Cedar Tea

I was going to share this with the people taking Nature Course Part 2, but decided to share it with everyone. It's a recipe for Cedar Tea, shared with me by a woman who works with the indigenous population of Canada, members of the First Nation.

Cedar Tea is wonderful medicine. Easy to make. Go to where there is no road salt or chemicals so you can gather clean cedar. Offer your tobacco. For people who don't carry tobacco, you can offer bird seeds. 

If you sense that the tree doesn't want you to take the cedar, leave it be. The plants will always speak to us, and we can learn, again, how to listen to them the way we once did.

Cut only what you need. Use the green - a handful is good enough. Remember to offer thanks to the tree. 

Boil about half a handful of cedar in 2 cups of water until the water turns light golden. Only drink 1 cup. Cedar is powerful medicine and contains a lot of vitamin C. 

You can refrigerate any remaining tea. Heat it again in a pot, not a microwave. Return anything you don't use back to the earth.

Remember: Cedar tea should never be drunk more than one cup per day. Cedar is a safe and very effective medicine, but its medicine will soon become poison if this one simple rule is not followed. Cedar contains Thujone which is toxic to the human body in large doses. Maybe best to drink it only every other day, or less.

Prayer for Spiritual Healing

I ask the great Unseen Healing Force

to remove all obstructions 

from my mind and body

and to restore me to perfect health.

I ask this in all sincerity and honesty

and I will do my part.

I ask this great Unseen Healing Force

to help both present and absent ones 

who are in need of help

and to restore them to perfect health

I put my trust in the love and power of God.

 

Where I live I often find animal tracks in the morning, when there is snow to see them. This looks like a bear track, because it has 5 toes, but it is probably a skunk who circled my house. It is smaller than the picture appears, although bears have come, circled my house, walked on my porch, looked in my windows. Deer also. 

 

This winter, there hasn't been much snow. In fact, yesterday it rained, the temperatures warmed up, and this morning, the snow is gone again. Unusual. I haven't lived here for many years, only recently having returned, and I expected white winters, the kind I knew growing up here. 

 

I wonder if the bears stay in hibernation anyway, even with these springlike temperatures? Anyway, it is interesting to see what is invisible to the eye without the snow--to see where the animals walk. Just as the Great Healing Force is always there, even when we can't see it, so are the animals strolling around my house, even when the snow isn't there to show their tracks.

Body/Mind Relaxation Practice

Dear Classmates,
I am including here a question (scroll down) and the answer I gave. Notice, I am not saying anything about the medical conditions this person is diagnosed with. I am addressing only her anxiety and nervous exhaustion. I include this here because who hasn't (doesn't) suffer from anxiety and nervousness from time to time? Or other habits and problems you'd like to be free from? You can try this. Change it according to your particular situation. Rewrite it if you like. Do not depend upon me to do everything for you. The school is not about anyone doing your thinking for you, remember? 

Your school encourages you to think for yourself. It supports you along your way. It's hard to go through life, especially a spiritual path all on our own. Human beings are social animals. We are an interdependent species. We need each other. That's how God made us. That's why God made angels to assist us. Somehow, I broke through to the realm of angels, though I wouldn't recommend the way it happened to me, to anyone. But, alas, it happened.

From that dark and frightening experience, the light of the angels came to me, saved my life, and made me return here to my body, to be of service, to let the light of the angels speak through me. I know it sounds crazy—even to me, when I speak of it, so I usually don't. Nevertheless, it is the way it is. I never could have written or spoken or seen as I do all my own. Never. It’s not that I am not intelligent or that I don’t know things. I am a trained psychotherapist, so I know what I learned. I have many experiences I can draw upon. I have my own intuition. I have all that.

And over all that, I have the love and guidance of the angels. I have the understanding that this human life is fleeting. I know that I don’t exist, anymore than you do. And I have a life here in this human body, which I am completing, just like you. I don’t pretend to be at the end-point of Realization. 

I say instead that there is no end-point. That for so long as we are here in a human body, we are evolving. This applies to every single human on earth, no matter who they are, no matter how enlightened they may seem. Never put anyone so high above you that you lose sight of the Divinity that exists equally — equally — within everyone — or at least the possibility to contact and live from that divinity exists equally. When you elevate another person, teacher, guru, lover, anyone at all, to a position higher than your own, you have created duality. Duality is what you seek to be free from.

This doesn't mean that someone can't know more than you, be more enlightened than you—otherwise, who would we have to learn from? It doesn't mean you can't revere and respect great beings. Even musicians or writers or leaders. Even your friend. Maybe even your wise and wonderful dog. It doesn't mean you can't do puja or ritual to a saint or enlightened being, if that puts you into a sacred space in your heart.
 
It’s about what happens inside yourself — when you elevate someone and put yourself down — when you give away your power — when you revere another person and forget that person doesn’t exist, anymore than you do. THAT’S when you enter the danger zone of  “me and you”. You are not here to worship anybody — any body. Bodies all die. Why worship a body? No individual exists. Why worship an individual? That is living in illusion, delusion, and seclusion from Truth. You must know the difference between honoring someone and turning that someone into an object of worship. You must never let anyone else do your thinking and feeling for you. You must consistently find out what is true for yourself.

As to what happens when we leave this body — I can say a lot about that too — but the important point is that each soul’s journey, once they leave, is between that soul and God. Death doesn’t end a journey, it  begins a new journey—a new birth in a new land.

STUDENT QUESTION: Background: Self-diagnosed anxiety. Medical diagnosis of Hashimoto's thyroiditis. Current issue is Tachycardia and heart palpitations, especially when I sit and stand, but sometimes my heart surges to 160 when I am sleeping. Though there may be medical reasons for this, which have not yet been discovered by my doctors, I would like some help with anxiety in case that is the main because of the heart issues. Nervous exhaustion as well. Thank you!

ANSWER: Mind/emotions/body are interlinked. This takes time and work — but you can try this — when you are lying or sitting still in your safe place, feeling relaxed, begin to imagine — yourself slowly, slowing standing, slowly. Slow as a flower opening. Let yourself be a flower.

As soon as your heartbeat increases, or you feel any anxiety at all, stop the imagination and bring yourself back to your body, safe, relaxed, lying or sitting down. Stay there until you are relaxed again, heartbeat normal. Then try again. Each time, go only so far as can. You are in control. Stay aware and notice what you are experiencing, feeling, giving yourself all the time you need to come into touch with mind, spirit, emotions, body.

Remember, you are doing this in imagination. This puts you in control. It can help with the fear. I am not saying this is a cure-all. I am saying that we are whole beings. Everything is part of everything else. The body/mind/emotions so easily fall into habits and patterns—and keeps these, even when they are harmful. It's hard to break free from ingrained ways of being. So you may want to softly, gently try this — teaching, guiding yourself to peaceful, relaxing responses as you grow and evolve and learn about what is going on with your body.

I wish you well.

Hugs & Oxytocin

The average length of a hug between two people is 3 seconds. But the researchers have discovered that when a hug lasts 20 seconds there is a therapeutic effect on body and mind. A sincere embrace produces a hormone called "oxytocin"-- also known as the love hormone:

1. STIMULATES OXYTOCIN
Oxytocin is a neurotransmitter that acts on the limbic system, the brain’s emotional centre, promoting feelings of contentment, reducing anxiety and stress, and even making mammals monogamous. It is the hormone responsible for us all being here today. You see this little gem is released during childbirth, making our mothers forget about all of the excruciating pain they endured expelling us from their bodies and making them want to still love and spend time with us. New research from the University of California suggests that it has a similarly civilising effect on human males, making them more affectionate and better at forming relationships and social bonding. And it dramatically increased the libido and sexual performance of test subjects. When we hug someone, oxytocin is released into our bodies by our pituitary gland, lowering both our heart rates and our cortisol levels. Cortisol is the hormone responsible for stress, high blood pressure, and heart disease.
2. CULTIVATES PATIENCE
Connections are fostered when people take the time to appreciate and acknowledge one another. A hug is one of the easiest ways to show appreciation and acknowledgement of another person. The world is a busy, hustle-bustle place and we’re constantly rushing to the next task. By slowing down and taking a moment to offer sincere hugs throughout the day, we’re benefiting ourselves, others, and cultivating better patience within ourselves.
3. PREVENTS DISEASE
Affection also has a direct response on the reduction of stress which prevents many diseases. The Touch Research Institute at the University of Miami School of Medicine says it has carried out more than 100 studies into touch and found evidence of significant effects, including faster growth in premature babies, reduced pain, decreased autoimmune disease symptoms, lowered glucose levels in children with diabetes, and improved immune systems in people with cancer.
4. STIMULATES THYMUS GLAND
Hugs strengthen the immune system. The gentle pressure on the sternum and the emotional charge this creates activates the Solar Plexus Chakra. This stimulates the thymus gland, which regulates and balances the body’s production of white blood cells, which keep you healthy and disease free.
5. COMMUNICATION WITHOUT SAYING A WORD
Almost 70 percent of communication is nonverbal. The interpretation of body language can be based on a single gesture and hugging is an excellent method of expressing yourself nonverbally to another human being or animal. Not only can they feel the love and care in your embrace, but they can actually be receptive enough to pay it forward to others based on your initiative alone.
6. SELF-ESTEEM
Hugging boosts self-esteem, especially in children. The tactile sense is all-important in infants. A baby recognizes its parents initially by touch. From the time we’re born our family’s touch shows us that we’re loved and special. The associations of self-worth and tactile sensations from our early years are still imbedded in our nervous system as adults. The cuddles we received from our Mom and Dad while growing up remain imprinted at a cellular level, and hugs remind us at a somatic level of that. Hugs, therefore, connect us to our ability to self love.
7. STIMULATES DOPAMINE
Everything everyone does involves protecting and triggering dopamine flow. Low dopamine levels play a role in the neurodegenerative disease Parkinson’s as well as mood disorders such as depression. Dopamine is responsible for giving us that feel-good feeling, and it’s also responsible for motivation! Hugs stimulate brains to release dopamine, the pleasure hormone. Dopamine sensors are the areas that many stimulating drugs such as cocaine and methamphetamine target. The presence of a certain kinds of dopamine receptors are also associated with sensation-seeking.
8. STIMULATES SEROTONIN
Reaching out and hugging releases endorphins and serotonin into the blood vessels and the released endorphins and serotonin cause pleasure and negate pain and sadness and decrease the chances of getting heart problems, helps fight excess weight and prolongs life. Even the cuddling of pets has a soothing effect that reduces the stress levels. Hugging for an extended time lifts one’s serotonin levels, elevating mood and creating happiness.
9. PARASYMPATHETIC BALANCE
Hugs balance out the nervous system. The skin contains a network of tiny, egg-shaped pressure centres called Pacinian corpuscles that can sense touch and which are in contact with the brain through the vagus nerve. The galvanic skin response of someone receiving and giving a hug shows a change in skin conductance. The effect in moisture and electricity in the skin suggests a more balanced state in the nervous system – parasympathetic.
Embrace, embrace with your heart.~~

Smudging

https://www.almanac.com/plant/sage

Probably you all know about smudging, which is usually done with the herb Sage. Sage grows wild in the Los Angeles area, which is actually a desert land. I am not sure about Austin. You can also grow it yourself. You can read the results of a scientific study on the benefits of smudging with sage by clicking the following links, if you like, but if you know about the ways of Native American and other ancient cultures, you already realize how beneficial sage can be:
(1) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17030480 (2) 
(2) http://www.greenmedinfo.com/article/medicinal-smoke-can-completely-eliminate-diverse-plant-and-human-pathogenic-bacteria-air

And you can read even more here: http://thespiritscience.net/2015/11/26/the-science-of-smudging-how-sage-actually-cleans-bacteria-in-the-air/

Dopamine

Dopamine is the brain’s master 'pleasure' chemical. This single neurotransmitter is responsible for a plethora of mental and physical processes. By learning how to stimulate your own dopamine levels naturally, you can help depression, anxiety, apathy, and fear, while boosting feelings of pleasure created by this amazing little neuron.

💕💖Here is a nice list of ways to increase Dopamine in your brain -- besides reading your nice uplifting lessons and visiting your nice uplifting classroom😊💖 I borrowed it from this site: http://themindunleashed.com/2017/12/increase-your-dopamine-levels-naturally-and-never-feel-depressed-or-anxious-again.html

Singer/songwriter Hirth Martinez turned the blues into a song, "Oh, the blues is a terrible thing, but it's beautiful to sing." So you can also sing your blues away, or ✎ write a song🎶, a poem, or a letter💌 to your 😇angels. Click below for more ideas...

A HEALING MEDITATION FOR BODY, MIND, SPIRIT

Your body is a vessel. The body contains not only what you eat and breathe, but also what you think, imagine and feel. We are affected at every level by what we think and believe. Your school guides you to becoming aware of the beliefs that form your reality. Your school encourages you to become free of beliefs you have been holding onto since childhood, even lifetimes, which form your identity--your false identity.

Your school reaches deep within your conditioned mind to free you from the beliefs that limit and control your life, so you can think for yourself.

Pains and illnesses in the body are directly related to your thinking. We cannot help but have certain pains in the body, because the body is physical, subject to the physical laws of the universe. But the way you respond to pain also determines the way pain manifests.

Some people feel a small pain in their body and react with fear or anger. Some people run immediately for pain pills. Some want to learn about that pain, why it is there and what it means. Some respond with love to the place of pain.

This is not to say that all pain and illness can be healed by our thinking, but our thoughts can make pain and illnesses worse and harder to heal from. We are whole beings. What affects any part of body, mind, or soul, affects everything.

What you are not aware of controls you. When you become aware of limiting beliefs, they begin to lose control over you.

A HEALING MEDITATION

Imagine that your body is slowly being filled with Soft Healing Golden Light. Give this light a fragrance that appeals to you. You are now being filled with Soft Golden Healing Fragrant Light. Gentle and warm, this fragrant golden light begins to fill your body.

See yourself standing in a warm fragrant golden puddle of Light
Your toes are filling with this light
The light is covering and filling your feet
Up to your ankles
Moving up through your calves
Deep into and around your knees
Up through and into your thighs
Deep into your hips, both hips equally
Healing, balancing your hips

Let your hips receive 
Let your hips receive
Let your hips receive

Aligning and balancing your hips
Now the light moves deep into your belly
Around to your lower back

Swirling through all your sexual creative organs
Healing, Warm, Passionate Light
Moving now into your solar plexus
Filling your solar plexus 

Calm Healing Warm Fragrant Golden Light
Moving up through your spine
Filling your back and each vertebra 

Upward and inward into your heart
And lungs
Penetrating each organ
With healing golden light

Continuing into your heart
Completely filling your heart with Golden Fragrant Light
The light circles upward to your shoulders
Releasing all burdens
Your shoulders letting go, relaxing
Floating within the light

Warm Golden Fragrant Light
Flowing down into your arms
Your hands
Your fingers

Breath deeply
Inhaling fragrant warm golden light.
Up to your chin
Filling your neck
Filling your mouth
Tasting warm golden light

Nectar on your tongue
Filling each tooth
Filling your head
Shining out through your third eye 

Becoming your hair
Up through the crown of your head
A Warm Golden Healing Crown of Light 

Your whole body filled now
With Healing Fragrant Warm Golden Light
Your whole body 
Breathing Golden Light
Free of pain
Whole, Complete, Healed 
Now and Forever.

Fake Olive Oil bad for our health in USA

https://livingtraditionally.com/fake-olive-oil-companies-revealed-stop-buying-brands-now/ Fake Olive Oil Companies Revealed – Stop Buying These Brands Now! This is disturbing! 70% of Olive oil available in stores in the US has actually been cut with cheaper, nastier oils – meaning its fake!

Gardening is Good!

Hello my loves! Another reason to get close to nature -- and nature spirits. Touch the earth and the earth touches you back! 
Antidepressant Microbes In Soil: How Dirt Makes You Happy
http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/garden-how-to/soil-fertilizers/antidepressant-microbes-soil.htm

Taken in Randolph, N. Y. near my hometown

Steve Jobs’ Last Words -

Steve Jobs’ Last Words

 

I reached the pinnacle of success in the business world. In others’ eyes, my life is an epitome of success.

However, aside from work, I have little joy. In the end, wealth is only a fact of life that I am accustomed to.

At this moment, lying on the sick bed and recalling my whole life, I realize that all the recognition and wealth that I took so much pride in, have paled and become meaningless in the face of impending death.

In the darkness, I look at the green lights from the life supporting machines and hear the humming mechanical sounds, I can feel the breath of god of death drawing closer…

Now I know, when we have accumulated sufficient wealth to last our lifetime, we should pursue other matters that are unrelated to wealth… Should be something that is more important:

Perhaps relationships, perhaps art, perhaps a dream from younger days ...
Non-stop pursuing of wealth will only turn a person into a twisted being, just like me.

God gave us the senses to let us feel the love in everyone’s heart, not the illusions brought about by wealth. 

The wealth I have won in my life I cannot bring with me. What I can bring is only the memories precipitated by love. That’s the true riches which will follow you, accompany you, giving you strength and light to go on.

Love can travel a thousand miles. Life has no limit. Go where you want to go. Reach the height you want to reach. It is all in your heart and in your hands.
What is the most expensive bed in the world? - "Sick bed" …

You can employ someone to drive the car for you, make money for you but you cannot have someone to bear the sickness for you. Material things lost can be found. But there is one thing that can never be found when it is lost – "Life".

When a person goes into the operating room, he will realize that there is one book that he has yet to finish reading – "Book of Healthy Life".

Whichever stage in life we are at right now, with time, we will face the day when the curtain comes down.

Treasure Love for your family, love for your spouse, love for your friends...

Treat yourself well. Cherish others.

Happy April 1 Everyone!!

Hmm--maybe I should change our Classroom decor from clouds to flowers. We have a saying here, March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb. That was not true in New York State, my home state, where they just got another snowstorm and 3 inches of snow. That's spring in NYS! As for Los Angeles, sigh, not much change in the weather since I returned here in early March, but I hear there was no real winter here this year--just hot, like summer.

Another saying is April showers bring May flowers. Alas, I shan't experience much rain here in So. Cal. That's short for Southern California. There's still a drought here. I will be traveling August-October, so will experience different sorts of weather.

The newsletter will go out soon, as well as your lessons. Here's a heads-up--The Altadena Summer Solstice Retreat will be on June 20, the longest day of the year from 10 am to 6 pm. It's called the Summer Solstice Cleanse. We will have foods and juices designed to heal and rejuvenate...and the teachings of the angels that always heal, cleanse, and rejuvenate our spirit.

(Oh-and I changed the background to lemons. I took this picture in the backyard in Altadena where the June 20 retreat will be. See you there! By the way, there is a special rate for Students of the School when you register early.

Anyway, Happy April 1st!

Speaking of healing, if you like avocado, here is good news about this green fruit that grows abundantly where I live, and where I once lived, on Hawaii. Continued on next page...

Chocolate Chia Pudding

 Chia Chocolate Pudding - serves 4
Chia seeds are good for us, high in antioxidants. Chia pudding sells for a lot of money, but you can make your own for much less. Enjoy!
Ingredients 

* ½ cups water
*¼ cup chia seeds
*2 tablespoon cacao powder cacao powder
*⅛ teaspoon stevia, (or maple syrup, or honey to taste).
*⅛ teaspoon sea salt--I prefer himalayan salt.
Directions:

1. Combine blended coconut milk, water, and chia seeds in a quart mason jar and shake well
2. Add cacao powder, sweetner, and salt and shake well
3. Refrigerate overnight to let chia seeds soften and absorb liquid.

Spiritual Shamanism

"In many shamanic societies, if you came to a medicine person complaining of being disheartened, dispirited, or depressed, they would ask one of four questions: "When did you stop dancing? When did you stop singing? When did you stop being enchanted by stories? When did you stop being comforted by the sweet territory of silence?" -Gabrielle Roth

Springtime Yogic Massage

I found this interesting. I haven't tried it, but I plan to. I never heard of mustard oil before, but I will look for it.

Given by Yogi Bhajan - April 25th, 2000 - Espanola, NM

Massage the body with a 2:1 mixture of virgin pressed mustard oil and fresh ginger juice. Lie down and rest.
 
Then relax in a bathtub full of lukewarm water and clean yourself off. You will save your skin and many things under it. When summer is coming, because of the change of the season, you can get many kinds of pimples and sicknesses. This massage will keep you very clean and clear.
 

Rainbows

Dearest Students,
I have written before (and on my website) about eating rainbow foods. Doesn't it sound exciting to think of eating RAINBOW foods? You could ask yourself, would a rainbow eat this? Just kidding. Sort of. What does a rainbow shine over? All the natural beauty of earth. So take a clue from the enchanting beauty of rainbows and do your best to add rainbows to your life -- cherries, apples, pomegranates, lettuce, kale, swiss chard, pumpkins, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage. And since you need rain for a rainbow, pure fresh water. I am not saying you must become a vegetarian, just be aware of what you put into your body. 

I was talking just yesterday to a student about thinking of the body as a field. When we want a field to produce optimally, what do we do? We nurture the earth with organic compost and pure water. We rotate crops. We take care of the earth. Then the earth is nutrient rich. Those nutrients become part of the food we eat. With the right care, even bad soil can become healthy soil that will grow food and flowers.

Nature is our Teacher. Our bodies are composed of the same elements as the earth. Just as the earth can be healed with loving care, so can our bodies. It is true you are not your body and all bodies die one day, but why not live as healthy as you can for as long as you live? 

Your body is a field. How your body grows depends on how you treat it. So treat it well. Feed your body rainbows. Love and nurture the body you have been given so that you might complete your spiritual journey here on earth. The body is the temple of the spirit. Treat it like a temple. It will make your spirit vibrate with happiness. Love to you today and always!  

EATING WELL

Just as we do not want to put toxic thoughts into our minds, which create toxic feelings, and often lead to toxic reactions...neither do we want to put toxic foods into our bodies. Both toxic thoughts and toxic foods can lead to stress and prolonged stress is harmful to both your physical and spiritual immune systems. Although eating organically when you can is best, here is a helpful list for foods that are relatively "clean" even when they are not organic. I am not sure if this list applies to countries other than the USA.

"If the cost of buying all organic isn't within your budget, fear not. Check out The Daily Green's list of fruit and vegetables so clean of pesticides you don't have to buy organic. Of course, buying organic is always a good choice for the health of farms and farm workers, regardless of the residue left on the end product. The feature also includes tips for buying, cleaning, storing and using each fruit and vegetable – as well as delicious recipes! Here's a look at the Environmental Working Group's 2011 Clean 15 List:
1. Onions
2. Sweet Corn
3. Pineapple
4. Avocado
5. Asparagus
6. Sweet peas
7. Mango
8. Eggplant
9. Cantaloupe (domestic)
10. Kiwi
11. Cabbage
12. Watermelon
13. Sweet Potatoes
14. Grapefruit
15. Mushrooms

Reply to Antje's comment under oil cleansing

Antje posted a comment below, under my post, "oil cleansing" and I tried to post a comment, but it was too long to be accepted, so I am writing it here, as a post.

Oil Cleansing

Here is a health tip I have been practicing for quite some time, with positive results. First thing in the morning, I use a tongue scraper. Then I take a mouthful of good quality organic olive oil or sunflower oil and swish it and hold it in my mouth for 30 to 45 minutes, then spit it out. Next I brush my teeth very well. This is called oil cleansing and helps remove toxins from your mouth and body. I was told of this remedy by a couple of reliable sources and it works for me. Try it if you like. Oh, and be sure to floss regularly! Flossing is the single most important action we can take to help prevent bone loss, gum disease, and decay. That's what my dentist says!

Coconut!

Dear Students, do you know that coconut is good for your body? Coconut oil is excellent for sauteing your food (angel students never ever fry, right? Because we don't want all those unhappy oxidants entering our lovely bodies!) Coconut butter is also healthy. And you can eat fresh coconuts and drink the milk. You can also use coconut oil or butter as a beauty product for skin and hair.

Here are just a few of the potential health benefits of eating coconut on a regular basis:

• Lower risk of developing heart disease
• Help prevent bacterial, yeast, fungal and viral infections
• Help regulate your blood sugar and prevent or control diabetes
• Help keep your skin smooth and soft
• Improve your energy.