It REALLY helps to be surrounded by inspiring people when you are trying to do things you have never done before, perhaps expand your business or step out in a new direction. Leigh-Ann is one of those creative people who make beauty in whatever they turn their attention to. It would be irritating if it wasn’t so useful to me!

She’s a graphic designer, and did all the design and branding for this site and mm…Yoga!

Also, she works in magazine publishing – specifically converting them for iPad. The future of publishing! Frikkin amazing.

AND she is a ceramicist of some talent. See what I mean?

Oh, and a food stylist.

You can find more of Leigh-Ann’s food and vessel goodness over at her blog, Golden Brown Fox.

She’s ALSO a taker of lovely photos. She say’s she not ‘a photographer’ but I say whatevs. All the photos featured in this post are hers.

The thing that’s most inspiring is how easy she makes all of this seem. You see, I know how time consuming page layout can be. And sometimes it’s boring too. Pottery too, takes a lot of time, and, like with yoga,  if you lose focus, your vessels fall over.

I don’t have the patience to learn to use the software I’d need to create my own logos and branding. I always have pretty clear ideas of what I want, but I want someone else to do the work I don’t enjoy. Enter Leigh, with her way of taking my concept and awesoming it up, working ridiculously fast despite all her other activities, and being completely open to feedback. Truly amazing. Truly inspiring.

I bought Whom Not To Marry, but that’s another story.

Leigh-Ann is a yogini, a creative goddess, and also, it turns out, a great writer. Read on…

When I lived in Cape Town, a friend invited me to go along to pottery at her aunt-in-law’s house in Woodstock. I’d been keen on pottery ever since my mom introduced me to the art as a young girl. I soon fell in love with this weekly activity. Sipping on wine while chatting away and exploring ways with clay on the wheel.

Now, anyone who’s tried pottery on the wheel will know that there are very definite techniques to producing something that’ll actually withstand the force of gravity. My bowls and cylinders were fine examples of ‘imperfect pottery’ – you know the Japanese Wabi Sabi / Hagi Yaki aesthetic – except, they looked that way not because I was aiming at that but because I didn’t know how to centre clay or build a proper foundation for a vessel.

I’ve recently taken up classes in throwing clay on the wheel. Within the first session I was centering, by the third I was making perfectly symmetrical bowls! Well, nearly perfect.

The key to creating a solid foundation is in how you position your body. If you’re not centered, neither will your pottery be. And you need to breathe while wedging the clay – making it malleable and bending it to your will. Breathe in – bring the clay up, breathe out – push it down into a neat mound. The form follows the body which follows the breath. Sound familiar?

Learning to centre clay has tweaked the way I do yoga. Yoga feels more like sculpting (a form with) my body now. And rather than rushing through the sequence, I want to do the poses slowly and thoughtfully. Gently and gracefully. The shape grows from the core and extends through the limbs, breathing all the way, to the ends of the fingertips, enveloped in a sense of wonder.

My favourite part of making a bowl is the moment when my fingertips leave the nascent rim of the clay. Delicate, like touching the edge of a lotus petal. This is where I feel inspired to be more gentle in life, with myself, with my loved ones, with my co-workers, with strangers. To be able to do that, my core needs to be strong. My foundation needs to be solid. I need to be in The Centre.

Blue Trees by Leigh-Ann

Yes, I am late with this. Yes, I am sorry. Life got in the way of blogging, as it is wont to do sometimes!

• Pretty pictures. Look at the lovely one above…
• Picnicking in the park on warm Saturday evenings, with live music in the background, great food, and lovely company
• Lingering in bed till eleven. Ahh, to have more mornings like that
• Feeling purposeful and hopeful
• Anticipation for Mark’s workshop next weekend, woot!
• The amazing, positive response from the attendees of my Breath and Bandha workshop on Sunday. Thanks, you guys!
• Noodles and tea with a favourite friend on Sunday evening
• Celebrating my mother’s birthday.  I know this isn’t true  of everyone, and it makes me even more grateful: I really like, love, and enjoy my family and wouldn’t change them. I am really lucky
• Speaking to my gran on the phone, and she was able to hear me. It’s a little touch and go with her hearing sometimes
• Sleep. One day I will get enough of it
• Being by the beach on sunny days. Gotta love the lingering summer
• Pretty frocks. A girl can never have too many
• Houseguests. Coming next week, yay!
• Cleavage. I have only just learnt to wear mine with aplomb, and now, I work it baby
• Plotting home decor revamps
• The emails people have sent me to say how much they love these lists, heee heee
• And, did I mention sleep? I might have a little nap now, actually

So she put together this marvellous little booklet (this is just part of it, visit her blog for the rest):

And then, as if that wasn’t enough, she swept into action: the kick-ass new look of this blog: her work. The fabulous photos of me? Her work. You can see the business cards she did for me here, and the full booklet here.

Leigh-Ann is a grapic artist, layout queen and all-round great gal to have on your marketing team (or possibly, to BE your marketing team). Her prices are really reasonable. Also, she is a really lovely person, and a friend. Oh, and a yogini. So if you want someone to help you with marketing your business, she’s your gal. And you know I only ever plug people I really believe in. Her photos make me feel like I could be in Yoga Journal! Bless her.

I have managed to pin her down and interview her, too, so that you can all get a glimpse into her lovely head.

Read on, and enjoy…

Leigh-Ann Thomas

You love booklets. Why?

I love the way you can create a story in a booklet using images and text. It’s more dynamic and interactive than just a single page; and it’s a nice bite size of information – it’s effortless to just go through a booklet.

You have mentioned before that you draw a distinction between having a creative job and being creative, between going to yoga class and doing yoga. Tell us more.

For me, having the job or going to the class doesn’t require as much personal investment or concentration on what you are doing as when you’re doing something of your own accord. It’s easier to blindly go through the motions if you are in a class or have a job. If the structure of a class or job is removed, you need to find your own form for how you create or how you practice yoga.

What inspired you to set up your business?

Moving to Melbourne has forced me to take stock of what I can do and what I want to do. In many ways it’s been an intense time of self reflection, looking at my creative skills and how I can apply those in a new context. This business is the result of things not really going according to how I expected; that includes not finding a job. Since I wasn’t finding the right opportunities in the job market, I felt that I had to create my own.

I think you need to be looking for the right thing, and maybe after fifty nos ,you will get one or two yes’s, and those will be the right things.

What are you working on right now?

I am working on a recipe book for the St Kilda Rotary Club with a photographer called Greg Elms. The book features recipes from 60 restaurants in the South-East of Melbourne. I’m doing the design and layout.

Tell us about your yoga practice.

My Ashtanga practice has been up and down in terms of having a rhythm, due to moving countries, and setting up a new home and space to feel comfortable in. Like with my work, I have had to adjust from going to yoga classes to setting up my own practice. That takes discipline and sometimes I feel very undisciplined .*

Yoga affects me on both a mental and physical level. Physically I’ve experienced that it helps my lower back, improves my posture and makes me feel centred in my core. I used to get spasms in my neck and my yoga has definitely helped for that. I don’t do it for fitness or weight loss, or anything like that, I just believe it’s part of a balanced life. It makes me feel strong and capable, physically.

Mentally and emotionally it calms me down. It helps me not to let myself be overcome by my emotions and negative thoughts. I’m becoming more and more interested in the spiritual side of yoga and its power to transform one.

Does it link into your creative practice? If so, how.

Yes it does. Yoga helps me feel more in tune with myself and therefore my creativity.

Yoga and creativity are governed by the same principles, like being disciplined and ‘being in the zone’ or finding the flow. As with yoga asanas, creativity can’t be forced, you have to let go to allow it to happen.

Both have the power to transform reality one one’s perception of space and time, as well as oneself and others. Both can act as bridges to new realities and levels of consciousness.

You can find Leigh-Ann at her blog, I Love Booklets (of course!) or email her at leighann.tg@gmail.com.

*How honest of her – don’t we all feel that way at least some of the time!