INTUITIVE/COUNTER-INTUITIVE

Intuitive-from the Latin 'intueri', which is often roughly translated as meaning ‘to look inside’ or ‘to contemplate’ (wikipedia)

It seems that the effects of stress are not always mitigated by daily yoga and hefty amounts of green juice, counter-intuitive, but true. ENTER stage left (out of left field that is) HEAD COLD. Translate: stuffy head, a simultaneous stuffy and runny nose and restless nights. So, when I find myself with this head cold I am a little dismayed and lot frustrated but I know what needs to be done.  Rest, hydration, staying warm and fasting or eating very lightly, are all part of natural order when needing to heal a head cold. Yet the modern day practice of forging ahead has given us the ethos :"Take some meds, stop your whining and get back to work".  Well I'm an old school girl and meds aren't my way. So I stick to my guns, and my juices, and the sudden, fervent onset of the cold on late Tuesday night is now gladly on its way out.  So what exactly did I do for the last 2 and a half days? A lot of nothing and some of this:

Tuesday night. I put a droplet of Oregano oil (liquid fire) in a shot of water and drink up. Then massage more Oregano oil and Thieves oil, a proprietary blend from Young Living Essential Oils, on my feet.  Finally I bundle the feet up and sweat myself to sleep. Oh BTW I didn't say whomever you might share your bed with would love this route, but all the antibacterial oils are protecting your sleeping companion too.  I highly recommend stocking up on oregano oil and thieves through the early spring to help bolster the immune system and as an anti-bacterial defense!
Wednesday.  Morning Practice- yes practice.  It might be counter-intuitive but it's not counter-indicated as long as there is no fever.  After a hefty amount of standing forward bends, some ama, the lovely Ayurvedic term for GUNK, moved out of my sinuses (I didn't say my posts would always be sweet and savory).  Now at this point many may be thinking why on earth would you turn yourself upside down with a stuffy head?  Counter intuitive, but true, letting the head release down in poses like uttanasana (standing forward bend) and prasarita padottanasa (wide legged forward bend) and the classic adho mukha svanasana (downward facing dog), actually relives pressure in the sinus passages.  Now if you have a heavy infection going on I would recommend getting some tailor-made recommendations on this.
The rest of Wednesday was spent hydrating with lots of room temperature water, warm tea with lemon, honey and ginger.  The lemon and honey (in modest amounts) help to break up mucous and ginger is warming and soothing to the digestive system. I also had a good amount of  green juice and a spicy gingery citrus blend.  When I finally did eat it was a light and super spicy salad of cucumber, cilantro, chili peppers and lime. These are my mad methods but chili peppers and other spicy foods do wonders to break up that mucous! Wednesday night was a repeat of Tuesday and a bit intensified.  At this point Kirk was like, 'take the tylenol" and I'm like 'no way'.  Did some more standing forward bends and went to bed to sweat some more.
Thursday was the most intense day, yet I knew it was the turning point.  All day I was kind of delirious, feverish and had no appetite; sounds great right?  Here's the thing, it's not about the discomfort of this cold.  It's a choice I made a long time ago, before I even knew I made it. Whenever that moment was, I chose to trust nature and my body and I still make that choice today.  So intuitively I knew these were good signs.  The body wants to be left on it's own to heal and when you feel this way, when you allow it and don't suppress it, you intuitively do the right thing. It's inconvenient and yes it does involve putting things on hold at times, but who of us isn't so over scheduled and strung out that putting a few things on hold wouldn't actually hurt. If, instead of heeding the "warning signs", we continue to forge ahead and function with the help of decongestants, sleeping aids, alcohol and color filled syrups (you'd be better off having a true hot toddy and if I weren't practicing some abstinence right now, I probably would have done that), you need you understand that you are making a choice that is ultimately suppressing the natural function of your immune system, creating an internal environment that is more and more run down and out and therefore susceptible to chronic colds and maybe infection.  Sounds like a counter-intuitive path to me.
Friday. I wake up, hydrate and brush my teeth. I taste the subtle fennel flavor of the toothpaste and I know the cold is about to exit, stage right, thank you very much.  By noon I'm actually hungry and have to remind myself to go slow.  A little juice, a little spicy salad and plan for some warm soup for dinner.  If you saw me on Tuesday night you would not have thought I would be fine by Friday afternoon without some intervention.  But that's the point, intervention with modern cures is often just suppression of our natural ability to heal.
Modern life is tough and filled with a lot more "have to do's" than even just 20 years ago, but nature herself is calling us to rethink how we are living on this planet, so perhaps by starting to take some simple steps to truly get in touch with what it means to take care of oneself we would also be taking the first step toward taking care of something bigger than ourselves.  Now that seems like a pretty intuitive choice.

GINGER-CITRUS COLD BUSTER
for your blender
1 hefty quart of mixed organic citrus fruits, peeled
1 big knob of organic ginger, peeled, don't be shy, you know you like it
1-2 organic carrots, washed, optional
a droplet of oregano oil, go ahead, it's good for you
filtered water as needed or desired

Put it all in your blender and blend from low to high.  Add the filtered water if you like to get a smoother consistency.  Drink up to a quart a day when you are fasting to stave off or fight down a cold

ARE YOU BACKED UP?

This has been a month of adventures. Some of them building on familiar practices, like juice feasting and daily yoga and mindfulness practices; and some forays into new territory; a RASA Pantry & Cleanse trunk show at Suite 303 and a DETOX OVER DRINKS event at Huckleberry Bar.  The common thread running through the month was connection, collaboration, relationship and process of giving support and being supported.

So last Wednesday, the day of a the RASA Life/Huckleberry Bar collaborative event, I was minding my own business, getting some work done on my less than a year old i MAC- and all of a sudden-everything freezes.  A few hours of phone support later it's determined that the hard drive has likely gone kaput. And so the question became-"are you backed up?" It was almost comical. I've backed myself up in so many ways this month yet, in this one fundamental technological age requirement I dropped the ball.  Note to self: Sometimes you have to remind yourself to back your own self up.  And sometimes you need a little help from your friends.  

In many ways this was impetus for the DETOX OVER DRINKS event.  The collaboration was based on the concept that life, especially your social life, doesn't have to stop if you are taking a break from whatever your particular poison might be. In fact it can be a tasty adventure.  So, based on my experience with combining seasonal foods & herbs and Stephanie's cocktail know-how, we brought some dimension and deep background to the idea of alcohol free cocktails and developed a luscious menu featuring six mocktails.

Who's got YOUR back?

Rogue Rouge Shrub-for 1
3/4 oz Goji Berry Shrub* (Goji, Caraway, Vinegar)*
1/2 oz Beet Juice
2 oz Orange Juice
Shake ingredients with ice and strain over fresh ice.
Garnish with orange peel, a pinch of smoked salt and a sprinkling of crushed caraway seeds

* Goji Berry Shrub (cold method)
Soak 2c of goji berries in 3c water for 20-30 minutes.  Strain and mash the berries.
Place in a sterile glass qt container-a mason jar works well and add 2 cups raw honey, 2 tablespoons of crushed caraway seed and the peel of one organic orange.  Stir well to combing the ingredients and let stand for 2 days.  After 2 days add 2 cups of raw apple cider vinegar and the juice of one orange.  Let stand for 3 days to allow flavors to mingle and develop. Strain the "liquor" from the solids into a clean glass jar and store in the refrigerator.  The shrub is also really delicious with a splash of sparkling water.

MOVING FROM THE EDGE INTO THE CENTER OF YOUR LIFE

Where do you stand in your life right now? Where do you stand in relation to your relationships, your family, your career?  How are you in relationship with yourself?  These have all been questions up for deep inquiry for me recently.  Stirring the pot if you will. 

Many of us move through our entire life without ever really asking these questions. Mainly because we were taught not to inquire much beyond the basics of whether or not we've had the right education, acquired a decent job and are properly settled into a "stable" relationship.  Well, I think we have all realized that life doesn't really fit into those neat little boxes anymore.  Did it ever really?

Yet, I wonder how can we begin to know where we stand when most of us don’t even know our own feet?  How can we move from the periphery of our lives in the swell of the center without knowing how to stand? So without getting too heady, let’s get down to practicality.

GROUNDING
In order to begin to get a sense of where you are you have to be grounded in your body. To be grounded in your body you have to learn to stand well and in order to stand well you have to connect to your feet.  The health of your feet plays a vital role in the well being of the rest of your physical structure and the mind follows the body. Overall maintaining both toned and flexible feet can not be overemphasized, for when our ability to stand well on the four corners of our feet is compromised, and this happens when the muscles of the feet are tight and inflexible, it affects alignment throughout the body up through the knees, hips and lower back.  Many people I have worked with have discovered that resolving foot issues helps to resolve issues in the knees, hips and back.  It all begins with a stable AND responsive base.

PRACTICE: Standing on the four corners of the feet
Come to a standing position, preferably with your feet on the bare floor.  Take a moment to notice when the majority of your body weight rest on your feet.  First observe the distribution from the ball of the foot and the heel.  Does your weight settle back or forward? Then observe the inner edges and the outer edges of your feet.  Does your weight settle to the inner or outer edges of your feet?  First observe, and then adjust.  Distribute the weight of your body evenly between the ball and heel and the inner and outer edges off your feet, specifically, between the ball of the big and little toes and the inner and outer edges of your heels.  Now lift all ten toes off of the ground, spread the toes wide, and feel for spreading the bones of the feet. When you place your toes down, keep stretching them apart, imagine you had some smooth stone from the beach to place between the webbing of the toes (or actually do it).  You’ll probably begin to feel a lot of sensation in your feet that you didn’t realize was possible.  Stay with it and play with the idea that your toes can articulate like your fingers.

NOW BACK TO THE HEADY STUFF
Now that you exploring where you are from a a more clear base, NOW ask yourself: What areas of your life are you only comfortable on the edge, where are you coming toward the middle and what part of your life do you feel fully at home and able to hold the space in center stage?  It's likely that area you feel most able to move into the center is the place you've put most of your energy developing.  Now identify one or two areas of your life that are less organized and therefore most likely less comfortable, where you are skirting around the edges to get by.

So, how can you more fully evolve your relationship to yourself this year, so that you are bringing more of yourself, with more ease toward the center of more of your life?  For me this has meant reclaiming my personal practice, juice feasting, dancing the five rhythms, exploring what archetypes are guiding which areas of my life.  And asking the question: does this really work for me?  What may have worked at one point in my life might not be so optimal anymore.  We can't know until we ask.  So ask yourself, do you really want to live this one big beautiful life on auto pilot?

PRACTICE: Feel into the area of your life where you live at the center.  What do you feel in your body when you consider that area of you life?  Does your body feel at home and you breath at ease? Take that imprint, that biofeedback if you will, and ask what would help you generate that feeling other areas of your life that may be less evolved.  Keep moving toward that body feeling of ease. 

By engaging in this process you begin to take steps toward connecting to the world in a more integrated and meaningful way.  Embrace your existence on this planet with joy, exuberance and above all else, with the awareness that we’re all in this together.  It all begins one step at a time.

ADVENTURE

The big question is whether you are going to be able to say a hearty yes to your adventure "
— Joseph Campbell

Five days into my January Juice Adventure.  Several things I imagined would be challenging aren't at all.  Like not having a lovely glass of wine with dinner. I actually don't miss it a bit, but I guess that makes sense because you're drinking dinner anyway.  Several things that I didn't imagine would be difficult are.  Like remembering and actually being hungry enough to drink four quarts of juice a day.  Interesting.   Some of this process is second nature to me because I prepare juice blend cleanses several times a month for clients and already consume about a quart of green juice daily most days.  Yet just five days in and even I am astonished at how at ease I feel not only with the process, but most importantly in my own skin again. It reminds me how much we can anesthetize ourselves in so many small (and not so small) ways each day.  Just consuming juice for one's nourishment takes away everything that you can hide behind.  Very Clarifying.

So far I've been following through on my intention to practice each morning and suddenly what I came to feel was so daunting; waking up at 5:30 to practice before Victor, my trusty RASA Cleanse and Food prep assistant, arrives, has actually been seamless.  When did waking up to practice, a cornerstone of my own self care, become so difficult?  Well somewhere between the last juice cleanse I've done for myself and our weekend, bleeding into weekday habit of enjoying Il Buco or Terroir or some other such place that beckons.

Most importantly, so far, I AM REMINDED that life is about BALANCE.  There is nothing wrong with the glass of wine or enjoying gustatory pleasures.  Trouble begins to brew when we become unconscious about when and why we are choosing to do, go and consume.  So for me this JUICE ADVENTURE is as much about reclaiming Consciousness as anything else.

BLOOD ORANGE-POMEGRANATE BLEND

simple, refreshing and delicious

yields about a quart (amounts are approximate)
3 blood oranges, peeled
seeds from one pomegranate
1/4c goji berries, soaked for about 15 minutes (optional)
a couple of clove buds (the spice)
a dash of raw honey, if desired
a splash of flax or hempseed oil
pinch of Himalayan salt
filtered water

Place all ingredients, (including the goji soak water) except filtered water, in blender.  Cover with filter water (plus a little more if you don't like it too thick).  Blend from low to high, strain and drink up!

SHAPE SHIFTING IN 2011

2010 has been quite a ride.  I almost think that's enough said, but I do like to blather on so: 2010 was the year of letting go.  Lot's of what let go was necessary, but isn't always easier to walk away first?  That way at least you feel like you had some CONTROL.  Well ladies and gentleman maybe I will finally begin to wrap my mind around the truth that there is nothing to control.  We don't control our lives and in fact the more I try to do so the less my life seems to "work", by that I mean flow.  This year I said goodbye to friends, colleagues and clients, savings and LOU.  A clean slate.

 

This year instead of writing resolutions,  I am focusing more on what my intentions are for the year ahead.  These intentions will shape the year of 2011, but also reflect how I want to anchor the bigger vision of my life path.  These intentions arise from the understanding that I can no longer try to manifest the MAHA or BIGGER -THAN-ME reason that I am on the planet unless I step back and take some time for RADICAL SELF-NOURISHMENT.  Simply said, in 2011 I want to take really good care of myself.   Instead of making a list and checking (and ignoring it) twice,  I’m going to focus on three intentions geared toward radical self care. THREE: BODY, MIND and SPIRIT.  Rather than burying my intentions in one of my many journals (that way if I slip up no one will "know"),  instead I’m sharing them here and I am also planning a to spend a good portion of New Year’s Day creating a super-powered Vision Board.  This is something I’ve been wanting to create for a while and as I am learning from my reading of the WAR of ART (Big Holler to James Abel), “procrastination is the most common manifestation of resistance because it’s the easiest to rationalize”.  This way I’ll be reminded of the three pillars that will serve to  uplift my life each and every day, in 2011 and beyond.

BODY : There are two intentions here, but they go hand in hand, and I need one to kick start the other.  First I have committed to undertake a juice feast, for at least two weeks and up to the full month of JANUARY.  I prepare and guide cleanses for people several times a month, so many people think this will be a natural for me, but I have found (as I believe many people in the healing arts do in one way or another) that it is actually much easier to care for others than it is to care for oneself.  The more ongoing intention, one that will be carried through 2011 and beyond is that I am recommitting to my own personal asana practice and (gasp) I am actually going to hold that paramount to booking clients.  It’s not that I am going to let it get in the way of my teaching, quite the opposite.  These commitments to myself will help replenish the well from which I can draw and share my teaching from.

MIND: This one goes hand in hand with the Juice Feast I am embarking on. (So I didn’t really slip an extra one in, as many of you know I do like to take on a little too much).  I am not going to go this journey alone, so I have engaged the guidance of a very experienced Juice Feast coach.  In fact he is the “creator” of the JUICE FEAST process.  This gentleman is David Rainoshek, MA.  David and I will speak every day to support not just the process of the juicing, but more importantly, how this process will peel back extraneous layers of ideas I have held about myself (who I am /what I do) and how those concepts may be keeping me back from shining more brightly in my life.  This MIND part and these coaching sessions are about the intention of deep self reflection.

SPIRIT: This is the intention to saying “YES”.  Saying Yes to my life and saying Yes to leaning into things that might not feel entirely comfortable, simply because I don't identify with them.  Instead of digging the same groove (samskara) more deeply I want to choose to lean into the possibilities that life is presenting. So saying YES to the letting go so that I can say YES to the opportunity that reveals itself in the space that the "letting go"created.  If I am going to learn anything from 2010 it’s that life really does REQUIRE that we "let go and let GOD".  Above all saying “yes”  opens me up to my life and all the people and experiences that remind me that LIFE IS MAGICAL.

THE ART OF GIVING

“Give a man a fish, he eats for a day; teach a man to fish, he eats for a lifetime.”



What does it mean to give?  This is a question on all of our minds in some way or another this time of year. 

I was just with my father and family on his side to celebrate his 70th birthday. It was wonderful to be with his siblings, 4 of whom are now officially in their 70‘s, as well as our cousins and their kids.  Everyone contributed something to the meal, especially my brother Guy (who also has generously gifted much of his time and gifts, over the years, to my work via his photographs) and my sister-in-law Kate. This love of sharing stories and laughter around a meal is the gift I have received and continue to receive from my family.  It seems to be my calling to to pass this on to others.



Birthdays and holidays are always a time when we think about giving.  But I have always sensed (and to a large degree practiced) that Gifts and Giving are really two separate things. The first consideration is the fact that a gift is a noun and giving is a verb.  Gifts always come wrapped in paper and bows of some sort. They range from lovely confections of elaborate and extreme means to the thing haphazardly purchased and wrapped because we felt obligated to give a gift. Yet the act of giving comes in many different guises.  For me the distinction is that when you give, there is always something from the heart of yourself extending toward the heart and well being of the person who is receiving.  In the best circumstances, it’s a co-creative process, because you are actually being inspired by the other person to share something with them.  The GIFT then almost finds its way to you. 



After the party Kirk and I went to the Long Valley abode and set up cozy camp.  We made dinner together, the highlight being a few choice pieces of fresh venison. This meat was something we were GIVEN from a friend who hunts.  Venison is not something I would normally buy, for many reasons, but being given some fresh meat was a nourishing gift.  We savored the venison with a celery root pure, fresh cranberry compote and mustard greens.



In the morning after all good intentions to sleep as late as possible I finally succumbed to being awake and went downstairs to greet the day.  I curled on the couch with a mug of tea and Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution.  I was very moved by his PASS IT ON initiative.  In the book Jamie asks each person to learn a recipe from each section of the book and then teach it to someone else with the intention that they will in turn "pass it on".  I love this idea and the truth of it and also believe that it is a NECESSITY.  So much of the time in the act of giving what we are really doing is consuming, but think about the possibilities and doors and windows and landscapes you could open up if you were to share a skill you had, teach another person a useful and sustain able skill.  Where does the effect and depth of that gift end? 


This practice of " pass it on" also brings me back to my yogic roots. In the yogic tradition the student is ultimately receiving lessons from the guru.  The Guru, literally the remover of darkness, is the teacher or the guide who lifts the veils Maya, or illusion,  to illuminate highest potential that exits within each and every one of us. It is vital that each of us begin to recognize that this inner teacher is here to guide us on this journey and hopefully begin to use this awareness to guide us in the choices we make about our every day life. Then we begin to understand the powerful influence the choices we make every day have toward creating effective and lasting change in our world.  It is imperative that we not only begin to understand this, but to take action.  

If we apply this to the practice of giving or gifting we can extend ourselves in many ways.

So, this Gifting Season,  I invite you to take a few moments to think well on what experiences, people or teachings have moved you personally and find a way to share or gift that to some one near and dear or with someone you are just beginning to know.

WINTER SLAW

1 head red cabbage, cored and thinly sliced
Celtic Sea Salt
1 cup mung bean sprouts

5 scallions, thinly sliced
1 chili pepper, seeded and finely diced
2-4T ginger, finely diced   
¼ cup hemp seeds
2 tbsp black sesame seeds

Sesame-Miso Dressing

1/4 cup sesame oil
2T shoyu

2T white miso
filtered water as needed

½ cup cilantro, chopped

Place the cabbage in a large bowl and salt with course Celtic sea salt.  Massage the salt in to cabbage and let stand for about 15 minutes to help soften the cabbage.  When softened to your liking, rinse well and drain. 

While the cabbage is standing blend the dressing ingredients.
 

Combine the cabbage with the mung beans, scallions, hemp, black sesame seeds, chili pepper, and ginger. Pour the dressing over the slaw and toss the cilantro leaves in.
 

SQUASH

Roasted Squash Soup with Coriander-Spiced Yogurt

1 butternut squash, (about 2 lbs)

2 cloves of garlic

a small handful of thyme sprigs

2-4T extra virgin olive oil

2 leeks

1 medium bulb of fennel

1.5 qts light vegetable stock or filtered water

Celtic sea salt

Freshly ground pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Cut the squash in half and remove the seeds.  Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.  Place a few sprigs of thyme and 1 garlic clove in the hollow of each squash.  Place cut side down on a lightly oiled baking sheet and roast until tender. 

While the squash cools, slice the leeks and thoroughly rinse to remove any grit.  Cut the fennel bulb in half, core and thinly slice.  Heat a small amount of oil in a 3 quart pot, add the leeks, cooking until translucent, then add the fennel and cook for another 5-7 minutes.  Scoop out the flesh of the squash and add the saucepan.  Add about 1.5 quarts of water or light vegetable stock and simmer lightly for 10-15 minutes, allowing the flavors to mingle. Meanwhile prepare the coriander-spiced yogurt.

When the soup has cooled, lightly puree in a blender.  Gently reheat adjust the seasoning to taste and serve with a dollop of the coriander-spiced yogurt and grate some fresh nutmeg on top.

Coriander-Spiced yogurt

1/2 cup whole milk yogurt

1-2 teaspoons ground coriander

Celtic sea salt to taste

Fresh nutmeg

Whisk the yogurt until smooth.  Stir in about a half of a teaspoon of coriander and a pinch of sea salt to taste.