22 July 2022

Deliberately Peaceful

 Teaching  by example is important.

I'm not here to judge, or even advise, really. If you are looking for a healer, I'm not the droid you are looking for, to borrow a phrase from George Lucas. I'm an educator, and a little bit of a helper.

I call what I do "tutorials" because my biggest goal is to arm you with good information, maybe a few tips, tricks, hacks and hints to help you with your healthy lifestyle just like a tutor helps with homework. With Reiki I can boost the signal from the universe to your natural healing - or reduce general stress to improve overall quality of life.

Sometimes that is a little tricky to do in the chaos of cyberspace. 

If it seems like this blog is reviving slowly, that is deliberate. I'm no expert, but I enjoy and admire Japanese Zen aesthetics. I want to rebuild this blog with the spirit of a lotus blossom and the deliberate mindfulness of a tea or incense ceremony. 

Thank you for reading, and thank you for sharing this rebuilding process.






11 July 2022

Spice Up Your Healthy Eating

From 2012:

There is two basic differences between the stuff on your spice shelf and the stuff on an herbalist’s supply shelf: amount and preparation.

To get a “therapeutic effect”, in other words, for an herb or spice to help fix something that’s wrong, it takes a good bit more of the stuff than you would use in cooking. The helpful stuff needs to be used in big quantities…like in capsules or pills, or concentrated through “decoction” which is more like a sauce reduction than a tea.

In general, beverage-strength teas or the pinch and sprinkle amounts used in cooking doesn’t help or hurt either one from a healing perspective. Of course those of us on blood thinners and with medical issues have to be a little careful even with those small amounts sometimes…BUT overall, herbs and spices can do a couple of important things. I don’t have the science to prove it, but those little smidges used regularly over time can give you a little nudge toward health, or at the very least give a little boost to the health and antioxidant effect of an otherwise healthy diet. Of course my favorite effect of using herbs and spices in cooking is that it tastes good!

Take for example, one of my breakfast favorites, cinnamon.

There are several varieties of cinnamon, all with a history of herbal medicine use. The cassia variety that is so readily available has benefits too. A good cinnamon tea can help a gassy tummy, soothe a cold, ease menstrual pain, and at higher amounts, can help with diabetes (some studies hint at a preventative effect, while there is some thought that it improves the body’s use of insulin in type 2 diabetes).

Coumadin / Warfarin folks…cinnamon has naturally occurring coumarin in it, so it can have a blood thinning effect and an additive effect to that of the medication. So don’t use high doses of cinnamon without supervision…to make sure it doesn’t drive the inr too high. I take the nudge approach. I put a little sprinkle in my morning oatmeal or coffee, and follow INR measurement as my doctor orders. So far so good. I do mean GOOD. As in YUM. Especially in cold weather. Cinnamon is considered a “warming” spice in herbalism.

So for a little tasty, warming oompf that might help you digest and might help sugar metabolism, cinnamon might be a good choice. For a big oompf, consult your herbalist. And read the disclaimer on the “about” page of the blog while you are at it, ok?

Source: http://altmedicine.about.com/od/cinnamon/a/cinnamon.htm