SOLAR PLEXUS CHAKRA

SOLAR PLEXUS CHAKRA * SOLAR PLEXUS CHAKRA * SOLAR PLEXUS CHAKRA
Personality, our feelings of identity, self-esteem, our passion for life and control over our own destiny are said to be controlled and formulated through the solar plexus chakra. The colour yellow is used to represent the solar plexus chakra and it is linked to the fire element. Balancing this chakra can provide a sense of inner peace and  tolerance for diversity in others.
• YOUR SENSE OF IDENTITY
• YOUR SELF ESTEEM
• YOUR PASSION FOR LIFE
• YOUR ABILITY TO FEEL YOU HAVE CONTROL OVER YOUR DESTINY, YOUR PATH IN LIFE?
• DO YOU HAVE A SENSE OF INNER PEACE? WHEN DON’T YOU?
• DO YOU HAVE TOLERANCE FOR DIVERSITY IN OTHERS?
• This is chakra that is often the most work, the hardest to clear. We go into a lot of depth on this one in our Personal Healing Course. This chakra can also be damaged & be located off to the side, which makes it harder to open up your heart chakra. We do a lot of work on the lower 3 chakras in the Reiki Forum.

JANUARY REIKI FORUM OFFERINGS, included in your monthly fee of $10

1. Energetic Hygiene Workshop

Your body as a spiritual habitat & psychic protection.
I know that some of us are having issues with some sorts of attachments, or at the very least unhealthy cords or stagnant aura.
We’ll discuss ways to keep your energy field clear.
We will do an exercise to clear your energy field in 3 ways.
We’ll do the cord clearing again, but slightly differently that it was done last month.
We’ll discuss stones to use to keep your energy field protected or cleared use stones to clear the aura during your session.

2. Root Chakra

We'll do a bit of the root chakra work that I teach in my Personal Healing Course. Discuss issues related to root chakra, some journal work, reiki work to do on your own, stones you could use for clearing the root chakra. We'll work on 1 chakra each month.

SACRAL CHAKRA

SACRAL CHAKRA * SACRAL CHAKRA * SACRAL CHAKRA * SACRAL CHAKRA *
The sacral chakra is believed to influence our emotions, sexual energy and creativity. Linkages for the sacral chakra include our reproductive systems, water and our creativity. It is linked to the colour orange and when balanced this chakra allows us to become open, inviting and friendly.
• EMOTIONS
• YOUR CREATIVITY LEVELS
• ARE YOU AN OPEN, INVITING & FRIENDLY PERSON, OR DOES THIS NEED WORK?

ROOT CHAKRA

As most of us know, the Chakras are energy centers. For those of us who do reiki the Chakras offer more ways to clear the energetic body. During the Personal Healing Course that I offer, we begin with level 1 reiki which opens your energy field up to clearing dense & tangled energies, old emotions & behaviors & physical ailments.

After level 1 reiki my students have the option to continue with monthly classes focusing on one chakra each month, beginning with the root chakra. During the personal healing course we look at each chakra in depth, and use herbs. vibrational essences, healing stones & reiki sessions to clear each one.

Myself & my students are finding this course very powerful in terms of healing, clearing & moving on.

This course is more than what it seems in terms of healing on a deep level. You will be working in a very focused way on clearing & balancing one chakra at a time.

Here's a little bit of information on each chakra, and some ways to bring balance to them.

I'll post one chakra each day:

ROOT CHAKRA * ROOT CHAKRA * ROOT CHAKRA * ROOT CHAKRA *

This is the most basic of all the energy centres, it influences our need for survival, security and belonging. This energy centre grounds us with the physical presence of the earth and is associated with the colour red. When the root chakra is in balance we are able to feel our connection to all things natural and of the earth.

• SURVIVAL
• SECURITY
• BELONGING
• ARE YOU WELL CONNECTED TO THE EARTH, ITS PLANTS & ANIMALS?

CHERRIES & CHOCOLATE

GLUTEN FREE, NO BAKING, DECADENT

COMBINE ALL THIS IN A FOOD PROCESSOR

• raw sunflower seeds - about 1 cup ground fine in magic bullet
• coconut milk - about 3 tbsp, I kept adding it until the mixture was the right texture
• coconut oil - about 1 tbsp.
• almond butter - 1 tbsp
• honey 1 or 2 tbsp -- see how sweet you want it
• cocoa - I have dark powdered cocoa from Costco, its really good

Get it all the right texture, sample it lots to make sure you've got it right !

I put some dried unsweetened coconut on the plate first then kind of roll it around on that & flatten it out

TOPPING:

• 1/2 cup soaked dried cherries - I buy pounds of these from Costco, yum !
• coconut milk - I use canned stuff
• bit of honey
• and another tbsp of cocoa powder

BLEND IT ALL IN THE FOOD PROCESSOR & POUR ON TOP.

Oil of Oregano and assorted thoughts on immune system, candida, colds & flu

Oil of Oregano has anti-viral action, making it effective in combating viral ailments such as the common cold, flu, warts, shingles and herpes virus.

Properties and Usage

Immune system stimulant

Oregano oil has been proven in European studies to be a potent immune booster., Wild Oil of Oregano is effective in boosting the body's natural immunity. Use a couple of drops a day to rcharge your immune system and maintain good health.

For those interested in taking my Herbalist Classes by distance or locally, or taking part in my Herbal Forum, you will learn ways to make yourself forumlas for your immune system to keep yourself healthy all winter. And formulas for helping you get better from colds & flu. You'll learn how to make formulas for yourself, family, pets & clients, bases on a person's specific symptoms of their constitution (body type).

I've been using a lot more of our local plants in the last few months.

To help my immune system this fall & winter, I’ve been harvesting mostly from various trees & stuff that grows on trees and having great results. There’s still a lot to harvest out there even though it is winter.

I usually go through our rainy winters with a low grade feeling coming down with a cold. And holding classes in prevous winters has been hard, I seem to catch a cold from students who are even slightly sick.

Using local plants has really begun to change all that. Plus I have been choosing my herbs based on my constitution, so now I am choosing the right herbs for what is going on in my body. My new herbs courses will be based on this knowledge. For all my herbs students who didn't get to learn this (or others who already have a basis in herbal knowledge), I'll be offering this as distance learning on my herbal forum in Feb & March.

My herbal forum & reiki forum is here if you want to sign up & get to know how to use it:

http://dragonflyherbals.proboards.com/index.cgi 


ok, back to Oil of Oregano:




Anti-inflammatory and analgesic/anesthetic (Pain reliever)

Oil of Oregano can be used externally as an anti-inflammatory and and for its anesthetic action. Applied externally, the oil deeply penetrates tissues and in so doing, brings relief and speeds healing and reduces the pain of bruises, sprains, torn and sore muscles, tendonitis, cramps, carpal tunnel syndrome and other similar injuries. Arthritis responds well to this treatment. A topical rub can be made by mixing some Oil of Oregano with cocoa butter.

In the 2010 Herbalist Course we made an amazing liniment that is sprayed onto the skin for sore joint & muscles. It works amazing well. It is in a rubbing alcohol base & has quite a few herbs in it, some were harvested locally. I've used it a lot on sore joints & muscles, a fatty cyst (which decreased in size rapidly in a week, and the client had had this cyst for a year), also on a severely bruised toe to take down swelling, reduce pain & reduce bruising. I share this recipe in my Herbal Forum & during my Herbalist Courses.

and once again, back to OIl of Oregano:

Antifungal

Candida is a fungus that infects millions of people. Wild Oil of oregano contains powerful antifungal agents that eliminate candida effectively and safely. Take 1-3 drops 3 times daily. Continue the treatment for as long as necessary.

Nail fungus, which is particularly stubborn and hard to get rid of has a powerful enemy in Oregano oil. Wash and dry the nails. Soak them with the Wild Oil of Oregano twice daily. Take 1-3 drops of the Oil of Oregano 3 times daily. Some cases may need more aggressive treatment by filling a gel cap with the oil and taking that once a day with a meal. Continue treatment for 6 months.

Athlete's foot: Oregano oil's effectiveness in fighting fungal infections such as athlete's foot make it a must in the locker room. Apply the oil topically to the feet.

For any of these fungal conditions please look to your diet and cut out refined sugars especially. Take some Bio K or other pro-biotic and lots of raw garlic. Get on an anti candida diet.

For candida, I also recommend doing the Dr. Schulze bowel cleanse. I have his manual posted, and teach how to make his formulas during my Herbal Courses.

Antiparasitic

Head lice and scabies.: Parasites such as head lice and scabies are no match for Oregano oil's powerful antiparasitic properties. Add a few drops to a tablespoon of shampoo to wash hair and scalp. Add a couple of drops to a tablespoon of vegetable oil to apply to hair after shampoo or to other affected areas. Add a dropperfull to laundry soap to disinfect clothes.

Cryptosporidium, giardia etc.: Add a drop to water that may be unsafe to protect yourself from parasites such as cryptosporidium and giardia as well as bacterial infection. Take 1-3 drops up to 3 times a day to clear yourself of parasites. I also recommend doing the Dr. Schulze bowel cleanse. I have his manual posted, and teach how to make his formulas during my Herbal Courses.

ALL MY HERB STUDENTS & THOSE WHO TOOK MY CLEANSING WORKSHOPS WILL BE HAPPY TO KNOW THAT THE DR. SCHULZE MANUAL IS ON MY WEBSITE NOW, UNDER ARTICLES.

Antibiotic like action

Use it topically and internally for any kind of infection. If you dont' like the taste of it, get some empty capsules & just add a few drops to a capsule when you are ready to take it.

Teeth and Gums: Oregano oil gives effective relief to toothaches by killing the bacteria causing the pain. Apply the oil directly to the infected tooth. Gum disease can be halted by using Wild Oil of Oregano in the mouth. The oil may be applied to infected gums with a Q-tip or a drop can be placed on your toothbrush before brushing the teeth. Regular treatment will vastly improve oral health and hygiene.

I've been making a great tooth powder:

• baking soda
• salt
• essential oils that help to stop plaque from forming & kill germs: oil of oregano, peppermint oil, tea tree oil, just a few drops of each

Food poisoning: Salmonella and E. coli have been found on meat, but also on vegetables as lettuce and sprouts, which can result in food poisoning. Restaurant foods may often be contaminated due to poor hygiene of employees or lack of proper washing of the produce. Use oil of oregano if you have been exposed to food poisoning.

Natural antibiotics like Oil of Oregano do not induce antibiotic resistance as do the patented antibiotic drugs. Use Oil of Oregano to boost your immune system and to kill off unfriendly bacteria. This natural remedy provides defense against biological toxins.




Antiviral

Colds, flu, shingles and herpes: At the first sign of a viral infection such as colds, flu, herpes, shingles etc., take the maximum internal dosage immediately. In the case of herpes or shingles it is best to apply the oil directly to the spot where tingling may be felt before an outbreak. This will often prevent the outbreak. Due to the heat sensation, oil of oregano should not be used on sensitive skin areas or mucous membranes. Do not use on sensitive tissue unless it is very well diluted by adding a drop or two of wild Oil of Oregano to a tablespoon of olive oil. Then test with a small amount first.

When treated at the first sign of symptoms, most viral conditions will be rendered harmless.

Warts can be treated by applying the Oil of Oregano directly to the wart with cotton wool. It is best to leave the soaked cotton on the wart as long as possible. Repeat this 2 or 3 times a day and take 3 drops under the tongue three times a day for a few months.

Warts also respond (slowly) to daily use of burdock as a tea of tincture.


Antivenom

Oregano oil is capable of neutralizing venomous bites, making it invaluable in the wilderness or when traveling abroad. It's an effective first aid treatment for venomous bites of all varieties including bees, snakes and spiders. Oregano oil is also useful for preventing infection from animal bites and other puncture wounds. It reduces inflammation and stops the pain associated with bites and stings. Apply directly to stings or bites. The oil will penetrate into the wound and neutralize toxins and pathogens. Take a few drops internally to amplify the effect.

Article on Chakras & Reiki

I have a new article on Chakras & Reiki on my website. You'll find it on the Articles page. And I've updated some of my articles on my site too.

Local plants & trees for the immune system

I've been using a lot more of our local plants in the last few months.

 To help my immune system this fall & winter, I’ve been harvesting mostly from various trees & stuff that grows on trees and having great results. There’s still a lot to harvest out there even though it is winter.

I usually go through our rainy winters with a low grade feeling coming down with a cold. And holding classes in prevous winters has been hard, I seem to catch a cold from students who are even slightly sick.

Using local plants has really begun to change all that. Plus I have been choosing my herbs based on my constitution, so now I am choosing the right herbs for what is going on in my body. My new herbs courses will be based on this knowledge. For all my herbs students who didn't get to learn this (or others who already have a basis in herbal knowledge), I'll be offering this as distance learning on my forum in Feb & March.

My forum is here if you want to sign up & get to know how to use it:

http://dragonflyherbals.proboards.com/index.cgi

Anyway, I found that some of the local trees are a huge help with the immune system. When I've been going on walks I pick bits to dry & add to my morning tea, and have made a few tinctures.

I have been making my morning teas different as well. Instead of an infusion, I have been adding the herbs to a pot of water & simmering it gently for about 10 minutes, so a gentle decoction is more what it is. This extracts more constituents from the plants.

Also found some Reishi growing locally & made a wonderful elixir out of that. And I always wondered why the medicinal mushrooms hurt my stomach. I realized they have to be cooked first, so remedies made from medicinal mushrooms need a 2 part process.

The other thing I have noticed when choosing plants based on your constitution is that you need way less of the remedy. You only need to use a few drops of tincture to kind of wake your body up to do its own healing. So instead of taking a whole bunch of herb to counteract some ailment, you are choosing herbs based on several factors & using a tiny bit to get your body to heal itself.  This method also incorporates the taste of the plants & you feel like you are getting to know the plants better, by really tasting them.

That is part of what I teach my herb students:  getting to know the herbs on many levels. If you buy a capsule with powdered herbs inside you have no idea what the plant looks likes or tastes like. I believe it is important to your healing & to becoming knowledgeable about the plant and to experience them as much as possible. This includes seeing them growing in all seasons outside,  seeing what the plant looks like dried, and tasting the plant as an infusion.  What I want to instil in my students is a good basis of herbal knowledge from which to branch out & make herbalism your own. And a few ways to really deepen your knowledge with the plants & get to know your local plants.

HERBAL WORKSHOPS ON MY FORUM IN EARLY 2012

HERBAL WORKSHOPS BY DISTANCE 

ON THE FORUM IN THE NEW YEAR

These workshops are for anyone who has experience with herbs or has completed an herbal course with me.  Feel free to pass this along to anyone who already has herbal experience.

For those with no herbal background I have the 2012 Herbal Apprenticeship March – Oct. 2012, offered both locally at my home & by distance on the forum.  More info on my website.

The way this works is that you email me for a paypal link to pay (you don’t need an account with them, its really easy, I’ve used paypal for years). Or you can mail me a check if you want.

Once I have received payment from you, you can get onto the forum & make sure you know how to use it. You will get a password to access any sections/courses you have paid for. You can register with the forum at any time, here: http://dragonflyherbals.proboards.com/index.cgi

I will post the information in sections a few weeks apart on the forum.

The advantage to doing a course this way, is that you can get on the forum when you have time.

The forum will remain open for a month or 2 depending on which course, for discussions & questions, with me actively taking part in answering your questions & posting information.

After that time, the forum will remain there for you to access for another month or so.

Early JANUARY: HERBS FOR PAIN RELIEF  $20

A totally new way to look at this, some new herbs I hadn’t worked with before.

How to determine the right plants for your constitution. And with a specific formula you only need to take a couple drops of tincture at a time. You go through waaay less tinctures this way.

FEBRUARY & MARCH: UNDERSTANDING TISSUES STATES & CONSTITUTION   $60 

A totally new way (for me) to look at determining the right herb for the right person. We’ll discuss how to evaluate your own constitution & how to pick the right herbs for the person, NOT matching herb & ailment. Again, only several drops of a tincture are needed, and you are not using the bullet approach of tossing a whole bunch of herbs into a formula & hoping some of them work. This uses herbs to work with the body, no suppression.

MARCH: ‘NEW’ LOCAL PLANTS & TREES $20

6 locally found trees & some assorted plants we didn’t cover in my classes. I’ll cover medicinal uses, parts used, and we’ll do tinctures, oil, vinegars, and a syrup. The trees have been amazing for my immune system!

Dairy Free not quite raw Artichoke & Spinach Dip

I want to make some Artichoke Dip for Christmas, so I tried my own semi-raw dairy free recipe tonight, it tastes great!

Mashed avocado
minced garlic
lime (or lemon) juice
chopped marinated artichoke hearts
minced spinach or swiss chard

Scoop it up with raw crackers or raw veggies.

Raw crackers:

I make this all kinds of ways, today's was:

ground flax (about 2 cups)
then I blended a couple of tomatoes, & a few cloves of garlic
Mix it all together with a bit of water until its thick but spreadable.

Spread on a teflex sheet until its very thin. Dehydrate until you can flip it, then flip & dehydrate until its crispy.

My raw recipe book has more non-gluten carb type recipes.

JAN & FEB REIKI FORUM CLASSES FOR DISTANCE LEARNING

email me herbs.and.reiki@dragonflyherbals.com to sign up for the reiki distance learning forum. $10 per month, payment accepted through Paypal.


JANUARY REIKI OFFERINGS, included in your monthly fee

1. Energetic Hygiene Workshop

Your body as a spiritual habitat & psychic protection.
I know that some of us are having issues with some sorts of attachments, or at the very least unhealthy cords or stagnant aura.
We’ll discuss ways to keep your energy field clear.
We will do an exercise to clear your energy field in 3 ways.
We’ll do the cord clearing again, but slightly differently that it was done last month.
We’ll discuss stones to use to keep your energy field protected or cleared use stones to clear the aura during your session.


2. Root Chakra

We'll do a bit of the root chakra work that I teach in my Personal Healing Course. Discuss issues related to root chakra, some journal work, reiki work to do on your own, stones you could use for clearing the root chakra.


3. Distance Healing as a group

I will discuss how to set up some crystals or visualizations for doing distance healing & we can send distance healing as a group.


I will post #1 and #2 about 2 weeks apart. I would like for us all to do a lot of discussion on the forum about our experiences related to the Energetic Hygiene & the Root Chakra, and of course, anything else to do with reiki.

At the end of January, this section will be locked. Only those who paid for January will still have access to it. I will open a separate section for February.



FEBRUARY REIKI OFFERINGS, included in your monthly fee

1.Ancestral Healing 


We talk about this briefly in my level 2 Usui classes, but I’d like to look more deeply at repeated patterns that we are holding & reliving from our ancestral lineage, we can do a discussion of this, I have some notes – food for thought, journal work on specific things that need to be healing or cleared & clearing with group energy that will go back to heal our ancestral lineage.



2. Sacral Chakra

We'll do a bit of the sacral chakra work that I teach in my Personal Healing Course. Discuss issues related to root chakra, some journal work, reiki work to do on your own, stones you could use for clearing the root chakra.



3. Distance Healing as a group

I will discuss how to set up some crystals or visualizations for doing distance healing & we can send distance healing as a group.



I will post #1 and #2 about 2 weeks apart. I would like for us all to do a lot of discussion on the forum about our experiences related to the Energetic Hygiene & the Sacral Chakra, and of course, anything else to do with reiki.



Each month you can expect something along these lines, I will post them ahead of time. I am offering my guidance for $10 per month at this time while the forum gets going. After we have a fair number of students I will most likely increase the price, but on a sliding scale, so you can pay what you can afford. I am thinking $10-$25 per month.

FORUM for HERBS & REIKI, & DISTANCE LEARNING FOR HERBS

Staring January 1, 2012 I am offering a forum with 2 separate communities: one for reiki, and one for herbalism.


I have wanted to offer something like this for a quite a while now, so here it is!

On the forum there is:

1. Reiki community $10 per month

2. Herbalist's Circle $10 per month

3. Herbal Distance Learning classes $60 per month

If you would like to join in please email me:



herbs.and.reiki@dragonflyherbals.com

I will send you a paypal link for payment.



The forum is located here:

http://dragonflyherbals.proboards.com/index.cgi

You are welcome to register an account there & familiarize yourself with how to use it.




There is a password that you will be given for the group you have decided to join. Your membership is good for one month, so at the end of each month that particular section will be locked, although you are welcome to still access it.



If you decide to renew membership for another month you will have access that month’s section as well. That way everybody has access to the month’s that they have paid for.



I would like this to be a space of loving support, non-judgmental to give everyone a chance to enrich their herbal or reiki studies & practices.



PURPOSE OF THE REIKI COMMUNITY:



• To provide information on all reiki teachings, this is the main goal of this, is to provide additional reiki teachings more on this in a different post

• To provide additional information for those who don’t have a regular reiki group to share with

• To do distance healing for each other

• Group meditations on specific dates

• Share experiences

• I can provide everything except the reiki sessions here!

• I am willing to send distance attunements, but not as a substitute for your regular classes, I won’t teach levels 1, 2 or 3 by distance, for that you need to be with a teacher in person



If you would like to become a member of the reiki community please email me, anyone with at least level 1 reiki can join in.



[email][/email]herbs.and.reiki@dragonflyherbals.com



I have been teaching reiki since 2005, I teach 4 types of reiki & offer many additional teachings & classes. I am pleased to be offering this online.

Learning reiki is all about personal growth,



releasing what no longer serves you,



healing yourself & others on a physical, emotional & spiritual level.





I am going to offer some class work each month for all of you to work on & as a group we can share our experiences with this. As part of this I will offer some parts of this course:



10 Month Personal Healing Course:



Healing the Body Mind & Spirit for 2012



A PATH TO SELF HEALING & EMPOWERING YOURSELF TO HEAL ON A PHYSICAL, EMOTIONAL & SPIRITUAL LEVEL BY USING REIKI, CHAKRA BALANCING, CRYSTALS (if you own some you can incorporate this)



Working through personal healing using the chakras as a focus.



I have been amazed by the results my students (and myself) and getting from this. It really brings about some personal growth in a very focused way. And yes, it is hard to get through at times! You just have to love those lower chakras. But hey, we do our work, clear what we can, become aware of the things that lower our vibrational levels, and we move on.



So we can work through the chakra's month by month as a group & share our experiences & discuss.



I have a lot of other info on reiki to share for any reiki students who want to join this community.





PURPOSE OF THE HERBALIST'S CIRCLE:



• Support in your own herbal studies

• Answer questions

• Share information

• I will share information I am currently learning about

• This is a place to post & work with health issues. I will not be doing ‘consultations’ online in this forum, I no longer do herbal consults, I teach. However I know that we all learn so much as a group by offering input & sharing our cases with each other. One of the foundational concepts I teach is that is it is a whole body thing, its not ‘take this herb for this ailment’. Healing is based on a person’s constitution, how they eat, the state of their emotional health, and many other factors. I would like for us to share ideas & plans for overall health changes. So this is a community for herbal students who wish to enrich their studies, and I am happy to offer suggestions & teachings.



I would like for this to be a space of compassionate & non-judgemental support for anyone who wishes to enrich their work with the healing plants.




HERBALIST DISTANCE LEARNING:

This will be core work for those who wish to learn about herbalism, as opposed to the Herbal Community which would enhance this. The Herbal Community is for students of distance learning, or others with some knowledge of herbalism.

So, the distance learning is for those who wish to learn about herbalism! I have taught an 8 month herbalist course since 2009 & decided to open that up to distance learning.

Each month’s work will be posted on the forum, which you can then work with & post questions & insights on the forum.

Cost is $60 per month, paid through paypal.

More details on distance classes:



The classes will very closely follow the 8 month course I teach. I can’t include wild harvesting because I am not there in person to identify the plants with you, but I will give information on how to identify some common local plants. More info is on my website.

Green Smoothies

I am one of those people who walks around with a mason jar full of green smoothie, or green goo as a friend calls it. It seems to fasinate or horrify people who see it.

Some even try it. My niece was visiting recently and watched me make this green masterpiece every morning & decided to try it. As we drove around to beaches & trails & farmer's markets she also carried the mason jar of green stuff.

Such a great way to have a breakfast in a jar that gives you a lot of nutrition and keeps you full until lunch, but more importantly doesn't weigh you down & make you sleepy.



What to put in your smoothie:

some sweet fruit to make it taste good, frozen if that's all that's available

a banana or even a 1/2 an avocado if you need it to be really filling

a bunch of lettuce greens - like 1/2 a blenderful, this ensures you are getting your leafy greens & provides lots of protein & nutrients

I use water in mine, you could use some yogurt or almond milk

I add most of my supplements in here too, experiment with with, some people don't like the taste of B vitamins or other supplements, I am fine with it. I find that this way I am not having to swallow a lot of vitamins and I get a slower steady supply of them as I sip my shake.

Sunchoke Salad

I grew sunchokes this year for the first time. They are huge plants that kind of look like sunflowers. My plants are about 10 feet tall. The flowers are smaller & have less petals than a sunflower though. I cut the tops off & brought the flowers in. You eat the tubers, they look kind of like bumpy potatoes.

Now that it is October (ok, starting today its November) I am harvesting the sunchokes a few at a time. These are best harvested after a frost. I'll just keep going down to the garden & getting a few at a time since they don't last too long in the fridge.

Sunchokes aka Jerusalem Artichokes are rich in inulin which helps to balance blood sugar.  And they help to improve bacteria ecology in the colon.

I just eat raw food, so although they can be cooked, I have been finding ways to eat them raw. I bring them
along with a few apples when I go out harvesting herbs & just eat one like an apple. And yesterday I harvested a bunch to marinade in apple cider vinegar along with a piece of hot pepper, peppercorns, herbs, and garlic.

Freshly dug sunchokes

And some kale and a calendula flower from the garden

I sliced the sunchokes on the mandolin (carefully to keep my fingers intact) & marinaded them & the kale in lime, garlic, Bragg & olive oil.

Poured all that over the greens & added the calendula petals.

Harvesting Dandelions

Fall is the time to harvest dandelion roots.

I use the tops fresh in the juicer (using just a handful of leaves, you need to assess the condition of your liver before having too many of them juiced) and drying the rest of the tops for infusions during the winter. 

I slice the roots & dry them in a warm place - near the wood stove. Those I will use in  infusions this year, since I have plenty of tincture leftover from last year.

I have hung the tops on a little clothesline near the woodstove.

Mushrooms

Went to a local mushroom identification workshop this weekend. I have never learned about how to ID mushrooms before. It was very interesting & something I will look more into. We have so many kinds of mushrooms on the island ( apparently around 4,000 kinds !)

Found some chanterelles,  & a few other kinds as well.

Chanterelles hiding

I am in the process of working way more with our local trees: harvesting leaves & twigs, & making some salves, vinegars, infusions & tinctures. I will be including this information in my 2012 Herbal Apprenticeship & will most likely offer a workshop on local medicinal trees next spring.

Rosehips

Harvesting rosehips

Fall has arrived here at the coast, the leaves are bright yellow & today looking a little soggy as it pours rain. Took a long walk with the dogs to harvest some fall medicinal plants: some hawthorne berries, alder, salal berries, and found some wonderful rosehips.

I love using rose, since it is related to the heart chakra, so important for those of use who do healing work & reiki as it keeps a strong & open heart chakra for offering compassionate healing to others. I read an article last week that had a lot to say about the new energies coming in to earth at this time & in there it said : "We are in a time where we must open to the heart and reside within its wisdom."

I collect rose petals all summer & tincture them for a relaxing pain killer that also calms the nerves & tastes fantastic. I use rose essential oil in my body care products. And now in the fall I am collecting the hips. I am not a fan of the taste of rosehips in tea, although a lot of people like it. I prefer having rose petal tea. This year I am using my rosehips in an elixir I am making with a million others herbs in it ! 

Rosehips are rich in vitamin C. I am combining those with a bunch of fresh hawthorne berries from the trees in my yard, in my gallon of elixir. Hawthorne is also for the heart, for all aspects of heart health & offers strength to the the veins. 

Yellow Dock Root

I was harvesting some yellow dock seeds & roots today. 
This one is really amazing.

PERSONAL HEALING COURSES

PERSONAL HEALING & 
personal growth 
COURSE

• Chakra work
• Stones & crystals
• Herbs
• reiki

I am going to continue to offer this course several times a year. Myself & my students are finding this course very powerful in terms of healing, clearing & moving on.

This course is more than what it seems in terms of healing on a deep level. You will be working in a very focused way on clearing & balancing one chakra at a time. You will be coming to class once a month.

You will be receiving a reiki attunement and a session each month. You will have received journal work for the upcoming chakra to work on during the month before the next class, so you will be doing the clearing before we actually do the class ! Doing the journal work in this way gives you time to work on focusing on one particular chakra for a whole month & let things come up for you as they may.

‘Clearing’ with reiki comes in many guises. Remember that suddenly not being able to come to class for any reason should be looked at more deeply. Is this a chakra that you really need to be focusing on? Are you anxious about issues with this chakra, are you resistant even on a subconscious level to letting go of energies tangled in & around this chakra? And all of this is fine, we all clear, heal & grow as we are ready & in ways that we are ready to use.

Very briefly:

Physical clearing can involve imbalance returning to weak spots: headaches, colds & flu, aching joints

Emotional clearing can involve letting go of old habits & behaviours that no longer serve us, releasing old & stuck patterns, & traumas

Remember to understand that when you clear, you make room for higher light vibrations. You are letting go of lower densities of vibrations.

As you become more comfortable with clearing which allows us to learn & grow, you can see through these guises for what they are. You can let go, receive more reiki healing & move on.

As you move on you bring in higher vibrations which reflects in your life as

• ·      Ease in manifesting what you desire
• ·      Ability to offer healing & serve others this way
• ·      Feeling whole & balanced physically, emotionally & spiritually

While all of this is an ongoing process, initially clearing usually is quite powerful, and any further clearing does not carry the same impact. We often let go in layers.

During the class we discuss the aspects of the chakra homework that we are comfortable talking about. We use the journal writing you have done to discuss as a group ways to move on, it also sets intention for the healing to be done during your reiki session.

I think it is the combination of using personal journal work, healing stones, herbal tea, and vibrational essences along with the reiki attunement & a reiki session that makes this course so powerful.

When working in groups we multiply the amount of energy in the room and the amount of healing that can be done. It is way more powerful to work as a group with a common purpose for bringing healing & balance to the body as a whole, and specifically to the chakra we are working on.  It is really special to be able to get together with like minded people once a month to share ideas & healing & energy.

Energetically we are in a very powerful time where we can choose to align ourselves with the ever increasing energies coming to this planet & heal ourselves & fill ourselves with high vibrational energies. I am finding that I am rewriting courses that seemed to be so new & up to date just a few months ago, but as the vibrations change so must the classes!

I have totally rewritten & changed this course as of this month, it will now be 10 classes, the first one being reiki level 1. If you already have your reiki 1 or more than that, you can begin with the 2nd class.

We will have 1 class for each of the major chakras, so that is 7 more classes. The other classes are intro to the chakras, with an overall look at the energetic body as a whole, determining the size, spin & shape of each chakra. And the last class ties it all together & looks at the upper chakras, beyond the crown.

Fall Equinox 2011

Some of what I teach my reiki students involves letting flow in your life. Both letting go of what no longer serves you & allow new flow of what you wish to manifest in your life to come in.

The beginning of fall reminds us of the flow of the seasons.

Our weather changed into fall quite suddenly this year, or maybe I am just feeling it more. This is my first fall at 100% raw and my body felt the change very suddenly.

I had just gotten on a roll with my eating patterns in the summer and had found a nice with flow with that. I feeling balanced & my vibrational levels were fantastic (which refers partly to my ability to channel reiki). Suddenly the weather changed & my body rebelled. Many thanks to Ashli for helping me with my raw diet.

I was reminded that my diet also needs flow, and in this case, maybe a big change. I have switched to drinking warmed water in the morning. I like to drink about a liter of water in the morning to rehydrate & cleanse, and warm water agrees with me more now that the mornings are cooler. I have always had a container of water on the counter, so all my drinking water is room temperature, but I am feeling this fall that slightly warmer water keeps my body temperature up in the mornings.

In addition to that I am adding warming spices to EVERYTHING: shakes, my herbal tea, fruit & veggie juices, salads ... anything I eat.  Cayenne is great, and thinly sliced ginger, paprika has suddenly been calling my attention, and I made a blend of warming spices with garam masala, cinnamon, ginger, and cardamom.

If I am cold in the late afternoon I have a plate of ‘pasta’. Which is spirilized zucchini, with salt, pepper, bragg, and tiny bit of olive oil. This warms me up & fills me. So easy to make & so good.

I am also making some great low fat raw pate’s. I had no luck making stuff like that my first year of transitioning to raw..... they tasted terrible. My dogs were very happy with this, because I dehydrated them into dog cookies!

Waiting for the gross pate , I mean the super tasty dog buscuit

A reminder to all my herb students to do your harvesting in your yard on sunny days when the plants are dry. We just had a ton of rain; everything is wet & can’t be harvested right now. You need to get it all before a frost hits. Mint, and lemon balm, and comfrey, yellow dock seeds for our tea, evening primrose. Hawthorne berries look ready too.

I am preparing for my 2012 Herbalist Course, so I am making sure to harvest enough of a few herbs that we’ll need for our winter classes. This year’s herbalist course is winding down & I look forward to meeting a new group for next year’s class. I am rewriting the whole thing for next year. Since it will be the 4^th year I am offering it, it is time to go over the whole thing & make some changes. I will be incorporating more of the local herbs, and more things my students have asked for: soap making, vibrational essences, etc. The herb classes are a lot of fun, we all get to know each other while picking plants, and cooking up various remedies in the kitchen, scrubbing dirt off roots, getting scratched by sharp leaves, enjoying seeing the plants in all seasons & how they change, getting connected to the plants & reconnecting to the earth in the process. And learning to make herbalism our own, each person will use the plants differently.

MAKING CALENDULA SALVE FIRST DAY OF HERBAL CLASS

Tasting the herbs is a part of our class, so that you can remember them easier. So lots of fun making faces over the bitter herbs, and the mandatory one person in the group who loves the taste.

We’re all different, so our needs for the plants are all different. A main focus of my classes to teach you how to make herbalism your own, teach you the guidelines & how to make the remedies and then you can learn what works for you & you those you choose to share the remedies with.

Fall is also a time when the evenings are longer & darker. Time to return to our spiritual & reiki practices. At this time of year the moons begin to rule our emotions a little more. The moon is up in the sky longer. Remember to look at what each new & full moon is bringing to our lives to clear & manifest:  


full moon: http://www.throughnightsfire.com/fullmoon.html

new moon: http://www.throughnightsfire.com/newmoon.html


has good info on what each moon is bringing energetically.

I am going to hold a series of classes for my reiki students on energetic hygiene in November. We’ll begin with a cord cutting ceremony on Thanksgiving weekend, on the Friday night. Time to clear energetically!

If you are a reiki student of mind & would like to take part please let me know. If you would like to become a reiki student my next Level 1 class is 
Oct. 1.

RAW FOOD RECIPE BOOK $10

I just finished making a raw food recipe book. I know a lot of you would like to incorporate some raw recipes into your diet or want some new raw food recipes, so I put all of my recipes on the computer & will print them up on recipe cards. I bought paper & it wasn't cardstock. oops. But it is yellow & it all looks nice.

Printed, or through paypal as a .pdf, either choice is $10

I have these available printed for those of you who come for classes at my house

or you can purchase a pdf through paypal on the toolbar at the right.

It has over 30 recipes, some instructions on raw food eating, appliances you might want to get, transitioning from a standard diet to raw. I have included cookies, raw pie, crackers, pate, curry, other main dish recipes, how to make your foods a little more warm & filling too.

As it says on the cards: · I am assuming you have a good handle on cooking creatively & don’t rely on lots of measurements & detailed instructions for this book, I don’t give a lot of measurements, just the basic ideas for you to play with

I found my first year of making raw foods really difficult, it was hard to learn a new way to create food that tasted good. So this is most of the recipes I have used over the last 2 years.

Cost is $10 for a set of 46 cards, the pdf is 23 pages

Just a reminder, my daughter is teaching a raw food 101 course here at my house on Sept 10. Cost is $75,

Spiralized yellow zucchini & borage flowers

spiralized yellow zucchini

borage flowers

onion

red pepper

basil leaves

olive oil

pepper

Tree frog on the window

KOMBUCHA:
for all my herbal students who also make kombucha, you don't need to use green tea. I use herbs in mine: pau d'arco, dandelion, lots of ginger root tastes great, whatever herbs you'd be wanting to make into an infusion for yourself


TEACHER FROM VANCOUVER GIVING SOME CLASSES AT MY HOUSE:
we're in the process of lining up some dates for another teacher to come in & offer some different workshops, I am REALLY excited to attend these myself. We're going to work out the details in the next few days & then I will send an email to my students.


The classes will be in Sept or Oct, on a Fri/Sat and will include:

• raw food level 1
• reiki massage level 1 : combining reiki & simple massage
• chakra massage   !!

CALCIUM ~~ RAW FOOD ~~ DAIRY FREE

http://www.rawmazing.com/raw-food-diets-calcium-and-osteoporosis/

Another great video especially for my reiki students

Dr Joe Dispenza - How to evolve our brain to experiment a new reality?

 

Stepping in the unknown

http://youtu.be/0XcCoDlVf-s

The power of consciousness

here's a link to a great Bruce Lipton video (50 min). It describes so much of what we are doing with our reiki energy & with manifesting.

http://youtu.be/VYYXq1Ox4sk

RAW (NO BAKING, NO FLOUR) BROWNIES

For those of us who eat raw food 100% or even 80%, we can get away with eating foods that are full of calories & extra fat. Bear in mind we eat a good portion of our diet as fresh greens. So while this is a healthier alternative to desserts with sugar & flour, and this contains live enzymes, it is still a food that is dense, full of calories & fat.

I will most often have a liter of fresh fruit & veggie juice or a shake with a 1/2 lb. of fresh leafy greens, some apples & a salad and that's my food for the day. Once every few weeks I have a piece of something like these brownies.

1 cup nuts (get raw, unroasted, unsalted nuts) pecans or walnuts are best for this, soak them for 1-4 hours & then drain them, toss this soaking water

Put them in a food processor with:

1/2 cut pitted dates (the food processor has quite a problem when you accidently grab the container of dates with pits still in)

1/2 cup dried apricots (you could soak these & the dates in some water for a while too, but drain the water off & set it aside)

1/2 cup cocoa powder


Blend this all together, add it a little of the apricot soaking water if needed  to get it to all stick together


I put this on a plate that has a pile of dried coconut on it, and press it into a big circle, turning it over a few times, so it has coconut on the outside. I store it in the fridge. If you get crazy & add lots more cocoa powder you will be awake for days -- good for driving on road trips, not so food for when you want to sleep at night!

Stop eating wheat !!

I wanted to post a little something about eating wheat. Since I no longer work with clients I just thought I would mention this, so if it seems to ring true for anyone they can research it themselves.


It just seems to me that so many health conditions are related to wheat allergy or gluten intollerance. 


One of the symptoms I am noticing my students is anxiety & other emotional symptoms from eating wheat or other grains with gluten in them.


Other symptoms could be joint pain, bloating, mood swings, depression, diarrhea, eczema, skin rashes, bowel problems, tiredness, allergies (sneezing). You can keep addressing this health issues, but they will keep coming back until you find the root cause, which might very well be a food allergy such as wheat intolerance.


I think it would be smart for everyone out there to quit eating wheat for a month & see if it brings about changes in their health. 


Its pretty easy to research online what foods have wheat, or what foods have gluten is just cutting out the wheat doesn't help.


There are lots of gluten free foods out there now if you want substitutes for crackers, breads, pasta, etc. And they all taste good. Since almost every grocery store is now carrying a lot of gluten free foods, there must be a lot of people realizing that their health problems are a result of eating wheat.


I just try to share some information with people, so they can make a choice to research it & have the motivation to make some changes themselves. If you are empowered to do your own healing you are more likely to have results because you will do the work & stick with it.

NO SHAMPOO

Everyone keeps asking me what I wash my hair with, so I thought I'd put it on here.


I stopped using shampoo in Sept. Used some things that worked well for a bit of time, then my hair looked awful. I used vinegar infused with herbs, including soapwort, which worked for a while.


I finally started using borax followed by citric acid rinse, which seems to work quite well. I made some bar soap that is specifically for hair, full of great oils, I use that most of the time, and use the borax and citric acid sometimes. 


What will work on your hair will definitely depend on what your water is like. I was travelling recently & I could feel the bar soap was just building up. I should have brought the borax and citric acid with me.


The borax cleans your hair, and detangles, and the citric acid will get any borax buildup out of your hair & is very good for your scalp.


I use liter size squeeze bottles. 1 tbsp. borax in water. And the other bottle has 1/2 tsp. citric acid in water.


I really like the bar soap I made, I'd be happy to do a class on this later in the summer if anyone is interested.


I no longer use any store bought products on my body at all. I make all my own toothpaste, & body lotions & sunscreen, etc.