A Moment with Pandora Paloma

A Moment with Pandora Paloma

For Pandora Paloma, nourishment should be mind, body and soul.

The London-based fashion, beauty and wellness publicist struggled with demons around food growing up. It wasn’t until she grew weary of the stress of her daily work and existence that she began to explore yoga and discover the benefits of a more conscious lifestyle. She became a yoga teacher herself.

Ultimately, frustrated with limited healthy food options for events, she launched Rooted London, a well-being-focused concept that offers everything from nutrition and wellness coaching and workshops to cooking for private gatherings. It is through this channel that she spreads the good word—via articles, recipes and more—about the importance of mindful eating and moving the body.

Here, Paloma explains the basis of her philosophy, “Listen to your body, feed your soul:”

Live The Process: When did you first become interested in health and wellness?

Pandora Paloma: I discovered the importance of well-being in adulthood. My association with food was a rocky one in my early years, as I worked through borderline eating disorders at the age of 15 and then again in my early 20s. I was all or nothing and very controlling with food. I then began practicing yoga and started to understand how to listen to my body and discover the art of self-love. I haven’t looked back.

It was only in my mid 20s that I started to tap into how food made me feel and how I could energize myself with a plant-based diet. I embarked on a magical journey of yoga and nutrition, learning how to teach, heal and educate. Growing older, now in my early 30s, I have the most balanced ideals and relationships with food and health. As the clean eating phenomenon comes and goes, the Rooted philosophy stands to last for a lifetime, educating the nation on a lifestyle—not a fad or trend.

LTP: How did you come to launch Rooted London and what does the company offer?

PP: After working in the health and beauty PR industry for eleven years, I decided I was no longer getting the most out of my creativity and ambitious drive, and I felt a constant urge to launch my own brand. I went freelance and worked for an agency between the UK and Ibiza that was dedicated to wellness brands. This enabled me to have the time start my nutrition course and, following this, my yoga teacher training. From there, I launched the business. Needing even more flexibility with my schedule, I started freelancing for only my own clients, giving me time to concentrate on Rooted.

We are a wellness concept brand, offering food and health coaching, yoga, workshops and a journal of recipes and features. We also do private cooking events for birthdays, hen parties and the like and write recipes for various brands and websites. Most recently, we partnered up with lifestyle store, Goodhood, to create a feature on wellness with an outline of our philosophy and some recipes for readers to enjoy.

This year, we’ll launch our “Intuitive Eating” workshops, which look at our relationship with food, how to understand it and free ourselves from negative emotions—how to build self-love. It will be full of techniques, exercises and tools to build our intuition and a stronger connection to the mind and body. Watch this space.

LTP: In British culture specifically, what is the greatest obstacle to wellness, for most people?

PP: I think, right now, people are more confused that ever about what “wellness” even means. There is so much noise surrounding the health arena that we've forgotten why we are eating certain foods and concentrating so much on what we are putting in our bodies. Raw, paleo, Atkins, juicing, blah blah blah—we’ve forgotten to listen to the natural nature and intuition of our bodies which tells us what foods we need to feel nourished. It’s ever-changing from hour-to-hour and day-to-day, but we've lost touch. We are also highly stressed and, so, sadly, however much we work on our health, there will always be the underlying issue of inflammation, lack of sleep, rise in cortisol, adrenal stress and so on. We have to work on addressing the cause of these problems before we treat the symptoms. In the UK, particularly, we are always looking for that magic pill, but true health takes dedication. It’s a frame of mind: 360 mind, body, soul that needs nurturing every single day.

"Listen to the natural nature and intuition of our bodies."

LTP: What personal wellness rituals keep you feeling balanced and clearheaded?

PP: Meditation and visualization are very powerful for me. I do a self-hypnosis practice three times a week and meditate for 20 minutes every day. I learned Vedic meditation with Will Williams, which really helped shape my overall health. Yoga is a must and I practice a mix of Forrest, restorative and vinyasa flow each week—the variation presses all my buttons! Walking is a very simple pleasure, especially with my two dogs who bring me endless joy. Lastly, cooking. I find the stillness of cooking a one-pot-wonder so satisfying and nourishing.

LTP: What does happiness look like to you?

PP: Friends, family, my dogs and my love, all smiling and eating in the sunshine. Walking on the beach and feeling the sun on my face. Simple things are simple pleasures.

LTP: What does it mean to you to “Live The Process,” and how do you do that every day?

PP: Being conscious, mindful and kind. I do this easily everyday; living moment to moment, listening to people, smiling and caring. Kindness is free; don't ever forget that.

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