Equal parts of the following herbs which can be purchased here--
Elder flower
Elder berry
Marshmallow root
Mullein leaf
Astragalus root
Peppermint leaf
I fill the tea bags myself and brew it really strong, then add some cool water so it's ready for Little-A to drink right away. Adding lemon and honey is ideal but Little-A prefers it plain. This is not a tea I recommend sipping on all day due to potential sensitivity to some of the herbs in high doses. A 1/2 cup per day for the kiddos, more for the grownups.
Pictured: The hhhhherbz.
Food as Medicine
I think this is frankly the most important part, as all the supplements in the world can't compensate for a poor diet. Here is what we do:
Limit (remove totally, if we can) both dairy and gluten. I think there a lot of people out there who do just fine on both. Little-A gets through summer fine with both -- but when autumn hits, fuggetaboutit! Really contributes to increased respiratory and sinus issues. And for me, processed wheat (at all) and dairy (too much) mess with my digestive health.
Prepare warm, nourishing organic, non-GMO foods with fresh vegetables, herbs, and spices such as bone both chicken and vegetable soup. Pain in the butt to cook like this every day? Absolutely! Worth it? Absolutelier!
Limit processed foods. This is hard because there are a lot of "healthier" processed foods on the market that are organic, non-GMO, tasty, and comparatively not as bad as your typical doritos, oreos, mac 'n cheese, etc. Avani eats "healthier" processed foods during the summer so the autumn transition is *interesting*... and it remains to be seen as to how this will go. I follow some bloggers (Wellness Mama, Elana's Pantry, PaleOMG who have some great snack recipes. Facebook is also filled with groups/people who have some amazing organic/paleo/vegan/gluten-free/dairy-free recipes.) Should we eat like this all year? Yes. Do we? No. ;)
Drink ACV. With the right proportion of water, apple cider vinegar, and honey, you can whip up a drink that tastes sort of like a 'fun drink' to a kid. It takes some experimentation (and high quality, raw ACV). This is also a good way to get more water in.
Drink Shakeology! This is a new discovery and I'm a huge fan. Nutrient dense, vegan, delicious. I give Little-A some sips of my daily shake. Get in touch with me if you're interested in learning more or ordering.
Supplements
I put this stuff up on the kitchen counter like an assembly line. Total pain, but again.... It works.
Oregano oil (For kids: few days at a time, then a break)
Elderberry syrup (You can make yourself, too!)
REDD children's support (LOVE this stuff)
Raw manuka honey (spoonful per day)
Fish oil (I'm sure there are purer formulas, but this is the one Little-A can stomach)
Coconut oil (1/2 teaspoon per day)
Digestive enzymes
Probiotic (I don't skimp on quality)
Immune support
Oregon grape root
Pictured: The supppppz.
Other Stuff
Salt lamp - There is some science on this. Either way, it has an amazingly beautiful, peaceful glow, so why not?
Essentials oils in the bath & diffused around the house - Eucalyptus, peppermint, tea tree oil, lavender are good for respiratory health.
Natural body products with essential oils .... no fakey chemical, artificially flavored (toothpaste), fragranced face/body/hair products. That stuff is a respiratory (and skin) irritant for us. (I actually use the same coconut oil brand - different container - for our body moisturizer to avoid additives and chemicals that are in most lotions.)
Vapor rub (if sick) - (Or, just plain old Vick's.)
Nasal Stuff
Ugh, Little-A refuses this stuff, but I know it works wonders for allergic rhinitis so I list it here anyway. We have (and I have tried with her, not successfully):
Neti pot (Filtered, then boiled, sterile water only with high quality salt at the right proportion)
Nasopure
Salt pipe (this is not a nose thing but Little-A still won't do it!)
Pictured: Salt pipes. Source: http://www.natural-salt-lamps.com/saltpipe.html
Squeeze juice of 1 lemon and 1 lime, mix into juice.
The benefit of this juice being super spicy is that it will force you to drink a couple of glasses of water (also a cold-killer). Perhaps best to have a bit to eat first. Rough on an empty stomach.
Spiritual practices should bring us closer to, not further from, seeing and experiencing our feelings. The only way through feelings is through them - not around them, under them, or over them. The sooner we understand our feelings, the sooner we can accept ourselves. The sooner we accept ourselves, the sooner we can let pieces of ourselves that no longer serve us go -- with honor and love.
The Post-Modern, Post-Urban, Post-Trendy Spiritual Guru
Fifteen years ago, when I awoke to my spiritual journey, things like yoga, meditation, and shamanism were just gaining full-force main stream popularity in southern CA & NYC (read: hadn't really caught on completely in the rest of the country). After the blinding neon of the 80's, the 90's were a time of spiritual pioneers in muted tones -- I'm not talking about the OG spiritual pioneers of yore or the turn of the century into the 60's and 70's (read about yoga's trip to America), but a new wave of pioneers bringing non-religious spiritual practices to both the liberal and conservative mainstream. (P.S. Please, don't get all technical with me on this if you spent the 80's in an ashram in Ohio.)
Pictured Above: Namaste by Alex Grey, 1994. Love me some Alex Grey.
Pictured Above: The Yoga Room in Encinitas, CA, associated with the Self Realization Fellowship, where I started my yoga journey. Walking through that door was like being space-time warped into a sacred, quiet bubble, where I was re-introduced to the real me. Then it was shut down for being accused of being a cult. Pfft. Oh well.
I recently read Has Spirituality Become Trendy? in which the blogger, Lisa Rankin, explains how modern focus on spiritual disciplines has become commercialized and watered down ... People are 'doing spiritual' to be cool. I get it. Sometimes I yearn for the days of feeling part of an authentic, secret movement that I predicted would explode into mainstream consciousness at some point in the future when all of the sheeple awoke, Matrix-style. But that yearning is certainly just my ego speaking. (Poor little ego wants to be special and unique, not mainstream and commonplace.) There has been great opportunity in asking myself to redefine my relationship to my spiritual practices, not just now that I am a mother, but now that western society is all but inundated with ways to define ourselves by eastern and other native spiritual influences.
HENCEFORTH: Many of us are working against our egos to actually be happy that more spiritual stuff is available to more people. Yikes, did I just say that? Yes - Through viral movement, Internet access, and commercialization, more and more unlikely suspects are snatching up cheap tickets to first class seats on the spirit-train. Move over, Mr. Guru. Time to redefine our spiritual selves in this sea of overabundant 'spiritual opportunities'.
Pictured Above: Lakshmi, Hindu Goddess of Abundance. Be careful what you wish for.
Below, I offer some thoughts on navigating spiritual growth through this new time of abundantly available spiritual philosophies and commercial products/services.
Commercialized, watered-down spiritual philosophies and practices are FANTASTIC.
If a yoga teacher can get a student in the door whose motivation is to "get a yoga butt," I call that a success. Over time, that student just may see a bigger picture and find a greater purpose to her yoga practice. In "Has Spirituality Become Trendy?", Rankin says that if you're pursuing a spiritual practice to be cool or trendy, you're doing something wrong. I would rather look at it from the perspective of personal journeys: Whatever brings people to spiritual practice is part of their own path. Who am I to judge? At least they've arrived a point of potential. And that's a good thing, no?
Trying to climb the spiritual ladder is just as bad as trying to climb the corporate ladder (if you think climbing the corporate ladder is bad, that is).
Those of us who are followers of spiritual paths and learning may have put a lot of time, attention and even money into opening our hearts and minds, learning to release our attachment to ego, connecting with spirit, or {insert phrase to characterize your spiritual journey}. It can feel satisfying to know that we are taking steps to becoming more whole. But the line between satisfaction and pride is a thin one. To offer another metaphor: the slope is slippery. I have certainly caught myself "placing" myself against others on some ladder of spirituality. The internal dialogue can go one of two ways: Placing myself as "higher" (more well-read, more educated, more experienced) in {whatever spiritual pursuit} ... or Placing myself as "lower" (not as experienced, not as educated, or even not as spiritually "cool"). This "placement" is the ego's need to judge (self and others) to try to create a sense of self that is worthy. Let's try to stop doing that.
Pictured Above: Hairless, genderless red and white people racing up ladders to hairless-genderless-people heaven.
We trippin' over "authentic spiritual experiences."
We no longer need to have lived in an ashram for two years, traveled to Peru for an ayahuasca retreat, or trained directly with an internationally recognized "master" {of whatever} in order to be the real deal. (Actually, we never did need any of that - as fun and helpful as those things may be.) Some may say that we loose "the sacred" when we learn Reiki online or when we practice yoga at the gym, for example. But those people may be forgetting that sacred space can be accessed anywhere, anytime, from within. Sacred space IS. It is always available to us. It is not something to which chosen gurus alone have a key. You have the key. I have the key. And we just might use that key at the gym.
Most of us do not come from a direct blood lineage of Indian yogis, South American shaman, or Native American healers. No grandpa-sage handing over the healer's toolkit passed down from generation to generation. (If you do, that's pretty awesome.) Why have we become so obsessed with fashioning ourselves in a status that we'll never attain? Sure, there are sacred sites to visit and books and people with interesting things to say - let's experience those things; but why are we trying so hard to refashion ourselves in image and align ourselves in practice to cultures and traditions that are so far from who we really are, NOW? Why do parts of us yearn for some pre-defined *authentic spiritual experience*?
Part of the answer very well may be an instinctual desire to reconnect to all that is magical and unknown about the healing ways of ancient cultures. There is something comforting about aligning one's spiritual self to a lineage that dips so far back in time, holding so much power and knowledge. But on the flip side, that sense of comforting can very well be masking underlying fears, particularly of death. Are we reaching for something across space and time so we won't feel so alone, lost in a sea of eternity? Are we losing who we are, right now, in this era and in this moment? Did the ancient yogis, shaman, healers "look back" as we do, or did they channel their divine wisdom and connection to the natural world by being present? That same divine wisdom and connection is available to US, right NOW.
I'm not saying we should disregard traditional spiritual knowledge that may have taken thousands of years for the human race to acquire. I'm just suggesting there is a way to honor and build from that knowledge without attempting to superimpose our own identities on top of, say, the identity of this guy:
Pictured Above: A Peruvian Shaman...of the "Inca's Last Medicine People"
Hybrids and quacks may be the wave of the future.
More questions: Are we over-saturated with at-times commercialized spiritual hybrids for micro-markets (examples: YAS - yoga and spinning; sekhem reiki - Japanese healing with an Egyptian energy influence; vedic chanting for weightlifters)? YES. Are there plenty of "untrained quacks" offering their own brand of healing arts? YES. But I say, Let them hybridize. Let them be quacks. As long as people are being responsible and honest and not making false promises, who says that only certain modalities are the only approved way to access one's spiritual self? Why not do an Ayurvedic-Andean Mountain shamanic energy cleanse for swimmers? Why not a Christian Reiki healing for expecting moms? Why not a yogic-pagan spring equinox blessing for autistic kids? If the experience is transformative and effective, go for it --
Own it. Create the experience. Be the sage. Be the guru. Be the shaman. Be a quack. The spiritual knowledge is out there to be accessed, discovered, and unfolded. By us. In whatever way spirit speaks to us.
Dropping Keys
The small man
Builds cages for everyone
He
Knows.
While the sage,
Who has to duck his head
When the moon is low,
Keeps dropping keys all night long
For the
Beautiful
Rowdy
Prisoners.
I don't really see a reason to take this stuff ... in fact, it seems borderline dangerous. This is not an exhaustive list of ingredients (a few of which are fine), but here goes:
Sugar (How can they claim this drink is a health supplement when it's #1 ingredient is processed sugar?)
Cocoa processed with alkali (Alkali processing removes the flavanoids and antioxidants from the cocoa nibs ... relegating the cocoa to just a flavoring. The process is cheaper, which is why it's used, but it strips the cocoa of its health benefits.)
Barley malt extract (This is one of many ingredients that produces free glutamic acid; think "MSG" - Not good.)
Mono and diglycerides (Likely to contain trans fats. Yes, I said "trans fats.")
Flavor(s) & Natural Caramel (... more ingredients that produce free glutamic acid; a la "MSG")
Vanillin (This is a synthetic ingredient mimicking the smell of vanilla ... Why not just use the real thing?)
Tri Calcium Phosphate (This is a calcium salt which may impact iron absorption.)
Ascorbic Acid (This is a synthetic isolate; without the ascorbinogen, bioflavonoids, rutin, tyrosinase, Factor J, Factor K, and Factor P ... This is NOT Vit C.)
Vitamin A Palmitate (This is synthetically produced with questionable long term effects.)
Ferric Orthophosphate (This is used as an iron additive. However, according to this European Food Safety authority scientific report, "No specific data are available regarding the bioavailability of iron from ferrous phosphate as a mineral substance in food supplements." This substance is used as a molluscicide, a slug/snail pesticide; per Canadian General Standards Board CAN/CGSB-32.311-2006 Amended October 2008 and 175 December 2009 -- This substance is not allowed to come into contact with crops.)
Take a walk on the dark side of your soul. What does it look like? What's lurking there, in the corner or behind a tree? What's trying to hide from you? Find it. Look it in the eye and say "I love you still."
The shaman is the one who mediates between the visible world of form and matter and the invisible world of energy and spirits. For the shaman there is no supernatural world. Only the natural world exists, with its visible and invisible dimensions.
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