I am so relieved to have a day to breathe! I went to a farmer's market and healthy food store with 4 other ladies from the house and plan on drawing and breathing and reflecting the rest of the afternoon. I feel better today than I did at first; I'm definitely starting to feel more comfortable in the intensity that this program is presenting me with.
When I first got here I felt simply stifled, living in tight quarters with 12 other strong individuals, but it's a learning experience and greatly humbling. I think some great friendships will spring from being here, and I'm finding the space here and there to be alone too.
It's interesting to me how we reinvent ourselves through other people's eyes. Being confronted by such a large group of fascinating people has forced me to step back and lose some of my ego. In relating to them I have to let go of perceptions I've collected of myself and react in more unfamiliar ways to negotiate the mass of energy I'm surrounded by, whether it be in response to opinions about household matters or simply sharing of skills and knowledge (which this house is oozing with).
I will be different when we meet again.
But then, so will you!
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Friday, March 27, 2009
Classes begin!
Today the real classes began...and are going to go until 10 pm. We began this morning with Nutrition and Healing. I will be buying a binder to contain the overwhelming amount of information I have already accumulated in handouts.
Some of the key points I have learned that you might be interested in:
-Listen to your body and what it's craving. If you eat well regularly your body will know what food you need.
-Never get a tumor biopsy without first applying honey to the skin. The honey will coat the needle and for unknown reasons will prevent the cells that attach to the outside of the needle from spreading outside the tumor.
-Honey also heals open wounds, burns, surgical cuts, and diabetic ulcers when applied topically
- When children with a cough are given a spoonful of honey before bed they cough less than they do when they are given a spoonful of children's cough "medicine"
-Honey that is heated (as in tea or milk) loses some nutrients in the heating
- There is a monosaccharide called N-acetylgalactosamine that can only be derived from mammalian and shark cartilage or red algae Dumontiaceae...good case for not being entirely veg (sardines and anchovies are also a good way of getting this if the idea of knawing on bones doesn't appeal to you). The reason this is an important contribution to your diet is because it inhimbitits metasitasis (a.k.a. cancer reproduction/maintainance.)
-conventionally grown produce has a four-digit number on the sticker. Organic has five-digits begining with a 9. Genetically modified information has five-digits that begin with an 8.
-Coconut oil is god when it comes to cooking oils. Olive oil is second, but best when not heated.
-Scrambled eggs and hard-boiled eggs lose their nutrients. If you eat eggs, make sure the yolk is runny.
-Don't eat more than a handful of nuts per day because they inhibit calcium uptake.
And so much more! But those were my favorites. Hope you enjoy!
Some of the key points I have learned that you might be interested in:
-Listen to your body and what it's craving. If you eat well regularly your body will know what food you need.
-Never get a tumor biopsy without first applying honey to the skin. The honey will coat the needle and for unknown reasons will prevent the cells that attach to the outside of the needle from spreading outside the tumor.
-Honey also heals open wounds, burns, surgical cuts, and diabetic ulcers when applied topically
- When children with a cough are given a spoonful of honey before bed they cough less than they do when they are given a spoonful of children's cough "medicine"
-Honey that is heated (as in tea or milk) loses some nutrients in the heating
- There is a monosaccharide called N-acetylgalactosamine that can only be derived from mammalian and shark cartilage or red algae Dumontiaceae...good case for not being entirely veg (sardines and anchovies are also a good way of getting this if the idea of knawing on bones doesn't appeal to you). The reason this is an important contribution to your diet is because it inhimbitits metasitasis (a.k.a. cancer reproduction/maintainance.)
-conventionally grown produce has a four-digit number on the sticker. Organic has five-digits begining with a 9. Genetically modified information has five-digits that begin with an 8.
-Coconut oil is god when it comes to cooking oils. Olive oil is second, but best when not heated.
-Scrambled eggs and hard-boiled eggs lose their nutrients. If you eat eggs, make sure the yolk is runny.
-Don't eat more than a handful of nuts per day because they inhibit calcium uptake.
And so much more! But those were my favorites. Hope you enjoy!
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Herb Pharm: day one
I just arrived at the Herb Pharm in Williams, Oregon. It is absolutely beautiful, blue mountains being dusted by low-lying clouds offering a stark contrast to the light green moss on the trees.
There are 13 women living in the intern house with me...going to take some getting used to. I am slightly overwhelmed and feel like retreating a bit. It might take a few days for me to come out of my shell...I just want to observe right now.
Tomorrow the intensity starts with classes all day. Very exciting.
Til next time!
K
There are 13 women living in the intern house with me...going to take some getting used to. I am slightly overwhelmed and feel like retreating a bit. It might take a few days for me to come out of my shell...I just want to observe right now.
Tomorrow the intensity starts with classes all day. Very exciting.
Til next time!
K
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
The end of Mexico, Portland, and so on
I apologize again for the interspersed nature of my entries, but this is my last apology. That's just the way it's going to be, and I'm proud of myself for even writing this much. The real issue is that I keep a journal, and it has dibs on all of my recordings. What then gets translated into a blog entry tends to be slightly more edited and therefore time-consuming, and while I do enjoy writing these entries, I am enjoying life away from the computer much too much to feel guilty for not sitting at it.
So, life. Is being lived, and lived wonderfully. The last few weeks with my sister and co were positively magical. We explored all around Oaxaca: A small village where they only produce pottery; a huge market with too much of any one thing, guys drinking beers in the morning, meat hanging openly, and mountains of mole; a beautiful waterfall hike that I went on once with Nina and then with my friend Trevor, involving some serious rock/root climbing up extremely steep inclines; to the ruins of an ancient city; to the inside of some crazy caves; and a weekend excursion to a waterfall that is composed almost entirely of mineral deposits and has barely any water on it save at the top.
Not to mention the beach! The beach was sooooo lovely. Trevor and I ventured to Puerto Escondido on Tuesday, the 10th, on a slightly cramped, slightly rickety mini-bus. We arrived around midnight and checked into our straw-hatched cabin by the beach. Could have been quieter, was lacking in the hot-water department, but it was comfy and clean.
We went to dinner the first night after a hike along the coast and met a waiter, Louis, who was very enthusiastic about the area and suggested numerous different adventures he could take us on. We decided to take him up on the offer, and the next morning he picked us up with his fiance, Clara, and we drove down dirt-roads in the jagged mountains to the most incredible waterfall I had yet seen in Mexico. On the way to and back from it we stopped at a family's house and I made tortillas with the women and we ate fried eggs and cactus to go with them. At the waterfall Louis asked Trevor if he wanted to catch some shrimp. After a while I got to try also, but Louis quickly came over and removed the heavy, but not so heavy I couldn't move them myself, rocks for me, and I chuckled and stopped trying. Note that Trevor was not invited to try to make tortillas. So much for progressive gender-roles!
Nina came a couple days later and it was so much fun running away from/into waves with the kids.
Now I am in Portland, saturated in green moss and grey skies. But the rain is not the only difference I percieve. It seems I acclimated to Mexico much more than I realized, and I've made a list of a few points of culture-shock that I'm working to overcome:
1) Water-pressure
2) Not doubting the safety of water; being able to potentially drink tap water; being able to clean vegetables with tap water, etc.
3) Having the right of way when crossing the street.
4) The incessant checking of IDs whenever I want a beer or to enter a bar.
5) Smooth, paved roads that one can drive very fast on without too much concern.
6) Higher prices, obviously.
There are more, but those are the most obvious.
Portland is beautiful, equipped with a bunch of funky neighborhoods. Too many hipsters though. I don't know if it isn't too big of a city for me, but I'll feel it out better this summer.
And tomorrow I head to the HERB PHARM! I'm sooooooo very anxious and excited. I have quite a few more things I'd like to write, but I think I've been writing long enough. Once I've adopted a routine at the herb pharm perhaps there will be more time to include reflections of the internal me rather than my physical whereabouts.
For the last photos of Mexico:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2135556&id=6901865&l=8fa1b5b67d
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2138645&id=6901865&l=f942a6c6c0
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2138649&id=6901865&l=ab70cc9507
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2138655&id=6901865&l=059bb60952
So much love 'til next time,
Shanti shanti shanti
So, life. Is being lived, and lived wonderfully. The last few weeks with my sister and co were positively magical. We explored all around Oaxaca: A small village where they only produce pottery; a huge market with too much of any one thing, guys drinking beers in the morning, meat hanging openly, and mountains of mole; a beautiful waterfall hike that I went on once with Nina and then with my friend Trevor, involving some serious rock/root climbing up extremely steep inclines; to the ruins of an ancient city; to the inside of some crazy caves; and a weekend excursion to a waterfall that is composed almost entirely of mineral deposits and has barely any water on it save at the top.
Not to mention the beach! The beach was sooooo lovely. Trevor and I ventured to Puerto Escondido on Tuesday, the 10th, on a slightly cramped, slightly rickety mini-bus. We arrived around midnight and checked into our straw-hatched cabin by the beach. Could have been quieter, was lacking in the hot-water department, but it was comfy and clean.
We went to dinner the first night after a hike along the coast and met a waiter, Louis, who was very enthusiastic about the area and suggested numerous different adventures he could take us on. We decided to take him up on the offer, and the next morning he picked us up with his fiance, Clara, and we drove down dirt-roads in the jagged mountains to the most incredible waterfall I had yet seen in Mexico. On the way to and back from it we stopped at a family's house and I made tortillas with the women and we ate fried eggs and cactus to go with them. At the waterfall Louis asked Trevor if he wanted to catch some shrimp. After a while I got to try also, but Louis quickly came over and removed the heavy, but not so heavy I couldn't move them myself, rocks for me, and I chuckled and stopped trying. Note that Trevor was not invited to try to make tortillas. So much for progressive gender-roles!
Nina came a couple days later and it was so much fun running away from/into waves with the kids.
Now I am in Portland, saturated in green moss and grey skies. But the rain is not the only difference I percieve. It seems I acclimated to Mexico much more than I realized, and I've made a list of a few points of culture-shock that I'm working to overcome:
1) Water-pressure
2) Not doubting the safety of water; being able to potentially drink tap water; being able to clean vegetables with tap water, etc.
3) Having the right of way when crossing the street.
4) The incessant checking of IDs whenever I want a beer or to enter a bar.
5) Smooth, paved roads that one can drive very fast on without too much concern.
6) Higher prices, obviously.
There are more, but those are the most obvious.
Portland is beautiful, equipped with a bunch of funky neighborhoods. Too many hipsters though. I don't know if it isn't too big of a city for me, but I'll feel it out better this summer.
And tomorrow I head to the HERB PHARM! I'm sooooooo very anxious and excited. I have quite a few more things I'd like to write, but I think I've been writing long enough. Once I've adopted a routine at the herb pharm perhaps there will be more time to include reflections of the internal me rather than my physical whereabouts.
For the last photos of Mexico:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2135556&id=6901865&l=8fa1b5b67d
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2138645&id=6901865&l=f942a6c6c0
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2138649&id=6901865&l=ab70cc9507
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2138655&id=6901865&l=059bb60952
So much love 'til next time,
Shanti shanti shanti
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