Posts Tagged ‘health’

“Deep in their roots, all flowers keep the light.”

~Theodore Roethke, 20th-Century American poet

Some of you may be aware that, as an herbalist, I prefer self-healing to westernized medicine. Of course I do not advocate skipping immediate medical treatment in cases of extreme illness or emergency, but I feel that all intuition and common sense has vacated the local doctor’s office and gone searching for greener pastures.

For acute illness I do often suggest an herbal or vitamin remedy. They may not always taste like a dream but the results can be seen within about 24 hours and the illness or ailment is often sent packing much faster than the over-the-counter, knock-yourself-out-and-forget-about-it, type of remedies that we are all used to taking.

How do herbs heal? They work on a chemical level to correct any imbalances in our various physical systems and also to kick-start those functions whose sluggishness most likely led to the infection, sickness, etc…

Yet, as I have mentioned here on the blog in the past, all things are made up of light and all light is energy. So the purest and most subtle form of healing the human body, or any living thing for that matter, is energy.

There are many forms of energy healing, the most important one being thought. The power of positive thought has been expounded upon ad nauseum lately, but it cannot be over-emphasized.

My own preferred form of energy healing, for it pleasant effects, is the use of flower remedies. (Because energy signatures are universal, the essences are also great for use on animals for their healing.)

Flower remedies, most famously those of Dr. Bach, are a liquid containing the energy signature, or essence, of the flower from one or more plants.

Flower remedies can be made from the flowers of vegetables, trees, herbs, wildflowers and even the decorative garden flowers that we all know and love.

These simple essential healing remedies are made by infusing pure water with … Continue reading →

“Movement never lies: it is a barometer telling the state of the soul’s weather to all who can read it.”

~Martha Graham, American Dancer & Choreographer

Not all of us are triathletes. And, not all of us are couch potatoes. Most of us fall somewhere in between.

I tend to label myself in the category of homebody intellectual, meaning that most of my pursuits require brain or some occasional hand-eye coordination but few of them require me to get off my butt and leave the house. Yet, I still consider myself a well-rounded person.

Until recently I saw no problem with this arrangement, but have suddenly come to understand that to be active and breath fresh air is just as important to a spiritual life as are faith and meditation.

Those of us who maintain an active spirituality often eschew physical exercise and physical labour in favour of chanting “Om” and reading about the power of attraction or the life of the Dalai Lama. Yet getting spiritual must also mean acknowledging the divine nature of your physical body.

Our family recently lost a beloved pet. From muscular and energetic he sickened and went down hill so suddenly that we very clearly saw what happens when a spirit leaves this physical existence. As he got closer to passing away his eyes lost their sparkle and his spirit slowly became unmanifest. He fought and fought, following us and meowing, laying with us and attempting to swat at his old toys. His spirit was not willing to leave, it wanted to live more. Then, when he crossed over, his little furry body, which had been so sleek and beautiful and cuddly, just looked like an empty shell – a puppet.

Seeing this process with a loving eye, I had to then stop and look at my own life, my husband’s and my baby’s. Could neglect of our bodies, our environment and our natural world take one of us from this physical plane before we truly were ready to go? Could our lovely little soul family be separated so easily and so rapidly?

Spirits come to this world to experience the magic of being a spirit and yet being able to act and create and learn on a physical, solid level. Some are taken back to spirit long before … Continue reading →

“I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting station, through which God speaks to us every hour, if we will only tune in.”
~ George Washington Carver, American Scientist, Inventor and Educator

It is certain that we all have our bad days. Even the most enlightened of people can sometimes feel a lack of energy and be overwhelmed by the external reality of this world.

In these times we, as individuals, often wish for just one soothing moment, just an hour or two of peace and quiet.

Seeking outside of ourselves for security or happiness is, of course, not going to help us find it.

We certainly can only find lasting security, happiness and peace within our own spirits.

But the environment that we find ourselves in can often make it either easier, or more difficult, to achieve connection with our spirit.

When we strip away all the flash, the lights, the … Continue reading →

“I did not come to yoga to stretch. I came to live.”
~Maya Breuer, Kripalu Yoga Instructor

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This article is a repost from our old blog – originally dated June 2008.
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Coming to Yoga

As we age, we embrace new things, we evolve and grow in wisdom and strength. This is not always so, but it can be, if we maintain an openness to new ideas and accept life’s challenges gracefully, as difficult as that may sometimes seem.

In my own evolution I have recently embraced a challenging new thing, one that actually facilitates my ability to accept other challenges with grace and strength. That thing being yoga.

I do not know what originally drew me to yoga, especially as the attraction began a few years ago when I was in the worst physical shape of my life. Still, yoga had an unknown appeal and I began reading and learning about it. At that time I did not incorporate it into my life, but that door remained open.

Brief dabblings in yoga over the last year have shown me that it’s not easy but that it is fun, and it remained very appealing.

Now, having been vegetarian for nearly nine months, and having shed over 40 pounds towards reclaiming my college/high school weight, I just suddenly incorporated a practice of yoga into my life.

The impulse was my thirty-second birthday at the end of March. I received an organic yoga mat as a gift from my fiancé, Serge, and he also paid for my first two yoga classes at the local ashram. Those classes were in the Sivananda style of yoga.

Though the classes didn’t work out, as the instructor was like a drill sergeant, I adopted a home yoga practice that has really done something good for me.

In the very beginning I did not believe that I would be able to stick to a regular yoga practice, and doing it every day seemed like a chore. I felt silly mostly, there was hardly a single … Continue reading →

“They say that God is everywhere, and yet we always think of him as somewhat of a recluse.”
~Emily Dickinson, 19th-Century American Poetess

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This article is a repost from our old blog – originally dated April 2008.
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Today started out quite foggy and dreary, but now it seems to be brightening and drying up.

I don’t know how long this buzz will last, so I will take this opportunity to write a post about what I have recently been observing.

~

So many people, myself included, spend a great deal of their spiritual life or spiritual intentions attempting to find a connection with God, the Creator, the Divine One. We look for it outside of ourself, we expect and hope for grace and guidance to come TO us.

For some religions GOD is something that one must earn, something that one attains at the end of life. GOD is something that you must … Continue reading →

“Without reflection, we go blindly on our way, creating more unintended consequences, and failing to achieve anything useful.”
~Margaret J. Wheatley, Writer and Management Consultant

Meditation is a contemplative state which one enters in order to relax the waking consciousness. There are many reasons that people take up meditation and there are numerous benefits to incorporating a regular practice of meditation.

Meditation can be used to cultivate a deeper awareness of one’s relationships and surroundings. Calming the ego-consciousness (the judge) that lives within our waking mind and opening ourself up to receiving peace, allows us to recognize and, with diligence, to access a higher state of consciousness.

Why should you want to reach higher consciousness?

That is a very good question and yet, one that is very difficult to answer. You may want to reach higher consciousness for the changes that it makes in how you use your life. You may want to reach higher consciousness to develop new abilities. Or perhaps you would enjoy having a higher consciousness because of the differences your actions may make in the lives of others.

What can be said is that, through the regular practice of meditation, you will come to realizations, values and talents that you are very unlikely to arrive at without the aid of meditation. I say unlikely, I do not say never. Meditation is a tool, like a key to a door. It is not the key that makes the wondrous thing behind the door exist. That thing always existed, all that the key did was make it easier to reach.

The realization and changes that develop in you over time, while practicing meditation (things like, mindfulness, calm, spiritual oneness, empowerment) are subtle shifts in your level of awareness that will help you to, among other things:

-Form more healthy romantic relationships
-Fulfill your internal life purpose
-Expel toxins and illness from your body
-Speak and act with true integrity
-See the beauty in all things
-Cope better with change and challenges in life
-Build self-esteem
-Look and feel more youthful
-Gain spiritual awareness / inspiration from the divine
-Walk lighter on the Earth
-Appreciate the gifts that you have in your life
-Serve yourself and others with deep kindness
-Channel positive creativity through your unique self

So I suppose that the question is not why you should want to reach higher consciousness, but why you should not want to?

What does meditation mean exactly? I have heard so many different things about it.

Meditation means many different things to many different people. There are several approaches to meditation, several layers of … Continue reading →