I wrote an article on raising children in like-minded community,
which was featured on Tera Warner’s website for Mother’s day! Tera
creates healthy lifestyle and transformational cleansing programs,
including the Green Smoothie Challenge. She has also put together a
few popular online audio interview summits, including the W.I.S.H Summit
for women’s empowerment, the Raw Mom Summit, and the Tooth Summit.
Click here to see my article about child-raising and community!
If you enjoy it, please share with your friends, and if you desire to
share your experience (or questions), please post in the comments
section!
Also, if you have yet to visit my blog's new home, and you desire to continue receiving notices on my new blog posts, please check it out now at EcstaticWoman.com!
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Saturday, May 11, 2013
My blog is moving!!!
I am happy to announce that Ecstatic Woman has moved to its own domain!!! If you receive this notice, and desire to continue receiving ecstatic inspiration in the form of my blog posts, please hop over real quick to my new site and type in your e-mail address:
http://EcstaticWoman.com
I have an abundance of ideas and plans for my blog that I am feeling very inspired about! One thing I will be doing a lot of is VIDEOS! Especially how-to videos about many of the unique foods I prepare, including:
~ homemade lacto-fermented sodas (like root beer)
~ beet kvass (a simple fermented beet drink)
~ super herbal elixirs
~ raw chocolates
~ jun & kombucha
I also plan on posting about:
~ videos & updates on my little boy, Cedar (now age 3!)
~ local wild edibles
~ superfood recipes for children
~ harvesting wild yaupon holly (you can use it like yerba mate!)
~ my favorite supertonic herbs
~ health and parenting-related eBook giveaways
~ my health journey
... and much, much more!!
I will no longer be posting on here (my old blog site), and all my posts will be on my new site from now on, so please take the time to visit and spread the word!
http://EcstaticWoman.com
http://EcstaticWoman.com
I have an abundance of ideas and plans for my blog that I am feeling very inspired about! One thing I will be doing a lot of is VIDEOS! Especially how-to videos about many of the unique foods I prepare, including:
~ homemade lacto-fermented sodas (like root beer)
~ beet kvass (a simple fermented beet drink)
~ super herbal elixirs
~ raw chocolates
~ jun & kombucha
I also plan on posting about:
~ videos & updates on my little boy, Cedar (now age 3!)
~ local wild edibles
~ superfood recipes for children
~ harvesting wild yaupon holly (you can use it like yerba mate!)
~ my favorite supertonic herbs
~ health and parenting-related eBook giveaways
~ my health journey
... and much, much more!!
I will no longer be posting on here (my old blog site), and all my posts will be on my new site from now on, so please take the time to visit and spread the word!
http://EcstaticWoman.com
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Honoring Our Cycles
As women (and men in their own way), an essential key to unlocking our innate ecstasy is honoring our natural cycles.
This previous Sunday, I led a class on Super Herbal Elixirs. The energy and information downloads and exchanges were spectacular, and it progressed into another ecstatic, high energy community event with much love, laughter, sharing, and celebration. The next day, I felt intensely sensitive, reclusive and sleepy, and I just wanted to crawl into a cave and hibernate for a while. When I had the chance to be in complete quiet, resting with my eyes closed, I was in Bliss. I felt the same way the next day.
The day after that, I found myself in a solid, earthy state, protective of my "space", a familiar energy I recognized as leading up to my bleeding time. For most women, the resistance or rejection of this natural energetic becomes something commonly labeled as "PMS". I allowed and honored this energy the space to be, and it became an earthy sort of silliness, and a relaxed acceptance of whatever existed in the moment (a temporary dissolving of goal-oriented thoughts of the future), with moments of almost-pretend moodiness. My bleeding time arrived the next morning, which I had felt/known in advance, simply from energetic cues (because I don't have physical "PMS" symptoms).
Women often view their cycle as a monthly mundane repetition of menstruation and ovulation, a purely physical phenomenon with maybe a few mood swings or other emotional changes. However, like the tip of an iceberg, these events are only the most physically obvious signs of MUCH larger and more vast energetic and creative cycles. Becoming aware of and attuning to these energetic ebbs and flows results in optimizing our creative energy and experiencing much more efficiency in our lives and harmony in our bodies, minds, and emotions.
What Really Happens During Our Moon Cycles
Here's how it works. A woman's cycle "starts" when she begins her moontime bleeding. In past times, before artificial lights and arbitrary schedules, women always bled together on the new moon. The energetic of the dark (new) moon and of a woman's bleeding are similar. It's a time when we are called to go deep within, intuitively examine the entire structure of our lives and Life itself, and naturally cleanse and renew our whole selves. Our hormone levels are low at this time, and our left and right brain hemispheres synchronize, allowing us to tap into much greater levels of intuition and knowing about areas of our life that we have yet to fully understand or resolve. We can access a state of consciousness that gives us the power to sort out extremely complex aspects of life in almost a "dream state", below the level of our surface minds. We may not be fully aware at this time of all that we are learning, but if we allow ourselves the time and space to go deep, ask for divine guidance, and "dream while awake" (go on an inner journey), it has been my experience that my newly acquired wisdom now becomes part of me and expresses through me at a later time.
Women no longer bleed only on the new moon. Our bodies are adaptable, and it often seems as if my body factors in my mind's awareness of plans when choosing the best time for me to rest and bleed. For example, if I know I will be traveling or teaching a class at the time when I expect to be bleeding, my body will postpone it until afterward, since I will be able to align more fully with the introspective and reclusive energy of my moontime after all the outward activity has slowed down. I have learned from that, and since I enjoy having regularity in my cycles, I do my best to plan events with consideration of where I'll be in my cycle during the event.
After bleeding time, which lasts for a couple days up to a week, depending on the woman, our hormone progesterone slowly starts to increase. Energetically, this is a time of gradually increasing activity, creativity, and socially interactive energy. It is a good time to start new projects. This creative, active, social, and procreative energy, along with our progesterone levels, peak during ovulation, which happens around two weeks after the first day of bleeding. Naturally, the energy of ovulation is similar to the energy of the full moon. Feelings are heightened, creativity is at its peak, we feel social and magnetic, our communication skills are increased, and we're fully present and engaged in our interactions with other people and in the world.
After the progesterone peak of ovulation, this hormone starts to lower and its counterbalancing energy, estrogen, starts to increase. This begins to bring our energy back inward, inviting us to begin reviewing, contemplating, and integrating the heightened experiences of our cycle's energetic peak. We move gradually from the outward, social energy of ovulation to an inward, "home-tending" energy. This can be a good time to focus on home and family responsibilities. About two weeks after ovulation, a sudden drop in both estrogen and progesterone initiates menstruation, and we come full circle.
I'm using descriptive signposts here that only apply to menstruating women, but this also applies energetically to women who are not experiencing these obvious physical events (such as during pregnancy, early breastfeeding, and menopause), because we are still feeling the cycles of the moon. Women seem particularly linked to the moon's rhythms, which is why I'm speaking about women only with all this... and I'm curious if any men are aware of cycles of their own (if so, please share!!)
Menstrual Cycle Nutritional Support
There are ways you can support yourself nutritionally during the different parts of your cycle. Since salt is contractive and holds fluids in your body, it is beneficial to lower your salt consumption for the few days before and during your bleeding time, so your body can have a full cleansing. During this time, I crave more naturally sweet, expansive foods, and much less savory, contractive food. Leading up to and during ovulation is the time when salt is most appropriate, as its contractive nature helps the egg pop out of the ovary. When I say salt, I'm referring to natural sea and rock salts, or naturally salty foods.
It is also important after menstruation to replenish your blood, using mineral-rich foods and drinks like nettle leaf infusions, green juices, seaweeds, blue-green algae (especially spirulina and chlorella), blood-building tonic herbs, and other things. One of my favorite blood-replenishing beverages is a fermented beet drink called Beet Kvass, made with beets, salt and spring water. It's tangy, salty and sweet, and after bleeding time, I often can easily guzzle large amounts of it!
My Personal Journey
I have been very interested in this topic for the past few years, but I didn't always feel this way. I had my first menstrual cycle at age 12, and it was horrible. I didn't feel ready at all, emotionally or physically. I was at a summer camp and I didn't tell anyone all week (I just bled in my underwear the whole time). I told my parents when I got home, sobbing, like my cycle coming was a tragic event. I just didn't want to be a woman yet. For all my teen years after that, my bleeding times were long and heavy, with days at a time of extremely painful cramps. I have always been natural-medicine-minded, and never took pharmaceutical drugs for anything, except for my unbearably painful menstrual cramps.
At age 21, I stopped bleeding entirely for about 4 years, as a result of a prolonged experiment with a very cleansing type of raw food diet (high-fruit, very-low-fat). My hormone levels bottomed out and my blood volume was too low to spare any blood each month. About a year after changing my diet to include lots of superfoods, healthy fats, and blood-building tonic herbs, my cycle returned. Immediately, it was completely different than before. Its monthly timing was regular, my bleeding was light to moderate and only lasted 2-3 days, and my "cramps" were really mild... just some tender contraction feelings during the first couple days that were not only tolerable, but actually enjoyable, because they put me into an effortless meditative state.
After those 4 years of "rethinking" menstruation, my feelings about it were so different. I was actually ready to be a woman this time, and I delighted in the awareness that I have a cycle I can attune with.
When I gave birth to my son a few years later, he was an avid breastfeeder (still is!), and my menstrual cycle waited until he was two and a half to return. When it did return, nearly a year ago now, it became even more enjoyable than before. I attribute this continually increasing enjoyment of my bleeding time to how I have consciously embraced it more and more over the years.
Honor Your Cycles
Our creative power is greatest when we consciously align with our cycles. In our culture, we are instructed to follow an activity pattern determined by outside systems, and these activity and rest cycles are not aligned with nature's cycles (and our bodies' cycles). If we push through, and try to work hard during our natural resting and contemplation time, we will be moody, irritable, tired, AND we won't get anything accomplished anyway! Then we'll be dragging during the naturally creative and energetic time of our cycle, not able to fully utilize its energy because we didn't replenish at the appropriate time.
When we honor our cycles, we experience ourselves as the wise, powerful creators we already are.
Are you aware of the energy shifts of your cycle? How do you honor these shifts, or feel you could do better in honoring them? Please comment below!
This previous Sunday, I led a class on Super Herbal Elixirs. The energy and information downloads and exchanges were spectacular, and it progressed into another ecstatic, high energy community event with much love, laughter, sharing, and celebration. The next day, I felt intensely sensitive, reclusive and sleepy, and I just wanted to crawl into a cave and hibernate for a while. When I had the chance to be in complete quiet, resting with my eyes closed, I was in Bliss. I felt the same way the next day.
The day after that, I found myself in a solid, earthy state, protective of my "space", a familiar energy I recognized as leading up to my bleeding time. For most women, the resistance or rejection of this natural energetic becomes something commonly labeled as "PMS". I allowed and honored this energy the space to be, and it became an earthy sort of silliness, and a relaxed acceptance of whatever existed in the moment (a temporary dissolving of goal-oriented thoughts of the future), with moments of almost-pretend moodiness. My bleeding time arrived the next morning, which I had felt/known in advance, simply from energetic cues (because I don't have physical "PMS" symptoms).
Women often view their cycle as a monthly mundane repetition of menstruation and ovulation, a purely physical phenomenon with maybe a few mood swings or other emotional changes. However, like the tip of an iceberg, these events are only the most physically obvious signs of MUCH larger and more vast energetic and creative cycles. Becoming aware of and attuning to these energetic ebbs and flows results in optimizing our creative energy and experiencing much more efficiency in our lives and harmony in our bodies, minds, and emotions.
What Really Happens During Our Moon Cycles
Here's how it works. A woman's cycle "starts" when she begins her moontime bleeding. In past times, before artificial lights and arbitrary schedules, women always bled together on the new moon. The energetic of the dark (new) moon and of a woman's bleeding are similar. It's a time when we are called to go deep within, intuitively examine the entire structure of our lives and Life itself, and naturally cleanse and renew our whole selves. Our hormone levels are low at this time, and our left and right brain hemispheres synchronize, allowing us to tap into much greater levels of intuition and knowing about areas of our life that we have yet to fully understand or resolve. We can access a state of consciousness that gives us the power to sort out extremely complex aspects of life in almost a "dream state", below the level of our surface minds. We may not be fully aware at this time of all that we are learning, but if we allow ourselves the time and space to go deep, ask for divine guidance, and "dream while awake" (go on an inner journey), it has been my experience that my newly acquired wisdom now becomes part of me and expresses through me at a later time.Women no longer bleed only on the new moon. Our bodies are adaptable, and it often seems as if my body factors in my mind's awareness of plans when choosing the best time for me to rest and bleed. For example, if I know I will be traveling or teaching a class at the time when I expect to be bleeding, my body will postpone it until afterward, since I will be able to align more fully with the introspective and reclusive energy of my moontime after all the outward activity has slowed down. I have learned from that, and since I enjoy having regularity in my cycles, I do my best to plan events with consideration of where I'll be in my cycle during the event.
After bleeding time, which lasts for a couple days up to a week, depending on the woman, our hormone progesterone slowly starts to increase. Energetically, this is a time of gradually increasing activity, creativity, and socially interactive energy. It is a good time to start new projects. This creative, active, social, and procreative energy, along with our progesterone levels, peak during ovulation, which happens around two weeks after the first day of bleeding. Naturally, the energy of ovulation is similar to the energy of the full moon. Feelings are heightened, creativity is at its peak, we feel social and magnetic, our communication skills are increased, and we're fully present and engaged in our interactions with other people and in the world.
After the progesterone peak of ovulation, this hormone starts to lower and its counterbalancing energy, estrogen, starts to increase. This begins to bring our energy back inward, inviting us to begin reviewing, contemplating, and integrating the heightened experiences of our cycle's energetic peak. We move gradually from the outward, social energy of ovulation to an inward, "home-tending" energy. This can be a good time to focus on home and family responsibilities. About two weeks after ovulation, a sudden drop in both estrogen and progesterone initiates menstruation, and we come full circle.
I'm using descriptive signposts here that only apply to menstruating women, but this also applies energetically to women who are not experiencing these obvious physical events (such as during pregnancy, early breastfeeding, and menopause), because we are still feeling the cycles of the moon. Women seem particularly linked to the moon's rhythms, which is why I'm speaking about women only with all this... and I'm curious if any men are aware of cycles of their own (if so, please share!!)
Menstrual Cycle Nutritional Support
There are ways you can support yourself nutritionally during the different parts of your cycle. Since salt is contractive and holds fluids in your body, it is beneficial to lower your salt consumption for the few days before and during your bleeding time, so your body can have a full cleansing. During this time, I crave more naturally sweet, expansive foods, and much less savory, contractive food. Leading up to and during ovulation is the time when salt is most appropriate, as its contractive nature helps the egg pop out of the ovary. When I say salt, I'm referring to natural sea and rock salts, or naturally salty foods.
It is also important after menstruation to replenish your blood, using mineral-rich foods and drinks like nettle leaf infusions, green juices, seaweeds, blue-green algae (especially spirulina and chlorella), blood-building tonic herbs, and other things. One of my favorite blood-replenishing beverages is a fermented beet drink called Beet Kvass, made with beets, salt and spring water. It's tangy, salty and sweet, and after bleeding time, I often can easily guzzle large amounts of it!
My Personal Journey
I have been very interested in this topic for the past few years, but I didn't always feel this way. I had my first menstrual cycle at age 12, and it was horrible. I didn't feel ready at all, emotionally or physically. I was at a summer camp and I didn't tell anyone all week (I just bled in my underwear the whole time). I told my parents when I got home, sobbing, like my cycle coming was a tragic event. I just didn't want to be a woman yet. For all my teen years after that, my bleeding times were long and heavy, with days at a time of extremely painful cramps. I have always been natural-medicine-minded, and never took pharmaceutical drugs for anything, except for my unbearably painful menstrual cramps.
At age 21, I stopped bleeding entirely for about 4 years, as a result of a prolonged experiment with a very cleansing type of raw food diet (high-fruit, very-low-fat). My hormone levels bottomed out and my blood volume was too low to spare any blood each month. About a year after changing my diet to include lots of superfoods, healthy fats, and blood-building tonic herbs, my cycle returned. Immediately, it was completely different than before. Its monthly timing was regular, my bleeding was light to moderate and only lasted 2-3 days, and my "cramps" were really mild... just some tender contraction feelings during the first couple days that were not only tolerable, but actually enjoyable, because they put me into an effortless meditative state.
After those 4 years of "rethinking" menstruation, my feelings about it were so different. I was actually ready to be a woman this time, and I delighted in the awareness that I have a cycle I can attune with.
When I gave birth to my son a few years later, he was an avid breastfeeder (still is!), and my menstrual cycle waited until he was two and a half to return. When it did return, nearly a year ago now, it became even more enjoyable than before. I attribute this continually increasing enjoyment of my bleeding time to how I have consciously embraced it more and more over the years.
Honor Your Cycles
Our creative power is greatest when we consciously align with our cycles. In our culture, we are instructed to follow an activity pattern determined by outside systems, and these activity and rest cycles are not aligned with nature's cycles (and our bodies' cycles). If we push through, and try to work hard during our natural resting and contemplation time, we will be moody, irritable, tired, AND we won't get anything accomplished anyway! Then we'll be dragging during the naturally creative and energetic time of our cycle, not able to fully utilize its energy because we didn't replenish at the appropriate time.
When we honor our cycles, we experience ourselves as the wise, powerful creators we already are.
Are you aware of the energy shifts of your cycle? How do you honor these shifts, or feel you could do better in honoring them? Please comment below!
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Ode to Super Herbal Elixirs (and a recipe!)
7-8 years ago, I discovered a Holy Grail of the food world, and it changed my life (and continues to). Imagine a combination of smoothie + herbal tea + some of the most nutrient-rich foods on the planet, then multiply the taste and nourishment factor x 50, and you have what I call a Super Herbal Elixir. Breakfast, lunch & dinner of champions.
Why are they so amazing? What are Super Herbal Elixirs?
These drinks are a meal in a glass. The various components serve to stack the odds in our favor, nutritionally.
First of all, blending food in a high-powered blender and drinking it makes it far more digestible. The blender breaks the cell walls of vegetables, seeds and fruits far more effectively than our teeth, even if we chew 50-100 times per bite (and who really wants to do that?!) It's also way faster to prepare a blended meal than cook, chop, and carefully arrange various foods on a plate, and you have much less to clean afterward. Preparing elaborate meals is wonderful and fun, and personally, I'm definitely NOT enthusiastic about doing it 3x per day! My days are smooth and easy when I drink 1-2 elixirs during the most active parts of my day (or as a nightcap), and prepare 1-2 regular meals when I'm in centering/integrating mode.
Elixirs are a delivery system for all the nutrient-rich foods, herbs, and supplements we wish to consume that day. By understanding the basic components of an elixir, you can literally make infinite variations, depending on your health and life goals at that time.
For example, lately my health goals are building strength and toning my body, boosting my brain power and creativity, increasing my bone mineral density, building rich, healthy blood, and gentle maintenance cleansing. My elixir ingredient choices lately are catered specifically to helping me reach these goals. Including hemp seeds, sprouted rice protein powder, raw cacao, maca, Jing-and-blood-building tonic herbs, marine phytoplankton, a food-based iron & B-12 supplement, wild-harvested horsetail powder & pine pollen tincture, and coconut oil, helps me further ALL of my health goals with ONE drink!
I have prepared an estimated 1000-2000 elixirs for myself and my family in the past 7-8 years, and every one of them has been slightly different, although I stay with certain themes for a while. As my health goals, ingredients on hand, and nutrient requirements change, I slightly alter my daily elixir composition, for extraordinarily customized nutrition.
When you understand the basic components of an elixir, it is easy to start making infinite variations of drinks that taste amazing and satisfy your hunger and nutrient requirements, every time!
The basic components of a "meal type" elixir:
* the best liquid ever (wild spring water or herbal tea)
* an easily-digestible, clean, nutrient-rich fat source
* a healthy sweetener (unless you're making a savory elixir)
* superfoods to add loads of nutrients & emulsify the fats, sweets & liquid
* tonic & adaptogenic herbs
* fresh veggies & fruits (optional)
* supplements (optional)
* additional flavor components like spices or essential oils (optional)
That's it, in the most basic sense.
Now here's an example recipe for you to play with! This is a fun and delicious drink my husband and I created soon after our son was born, when we were waking up at 4am every morning and felt an extra requirement for adaptogenic nourishment!! Enjoy!
Superfood Mocha Latte
~ 2 cups spring water or adaptogenic herbal tea
~ 2 Tbs lucuma powder
~ 2 Tbs raw chocolate (cacao) powder
~ 1 Tbs tocotrienols (vitamin E rich concentrate from rice bran)
~ 1 Tbs wild blue-green algae (AFA)
~ 2 tsp soy lecithin (non-gmo)
~ 1 tsp maca
~ 1 tsp ground vanilla bean
~ 1/2 tsp chaga extract powder (or use the whole herb in your tea base)
~ 1/2 tsp ho shou wu extract powder (or use the whole herb in your tea base)
~ 1 Tbs coconut oil
~ 1-2 Tbs raw honey (or other sweetener of choice, to taste)
~ 4 drops coffee bean essential oil (or a splash of actual coffee if you're into it!)
Optional additions, to add a raw, whole-food caffeine source: 1/4-1 tsp guarana, yerba mate, or yaupon holly powder.
You may also leave out some of the above ingredients, or substitute with other things, and it will likely still taste amazing!
This class will also broadcast LIVE via the internet, so if you live somewhere else (or just can't make it to the physical event), you can still be part of the action and the fun! You can watch the webcast from your iPad, iPhone, computer, or any other internet device capable of streaming video. Click the local sign-up link above to read the class description, and if you're ready to participate remotely, sign up here for the Elixir class webcast.
~*~
Please comment below with any questions, or to share your own experiments and LOVE for Super Herbal Elixirs!!
These drinks are a meal in a glass. The various components serve to stack the odds in our favor, nutritionally.
First of all, blending food in a high-powered blender and drinking it makes it far more digestible. The blender breaks the cell walls of vegetables, seeds and fruits far more effectively than our teeth, even if we chew 50-100 times per bite (and who really wants to do that?!) It's also way faster to prepare a blended meal than cook, chop, and carefully arrange various foods on a plate, and you have much less to clean afterward. Preparing elaborate meals is wonderful and fun, and personally, I'm definitely NOT enthusiastic about doing it 3x per day! My days are smooth and easy when I drink 1-2 elixirs during the most active parts of my day (or as a nightcap), and prepare 1-2 regular meals when I'm in centering/integrating mode.
Elixirs are a delivery system for all the nutrient-rich foods, herbs, and supplements we wish to consume that day. By understanding the basic components of an elixir, you can literally make infinite variations, depending on your health and life goals at that time.
For example, lately my health goals are building strength and toning my body, boosting my brain power and creativity, increasing my bone mineral density, building rich, healthy blood, and gentle maintenance cleansing. My elixir ingredient choices lately are catered specifically to helping me reach these goals. Including hemp seeds, sprouted rice protein powder, raw cacao, maca, Jing-and-blood-building tonic herbs, marine phytoplankton, a food-based iron & B-12 supplement, wild-harvested horsetail powder & pine pollen tincture, and coconut oil, helps me further ALL of my health goals with ONE drink!
I have prepared an estimated 1000-2000 elixirs for myself and my family in the past 7-8 years, and every one of them has been slightly different, although I stay with certain themes for a while. As my health goals, ingredients on hand, and nutrient requirements change, I slightly alter my daily elixir composition, for extraordinarily customized nutrition.
When you understand the basic components of an elixir, it is easy to start making infinite variations of drinks that taste amazing and satisfy your hunger and nutrient requirements, every time!
The basic components of a "meal type" elixir:
* the best liquid ever (wild spring water or herbal tea)
* an easily-digestible, clean, nutrient-rich fat source
* a healthy sweetener (unless you're making a savory elixir)
* superfoods to add loads of nutrients & emulsify the fats, sweets & liquid
* tonic & adaptogenic herbs
* fresh veggies & fruits (optional)
* supplements (optional)
* additional flavor components like spices or essential oils (optional)
That's it, in the most basic sense.
Now here's an example recipe for you to play with! This is a fun and delicious drink my husband and I created soon after our son was born, when we were waking up at 4am every morning and felt an extra requirement for adaptogenic nourishment!! Enjoy!
Superfood Mocha Latte
~ 2 cups spring water or adaptogenic herbal tea
~ 2 Tbs lucuma powder
~ 2 Tbs raw chocolate (cacao) powder
~ 1 Tbs tocotrienols (vitamin E rich concentrate from rice bran)
~ 1 Tbs wild blue-green algae (AFA)
~ 2 tsp soy lecithin (non-gmo)
~ 1 tsp maca
~ 1 tsp ground vanilla bean
~ 1/2 tsp chaga extract powder (or use the whole herb in your tea base)
~ 1/2 tsp ho shou wu extract powder (or use the whole herb in your tea base)
~ 1 Tbs coconut oil
~ 1-2 Tbs raw honey (or other sweetener of choice, to taste)
~ 4 drops coffee bean essential oil (or a splash of actual coffee if you're into it!)
Optional additions, to add a raw, whole-food caffeine source: 1/4-1 tsp guarana, yerba mate, or yaupon holly powder.
You may also leave out some of the above ingredients, or substitute with other things, and it will likely still taste amazing!
Make a warm drink if it's winter, or a cold drink if it's summer, by varying the temperature of your water or tea base (you can even throw in some ice cubes to make it extra cold!). Add everything to
your high-powered blender and blend well. Pour into a cozy coffee mug
or fancy glass and savor each sip!
~*~
If you desire to learn more about this powerful, ecstatic form of nourishment, I am teaching a Super Herbal Elixirs class this Sunday, Feb 24th, in the Dallas, Texas area. I will be demonstrating and sampling 6 delicious, original elixir recipes! Read more & sign up for the local event here.
~*~
Please comment below with any questions, or to share your own experiments and LOVE for Super Herbal Elixirs!!
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Ecstatic Goddess Transformation
Kristen posted one of her versions a while back, and Lauren just wrote about her most recent aspirations. Of course, now I'm lit up and ready to write my own! So here they are, my most current transformational disciplines!
Ecstatic Foods
- Daily super herbal elixirs with my favorite nutrient-rich superfoods, raw plant-based protein powder, and jing-building tonic herbs.
- Daily green veggies (preferably wild-harvested or home-grown), fermented food, plenty of protein rich seeds, seaweeds and algaes
- Minimal amounts of glycemic sweets (mostly use stevia & xylitol for now)
- More spring water, in the morning and throughout the day
I do all of this already, so this isn't a huge shift, just some intuitive tweaking in the direction of increasing my intake of tonic herbs, greens, wild foods and ferments... foods that definitely take me further into ecstatic realms!
For the past few months I have also been laying off the sweets almost entirely, for some deeper healing. After years of an extremely unbalanced high-sweet-fruit diet (many years ago), I lost interest in store-bought, mono-cropped sweet fruits, and switched to local raw honey as my main sweet food. I've been re-balancing even further lately, by only occasionally eating honey, and enjoying more foods that are rich in protein, healthy fats, and minerals.
I am also focused on building my blood right now, currently using a food-based iron/B-12 supplement (and a couple of powerful Chinese yin jing tonic herbs), inspired by a recent realization that I've had varying levels of anemia for the past 16 years. I have a whole plan for strengthening my blood to levels I have yet to EVER experience, and I'm very excited about the effects this will have (and already is having) on every part of my life!
Ecstatic Movement
I feel best when I enjoy some form of ecstatic movement (joyful exercise) daily. Variety works great for me. My favorites are:
- Ecstatic Dance. I love going to group ecstatic dances, and for a more consistent dancing fix, my absolute favorite exercise ever is being outside by myself at night, with headphones, dancing myself into another dimension to energetic and uplifting music. This is something I used to do every night for years, sometimes into the wee hours of the morning. I re-discovered this greatest-of-pleasures just a few days ago, and afterward felt so ridiculously amazing that I was floored I had forgotten it for so long! It is truly a Divine Worship practice for me.
- Long walks. Another thing I did every day for many, many years. It's my moving meditation, therapy, and creative inspiration. After my son was born, I did my best to maintain this practice somewhat regularly, by putting him into a carrier and walking with him on my back or front. My daily walks fell away at some point, and when I added them back in, I had some immediate serious upgrades in my daily mood and well-being.
- Strength building. Besides yoga, this has yet to be a consistent practice for me at any point in my life, so I still kind of feel like a newbie in this area. I've done enough sporadic experimentation to have developed some familiarity with various exercises and their effects, so I am slowly adding them in with more regularity and building my confidence. I desire to discover how being physically stronger than ever will affect me in all areas of my life. Will keep you updated! :)
Nature Connection & Earth Skills
For the past few years, I've had a major interest in changing my lifestyle and adapting my body and mind to feel really comfortable in nature. This has included developing skill and confidence in gardening, growing fruit and nut trees, foraging wild edible & useful plants, walking barefoot on a variety of terrains, building my nerve force by consciously increasing my tolerance to temperature extremes (like hot & cold weather and water), and fine-tuning my ability to observe and be aware of nature's subtle messages (which all wild animals are acutely aware of).
I have come a long way. My interest in these skills is mainly because I find nature to be far more inspiring and aesthetically pleasing than the man-made world, and I desire to reduce my dependency on all the intricately intertwined aspects of "the system" (consumerism, slave labor, government, currencies, climate-controlled boxes, modern entertainment, and the like). This has resulted in a slowly shifting self-identity... feeling I am "in the (man-made) world, but not of it", and able to feel myself as originating from and being home in nature (God's creation). This brings deep peace to my soul, and I long to go deeper.
So this continues to be an essential area of self-improvement for me.
- Connect daily with the seasonal wild edibles of whatever area I'm in, by eating them. Currently it's the young spring greens like chickweed, dock (the short time window when dock actually tastes good raw!), wild lettuce, dandelion, henbit, and plenty more. Also enjoying wild edibles I have previously harvested and preserved.. right now that includes sumac berries, dried horsetail, vitex & pine pollen tinctures, pecans, lotus nuts, and some tea herbs like fennel & bee balm. Continue learning more about edible and useful wild plants.
- Continue strengthening my nerve force by enjoying temperature extremes. In Mount Shasta, this meant taking daily walks in the snowy cold, doing occasional "snow plunges" (rolling in the snow in my swimsuit!), and dipping in cold rivers and lakes! During my current Texas visit, it will mainly involve being outside during the wild weather fluctuations of the winters here. In a very short time, it can often go through cold, rainy, warm, balmy, windy, and more. Good for adaptability practice!
- Plant gardens everywhere I go. The more I do it, the more nuances I learn, and the easier it gets. This morning I scrounged up some starter pots and dirt, and planted kale and radish seeds. We'll be here just long enough to enjoy eating them. Then we'll go somewhere else and plant another garden!
Thank you, Lauren, for inspiring me to share my current practices with my world! And thank you Debbie, Joanna & Kristen for being my amazing friends and enthusiastic transformation partners!
Anyone else up for some Ecstatic Transformation?! Share your current aspirations, and what you're doing about them, below, or post a link!
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Holy Manifestation!
For most of my life, starting around adolescence, I have been aware to varying degrees that I can create things and situations into my real life from my inner thoughts and feelings. This awareness was part of how I was raised by my parents, although it was never reliable for me, nor did I believe I was very good at it (except for at seemingly random moments). At many points throughout my life, I have lost faith in this idea and stopped believing it was a reliable or even possible way to reach my goals, which was always reflected by a decrease in easy manifestation and an increase in frustration and the appearance that I was only able to achieve things by some kind of hard-won struggle, and even then the seeming achievement would often have a way of slipping out of my life soon after.
Gradually, on my path of increasing awareness and awakening to my own inner power, my intuition has consistently steered me towards the "we can create our reality" idea as having deep truth to it, so I have again opened to it, this time slowly and cautiously (aware of a residual inner hurt/fear of being "let down" by the idea) over the past several years. My logical mind has examined the potential validity of my intuition's attraction to this idea often, and has reported back to me many times (each time with a fuller understanding) that it is, indeed, the way things must be, all things considered (and with a lot of underlying complexities that I didn't understand at first). I have moved gradually from my initial teenage enthusiasm of "I can create anything I think about!" to the understanding that our creations originate not so much from the thoughts we WANT to think, but our overall vibrational "emanation", which we can actually affect and change at a core level through various means and a sincere desire for transformation.
The reason I am inspired to write this post is because I have been DELIGHTED lately by the ease in which I have been manifesting! I was just today thinking of all the things I have manifested in the past month, just from having a thought of it, being able to easily imagine having it, and being completely open to the means in which it comes into my life. In the past month, most of these things have been GIVEN to me, at a seemingly random moment, most of them without the person having any idea I desired them, soon after I had enjoyed imagining having them in my life:
Gradually, on my path of increasing awareness and awakening to my own inner power, my intuition has consistently steered me towards the "we can create our reality" idea as having deep truth to it, so I have again opened to it, this time slowly and cautiously (aware of a residual inner hurt/fear of being "let down" by the idea) over the past several years. My logical mind has examined the potential validity of my intuition's attraction to this idea often, and has reported back to me many times (each time with a fuller understanding) that it is, indeed, the way things must be, all things considered (and with a lot of underlying complexities that I didn't understand at first). I have moved gradually from my initial teenage enthusiasm of "I can create anything I think about!" to the understanding that our creations originate not so much from the thoughts we WANT to think, but our overall vibrational "emanation", which we can actually affect and change at a core level through various means and a sincere desire for transformation.
- The Body Ecology Diet book ... it was on a bookshelf in the house we're subletting right now, so I got to read it again, absorb and implement what I desired from it, and then put it back, instead of having to add a new possession to our intentionally minimalist travel setup, which is even better than owning it for me! So... this one manifested in a way even more aligned with what is right for me than I had initially imagined
- A laptop computer
- Awesome yoga pants
- Jojoba oil
- Bags of superfoods (ones I have been specifically desiring)
- A high-definition video camera
There are more, but these are enough to illustrate my point. Even more important than these things, I often manifest outer information and guidance that helps me upgrade my life, appearing in response to specific sincere desires for clarity about something. I have been contemplating the reasons why my manifestation ability has strengthened lately, and I have come up with a few things.
Top 4 Tips for Manifesting Your Desires (in my experience)
1. A Playful Attitude
2. Openness to the WAY the thing comes into our lives
3. Practice & Momentum
4. Clarity of Life Purpose
4. Clarity of Life Purpose
A playful attitude. This one seems so consistently important. Anytime we're in "survival mode" and trying to manifest something we seem to need right now, our true creative power is stalled. Survival mode and Creation mode are mutually exclusive. The only way I've found to manifest things that I feel stressed about "needing by a certain time", is to first accept the possibility of NOT having it by my mind's "deadline" (a funny term that's very revealing) and realize that it won't be the end of the world, relax about it, then start to PLAY with having and enjoying it in my imagination until I feel the excitement of actually having it. Sometimes I can do this better than at other times... and if I can't seem to get from survival to creation in that particular moment, the best thing to do is get my mind off of it completely by focusing on something else that's enjoyable and fulfilling for me, and letting it come back into my awareness later when I feel more ready to deal with it in a more relaxed place.
Openness to the WAY the thing comes into our lives. So often, we feel that to have a thing or be in a situation we desire, there are very few ways it can come into our lives. Cultural programming seems responsible for these beliefs. For example, we often think the only way we can have a certain thing is by using money to buy it. Or, the only way to be in a situation we desire is to go through a certain series of steps that we've been taught are essential to achieving this goal. The classic modern-day example is: Go to school -> Get a job -> Have a career -> Buy a house -> Retire and finally enjoy your life and do what you REALLY want to do. This process is completely unnecessary, and can only seem to be necessary because we believe it, and have narrowed our awareness to not being able to accept any other means to our desired outcome, which in that case would be "enjoy my life and do what I really want to do". A quick example of this that happened for me just yesterday... I was thinking about my desires for the business Isaac and I are building right now, and how important the medium of video is going to be in getting our message across. We don't have a video camera, besides the crappy one on our phone. I noticed a "let down" thought of my ability to buy a video camera being far in the future, then immediately afterward "came to" and expanded my awareness to the WAY a video camera could come into my life, accepting that it may happen much more quickly. THAT VERY NIGHT, I was talking with my mom on the phone, and briefly mentioned my desire for a video camera, and she immediately offered to GIVE me hers, because her new iPhone has a great camera so she doesn't need her other one anymore!! I was elated, and AMAZED at how quickly I had manifested something as important as an excellent, high-definition video camera for the business we are building!!
Practice & Momentum. The importance of this is in gradually developing confidence in our manifestation powers, by proving to ourselves again and again, through real-life experience, that it is indeed possible. At first, you may have a strong resistance and questioning about whether you can do it at all. PERSIST. Do it anyway. It may take days to start seeing results, or many years. It doesn't matter, because in my opinion, developing mastery over our power of Creation is one of the primary reasons to live at all. Once you start actually manifesting things consciously, you will begin noticing a building momentum that increases every time you have another success. It's just like mastering anything else... it happens gradually, and your confidence in your ability grows through the small successes that come with persistence and dedication. First, you must believe to see... then you will see what you believe.
Clarity of Life Purpose. Very recently, I experienced a quickening in my clarity of purpose at this time in my life... meaning, I received a huge influx of inspiration and ideas for what I desire to manifest in my life, with great clarity and specificity. The level of alignment and enthusiasm I feel for these projects has noticeably heightened my feeling-emanations and the speed and clarity of my thoughts, which has seemed to directly increase my manifestation ability. It's like the cosmos is noticing that I'm "in the flow" and creating with inspiration, and is supporting my creations in manifesting, supplying me with what I require with ease, so I can continue focusing fully on creating.
Clarity of Life Purpose. Very recently, I experienced a quickening in my clarity of purpose at this time in my life... meaning, I received a huge influx of inspiration and ideas for what I desire to manifest in my life, with great clarity and specificity. The level of alignment and enthusiasm I feel for these projects has noticeably heightened my feeling-emanations and the speed and clarity of my thoughts, which has seemed to directly increase my manifestation ability. It's like the cosmos is noticing that I'm "in the flow" and creating with inspiration, and is supporting my creations in manifesting, supplying me with what I require with ease, so I can continue focusing fully on creating.
I would love to hear about your experience with conscious creation and manifesting your desires! Please comment below if you have stories to share, questions that are baffling you, or anything to add to the list I made! We can help each other improve our manifesting powers, for the Good of All!
Saturday, January 19, 2013
Resurrection of blog!
Yay, blog resurrection!! Here begins the new phase of my life, as
expressed for all to see. What was formerly Ecstatic Mothering is now
Ecstatic Woman, to more accurately encompass all that I Am.I type by candlelight, as my family sleeps, in our current house in my favorite town ever, Mount Shasta in California. I have recently discovered a blissfully new level of quietness by embracing the dark hours of late night and early morning... the silence is so quiet I hear it ring loud, at the end of the daily sound symphony of my son's enthusiastic exclamations of all aspects of life.
Winter... snow is still piled on the ground from a big snowstorm on the solstice. I love this new substance, so rare in Texas where I recently lived. A few mornings after it first fell, it was already piled 3 feet high, and I was so happy that I went to greet it in my swimsuit, falling deep into its fluff and rolling around, meeting my new friend with my bare skin. If you think coffee is the ideal morning activator of body and mind, I'm guessing you haven't tried this....
The snow does cover the winter wild edible greens I'm used to... so what to do, as a year-round wild edible enthusiast? Make snowcones, of course!! A scoop of snow in a glass, a couple shots of homemade Jun or Kombucha, and a quick stir. Mt Shasta seasonal snowcone special! I also thought to harvest some pine needles from some of the tall, stately pine trees that cover this land (in a community of firs, spruces, manzanitas, and the occasional redwood) and brew up some tea. Aromatic, high in vitamin C... and it tastes like Christmas trees! :D
We arrived here in Shasta right before Winter Solstice... the long-anticipated 12-21-2012, galactic alignment, "apocalypse" (originally a Greek word that translates to "a disclosure of knowledge, hidden from humanity in an era dominated by falsehood and misconception") ... for me, this solstice ended up being a time of new friends, ecstatic celebration, and healing ceremony. My son fell asleep at the perfect moment for me to jump in to a group healing circle, where I had a grand time discovering that I have a surprising amount of interest, sensitivity and natural ability in reiki-type energy healing. The super herbal raw chocolate balls I ate beforehand definitely helped with that... the remainder of my night was filled with vivid dreams and blissful energy surges.
This most recent new moon in Capricorn had quite a noticeable effect on me, as well. It was like some kind of amazing Goddess had her foot stuck in the door jam of my subconscious for a long time, and finally freed herself and stepped up to run my life for me. I am now in the midst of a deep life transformation, which has so far resulted in highly increased clarity of direction, a new level of awareness of my creative power, and inspiration to implement new habits that are definitely taking my life up a few levels in awesomeness.
An ecstatic transformation in the homeland of Saint Germain and the Violet Flame Angels, surrounded by 4 volcanoes...
Do you ever feel energy changes in yourself as the cosmos moves around, and the stars, planets and Sun change their relationship to the Earth (and us)? Please comment and let me know!
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