right, and if you’re thinking right then you’re heading towards your goal of the life and experiences you want. Hence the adage “Follow your heart”. The heart knows what’s right. The mind gets confused and lost in its own games and fantasies. The heart is real and never lies. So get in touch with this centre and listen. Then, once you know where you’re heading start reorganising the mind to focus its attention on the realisation of that goal.

You may have to do some work to clean out and let go of some old, limiting belief systems and thought patterns that may be lodged in you consciousness, and at times this process can be challenging. You have to be honest with yourself, and this can sometimes be hard. But if it clears the way for better, more fulfilling life then it’s got to be worth it.

I’m gonna put up another post showing you how you can start focusing your mind and building on a firm foundation the belief system that’s right for you. But in the meantime I’ll leave you in the capable hands of Jay-Z (cos I know you love the hip-hop ‘n’ rap) as he muses on the importance of incorporating and maintaining a positive state of mind :0

Peace out :->

Daily meditation allows the mind to rest, relax, release stress, and be still.

Lots of people suffer from incessant thinking so acquiring the discipline to take a conscious break from the mind’s chatter can bring clarity, focus and greater confidence in life.

With meditation little and often is better than big doses every now and then. A bit like eating, you wouldn’t eat your whole week’s worth of food in just 2 days, you’d spread it out in digestible instalments over time.

Probably the most important times to meditate are first thing in the morning as you rise, and last thing at night before sleep. At the end of the day it’s important to empty the mind and allow the emotional body to settle otherwise unwanted and extraneous thoughts and feelings can be carried into the sleep space. How many times how you laid in bed unable to sleep because thoughts are running through your head?  These are more than likely to be superficial thoughts that haven’t been cleared from the mind and have then gathered momentum as you sleep and have grown until they’re out of control.

This can be largely eliminated by getting into the simple habit of sitting in meditation for as little as 15 minures before sleep. This can put a much needed break in the chain of thought and stop the thoughts, feelings and events of the day being carried over to the next. It will also help you into move into a much deeper sleep space letting you experience an enhanced quality of sleep. As such you will probably need less time to sleep.

Probably the next most important time is first thing as soon as you awake in the morning. This is important because it will clear any mental and emotional energies that have arisen during sleep time and prevent them from being carried into the new day. It will also get the mind fresh and alert for the day ahead.

Evening Meditation

For the evening meditation find a firm but comfortable cushion and sit cross-legged in the floor with your hands on your knees and your back straight (or as straight as possible). Keep your head up and facing forward with your eyes closed. Then, breathing from your diaphragm, simply watch and experience your thoughts and feelings without giving them any credence or getting involved. This can be quite challenging at first especially if you’ve been used living from mental-emotional perspective. We can sometimes make the easy mistake of thinking that we are our thoughts and emotions, and our attachment to them can be such that when we start letting them we think that we’re somehow losing a valuable part of who we are. However, what you really are, beneath the superficial thoughts and emotions can and will never be lost, and when awareness of this deeper self increases we experience stillness, knowingness, and peace.

You may want to start by accompanying your meditation with some relaxing music and a candle or for light. After a bit of practice and you’re feeling the benefit from it aim to do the meditation in the dark and in silence for the full 15 minutes. The difference between the two methods is the first relaxes the mind letting it unwind, whereas the clarifies, focuses and strengthens it, putting it under your control (not the other way round, as can so often be the case).

Morning Meditation

As with the evening meditation sit and experience your thoughts and emotions without investing too much energy in them. Remember, you lose nothing by letting them go, and instead you’ll win a heightened awareness and perception of yourself and the day that lies ahead.

If you can, do this meditation with the curtains drawn facing into the light of the new day. Let the rays evaporate any mental and emotional shadows that may have surfaced from the subconscious during sleep-time.

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Excellent video for anyone who likes to go against the grain and challenge the status quo: