Mind, Body and Spirit

Healing your body is essential to living a happy and exuberant life, but you must also pamper your mind and spirit. Small things like keeping fresh flowers on display serve to uplift and inspire you to keep your mind stayed on peace. How about some roses today to lighten your mood? I bought these a few days ago and they make me so happy every time I look at them.

The Native American tradition of burning Sage to purify a home and living space is a perfect way to clear out low frequency, unbalanced energy. I like to use it when I stay in hotels or after my house is cleaned, to enliven the air.

I love my Himalayan Natural Crystal Salt Lamp, given to me by a very special friend. Not only is it beautiful, but it has amazing health benefits. The amber glow coming from it will have you transfixed and right away you begin to feel it's calming effects. Basically, it emits negative ions which help to alleviate allergies, eczema and increase alertness, stability and energy. TV's, AC's, computers, cellphones, etc. all deplete the negative ions in the air, thus contributing to very low indoor air quality and a host of ailments. There are actually tiny positive ionic particles floating in the room that the Salt lamp neutralize. "In fresh country air we find up to 40,000 negative ions per cubic centimeter, however the number of negative ions in major capital cities at rush hour does not even reach 100. The [healthful] impact of negative ions is powerful." courtesy saltlampspro.com

Try this other-worldly pose while enjoying the benefits of your Salt Lamp. The Half-Squat pose is a great for strengthening and toning and perhaps, readying your body for a daily run.

I have decided to take on a daily run, even in the snowy winter weather of the area where we are now on an extended stay. Yoga definitely is a good prep for a nice smooth run. After, a great way to relax and massage the muscles you've worked is to lounge on a Yoga Ball. Just stretch out onto the ball and let it support you as you roll around in complete bliss. I have two and they work wonderfully in tandem.

Now is a good time for a healthy and wholesome snack. I love these Go Raw Spicy Flax Snax. They are so tasted and crunchy and the Flax Seeds are such a potent source of fiber and and Omega-3's. 

And if you are looking for a coffee substitute; a stimulating, warming drink to pep you up, try a homemade Ginger Beer. Ginger is a fantastic herb for digestion, colds and poor circulation. Simply chop up some fresh organic ginger root.

Then add it with very hot water to the blender and liquefy. Strain into a glass and then sweeten to taste with Organic Raw Honey.

Enjoy this delicious drink daily and watch your coffee cravings melt away. I made some today and it was oh, so fine.

For your spiritual nourishment, now that your mind and body are in a balanced state, you can settle into this insightful book by Ernest Holmes. The Science of Mind is the seminal work on Christian New Thought. It is literally the practical study of Christ's teachings. Here is a quote from the book, "Nothing is real to us unless we make it real. Nothing can touch us unless we let it touch us. Refuse to have the feelings hurt. Refuse to receive anyone's condemnation. In the independence of your own mentality, believe and feel that you are wonderful. That is not conceit, it is the truth." (p. 307)

And congratulations to Foma for being a winner of this week's give-away! She received an inspired message from the Love Cards - sent to her inbox. I still have two more gifts to offer, so feel free to send me a comment or email if you'd like a sweet message of your own!

Fountain of Youth

Fasting, cleansing and detox have many benefits for your mind, body and spirit. Here are a few that I've experienced over the last seven days. My skin is incredible! Velvety, glowing, without a spot to be seen. No more bags under my eyes and there is a bounce in my step. Also, I have been thriving on about 5 hours of sleep each night and wake up with the enthusiasm of a toddler! My communion with God is now palpable and I feel so happy for no apparent reason and smile at strangers from deep within my heart. My productivity has been in mega-drive and projects that would have taken me weeks before, get sorted in a matter of days. My breath is fresh in the mornings and my eyes are clear. My hair is even growing faster than normal! Wow, surely detoxifying one's body must be the source of the mysterious Fountain of Youth!

Daily Yoga is also an amazing inspiration for the Divine eternal self that we are in our essence. It creates synergy within and allows us to re-balance ourselves before the start of each day. The feeling after doing just a few Yoga poses is nothing short of euphoric. What an energetic thrill the Bow pose was for me this morning.

I love to use all natural skin care products to beautify my body. Our skin absorbs what we put on it and so it is vital that we stay away of from chemical-laden, toxic potions and lotions. My philosophy is if I can't recognize the ingredients as pure whole foods, herbs or vitamins, then It's not for me. This is one of the most amazing and versatile products and I absolutely love it. Dr. Bronners Magic Castile Soap in peppermint scent can be used as a shampoo and does wonders for your hair. Use it as a face wash and you will feel like royalty. It also doubles as a delicate clothing wash and as a luxury dish soap!

During this next seven days while I do the Raw Cleanse and Detox, I will eat only living foods. That includes all uncooked fruit, vegetables and nuts/seeds. I plan to have only juices for breakfast and fruit for lunch, then a big delicious grren salad for dinner. And of course, lots of water. This is what a typical day of meals looks like for me. A freshly juiced spinach, carrot, ginger and parsley dream.

A heavenly fruit medley for lunch.

And a hearty green salad loaded with tons of vegetables, avocado and a delicious homemade dressing

I tend to enjoy having a snack in the evening and here are some healthy choices that I love. Raw organic cashews by Better Than Roasted Totally Nutz are incredible and they are soaked and sprouted which makes them easier to digest!

This Laver Marine Coast Sea Vegetable snack is incredible and fulfills any craving for salty chips or tortillas. And it's soooo good for you with all the trace minerals, especially iodine for balancing the Thyroid. Children love it, too!

And these Gopal's Power Wraps are a simple, delicious and convienent snack when you are on the go. They are made of 100% organic and raw sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, Nori, lemon  and cayenne.

 

If you love peanuts, but have been scared off by all the peanut allergy reports. Try these Wildcrafted Organic Jungle Peanuts! They taste unbelievably good and do not have the aflatoxin mold that is the culprit in many allergic reactions caused by peanuts!

 

And since I am on the go a lot and don't want to miss out on my healthy meals, I use this To-Go Ware Tiffin Box to carry my fruit and salad and these bamboo utensils to enjoy them!

Break-Fast

I began fasting six days ago and on today, the seventh, I shall eat! The Raw Cleanse that I've started recommends consuming a vegan or vegetarian diet while using it. The kit contains everything that you need to make the experience simple and as easy as possible. There are packets full of raw enzymes that are to be swished around in your mouth with water first thing every morning for seven days, then herbal antioxidant/superfood capsules to be taken with lunch and finally a fiber and chlorophyll rich powder you mix with water and enjoy just before bed. My break- fast consisted of this excellent Kombucha drink from www.Synergydrinks.com, packed with naturally occuring probiotics, actual living cultures made from fermented mushrooms. Powerful stuff and it's so refreshing and delicious.

Breaking a fast is almost as important as the fast itself. This is not the time to rush and eat loads of food, but to slowly and mindfully re-introduce your organs to assimilating and digesting food again. It is recommended that you take as many days to break a fast as the days you fasted. So, take it easy and stick to liquids, fruit and raw vegetables. Around noon, I happily chose from this bounty that I'd selected from Whole Foods.

A great book to get inspiration from during the seven day break-fast period is Raw Food by Ani Phyo. She includes so many great recipes for preparing super healthy raw food quickly and easily. There are also numerous tips on how to set-up a raw food kitchen and how to stock your pantry.

The blended vegetable broths will continue to be a mainstay for me, as they are so delicious and warming during this cold winter season. Salads with dark green leafy vegetables like watercress, dandelion and kale tossed with cherry tomatoes, radish, and green onion are powerhouse meals for a body coming out of a major detox. I like to use a high quality Organic Olive Oil for my dressing with a squeeze of lemon and a little  Braggs Liquid Aminos sprinkled in.

I enjoyed some extra Yoga this afternoon to highlight my morning routine. This pose stood out as a really dynamic expression of all the progress I've been making during this fast. It's Tree pose and it takes balance, calm and focus to perfect. All the qualities necessary to get through a seven day fast!

I was feeling so energized and full of creative energy during my fast, that in an extended moment of intense passion, insight and inspiration, I made these Love Cards.

I cut beautiful and striking images that I loved out of magazines and pasted them on paper, divided the 78 cards into 5 groups - Circles, Spheres, Vessels, Rays and  22 major themed cards, numbered and wrote an inspired message for each, finally laminating the whole lot. I am really moved by them; they are so positive and uplifting and I marvel at how fun they were to make. I chose these six for today.

The Ace of Vessels is a baptismal time of self reflection.
The Lovers say you and yours become one now.
The Wheel of Fortune reflects that now is the time for you to prosper.
The 3 of Spheres shows that all the magnificence in you is about to be born.
The 2 of Vessels is an innocent sharing of overflowing love.
The 6 of Spheres shows that all good things are working together now.

These messages really speak to me and I hope they speak to you as well. I would love to share these inspirational cards with you and so, I offer their messages as my give-away this week. Send me an email or a comment and I will pick a special message to inspire and guide you in any area of your life.

Gratitude

I feel so blessed today, so thankful, so filled with gratitude. Often, when we eat, we do so mindlessly and hence forgo a deep appreciation for our food, our breath, our life. We daily take many precious things for granted. The simple blessing of waking and being alive to experience a new day is masked by our preoccupied and cluttered minds. Fasting can liberate us from our disconnection with the joys of living and lead us into gratitude.  Cleansing old habits, negative ways of thinking and over-taxed body systems can open up a whole new way of being in world for us.

Tomorrow, I will start on this wonderful product by Garden of Life. My goal is to boost the cleansing effect of fasting by taking advantage of my being in detox mode. I became a vegetarian in my 20's, then vegan several years later and on to raw food. My raw food diet began after a 30 day fast that had a wondrous affect on me body, mind and spirit. However, over the years, I have sometimes lapsed into eating meat, dairy and non-organic foods. Though these times have been few and far between, I have come to understand that eating animal products are not good for me on so many levels. I am very sensitive and easily react to low quality, low frequency anything, especially food. I also have come to a point where I can feel the burden of the years of eating meat and dairy, with pesticides thrown in, while growing up and not fully digesting it. So, this fast is a turning point for me in my life, as I intend to clear out all the old and begin again by honoring my body as the temple of the living God that it is. 

Yoga this morning was extraordinary. Here is a tip. If you find yourself being to lazy to take the time to do yoga poses after getting up, then do them while still in bed! I have a really firm mattress that is on a wooden platform,  low to the ground (IKEA) and it acts as a sort of yoga mat. Happily, I enjoyed the stretch and rejuvenation of this wonderful Cobra pose while still cozy in bed.

I have found that I am also sensitive to rough clothing of late. A free, breezy dressing style has always moved me, but now it's as if I react to the energy of the clothes I put on. I like well-worn items, nothing starchy and confining and after years of working as a model, I have become quite particular about quality of fabric and cut. If you think about it, the clothes we wear are our most intimate tactile experience on most days. They really should do more than look good, they should feel good. Blessedly, while vacationing in the South Carolina Sea Islands several months ago, I stumbled upon an amazing eco shop where I decided to try on a pair of organic jeans. They were $150 which I thought was a bit to pricey for jeans, but when I felt them next to my skin, I was in rhapsody. Literally, they felt like a second skin. They have no artificial dyes, nor chemicals and are made from all organic fabric. Being budget savvy, however, I vowed to look them up online at their source. I found these 1921 organic surplus bootcut jeans at Sundance.com and on sale for $75, no less. They are beyond comfortable...and I am committed to organic clothing from now on. Here's a look.

Bathing during a fast is so heavenly. It's as if your body is brand new and really absorbs all the elements of the bath experience. I use this Relax R Bath by Aubrey Organics which is by far the most Amazing bath product I have ever tried. It is so thick, like a mask even, that I splurge and relish it sometimes in the shower. The smell of it is so delightful, so rich and soothing. Oh my!

 

You can also sprinkle one or a combination of these Aura Cacia and Oshadhi essential oils into the bath water for an even more intense home spa experience.

Post bath, I  love to spritz with this Rose Water, which is made with "water that has been vortexed and magnetized to raise the energy to a higher vibration." You can even cook with it. And believe me when I say that this is the elixir of angels.

Rhonda Byrne's The Secret: The Power has had such a profound effect on me that I went out and bought The Secret Gratitude Book and may I tell you, this book will change your life. Surprisingly too, because there's not much inside but blank pages for you to write down all the things that you are thankful for!