Winter Solstice – The longest night
Since ancient times the Winter Solstice has been a time of
celebration and festivities, a time to share and eat the stored
harvest, a time to feast! What else would the ancients do, watch
TV? Nay. December 21st 2008, is
the longest night of the year. So whether you celebrate
Hanukkah, Christmas or Kwanzaa, I encourage you to take notice
of this auspicious occasion, the beginning of Winter, which is
also the coming of the Sun, when the days begin, ever so slowly,
to get longer. So light your lights, burn your candles, build a
bonfire, tell stories and eat!
Of course, I’m going to take this opportunity to provide you
with a MOST nourishing recipe for your celebration and feast,
compliments of Daverick Leggett’s Recipes for Self-Healing:
Black Bean and Celery Soup. Why black bean soup? In Chinese
Medicine, the Kidney is very important for reproduction and
winter is the Kidney season. This recipe is a good tonic for the
Kidneys. It nourishes Blood and Yin, very important to the
brain, ovaries, and the uterus.
May your Solstice be warm and festive, your Holidays full of
peace and good will to all! And may it be full of beans!
Black Bean and
Celery Soup
– Serves 4
½ lb. dried black beans – soak overnight, discard the water
and rinse
A 6” strip wakame seaweed – Cook beans with wakame or any
other seaweed until very tender
3 sticks celery
1 onion
1 carrot
2 teaspoons fresh or 1 dried savory
Zest of large orange
Chop the vegetables, bring them to a boil in a separate pot
and simmer until just softening. Add the beans with any
remaining juice, the orange rind and the savory. Cook for
another 10 minutes or so. The beans should be thoroughly soft
and splitting open.
1-2 tablespoons miso
Juice of one lemon
Parsley to garnish
Stir in the miso and partially liquidize the soup Serve with
plenty of fresh lemon juice and a garnish of parsley.
Nutritional
Reminders
Nourishment, for the body and the spirit, includes eating in
conjunction with the seasons. It’s cold out. So warm your body
from the inside out. It’s time for soups and stews and roasting
and baking. Treat your body like an incubator. Keep it warm.
Take a break from the cooling fruits of summertime, unless of
course, you have a great recipe for baked pears! There’s a
yummy, healthy one on
www.care2.com with walnuts and cinnamon.
Be sure to include warming spices too: garlic, onions, basil,
rosemary, sage, savory, thyme, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves,
cinnamon, ginger. These spices are also very warming to the
Kidney, particularly good for those who tend to be cold.
If you’re not a vegetarian, meats are also warming to the body
and good for the Kidney: beef, lamb, chicken, trout and salmon.
If you feel the onset of a cold, following is an ancient Chinese
recipe that, combined with lots of fluids and rest, can knock a
cold out before it takes hold.
Miso Soup
- Serves 4
6 cups water
3-4 Tablespoons Aka Miso or red soy bean paste
3-5 green onions stalks, chopped (or garlic)
Dissolve the miso in a little bit of boiling water (about 2
tsp.)
Bring water to a boil in a saucepan and add the miso &
scallions.
Simmer for 5-10 minutes.
Remove from heat top with green onions and serve.
Variations:
you can add various other ingredients to make a more substantial soup,
such as tofu, seaweed, fresh mushrooms, cooked shrimp, snow pea
sprouts, cooked rice noodles, or paper-thin slices of fresh
ginger.
Mind/Body Fertility Workshop 2009
Starts Wednesday January 14, 2009
2009 will be Heal from Within’s SIXTH year of conducting the
Mind/Body Fertility Workshop. I have you to thank for making it
such a success. Thank you for attending and for telling others.
Not only are we helping women through a very difficult time in
their lives, women are discovering more of who they are, inner
strengths and courage, and they find strength in numbers. This
program is not a support group, but it is a very supportive
group! We all know how isolating difficult conception can feel.
It is validating and encouraging to be with others who are also
struggling to build a family.
Details about the program can be found at
www.Heal-from-Within.com
under Calendar. The Winter program starts on January 14, 2009.
Registrations can also be downloaded from the website. Select
Mind/Body Therapies and
Click here to download Registration Form
at the bottom of the page.
Thank you for telling others, your support groups, your chat
rooms, your friends. Call me if you have any questions.
One-Night Workshops 2009 – 2nd Thursday each month
6:30 – 9:00 PM @ Heal from Within
This is a drop-in workshop. The first hour is spent learning and
practicing techniques that you can practice EVERY DAY that will
help you to manage stress in your life: mental, physical and
emotional stress. What you believe, think and feel has a
profound effect on the body. The first step is to become aware
of your thoughts, beliefs and feelings. We move at such a
frenetic pace sometimes that we don’t even know what we’re
feeling or thinking. If there are heavy, dreadful thoughts in
our body, it is highly likely that our body feels heavy and
dreadful. When we’re happy and delighted, it’s likely that our
body feels happy and delighted. We can actually do this on
purpose. We can choose. Life is short. Let’s make ourselves more
happy, eh?
Upon arrival, attendees write down a topic, concern or problem
that is important or up for them and place it in a jar,
anonymously. We draw topics from the jar and discuss them during
the 2nd hour of the workshop. Participation in the
discussion is totally voluntary. You can be quiet as a mouse and
just listen if you prefer. Previous attendees are welcome to
return. First timers are always welcome. Bring a friend, a
sister, your Mom, but not your husband. This is only for women.
If your partner is a woman, she is welcome to attend.
The next one-night workshop is Thursday January 8th,
6:30 – 9:00 PM. The $10 fee for the workshop is donated to
RESOLVE.
Holiday Cheer/Holiday Blues
Last month’s newsletter included an article from Pastoral
Counseling and Consultation. The article suggested that you
explore what’s important to you for the holiday season, discuss
it with your spouse/partner and come up with a plan. Setting an
“intention” for how your want your holidays to be can be so
powerful. You can actually plan your cheer and minimize your
blues.
At one level, what do you believe the holidays can be, no
matter what they’ve been in the past? What are your real
obligations? How would you like to feel during the holidays?
Where can you go or not go that would support those
feelings? What can you do to nurture the feelings that you’d
like to have?
When you have these discussions with your partner, together you
can come up with activities and events that are of your
choosing, rather than simply being subjected to “the usual”. Of
course, some usual plans are quite enjoyable. That in itself is
a holiday blessing. There’s still time. There’s now. If not now,
when?
My holiday wish for you is greater awareness of your own wisdom
and the gentle unfolding of your life as you intend.
MAY YOU BE WELL, HAPPY AND PEACEFUL
For those who are new to the Heal From
Within newsletter, welcome! It is always
your choice to receive it or not. If you
have feedback, I appreciate it. If you don't
care to receive it, you can cancel at any
time.
Feel free to contact me directly, by
email:
LisaEaves@Heal-From-Within.com
or by phone: 202-244-2289. My
acupuncture work is a focused practice
for women and men who are having
difficulty conceiving. My workshops are
for the fertility conscious community. I
welcome your questions, your feedback
and your participation with us on your
life's journey, wherever it may lead.
I am
grateful to you!
Respectfully,
Lisa Eaves
