Health is not only a physical phenomenon. Real heath has to happen somewhere inside you, in your subjectivity, in your consciousness, because consciousness knows no birth, no death, it is eternal. ॐ ॐ Osho ☥
About Falling ...
When I look back on my life thusfar, I can reflect upon the many situations that I have fallen into. As a child, I fell into illness because of a trauma I experienced that became the precursor for a 27-year bout with COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease). My quest to heal myself caused me to fall into yoga which helped me to shift my perceptions, reduce muscle tension and calm my mind. Yoga heightened the awareness of my body to the point that I recognized a spinal imbalance and before I knew it, I had fallen into Chiropractic Care. My determination to stop the persistent cough pushed me past my fears until I fell into Ayurvedic practice which liberated me from COPD and inspired me to become a healer.
My holistic health studies and love of nature eventually led me to the understanding of the healing potential that we can harness during the Winter Solstice, Spring Equinox, Summer Solstice and Fall Equinox.
I learned that holistic health began when the ancient wise sages noticed that all that exists in nature are affected by nature. The leaves fall from the trees, bears hibernate, snakes shed their skin, winter becomes spring, spring becomes summer and then the summer falls.
The sages grappled with the mystery that is the human being/experience because there seemed to be no outward changes that could be observed. Thousands of years before what we now call scientific research, the wise sages prayed, withdrew into silence, meditated, connected with the earth, meticulously observed the inner workings of our bodies as the seasons changed and analyzed similarities and differences with plants and animals. Their deep connection to Spirit and with nature merged with their conscientious analysis to reveal truths which gave birth to what we now call Holistic Health.
The wise sages realized that we are deeply affected by transitions that occur in nature including the time of day, lunar cycles and the seasons.
As a Holistic Health Practitioner, I've had friendly knock-down-drag-out fights with people who suffer terribly with allergies because they simply cannot understand why I insist on changing their breathing, movement and nutritional strategies as we transition from winter to spring. Even after they move into spring with little or no allergy symptoms, it is a hard sell for me to convince them that making the shift from competing to collaborating with nature is what re-established the balance and healed their bodies.
Fear is our body's way of telling us to take an inspired action that will lead us to a higher level of consciousness. Yes, we may be shaking, feel uncomfortable or stumble through the process, but we MUST take that action. Taking action even though we feel the fear is our rite of passage into that higher state and once we get there, no one can take the courage that we cultivated away from us. If we don't take action, that fear will slowly torment us for the rest of our lives. Freedom from that fear is on the other side of that inspired action.
How We Fell Away From Nature
Although I love nature, I used to feel a looming fear that prevented me from enjoying it. When I finally transcended that fear, I became an avid hiker. However, I would sometimes fail to motivate my Black colleagues, friends, family and associates to spend time in nature. Strategic colonization can offer insights as to why some Black People seem to avoid the hiking trails and other outdoor activities. The people of Alkebulan, the land we now call Africa, had a very deep connection with nature. It was seamlessly infused into all aspects of our culture and practices. european colonizers were struggling to find a nationality of people who could withstand the abuses of enslavement such as the backbreaking, arduous work of picking cotton. Though the enslaved Black People somehow managed to withstand the abuses, they were originally hard to "break," partially due to their strong connection with the earth.
Oppressive techniques were implemented to disrupt how enslaved/colonized people interacted with themselves, community and nature. Because so much of the life of enslaved people involved abuses that occurred in nature, such as their horrific journey through the middle passage, being lynched from/whipped while tied to trees, picking cotton, etc., many enslaved people were gradually trained to fear nature.
In order for Black ☥ Indigenous ☥ Immigrant communities to fall back into self-care, we'll need to reconnect to our true selves, which includes releasing the need to colorize eurocentric folklore and stories. I recommend investing our time in to the exploration, celebration and sharing of the many stories that have not been told.
Why We Fell Away From Nature
For similar reasons, and throughout each generation, colonization of Black ☥ Indigenous ☥ Immigrant People (BIIP) includes strategies that disrupt the natural connection so inherent within us (and to the point that we eventually abandon those connections) such as:
☥ Shaming something about our culture
☥ Aggressively marketing a stereotype to make us appear dangerous, unworthy, etc.
☥ Continuous advertising, that targets us in early childhood, designed to present
Africa or our home countries as a wasteland full of starving people and plagued
with corruption:
☥ To scare us away from visiting the places of our ancestors for fear of violence,
catching a disease, etc.
☥ To further perpetuate the idea that we are inferior and come from places that
are shameful/embarrassing
☥ To promote the fallacy that we are in need of rescuing by our colonizers
☥ To minimize something that demonstrates our excellence until we are too
embarrassed to continue to practice/cultivate it then stealing it, diluting its
essence (the only way it can be duplicated/mass marketed) and selling the
watered down version of it back to us (often through the use of ad nauseam
advertising using manipulative techniques e.g. the misuse of psychological
anthropology) in order to profit from us financially, keep certain
resources for themselves, etc.
Each group has had its cross to bear, but although Jews and Italians and Irish and all the other mingling European races could look forward to assimilating, assimilation was practically impossible for African Americans. The indelible marking of skin color made it so. ☥ William C. Rhoden ☥ From: 'Forty Million Dollar Slaves: ☥ The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of the Black Athlete'
☥ॐ☯
Where We Fell Away From Nature
The strategies that disrupt the natural connections of BIIP also included tactics such as:
☥ The continuous ridicule of aspects of our culture that connect us to ourselves such
as our language and colloquiums, manner of dress and speech, use of traditional or
cultural clothing, spiritual practices, hairstyles, etc.
☥ Setting up hateful dynamics, fueled by living in survival mode, which causes us to
unconsciously engage in culturally cannibalizing behaviors and rewards us for
ridiculing other cultures - the hypocrisy of which demonstrates how embedded the
techniques of colonization and oppression can be within our psyche, the power of
psychological manipulation and its impact on future generations
☥ Marketing campaigns, propaganda, public shaming and bullying (i.e. not hiring
someone because of their ethnic name/traditional style of their hair) which
validates/forces us to acquiesce under duress to all aspects of eurocentric culture
and traditions in order to earn enough income to feed our families
In today's world, zoning regulations and other oppressive systems and structures force many lower income BIIP to live in "concrete jungles." Consider how some of these dynamics continue to show up in our everyday lives:
☥ One community organization, that started a garden at an inner city school, reported
that it took almost two years to get the students to eat the food that they grew
because they had never seen food coming out of the ground.
☥ During my BMA Health and Healing Strategies collaboration (functioning within the
now sunset Campaign for Black Male Achievement) with the Oakland Unified School
District's African American Achievement Program, an educator, working with the
Kingmakers of Oakland, shared that once the young Black males began to accept
being called "kings," the Manhood Development Program Facilitators had to diligently
train the young kings to push past the resistance from the Black female students who
struggled to see themselves as "queens."
The collaboration with Oakland Unified School District, Sacramento City Unified School District and other schools across the nation is documented in 'Health Promotion with Adolescent Boys & Men of Colour: Global Strategies for Advancing Research, Policy and Practice in Context,' a Springer publication edited by James A. Smith, Daphne C. Watkins and Derek M. Griffith (The Menzies School of Health Research (Australia), University of Michigan and Georgetown University, respectively).
Falling Far Away From Nature
This conundrum is deeply connected to the dehumanizing/devaluing concepts infused into hip hop music and culture. During the late 80's, I attended a work event where I met a few excited white venture capitalists. I was shocked to hear that they were investing in hip hop music because their enthusiasm was a staunch 180 degree turn from the ridicule I heard in high school from white students, teachers and the community at large (i.e. hip hop was not real music). In fact, hip hop was not validated as category of music at the The Grammy Awards until 1989. Because I was struggling to pay for my college education, I was too busy working long hours and studying to listen to popular music.
Something that the white male investors said haunted me until I finally tuned in to some music videos to investigate their keen interest. They said that they wanted to help Black People tell our stories and let the world know what is really happening in our communities. This statement utterly confused me because up until that moment, hip hop artists such as Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five, had been sharing truths about challenges in the Black community. At first I was excited that we would finally receive some resources to empower ourselves and create higher quality music videos that could compete with other artists on platforms such as MTV.
The capacity to be alone is the capacity to love. It may look paradoxical to you, but it's not. It is an existential truth: only those people who are capable of being alone are capable of love, of sharing, of going into the deepest core of another person--without possessing the other ... Their happiness cannot be taken by the other, because it is not given by the other. ॐ Osho ☥
A Natural Heartbreak
However, watching corporate hip hop videos awakened me to the influence of culturally incompetent/predatory white investors. I was horrified to witness as we digressed to calling each other 'bitches, ho's and niggas' ad nauseam and with reckless abandon (a eurocentric brainwashing technique anchored in the misuse of formal and informal ethnopsychology and psychological anthropology).
Feeling all alone, disillusioned that corporate hip hop had overtaken the genre and protective of my psyche, I left hip hop and suffered in silence. Whenever I could find the time, I listened to Earth, Wind and Fire, Reggae, classical jazz, African/Afro pop, Latin, Indian Spiritual/Indian Classical and investigated many other types of music.
Although I occasionally checked in to see if we had evolved past this digression, I didn't fully return to hip hop until I discovered the music of WolfHawkJaguar, Osunfemi Wanbi Njeri and other similar artists.
Disillusionment is a wonderful thing because it was all an illusion to begin with. ☥ Marianne Williamson ☥
Young Kings And The Natural Truth
The Oakland Unified School District educator reported that by the time the young Black females entered high school, they had heard the words "bitch" and "ho" repeated to the point that their behavior reflected a subconscious internalization of those terms. It would often take the young Black males at least two years of diligent positive reinforcement before Black female students could accept receiving honor and respect from the Black male students enrolled in the Manhood Development Program. The Oakland Unified School District now offers African American Female Excellence, Asian Pacific Islander Student Achievement and Latin Student Achievement (spin-offs from the African American Male Achievement Program).
I collaborated with community leaders and school personnel in Northern California to address ways to prevent academic trauma. Please download and share the impact report for strategies to improve health and healing outcomes for Boys and Young Men of Color (BYMOC) and school personnel: Journey To Radiance ☥ A Community-Based Ecosystems Approach For Promoting The Health, Well-Being And Healing Of Boys And Young Men Of Color.
I had a friendly argument with a Black student that I was attempting to convince to go hiking to help him process his emotions. I asked him, 'Where do you believe you will be safer? Hiking on a trail, where the most likely scariest encounter you'll have will be with a deer or rabbit, or walking down the street in the city where Black ☥ Indigenous ☥ Immigrant People are disproportionately in danger of 'matching the description' of someone who perpetrated a crime?'
Falling Back To The Truth
If we look at American culture, we can see the many ways in which children are socialized, from an exceptionally early age, to be terrified of nature/the dark. How many fairy tales share spooky stories warning us of the regrettable consequences of going into the woods? I didn't stop being afraid of skeletons until my Latinx friends patiently and diligently explained the significance of Day of the Dead (thanks to the horror genre, the title of this holiday originally inspired fear). What steps can we take to deprogram our learned fears in order to return to nature?
Prelude To The Natural Fall
If I could communicate with a tree squirrel, I would have no trouble convincing it of the need to gather specific types of food in the fall (when most trees produce their nuts). Because tree squirrels do not hibernate, they have just a few months to map out an effective strategy to gather and store the nuts they'll need to have enough food to last through the winter months. However, humans insist on eating unhealthy/out-of-season foods, ploughing through life while dragging their bodies behind them and staying too busy for meditation or contemplation. When they have an illness, they pop a pill and keep grinding until they are burdened with anxiety and the body can no longer function properly without a series of interventions. It is at this point, that they beg me for a quick fix strategy, and I have the daunting task of figuring out how to get them back to nature and a connection with their true selves. What will it take for us to fall back into self-care?
How The Fall Back Into Self-Care Begins With Nature
Each season of the year arrives to us with the foods we need to eat for that season and nudges us into proper behavior by requiring that we, at the very least, change our clothing to respond to transitions in the weather. If we took the time to observe the seasons more deeply, we would discover that nature has the answers we need to not only heal and rebalance our mental, emotional, physical and spiritual lives, but to create an effective plan of action for the seasons, challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.
The Fall (a.k.a. Autumn) Equinox is almost upon us, and it’s time to take stock of the progress and setbacks we've experienced over the past nine months. Before we dive into what the Autumn Equinox is and how to harness its awesome healing potential, let's take a few moments to consider how nature found its way to the fall.
Winter
The Winter Solstice generally occurs December 20th, 21st or 22nd of each year in the Northern Hemisphere and June 20th, 21st or 22nd in the Southern Hemisphere. So, when the Northern Hemisphere is experiencing the Winter Solstice, the Southern Hemisphere is experiencing the Summer Solstice. During the Winter Solstice, the cold and wet season, one of the earth’s poles is tilted as far as possible away from the sun, creating the shortest period of daylight and the longest night of the year. Because seeds grow best in complete darkness, it is the perfect time to plant the seeds for what we want to manifest in the coming year.
Spring
What we nurture in the winter begins to spring forth during the Spring Equinox, the warm and wet the time of year. The Spring Equinox usually occurs on March 20th or 21st and sometimes the 22nd in the Northern Hemisphere and September 20th or 21st in the Southern Hemisphere. When the Northern Hemisphere is experiencing the Spring Equinox, the Southern Hemisphere is experiencing the Fall Equinox. This is the time to gently cleanse the body and mind while making sure that old habits are not brought into the new season (we pull weeds that may have surfaced, nurture the new growth that is occurring). It is also the optimal time to rejuvenate our liver, and if we do not reduce inflammation from winter, allergies will rise up and make our lives miserable.
Summer
As we move into the hot and dry period of the Summer Solstice (June 20th, 21st or 22nd in the Northern Hemisphere and December 20th, 21st or 22nd in the Southern Hemisphere), the sun’s intensity is at its highest point. It is the time of great illumination (our inner light expands at its widest allowing us to engage in deep self-contemplation). We “see” what is really going on in our lives. It’s important to sustain correct energy and make diligent efforts to course correct where needed as any habits formed will take deep root.
Heat continues to rise until it reaches its pinnacle and then has no choice but to FALL.
About The Fall Equinox
The Fall Equinox occurs on September 20th, 21st or 22nd in the Northern Hemisphere and March 20th, 21st or 22nd in the Southern Hemisphere. The Fall season represents the transition from hot to cold. The temperature begins to drop, but not quite enough to generate significant moisture, so (even though hurricane season is June - November) the Fall Equinox represents the cool and dry time of the year.
The word "equinox" comes from aequus, the Latin word for "equal," and nox, the Latin word for "night." It is the time of the year when we experience nearly equal periods of day and night.
The Fall Equinox represents the time of the year where we take stock of the past last nine months and consider/analyze/make a plan for what we need to do to prepare for the year ahead. This is the best time to consider what seeds we need to plant for the winter solstice (seeds can be a business idea, a new direction, cultivating healthy relationships, etc.). We are called to look honestly and deeply at what we did or did not do. We take the time to consider what grew and what didn’t grow (and why). With a clear mind, we review what happened and what didn’t happen (and why).
Journal Questions/Prompts To Help Us Harness The Power Of The Fall Equinox
☥ What have I accomplished in the past nine months that I can celebrate? What did I
learn from these successes? How can I improve upon what went right?
☥ What challenges am I grappling with and/or struggling to accept? What have I
learned so far? What are the hidden blessings in these challenges? What needs to
happen in order for me to move forward/make it right? The three actions that I'm
willing to take this fall are:
☥ ____________
☥ ____________
☥ ____________
☥ I'm willing to release judgement and critique myself honestly by adding the
following activities/strategies to my personalized mental health self-care toolkit:
☥ ____________
☥ ____________
☥ ____________
I will commit to utilizing these strategies and will enlist ____________ (at
least one accountability partner) to hold me accountable.
☥ In what ways am I sabotaging my success? What actions am I willing to take to
overcome the inner saboteur? Who will hold me accountable?
☥ Who do I have in my inner circle? Have they consistently demonstrated integrity,
honesty, benevolence, competence and respect for my boundaries? If not, do I have
the courage to move them out of my inner circle? What boundaries do I need to
establish or enforce to ensure that my inner circle consists only of people who love
themselves authentically, actively engage in self-care and are co-creators of
calmness, trust, happiness, contentment and success?
What About Cleansing The Body?
While cleansing is important (we certainly don’t want old toxins moving into the new season), I recommend mildly detoxifying the body through restorative, nourishing foods and movement. In the holistic healing world, we do not separate mental, emotional, physical and spiritual wellbeing; however, I will offer a few suggestions within each category for working in collaboration with nature to take stock of our lives so that we can nurture ourselves and adequately prepare for the winter solstice.
Overview Of Healing Practices
☥ My instructions are comprehensive. Pick and choose what works for you. Keep
your process simple, intuitive, relaxing and enjoyable.
☥ Consider the Fall Equinox as a time to cleanse. Be mindful of your activities and
only "do" and say what is absolutely necessary. Stay introspective and internally
focused on seeing, speaking and living the truth. The truth is impartial,
nonjudgmental and is sometimes difficult to face, but it is the secret to informing
right actions and achieving true fulfillment. Be willing to embrace all parts of the
journey. The cleansing strategies below will help you through the process and will
be well worth the effort.
☥ In order to speak and live in truth, we must be honest with ourselves. Take some
time to objectively observe yourself in different situations. Notice when a person or
event seduces you into lying to yourself or others. Discipline yourself to breathe
and pause before speaking or acting to take control of your thoughts ☥ behaviors
and to prevent self-sabotage.
☥ The best time to start your cleanse is a few days before, during and after the Fall
Equinox, but anytime during the fall is beneficial. Whenever you read this blog and
decide to fall back into self-care is the right time for you.
☥ Order and download The Chakra Emotions Energy Wisdom Quick Start Toolkit to help
you identify and heal feelings as they arise.
☥ At the beginning of the month, eliminate all breads (including gluten free), flours,
pastas, alcohol, nuts, caffeine, nightshades (eggplant, peppers, tomatoes, paprika),
chocolate, dairy, baked goods, saturated fats and sugary/caffeinated beverages.
This is to prep for the cleanse by beginning to take the pressure off of the liver ☥
gallbladder and to improve mental focus/acuity for your journaling exercises.
☥ If you don't already use a tongue scraper, please add this vitally important practice
to your oral hygiene routine, forever! Use your toothbrush to brush your tongue
before using the tongue scraper. Use light pressure and gradually increase the
intensity to build tolerance.
Silence is the language of God. All else is poor translation. ☥ ॐ Rumi ☥
☥ Choose at least one day to be completely silent. If you want an even deeper
experience attempt to be silent for five days (two days before, during, and two
days after the Fall Equinox). Texting is appropriate for communication that is
absolutely necessary.
☥ Take a break from social media and watching the news. If you must engage, limit
yourself to a designated time and for no more than 5 minutes per day.
☥ Eliminate meat (preferably at the beginning of the month) – or limit to lunchtime
and consume no more than four ounces.
☥ Take a food based probiotic each morning and evening (feel free to take more if
you are not making at least one large bowel movement per day).
☥ Eat fruits that are in season before meals or at least 2 hours after meals.
☥ Limit your intake of beverages to the following:
☥ Water: make water your primary beverage for the month.
☥ Cleansing "orange juice" which consists of 9 limes + 18 dates (remember to
remove the pits or get "pitted" dates) + 1 fresh turmeric root + a 1 -2 inch piece
of ginger. Fill blender with distilled/reverse osmosis water and blend to a
smooth texture. Pour into a pitcher, store in the refrigerator (remember to go
light/easy on the herbs if pregnant/nursing). Please note: If you use limes, you
can peel the limes, slice into quarters and add them to the blender. You can
use lemons, but you have to squeeze the juice out of the lemons and add the
juice to the blender because the lemon pith will cause the mixture to become
super thick and clunky overnight. You could still drink it (a small amount of pith
is very healthy), but you would have to re-blend it each day, so it is better to
use the lemon juice.
☥ Aloe vera juice: look for organic, inner filet and low/aloin free. Lily of the Desert
in the glass bottle is the cleanest that I've found, but always double check
ingredients each time you shop as sometimes great products are sold to larger
companies with lower standards. Your aloe vera juice cannot have artificial
flavors, colors or preservatives.
☥ Ayurvedic coffee: there are many different types of herbal coffees on the
market but my favorite for the Fall Equinox is Ayurvedic Roast because it has
the phenomenal combination of the hormonal balancing and stress
management herbs shatavari and ashwagandha as well as the brain tonic
brahmi (do not consume brahmi during pregnancy). Ayurvedic Roast has
trace amounts of gluten, so if you have a sensitivity, you can drink Teeccino
and add the ground herbs to the drink. All of this said, I highly recommend
sticking with water as your primary beverage and my cleansing "orange juice"
and aloe vera juice for additional cleansing support during this time.
☥ Create a nourishing kichadi stew (also spelled kitchari/khichdi) using delicious fall
veggies such as pumpkin or other squashes, dark leafy greens such as collards or
other veggies in season, etc. and eat it throughout the day. An easy way to make
kichadi stew is to order a kichadi spice mix ahead of time instead of looking
for/purchasing individual spices. You can also purchase a rice and dal mixture to
shorten preparation time. Try not to get too stuck on the recipes. Kichadi is just a
spicy, hearty vegetable soup with rice and lentils. You can choose to skip the beans,
use your own blend of spices, etc. Listen to your intuition, use high quality organic
ingredients and keep it simple if this is your first time experimenting with the
cleanse. If you get confused or overwhelmed, put curry powder on everything and
move forward with your healing practice. In the holistic world, there is no such thing
as a one-size-fit-all strategy. Let the process come together for you naturally.
☥ Eat kichadi/cleansing stew for lunch and dinner as often as you'd like. Five small
servings throughout the day is preferable.
☥ Make different variations if boredom surfaces (but keep in mind that boredom comes
from a lack of present awareness - when we are in the present moment, we will not
experience boredom. If boredom surfaces, explore potential root causes during your
contemplation/journaling time).
☥ If cooking is not your thing, feel free to order takeout or go to restaurants/stick
to Asian restaurants that serve foods such as seaweed salad, green papaya salad
and vegetable dishes with brown rice (no noodles or fried rice with egg). Ask for
extra fresh ginger, basil and/or cilantro to be added to your takeout order.
Traditional Asian foods are much healthier than the Americanized over-greased
versions, so if you have a favorite restaurant, ask them to prepare the food the
traditional way with less oil, etc. Endeavor to minimize going to restaurants during
the Fall Equinox as they tend to be loud and full of distractions. Have your food
delivered so that you can spend as much undisturbed time in silence as possible.
It takes 3 days for your body to focus on cleansing, so make and eat kichadi for at least 5 days (a few days before, during and after the Fall Equinox). It's OK if you miss the equinox. Whenever you read this blog is the right time for you to begin the process.
Fall Equinox Morning Routine
☥ Give your kidneys a refreshing "shower" by drinking three to four cups of water as
soon as you wake up (i.e. use a standard size mason jar - put it by your bed the night
before as a reminder). This practice gently flushes your kidneys during the cleanse.
Be prepared to make several trips to the bathroom throughout the morning (which
will hopefully include a large bowel movement). Think about drinking the water as
taking a shower and going to the bathroom as the dirty water going down the drain.
This is the only time that you will slowly and safely "gulp" water. Throughout the rest
of the day, endeavor to take a sip of water about every 15 minutes or so to stay
hydrated. Take your food based probiotic at this time (Garden of Life is currently my
favorite brand, but as aforementioned, always check the ingredients before
purchasing to make sure that the integrity of the product is still in effect).
☥ Drink a cup of my cleansing "orange juice."
☥ Journal, practice breathing exercises, meditate and engage in contemplation.
☥ Eat a small serving of cantaloupe + cayenne pepper (as hot as tolerable, but don’t
suffer). Prepare one melon chopped, and add 1 tablespoon of cayenne, stir and store
in the refrigerator (omit the cayenne if pregnant). Eat one cup of this mixture in the
morning and at least 20 minutes before eating any other fruit or food. Any melon is
fine if you don't want cantaloupe. Melons contain superoxide dismutase, a powerful
anti-inflammatory agent which defends the body against free radicals.
☥ Do some fun, sweaty activity (dancing would be a great practice at this time).
Practice neck exercises to clear the mind.
☥ Eat a large bowl of your favorite in-season fruit (melons are to be eaten alone so
do not include them in your bowl of fruit).
☥ If you are still hungry, make a snack of 1/2 cup of each: raw organic pumpkin seeds,
hemp seeds, white sesame seeds and black sesame seeds. Mix 1/4 teaspoon of fine
ground gray sea salt into a tablespoon of extra virgin olive or black sesame oil and
toss seeds in the oil mixture. This snack tastes great by itself and can be sprinkled
over your salad or kichadi.
Fall Equinox Afternoon Routine
☥ Eat a delicious healthy salad of fresh raw veggies such as chicory, endive, arugula,
radishes, avocados, fresh cayenne peppers (use sparingly if suffering from
hemorrhoids), watercress, shredded beets – with a dressing of raw unfiltered apple
cider vinegar + unrefined hemp oil or olive oil + pinch of sea or Celtic salt (blend in
one date + parsley, rosemary, basil, garlic or other fresh herbs for flavor)
☥ Enjoy some kichadi stew. Add a healthy serving of Kamitic Kultured Kraut to your
kichadi for added flavor and to promote a healthy microbiome.
☥ Take a short walk after lunch to stimulate digestion.
Fall Equinox Evening Routine
☥ Enjoy more kichadi stew or eat a nourishing soup made with winter vegetables.
Add a healthy serving of Kamitic Kultured Kraut to your kichadi for added flavor and
to promote a healthy microbiome.
☥ Go for a walk after dinner.
☥ Journal and meditate (put new activities into your calendar).
☥ Take your food-based probiotic and drink 1/2 cup of inner fillet aloe vera juice an hour
before bedtime.
By the end of the Fall Equinox, you will have: ☥ An honest and complete assessment of your personal ☥ and professional progress ☥ An introspective list of challenges to work on and ☥ opportunities to pursue ☥ Clarity and direction for your winter solstice planning
Check out my blog and brief overview of Ayurveda to learn the fundamental principles of creating balance in your body, mind and emotions.
Assess ☥ Rest ☥ Nature Is Calling
Epilogue ☥ Your Treasure Map For Self-Care
Thank you for taking the time to actively engage in your own self-care. If you have ever spent time at a hammam ☥ steam room ☥ sauna, you will notice that it is a comfortable space because you are wearing minimal or no clothing and you can just be yourself. However, after a short time, it starts to get hot, and you begin to sweat.
This is a good thing because you are helping your body to eliminate toxins. If you want to detoxify your body correctly you will:
☥ Breathe slowly and deeply to help your body adjust to the intensity of the heat.
☥ Sip water every 15 minutes to stay hydrated.
☥ Have a piece of fruit ☥ pumpkin seeds ☥ favorite healthy snack available.
☥ Take a shower after excessive sweating.
☥ Go into a cold room/take a cold plunge/cold water rinse off to cool down before doing
another sweat and to stimulate your lymphatic system.
☥ Go for a walk in nature, spend time in meditation ☥ contemplation, have a healthy meal
and give your body some time to complete the healing process (which could include
sending you messages through your intuition about your next steps).
As you journey through ☥ interact with the blogs ☥ other content on phyllishubbard.com, you might have an insight that causes you to suddenly feel mentally ☥ emotionally “hot” -- which could show up as:
☥ “Ah-ha” moments
☥ A hop-in-the-bed-and-cry-yourself-to-sleep or fetal position crying time of intensive
self-care
☥ Intense feelings of anger/regret about something in your past
☥ Disorientation caused by the realization of truth
☥ Strong reactions such as heightened senses, vomiting; an urge to release emotions
such as yelling/screaming, going outside for fresh air/to take a walk, punching a
boxing bag/pillow; a feeling of tightness in the chest, etc.
If you find yourself having a strong reaction, I encourage you to flow with it while helping your body to release mental ☥ emotional toxins by using the same five self-care strategies listed above for releasing physical toxins. Your body talks to you all the time, but unconscious adherence to social conditioning can mute its messages.
Strong reactions are your body’s way of letting you know that there is a deeper issue requiring your attention.
Keep revisiting the content ☥ utilizing the five self-care strategies until you no longer experience the strong reaction, release fears and have identified ☥ transformed ☥ removed the root cause of the issue. You will find additional strategies throughout this website that you can add to your mental health self-care toolkit.
Self-Care Sustainability Suggestions
☥ A Cross-Cultural Healing Haven – read this blog to understand the purpose of
phyllishubbard.com and the meaning behind its organization ☥ symbols.
☥ Revisit the content periodically and make a note of if/how your perceptions have
evolved.
☥ Check out the other pages on phyllishubbard.com:
☥ Home - watch the videos. Click on the images in the Spiritual Guidance
section. Each image has a story that might assist your self-care journey. Learn
about other spiritual practices.
☥ About - Learn about my background ☥ reasons for co-creating
phyllishubbard.com
with Spirit. Explore healing through the image carousel and videos.
☥ Shop ☥ Kamitology - Purchase and download vital tools for your personal growth
☥ development.
☥ Reclaiming Our Humanity - Help us develop and disseminate video courses.
☥ Rise TV - Practice breathing and movement exercises and deepen your
understanding of healing through the experiences of community members.
Check back periodically to discover new/re-experience the content.
☥ Journey - This is your invitation to own the journey to radiance. Experience the
journey and download healing resources to share with your friends, family and
community.
When you share healing, healing comes back to and flows through you.
About Sharing ...
During my first presentation to an all-Black audience, I introduced 20-year-old research on the hazards of sitting. I presented the research because I noticed that people sat for way too long at convenings and realized that the information was not disseminated to Black ☥ Indigenous ☥ Immigrant communities. I was determined to intentionally include this research, often surprising participants by getting people up to stretch. After more than 13 years of intentional work, Black ☥ Indigenous ☥ Immigrant People are just barely beginning to normalize conscious movement. We still have a long way to go, and it is important that we share what we know as much as we can to prevent the disenfranchisement of wellness information to Black ☥ Indigenous ☥ Immigrant communities.
Copy/Paste Version Of A Full Citation Example:
Hubbard, P. S. (2020, September 27). Fall Back Into Self-Care. PHYLLISHUBBARD.COM.<https://www.phyllishubbard.com/post/fall-back-into-self-care>
Please do not keep phyllishubbard.com to yourself. We will not co-create a better world until we heal our current, past/childhood traumas. We will not love others until we learn to love ourselves.
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