Go Outside

One of the most important healing, therapeutic things to do for yourself is to GO OUTSIDE. I often urge people to go to the beach, take off their shoes and feel the sand between their toes. Also beneficial, go barefoot on the earth.

It is quite easy to become ungrounded, feeling a disconnect between our minds and bodies. Symptoms like anxiety, worry, insomnia and digestive issues often come up to plague us.

When these symptoms arrive it can be hard to remember the importance of our connection with nature. Rather than staying inside to avoid all the stressors that we normally face, sometimes the most valuable way to help ourselves is to get out, reconnect with nature and soak up all the fresh air.

In Chinese Medicine there are many reasons this is so healing. There are five archetypes of people based on elements of nature -

• fire
• earth
• metal
• water
• wood

When we are lacking in one of the elements there can be physical symptoms that arise. Also, each of these elements relates to a season and during certain seasons we may find that we are craving that element, or we have had too much of it.

This hike was from Bolinas, CA to Alamere Falls in Point Reyes, CA. (For more info go here) This hike is a perfect combination of elements and just an amazing day out if you live in the SF Bay Area. While the fire element and metal element are probably more internal on this hike there is a great combo of wood, water and earth. The woods you walk through feel forest-y and deep and dark. The beach is invigorating and the waterfall is meditative.

This simple day out was not only great for cardiovascular health, fitness but also breathing in the air and experiencing all the elements of nature.

What is your next outdoor adventure, go west, be well.

Black Spanish Rice

Black Spanish Rice

NUTRITION HIGHLIGHT - Black rice contains essential amino acid like lysine, Tryptophan; vitamins such as vitamin B1, vitamin B2, folate acid; and is a good source of minerals including iron, zinc, calcium and phosphorus

BLACK RICE aka FORBIDDEN RICE - Black rice is super delicious and nutritious. Different than it's white counterpart the dark color contains some deeply nourishing stuff. In Chinese medicine this is easy to guess or follow because we look at colors when thinking about what nutrition a food might have. Black foods (blackberries, black sesame seeds, seaweed etc) all are known to help strengthen the Kidneys in the Chinese medical system of the body. This generally means these foods promote hormonal balance, greater energy, better mood and an overall very strong foundation for the rest of you.

Recipe -

• 1/4 cup chopped onion
• 1/3 cup chopped tomatoes
• olive oil
• salt
• cumin
• oregano
• black rice (in the bulk aisle at Rainbow Grocery)

Step by Step

1. Chop the onion into small pieces
2. Heat olive oil in a pot and add onion, turn to medium-low
3. While onions begin to saute, chop tomatoes into small pieces.
4. Once onions begin to turn transluscent (5-10 minutes) add tomatoes
5. Saute and let the tomatoes cook further
6. Add a 1/4 tsp salt
7. Add 1tsp cumin
8. Stir 
9. Measure 1.5 cups of black rice and stir in with onions & tomatoes
10. Once coated add 3 cups water and turn up to medium high 
11. Cover pot & bring to boil
12. Once water boils turn down to low and let simmer 25 minutes cover slightly ajar to release water
13. Rice will be tender and water boiled off when ready

Black Beans & Black Spanish Rice heating up for leftovers breakfast

GUIDELINES - for a chef who loves to improvise

This recipe is super easy to make and if you usually make rice all you have to do is saute onions & tomatoes together with cumin, oregano (and whatever spices you like) beforehand, add the dry rice, then add water and cook as usual.

If you don't normally cook rice, here are more detailed instructions - enjoy!

Delicious, hearty & healthy Black Spanish Rice is EASY PEASY!

Going Golden

There are many things that remain a mystery to me and maybe always will. But there is one thing I am sure, that is that life is full of injuries and recoveries.

There will be the injuries to your body at certain times of your life. During those times you may wake day after day, not physically being able to lift your tired & sore muscles from bed.

There are the injuries to your heart that cause waterfalls to continuously flow from your eyes until there is not water left.

There are the injuries to your soul, that can knock you down for more than just minutes, days or weeks. These are the ones that it can take a lifetime to even realize that you got injured. It was so gradual and your life has been so hazy you didn't even notice. 

In these ways life is nothing but a series of trauma that we have to continue picking ourselves up out of bed and continuing on.

But the recoveries and the light that come from these dark and painful moments are brighter than anything we have ever imagined.

Sometimes they may not feel bright because they take time, to climb, inch by inch up a steep hill. We may feel as if we are dying on the way up, and so winded by the time we reach the top it's hard to enjoy that empowering view. 

The most important part of this is to recall even with our individual and very personal traumas, we are not alone. We suffer in community, we got hurt along the way with the rest of the bunch. And in this respect we are all suffering side by side, day by day. This suffering often feels lonely, isolating and sometimes like failure. However, there is nothing more human than pain and heartbreak.

This leads us to the undeniable opportunity to heal together. We can heal together in ways we had no idea we needed healing. We can pick ourselves back up and glue the pieces back together in ways that are more deeply rejuvenating and we didn't even realize there were pieces that we left behind.

We can heal together in ways we had no idea we needed healing.

In Japanese ceramics there is a form of repair called Kintsugi which translates roughly to 'gold joinery'. This process uses metallic fill to repair the cracks in the clay which have happened over time. The poetry of this process amazes me - to acknowledge there are cracks and not discard a piece but highlight it with gold. What else is there to say?

As an acupuncturist, I sit every day in front of people who tell me what their pains are. From back pain to heartbreak I hear how people endure, yet they often feel like they are breaking apart. Acupuncture is my art, it is my way to pour gold into their cracks. I often acknowledge that there is room for all of that. There is room for the broken, we are not only our strong side. Our darkness is a teacher, a companion and it is a way for us to know when things are light. Isn't there such deep relief to hear that you are no failure, you are merely a breathing, feeling, human?

There is room for the broken, we are not only our strong side. 

I hope so. I hope that you know your darkness has brought you to a lightness that will create so much beauty and life for the world. If you are in your darkness, I hope that you know you are in a different darkness than the one before and you have only time until the gold fills up the cracks.

 

SITED:

http://www.notechmagazine.com/2012/02/traditional-repair-techniques-the-japanese-art-of-kintsugi.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kintsugi