A Wonderful Winter Soup

Winter has officially arrived in Wisconsin with our first snow along with dropping temperatures yesterday.  Now it’s time to pull out the soups.  I love soups and stews for 3 reasons:  easy one pot meal, warm and fuzzy food on cold days, and it’s a great way to get the daily quotient of veggies.  In fact, I get so zealous about this last reason that my soups usually turn into stews!

So yes, I am making soup for dinner tonight and wanted to share one of my tried and true favorites.  I use the recipe as a basic guideline and make adjustments based on my pantry, my tastes or my physical needs.

Gypsy Soup by Mollie Katzen

• 2 T olive oil (I use ghee)
• 2 c chopped onion (I use 1 onion…not sure how much it measures but is convenient)
• 2 cloves crushed garlic
• 2 c chopped, peeled sweet potato or winter squash (tonight I used yellow squash)
• 1/2 c chopped celery
• 3/4 c tomatoes (I skipped tonight because I didn’t want them)
• 1 can chickpeas
• 4-6 c stock or water
• dash cinnamon and cayenne
• 2 t paprika
• 1 t turmeric
• 1 t basil
• 1 t salt (I skipped)
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 T tamari or shoyu

In a soup kettle saute onions, garlic, celery and sweet potatoes in fat for about 5 minutes.  Add seasonings, except tamari, and the stock/water and simmer, covered for 15 minutes.  Add remaining veggies and chickpeas and simmer another 10 minutes or so until all veggies are tender to your liking.  Add the tamari and parsley (optional) at the end before serving.

Note: the veggies are flexible.  Any orange veggie can be combined with any green veggie.  Tonight I added brussel sprouts and green beans along with the celery.

Got a favorite soup recipe?  Share it!

The Power of Words in Creating and Communication

There is a childhood saying that “sticks and stones can hurt my bones but words will never hurt me.”  As an adult, I know that the exact opposite is true.  While sticks and stones can certainly cause physical damage, sometimes mild sometimes severe, those wounds will usually heal fairly well.  On the other hand, words penetrate deeply into the heart, psyche and soul, causing damage that can last for years.  Words have significant power, not only in communicating with others but also in communicating with yourself through which you create your reality.

Words are the second stage in creation, the first being the thought or belief behind the word.  By saying the word out loud, you bring that belief behind the word energetically into the world.  From the word, energy flows and action follows.  And an aspect of your reality is created.  If your reality isn’t what you desire, start by looking at your beliefs.  And the easiest way to see your beliefs is in the reflection of your words.  Watch your words and you will find your clues.  And once you identify the belief reflected by the words, you can begin to modify your belief so that it better serves you by changing the words.

I had a client recently who did just this.  She is newly married and she and her husband are learning how to communicate effectively with each other.  In listening to her speak, we identified a couple of strong statements and beliefs which she was holding about their communication.  The main one was “communication has always been a problem.”  While that statement reflects their past track record, it also has an energetic implication that it always will be a problem.  And as such, she has been viewing any of their communications as a struggle which was creating anxiety and leading to many less than satisfactory discussions between them.

To change the space in which my client was holding communication, she played with finding a new sentence that reflected that their conversations weren’t where she wanted them to be but also held the possibility for change.  She flipped the above statement about communication always being a problem to “my communications with my husband are evolving.”  And as she repeated this phrase, I could actually witness the change in her energy through how she was holding her physical body.  She went from sitting with her legs and arms tightly crossed and leaning forward on her seat in agitation, to being able to sit back in a relaxed, open posture.  Even her voice quality changed.  All this “just” from changing the words.

But words have energy and what you say is powerful.  My client is continuing to work on new strategies for communication, but by changing an underlying belief around that communication pattern, she already brings a different energy to their discussions, feel less stress inside of her, and has opened the door to new possibilities.

If you’d like to explore more about the power of words, consider joining me at on Wednesday, December 9^th, 6:30-7:45 pm for a class on “The Power of the Mind: Channeling your Words and Thoughts Effectively.”  See registration details at http://www.jamiedurner.com/cworkshops.htm and begin to powerfully create with your conscious word choices.

Sometimes It Is Just Physical

As a BodyMind coach, I often help individuals explore the deeper messages underneath the physical symptoms which are keeping them in a cycle of chronic imbalance.  And yet, at other times, the symptoms or pain really can just be physical.  While tissues do store emotions, memory, and mental patterning, they also reflect good old muscular tension brought about through daily activities, weekend warrior overdoing momentum, or short-term misuse of the body.

I recently had a client for whom this example proved to be true.  Although Susie (not her real name) came in for BodyMind Coaching and we did uncover many connecting pieces to her larger goals, as she reached the end of her course of sessions, she still had residual constant pain in her right hip and leg.   Although she had been working with a chiropractor and I had also been using CranioSacral Therapy during our sessions, she wasn’ t finding any long lasting change. 

Although Susie hadn’t asked for soft tissue massage work as part of her coaching, which is an option with my clients, during our last session I suggested she might incorporate a bit of this modality to see if we could affect any change in her pain.  I have seen the phenomena before – a person who has tried other forms of treatment for pain finds significant release through massage.  And this proved to the be the case with Susie.  After just one session, she enjoyed a week free of pain – something that hadn’t happened for several years.

 Now, I’m not saying that the massage was the magical cure-all or that it was necessarily a better treatment.  Because in reality, what she had been doing before very likely could have played a role in having this particular massage be effective – kind of like you trying to unscrew a jar lid for 5 minutes then the person you hand it to opens it on the first try.  However, it does highlight the point that sometimes what needs to be released truly is just the muscles – the physical tension. 

Are you feeling tight?  Get a pre-holiday massage so you can enjoy the holidays with less stress!  Want to keep that stress down?  Take advantage of the holiday special and buy a package of 10 massages and get the 11th free.  Call my office at 262-782-1616 to get yours today.  And yes, they can be shared within the family so spread the love.

A New Twist On Pasta Sauce

Pasta makes for a great, quick meal but the heavy dairy Alfredo sauces or the rich tomato sauces aren’t always desirable or don’t fit you specific health needs.  For an alternative new twist on a pasta sauce that has the extra bonus of protein from the beans, try Pasta Fazoul over your favorite noodles.  As your food is your primary nutrition and key to keeping you healthy, it is always nice to find healthy recipes that also blend with the often rushed schedules of today’s world.

Pasta Fazoul Ingredients:

• 1 Tbls butter, oil or ghee
• 3 cloves garlic, pressed
• 2 cans great northern beans (or make you own from dried beans)
• 1/4-1/3 cup pesto, to taste
• 1 lemon, juiced
• chicken broth
• parmesan cheese, optional
• lemon pepper, to taste
• 2 Tbls chopped parsley, for topping

Saute the garlic in the butter or oil for a couple minutes until cooked without being overly brown, stirring regularly.  Pour in the chicken broth so that the pan is 1/2 full.  Simmer at a medium boil to reduce the sauce until the pan is 1/3 full.  Add the rinsed beans and cook 5 minutes, mashing them against the pan as they soften.  Stir in the pesto, lemon, lemon pepper and extra parmesan cheese and cook for a couple minutes.  You can add more spices or pesto for deeper flavor.  The sauce will thicken as it cools.  Serve hot over noodles and top with parsley.

Let me know what you think and feel free to share any quick and healthy recipes of your own.

Freedom To Choose Your Food: The Raw Milk Issue

This week you have the opportunity to vote for freedom to choose your food by telling your Wisconsin assembly and state representatives to support the Kreitlow/Danou raw milk bill LRB3242/3, ideally by November 27.  Whether or not you choose to buy raw milk is not the issue.  The real issue is what as a consumer you are allowed to buy today.  Because in Wisconsin and other states, you are not allowed to buy raw milk.

Why are you not allowed to buy raw milk? 

Some in the government and department of agriculture claim that it is because it isn’t safe.  A local farm was recently ordered to quit allowing their cow owners to pick up their raw milk after an outbreak of the campylobacter bacteria that was reportedly connected to raw milk, despite the fact that the milk tested negative for this bacteria. This bacteria, along with others like E Coli and Salmonella, is also connected with meat but the meat producers are not shut down.  So the health argument doesn’t quite make sense to me. 

Likewise, the issue of consumer protection for raw milk doesn’t make sense to me considering that the government allows individual to make health choices about buying cigarettes and alcohol, factors that not only don’t nourish health but are known to cause harm.  Why is it ok for consumers to be responsible enough to make some choices but not others?

Raw milk has many benefits.  For those who are dairy senstive, raw milk is often easier to digest and does not create the same sensitivities.  It also offers good flora and fauna that has not been killed through the heating process.  And for those who choose to eat consciously, raw milk usually comes from small farms who treat the animals and land with care and use holistic farming practices versus the modern factory farming methods.

But more important than the benefits of raw milk, in my opinion, is the right to choose how as an individual you get to feed yourself.  Already organic foods have come under subtle distortion from large agribusiness who want to jump on the popular profit bandwagon but do not necessarily truly want to follow high organic standards.  And other companies like Monsanato are trying to control seeds viability so individuals can’t gather and use their own seeds from plants.  Will there come a day when you will be told what you can and cannot grow in your home garden?  I hope not but it does seem that the very agencies who are supposed to safeguard our health might be more swayed by large business profits rather than the individual needs.

I do not claim to know all the reasons why raw milk has been prevented from being sold. 

I do know that those of us in Wisconsin have the chance to stand up for the RIGHT TO CHOOSE by telling our representatives to support the the Kreitlow/Danou raw milk bill LRB3242/3.  This is only for Wisconsin residents and one vote per household member of age.  If you would like to preserve your freedom for food…and other freedoms…I encourage you to act today.

Are You Holding Someone Else’s Expectation

Many times in BodyMind coaching my client discovers that what on the surface appears to be a restriction or a block, can actually be an external expectation that she is subconsciously holding.  These expectations may come from a specific person or they might come from your culture or a sub-group such as an organization, company, or even your extended family traditions.

I had a client recently who discovered just such an expectation, which in her case was around exercise.  My client came to coaching to be able to function better in her life, specifically in managing a pattern of anxiety.  Part of this management revolved around the balance in her daily activities in taking care of her family and herself.  Within a couple sessions, she had a new anxiety tool kit in place and was functioning significantly better.  It was at this point that she choose to explore how to make exercise a more consistent factor in her self care.

As we looked at her exercise patterns, what kept coming up was that exercise didn’t make the top of her priority list yet she had a continuous underlying message that she “should” be exercising more often.  As we delved into the should and what the exercise should be and look like, she found that both her background as a nurse and her husband’s way of exercising had created expectations about what exercise should be for her…but that deep down she didn’t fully agree with them for herself.  Just by seeing the origin of the expectation, she was able to begin to look at the role SHE wanted exercise to be in her life.  She flipped the external expectation to a personal intention.  And with that change, she changed the energy around how she felt about exercise. 

She is now exploring the idea that exercise doesn’t have to be the same and have a rigid look or feel.  Rather, she is looking at how exercise can fit into her life with flexible ease, as part of a natural desire.  I’m confident that through her realizations and change in perceptions that she will develop a new, empowered relationship with exercise to fit her own needs.  And the critical component in making this change was the recognition that she was holding someone else’s expectation.

Are you feeling stuck?  If so, look and see if you have a hidden expectation lurking beneath the surface!

Many Strands Woven Into A Pattern

I was working with a client last week who discovered something I already knew…that within a single pattern there are many different strands woven together and that each strand needs to be examined and acknowledged in order to move forward in a new way.

My client, Jane (not client’s real name), came for BodyMind Coaching because she didn’t like the way she responded with others and how she came across in her communications.  She was also experiencing a high amount of anxiety from her interaction and was wanting to develop new skills around communication and feel less inner tension.    Jane was fully committed and invested in changing this pattern, which is a key factor in succeeding.  So, from the outside this sounded like a perfectly reasonable and doable goal.

Initally she had great success with new skills she learned with me and was feeling less anxious and more confident inside.  Then she returned to work, which for her right now is within the family business, and the old pattern returned with a vengence.  She came in feeling distressed and wondering how she would ever be able to make a true change.

Her experience is quite normal.  Many patterns have been around for a long time and are deeply entrenched within you.  Therefore, creating a new pattern requires patience, time, and consistency with putting your energy into the new pattern which will replace the one you no longer want.  However, before you can transition into your new pattern, you need to be aware that there are layers or strands of belief within the old pattern that you need to identify and explore before you can move forward.

For Jane, she discovered two other strands in our last session.  Underneath the anxiety, she realized that she had a belief that the anxiety served her through providing a motivating force for change.  However, on further inspection, she realized that rather than moving her forward, the anxiety only served to keep her agitated and unhappy but didn’t get her out of the situations she doesn’t like.  Realizing that, she was able to release the belief that anxiety was required to make a change.

Then we explored a bit more because Jane still didn’t feel completely comfortable without the anxiety.  And as we explored, vital clues about her communication style rose to the surface, namely that her family uses a high degree of emotion in their communication to reflect a sense of importance or caring.  The message that she received growing up and still today within the family business is that if she isn’t responding with emotion and agitation to an issue, she is not taking the matter seriously.  Aha!  She found the root of the pattern which she had unconsciously agreed to as a child but have never fully realized. 

She has now found the critical elements in her pattern and is exploring what to do next to create a new pattern.  Without understanding all of these strands, however, she would not know what was holding her back or how she needed to move forward.

Judgement

A couple weeks ago I went to a sound healing concert with Keith Varnum – the theme was “the last day of judgement.”  He told a story about having a conversation several years ago with a friend in which he declared for himself that day to be his last in holding judgement.

All throughout the evening as I floated in the vibrations of different musical instruments and songs, my mind chewed on this idea of no more judgement.  At first I was completely gung ho, holding judgement as a form of separation between myself and someone else.  Judgement, for me in relation to another person, can be about creating a disparity with one of us higher or better or more superior to the other.  And this need to have myself be superior to another or even feeling inferior to another rests on my lack of wholeness.  Good riddance to this kind of judgement.

But as I pondered the word more, I also claimed that judgement is a part of our brain functioning that serves us in the sense of perception, discernment, evaluation about how something will affect us.  Just like Yogic science holds that there are three aspects of the mind: positive, negative and neutral and all of them have their value when in balance; I see that judgement itself can be a useful tool when used with a neutral mind.  Throwing out this aspect of judgement, could also serve to bring me into imbalance.

The night of sound healing brought many lovely gifts – having my chakras stimulated by a didgeridoo, relaxing in the power of sound, and clarifying a piece of truth for me around judgement.  It was wonderful to have something shared and to see how I tasted it, digested it, eliminated the pieces that didn’t work for me and assimilated the useful nutrients.  Each one of us has the option to do this with any external stimulus.  Explore, evaluate and bring in what is right for you.

Get Your Inner Flu Booster

 Don’t forget to get your inner flu booster this year to protect not only against the flu but whatever other viruses may be circulation this year.  I’m not advocating for or against the flu vaccine.  But no matter which external protection you choose, building your system up from the inside is equally vital if not more so.

In Ayurvedic medicine, health is maintained by:

• Removing the factors which create sorrow
• Having the body’s waste products eliminated correctly so the channels are open and flowing
• Having a strong digestive fire to properly digest food
• Having the internal systems in balance.

Notice that all of these factors for health involve your internal health.  So what creates a healthy internal environment?  Often it comes down to conscious choices and habits.  As easy as it might be to take the shot or pill, health really is about what you do on a daily basis and that comes down to diet, good activities and mind control.  If that sounds overwhelming, remember to start with small, simple steps.  Give yourself the daily anchor of a soup or stew chock full of  vegetables and whole foods like grains and beans or meats.   The warm meal will not only give you one solid healthy meal but the liquid component will help reduce phlegm which in excess often leads to respiratory illnesses.

For the body and mind, yoga and meditation provide a hearty portion of overall nutrition for the internal organs, nervous system and glandular system.  The glandular system especially is vital as the glands are the guardians of your health.  In my Kundalini Yoga classes for the fall, when the seasons are changing and there is often damp, cool weather, I often choose a theme around boosting the immune system through a focus on the glandular system.

The other piece of health is to know thyself.  As you are all different, taking care of yourself will involve tools that fit your unique needs.  For example, this past week I was tired following a weekend trip to Minneapolis for a yoga event.  The event was powerful and uplifting but also released some toxins so I was feeling a little draggy.  Because of that, I didn’t cook much which meant that what I was eating wasn’t the most ideal for my body.  After several days I was starting to feel like I might be coming down with a cold, which all of my family had had.  I immediately knew I needed to answer my body’s SOS call.  I made a large pot of ginger tea and drank that for a day.  I got serious about reducing Kapha energy which creates phlegm.  I reduced my activity load so I could rest more.  And I took the time to cook several nourishing meals.  The result was this within a couple days my symptoms were gone and I was feeling good again. 

Through my conscious choices to support internal health, I was still exposed to the colds but I didn’t succumb to the illness.  Take care of yourself in whatever way you choose, but try not to be overly dependent on external resources to the exclusion of taking care of your internal systems.

Why Meditate?

With the popularity of meditation, I’m sure you’ve heard why you should meditate from many different sources.  So what’s holding you back from taking advantage of this great technology to get control of your rascally mind and start enjoying the numerous benefits, both mental and physical?  

I find that two things tend to hold us back in life: not knowing what to do or how to do it, and feeling overwhelmed by that thing we think we need to do.   If either of these conditions apply to what’s holding you back from learning the art of breaking habits (meditation), then you won’t want to miss my upcoming class “Meditation for Total Health” on October 13th from 6:30-7:30 in Elm Grove.  For full details just click the underlined link (name of the class).

In this meditation class you will get a simple overview about the power of meditation and, more importantly, easy and tangible ways to start.  Yes, even if you think you have a mind that’s too woolly and wild to meditate (all the more reason to do it!), I can guarantee you that I have a meditation that will work for you.  Because there is more than one way to meditate and armed with the right tools, anyone can do it.

Let me give you a preview of why to meditate.  Just like your body builds up stress which eventually leads to crisis points of pain, illness and disease, so does your mind build up gunk.  In fact, my yoga teacher, Yogi Bhajan, calls meditation “clearing out the garbage” because it helps unload the bombardment of external stimulus you take in every moment which clogs up the subconscious mind.  And whether it be physical or mental, when things get clogged, our energy doesn’t move well in our bodies or our lives.  And then, we get problems.

Maybe you’re not interested in the ultimate goal of meditation which is to “abide in the Self” or connect with and hear your Infinite Self, but I’m sure you would enjoy any of these other meditation benefits:

• Develops a neutral meditative mind (quiets and calms the mental agitations).
• Promotes a sense of well-being, inner peace, stability, and calm.
• Releases reactions and unconscious habits, and subconscious fears and blocks.
• Helps prevent disease process
• Meditation therapy is effective for treating nervous disorders from simple insomnia to severe emotional disturbances, chronic and debilitating diseases like allergies or arthritis in which stress or hypersensitivity of the nervous system are involved, and in treating heart disease which is the seat of consciousness in Vedic thought (Ayurvedic and Yogic perspective).
• Helps deal with pain as it transfers attention of the mind.
• Promotes the ability to focus energy, enhancing effectiveness and efficiency.
• Promotes clarity of mind, mental awareness, and the ability to be present.
• Resolves core issues of stress-producing patterns.

So don’t wait…come join the fun!