
Video: 1 minute holiday: Talalla Beach, Matara, Sri Lanka
Ahhh, it's getting chilly in the Norther Hemisphere again so I'm dreaming of being back in Sri Lanka. I've not been since 2012 - which is a really long time for me. I usually go every year around my birthday in August. But last year I was fooling about in New York...
Video: 1 minute holiday: Dawn in Pune at the Four Seasons Vineyard
Dawn, somehow doesn't get as much good press as sunset. But it's really every bit as fabulous. And when I can, I like to get up and have a wander about in the early light. Here I am in the rather odd, slightly blasted plain that is the dawn in Pune. Again at that...
Video: 1 minute holiday: Step Tank, Hampi
Now this truly is a wonderful architectural thing - the step tank at Hampi. Yet another reason it's a Unesco heritage site - I really have no idea why it's not as well known as Anchor Watt. There are a few impressive step tanks of this sort of ilk scattered over...
Video: 1 minute holiday: Four Season Vineyard, Pune : The magic of bottling
We're back at the Four Seasons vineyard again this week (I couldn't get enough about their process there it was all so fascinating to me). I was particularly taken with the machines that bottled and labelled the wine. Do join me for an enjoyable minute of watching...
Video: 1 minute holiday: Lotus Mahal, Unesco worthy ceiling at Hampi
I know, I know, more of Hampi. But it IS my favourite place on the planet and this is one of the jewels in it's crown. So, indulge me and spend slightly under a minute stood next to me gawking at the gorgeous symmetry of the Lotus Mahal ceiling. The ladies of the...
Video: 1 minute holiday: Sunrise in the paddy fields, Hampi Island
This is one of my favourite places on earth. This week, we're in the lush greenery of the rice fields just after dawn. Stand with me and hear the birds singing, and the slow trickle of water into the paddy fields. I've been to this particular hotel many times, there...
Video: 1 minute holiday: Mai Khao Beach, Phuket (again – but it IS very lovely)
This week we're back on the gorgeous beach at Mai Khao Beach in Phuket. If you're a regular reader, you may remember I was here shooting in January for my Career Course launch. What can I say? It's a hard life! Come and join me for a moment standing by the waves and...
Video: 1 minute holiday: the Fermentation Tanks at Four Seasons Winery
More from my trip earlier in the year to the fascinating and lovely Four Seasons Vineyard in Pune. I love the acoustics in here - all the dripping and water sounds as they clean the tanks. And of course, it's all shiny metal. All that training as a silversmith I had...
Video: 1 minute holiday: Ancient Lingum, Ancient Man : Hampi, Karnataka
Now, I know I've shared a lot of Hampi videos recently - but this is something special. Totally otherworldly. I was spellbound when this happened. Here's a Brahmin priest doing some odd (and fairly prosaic) housekeeping: looking for coins in the flooded water around...
Video: 1 minute holiday: Queen’s Bath, Hampi, Karnataka
So we've been on a bit of a Hampi kick recently - and as it is my favourite place on earth... I'm going to give you a bit more of the joy of the place. This week we're at the Queen's bath. A swimming pool solely for the Queen (as you can tell by the name). Thing is,...
Video: 1 minute holiday: Rickshaw ride at Hampi Bazaar
Remember we took a ride in a rickshaw together back in Bangalore? Well this week, we're bouncing along through the Unesco world heritage site that is Hampi. We're in Hampi Bazaar, and you can see the crowded streets, cows and glimpse of the gopurum of the temple...
Video: 1 minute holiday: Crushing it at the Four Seasons Vineyard, Pune
If you're a regular reader (and why would you not be?) then you might remember that I had a trip to Pune to visit a rather fancy Four Seasons Vineyard near there just before I left India. Very nice it was too. There was ace food, lovely people and we got a tour round...
Video: 1 minute holiday: The river at Hampi
So, this week we're sitting under a holy tree next to the river in Hampi, the UNESCO world heritage site (and my fave place in India). You can hear the clang of the bell to wake the idol in the temple, the hum of tourists and pilgrims and the incredibly annoying sound...
Video: 1 minute holiday: A taste of village life in Southern India
It's back! It's been on vacation for a few months (see what I did there?), but finally our 1 minute holiday series is back. And we're kicking off the new season with a taste of Indian village life - in this case in Karnataka. I'm often asked by Western pals to...
Video: 1 minute holiday: Kits Beach Vancouver
A small departure for us in the world of 1 minute holidays (see what I did there with the pun about departure? Ahem). Anyway, moving on - this is our first guest 1 minute holiday. We've seen tiny vacations from staff before, but never from a friend of Rethink. This...
Video: 1 minute holiday: Grapes on the vine
You'll remember I was away on a jolly this week. At a vineyard no less. All very grapey and lovely it was too. I was the guest of the lovely Four Seasons Winery, near Pune in Northern India. I shall share more about how us high rolling bloggers coped without such...
Video: 1 minute holiday: Brighton Beach, UK
Just a quickie for you today - this is where I was in May last year... and oddly this is also where I will be in May this year. I like the cyclical element to that. It's a tiny bit like Mozart, but more travel based. Now, back to the impending launch of my first...
Video : 1 minute holiday : Dawn in Bangalore at Rethink Central
Yes, I know I've shared the dawn in Bangalore from my rooftop before - but allow me a little nostalgia about my home as I'll be leaving here soon (very soon actually - we're at 7 weeks and counting - aaaaah, so much to do). This was shot 30 December, so it's very...
Video : 1 minute holiday : Living it up in Phuket, Thailand
This is where I was staying in Phuket. Fabulous, eh? Chosen, I might add, so that I could film my new training videos there. Rather splendid as a backdrop, even if you can hear the hum of the pool pumps. I was here to sort out my Indian visa which was a bit of a pain...
Video : 1 minute holiday : Mai Khao Beach, Phuket, India
A few people have been asking me what it was like where I was staying last week, so here it is. Rather lovely, as you can see. Mai Khao is a National Park in the north of Phuket Island (which is the largest in Thailand). How so many lovely hotels have been built there...
Video : 1 minute holiday : Unawatuna near Galle, Sri Lanka
So as you read this, I'll be in Thailand. I have to go and top up my Indian visa as you're not allowed to stay more than 180 days in the country in one go on the visa I have. That's not normally a problem as I move about a lot, but since I got back from NYC in the...
Video : 1 minute holiday : Trafalgar Square, London
I took this weeks 1 minute holiday in the dark days of February 2013. As you can see, Britain was living up to it's reputation for somewhat rubbish weather. But do check out the glory of the National Gallery - gorgeous, eh? Even on a day this likely to rain. -:--:-...
Video : 1 minute holiday : Oradea, Romania
Now, this is something I've been wanting to do for a while - bring you 1 minute holidays from some of the lovely people that work with Rethink Central. As you know, I'm in India, but perhaps what you don't realise is that most of the team is very far flung as well. We...
Video : Happy New Year!
Assuming it’s actually become 2014 where you are that is. If not, do hurry up and join us. I suspect 2014, is going to be rather lovely. It's been with us in India for at least 9 hours now and even though it's all new and crispy, it’s settling in rather nicely. At...
Video : 1 minute holiday : Baby turtles to the sea!
Now this weeks video is something very special. I've been saving it as something of a finalé for the year. I was privileged enough to go to a baby turtle sanctuary in Sri Lanka two years back. They allow you to help save baby turtles - olive ridgebacks - by releasing...
Video : 1 minute holiday : The Norbulingka Institute Temple : Dharamshala
This week, we're back at one of our very first 1 minute holidays: the beautiful temple at the Norbulingka Institute in Dharamsala. The institute was set up to keep the Tibetan arts alive while so many people are living in exile. Artists do long apprenticeships here...
Video : 1 minute holiday : The noisy dawn in the Costa Rican jungle
As you know, I was lucky enough to spend a month in Costa Rica last year. I was very extravagant and treated myself to a few days at the very fancy eco lodge, Lapa Rios in the very south of the country. Apart from having an incredibly diverse and beautiful eco system,...
Video : 1 minute holiday : Bearing up in Northern Kerala
Last year I took a bit of a jaunt to the delightful Neeleshwar Hermitage, to check it out as a possible venue for a retreat. Gorgeous, eh? There are beautiful cottages, miles of untouched beach, and brilliant Ayurvedic treatments.. but it's down possibly the worst...
Video : 1 minute holiday : Empty beach time on Costa Rica’s Caribbean coast
We're back in Costa Rica for this weeks 1 minute holiday, but this time on the East coast on the stunning and empty beach at Puerto Viejo de Talamanca. It's a smidge windy and very bright - but as you can see, it's just us. Nothing to disturb the walk and nothing to...
Video : 1 minute holiday : Temple carvings at Halebid
Now, this is something special for you this week. Mind you, it's also only 30 seconds long, so I'm doing you out of the whole 1 minute glory. And, it was before I upgraded to my new fancy camera, so it's not terribly high res. But despite all that, I think you'll be...
Video : 1 minute holiday : High in Costa Rica
This weeks 1 minute holiday finds us back in Costa Rica. This time we’re up high looking at the rainforest canopy at eye level. Very high up.
Video : 1 minute holiday : That is a beautiful curve – Park Crescent, London
This week we’re at the stunning Nash statement that is Park Terrace at Great Portland Street. As you may know John Nash made a huge contribution to the look of London at the end of the 18th Century. And his work is still visible in many places – all round Regents Street and Regents Park for a start. Across vast swathes of tourist literature, the images that we think of as London, are often his designs. If you know what Buckingham Palace looks like – you’ve seen some of his work.
Video : 1 minute holiday : Back on Hawah Beach
A few weeks back I was getting nostalgic for Kovalam where I used to live when I first came out to India. So I shared some 1 minute holidays on the beaches right next to my apartment. So get a coffee and pull up a chair to enjoy a tiny little 1 minute holiday in India.
Video : 1 minute holiday : Mcleod Ganj and the foothills of the Himalayas
This weeks 1 minute holiday is from last year. We’re in the lovely McLeod Ganj. That’s where the Dalai Lama runs Tibet in exile. It’s a lovely spot in the foothills of the Himalayas.
Video : 1 minute holiday : Windy walk over the dunes in Norfolk
Take a break and enjoy another of our 1 minute holidays. So pick up your cappuccino and hold it close to warm your hands – this is a chillier holiday. We’re on a lovely windswept beach in Norfolk on the east coast of the UK in October 2012.
Video : 1 minute holiday : Dawn at Basunti : What I was doing a year ago:
This is where I was this time last year – and quite magical it was too. I was doing wonderful yoga retreats in the foothills of the Himalayas with the fabulous Su Sareen. Listen to the fabulous bird song on this video of dawn creeping over the mountains
Video : 1 minute holiday : Hawah Beach in Kerala, Southern India
Join me for a 1 minute video holiday on Hawah Beach in Kerala. It’s a lovely place, a little bit rundown in places (well most places), but seaside-y and fun. There are lots of foreigners there too, so sometimes I wouldn’t be stared at all the time. Which was rather nice.
Video : 1 minute holiday : Kovalam, where I used to live in Kerala
This is the beach I used to live on when I first moved to India in 2008. It’s Lighthouse Beach at Kovalam, which is in the very south of Kerala. Quite near to what is geographically called ‘Kanyakamari’ or as I like to think of it ‘the pointy bit at the bottom of India’.
Video : 1 minute holiday : The Golden Temple, Amritsar
After last weeks damp volcano 1 minute holiday, I thought you deserved something a bit warmer and a bit more Indian. So to continue the theme of what I was doing about this time last year, here's a lovely minute from my trip to the Golden Temple in Amritsar. There are...
Video : 1 minute holiday : Sunrise at Rethink Central, India
This is a bonus 1 minute holiday. I shot it this morning just after I was woken to the mostly lovely rose coloured light coming through my windows. I often wake at dawn, but I rarely venture onto the roof to view the glory of it all. But today I grabbed my phone and made this rather wobbly little video for you, so you could also share the joy of it all.
Video : 1 minute holiday : In the shadow of the volcano : clouds drift across Poas
The September night rains have started in good and earnest in Bangalore. It's a very polite form of monsoon we get at this time of year (well September really, the clue's in the name). The rains start almost as soon as it gets dark, and stop most nights about 3am. The...
Video : 1 minute holiday : Cocktails at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Cocktails on the roof of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Come and take it all in – you can hear the hum of the crowd, replete with cocktails and the glory of nature going on largely unnoticed around them. You’ve got to love New Yorkers.
Video : 1 minute holiday : Shiny buildings in Manhattan, New York
Come and stand with me on the roof checking out Manhattan in all it’s beautiful glory. Shiny buildings, the sound of the city, all that amazing blue sky. It’s a 1 minute marvel. A tiny vacation in only a minute
Video : 1 minute holiday : Om Beach. The most beautiful beach in India?
Now this is Om Beach, which is really quite delightful. It's just south of Goa in the state I live in Karnataka. It's very lovely and I was there about four years ago scouting locations for Rethink Retreats. It's a hard life as you can imagine! The beach is named...
Video : 1 minute holiday : Clouds in Mary-le-bone Churchyard, London
Now, I was in London two weeks ago, passing through on the way to my shoot in NYC. I flashed through town for what felt like 30 seconds. Just enough time to hug some friends and scoff some cake... just the important things! And the place was looking stunning in the...
Video : 1 minute holiday : Early morning on Ponducherry Beach
This week we're back on the beach again - we've had something of a run of them recently - some sunnier than others. This one is the endlessly long beach at Ponducherry, haunt of the early morning exerciser. Get down there around 7am and it is rammed with people...
Video : 1 minute holiday : Early morning in the rain forest in Costa Rica
This is the beautiful Osa Peninsular in the south of Costa Rica. A quite remarkable place; it's home to a variety of rare and endangered forests, creatures and apparently the incredibly rare phenomena of a tropical fjord. To be honest, even though I've been there, I...
Video : 1 minute holiday : Monsoon lightening storm, Northern Kerala
Following on from last weeks reminder of the summer in the UK - here's another seasonal moment; this time a flash of the monsoon in Kerala. Come and sit on the porch with me and listen to the night rains lash the beach hotel I was staying at last year. Forgive the...
Video : 1 minute holiday : Brighton Beach : Oh, I do like to be beside the seaside.
Apparently something called 'summer' has recently arrived in the UK. It's not been seen for years, and in honour of the freakishly good weather I give you a tiny one minute holiday at the seaside. Admittedly taken back in May, so not that sunny a day. But it'll give...
Video : 1 minute holiday : Eagle lazily rides thermals in Costa Rica
Now this is a fabulous 1 minute holiday. Pull up a chair and watch this beautiful thing, an eagle making lazy circles at the stunningly beautiful Tierra Magnifica in Nosara, Costa Rica. This is where I was last November and it's a truly amazing place. First there's...
Video : 1 minute holiday : At home to the sound of the monsoon
Generally, we don't get a very serious monsoon in Bangalore - but all the same it's a noisy old business when it does turn up. I love it, but it ain't quiet. So come and spend a rainy moment with me at Rethink Central - stand in my front room and marvel at the sound...
Video : 1 minute holiday : Windy walk on the beach in the Norfolk fens
I shot this October last year and as you can see the weather was beautiful. Chilly (particularly if you live in India, like me), but stunning. Come and stand next to me and see the light bouncing off the wet sand, and all that gorgeous sky. You forget how much of it...
Video : 1 minute holiday : Stand on the beach at Talalla in Sri Lanka
So after last weeks auto rickshaw trip, I thought you deserved to have a bit of beachy goodness. Ok, it's a little windy, but this is the stunning Talalla Beach in Sri Lanka. Check out the sunshine, the clean sand and the fact that frankly it's just us on the beach....
Video : 1 minute holiday : Auto rickshaw journey – stuck in traffic in Bangalore
So I spend a lot of time talking about Bangalore traffic. It's pretty awful to be honest. And today in our 1 minute holiday you get to feel the inside of an auto too. Yes, I realise that sitting in traffic might not sound like a holiday to most of you - but it's...
Video : 1 minute holiday : Spring in Amsterdam
Several of you lovely readers asked to see a little more of Amsterdam - and as luck would have it, I made several '1 minute holiday' videos while I was there. This is where I was standing when I shot the 'live your perfect life' video that was up on the Rethink Blog a...
Video : 1 minute holiday : Serene golden Buddha, the Temple at Norbulingka
Earlier in the week I was talking about the beautiful Norbulingka Institute in Dharamsala. So, here's a tiny holiday there - come and spend one minute looking round the temple with me, on a bright sunny day last autumn. You can hear the cicadas outside, but inside...
Video : 1 minute holiday : Sunrise over the Dalai Lama’s Temple
I've been promising this forever... well at least since last October last year, when I visited after my lovely yoga retreat in the Punjab. The video is shot from the same hotel which bizarely had a tree situated in my room. Yes, that's in my room. Not near it, not by...
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It’s my coaching company and we’re all about helping people change their lives and feel stress free. Part of that is taking tiny regular breaks helps, so please join me each Friday for a 1 minute holiday.