Sunday Yoga – Come Pray at the Bodies Temple

I have moved!  and amazingly enough there is this awesome space in my complex to do yoga.  it is wonderful at 1030am on sundays there.  the shade is perfect, the birds and faint sent of grass, idyllic and personally I have never been a fan of practicing outside (to much stuff going on), however this was different.  this was like being in universe’s studio here on earth, where the ceiling really was the sky and the ground really was the earth.  I am in love.  I do hope some friends will join me to play there on sunday mornings…  I have invited my community to practice with me, I get that there is not a lot of yoga consciousness here and I will have to do some yoga education, through fliers and talking to people about it and actually doing yoga in the space myself.  on that note- doing yoga there myself, it was fantastic! the weather so perfect.  the sky and the tress and the whole feeling of being in nature, I lost myself there for many minutes and was not interrupted by the very few passing cars (less than 10 in the 1hr I was there) and passer-byers (less than 5 people wondered by during that time…such a quiet time of the morning.)  I am going  to make a habit of going there and doing my personal practice, I am feeling so blessed to have such a space, as before this I could not imagine really liking to practice outside.  one funny thing did happen, there were many small birds…hummingbirds and sparrows, I think. near the end of my practice I heard a noise of a bird poop landing on the back corner of my mat, just barley hitting it, on the small and unimpressive side…however I am going to bring a box of tissue next time.  I could avoid it where it had landed in this case, it did not disturb my peace I noticed, with wonder, bird poop was just a part of the scene and nothing more, not even gross, my mind was so peaceful and empty of thoughts about anything.

anyway if you want to come play outside with me some sunday then call or txt me and I will send you the details.

the class is going to be an all level flow…from 1030-1130 on sunday mornings

RAW – ketchup

from the raw cook book that I am surveying this month RAW “the uncook book” by Julianio…this stuff is wonderful…sweet and tart and easy to make.  I am putting it on flax crackers.  and think it would go good with the cashew nut cheese I have, laid in a spear of romaine lettuce if you wanted to be all raw about it.  this spread has a nice savory/sweet flavor that is kind of like ketchup and could be used on sandwiches and burgers for sure

Ingredients:

1 cup fresh tomatoes, chopped

1 cup sun dried tomatoes

1 tbs. minced garlic

2 tbs. ginger

¼ cup onion, chopped

8 fresh basil leaves

6 medjool dates

¼ cup maple syrup

¼ cup olive oil

1 tbs. Braggs Liquid Amnio

Or 1 teaspoon pink salt

throw everything into a blender and pulse blend till sort of creamy.  serve.  will keep in fridge for two weeks according to juliano.

Gardening I

the weather has been so interesting I almost missed the start of spring!  I love to garden and grow my own food as much as possible, I don’t eat that much so I think I could eat only veggies from my garden this year sometime in the summer.  it would be nice to find some close people to trade items with to create more variety.  I buy plants from all the close nursery’s, they each have there own little niche.  my favorites are Plant Depot, Greenthumb & Anderson’s.  Home Depot also has a surprisingly good selection of plants and organic ones as well.  in San Juan Capistrano, there is a farm, that sells organic plants it grows, called The Ecology Center.  I always try to buy organic but it doesn’t always work out because there is limited selection of what is grown organically and I am not willing to give up the variety of tomatoes and other leafy greens to grow a strictly organic garden.  I was really excited to see these organic plants at Mother’s Market.  I didn’t know how much they cost when I decided to buy them and was willing to pay as much as 5$ per plant, at the nursery the organic plants are always more than the “regular” plants, 4$-5$ dollars.  then I was so pleasantly surprised when they rang up @1.99 each making Mothers the best place to buy organic plants so far.  they had a nice selection for a small supermarket and they plants looked well taken care of, another issue is I have with organic plants is they frequently look sickly or half-dead before you even buy them!

HAPPY PLANTING

dinner march 4th

these nori power wraps are good, raw and rather inexpensive for raw food market.  I have seen the selection of prepared raw food items triple since I have been eating raw.  this company Gopal’s and many others didn’t even exist 3yrs ago.  these seeds have been germinated and thrown in a bag with seasoning, they are also inexpensive for raw food…pumpkin seeds are so good for you, tones of protein and things like copper, iron & magnesium in them.  making it so one does not have to eat a lot to get their nutrition needs met.  interesting with the raw diet so much of it is fat.  I think the body needs a lot of good fat to run smoothly.  right now my diet is mostly fat and I am not fat, nor am I putting on fat weight, even though my dinner was 80% fat if you look at the labels.  the total calorie count for dinner was only 320.  all of those calories were good fat, vitamins and minerals, all I felt was a nice burst of energy to finish off my evening activities.

raw food review III

for breakfast this morning I am having this great hot/cold cereal made mostly of chia seeds.  it is called “chia goodness” there are a number of different flavors…this mornings selection is apple almond cinnamon.  I have added fresh apples and blueberries.  the serving size here is a little off – I like to double it! at least.  this is a nice raw meal, easy, filling and is served warm – bring the water to a boil  – then let it cool for a few minutes before making the cereal.  this is good stuff! it has tons of vitamins and minerals, some little known ones such as selenium and molybdenum…after eating this cereal I feel full and satisfied it is sort of like oatmeal in texture, try it for breakfast for a week and see how much more energy you have throughout the day! I got this at mothers market in laguna hills.

Feb- raw review

in the month of February I had 6 cooked meals at restaurants while out with friends or family.  there are only certain types of cooked food that tastes really good to me now…in march, I swear,  I am going to take pictures of all the cooked food meals I eat.  right now only black beans and brown rice are really appealing…I actually had that for lunch today, while out with a friend at wahoo’s fish tacos.  they make the best black beans and rice, with salsa and lime! still YUMMY, had this twice in feb. earlier in the month though I still had a fantasy that pasta would taste good and twice I ordered different pasta dishes and twice I didn’t eat very much of it as I became overwhelmed with how acidic pasta is and how my body thought it was horrible…not to mention the sauce which in one case was pesto and the other white wine something…unfortunately, cooked sauces are out, I might as well try to eat a bowl full of battery acid. at one of the Italian places  – a little place in Laguna Beach I did managed to choke down a slice of tiramisu which tasted pretty good in the mouth but was not worth the belly ache later, not to mention the gas! omg! seriously cooked food is very gassy.  I also noted the link between emotion and eating…I had some serious emotion to deal with…I did a training course that taught me a technique to get complete with all past relationships – so I have been swamped with intense emotion this month, the day my training ended I had breakfast with my dad where I chose to eat fried breaded mozzarella cheese sticks with marinara.  yes for breakfast.  I actually ate 4 of them before I was totally grossed out.  I had not eaten that much cheese in a million years! pretty much whether I enjoyed the food on the tongue or not it hurt my stomach shortly after eating.  I also could feel “full” yet still hungry, as my bodies nutritional needs were not met, so frequently I would eat a raw snack after cooked food.  and I did have more of a craving for cooked food think month, even though for the most part it did not taste good.  I noticed that my energy levels would be off for the whole next day after eating cooked food – now I am used to ridiculous levels of energy, bound out of bed at 5am with a song on my lips and have a full yoga day, then up til midnight, sleep really well, ready to start the whole thing all over again…  I am back on track and will be adding some new recipe’s from “RAW” the uncook book.  this book is already more challenging than the last one – the recipes have long ingredient lists with a lot of cutting and chopping, however I am excited to try such things as raw meat loaf and crunchy flax seed cookies.  I have actually started experimenting with some of my own raw recipe’s as well and hope to share some of them as I get them perfected.  in feb I came to understand that we are likely meant to eat nuts and seeds in the morning for breakfast, this display in Ralph’s supermarket really did warm my heart because here are all kinds of raw nuts for very reasonably priced! try it for a week – eat raw nuts and seeds first thing along with whatever you normally eat.  start to mix in the good things and things that are less good for you will fall out on there own.  this is from someone who used to eat at least 3 doughnuts a day and I could not live without my daily yougutland sundaes…once apon a time…not even that long ago…

other healing modalities – massage

massage – ah! I love them.  I am actually set up to one in about an hour.  I have a nice girl, named Shantele come to my house once a week.  it may seem like a luxury and it is, however when one considers that I forward fold like 100 times a week, my body is the vehicle I use to make my living.  so I must take extra good care of it.  in light of that though, I would suggest massage for any active person, to help remove the lactic acid build up. remove other wastes and toxins from the system that have gotten trapped in the muscle bed.  feel more limber and relaxed.  massage is an awesome way to help reduce tension and increase healing of muscle tissue as it improves blood flow.  then not enough can be said about having the touch and stillness for an hour or more.  priceless, in our rush-rush society, taking an hour a week, or every other week or once a month, is actually essential to maintaining mental and emotional health in the long run.  this has been proven over and over, I mean just look at the generation above, us, they are crazy.  and they know nothing about self care and are very proud of the fact that they don’t need to do “self care.” I am just being funny.  in any case I think that massage is a great compliment to an already excellent life, that helps to keep the muscles free and clear, it is also so inexpensive now that anyone can try it!  I will be putting up a few of my favorite ladies and places for massage.

 she is an earth angel and serving the orange county area

949-201-9371 for an appointment call or txt. mention Elizabeth sharp and get an intro deal of 3 full body massages for 180$

that is 60$ per session – a smoking deal!

love you all 🙂

raw food review II

 this is one of my favorite flax cracker companies – I like all the flavors however the “hemp” and “Italian zest” are my favorite.  these are good for dipping into sauces and eating by themselves.  I can eat 2/3rds a bag and a kombucha for lunch.  when one is eating mostly raw the body does not require a lot of calories to run, that is a definite misunderstanding of the system.  the body really needs vitamins and minerals to run effectively…I like them because they are very savory.  they really are packed with good things: vitamins A,C & B6. minerals: iron, folate, zinc, manganese, phosphors, magnesium and copper. after looking at this list it makes me want to eat a bag right now 🙂

seriously, though, the body is so satisfied after consuming a bag of these…they also have protein, and a bunch of omega’s which are reportedly good for brain function.  and with these crackers you won’t be eating all the poisons that come in fish, the other “good” source of omega 3,6&9 fats – however the fish must be raw or almost raw for these fats to be useable to our bodies, so all that grilled salmon is not full of “good” fat…

raw food snacks…not a “snack” at all

when most of us think of a “snack,” what comes to mind is a high fat and/or sugar item that satisfies the taste buds but has no or little nutritional value.

a raw food snack is a totally different story…it is a mealin a bag and a good one at that.  these items that I am reviewing have an amazing amount of protein, vitamins and minerals in them.  they energize you in a way that is notable and help the body to cleanse.  try some! be willing to experiment and if you don’t like one – don’t dismiss the whole raw food snack industry —have a beginners mind about it and try something else or from another company.  there are so many awesome raw food companies now and it is taking off, I have seen an increase in the number of raw food products just in the short time I have been paying attention.  obviously the items I am reviewing are random – I am like a child in the super market – just trying anything that is raw and I have not tried it before.  even things that my rational mind says I wont like, I try them anyway.  I realize now “like” is a matter of exposure.  so I am trying to expose my taste buds to the palette of the raw food world, make it more normalized and sometimes I am pleasantly surprised!

raw food snacks I

these raw mineral crusts are awesome in the morning.  i love this company, Mauk Family Farms in santa ana, ca.  i plan to go there and check them out see what their process is and how the food is being “mass” produced.  these crusts are good to me straight with a cup of tea.  a package is like a lunch.  it fills you up and it is packed with protein and minerals.  super charge your day.  try these out instead of chips or crackers.  the next step is to try to make this at home in the dehydrator!