Melissa Hudson Bell's "Brunch"

Independently run arts absolutely rock! When a friend invites a you and gaggle of other interested folks for a little art show they have put together in a little cafe or theatre or private home, you can be guaranteed something different and interesting. A little expressional piece of their experience of a sparkle in the world. Sometimes it is edgy, sometimes a little mundane, sometimes a totally irrelevant to your life. And sometimes completely relevant. Either way, I am soooo happy to see independent arts continue to draw new paths through the maps of our consciousness.

Such was the feel this weekend, or at least sunday for me, getting to be a part of the "Brunch" show danced through by Melissa Hudson and her wonderfully creative and often hilarious crew of performers. The event, like some of Melissa other pieces, is all food inspired dance. Yup, food and dance. Sounds like it can be a little messy for sure and much to the delight of the crowd and I think the performers as well it does get messy! Every performer did a little diddy based on a connection with food. The first was a sultry dance with a 5 ft tall stuffed banana. Yup, a banana and it was hilarious! Second was a introspective piece with ritz crackers, next was a little parody on a Tv personality that eats way too much butter called "kale is better than butter". Then we were shown the perfect recipe, and some hilarity from a jewish woman traveling with some sweet potatoes and a few loose screws! I stepped up and got folks out of their chairs for a interactive demonstration on winter foods, and finally Melissa and her 2 co-performers with their piece on Eggs.

I had the fortune of doing a little piece as one of the performers. You may begin to imagine one of those Teppanyaki chefs cookin up some Japanese food throwin tongs and spatulas and knives wildly for their guests circled around with wide eyes and hungry empty bellies. But that wasnt me... :) There were some hungry bellies heard and some enthused eyes intently listening though. My focus was to introduce an movement interlude. One where everyone would get up and make and taste some wonderful food themselves. Since it is the deadset of winter and I am wearing my wool cap everyday now, I focused on foods that nourish the kidneys and the heart. As times get cold, the body and in particular the kidneys need protection and warmth. When the kidneys are stressed, the heart gets the brunt of the hit. When the heart is taxed and tired, the spirit cannot rest. And we all know winter is all about hibernation and introspection.

So, I made a squash soup as a base and a whole bunch of goodies everyone could add into it. There were pickled turnips, collards with garlic, raw walnuts, hearty rye bread, shaved and browned brussel sprouts with apple cider vin, goatcheese mustard sauce, quinoa pilaf, orange braised fennel bulb and radicchio, and a little parsley. Each one of these items has a specific role and function when they do their dance within the body. If you would like more info about these items, just let me know!

I explained everything and the food dance began! Everyone got a little taste and a new inspiration with winter foods. As the nibbling continued, The last performance for the afternoon jumped onstage and more hilarity and amazing choreography was to be showcased.

What a beautiful afternoon! Foods, dance, laughs, smiles...yeah. If you are in the bay area and have any interest in food and the arts, keep an eye out for Melissa Hudson Bell and her crew. Relevant, gutsy, hilarity, creative, extraordinary!

For a demonstration or cooking class/dinner where you can learn more about what you are eating and how to nourish body and spirit with your fork, send me an email!

Buon Apettito!!!

a little step away from the acroyoga menus

Tonight I feel like writing about something that is fresh on my mind...and in my soup pot! I know I still need to write the following 3 days of menus for the acroyoga playshop. But this meal is so in the tip of my tongue! Pun quite intended....ok, I will try to refrain from the food puns. :)

While walking through the chilled winter wind today, I found myself realizing that winter is officially here. Fall has come and gone and the California winter came sliding in with the first storm of the year. Friends in Tahoe have begun shoveling and I scrambled to find my Ugg boots and my scarf.

On that walk I craved warm, cozy, juicy, slightly sweet goodness for my dinner. thai Coconut Butternut Squash soup. 45 minute preparation. Feeding 8. I will be taking it with me as my partner and I head down the Big Sur Coast to start our thanksgiving tradition.

Recipe:
1 medium butternut squash, peeled, cut into 1/2 in cubes
1 medium yellow onion
1/2 cup ginger chopped fine,
1 stalk lemongrass, chopped fine,
24 oz cocomilk, can or fresh made....we know which is better :)
24 oz water
1/2 cup tamari
2 tbl chinese 5 spice
1 tbl curry powder
1 cup cilantro, chopped fine, stems and leaves
1/4 cup apple cider vin
salt

saute onions in a large pot. add ginger and lemongrass as onion gets translucent. Add curry and 5 spice powders. brown for 5 minutes to activate natural oils in the spices. Add squash, coco milk, water, tamari. Bring up to boil and then turn down to a fast simmer for 30 minutes. Add ACV. blend. add cilantro and salt to taste.

Enjoy!!!!!

the AcroYoga Lunches....

So...

Over the course of this weeks worth of lunches, we spanned a range of world cuisines while utilizing a group of specific items that reflect the dietary needs of the season. Most of these ingredients are available the world over with little variation and are harvested during the same season. Hmmmm....I looks to me like Panchamama is trying to help us out here by making available the ingredients we need when we need them. Yet, that even sounds a little backwards. And we as a culture did get a little ahead of ourselves with technology that allows us to have "heirloom" tomatoes no matter where on the planet we are. So, lets back up and say, Eating the produce of a specific season is essential to the health and wellness of the eater during that season.

Example: Turnip. Sown in Early summer, harvested during fall in the temperate regions of the globe (the majority of occupied land mass). Fall is the season of Metal in Chinese medicine. It is also the season associated with the lungs and the color white. During fall the body is in retract mode and needs to release the heat accumulated during the intensity of the summer time. It is a time of detoxifying and protection in preparation for the winter. Our bodies are looking for pungent foods that dispel heat, moist and mucilaginous foods that nourish and protect the lungs and colon, and beta-carotene rich foods that nourish the immune system. As for the turnip, it is pungent! A member of the mustard family, it is high in sulfur that aids in purifying the lungs. In its pungency, it is very effective in moving stagnant qi that can create blocks in the body as the temps cool off and we slow down. Fall and winter are the best times to harvest turnips and the best times to eat turnips. Tell me...Have you ever craved a turnip during the summer heat? No? Watermelon? Yes.... exactly.

Wednesdays meal incorporated some beautiful Scarlet Turnips...YUMMMM!!! And most of you had never even thought about using a couple Scarlet turnips before, huh. It was actually my first time too!
Tuesday was all about the Beet! And We Rocked Some Beets too! Good for the heart, liver, rooting, grounding, loving.... :)

So lets look at tuesdays meal...
Tuesday:
The Weather: Sunny, Chilly morn, leaves falling...
Body Needs: Warming, grounding, detoxifying. Day 2 of workshop, purge stagnant qi that has come to surface in first day and pacify wind/vata energy rooting qi in Lower dantien.
Menu: Golden and Bulls Blood Beet Borscht with Scarlet Yams and Carrots, Herbed Red Quinoa, Kale and Avocado Salad
Borscht: Classic Eastern European Soup. Loved and revered in the lands of really cold temps. Beets build blood, strengthen the heart thus rooting the shen or spirit, and helps clear liver stagnancy. The yams buils spleen qi and root qi in body in general.
3 medium beets, scrubbed, cut into small cubes(not perfect)
3 meduim yams, same as above
3 carrots, same as above
1 bulb fennel, same as above
1 lg onion, peeled, cut into small pieces
4 qt water or veg stock or water with bullion
2 sprigs of rosemary
1/2 cup Apple cider Vin
Salt and pepper to taste
1 bunch Dill to garnish
Take first 7 ingredients and place them in a pot over high heat. Bring up to a boil and then turn down to simmer until beets and carrots are soft but not mushy. Timing depends on how large the cut is. remove the rosemary sprigs. Blend as much as you like. I like half and half. This is how I did the tuesday borscht. Add the ACV, salt, pepper and dill. POUR a whole bunch of love into it, and enjoy. It really cant get any simpler.

The quinoa is cooked in a grain 2:1.5 water ratio. When it is done, it gets olive oil, salt pepper, Vinegar and herbs to season. I do this all to taste depending on quantity. trust your palate and your hand!

The salad is mainly prepared with Kale which is massaged first. Massaged?! Yup, a little oil and a dash of salt and it gets gently worked with the hands until it begins to soften. Just like us...minus the salt! The avocado is added in gently and then a little ACV gets added in. Also very simple to prepare and soooooo good for the body! we also added a little chopped dandelion greens and celery.

Another seasonally smart, nurturing meal.... Wednesday coming...

AcroYoga Theraputics meets the QiChef...

And I am back!!.....

As a brief little recap of the last couple months since i have written in, Life has Drastically changed! Not just a little change like the simple day to day changes you may witness, but Massive beautiful change. And with that, there is an increasing awareness on healing with seasonally intentional foods.

Over the last week, my amazing creative partner Jana and I dove into a beautiful event of preparing lunches for ~35 acroyogis focusing on the playful and theraputic functions of their art. Co-founders of AcroYoga, Jenny Sauer-Klein and Jason Nemer guided 30 dedicated students with the ayurvedic/chinese medicinal knowledge of Scott Blossom through a movement workshop filled with healing intention, deep serenity, and rawkus laughter.

Alas Jana and I had too many other things going on after preparing the lunches for us to drop our intention and attention into joining the play on the mats. We look forward to our next time though.

Our role as the chefs for this amazing workshop was to do what we do best: creating seasonally minded loved up nourishing bites guided by the principles of traditional medicine. I think we did pretty well! And the following is a day by day breakdown of what we made and why. Each meal filled an intentional role of tonifying or purging specific organ systems according to how the weather presented itself that day and a general understanding of what the eaters were doing.

Remember, food is medicine. Each meal should be another step in healthfully regulating your everchanging being. Lifes dynamic pulse demands an awareness to our surroundings and how our body, mind, and spirit are dancing with it. If we loose track for a day or two or 365, also remember, we are only here right now. And each moment is new!! Give a good sigh from the bottom of the heart and release all those unmet expectations you may have for yourself and others...Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh. Yes!!! Now you are practicing Qigong, and healing your heart. Repeat and feel the energy release and drop your tissues. I think I just saw your shoulders come down an inch!! Beautiful!!!!

Now...on to some nourishing culinary awareness for your moment!

Starting with Monday 11/8/10:
Weather: Sunny yet a little wet. A storm had just passed and all was cold and wet. Fall is here and winter is on its way. Time to return to Earth by grounding out between the seasons. Focus returns to Earth/Spleen/Stomach to tonify lung qi and immunity before qi retreats in winter.
Body needs: Drying damp, warming cold, bring qi in and down rooting into the core and way from extremities. (The acroyogis will be focused on moving qi to their extremities to find awareness and balance within the edges of their physical bodies. Their strength in focused in the core. Yet since the system is aerial, rooting the qi in and down with the food allows for a fresh return to source during every practice.)
The meal: Spiced Ginger Butternut Squash Soup with Coconut and Brown Rice, Deep Greens Salad with Massaged Kale, Avocado, Lemon, Fennel, Frisee, Dandelion Greens, and shaved Beets.
Recipes: Feeding 6-10
1 medium small Butternut squash, peeled, diced roughly (drying, nourishing spleen qi)
1/3 cup ginger, peeled, chopped fine (warming, builds agni/digestive fire spleen qi)
1 medium onion diced (warming, benefits lungs)
1 bulb Fennel, diced (warming, benefits spleen)
3 Carrots, peeled, diced (neutral/slightly cooling, benefits spleen)
1/2 cup goji berries (nourishes kidney)
1 can coconut milk (warming, roots qi nourishes nerves)
2 tbls coconut oil
2 qt water or stock
Cinnamon (warming, moves blood)
Nutmeg
Star anise
Clove
In a lg pot, add coconut oil and onions. Saute on high heat until translucent and beginning to brown (bring out the natural sugars and earth element). Once browning add squash, fennel, carrots, ginger. Saute until ingredients begin to caramelize constantly stirring as to not let ingredients stick and burn. Add coconut milk and stock/water to cover ingredients. Bring up to a boil. Turn down, add gojis, and simmer until squash and carrots are soft. 15-30 minutes depending on size. Add spices to taste including salt and pepper. I am a fan of star anise so I use a little more. Some may like nutmeg more. Use your empassioned expression. Blend. Taste. Adjust seasoning. to achieve and balance the taste, you may need to add a splash of acidity. I prefer lemon or grapefruit with this dish. Apple cider vin works wonderfully as well. Sometimes a dash of sweetness is needed as well. I add in more goji and blend.

The salad is a mix of all ingredients listed and chopped or shaved for easy eating. The idea was to bring in bitter greens to spark digestive fire/activate the triple burner, cool the liver, tonify the heart. Bitter greens do WONDERS for the body. Often times we over work our liver eating at funny hours or even eating too much. This causes heat/stagnancy and within the TCM perspective, that heat follows directly in line to the heart creating anxiety and overbearing the spleen. The bitter allows the heart to relax as digestive fire is stoked and the liver doesnt have to work so hard. Plus there is an amazing amount of nutrient value in bitter greens. The Chlorophyl alone helps clean and oxygenate the blood and allows the liver to release stored toxins instead of always focusing on working.

Seasonal. Fresh. Love your body. Focus your mind. Free your spirit.

Tuesdays menu will come tomorrow!

Wanderlust!

This last weekend was one of those dates on the calendar that you look forward to all year. A weekend where you just get nourished on many levels, even if you were a production team member. I knew very little about the event until a week or so before. It is on my calendar for next year already!

It was the 2nd year of an amazing event called Wanderlust held up in Squaw Valley, Ca. The premise of the event is to bring the dedicated yoga communities together in one spectacular place showcasing Some of todays most progressive and heart opening inspirational teachers and mix in a little live music. Talk about nourishing the body, mind, and spirit!

I had the fortune of being up there for the last day of the event. I chose to stay committed to my Taoist medicine and seminary classes that thursday and saturday so sunday was my only opportunity. After my first yoga class in the Anusara Pavilion and last class of the entire event, I was wishing I had been there all weekend. Now, lets also keep in mind that even though I have a personal daily yoga practice in my mornings to get my body charged for my day, That class was the first class I had been to in over 2 years. My last class was with an AMAZING teacher named Paul Reynolds on the island of Kauai.

So there I was at 6000 ft elevation engulfed by the warm mountain breeze, surrounded by almost 200 present conscious practicing yogis and yoginis, laughing my way through asana as my heart opened and overflowed, my body stretched beyond the limits I thought I had, and my spirit rested sweetly in the collective connection with the Divine. I say this all and I am still not sure it captures the feeling. I literally laughed with joy all through the session! Next came a little Thai massage lesson session and a bouncing rawkus dance to inspire the change we are all choosing to embody as we take the road less traveled on the way to the Divine.

Later in the day, there was a jazzed pool party and a concert played by Beats Antique and the Brazilian Girls. Besides the PHENOMENAL company of my host which was heart opening in its own ways, My highlight was the moment I totally and completely connected with the pulse of the Anusara community and the Divine mid session. I was sinking deeper and deeper into my body, calming my mind, nurturing myself through those conscious movements of asana, when we began a posture I don't know the name for. We started in downward facing dog and lifted one leg up in the air, bent the knee and let it fall over the opposite side of the body. we then helped that opening along by lifting the hand on the same side of the body back behind up creating a spinal twist. The goal was to open the chest and heart soooo much that our foot touched the person next to us. I somehow got there, touched my loving neighbor with my toes and sent love her way. In the previous movements she had been able to reach me as well and did the same. Somewhere in those movements, I connected to the Divine through my heart in a way I seldom feel and I laughed. I felt free and joyous and empowered in this group yet so solidly in my body. The laughter just overflowed from me, nearly uncontrollable for the next several asanas.

Maybe it was the elevation, maybe it was the quart of amazing green juice I had drank on my way up there, maybe it was the company, maybe it was the teachers.....maybe it was me.

I created this perspective. No one else. I choose to be so present in those moments that I touched my source and was replenished. I chose to see the creative play in those moments and dance. I stayed flexible: mentally, physically, spiritually. I chose to play and I simply showed up with all of me. I could have chosen to hold on to the frustration of the highway traffic earlier in the day, or the discontentment I felt after my window controller broke off in the 90 degree weather. I could list all sorts of things that could trigger me into a state where I am more focused on my attachments to how I want something to happen instead of basking in the creativity of what is happening.

But instead I chose to see it all as different parts of the same Divine source. There is no separation once you step beyond duality. Judgement becomes irrelevant. Why does it matter that something is perceived different by the senses. Sit still and listen to the underlying pulse. There is only One. That One is complete and unconditional. It is the same everywhere, in everything. Everything then becomes the 10 thousand faces of the Divine and it is all a dance.

Who wants to Dance?! I do! and I will....come join me because there is no dance like it and it is the most rewarding dance of all!

New times....

Another week has flown by, filled with adventures and musings of all shapes and sizes. Since it has been a little bit, I need to fill ya in on the juice cleanse progress and the gall bladder cleanse.

Over the last little bit I have received several questions about my cleanse, the gall bladder part in particular. Most of the questions were pretty general inquiries into the nature of the cleanse and its process. AS for the total concept behind the juice cleanse, I was looking to take in as much nutrient dense vegetable material as possible while allowing my digestive function to get a well needed break from the work it is constantly performing. This then allows the other organs the opportunity to work less strenuously and detoxify. At the organs begin to relax and let go of the residual accumulation of toxic materials, the liver and kidneys take on the the very important roles of cleaning the blood of all this new trash.

This is where we step into the realm of the gall bladder and its importance. The gall bladders role is to act as a storage facility for bile that is produced by the liver in order to help break down complex fats and proteins. If the liver is not processing proteins and cholesterol properly, they will collect and form stones.

Due to the lack of the Calcium key, strontium, in our daily diets, there tends to be a great deal of loose unused calcium that floats around collecting in places we dont want it to. This is where we get calcification within joints or in this case, proteinaecous cholesterol stones in the liver. The calcium begins to harden the stones possibly creating biliary blockages in the liver or gall bladder.

Since the gall bladder is the resevoir for bile produced by the liver, the stones tend to collect in that convenient little pocket. Over the course of years of mainstream fast food culture or a nutrient lacking diet, the stones collect and eventually fill the gall bladder. They get hard and there is nothing to help out of the body. I believe that regular Sirsasana or the yoga posture of headstand for longer timings and deep relaxation will help allow the organ release. Kind of like turning a cup upside down to remove its contents. Eating less saturated fats is also a huge help!

So here we are at the stage where our gall bladder is full of stones, our digestion is difficult fraught with gas and bloating, and we seem to be triggered into frustration and anger easily. Within the Chinese medicine perspective, the gall bladder is the organ responsible for enactment of the decision making process. It is the gall bladders job to take the drive and vitality of the kidney essence and turn it into direct action. As with any form of blockage, there is stagnancy. With stagnancy there is a lack of energetic movement. Without energetic movement, there is no growth and development and within the case of the gall stagnancy, we are talking specifically about clarity of mind and succinct decision making skills.

Now, it is time to get those stones out!! Like I said before, Sirsasana on a regular basis will help. And if you are doing headstands for long timings daily, chances are you are also conscious about your dietary intake. If neither of those are your thing, there are a couple ways to eliminate the stones. First thing to think about are the items that you can put in to help soften the stones: Apples! Apple pectin does beautiful job of softening the calcified stones. Soft gall stones means easier out fot the little rocks. Juicing fresh green apples get you the greatest amount of pectin in comparison to other apples. By spending a 2 week period eating fresh foods, preferably a raw foods diet, while supplimenting either apple pectin in 2x a day or drinking 4 cups of fresh apple juice, you are giving your body a chance to eliminate the stones on their own.

Another way to cleanse the gall bladder is to spend 3 to 4 days paring down your diet to juices. On the 4th or 5th day you will be taking in epsom salts with water to help dialate your hepatic and digestive ducts. At the end of the day you will be drinking a cup to two cups of grapefruit juice and a cup to 2 cups of olive oil. The olive oil acts as a lubricant to wash the stones out. The grapefruit balances the ph of the mix and helps open the liver. You can also use lemon juice. This mixture can be fortifies with many different herbs and vegetable juices to stimulate bile flow and production and detoxify the liver. Fresh tumeric juice is a phenomenal addition. Once you take down the olive oil and juice, you immediately lie on your right side with your knees up allowing the mixture to sit in the liver and do its job.

Rest well and in the morning you take another little dose of epson salts and water to open the ducts. Soon after the digestive process happens you will begin feel the stones releasing. Stones can be many different colors and hardnesses depending on their age and calcification. They will come out in your stool, and you will want to be close to a toilet for this whole day. Plan this day to be focused on just this. You will be glad you did. You Will see the stone float in the toilet as they are mainly calcified cholesterol deposits. The onse that are a brighter green are congealed clumps of the oil you drank the night before. The oil clumps around smaller stones and acts as a vehicle for swifter removal. Reincorporate nutrient dense foods into your diet with digestive enzymes and probiotics by the truck load. Bile is extremely alkaline. To produce it, the body needs mass amounts of nutrient balanced salts: sea veggies in particular.

This second way is the quickest and most invasive. Depending on your constitution and vitality, make an informed decision before jumping in to a full on cleanse. If you have a regular health care professional that you are working with, talk to them about it. Be smart with you body!

It is simple really: Love

Yup, dont really have much to say right now except Love. It is pretty clear that there is only one thing that matters. Only one thing in this world that bridges Everything. Actually it even bridges the worlds. Love brings with it a light that is brighter than anything. It eliminates strife and confusion. It pacifies fear and squelches the fire of conflict. Love creates space and is the breath of freedom. Love is the clouded caravan on which joy rides. Love is everywhere and is accessible even in the darkest depths of dispair. Find yourself a way to bring love richly into your life again. Open that door of Divine love and shine. It is your birthright. It is you. Choose love first. I choose love!

A new day; a clear vision

Wow does time fly when I my only nutritional intake is vegetable juice and tea!

Since I was last posting, I have adventured both inside my body and outside. On the inside I have been cleansing and working an amazing piece around my vision for my future. On the outside, i took a little road trip up the California coast to Point Arena to visit a friend on an amazing piece of property. A couple friends from Kauai gathered as well and we shared a moment of play and reflection, nurturing our body, mind and spirit. I left here feeling like I was gone from my daily grind for a week or more and it had only been 48 hours or less. Talk about rejuvenative! Time disappeared as we drank tea in the misty clouded mornings, watching the wind blow the redwoods and waist tall grasses. Time managed to stay away while we lined up in the dance studio on the property, all four of us actively engaged in our own yogic/healing practice. We played in a local river that cleansed the seasonal build-up of our lives, and skipped stones like kids while sharing stories of our trials and tribulations of our past. We ate simply. Clean deliberate meals made with fresh ingredients and most importantly, love. We soaked in the indoor tub and stood under the rushing cold spring water to shock those toxins out. We basked in the sweet playfulness of our connections and then we all went our separate ways. Back to the daily lives, which for all of us, really isn't a stretch from our time together in the Mendicino retreat.

As you read you may sigh as you long for time like this. Time where you can breathe and relax without feeling like you are letting your guard down too much. Time where the kids are silent and playing peacefully, or time when the phone has finally stopped ringing. Ahh, the triggers and trials of our modern lives!

The reason this little retreat was not so far from our daily lives is because we choose to live each of our moments walking with this presence. We choose to simply show up in the most clear vision of our selves possible. Our lives in the daily grind are filled with the same triggers of emotions and honking irritable drivers as yours. It isn't like we are living in some rainbow filled utopia with flutes playing in the background, like those silly pharmaceutical antihistamine commercials. We just take that little extra fraction of a second in one of those triggered moments to breathe and know that whatever the situation is, it is not about me. It is someone or something else that is having a moment of expression with their emotions. If you can let their emotion pass right by you and wish them clarity for their moment, there is no transfer of emotional negativity. It is good to recognize and empathize, but refrain from taking the emotions on. They are not yours, plain and simple. They belong to the other person. Now, if it is a situation that spurs the trigger, keep breathing. This too will pass. Having an attachment to an outcome leaves inflexibility when opportunity arises in the least expected forms. Yes, easier said than done, but I look forward to sharing some of those easing processes with you all in days to come.

In the mean time, The BEST place to start is to find ways IN your daily life to find that peace you find while on a "vacation". First, identify the things that will get you breathing deeper with more conscious awareness of your breath. Find natural ways of decompression. Sluggin down a six pack of organic ale is not what I mean by "natural". We are talking about regenerative, nutritive movements. Take a yoga class once a week, Take a walk when you get home from work instead of sitting down in front of the TV. Make a beautiful meal. Second, whatever they may be, Make time for them! Also know that the more you are consciously aware of your present moment, the easier it gets to find moments to fill with all the goodness that takes you back into that peace. I find cooking does that for me. So does my morning yoga/meditation/qi gong practice. If you are finding it difficult to create the extra time for a daily practice of some sort, let go of what you may think of a "practice." I "practice" while sipping my tea, or while driving. It is simply an act of conscious breathing. This connects the mind/thoughts with the body while creating a space of peace for the spirit to come back to.

All in all, in each moment we breathe. We have little choice in this matter. We can choose to stop breathing, but unless we are very practiced in a couple esoteric traditions, we loose consciousness quickly. Choose to use each breath as an opportunity to reconnect with your self. This is the easiest way of getting to know yourself so that you can begin to fill your moments with the peace you are looking for. We continue to live the grind of modern day life, but as we change the way we breathe, we change the way we live, and we fill our lives with sooooo much more gratitude and love. The daily grind then changes as well. It becomes so reminiscent of our peacefull love filled retreat time.

My juice cleanse

I am officially on day 4 of a 10 day juice cleanse. 10 days without all my culinary vices (stomach grumbling)...today was really hard. I had a catering to do and I mustered all my will not to eat the seared steak marinated in thyme caramelized onions. Or the quinoa salad with myriad veggies and pesto vinaigrette. Or the roasted chicken sandwiches with kale, cucumber, thyme aioli, and goat cheese on local sourdough. I didn't eat any of it! Instead I drank some amazing juices. Started my day with a cucumber, blueberry, kale, chlorella, basil smoothie. Threw back a few palmfulls of fresh bee pollen to boost my b vitamins. Later I dined on a half gallon of veggies geared to clean my blood and stimulate my liver and lungs into heavy cleanse. The list: dandelion greens, kale, celery, butternut squash, turnip, ginger, cucumber, cilantro, basil, garlic, cauliflower,...and I know I am missing somebody out. But, that is the general list. Some medicine in a jar for sure. I couldnt even finish it all as the mix was too warming on the digestion. Not enough cooling ingredients, but It has me detoxing my little liver! This evening I redeemed my lunch with a dinner smoothie made of cucumber, zucchini, cilantro, avocado, Hawaiian hand hewn salt, raw apple cider vinegar, and burdock root. This mix tastes like some of the best gazpacho I have ever had.

So you may ask, "Why?" Why the cleanse? Why Juice? Why put yourself through the misery of making that mouthwatering food and not eat any of it? I imagine you may have other questions and you can feel free to ask away. It simply comes down to how I nourish myself. I feel it is time to help my body through the changes that my mind and spirit are going through at this time. In order for me to arise to the next level and continue on my path, I have to clean this physical body out to match the mind and spirit.

In our day to day movements of eating and drinking, we have the foods that are good for the body and foods that are good for the mind and spirit. Sometimes they are not the same. I find sanity in a HUGE bowl of fresh hand made pasta with carbonara sauce. My body doesn't necessarily agree though. Here is where the cleanse comes in. As we eat foods that are hard or difficult for our body to digest, we tax our digestive system little bit each day. Some foods get broken down and some don't. Some come in with parasites pesticides on them. Some even stay inside and get stuck. As foods do their little dance in our belly's, toxins can build from a huge list of factors resulting in a compromised immune system. I am totally oversimplifying the equation here. We will no doubt cover more of this later. But, what I am reaching for here is an understanding that we can easily toxify our system without even knowing it.

Queue Juice. The juices I am making are nutrient dense, easily assimilable materials that give my digestive system a break from its amazingly diligent hard work and give the other organs a chance to release all the other stored ugly stuff they can. Since I have a very robust and healthy physical standing, I have chosen to go big and use vegetable ingredients with specific medicinal properties in very large quantities. These juices are not the juices you get at your local natural foods market or cafe. I am looking to heal. And that means diving deep.

I was willing to make the food for the catering today and not eat any because I know that the abstinence from this food is what is bringing this healing state right now. This is my time to break from the habits and vices I choose and have chosen in my past. There will always be one reason or another to not continue. And here we are again with a choice. I choose to heal and cleanse myself so that I can raise my bar and step up to the next level. I choose to prepare the food that I love and the food that my fellow students/catering clients love. I have a choice and I choose to heal. I choose to nourish.

Like the tides of the ocean, toxify then cleanse. Toxify then cleanse. After some time the cleansing will be a part of your daily nourishing traditions. You will be eating and drinking what your body needs when it is asking for it. Just keep listening. It really does know best! Now, go get yourself a green juice!

My morning nourishing tradition

This morning I woke as the sun rose, which is pretty typical for me now adays. I LOVE it! To wake with the rising sun and really let my rhythm match the natural rhythm around me...ahhh I an nourished! So there I am waking, still in bed and now sweetly smiling at the sounds of life coming alive outside.

Naturally or rather unnaturally, most of us including myself do not always wake up on the sunny side of the bed. Sometimes we wake from dreams that leave something to be desired or it is a violent alarm screaming from the bedside nook that is the troubled start to the day. But since we always have a choice for our moments, each one of them, and how to show up in those moments, we can rewrite the negativity and start with a new fresh clean chalkboard whenever we choose. Yes, whenever. Our own egoic self is what stops us from really nurturing our body mind and spirit all day every day. I wont quite get into that yet....that is a different post.

But in the meantime, say I have started my day pretty troubled for some reason. I am groggy, frustrated, and salty at the world! Well....my nourishing tradition begins here: I first brush my teeth to get that awful taste out of my mouth(physically yes but more metaphorically), and then step outside. I drop my connection to my phone, my computer, anything and everything else and I do my morning practice. I have the fortune of living in a part of the world where being outside in the morning is possible and quite tolerable (blessed and blissed here actually). So I do my Yoga/Taiji/standing Meditations outside for the world to be my witness and I let go of everything I may have asssumed, everything I may have expected and everything I may have wanted to control. I just stand in me. I allow myself to be present with how my body feels, where it aches or radiates. I allow myself to connect in my entirety. I do it for a little longer than I can handle just to push my own limits. I give thanks to the powers that be and then off to the races I go!!

My day begins and I am nourished. Just that little time spend connecting with my whole entire person, body mind and spirit, I clear all doubt and am empowered for whatever chaos may come next. My body and mind stay flexible so that when things mysteriously go awry in the moment, I can move like water and be the path of least resistance to solve my problems as they arise. I welcome you all to start a morning practice. No matter what it looks like. Maybe your favorite yoga teacher has some juicy words to enliven you day while you spend your morning in class, or maybe it is a simple walk around your block to touch the earth and the heavens before you work begins.

Either and every way you can find that time, create yourself your first nourishing tradition. It starts with you and only you every morning. You can curse it or you can praise it. Love yourself in the greatest way possible. You have a choice, you ALWAYS have a choice. I choose to praise it and to sing it!

Now, off to work I go!!!

I am Back! Sort of.....

So I look at my last posting on my first blog today and see that it was posted in 2007. I tried logging in and the email that was attached to the account wasn't even in use! wow...

So i return now to do a little writing on nourishing traditions. Not the book by Sally Fallon. The kind of activities that we do on a daily, even momentary basis that determine our over all health and wellness. Eating sleeping walking breathing...and everything in between. These activities generally take the shape of patterns and habits as we get comfy with one action or another. AKA: a tradition, big or small.

For example...we all have a morning eating tradition. Some of us eat a little; some of us eat a whole mess of strange stuffs. What is yours? Do you feel it is nurturing?