Letting Go

It's spring! We have made it through the darkness of winter and into the light. This is the time to renew hopes and dreams, honor new growth and open ourselves to the unlimited possibilities and miracles of the season. As we take time to honor the changes in the earth we see that even though the season is the same year after year, we are not the same. We have grown and with growth comes change. Spring is an invitation to plant the seeds of intention. Spring is a dance where we plant the seeds to cultivate our lives. It's a time to clear out the old and bring in the new. The Equinox is a time to get rid of the old beliefs that weigh us down and create barriers to healing. It's a time to bring balance into our lives, eat fresh green plants and celebrate the rebirth of earth!

Spring is a time to let go of the control we try to have over our lives and just let go! It's a time for spontaneity, to let the child in you come out to play. Here are a few simple spring rituals ......

1. Create a spring altar by collecting bits of nature to bring inside the house to enjoy.

2. Start a journal.

3. Spend more time connecting with the earth, start a garden whether it's in a actual plot or in containers.

4. Simplify your life, clear out the clutter.

5. Make appropriate dietary changes. (see recipe below for a refreshing spring beverage)

6. Enjoy a bath with sea salts.

7. Renew or begin a daily mediation practice.

8. Begin a daily 15 minute ritual of yoga.

9. Indulge in a "do nothing" day.

10. For increased health and vitality discover your plant ally, it's probably growing right outside your door!

I had some random thoughts while cycling home tonight on a peculiarly warm new moon evening, so thought I'd jot them down here before I forgot them.

I was hit with this idea that those of us with environmental illnesses (and that includes almost all illnesses on this entire planet) are like gauges for the health of the earth. When we break down, it's a sign that there's something out of order -- not just in our bodies, but in the air, in our food that comes from the earth, or in our water that flows throughout the planet.

I wish I could become a modern-day shaman who was meant to be concerned with the health of all living things and of the planet and who was recognized for her purpose in this concern. .

Norie

Those of us with more severe and "refined" intolerances (by this I mean with intolerances that we can directly relate to a source), I consider to be like the primitive man who had to fight for his survival out in the harsh wild - in a time long before "civilization" as we know it. Like the primitive man, we have to be pretty much constantly on-guard -- any mistakes and we'll compromise our ability to fight through to the next trial. And like the primitive man, we have to be suspicious of all persons and living things, for there is always the possibility that they might threaten our very being.

It seems no matter how much my health has improved, the most important aspect of my life remains my health and that of others -- as they are a symbol of the health of the environment -- where all the things I love exist.

The saddest part of my reality is that to most others -- friends and family alike -- I tend to appear as a health fanatic, and I have to suppress these concerns of mine in our communications, lest I create too much of a distance between us (as I have already done with the friends that live too far away to be able to seamlessly rekindle our friendship in this new light.). But the need to talk about health has become so urgent and I feel in some instances, even, I'm running out of time...the very health of my sister, my nephew, my father, my mother, my brother-in-law - and countless friends who are ill in some way but keep the fact deeply hidden as though merely speaking about them would start a plague.

I wish I could become a modern-day shaman who was meant to be concerned with the health of all living things and of the planet and who was recognized for her purpose in this concern.

I just love ginger ale, but can't drink the sugar laden ones sold in stores. I had a glass in a vegan restaurant the other day and thought it was awesome. Here's my version.

2 cups chilled naturally carbonated mineral water (or room temperature, as you like!)
1 - 1 inch piece of ginger, freshly grated
1 tsp. organic lemon or orange zest, freshly grated
a pinch of freshly ground organic black pepper
your choice of sweetener (I use 1 Tb honey)

P.S. Ginger is used in almost 2/3rd of all traditional Chinese and Japanese herbal medicine formulas, touted as being able to "rescue a devastated yang" - It warms the energy channels, is a great detoxifier and is anti parasitic (it dissolves parasites and their eggs according to one source!) Also, grated and made into a compress, ginger makes a great topical painkiller.

Norie is a seed collector and experimental organic gardener in southwest Tokyo who dabbles in Japanese herbal medicine, organic rice farming, natural plant dyeing and the art of living slowly.