Here and there and everywhere

I took us to the beach for a day trip, on what I thought might be the last really hot day of the season.  It was really hot, but it wasn't the last one. The water at this time of year though it incredible, after heating up for the past few months, it's at it's warmest right now. Best time for a dip. It doesn't look so hot from the image, but that cloud burned off and it was hot. Real hot.

I'm making a big effort this week to slow down, do less, be more. Not that I don't always anyway, but the past few weeks and last week in particular have just seen me running, literally running, to get here and there. If you saw a lady running through Southern Cross station last week it was probably me. Ok it probably wasn't as I probably wasn't the only one. But you get my drift. Too much has been going on and the only one who can change that is - me!

Having said all that, sometimes life just picks you up and moves you along, or moves you up, or things just start to happen. So there's always a positive and my whirlwind of activity has been positive shifts, so no complaints. I just need a breather.

I'm ready now to fully welcome the autumn weather but Mother Nature seems to have other ideas, it's been hotter here this past week than it was for the bulk of summertime. The zucchini's are enjoying the last blast of heat and I'm glad I didn't pull them out already. It's a job for us very soon, clearing out the vegie garden, adding some horse manure and compost (compost - my compost is the best I've ever had, it's a hot little bin I've got going and it's breaking down in record time!) and getting some cooler season vegies growing. I'm contemplating some espaliered apple trees along the back fence, there's so little space for growing fruit and vegies (comparatively speaking) here in this garden. Then I come back to my question of how long to stay, and - oooh I don't really want to go round in that circle right now. My restlessness to move on has eased for now and I'm just enjoying being here. It's a good (head)space to be in.

And whilst I've not been writing here so much, I've been doing some writing for other blogs and I'd love for you to take a read. The very lovely Judit from The Hands On Project asked me to write a series of posts on the winter season (one of my favourite times of the year) and my first post in the series is now up on her blog here. And the also very lovely Cat from Chronicles of Cat interviewed me about crystal healing, and specifically about using crystals to heal a broken heart which you can read here. I love how she has pulled it all together. And I enjoyed so much the writing for both of those.

Ooh and the biggest find from the last few weeks of my life - baked almond pulp brownies. I started making my own almond milk (here) and with that comes an abundance of almond pulp. Which is fantastic added to our morning millet porridge, and to our banana and date loaf, and to muffins. But I have to say, nothing beats brownies as a way to use up the almond pulp. I've been making a vegan version of the recipe linked above (I've been officially vegan since 1 January) which is just divine.

So that's me, until next time...

Simple Things: A Slow Weekend

We had the slowest of slow weekends. We stayed home, and only left the house to walk the dog and play on a swing. We didn't drive anywhere, we didn't buy anything, we used what we had at home and it was so, so good. We had millet porridge for breakfast, ate our banana and date loaf that we baked for morning and afternoon teas, had dinners of homemade soup and risotto with homemade stock. We harvested the first of the potatoes and a bunch of skinny capsicums. The kiddo did much play outside, and much play inside, and I did a heap of crochet work on the blanket I'm making for him. So much that I feel like I'm back in the swing of needing to keep my hands making little squares all the time. I sat outside with my crochet and a cup of rosehip tea, on the chairs I look at so longingly, yet so rarely actually sit in.

It was the best weekend. I needed it, my kiddo needed it, my bank account thanked me for it and my car has had three days of not being touched.

It really is when you stop running around, doing stuff that needs doing, that you realise how little actually needs to be done, and how truly wonderful it is to just be.

Shop Talk: juggling a toddler and crystals

I absolutely love having my online crystal shop. I love it so so much, all parts of it. It has grown over the past year from a handful of crystals to more stock than I could cope with, and now back to a slightly more manageable level. The difficulty for me is in finding a space to keep them all in. The need to up high, out of reach of small hands, but easy enough for me to reach them quickly for photographing and packaging up for posting. Plus all the posting stuff that goes along with it, padded envelopes and wrapping materials. It's become quite the little operation for me and (thankfully) I've gotten quicker at doing it all, out of necessity and familiarity.

I still don't have it all worked out, but I start to know what doesn't work, so that points me in the direction of what does. I have shuffled the shop crystals through three different rooms in the house, and then out to the separate room out the back, in the short space of time I've been in this house. Shuffle shuffle shuffle. I'm still not there with it, as in keeping them all in a separate room (granted not far away but still, separate enough) I find I'm torn between the house and the crystal shop. With it being something that I manage pretty much daily, I've come to realise that I need them back in the house. In their own space, with a door that closes, in the house. But I'm so tired of shuffling that I'm just operating between two spaces, and the kitchen table is now currently home to about half of my stock.

All sorts of growing pains really, but I welcome it all. My shop is ticking along at a rate that is perfect for me just now, and we're starting to fall into a rhythm of daily work in the shop (rather than the erratic, late night, hurried way of operating at different times over the past year). Our morning work, starting between 8:30 and 9am, breaking for morning tea around 10am and sometimes following on with more, sometimes leaving it at just that. Keeping a toddler entertained is definitely easier in the house. The options are still not my favourite - deal with the constant whirlwind of toddler activity while concentrating on packing orders or buy myself some time while he watches something on the computer (trains, mostly). I suppose like everything we work it out as we go. And usually an afternoon pedal on the bike up to the post office. I do love the way the rhythm is falling into place.

And over in the shop, there are plenty of beautiful crystals to be had with more arriving this week. It certainly is work, but it never feels like work. I suppose that's why the saying is that when you do something you love, you never work a day in your life.

I just wanted to mention how grateful I am for the support in my shop from a few readers here too, it means the world to me and it was definitely that support that got my shop up and running. Runs on the board, you know? So important and I'm so grateful. Thank you!

In a word, Gentle.

Oh, the word for the year thing.

I do have a word for the year, and I have been living and breathing that word for a few weeks now. Quite a lot more weeks to go but I can feel so strongly that this is how my year feels, how I feel, how the energy around me feels, how the energy I create feels.

My word is gentle.

After the last few rollercoaster years of my life, where there have been big shifts, powerful shifts, big events and many changes, life has felt jolted, frantic and hectic. It's been quite the ride, but moving forward, and taking with me all that I have learned from these last few years (and letting go of so much at the same time), I'm ready to embrace gentler times in life.

Gentle with myself, gentle with my child, gentle in my home, gentle in my energy. Being in gentle places, staying away from places that are not so gentle. Being with gentle people, staying away from people who are not so gentle. After all, it is up to us to choose how we spend our time, who we spend it with, where we spend it. And how we feel.

So this is my gentle year. There are massive challenges coming my way this year, already I know this, so my need to dig deep and cultivate gentle is very real. I will be drawing from a very deep well, to bring gentle through with what is coming up. But these times, they are the transformative ones. Yin yoga is helping me amazingly already (there I go about the yin yoga again), I can see it will be a mainstay for me this year. A practice I can sink into each evening, where I can just be in my body, know the safety and security of just being, and breathe gently through this year.

Did you choose a word for the year?

Shop Talk

I hardly ever mention my shop here on the blog and I guess that stems from the old days (like, a year ago) when talking about crystals and metaphysical stuff was something I kept fairly private, I suppose because I often felt like it was an unusual interest, even though it was more than an interest, but still, a bit different. But since that side of life has become even more important (the spiritual aspect), talking about crystals just feels very normal now. Plus I do love talking about crystals, to pretty much anyone who will listen.

I started my shop almost a year ago now, probably spot on a year from the point where I had one of those flashes of inspiration to start the shop. At the time I didn't give any thought to how the shop would go, in terms of growth and success, other than that I didn't think I would make any money out of it in the first year. I was wrong, at some point in the second half of the year it started to build up momentum, and I started to see that I could grow this thing a bit bigger, and a bit bigger again. And I learned there is a point where it would be too big for just me to manage, which is also handy to know, as I'm now positioning it to be at a sustainable level for me to manage physically, and which provides a little income as well.

The thing it always comes back to for me is that I just love working with crystals, and sharing crystals, and there is a part of me, being a Gemini and all, that loves and thrives on the commerce side of things. I have fun with it. There have also been times in the past year where I've wondered if it's all worth it, but in getting through those times, I still say a big yes. It is worth it. And of course my shop has evolved over the past year, and will continue to evolve, although I do feel that I've found my 'place' in the crowded market that is online crystal shops. One big lesson for me in business is that when you're in your element, there is no competition. There is space for everyone to do what they do and it is always worth supporting other businesses in the same market. I honestly feel that the very competitive mode of doing business is outdated.

Crystals are such a huge part of my everyday life. Most of the time I have too many little crystals stuffed into my pockets, just bringing with me whatever energy I feel I need or want to connect to in my days. There is usually a crystal under my pillow at night, there are crystals on the bedside table, on the mantlepiece, the fridge, shelves, the bench, everywhere. And then shop crystals on top of that. I will openly admit that it's become a bit too much, but the collection continues to grow. I often meditate with a crystal in my hand (the non-dominant hand, as this is the one that receives energy) and it is an excellent way to really connect with the energy of a crystal. Some of my most profound meditative experiences have come from meditating with crystals. So I guess I'm lucky in that my shop is based on something I myself am truly passionate about.

It does take work though and right now I've got a mountain of crystals waiting to be listed, a bunch of orders waiting to be packed and posted and a bunch of administrative work to catch up on. All of which I love doing, but gosh it would be easier if there were 30 hours in a day instead of 24. Anyway I thought I would start talking about the shop a bit more in this space, so each Saturday I'll be doing my Shop Talk post. If you haven't yet had a look at the shop, hop on over and take a look! It's a work in progress, just like everything else, and it's one that I love.

This and That

We've been getting around heaps on the bike lately, my little and I. My very old but not quite vintage race mountain bike from 2005, the one I stopped the racing circus with, is now our commuter machine and I love it. Its the bike I took to New Zealand and had so many adventures on there, it's the one I took to pedal across Nepal and Tibet, it's the one I've held onto the longest and am so very attached to, and now it's the one with the kiddo seat on the back and an awesome little kiddo tucked up in it. And thankfully this kiddo loves going out on the bike too, I am very happy about that.

We pedal to the post office to post parcels of crystals (with a nice big hill to climb on the way, which keeps my legs happy), we pedal to playgrounds for a play and we pedal out for rides to go exploring, and just because we like riding. I remember when I was brand new at riding (as an adult) and the feeling of exhilaration at getting about under my own steam, covering substantial distances, and without the use of a car. I still get that feeling, so many years on. For me it's just a complete feeling of independence and self-reliance. Plus I get fit along the way, which has always been important to me too.

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I'm still so smitten with yin yoga. The more I do this practice, the more I love it. I've followed this short sequence on You Tube a few times, and honestly, working these asana's on my own, holding them for a while, sinking into them - I can feel my energy moving, clearing in my body - a twitch in my eye, little flashes here and there as things are released, mysterious pains that flare up and soon enough vanish again. I wish I had known about this 10 years ago. 20 years ago. I will probably crap on about yin yoga fairly often here as I'm just blown away at how powerful this practice is.

I've come to an evening routine that includes a session of yin yoga, before I do my meditation. I meditate in the evenings before bed, and it's something I hold sacred and don't skip (except for maybe 3 days in a year). But I'm noticing that when I do the yin yoga before the meditation, I'm straight away into a deep, quiet meditation, without the mind chatter and thoughts. It's the stillness in the body, the stillness cultivated by the yin yoga, that brings me to this place. The stillness begins in the body, and the mind follows. I wish I had known about this 10 years ago!

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It occurs to me that I may, just may, have quit chocolate... Well when I say 'quit chocolate', do you ever really quit eating it forever? I think my definition for quit chocolate, for me, means quitting buying blocks of chocolate to keep on hand, just for when I want a little piece (which means quite a few pieces, quite often). From just before the new year, I gobbled down the last of the block of chocolate I had and there I stopped... I haven't bought any and to be honest, I haven't wanted it. I've not even been tempted to get myself a little bit of chocolate.

I have been constantly supplying my body with chocolate for years, and it definitely increased with motherhood, to get me through the energy lows. The after dinner little piece of chocolate, that was my nemesis. But after a stint of just going without, just because, I noticed how much better I felt for not having it. And then I got more, and it was yummy, but I noticed my heart racing, feeling edgy, feeling sugared up... and I didn't like that feeling. Not when it became so obvious, after a break. So yeah, quitting chocolate. My definition of quitting chocolate doesn't extend to cooking chocolate so I'm still allowed to bake chocolatey things, just for something a bit special. Although it's not quite vegan either... Sheesh when did it all get so complicated?

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I hope you've all had a great week and I hope you all have a great weekend! x

In Breaths and Out Breaths

The things we collect on our walks.

In breath, and out breath. In breath, and out breath. Repeat, over and over and over again. This is how we live our life, right? In breath, out breath. In breath, out breath. Something we perhaps take for granted most of the time.

Some of my earliest meditation training was in watching the breath, but not in the usual cliche way of just 'watch your breath'. It was more like being in full awareness of every moment, every part of the breath cycle, and took concentration to stay with. A very deep practice, simple but deep and one I still do, because it's wonderful.

On the inhale, notice the beginning, the middle and the end (the point where you have finished inhaling). Notice a pause, where air is transferred in the lungs, some in and some out. Notice the beginning, the middle and the end of the pause. Notice the exhale, the beginning, the middle and the end. And notice the space at the end of the breath, once the exhale has ended but before the next inhale begins. So spacious.

I love that space. That space, in between the breaths, that is the space where the quiet mind can be found. The commonly held idea is that meditation is trying to quiet the mind, yet to me, that's going the wrong way about it. The mind is what it is, it wants to think and to chatter and to always be going. The body is the place of stillness, the breath; using the mind to focus on the stillness of the body, the mind is so full of concentration that there is no space for thoughts. That place between the ending of the out breath and the beginning of the in breath, that is the place where, if you are concentrating on the rest of the breath cycle, you will find the stillness of mind. It is fleeting, it is momentary, the mind wants to attach to it and think about it. And then the next in breath comes along. The more you connect to that space in between, the easier it is to find it again, and again, and again.

And then I look at our days, the in breaths and out breaths and spaces in our days. The times when we're doing, moving, and the times when we let go and rest. There must be a balance, between the moments in our days of doing things, and the moments when we pause. The in breath of action, the out breath of letting go. The pause between the two, and the space at the end. I know that in my days, I can work towards a greater balance; less of the in breath and doing, more of the out breath and letting go. Bringing rhythm, harmony, the beat of life to our days.

Because in the end, one day there will be no more breaths, so we might as well notice and appreciate them while we're here. It just is how it is.

Simple Things: Ditching Tinned Foods

When I first became vegetarian, quite a few years ago now, and even before actually as I rarely cooked with meat at home, I was heavily reliant on buying tins of pulses - just the basics, kidney beans, lentils, cannellini beans, chickpeas. And I'm still pretty reliant on those basics, although with a few more thrown into the mix these days, but I have managed to ditch the tins. It was something I thought about so often at the time, looking at just how many resources were used in the processing and manufacture of the food (manufacture of food, it just sounds wrong) - the waste of so much aluminium, the big factory where they would have been produced, the logistics of transporting them from factory to supermarket. It's huge.

I'm not fully there with being able to grow my own everything (not even close, lets be honest) but at the very least, I now only buy dried pulses and do the preparation of them myself. I was always put off by the part about 'soak beans overnight' when I was thinking about what to make for dinner, to eat right now. Obviously soaking beans overnight was not going to be an option, but a tin of beans was quick and convenient and that's exactly what I got by on for a long time.

It really wasn't until I started doing menu planning, when I had a little baby and was trying to establish some rhythm to my days, that I got into the habit of being able to prepare beans and pulses ahead of time. And there was some experimentation about learning how to cook them just right after the soaking, which was easy enough, but still took it's time. It's all a process though, and a few more years down the track I'm very confident now in my bean soaking and cooking process. These days I tend to just make up a batch, not too big but enough for a few meals, and pop the extras in the freezer for when I need them. So I still have the convenience of having beans ready for a quick meal when I need them, but without the tins (or the factory processing, at least not for the cooking part).

It is such a very simple change, to be able to move away from buying tinned foods to preparing from scratch with dried pulses, but the place where the change is truly made is in being organised - organised with a weekly meal plan, organised with having enough dried pulses on hand for your needs, organised with actually soaking and cooking them ahead of time. For all of it's simplicity, it took me years to actually make the change.

This is my very simple way of preparing dried pulses. Soak a quantity of pulses in a saucepan with a lid, for 8 hours or overnight (usually on the bench or in the fridge if it's hot). If I'm not organised and pushed for time I will sometimes cut that down to 6 hours instead of 8. Then simply drain the soaking water, replace it with fresh water and pop it on the stove. Bring to a boil then simmer on very low heat for an hour or so, and test when you think they might be done. You might need to top up the water if it gets a little low. Then simply put into freezer-safe containers and freeze them, or use them in cooking. Done! How easy is that? I really love the very slow cooking aspect to this as well, mine always turn out nicely when cooked very slowly.

No more tins, no more super heavy shopping bags to lug around and it's easier to get a wide selection of pulses, and often organic, when they're dried (if you have a good health or whole foods shop nearby). My last area to make the change away from tins (well two actually) is tinned tomatoes, I am still caught up in that cycle but looking to make changes, and pet food. Cat food in particular. But, a step at a time when transitioning to simpler living. Changes that take time to make are often the ones that last, and every little change helps.

Getting Dirty.

My little one is so happy to wander around barefoot everywhere. Me, not so much. I have this thing with dirt. I love having it, I love digging in it, I love growing plants in it, but I'm not so keen on getting it on me. Unless it comes from a few hours spent riding my bike, then I'm happy to bask in my dirt tan, but otherwise, not so keen on dirt.

I don't think I was always this way. I remember as a kid, going to my horse riding lesson each week and afterwards, I would want to stay in my (dirty, grotty) riding gear as long as possible and I didn't want to wash my hands, because they smelled like horse. Which I loved. Now? Well, I suppose I became a grown up, or perhaps, I became responsible for keeping the house clean and free from dirt, and horse.

I imagine there is a continuum of sorts for dirt tolerance, and my little one is somewhere at the very high tolerance end and I am somewhere at the very low tolerance end. And I wonder how healthy it is to be where I am. It's almost like I've developed a little anxiety about it. I'm certainly super vigilant about not bringing dirt into the house, and I'll acknowledge that I'm a little too vigilant about it.

This little one teaches me every single day, showing myself to me, showing me all the parts of me that have become - out of touch, I suppose. I mean we are creatures of the Earth as much as any other animal, yet we build ourselves nice clean houses and have nice clean clothes and remove ourselves from it, keep it 'out there'. But in doing that, we lose touch with our connection to our Earth, and with much of our abilities to ground, and to sense, feel, from contact with the Earth. Quite literally, our feet are designed to sense things from the ground up, and yet we cover them up, most often in synthetic materials, and lose our ability to tune in and connect with the Earth. We do ourselves a disservice.

I know it is something I need to work on, relaxing myself enough to forget about keeping the house (and me) clean and instead, focus on enjoying the moments of connection, through bare feet on the Earth. Not just on the special days when we go to the beach or to a park and kick off our shoes, but in the everyday. In the vegie garden, is probably a good place to start.

Taking lessons from my kid, every single day.

Mindful in the Moment

For my 21st birthday, quite a few birthdays ago now, my mum gave me a book called Forgiveness and Other Acts of Love by Stephanie Dowrick, because I suppose at the time, life was feeling a little bit shit. So it was an early introduction to ideas of mindfulness, although that wasn't a specific subject of the book, perhaps more an undercurrent to the ideas she presents. I still have the book and it's one that I pick up from time to time now, flipping to a page here or there and and revisiting her wisdom.

Like it or not, the past year of life has presented many opportunities for me to practice mindfulness. In those moments when life feels like it is closing in, when it feels like events beyond your control but that which deeply affect you are threatening to submerge you, when it almost feels like you can't breathe, can't think, and you want more than anything for life to be different to how it is. Those are the moments when you need mindfulness. Or perhaps I should say, those are the moments when you truly learn mindfulness.

In mindfulness, it doesn't matter what may be going on around you. All the worries and niggles and thoughts that can keep a mind racing and a body tense, they all get put aside. It happens moment by moment. Watching the steam rise from a hot cup of tea, watching your arm, your hand as you life the cup of tea, noticing deeply how the tea tastes and feels as you take a sip. That is a moment of mindfulness. Hanging the washing out to dry, pegging each item carefully, folding it again when you bring it in - slowly, carefully, methodically. Mindfully. Feeling the warm sun on your back, truly watching your child be absorbed in the world of play, feeling the breeze on your cheek. That is a moment of mindful.

For all that we experience in our lives, the things we call good and the things we call bad, in all of that, we still function, we still live. We have a choice of either getting caught up in our head, worrying about this, wondering about that, figuring out the other; where our breath becomes shallow and our thoughts are on things far removed from what we are doing in that moment. Or, we can choose to live in the moment, breathing deeply into the belly, attention focused on the task at hand, mind engaged on what is, now. On the one hand it may make no difference, but actually, it makes all the difference. And in every single moment, we have that choice, of being mindful or absent-minded.

Being mindful in the moment may not change what is happening in your life. Things happen that are beyond our control - other people, situations, circumstances. But it does change you - how you breathe, your state of mind, your level of wellbeing. How you breathe your breaths is entirely up to you - shallow or deep. What you focus your mind on is entirely up to you - present or absent. Whether you choose to notice the little things in everyday life or miss them all while you worry about this, that or the other - that is all up to you. All of it comes down to mindfulness, and mindfulness is something that is inherent within us and easily developed. Moment by moment.

So how do you practice mindfulness? It is so simple, and perhaps that's where the difficulty lies. Be aware, right now, in this moment. Are of your breath. Is it deep and restorative, or shallow and weak? What are you doing, in this moment, how is your posture, are you hunched over and tense, or relaxed, with open lungs? Are you carrying tension in your body anywhere right now, and if you are, can you release it? Are you focused on what you are doing, really noticing each action, or are the mind and body in separate places?

When we consciously decide to become mindful, we choose to fully engage with our life. The stressors in life may not go away, but their impact on your life, on your quality of life, on your wellbeing, are so much smaller. So much smaller. It is a skill for life, to be mindful and to live in the moment, and one that deserves more attention, especially in the world we now live in.

The more mindful I become, the more aware I become of how often I'm not mindful. Yet every moment, every breath, brings a new opportunity to be present to life.

Simple Things: Baking Bread

What is wrong with this image? Don't get technical on me, I'm talking about the knife-wielding toddler. I can assure you the phone (camera) was hastily put down to correct the situation.

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I'm still very new at baking bread at home. It's one of those 'simple' things that is so easy to do but I had a real block with bringing it through. I've been doing a lot of simple, homemade stuff for a few years now but this one, I never quite got to, until recently. Partly because I wasn't really eating much bread (living mostly gluten free) and having slipped back into eating a smaller amount of bread, I suppose I found the idea of baking it myself overwhelming. 

Anyway we have been enjoying going to a playgroup where bread making is the first activity of the day (such a beautiful way for the little ones to settle in) and I started to see that this was really something I could bring in to our days easily enough. It's not an everyday activity, and with not many mouths to feed, one morning of bread-making lasts us a few days. And then I feel like I need a few days to recover from the bread overload before I even think about doing it again. But we love it. And I love watching my little one playing in the garden, baking his bread, popping it in a sunny spot to rise. This is how they learn, isn't it?

The recipe I've been using the last few months is a simple one that was shared by our wonderful playgroup coordinator, so I'll share it here with you. I can assure you there is nothing complicated about this recipe and so many ways to vary it, change it up and add interesting extras for flavour and texture. I'm also eyeing off the amazing looking recipe in the My Darling Lemon Thyme cookbook, a gluten free sourdough. When I can master that, I think I might be in bread heaven. But first, the basics.

Bread

Ingredients

5 cups flour (whole wheat, spelt, white can be used or even a mix of flours, e.g. 3 cups whole wheat, 2 cups white)

1.5 tsp granulated yeast

2 tsp extra virgin olive oil

2 cups warm water

1 tsp sugar (optional)

1 tsp salt (optional)

Method

Dissolve sugar (if using) into warm water and stir in yeast. Let sit for 10 minutes or until frothy bubbles appear giving off a fermenting 'beer' smell.

Sift flour/s and salt (if using), mixing together. Make a well in the middle.

Add oil to the yeast liquid and pour into well in flour, stir.

Knead well (approx. 5 minutes).

Place bread dough in a bowl covered by a warm, damp tea towel and leave to rise in a warm spot (at least 1 hour).

After the dough has doubled in size, give it a second kneading (approx. 5 minutes) and transfer to a greased bread tin or shape into rolls. 

Let it rise a second time in a warm place (a sunny spot or a pre-warmed oven with heat turned off) until doubled in size again.

Bake in preheated oven at 180 degrees for about 40 minutes.

It's pretty simple. It's a really primal thing, for me, making bread at home. The slow, mindful kneading of the dough (with a sweet little song to hold the space for little one, and big one), the smell of freshly baked bread that fills the house, the simple pleasure of eating bread baked fresh with your own hands. It makes a house a home; it makes the everyday come to life. I am most definitely keeping this practice going. And on bread day, we eat a simple soup for dinner, just so we can eat a little more bread.

Do you make your own bread? 

Practice Practice Practice

I started knitting. It's not much, but that's all I could manage while Max the Glow Train was running. It's been on my list of things I'd love to do for a long time now, but come the new year and some serious intention setting, here I am finally following through. It's going to be a scarf for Bear. Then I'm going to knit some washcloths, learn some different stitches and one day, attempt something big. Sometimes, the hardest things is just to start. And once you do start, it's a case of practice practice practice.

You might have noticed I've been posting a lot the last few days. That too, is something that has come from some deep intention setting. I've missed writing in this space and I had lost touch with how much I enjoy the act of creating here. So in keeping with my practice practice practice outlook, I've challenged myself to write every day for a year. Not that I necessarily think I'll blog every day for a year, but I'm aiming for 28 days per month - optimistic I know! Might as well aim high.

We'll see. In any case I'm loving being back in this space regularly and I'm enjoying the process of documenting my path back to simple, mindful, sustainable. And spiritual. And I'm thrilled to see so many readers have stuck around. Thanks all, it's great to be back.

A Walking Meditation

a moment of mindful

I was flipping through the latest issue of Slow magazine recently and somewhere in there I saw a reference to a walking meditation. It really caught my eye, it's something I haven't done for many years now.

I learned how to do it when I put myself onto a 3-day Tibetan Buddhist meditation retreat, a long time ago now (which was an eye opener for me, as I didn't really know how to meditate before that and it was a fairly intense way to start). Anyway many of the meditation practices I learned then I kept going with, but the walking meditation I did not. I tried it a few times at home after that but I found it too awkward, trying to be in a meditative state, walking super slowly in the back yard and knowing my housemates thought I was kinda weird. So it just slid and I didn't even think of it for years. Until that  reminder in the magazine.

The way my body jumped at the thought, I knew it was time to go back to that practice, even just for a few minutes here and there. Such a soothing, gentle way to slow down, ease a racing mind, settle frazzled energies and become centred and grounded. I got up in my living room, and began walking slowly, very very slowly. Mindfully with each step, noticing my heel landing on the floor, the movement of my body as the weight was transferred, moving up onto the ball of my foot, rolling onto the toes, watching the other leg lifting from the ground, just bumping the floor as it came through, then the heel striking the floor... and on it goes. Such a simple yet profound practice.

As soon as I started, after a few settling steps and getting slower and slower with each one, I noticed the reiki energy pumping through my hands, the way it does when I get a yoga pose in the sweet spot. What that means is, it instantly got my energy flowing clearly. The chi moving well in my body. And it took about 30 seconds. After only a couple of minutes, I felt transformed from how I had been feeling before. Not that I was feeling bad, it was just a relaxed night at home, pottering around the house, making a cup of tea. But that simple few minutes, it brought me right out of my head and into my body, to a space of just being, rather than thinking this, working out that, doing doing doing.

I am so glad to be reconnected with this simple mindful practice. I noticed that even after I stopped the practice, I was suddenly more connected to my body, my movements; my awareness had shifted so quickly. I already do a daily meditation practice but there is always a case for adding more mindfulness to my day. It's not necessarily one I would schedule in on a daily basis, but having this one to fall back on when I need to stop, slow down, breathe (which is often!) is just wonderful. It's probably more of a practice I can do numerous times throughout my day, rather than setting aside a specific time for it, the way life is now.

A mindfulness practice doesn't have to involve walking (although this is such a great place to start with as you get a really good idea what it is about) - it can be anything you are doing in any moment. It can be washing the dishes, slowly, purposefully, examining each dish carefully, rinsing it slowly, placing it down mindfully. It can be when you're tapping at a keyboard, watching your fingers work their way over the keyboard, slower perhaps than you would normally do, being aware of your posture, your eyes, your neck, your back, your feet, letting go of any tense spots.

Every little moment of slowing down, of being mindful, is a step towards creating a more mindful, deliberate life. A moment of being truly present in your life. Those moments are so precious and often so few and far between for many of us. Threading them together, bringing the moments of mindfulness closer, stringing them together throughout the day. Day after day. A simple walking meditation is a very powerful tool to help bring through those moments of mindfulness, long after the practice itself is finished.

Have you ever tried a walking meditation? How do you stay mindful and present in your days?

(oh and barefoot is the way to go for a walking meditation...)

Gratitude.

My biggest intention for 2016 is to get back to simple living, after feeling like I've let go of so much of what I had intentionally created in previous years. Part of the learning experience, I suppose. I have to say that, now living in a small city, I struggle to pull back the 'simple' as I feel the rush, the bustle and the busy so intensely. So that is part of my work, now, being in a place that doesn't necessarily feel mindful, simple or slow, yet being able to bring those aspects back into my own life. Living in the country definitely, in my experience, makes it easier to live simply. And I am yearning to go back, but the journey really begins on the inside, so I will be taking steps every day to get back to my simple, mindful, sustainable life - all the things I started writing this blog for back at the start.

I bought myself a special little journal book, to become my gratitude journal. I suppose I feel like I've been drifting along in my life the past year, lost my way somewhat, and it's time to get serious about doing the things I want to be doing in this life, one journal entry at a time. In truth, I probably haven't 'lost' my way so much as found my way, just a bit differently than before. All the small changes along the way - this little thing and that little thing - the little changes we can make, once they become the new 'norm', can result in a big change in how we live. And I guess that's what this journal is helping me do, on a daily basis, little by little and step by step. Starting now.

Being in a state of gratitude for what we already have is such a wonderful place for bringing in even more things to feel grateful for. By being grateful for what we have, it suddenly starts to become 'enough' and sometimes even more than enough. The more we practice being grateful, the more we have to feel grateful for. It all comes down to energy - what we focus our energy on is what we 'vibrate' at (since everything is energy), and since like attracts like, we draw in and are drawn to, other energy that vibrates like us. So in being grateful, we draw in more situations, circumstances, opportunities and people that we can feel grateful for. Being very mindful of what we are giving our attention, our energy to, is so important in creating the life we want.

My daily gratitude journal writing is in two parts - the first is what I'm feeling grateful for, and the second is what I'm dreaming about - the things I want to bring into my life and my experience. The two combined are a powerful way of bringing dreams and intentions to reality. It all comes down to that focusing of energy, being in a state of gratitude for what we have and focusing in on what we want. I actually started writing in my gratitude journal a few days ago now and I'm loving the experience. I've committed myself to writing in it daily for the year (and hopefully for many years) and of course there will be days and phases where I don't feel like doing it, where life is too busy, I'm too tired or any other excuse the ego can possibly come up with. But my intention is that it happens daily, because it is important.

And one of the things that I've been dreaming about lately is knitting, which I knew how to do when I was a kid. Starting back down that path, dreaming of knitted little jumpers and knitted big cardigans. And lavenders, I'm forever dreaming of lavenders.

Do you keep a gratitude journal? What are you dreaming of in 2016?

Summertime

Summertime. I love the golden yellow hues of the dry country. I always thought I would prefer a greener place but as it turns out, I don't.

Flo the pony is doing so well, it's hard to imagine that 12 months ago she was uncatchable and with ridiculously long feet in need of a trim. I was so stressed about it at the time too, but things do change, nothing stays the same forever and now here we are. I can walk into the paddock and give her a scratch, catch her easily, groom her, clean her feet and she stands quietly for a trim. She's still pretty wild and I really love that about her (I'm taking lessons from her).

It's become really apparent to me lately that my life is feeling anything but 'simple' these days. I have this deep desire to just 'be' at home with my child, yet somehow I manage to fill our days up with other things. So as we come into the new year, it's very much on my mind that 2016 is going to be a year of simplifying, slowing down (again), finding my feet (again) and focusing in on what I really want.

The next days are for sitting with all that has been in 2015, and letting most of it go. I'll be doing some deep inner and outer clearing (I have been in decluttering mode for the past month already!) and ready to dig deeper in 2016, on what really matters to me. And where I want us to be. I've given in to the restlessness I feel in our current home, and I'm just waiting for a new home to materialise now. I've mentally packed up the kitchen dozens of times, and if anything I've created a new impatience at wanting to move.

And in all of that, I'm appreciating the warm days. The washing drying so quickly, the ease of not layering into so many clothes, even the pulling closed blinds to keep the harsh light out. Quiet time indoors while it's too hot and sunny to be out and about. I do love summertime.

Idle Chat

I thought yet again that I was going to let go of this space, finish up writing here, but apparently not so. In my meditation, this blog kept coming to me, and in my dreams I was shown again that this blog is to stay. Far be it from me to question guidance like that, and I suppose I better show up and write something again too.

We let go of our little chickens. That was the hardest I've ever had to deal with in terms of chickens. We've lost chickens to cold, dogs and illness; we've re-homed chickens, and I left our last lot behind when I couldn't bring them to town with us, and it has always been, not necessarily easy, but just necessary. When we moved into our little house in this little city I suppose I/we were feeling disconnected from the country, and we missed our chookies so much. So in the little space we had, we got two beautiful Rhode Island Reds, Beryl and Beatrice, and had a little house for them in the garden. I got so attached to those two, probably because they were the most cuddly chickens we've ever had, and the cheekiest, and the friendliest. But as life would have it, the benefits of our feathered friends were outweighed by the extra burden on me to keep them and eventually I had to accept that, as long as we're in this house, we won't keep chickens. We found a lovely new home for them, but gosh, the sadness when they left. I cried a lot that afternoon. I wanted to show my boy that it's ok to cry when we're sad. He cried too, not so much over the chickens, but for the box they left in - from our new vacuum cleaner (months ago) that he's been using as his dryer ever since. So we both did some crying. It's life hey. Better processed and dealt with than not.

I'm missing having more space and being in the country like mad, but I'm working hard on focusing on the positive aspects of where we are. I've been experiencing so much resistance to being here, and I know it stems from the circumstances surrounding why we are here. As a friend pointed out to me, "you didn't choose to come here; you chose to leave where you were". And she was spot on. It was a rushed, spur of the moment decision and where we ended up was dependent on what was available quickly and easily. And not to take away anything from where we live, we have a beautiful, happy home. But whatever the circumstances I've been feeling stuck. That desire to move on, find something more suitable, has been burning strongly, and I've been countering it with focusing my thoughts on stability. Letting myself feel whatever there is to be felt, doing yoga to move through it, finding postures that require stability. It all helps. Giving myself space to really, deeply reflect on what I do want, when we do move on from here. And goodness knows when that will be, I wonder if after all my resistance we might even end up staying here for a good time. Who knows. Moving house often is definitely a strength of mine, be that good or bad (but hey let's leave polarities behind, shall we?), it is what it is, and my only real concern is providing a the best possible home for my boy, and me too.

And it's nearly Christmas again, and I think back to what I wrote heading into Christmas last year (here) and not much has changed. I'm really not comfortable with the idea of Christmas, and my internal discomfort is growing. Funnily enough, I'm more willing than ever to celebrate Jesus in any way, shape or form, but not in the commercial, thoughtless, plastic way that Christmas is rammed down our throats by corporate giants. So I don't know what we will do on Christmas Day in this house yet. Or what to tell my toddler about Christmas. The whole thing is so pervasive in society. At the library, a kind lady gives him a stamp on his hand - and it's a Christmas tree. The marketing in shops, tinsel everywhere (for months now), people very kind-heartedly asking 'what's Santa going to bring you' without a thought that perhaps, for us, there is no Santa. And wondering how the heck to handle this with a 2 year old. Lots of conversations to be had, for many years to come, and lots of expectations to be managed. Wanting to give him the joy of childhood 'Christmas' without the burden of expectation placed squarely by society. The tricky moments of parenting. I will need to do more inner work on this one, I suppose, and see what I know, deep down. For me, I have always loved having a tree in the house and decorating it with beautiful, meaningful decorations. No flashing lights or plastics. Perhaps we can make lots of little clay angels and paint them, and adorn a tree with them to honour and give thanks for their guidance and support. And of course Jesus, we will celebrate Jesus. Perhaps I do know the inner answers after all.

Enough idle chat from me, it's been good to check in here again. I'll be back soon, I promise! (ps I'm having a little giveaway from my shop, details are over on my Instagram account if you'd like the chance to win a handful of beautiful natural crystals!).

Just How Life Is

Allowing myself time to be still and reflect on how much has changed, in the not-quite half a year that we've been in our new home. Just looking back at some of our photos from winter, it feels so real and so close, and yet everything has changed so much. As it does, I suppose. Slowly reflecting back on the past year, and my head still can't quite come to terms with all that has been and gone.

We had a new mama at our playgroup. She was pregnant. And so lovely, too. I am loving our little connections in this group so much, it's like a fresh start, a new place - a warm and gentle and kind and welcoming new start. I have come to value connections and community so much, and I come away from our group each week with so much love in my heart. It's the highlight of my week these days.

We played at a playground for a while after the playgroup, and as I pushed my little one on the swing, I prayed silently to Jesus for help in healing myself, so that I may help others heal too. I pray to and talk to Jesus a lot these days. I am not religious at all, but in the early days after my awakening, I felt the presence of Jesus so strongly, channeling his energy, connecting with him in my meditation. Being so new to it all back then (gosh I still am), I thought this couldn't possibly be real. It is real. He is real.

So I prayed, and moments later the tears started to gently fall from my eyes, my thoughts pondering back on the pregnant mama. Feeling again the sadness and loss that lingers like a fog in me. I have many wounds to heal, but this one, I'm not sure I can ever truly heal from. So we stayed at the playground a while, my little one swinging, my tears just flowing, allowing it all to just be. Grateful to be there with my little one, grateful for pregnant mama helping me on my journey, grateful to Jesus for his immediate help when I asked.

It's so easy to be conditioned to not cry, to not express emotion, to 'hold it all together', to be strong. Yet there is so much strength in feeling your emotions and letting them go, letting the tears fall and the pain rise up, to really feel it and release it. Knowing that every time I do, a little more of the pain is released, and there is a little more space for love and joy in my heart. It's not linear; there is no end date. It is just how life is.

A little bit of taking stock

One of those catch a bit of everything posts, always with thanks to Pip from Meet Me At Mikes for the inspiration. These are such a nice way to get a snapshot of how things are, right now. So anyway, taking stock.

Making: popcorn, playdough, bread, yummy treats, rice porridge amongst other things. But bread! We finally made bread, being completely inspired by our playgroup bread-making endeavours and it's just divine. I won't think about the gluten or the carbs but it's very hard not to over indulge. 

Cooking: loads of yummy things from the beautiful recipe book My Darling Lemon Thyme. This book is just so perfect for us now, I'm really moving away from dairy and I've always got a preference for gluten free. We seem to be very stuck in the sweet pages but the savoury dishes I've tried have been wonderful too. 

Drinking: mostly rosehip tea, the odd chai and a milo here and there. No coffee. It's been 9 days now (counting much?) and I do miss it, but the feeling of being more settled in my energy is making up for it. But still, that smell...

Reading: a lot of books at once! I must be playing catch up for the years of not really reading anything much. Will I Ever Be Good Enough? and Women Who Run With the Wolves and Don't Let Anything Dull Your Sparkle (to name a few).

Feeling: a bit all over the place. Like I want to move, but like I need to stay. Counting down the months, contemplating where to go. 

Deciding: that I will start getting to bed earlier.

Enjoying: learning about pretty light and all sorts of other wonderful photography things in The Photo School online course. All the simple things that are really important without all the wordy hard-to-understand photographer speak. If you're wanting to get more out of your photos, even just your phone snaps, this is brilliant.

Waiting: for a parcel in the post.

Liking: that my little shop is doing better than I have ever thought. Not that I ever really thought very much ahead and I've a list a mile long of improvements I'd like to make, but still. I am happy with how it's going, and still having so much fun doing it.

Loving: snuggles on the couch with popcorn or milo and books. Those moments, usually super early in the morning or when a little one can't sleep at night. Some of my absolute favourite times.

Pondering: new running shorts. Short shorts (but not super short) or 3/4? I'm not sure yet.

Considering: staying or going. I have itchy feet and I'm just not feeling it in this place. I've been wondering and wondering what it is, but in truth I think it's just being surrounded by too much concrete and not enough nature.

Watching: nothing. No TV and not enough time to watch anything on the internet!

Hoping: that we might get a little more rain soon.  

Marvelling: at my little boy, as always. So much goes on in that mind, so much thinking, I can see the wheels ticking over. 

Needing: a food processor. I don't own one, I have never owned one, and I think I've reached that point in my adult life where I need a food processor.

Smelling: a dog that needs a wash, freshly baked bread, intensely flowering photinia. 

Wearing: my new op shop top. Fifty cents, and I love it, and when it gets covered in whatever is all over my little boy's hands, I'm not fussed.

Following: my little boy around, mostly.

Noticing: how much more flexible my body is, and how much better my energy flows with a bit of yoga most days. I love it, where has this been all my life?

Knowing: that I am in control of this thing called my life, and if I want it to be the life I want, I had better get off my backside and make it so.

Thinking: that I need to improve the fencing between the chicken section of the back yard and the kiddo section. There's too much breaking into the other side, on both sides, for my liking.

Feeling: the pull to be back in the country. It's not a huge place we're in but there's more concrete than I'm used to and and itching to be on the move. 

Sorting: oh, you know. Just my life.

Buying: a lovely pampering body scrub, a gorgeous goddess-like crystal pendant, toy trucks, little hats for little heads. Special popcorn bowls from the op shop.

Disliking: chickens scratching up little seedlings... Just the usual minor life dramas of chicken versus vegetable garden. But since I'm learning to detach from drama perhaps I'll just sip my rosehip tea and say 'om'. 

Giggling: with wonderful people about silly things, and remembering how good it feels to have a good laugh. 

Snacking: on nuts and dried fruits, mostly. The odd biscuit that really doesn't need to be there. But, since I have just given up coffee and chocolate in one hit, I'm letting it slide. I'm not sure I've truly 'given up' chocolate either, maybe just having an extended break to detox. 

Dreaming: of building a strawbale house in the country, with all the eco mod-cons - north facing, loads of natural light, thermal mass, double glazing, efficient (wood) heating, solar, rainwater tanks... the list goes on. With space for us to live happily, but not huge by any means. Chooks, vegies, fruit trees, horse + pony, people, internet, lavenders. 

Hearing: quiet all around me, and the sound of a cat eating dinner. It's peaceful.

Time To Smile

It's been a long year. It's been one of those years. Remembering back to New Year's Eve, remembering how positive I felt, how good I felt, about the upcoming year. And four days later I thought I was dying when I had that Kundalini awakening thing, and I remember thinking 'well I got that one wrong' about my positive feelings for the year ahead.

And in all honesty it's been what feels like one life shake-up after another. Which I now understand is what happens with an awakening like I experienced. Change, not matter how beneficial in the long run, can be so very uncomfortable at the time. Big changes that can be so unsettling, can shake the core of who you think you are and what you believe about yourself. Small changes that seem so minor at the time, yet the reverberations can be the most profound.

A big part of my lesson this year has been finding peace within myself, when all around me seemed so uncertain, so scary, so unknown and so very much not what I wanted to be dealing with. Finding the place within, where the breath is easy, where I am centred and grounded, where in this moment I am ok, even if nothing around me feels ok. And I know those lessons were needed. Still, I was very keen to release that phase and move on.

And true colours were shown so clearly, both my own and those closest to me. And I didn't very much like what I saw. An awakening to my own nature, and to the reasons behind that, again offering me a chance to acknowledge things as they were, and make changes. Deep, painful, fundamental changes. And man it hurts at the time, it all bloody hurts. Knowing there are parts of you that are not what you thought, and wanting to change but not quite knowing how. Those are murky waters to wade through. But still, to get to the clear waters, is there any other way?

My reiki teacher used this wonderful analogy about healing. He said think of yourself as being like a jar of water, with mud settled at the bottom. When you start to shake things up, when you start to clear the mud, remove it from the jar, what happens? Is it plain sailing, you just pull it out? Or does the mud move, swirl, merge with the water, make the jar cloudy. Make it feel like you're not getting anywhere, when actually you're on the way to clearer places. When you're wading through that mud, it's not a very comfy place to be. And then you reach a place where you have cleared some mud, but perhaps not all the mud, and it settles to the bottom once again. Less, but still there. And then the next thing comes along to shake it up, swirl it all around, and you can remove some more mud from the jar. And it is uncomfortable again, for a while. And it settles again, for a while. And throughout it all, you find a place of peace within, or try your hardest to.

I wonder just how many shake-ups it takes to clear all the mud from the jar.

And meanwhile, it's nearly summer; the longest winter is over. The past is what it is, nothing will change it. The future is not yet written, and my thoughts now will change it. So I'm making my thoughts what I want them to be, where I want them to be, and trusting in the flow of positive change. It's time to smile.

Grounding

Grounding. I would have to say that the cornerstone, the absolute essential thing in my spiritual growth and my spiritual path, is grounding. Being grounded. Here on Earth, feeling at one, knowing I belong here and that this is my home, for now.

Being grounded is when your lower chakras as strong. When your base, sacral and solar plexus chakras are strong, energised and spinning the way they're supposed to. I know for me, and for many many other people, there is a tendency to easily connect to the higher chakras, the third eye and crown, which is wonderful and amazing, but it is so important that the lower chakras be strong to provide a counter-balance to the higher energies. If they're not, if the higher chakras are strong and the lower chakras are weak, that's when you become 'ungrounded' and that's a problem. It's not the nicest thing to experience. But possibly quite common. It is helpful to think of the chakras in a pyramid form - the bigger, or stronger the base, the higher the top (crown chakra) can go. Conversely, if there's a narrow base and a really tall tower (weak lower chakras and strong higher chakras), things can be a little unstable.

There are many 'symptoms' of being ungrounded. It can be simple things like feeling a bit spaced out or dazed, bumping into things often, not being focused on 'real-world' things - physical things, taking care of daily life.  It can be having difficulty finishing sentences when speaking, being easily distracted and finding it hard to get to where you want to be in life. It can be not even knowing where you want to be in life. It can be having difficulty meeting your material needs. It can get serious and manifest as depression, unwanted out of body experiences and feelings of wanting to leave the earth. It can show up as exhaustion and an inability to get enough rest, despite getting plenty of sleep. Funny to think that all these things can have a basis in spiritual stuff, isn't it? *

I've had more than my own fair share of feeling ungrounded, especially over the past few years. For me, most of the lesser 'symptoms' were all present and I had no idea, absolutely no idea, that there was a spiritual basis to any of it. That was a while ago. And in fact I probably still experience some of them more often than not (that not finishing sentences thing..). And in my worst moments, when there was way too much higher chakra stuff going on and not enough strength in my lower chakras, I would look longingly up at the sky and just want to be there, or I would have thoughts about wondering whether I had actually died already, but my soul hadn't realised and was just hanging about on Earth (I'm sure there's movies about stuff like that, isn't there?). Not the most pleasant thoughts to be sitting with. Being grounded really truly is an important consideration.

The thing is, grounding is a continual thing - it needs doing, and doing, and doing. It's not like you can do it once and say 'ok, that's it, I'm grounded now' and forget about it. It's a daily practice. An hourly practice, sometimes. A minute by minute, moment by moment practice, sometimes.

So, how do you get grounded? There are so many ways to ground yourself, but one of the best is to be outside, in nature, feeling the Earth energy. Preferably away from the hustle and bustle of city life, but even if that's not possible, just being outside, connecting to the Earth. Bare feet on the Earth, hands in the dirt. So things like gardening, heading to the beach, heading out for a hike are all perfect things. Listening to the birds sing, watching the trees dance and sway, and knowing that you are as much a part of nature as the trees and the birds. There are crystals that are excellent to carry for grounding (black tourmaline, smoky quartz, garnet to name a few) and there are crystals to avoid as they can be highly ungrounding (selenite and moldavite were always my worst offenders). You can do a grounding meditation - any meditation where you see and feel yourself 'connect' with the energy of the Earth. You can breathe - deeply, into the Hara (a major energy centre, located about 3-5cm below the navel), letting your tummy move in and out with it (rather than the lungs). You can focus yourself intently on tasks that you are doing in the moment - like washing each dish with care, watching every movement, being conscious of what your body is doing. You could call a friend just to have a chat, you could make yourself a healthy meal or snack and eat something grounding (proteins), you could tidy up and declutter your house slowly and mindfully. You can look at your feet and imagine the energy of the Earth coming up to meet them, flowing into them and holding you here. There are so many ways to be grounded.

The hardest part is awareness - becoming aware of when you are feeling ungrounded, so you can do something about it. Once you become aware, you can return yourself to a more grounded state in literally minutes with some of the techniques I've listed above. The trick is just knowing when you're feeling ungrounded, and having a favourite thing, a go-to thing, that helps you bring your energy back down. And if you're someone who tends to feel ungrounded regularly, then you must work, work and work some more on those lower chakras, to strengthen them and bring back some balance to your energetic system. At the end of the day, we are simply creatures of the Earth living in a time when we are so disconnected from her and from our natural rhythms. No wonder so many of us feel ungrounded.

Ahh, there is so much to say on this topic. More another time!


* These are typical things that someone may experience due to being ungrounded. In no way should you take this as any form of medical advice. If you're unwell, obviously see your doctor.