I feel truly blessed to have been given this opportunity by the Ruscombe community. I have been dreaming of opening this store since I was a little girl.
This weekend I am building furniture and fully stocking my herb store. Health Revolution Herbal Supply will be open tomorrow! Look for my official announcement tomorrow, complete with details about my products and why they are so awesome.
I feel truly blessed to have been given this opportunity by the Ruscombe community. I have been dreaming of opening this store since I was a little girl.
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I threw this together a couple nights ago and it was awesome! It's just olive oil, red onion, okra, and garlic scrapes. Garlic scrapes are in season now and available at the local farmers' markets near Baltimore. My family looks forward to them every year. They taste like garlic but have a much lighter flavor, making them more palatable to Pitta types.
Here's how I made this: Pour a little organic extra virgin olive oil into a pan. Turn heat to medium. Cut 1 garlic scrape into small pieces and 1/2 red onion. Add them to the pan. Add 16 about oz. okra. Turn mixture to coat with oil. Add about 2 tablespoons water to the pot and sautée until okra are soft. This dish is delicious! And good for all doshas this time of year. Enjoy! If you find that it is uncomfortable to be still, that is a sign that you need to do it. If you feel anxious when you are alone without entertainment, with only the thoughts in your head to pay attention to, then you need fewer distractions.
Our lives are full of noise. We are constantly flooded with new images and sounds. New technology has made it possible to go an entire day being entertained. We listen to our iPods while waiting for the subway. We play games on our phones while waiting in the doctor's office. We watch movies during travel and daily commutes. We check our email while waiting in line at the coffee shop. We even watch television while we eat. This lifestyle of constant entertainment creates patterns of over-stimulation in the nervous system. Our minds become like monkeys, always jumping from one thing to the next. I think this was in the title of a recently published book, but the Buddha taught this long ago. If we find ourselves by chance in a quiet moment without entertainment, we suddenly feel like something is missing. The longer we go without distraction, the more uncomfortable we can become, until a feeling of real anxiety develops. The inability to sit still, listening to nothing but your own mind and observing what is around you, is a sign that you are creating stress patterns inside your body. These patterns lead to anxiety, insomnia, digestive illnesses, and internal inflammation. You don't need to "learn how to meditate" to begin breaking free of the stress created by constant entertainment. Start by taking just 5 minutes each day to be where you are. Put down your phone and look around you. Hear the sounds of your environment. Listen to the thoughts that arise in your mind and don't stuff them down. If 5 minutes feels too long at first, start with 1 minute. Be patient with yourself. Little by little, with daily practice, you will notice yourself handling the daily stressors of modern life in a more grounded manner. Little by little, you will come to enjoy being still and quiet. Last week, we went to the farmer's market seeking foods to make "something" with the huge amount of strawberries we had in the fridge. They were picked by my enthusiastic son a couple weeks ago and we had to use them up because they were way too delicious to waste. We found rhubarb and Braeburn apples at the market and I taught my son how to make this amazing dish. Remember, I don't measure when I cook, but this is super easy and a delicious seasonal breakfast.
Ingredients -1 bunch rhubarb -4 apples -enough strawberries to fill a cereal bowl to overflowing -ghee -1 palmful cinnamon -1/2 palmful nutmeg - 4-finger pinch cardamom -a few handfuls of organic granola Directions Preheat oven to 425. Wash and slice strawberries, apples, and rhubarb. Place all ingredients in a large casserole dish. Sprinkle evenly with spices. Place a few tablespoons of ghee on top. Place the dish in the oven on the center rack. Heat long enough to melt the ghee, then remove. Gently mix so that all the fruit is coated with ghee. Cover and put back in oven for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, take out and stir. You want the strawberries to break down and make a sauce. If this hasn't happened yet, put it back in the oven. Check every 5 min. When strawberries have broken down, remove from oven and sprinkle the top with desired amount of granola. Enjoy! I get asked this question a lot when I am teaching: does not being attached to things mean that we are not supposed to feel emotions?
Absolutely not! We can have possessions and enjoy them. There is a big difference between having things in our lives and being attached to them. When we become imprisoned by our possessions, that is attachment. When we have what we need but we can't stop seeking what is bigger and better, that is attachment. When we become workaholics, taking away valuable time with our families so we can "move up" in status with bigger homes and fancier cars, that is attachment. Not being attached means that you can own things but they don't own you. By having contentment with our lives at each moment, we free ourselves from the trap of always seeking what is better. Being content does not prevent growth; it allows it. If we become attached to our things, we enslave ourselves. We worry about how to get more things and how to protect the things we already have. Non-attachment allows us to enjoy what we have without worrying about what happens if we lose it. By having this orientation, we become free in each moment to experience and enjoy just being where we are. This week I am posting a series of photos which inspire me to stillness, along with meditations for each day. The photos are Druid carvings from Druid Hill Park in Baltimore, Maryland. Here is today's reflection:
We are incredibly lucky to have our human lives. We should use our lives to do great things, helping other beings whenever possible. We can choose to waste our lives by pursuing selfish pleasures and material gain, or we can live each day looking for ways to bring benefit to others. How did you bring health or happiness to others today? If it can be remedied, Why be displeased about it? If it cannot be remedied, What is the benefit of being displeased? -Shantideva, Bodhisattva Charya Avatara, 6.10 It is common as we age to find out that we just can't eat like we could when we were younger. We eat whatever we want for years. Suddenly, one day we eat a big meal and notice we have heartburn. Or we go out for dinner and come home feeling bloated. We think: when I was in my twenties, this never happened. I guess I'm just getting old. We then begin to guess at what caused these digestive issues. Are we allergic to wheat or dairy? Are we not eating enough salad? Do we need more fruits and veggies in our diet? Do we have gallstones? IBS? Celiac? Colitis? Are we eating too much fat? Trying to ease our digestive discomfort, we gradually eliminate "problem" foods until we end up feeling confused about what to eat and limited in our choices. You may also notice that your complexion is not the best, you break out easily, you get migraines, feel tired all the time, and are anxious or depressed. According to the Ayurvedic system of healing, all these symptoms are likely to be related. Inside the small intestine of our gastrointestinal (GI) tract, or digestive pathway, there are little hair-like projections. These projections line the inside of the small intestine and are called villi. Here is what they look like: Pretty wild, huh? These little guys allow us to absorb nutrients from our food and sweep digestive contents through the GI tract. Spaces between the villi are called crypts and they produce most of our neurotransmitters like serotonin. Serotonin is the main compound at play in anxiety and depression. For each person, there is an optimal diet that will balance their unique elemental constitution. For example, Kapha individuals (who are prone to diabetes) should eat a diet that is low in sugars, composed of more veggies than fruits, rich in pungent foods like onion and garlic, and consume a relatively low amount of wheat and dairy. If Kapha types consume diets high in dairy, wheat and fruits, they will likely develop problems such as sinus and lung congestion, depression, fatigue, metabolic problems, and digestive disorders. What happens with digestive disorders is basically this: years of eating a diet that is not balancing for us clogs up our systems. Here in the US, we eat too many processed foods, fast foods, and packaged meals. These foods contain additives that our bodies literally do not recognize as food. Whether it is by eating an unbalancing diet for our constitution or a processed-food diet, years of eating this way causes inflammation in the digestive system. Inflammation causes the body to make mucous for protection, which leads to the clogging of those villi I mentioned earlier. When the villi cannot move and are clumped up with mucous, they can't absorb the nutrients from your food effectively. When the crypts are clogged with mucous, they can't manufacture and release serotonin effectively. We end up feeling tired, depressed, anxious, and having to give up eating foods that we used to be able to eat.
Some people try to manage digestive problems by taking probiotics, but these supplements are not meant to be taken on a long-term basis. If you stop taking probiotics and then you get bloated and gassy after eating, that is a sign that your intestinal villi are likely not working properly. This sign does not mean that you should just take probiotics forever; it means that there is an underlying digestive problem that needs to be addressed. Ayurvedic treatment for these types of digestive conditions is always tailored to the individual. For example, when I work with someone who has given up wheat and dairy due to gas and bloating, I first need to determine what underlying imbalance has caused the condition. In some people, the underlying imbalance is Pitta, which means that the problem began with eating a diet and/or lifestyle that increased their inflammatory tendencies. With others, the underlying imbalance is Vata, which means that the problem began with a diet and/or lifestyle that aggravated the nervous system. Many people do not know that there are nerve cells in the digestive tract. This fact is the link that explains why we can be so upset about something emotionally that our stomach hurts. After determining the cause of the digestive problems, I work with the individual to decide what treatment plan suits their lifestyle and will allow them to achieve their desired outcomes. Some people like to do a whole-life approach, so we discuss diet, exercise, meditation, herbal supplements, and energetic healing. Others prefer to begin with supplements and later discuss dietary changes. Whatever the path, the plan must address any congestion present in the body, heal inflammation, optimize digestive capacity, and restore normal bowel function. As always, if anyone has specific questions about digestive imbalance, I am happy to answer! Please email me at: [email protected]. Have a wonderful weekend! |