Awakening: How can a goddess help us?

I have to admit, I have a goddess practice. In this time of new-age-ness, the goddess is everywhere. And that's great. Unfortunately for me, it pushes my buttons of "this is really superficial". It seems to be wonderful for everyone else involved so that is great.

One of my personal favorites is Tara. And, for anyone living in CNY, I will be teaching a course on Tara for children enrolled in the Dharma Kids program at the Zen Center of Syracuse (www.zencenterofsyracuse.org). Tara is considered the "mother of all Buddhas" and became a Buddha in female form. All of her friends at that time in Tibet, tried to convince her she would be a better Buddha if she were a man, and she refused! She committed herself to complete enlightenment in female form. She functions as a savioress and supreme protectress. In Celestial Gallery by Romio Shrestha, he says, "The qualities of White Tara are ultimately inseparable from our own. Awakening is not a solipsistic retreat from unwanted realities, but a reaching outward to embrace the world with infinite compassion. If we see through to Tara's essence, she frees us from self-serving thoughts and encourages us to act selflessly, and wisely, for the benefit of all beings: the surest prescription for a long and fulfilling life".

I have to say based on personal experience that the practice of relying on Tara is amazing. Take yesterday, for example. I was having a very difficult time managing the schedule of running a small, growing business but is often jilted due to time constraints and parenting. School is over, wait-listed for camp, and the list goes on and on. I react to emails coming my way, not in a complete gripping manner but enough so that I actually later regret words coming out on the page. In light of this, I arrive at my daily sadhana (practice) and find myself in front of of Tara: great protectress, guide and just happens to be utterly sensuous and ravishing! (wouldn't it be great if someone called YOU that?! it must be our goal ladies: wise and ravishing). Within moments, my edges of frustration are melted, I step into the deep expanse of limitless love and compassion and I'm changed! Wheew! It's a total compassion battery re-charge.

So I encourage myself daily to "open seven eyes, like Tara, and be sure that everything you do, every step you take, every thought you think, is fueled by compassion. You will then be inseparable from White Tara, the embodiment of pure love". Thank you Romio Shreshtha for that quote and compiling this wonderful book!

For more information regarding Tara, and to find Gelek Rimpoches book, "The Tara Book", please visit www.jewelheart.org.

"LIG" it baby!

Has anyone ever told you to "LIG" something??? As in, "Let it GO?". If not, they probably should have. "Let it go" is something we hear all the time and can apply to everything. It can be felt as a quick way to sweep something away, get it off the agenda and most likely, create time for something that avoids any sort of conflict.

The mere act of "holding on" is what the whole conflict is about anyhow! If we were to have one goal in life, it should be to "LIG". LIG EVERYTHING!! is there anything worth holding on to? Of course not. If you want to engage yourself in complete emotional freedom, let go of every thought, every idea, every feeling, every memory and especially, the concept of letting go.

So, what do you do when the issue that you've just "LIGGED" comes up again? Do you feel guilty because it's there? Do you feel like a failure because your mental exorcism didn't actually include the emotional realm and now it's manifesting as a feeling? How about if you start dreaming about this wonderfully LIGGED issue, have you somehow let yourself down?

Here are some questions that may be helpful in your path to LIG freedom:
1. How do you hold on to something?
2. Where do you actually hold it?
3. Where do your thoughts come from??
4. Once you recognize that you are holding on to something, can you describe the real feeling that surrounds that holding?
5. Byron Katies askes, "Who would you be without holding on to that"?
6. Before that, she would as, "Is it true"?, "is it REALLY true"? whatever you've decided to hold on to (i.e, she doesn't love me....is that TRUE?).

Mostly, everything we tell ourselves is NOT true and we perpetuate because we're used to living a somewhat tortured life! I've been encouraging my 5 year old to try and describe more clearly her feelings. We often explain feelings with feelings but thanks to the work of Rosemary Thompson (www.weavingenergy.com), I have begun getting my daughter to dig deeper and describe the actual feeling. She told me her fear was grey. Just grey, grey, grey. Okay, so replace it with gold. Gold, gold, gold. She immediately began chanting, "Gold will win, gold will win!". Not bad for a 5 year old.

Most of us however need something a little more complicated to dispel grey and replace it with gold. Here some techniques that have helped me to LIG:
1. EFT (emotional freedom technique). Once you learn the art of tapping the points, setting your intention and uniting with ultimately what you want, I find that you can tap ANYWHERE in the body and it will help move your energy to gold.
2. In Rinzai Zen, many practitioners have a practice of "MU". It's based on a famous koan. Bascially, whatever arises in your mind, you MUUUU it. MU. It's simple and extremely powerful way to emotional freedom. You just cut thru any story line you may have subscribed to that keeps you stuck.
3. Knowledgeable goal setting. Once you convince yourself of the knowing that whatever you are holding on to is not real, not serving the benefit of all beings, make the goal to eliminate it. This may be a drastic cutting away until it's gone or it may be a softening around whatever it is until it's melted down and lightly because part of the big wide world called your Mind.

Whatever path you chose, may it be thorough in your emotional exorcism so you can spread love with all beings.

Promoting Fertility

This happens to be National Fertility Awareness week (4/24-5/1). For those of you faced with infertility, every week is fertility awareness week. For those who have never thought about fertility, one week of ‘awareness’ certainly will not begin to even touch upon the deep struggle that one goes thru trying to remedy this situation which embodies every aspect of one’s life. Nevertheless, let us appreciate that there is national awareness of this dis-ease which so many couples are faced with.

I will share with you some of the things that I believe are important in promoting fertility. We certainly know that fertility is not logical nor linear and that we ultimately do not know who is going to achieve a take home baby and who is not. Whatever the case may be, let us focus on increasing your creativity, health and vitality and fearless approach to life.

• Creativity to free pelvic energy. As Dr. Northrup says, “We as women must use our inherent creativity-our womb power-to regenerate our planet as well as to produce the next generation.” Although creativity is more closely connected to the energy of one’s ovaries, it certainly is an entire second chakra concern (see “what is my second chakra entry for more info. In what this is). If you are feeling blocked creatively, then the energy of your pelvis will feel, hold and store that block. Often it is how we define creativity that can keep us blocked. We need to open our definition so that we can be free to incorporate this important part of our daily lives, and not think of it as separate. Lavinia Spalding, in her book “Writing Away: a creative guide to awakening the journal-writing traveler” says that “you might face a seemingly insurmountable obstacle: the conviction that you’re not creative or artistic. The problem is that we’ve hijacked a word so multilayered that it’s difficult to define, and we’ve quarantined it to the exclusive realm of “fine arts.” Actually, creativity has a much wider scope. You can be creative in how you cook, throw a party, landscape your yard, play with kids, troubleshoot at work, dress, make love, travel. You can be creative in philosophy, religion, relationships, politics, or personality.” Thank you Lavinia for freeing our minds and ultimately our pelvis to allow this energy to travel with no hindrance.

•Making time, becoming fearless. Creating time in our lives-to just be, to feel and to be receptive takes a considerable amount of courage. I know that I historically have filled up every moment of my schedule to stay busy, keep on the move. God forbid that we have open blocks of time during the week with ‘nothing to do. ‘ As we settle down, settle our minds and learn to be still, we can receive the messages that we need to grow and nurture ourselves. I highly recommend reading Mika Brzezinski’s memoir “All Things at Once” where she chronicles what happened to her when she was just completely spent from overdoing. Becoming fearless is also learning to embrace not only what we don’t like but that which we want the most. Let’s face it, if you want a red sports car, most likely you will go looking at red sports cars, sitting in them and test-driving them. I think the same is true with babies. You know that when you want a baby, all you see are babies and pregnant women. (just like with red sports cars, suddenly everyone else has one)! I encourage you to love babies. Whenever you see one, go touch their little feet, send them love and see if you can hold them. This is particularly easy in restaurants where distraught and exhausted parents are trying to shove food in their mouths, pretend to be normal adults and wish their parents where there to hold their baby! Whenever I have risked asking to hold a baby in a restaurant, the parents beamed with joy!

•The inside job of fertility: plenty of good blood (uterine lining), balanced hormones and a good location for your condo to be (as in location of your uterus). If your period is scanty, your PMS is off the charts and you have a fair amount of brown discharge at anytime during your period, then we know you have work to do. Thank gosh we have our periods to let us know how things are going internally. Best ways to build blood: food, nettles and red clover (Susan weed says the only way to conceive after 40 is red clover...the #1 fertility promoter) www.blessedherbs.com to buy these amazing plants. The way I think is the best way to balance hormones is ‘doing nothing everyday for at least 10 minutes [as in meditation) and drink female tonic tea for 1-3 months or longer (www.arvigomassage.com). The only way to help your uterus get back into proper position is hands on therapy. There are excellent PT women who specialize in this moreover MAT practitioners (Maya Abdominal Therapies, see Arvigo massage to find someone near you).

Advice to Preventing Miscarriage

Although there is no guarantee to bringing a baby full-term, there are many things that one can do before conception and in the early stages of pregnancy, to prevent miscarriage and ensure a 'take home baby'.
• First step you will want to take is to check your hormone balance via saliva test with a DC or Naturopath. Saliva panels are an excellent way to determine what is
Pgoing on with you hormonally. Depending on what you find out, you will need to treat yourself for your internal balance before conception. Follow the advice of the Naturopath or DC you are working with. Ideally, you will want to use foods and plant material to create the hormone balance you are looking for.

• Second, find a Maya Abdominal Therapies (MAT) practitioner(www.arvigomassage.com) to feel for location of your uterus and determine if you have any symptoms of a mis-aligned uterus. This MAT practitioner may also suggest using the Female Tonic tea to benefit your hormonally and to do a 'uterine detox'. Female Tonic tea is a uterine lavage and will clear out old endometrium that may affect the strength and health of your uterine lining.

• Third, consult with an acupuncturist who also uses Chinese Medicinals. Do not be afraid to use high quality Chinese Medicinals before, during and after pregnancy. Women have been doing this for thousands of years and they are very powerful in chaning your underlying, internal pattern. I would plan on receiving frequent, regular acupuncture treatments post conception to prevent miscarriage throughout your first trimester. Ideally, this acupuncturist will specializes in fertility and can fearlessly support you during this precarious time.

• Additionally, Red Raspberry Leaf Infusion (www.blessedherbs.com) is a wonderful uterine tonic and i would plan on using this after your uterine lavage/cleansing. Once any signs of a displaced uterus are eliminated (see www.happyuterus.blogspot.com entry: Signs of Misplaced Uterus), you can begin to tonify her and make her very strong.
This combination of remedies is very powerful and works. It should all be quite affordable and mostly done right in your kitchen with your own two hands. Many acupuncturists are open to package deals for any pregnant woman trying to prevent miscarriage. Ideally, you begin this journey to strengthing your uterus months before you actually conceive.
All the best and think orange!

Can breathing alone reduce fibroids?

I have been on a quest for mastering the breath for who knows actually how long?? Many, many lifetimes I'm sure! I recently found a book that is very encouraging, extremely informative and potentially life changing if you engage in the techniques they share.

Having involved myself in the nasal vs. mouth breathing debate many times, this book, Free your Breath, Free your Life: How conscious Breathing can relieve stress, increase vitality, and help you live more fully by Dennis Lewis, addresses this widely debated topic very clearly.

Reasons for nasal breathing:
• The hairs that line our nostrils filter out particles of dust and dirt that can be injurious to our
lungs.
• Nasal breathing maintains the correct balance of oxygen and carbon dioxide in our blood
(the opposite of hyperventilation)
• The only way to fully activate your para-sympathetic nervous system or, relaxation response
• The only way to contact the olfactory nerves to stimulate your brain and put it into its
natural rhythm. If you don't breathe through your nose, in a sense you're only half alive!
• The only way to fully activate you lungs and reach down into the lower portion of the lobes

Thank you Dennis for your hard work in compiling this valuable information!

Prevent disease by clearing out internal heat!

This dietary preparation for Winter comes directly from John Doulliard DC, author and director of www.LifeSpa.com. It makes sense that late summer is the time when we have acummulated the most heat internally and that we need to actually clear out some of this accumulative heat before winter begins. Dr. Doulliard says, "If we do no-the heat will turn to dryness and the drynes of winter will accujulate and irritate our sinuses." This can potentially lead to sinus infections and a cyclical dryness pattern which allows the body to create excess mucous.

Dr. Doulliard suggests that we " follow natures lead and begin eating 2-4 apples per day from now until Halloween, along with more pomegranates, and other ripe seasonal fruit and veggies." This is natures way of cooling us naturally and internally.

If you want to take a late summer cleanse and prepare a bit more seriously for what is to come, you may want to partake in his suggested 4-7 day cleanse whereby you drink ghee (see previous blog post about this) every morning. This forces fat metabolism along with a no fat diet. You can eat kitcheree, veggies, hot cereal, fruit, crackers, rice and beans but NO FAT or FATTY foods. During this time of dietary adjustments and ghee first thing in the morning, the body will begin to burn its own fat.

Ghee Cleanse (Not indicated if you have gallbladder trouble or difficulty digesting fat)

First AM

Day One 2 tspns. ghee
Day Two 4 tspns. ghee
Day Three 6 tspns. ghee
Day Four 8 tspns. ghee

(Dr. Doulliard suggests using Herbal Clay (for my suggestion visit www.happyuterus.com/products.html) externally before showering to further the detox process.

Eve of Day Four

Take a hot bath

Mix 4 tspns. castor oil with the juice of an orange and hot water. Hold your nose and drink castor mix and quickly suck on the orange. 1-4 hours later you should experience a laxative effect.

During the cleanse you can also take additional Liver detox supplements and do other exercises for detoxification: colonics, sweating, castor oil packs and/or massage. I like LIVAmend by www.bodyecologydiet.com

Please let us know your experiences with this cleanse!

Mushrooms rather than anti-biotics!!

If you view the word anti-biotics as "anti-life", you may be reluctant to include them in your wellness regime. Most especially if you are pregnant, trying to conceive and aiming to "include-life" and not repel it. I am happy to share with you this incredible product

Exerpted from Myco Herb: Full Line of Nutritive Mushroms, distributed by www.craneherb.com

Myco-Forte is a five fungi blend of some of the most nutrient-rich musthooms known to modern and traditional science and medicine. They contain active ingredients specific to the immune system which promote one's innate ability to detect, isolate and destroy foreign entitues which are believed to cause sickness and disease. These medicinal fungi possess antiviral, antibacterial, antiparasitic, and anticarcinogenic properties, which means that they are indicated for treating conditions ranging from common cold to cancer. In Traditional Chinese Medicine terms, Myco-Forte stokes the Ming-Men fire (the Gate of Vitality), clears toxicity, revitalizes Blood, and nourishes Yin.

As if that were not enough!! Here is a list of the actual properties of these unique mushroom blend: Replenishes moisture of the lung; fortifies the kidneys, supplements the defensive qi (immune system) and blood without generating excess heat or damp, dispels phlegm, fortifies the bones, strengthens the intestines and internal organs, nourishes the brain, allays cough accompanied by dryness and heat, eliminates food stagnation, allays hunger, lightens the body, soothes and elevates the spirit. WOW! I can honestly attest to this being true. I have been a myco-junkie now for 3 years and it saves me every winter!!

Active compounds include (for all you science types out there): polysaccharides, glucosides, sterols, amino acids, glutamic acid, cordycepin, enzymes, lipids, volatile oils, vitamins, proteins, trace minerals!

Who will benefit from this formula? Anyone with:
•Immune deficiency
•Chronic viral illness
•Chronic fatigue
•Auto-toxicity
•Respiratory weakness, cough accompanied by Dryness and Heat
•Frailty, weakness, exhaustion
•Symptoms of poor digestion and food stagnation
•Depression and Anxiety