A few weekends ago, I made a trek to the big smoke (aka Brisbane) to go to the Mind Body Spirit Festival. The last time I went, I was pushing a baby around – well over 14 years ago!
I met up with Alisha the Naughty Naturopath Mum and we spent the whole day there, meeting some amazing people, discovering cool products and of course eating yummy, healthy food!
Here are some of the highlights.
These funky ladies are from Tea Tonic, my favourite organic herbal tea. Lisa Hilbert (the one on the left) is a naturopath and herbalist and all her teas are made with a focus on health, taste and wellbeing. If you think herbal tea tastes yukky, you need to try these teas – my kids love them! We sampled all the different types and stocked up while we were there. The tea bags are great for convenience, but the loose leaf tea just takes it to a whole new level. Sublime.
Alisha and I spent ages with the lovely girls at Nature Delivers. Here is Jo making up Alisha to look even more beautiful! Jo is from Ballina and makes natural and organic make up and skincare. We loved the range and bought lots of things. The best thing about them? The price! Easily the best price I have seen for natural makeup and skincare. You can only get it online or when Jo goes to festivals or markets, which keeps the prices affordable. Love.
Brunch! We were stoked to find Flavours of Brazil at the festival and yes, we were in healthy foodie heaven! Alisha had the Jungle Plate which is “organic rainbow quinoa, black beans served with haloumi garden salad with a refreshing lime dressing” on the left. I had the Acai Beach Bowl which is “Amazonia organic açaí blended with seasonal fruit & alkaline water topped with a crunchy mix of nature’s seeds, coconut, sliced fruit, frozen blue berries & honey.” You will find them catering around the Sunny Coast at the markets. Delish.
I was so excited to meet Grace and her mum from Amazing Oils! I have worked with them on the blog and been a long time fan. They have the most (literally) amazing organic magnesium oil products. I stocked up on my favourite bath flakes (well it was a show special!) If you haven’t tapped into the power of magnesium yet, I suggest you look up these ladies. Amazing.
Another of my fabulous finds was Dayle and her Self Nurture Journal. What a gorgeous lady! I was so drawn to buying this journal and I am glad I did. Dayle calls it a ‘playbook’ and it is a wonderful resource to help you journal and encourage you to cherish your mind, your body, and your spirit. Gorgeous fun design and a great price. Inspiring.
The ladies from Joya must have made a lot of sales at the festival. Look at Alisha blissing out with the Joya crystal massage! It felt so amazing and I had to buy one for the Natural New Age Dad. They are ergonomic massage tool with a gorgeous crystal. You choose your crystal, based on what you need. We have all been loving using it! It makes it so easy to massage as your hands don’t get tired and sore. You can also do it on yourself. Bliss.
I had a great chat with Stephen from Gymea Eco Retreat and Spa at the festival. I am one of their Facebook stalkers and had always been drawn to them and the beautiful gymea lily! Based at the spiritual Mt Warning in Northern NSW, Stephen runs the sustainable retreat venue and his gorgeous wife, Sonia runs the day spa. When he mentioned the resort style magnesium pool, this place went immediately on my wish list. There is something very special about these guys and I am looking forward to discovering more. Stephen also introduced me to his friend who has a great product that made me give up toothpaste, but more on that in another blog!
Another beautiful stall holder at the festival who we fell in love with was Linda from Poppy’s Candles. Linda has a background in natural therapies and creates hand poured, hand crafted beeswax candles with beautiful aromatherapy oils. My favourite is Summer Rain and Alisha loved Bondi (she is a beach bum though). They are just exquisite. Linda is from a family of fourth generation beekeepers and they know their stuff. Ethical, family run, passionate and eco-friendly Aussie small business. Yes, I became an instant fan. Adore.
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There were so many more interesting people and products at the festival. We sampled raw chocolate, nougat and ginger syrup, experienced a meditation and kinesiolgy session, tried on happy pants, watched Nia dancing (really want to do this!) and listened to a talk on enzymes and allergies.
I was also excited to meet in person some gorgeous women I have been following on Facebook for ages – Jacqui from Naturlea, Jen from Essential Oil Goddess and Rowena Neal from Balancing Your Universe. I also have to say a special shout out to the lovely Deb at Organic Times for our free tickets – thanks Deb! Their organic chocolate show bag was to die for – that new raspberry white chocolate licorice is sensational. All in the name of blog research!
The vibe and the energy at the festival was incredible. We spent all day there and had such a fabulous time.
If you get a chance to go to one of the festivals, held in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide, then do it! I can’t wait to go back next year.
Have you been to the festival? What did you think?
Oh I am so disappointed I missed it. I didn’t even know it was on. You will have to do a pre-post next year (or if you did one this year I need to read better). My partner will be greatful though because I think I would have spent up big.
Though I may end up doing a little online shopping 😉
I did a little shout out on FB before the event, but FB is often crazy! It’s in Feb next year at the convention centre – would be great to meet up with you. 🙂
I have been off facebook more than usual as I was in hospital (nothing serious), back at uni doing two degrees, so trying not to get too distracted LOL. But I will keep more of an eye out and do a page cull so things like this stand out more haha.
P.S thanks for the recipe ideas for breakfast. Fussy boy’s fave so far is chocolate rice pudding made from raw honey and cacao, almond milk and some rice protien powder. Seems to be helping a bit and he has a couple of serves 🙂
See you again next year!!!;) xxxxxxxxxxx
Definitely. Can’t wait. It was the best weekend I have had in ages. Thanks for being my festival buddy xxxxxx
Wow – You girls partied in style. I’m so coming next year!
Off to check the trail of exciting links you left behind Sonia x
We had a blast 🙂
No and now I can’t wait to go next year!
What a fantastic day out it looks!
And how lucky are all those businesses too meeting the gorgeous Natural New Age Mum and the Naughty Naturopath Mum XX
We should all meet up for a lovely weekend !! 🙂
That looks like loads of fun and I can’t believe I have never been. I’m so going to go next time it is in Sydney. Thanks for the review Sonia.
You would love it !!! You should get yourself a stall 🙂
Thanks ladies for sharing your love for JOYA. Those little beauties are certainly very powerful when it comes to relaxing tense muscle and yes, they are so simple to use – no strain at all on ones hands.
And yes, we sold many ;o)
Thanks Ellen for such a great product – we are in love with JOYA!! xx