Sebastian Pole is an Ayurvedic practitioner, herbalist, husband and father of one. He and his business partner, Tim Westwell, launched Pukka Herbs in the 90s, wanting to provide people with good quality herbs everyday. He believes in improving people’s health while looking after the planet, and so uses Certified Organic ingredients in all the Pukka Herbs products. The new Pukka Ayurveda Skincare range also uses eco-friendly packaging. Sebastian works at Pukka Herbs in Bristol and also has a herbal practice in Bath.
My alarm goes off at 7am. I usually start the day with a warm spicy tea such as Pukka’s Three Ginger blend, as this helps to get the digestion going. I then take some herbs and have a glass of Clean Greens with Aloe Vera juice for its cleansing properties.
I like to practice hatha yoga in the morning, in an attempt to begin my day relaxed and focused. I normally do a few postures and then some breathing practice. Digestion at the ready, I then eat a good porridge-like breakfast of amaranth, quinoa and rice with some cinnamon, nuts, hemp protein and honey.
My office space at home doubles as an inspirational space; it’s where I keep all my herb and yoga books, as well as pictures of inspiring people in my life, from members of my family to an image of the Medicine Buddha. They help remind me of my intention in life. My working days are filled with variety; I oversee all of the herbs we purchase at Pukka and work closely with the Quality Team, and the growers themselves, to ensure that we only buy in the highest quality. What I have for lunch depends on how busy I am as I often only have time for something quick and light like soup.
The process of growing; importing; quality-checking; and manufacturing is not always straight forward and I am certainly prone to some high blood pressure moments, or as we say in Ayurveda, a tendency for my pitta to be high! I always try and balance these responsibilities with spending time researching, developing new products and writing. I also have a busy herbal clinic to run and find it an extremely rewarding to be able to work with people one-on-one.
The first thing I do when I get home is have a cup of tea – usually something to help me relax like a cup of our Three Tulsi blend. A cup of tea is a predictably-good moment in life and, in my unpredictable life, I like the predictably-good.
After work I always want to catch up with my wife and son and see how everyone is. On a quiet evening I find gardening a great way to unwind. As the winter draws in though, I find myself listening to music to relax.
Before bed I often indulge in a massage and a bath. Massage is a very important part of health in Ayurveda as it helps us to connect with ourselves and clears tension and toxins from our system. As someone obsessed with all things healing I will use apply rose otto lotion after the bath. It is one of my favourite fragrances. It is also one of the key components in the Nourishing Face Oil, from our new Pukka Ayurveda Skincare range. We work with a wonderful rose producer in Bulgaria who collects 1.5 million organic rose buds to make 1 litre of the oil. It’s an intense essence.
I’ll then often take a ‘herb’ book to bed; Ayurveda: Life Health & Longevity by Robert Svoboda is a great introduction. And it’s not long before I find myself fast asleep.
All of the Pukka Herbs products, including supplements, award-winning teas and their brand new skin care range, are available from www.pukkaherbs.com and selected health food stores nationwide. Pukka Teas retail at £2.25 for 20 sachets. Pukka Ayurveda Skincare is priced from £11.