She’s heeeeeeere!

The sweetest raw diva you’ll ever meet has graced the world with her presence.

Last night during our Body Enlightenment System teleseminar, many of you heard me cursing my telephone as it rang out during the call. It was AMY!! on her way to the hospital.

The princess has arrived and her name is, Leora.

We love you, Leora.

I’d love to give you more details, but the boss is on LOA! She’s not told us how much, how long or how hard. We have no more details other than, the princess has ARRIVED!

Promise to keep you updated as the deliciously diva soap operas continue.

xox

Tera

Back in Montreal: The Soap Opera Continues…

I had so many emails from people saying how much they appreciated hearing about my New York adventures, and experiences with the Food Network, that I see no reason to stop the soap opera now that I’m back in Montreal.

Yesterday was one of the most beautiful days I’ve had in a long time. It’s funny because I’d actually written a rather moving, melancholy blog post to start the day, but it was gobbled up by the e-critters that roam the web. (They catch the tears that are better spilled in a tissue than online.)

One takes a certain risk putting her heart out on a sleeve in front of thousands of people. Silly girl, you’d think I’d learn to taper my firey self, hold back a bit and keep some mystery, but I’ve just never been good at that. I willingly accept the consequences of living fully. The tears, the pain, the prickly adventures of rumbling through raspberry bushes in a skirt.
*sigh*

When I step back a few feet from my head I see the laundry, the floors, the dusting, the dishes, the unpaid bills, dirty socks, unread books, unfinished projects and infinite possibilities–a constellation of things to do and I wonder some days, “Will ‘balance’ continue to evade me?”

When we look at stars, we’re not trying to identify all of them at the same time. We just sit back and look at the vastness of it all, the complete randomity and chaotic curiosity of it all and we are amazed, impressed, and awed.

“That which is not admired, persists.”

I’ve heard it said differently in the past. That which we resist, persists. But I came across this version recently using the word “admired” and somehow heard it differently–thinking of my laundry, my ex-husband and my stack of unpaid bills.

People have different ways of handling things when the going gets tough. The ones who’ve earned my great respect have always sought to find their personal responsibility in any given situation long before they pointed a finger at someone else to find fault.

Life threw me a few curve balls again recently and I wasn’t wearing my catcher’s mitt.

But yesterday, sporting a bikini, I spent the day admiring a lot of things. I just sat back in the sun to observe the constellation of my life and it WAS beautiful. A few moments of me were all I needed and things just started to slip back into place–the sweet sort of serendipity that makes you feel you’re holding the paintbrush to your own life, again.

After the pool, I slipped  my aqua blue lululemon top  over my bikini, threw a sarong around my waist and made my way to “C’est la Vie” (the healthfood store where I’ll be teaching community classes). How appropriately named, this store was… you ever find that? The little details and words across the page sometimes just feel like important pieces to the puzzle…

Well, I love the owners of this store and so I just walked in and right away was bathed in love and the giggles started to rumble from within and spill all over the place. I just felt “home” again, inside myself–sparkly and bright.

The owner treated me to dinner and Kombucha and got me excited about the projects we’ll be doing there. I’m grinning from ear to ear just thinking about it. I bought three heads of organic lettuce and sauntered home.

As I walked through the park, I just felt “me” again, and suddenly the colors around me were brighter than they had been all week.

As I strolled I nibbled on my lettuce, smiling from ear to ear, and cars would slow down just to look at me. The strangeness of it all, I suppose–a smiling, upright orangutan in a skirt, chewing on lettuce like most chew on a Snickers bar.

I’ve never had so many cute boys turn their heads and it would just make me smile more!

As I looked up the clouds were spectacular and it was a picture perfect image of light streaming up through the clouds–something out of a cheesy angel postcard, but real. I believe life really is what you make it and there are solutions to handle pain, confusion and overwhelm. There’s nothing like a change in perspective, good, honest friends and a head of Romaine lettuce to turn your week around.

I love you, Sunshine, and I’m so glad you stopped by. If you were closer, I’d link arms with you, drag you to the pool and take you out for dilly sushi and lettuce giggles. But since there are so many miles between us, I’ll just send all my sweet smiles and sparkly diva love up to where the sun shines and hope it makes its way to you safely.

Mmmuah! You deserve the very best, you know. You always have.

Arachno…..philia??

Can you believe it isn’t even a word? At least I couldn’t find it in my dictionary. I guess it’s much more common to have arachnophobia. I know I’ve been afraid – no, make that terrified - of spiders for as long as I can remember.

I remember times, as a very young girl, screaming bloody murder at the sight of the littlest spider. This fear was only compounded by the fact that in the Pacific Northwest, where I grew up, there are these things called “wolf spiders” – scary, hairy monsters that are about 2 inches in diameter and leave welts the size of raspberries when they bite.

I remember seeing wolf spiders every place we lived but I was particularly terrorized in the house we moved into when I was 11. I got the attic room – a super cool pad with wall-to-wall carpeting (the ultimate luxury back in the early ‘80’s!) and slanted ceilings. I loved it. And, unfortunately, so did my friends, the wolf spiders; there was a major infestation. My mom tried to come to my rescue, but it seemed for every one she got a swipe at, 3 or 4 new ones would appear.

Unwilling to give up my stylin’ new digs, I resorted to sleeping in turtlenecks, the necks of which I’d pull over my mouth, convinced the creepy buggers were waiting until I fell asleep to have a party in there. Ugh, I think I lost a lot of sleep the couple of years we lived there! Anyway, you get the picture: I was petrified.

Sometime, around when I became a vegetarian, I decided I didn’t want to harm any living creatures if I could help it. I stopped calling on people to do my dirty work (i.e. screaming at the top of my lungs until someone came and killed the darn thing for me) and actually braved capturing spiders in jars and setting them free outside. This was made easier by the fact that we had by now moved across country (and I was no longer plagued by Mr. Wolfie).

In fact, I seemed to avoid any major spider problems for the next many years. That is, until I moved back to the Bay Area….

Once again, we have a super stylin’ pad: situated at the top of a canyon, surrounded by Eucalyptus, Redwood, Pine and Fir trees on 3 sides, our place has much the feel of a tree house. And, once again, it is an absolute haven for spiders.

We moved here shortly after I became pregnant with my son and, shortly after we moved here, my sweetie was bitten on the back of his leg. This bite became slightly necrotic and continued to peel and flake for over a year! He, two and a half years later, still has a big ole scar to prove it.

In a fierce, overly-zealous-new-mother sort of way, I turned primal and decided no spider was getting his fangs near my baby! And so I sent my honey on a killing spree, ordering up executions left and right of every spider I saw. He was more than happy to play my hero and knight in shining armor.
A few months after my son was born (who, to this day, is still unharmed by any spider), I got bitten. What started out as an itchy nuisance, within a day radiated into a huge black and blue bruise in the shape of a bull’s-eye. Well, rumors abound about a “brown recluse” spider in California, capable of causing gangrenous, rotting flesh wounds to its bite victims (and I was convinced this had been what had bitten my sweetie a year before), I totally freaked.

In my hysteria, I rushed to the doctor who, (stifling his laughter, no doubt) explained that there are no poisonous spiders in California except for Black Widows and they tend to hang out in wood piles and under houses, not in them. And, contrary to popular belief, brown recluses are not native to California. Feeling humiliated, I sheepishly slunk out of there with my hand-written “prescription” for calamine lotion and Neosporin….

This was a wake-up call to get a grip on my fear and go back to living in peace with my furry little friends. I also didn’t want to pass my irrational fears onto my son; I want him to grow up in awe of, connected to, and respecting nature and all its various creatures. In my quest to become an arachnophile, I’ve been studying up on spiders and they are quite fascinating – and often beautiful – animals. Not only that, but they play a very important role in our eco-system, keeping populations of other pesky insects and spiders under control; for example, the mosquito, which, given their propensity to spread disease, actually are a threat to humans. But I digress….

Long story short: spiders = good, fear = bad. Although I’m not quite ready to snuggle up to the creepy crawly things yet, I am making strides to overcome my fear. And I can only hope that, with time and peaceful cohabitation, my karmic debt to the spider kingdom will be forgiven.

In the Kitchen and Beyond at the Living Foods Institute

I (pictured here with green apron on) returned home this week after spending an enlightening and fun 10 days at the Living Foods Institute in Atlanta, GA. There’s just so much to write about that it will probably take several blog entries to cover many of the things I’d like to share.

For starters……

On June 13, about 35 participants from across the United States and Canada met at LFI for a 10-day hands-on educational journey of green living. Each morning, after taking a shot of wheatgrass and gathering in the room where the afternoon emotional healing classes would be held, students assembled into the large kitchen under the direction of the phenomenal Raw-Food Chef and LFI Kitchen Director, Debra Mazer (pictured below).

In LFI’s all-organic, living-and-raw-food kitchen, we worked in groups at stations……first preparing green Energy Soup (mixed greens, sunflower sprouts, buckwheat sprouts, lentils, mung beans, avocado, apple and dulse flakes or kelp). Each group worked collectively to prepare four batches of the Energy Soup that would be available to drink/eat throughout the day. After the batches were prepared, we would move on to prepare other recipes (including tasty dressings) that would be part of lunch later that day.

The lunch menu changed each day but always included Vege-Kraut (a fermented food), as well as mixed greens, sunflower sprouts, buckwheat sprouts, mung beans and lentils. Later in the week, when we prepared foods such as raw lasagna, veggie burgers, etc., we could only eat a really small portion of such foods with our salad choices since highly concentrated raw foods were not considered optimum eating for the week. Again, the optimum focus included leafy greens (including sprouts) and Vege-Kraut; quality food was always available in abundance. The rule was that no one should leave there hungry on any given day. Indeed, food was plentiful and satisfying; most days I did not feel the need to eat after 6:00 p.m. — when class ended. (By the way, with all of the greens, needless to say how incredibly tasty a simple red apple tasted during an afternoon snack one day. Another day, we all cheered when we saw watermelon appear for that day’s snack.)

In the Kitchen

Although I’m not an always-want-to-be-in-the-kitchen type of girl, I found that the couple of times I had those don’t-feel-like-being-in-the-kitchen moments at LFI, the feeling instantly disappeared once I entered the high-vibrational kitchen there. The sight of beautiful brightly colored healthy foods and their divine scents automatically shifted my feeling at the time. The kitchen was an amazing place to be at LFI. We often sang and danced as we chopped and blended foods, etc. Some of us even did the Bump (remember that dance?) as we busily followed the recipes in our recipe binder that Debra had first explained to us. Debra — with wheatgrass facial in session — is pictured here. What a raw-some princess she is!

LFI’s kitchen is undoubtedly a place of pure joy and love…..just as every other inch of LFI is! What made the time there even more meaningful was that no food was prepared until we had sent out a prayer of gratitude for our blessings, and no food was eaten until we had said affirmations and given thanks once again!

Emotional Healing Classes

The need to deeply understand that our power is in our present moment was a huge piece of our emotional healing journey. So, each afternoon, Jane Holmes, director at LFI, took us on a journey of emotional healing to help us learn to better live in the moment. Jane has quite a gift in this area of teaching — blended with a heart-wrenching yet heart-warming story of her own that unveils her path of emotional healing. It becomes clear throughout the class that Jane has deeply lived/is living what she’s teaching. Intertwined in Jane’s afternoon sessions were guest speakers, such as Carol Christa, energy healing therapist; Susan Boone, DNA healing therapist; Kathryn Lawson, chiropractor (who refers to herself as a “Spiritual Chiropractor”); and Joe Kasper, health coach and creator of 22-minute workout, and former LFI student.

Ronald M. Dressler, dentist at Mercury Free Dental Care, even spoke to our group about the critical importance of removing mercury fillings from our mouths. Serious business! And, Brenda Cobb, owner of LFI, made a joyous appearance on two days of the course and wowed us with her story about the healthy lifestyle protocol we were following — the very protocol that cured her of breast and cervical cancer after her diagnosis in 1999. Brenda closed each of her sessions with a group dance of Hokey Pokey.

“You put your right foot in, you put your right foot out, you put your right foot in and shake it all about. You do the Hokey Pokey and you turn yourself around. That’s what it’s all about….” Remember that?

Jane’s Potent Affirmations

Jane’s affirmations for “student angels” as she so lovingly referred to us, did a fantastic job of helping set the tone for our mornings and afternoons at LFI. Jane (pictured here), full of powerful, meaningful affirmations, took us on an affirmation journey a couple of times each day! Two of her lessons that really stand out in my mind at this particular moment are: “What other people think of me is none of my business…”(for those of us who waste energy worrying about what other people think of us).

And, Jane’s saying to release folks to their “greatest and highest power/good” (or something like that) quickly became a favorite of mine. I gained many tools for not letting other people’s energy suck up my own, and quickly “releasing them to their greatest and highest power” helps with that. Additionally, Carol Christa, the energy therapist mentioned above, taught us to visualize a rose when we need to keep other’s people energy out of our space. I’ve tried it a few times and it was worked! Yes!

Oh, Oh! Talking about energy, we were reminded repeatedly during the course that every thing is energy. Every thing! During the energy/emotional classes, I often thought deeply about my husband and son back in Florida, and I silently sent out love energy to them. I believed that when I sent those vibes their way, they would indeed feel it since energy can travel across the miles.

So, one morning, as Jane did her usual opening of inspirational intention setting for the day, I released a certain love energy to my guys at home. A few hours later, after finishing up in the kitchen, I picked up my cell phone to step outside, take a walk, and call my husband. I noticed, however, that he had left me a text message: “I miss you and love you.” I felt very warm-hearted when reading those words at that particular moment and later realized he sent it not long after I had released those vibes to him mentioned above. When I later explained to him about the energy I sent his way, he excitedly chimed in: “Yeah, I was just here doing something and was suddenly struck with a feeling of how much I missed you and loved you. It was as if the feeling suddenly came out of the light bulb.”

See, I told you every thing is energy — and that energy can travel!

Graduation

My guys took the 5-hour drive to Atlanta to be a part of the graduation party that concludes each 10-day class at LFI. Whew, LFI was packed with folks that day, and my classmates and I had prepared a kitchen full of raw and living food for guests to sample while there.

During the party, as I stood at one area of the kitchen serving the Banana Strawberry Nut Cobbler as folks exited the kitchen with their plates full of raw and living food samples, a guest approached me and said she recognized me from Pear Magazine. Needless to say I was elated to meet a Pear Magazine subscriber in the kitchen of LFI. How cool is that? Thank you, Valerie D….I enjoyed meeting you on Sunday.

At the graduation, each graduate gave a testimonial about the program to a diverse audience. As I made my way to the stage, Adele Northrup (pictured here in white shirt), owner of Virginia Highland Bed and Breakfast — the place where I had stayed during the course — handed me this beautiful flower. I ended up using it as part of my testimonial….explaining that the green stem reminded me of the abundance of greens we ate for 10 days, the yellow of the flower reminded me that we are all bright lights currently shining or just waiting to shine, and the inner part of the flower reminded me that we are all part of the circle of life. These were some of the invaluable lessons reiterated to students during our 10 days at LFI.

My affirmations for today:

~ I eat high-quality organic greens to support my health journey.

~ I am powerfully bright, because God doesn’t make anything dull.

~ We are all ONE.

With So Much Love,

Penny

I'm Hungry!

For about two hours on Saturday, I felt like a superstar. I kinda liked it.

On that wet, gray winter’s afternoon, I headed to our local bookstore to attend a book signing– my own! You see, last year, I was asked to update a children’s recipe book that had been published originally in 1984. I’m a book editor, specializing in food books, and being a mum, the publishers thought I’d be great at a book like this. I ended up completely rewriting it, and most of the recipes are of my own creation. The book was published in Australia in March this year, and its new title is I’m Hungry, Let’s Cook!

I wrote it with eight- to 12-year-old children in mind, and asked heaps of mums and children what they’d like in a really good cookbook. So, the result is a cute little book that will hopefully inspire kids to get into the kitchen, and to use really good-quality, fresh (and organic) ingredients. It’s a conventional cookbook, in that it features cooked recipes and a few “treats”, but I did squeeze in a few raw recipes.

I made sure that the recipes are descriptive enough that kids who are more “kitchen savvy” could make them on their own, and I emphasized the pleasure to be gained from making food for others as well as for themselves. I really think that teaching children to make food is a win-win for families – the children gain confidence in a new skill, as well as the satisfaction of creation, and parents get to put their feet up for while (once children’s skills are honed – especially the skill of tidying up the kitchen!).

There’s been a great response to the book (a couple of reprints already), and we thought a local book signing would be a great idea. So I baked up a batch of my super Crannie-Oatie-Chockie Cookies – a recipe from the book – and let myself be chauffeur-driven to the bookstore. The chauffeur was a lovely chap called Darren. He’s also my husband…

I set myself up with a few copies of the book, and got out my special new book-signing pen. The cookies (and the book) attracted quite a bit of attention. Most memorable is the boy for whom I first signed a book – he had been waiting around for me to arrive, and was quite in awe as I signed the book for him. What a sweetie! A few of my friends and family members also dropped by, which was fun… In fact, that’s my (young enough to be my older sister) aunt in the picture with me, as well as her baby boy, Mitchell.

So, as the afternoon drew to a close, I distributed the last of the cookies to the appreciative bookstore staff and headed off into the sunset (um … drizzly evening). It was so great to connect with people, and to give out a little bit of love. I feel privileged that all the hard work I put into the book could receive such wonderful recognition – if only our job of motherhood could receive public acclaim!

You know, a girl sure could get used to being a superstar…

PS At this stage, the book is only available in Australia, so if you live in Oz then you’re in luck! However, discussions are in progress for possible UK and US distribution.

Lavender-scented Love Notes

If you don’t know Keely, she’s our customer service GODDESS and this morning I had read one of the emails that she’d put together for our Body Enlightenment System clients who are kicking off  the BES Summer version.

The message was brilliant–oozing love and diva vibes. So when I wrote to tell her how much I appreciated it, she sent me this response. It was soooo cute, I simply couldn’t resist posting it here to demonstrate all the love, care, inspiration and attention that goes into some of the little things we do around here.

 ”Oh if only you knew what it took to get that message!!!  <G> I was laying on the Migun (her heated massage bed) bed in one of the private rooms at the center when it started to write itself.  It was wonderful … it was perfect … it was like I was channeling a writer!!!  Then I got up, did some grocery shopping with Bob.  Went home and answered e-mails, and then sat down to write the broadcast. 

nothing. 

more nothing. 

I made Bob turn off all noise making appliances and laid on the couch with some very soft music playing and wearing a lavender scented eye mask.  It took almost a half an hour but I finally got a bit of the muse back, and once I was able to start writing, it flowed much better, but I am telling you … it took over two hours to pull that out of my head!!!  <G>

Kiwi Kisses!
Keely

You reallly can’t get cuter than that!

We’re so lucky to have you, Keely! Thanks for who you are and what you do to make our adventures that much more amazing around here.

Looooove and hugs,

Tera and Amy

A Raw Food Feast on National T.V.

What a week! I’m glad it’s over. Today I head back to Montreal on a train. I love taking the train because it gives me those rare, undistracted moments to just get stuff done. It’s like an escape–my office on wheels with gorgeous scenery rolling out through the windows.

So, last night we prepared a multiple course meal for millions of people. At least, that’s how it felt knowing that The Food Network will be sharing it with so many people in October this year. Of course, the food preparation started the night before. I was up until a very unfriendly hour grinding and dehydrating all kinds of goodies.

I bought a dehydrator about 4 years ago, but didn’t actually use it until this May! And personally, I don’t like eating this way at all. But I have to admit, at last night’s dinner we had some long time meat eaters and they were MORE than impressed with the spread we had put out. Tim’s best friend, Dave, really enjoyed the meal and asked when he could do it again!

That’s a success. I don’t care how many food combining rules it broke, the people loved it and were inspired to consider a healthIER way of living.

So here’s a peak at the menu we put together:

Dinner started with Strawberry Agave Lemonade. YYummmm!!

The we had two kinds of crackers and 3 dips:

Corn, Pea and Cashew Crackers.

Green Bean Dilly Crackers (sooo good)

And a Guacamole, Bruschetta and Raw “Cheeze” Spread.

Then we followed these appetizers with a gorgeous green salad with fresh greens from the garden. The presentation was exceptional, if I do say so myself. I picked ferns, wild flowers, sliced starfruit and strawberries and made everything look AMAZING! We sprinkled hemp and different grated vegetables over the salads. It was so artfully presented, I gotta pat my back for this one.

After this, we pulled out the Portabello Mushroom Patties (rich, and very satisfying). Amazing flavor with sundried tomatoes and more ingredients than my weary brain can recall right now.

The next course was raw pizza.

Sensational. People loved it and it looked GORGEOUS. I think some days I could just eat the presentation. It’s definitely nourishing in a whole other way.

Dessert.

No meal for millions would be complete without dessert.

We made Oat Cream Cookies and they were a HUGE hit. Then, when we rolled out the fudge balls and a chorus of moaning sang out around the table. It was OUT OF THIS WORLD. Tim whipped it together in 5 minutes or less. I rolled it, coated it in cocoa powder and piled them in a bed of fresh strawberries from the garden.

WOW! I can’t say much more about it. It was a gorgeous meal, though I personally spent most of it washing a mountain of dishes so people wouldn’t be tempted to help out at the end of the meal. I also had been licking fingers and nibbling since VERY late the night before. I was STUFFED before the meal ever started. (Not too stuffed to sit down at the end and polish off a couple chocolate fudge balls, though! )

So, that is the food adventure with the Food Network, and the film crew left after a couple quick interviews at the end of the meal!

Now…

I know you’re all wondering how Tim did on the mountain.

Athletes, LISTEN UP! This is important!!

Tim started out VERY strong, a great pace head to head with the top finishers. At mile 3 he completely ran out of fuel. He had SERIOUSLY under-eaten for a race this tough, and had treated his meals leading up to this event as he would have the little races he does on the weekends. He was worried about stomach stress and having food in his system for the race, but the truth is, this is one of the most difficult races in the Ccountry, and he was terribly underfed to take it on.

I’ll keep the juicy details out of it, but when he came into the finish line, things were NOT looking good. Of course, when I saw he didn’t come in the top 20 (where he’d slotted himself to come in) my heart started pumping in my throat. I knew something was up. Then, he stumbled in 137th place and two first aid volunteers grabbed him on either side of his body and injected him with some sugar and water FAST! It wasn’t a pretty site.

All that having been said, some lessons we learn the hard way.

He finished. That’s amazing, and even given his condition, he finished in the top 10% of racers. Now he’s created an opportunity for a whole new level of performance to be reached. He’s really wondering what this will mean for his performance. The last big race at Whiteface, his heart rate was soooo much lower than the first and second place winners, but his legs gave out. Sooo, maybe this was another case of not eating enough? Guess we’ll find out.

There’s no question Tim throws the top off what’s possible for the human body and I’m excited to see where he’ll take this.

As for me, I throw the top of what a multitasking woman with a whole lot of love and passion for life and other people can do. I was, as many women are, a brilliant background worker to this whole affair.

We, the women, gracefully glide through the backdrop of life, lifting up the heros that take center stage. And we don’t ask more than to see our loved ones succeed. Every mother knows this. I got more pleasure washing dishes and serving and decorating the food than I could possibly have had seated at the table. It’s not the spotlight that excites me, is the quiet whispers in the ears of the star performers telling them, “You can do it!” that lights my spirit on fire!

So, that’s the show, folks. I’ll be riding a rickety train to my Montreal home and getting ready for the sweetest cuddles I’ve ever known…

I have a little ache in my tummy, because I miss them.

Love and gratitude,

Tera

I’m Down with Downward Facing Dog!

It’s no new news that yoga is a great exercise during pregnancy, but in addition to improving flexibility, maintaining or building core strength, and otherwise preparing the body for labor, various poses, or asanas, can be beneficial in alleviating many common pregnancy complaints. Yoga, being a holistic practice – it addresses the mental, physical, and emotional/spiritual aspects of wellbeing – makes it particularly ideal during this time.

Here are some of the many ways yoga specifically helps to relieve common pregnancy woes. (Note: Please be sure to practice these poses with a qualified instructor trained in prenatal yoga, or follow a prenatal yoga program, as some of the poses need to be modified during pregnancy).

• Anemia – Downward facing dog, twists, and pranayama (breathing exercises) have proved beneficial in treating anemia, a common condition in pregnancy.

• Backache – Twists, triangle pose, extended side angle stretches, cat’s breath, downward facing dog (modified), and savasana (side-lying after 4th month) can really help alleviate backache.

• Lack of Concentration – Downward facing dog and side-lying savasana can really help with “pregnancy brain”.

• Constipation – Triangle pose, extended side-angle stretch, Warrior I and Warrior II, and twists all help to keep things moving!

• Edema – Triangle pose, downward facing dog, twists, and legs up the wall can help reduce swelling of extremities.

• Fatigue – Downward facing dog, pranayama, side-lying savasana, twists, child’s pose (modified), and seated hamstring stretch can really give an energy boost.

• Headache – Sitting twists, side-lying savasana, head to knee bends, seated hamstring stretch, and pranayama can help take a load off the mind!

• Insomnia – Downward facing dog, pranayama, and head to knee stretches can help insure a good nights sleep.

• Stress – Downward facing dog, head to knee stretches, seated hamstring stretch, and pranayama can help allay anxiety and release pregnancy-related tension.

• Varicose Veins – Head to knee stretches can help minimize varicose veins, a common pregnancy condition.

I have found much relief from practicing yoga during my pregnancy, most notably in increased energy and improved mental outlook. It has also been a fun bonding experience with my toddler – he is really good at downward facing dog and warrior I! – and it has helped me to feel more connected to the new baby inside. I highly recommend it.

Namaste~

Ardis

Mt. Washington: Running Raw Up The Deadliest Mountain in the U.S.

Well, right now I’m plugging away at my computer at the Swiss Chalet Village Inn in Intervale, NH, where Tim will race against the very best runners in the world, and definitely the country, up the infamous Mt. Washington.

Mt. Washington is the biggest mountain in the North Eastern United States. It’s 6,288ft tall with an average of 11% grade (except for the last part at the finish line which has a 22% grade). At the top of Mt. Washington marks the spot where the highest wind speed ever recorded on Earth has been found!!!

It has the most extreme weather conditions in North America and kills more people every year than any other mountain. It can snow any month of the year there and the fact that it has its own weather systems, means that at the drop of a pin, harsh winds can come ripping through without notice, disorienting people and bringing them to their death.

You can watch a really interesting video of how Tim did last year here!

This year, his ENTIRE race will be filmed by the Food Network. He’ll be wearing a microphone for his entire race. Some of the best runners, not only in the US, but in the world, come here to take on the mountain but many

It’s an invitation only race. Thousands apply and few are chosen to actually compete. Last year Tim placed 52nd, but was only training 20-30 miles a week.

Leading up to this race, he’s been training up to 90 miles.

I know this isn’t really diva talk, but it’s definitely impacting the entire raw food community, what Tim is doing. The Food Network has told Tim, that his story will be the only one from the Raw Food Community that they will take on for this series of stories they’re doing on food and transformation.

Anyway, needless to say, I’m nervous.

When a runner races, ever little thing can make a difference. The sleep, the food, the tightness in his legs, any thing can go wrong, and anything can make it a success, too, I suppose.

It’s race day.

Tim just polished off a smoothie:

1 cup coconut water

2 medjool dates

1 peach

1 banana

Let’s hope it fuels him for a successful day on the deadliest mountain in the United States.

Cross your fingers, send your love, the cameras are on! At 10:00 am EST a cannon will fire and the runners will be on their way!

Love and lots of hugs,

Tera

Do you use TOILET PAPER?

Strange question. To most people in western civilization, that is. But actually, toilet paper isn’t actually even known in many parts of the world. Toilet paper actually came into existence around 569 AD in CHINA. In the MING Dynasty it was even perfumed. In countries like Indonesia where people are too poor to afford it they use their hands- and Muslim countries use their LEFT hands for washing and their right hand for interacting with people. In Ancient Rome a sponge on a stick was used and then reinserted into a bucket with salt water. Elsewhere WOOL, HEMP, LACE, or even WOOD SHAVINGS, GRASS, STICKS, LEAVES, FRUIT SKINS, MAIZE HUSKS, STONES and SEA SHELLS (OUCH!) are all common.

It has been said that the Buddha’s excretions smelled like flowers, and I have noticed that my infants waste didn’t have a foul odour until they began solids… What is fascinating to me (I used to be a Colon Hydro therapist so I find this function incredibly vital and interesting- after all, the colon is the sewage system of our body- and we can all imagine what would happen if the sewage backed up in our homes or cities- DISASTER!) is how I have also noticed there are times when I actually DON’T NEED TOILET PAPER- I am sure you have had those times too, when you wipe, and it is perfectly clean!

This fascinates me. I have polled my own family and they all regularly experience this.

I am convinced it could ALWAYS be like this and it is how our Creator intended for us. Look at the animals- they pooh clean and go! No need to wipe and use toilet paper that has to be disposed of – another problem.

Of course our emotions and stress levels affect our state of health and therefore our pooh too, but nothing more than our DIET. Anyone can do an experiment and clean up their act- literally! Just by cleaning up their diet. I recently bumped into my twin brother and his lovely wife (she looks just like Jennifer Lopez) at a HEALTH CONVENTION. She was sooo happy to run into me because as she put it “Shannon, I’m sooo confused! There is so much here and I can’t determine the good from the crap- HELP!” Well, I over-simplified it, but this works for me at those things “If its RAW, good, if its not, crap” as we were having this conversation we noticed my brother, her hubs, was very engaged in a discussion with a salesman at a booth so we strolled over to see what had his attention. It was a newfangled COMMODE that has a bidet, and a dryer, and some other functions that he was excitedly expounding on to his wife- I started to S-L-O-W-L-Y back up from this embarrassing family moment- HAHA. She caught on and was like “Sounds interesting, Hun” and we practically RAN around the corner in search of something, anything more Hip than that! It was hysterical!

Then I saw this piece on Oprah about a poor guy who had OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) and hadn’t used his own bathroom for 5 years or something because he is afraid of germs so he squats outside in the bush. Well, ‘good on him!’ I say! He’s got it right. Toilets are constructed all wrong- we are supposed to be in a squatting position to properly defecate, not in a sitting position which pinches off the proper evacuation. And bathrooms are a germ bed- the outdoors makes so much more sense… But of course they ‘cured’ him and now he uses his bathroom. When we buy our dream home on a piece of land, you know where you’ll find me!

Shannon Leone