Category Archives: Vital Wellness

Return to the Garden – Part Five: Wraps, Rolls, Scoops, and Bowls

by Dreama Vance

(To review this series from Part One, go here.)

This is the new way to eat your sandwich! These are ideal ways to eat living food in a comfortable, familiar manner. You can buy coconut wraps and flax wraps online now. All the work has been done for you! Just like making a sandwich, pull out your wrap, add your filling, roll it up and enjoy.

There are many living food recipes that remind us of old favorites like tuna salad and egg salad. There are veggie burgers and “fish” sticks, all completely vegan and delicious. These are easy to make and great to throw together for lunch time. Pâtés like “not-tuna salad” will keep for a few days extra in the fridge, so you can make ahead and pull out your filling when it is time to make your wrap. Patties like veggie burgers can be frozen for future use. You can easily defrost them and use the same day.

Scoops are a vegetable that serves the purpose of and replaces bread. Things like romaine lettuce, a cabbage leaf, and my favorite, a napa cabbage leaf, all hold your filling and extras, just like a sandwich.

My very, very favorite way to eat a living food sandwich, though, is to make a SWITCH. I discovered this secret when we used to have breakfast burritos on the weekend. When I decided to eliminate wheat from my diet, I decided to put all of my breakfast burrito stuff in a bowl and eat it with a fork. It was sooo much better! You could really taste all of the ingredients. They came alive without being muted by bread or wheat flour. This is exactly what happens when you make your living food sandwich in a bowl. Stop and think about it. Really, what is the purpose of bread in a sandwich? Doesn’t it really just take the place of a plate? It just acts as a shelf for the filling of your sandwich.

The key is to put only the things you would normally put in your sandwich into your bowl. The good thing is you can put lots more of the good stuff in, like a thick Dagwood sandwich, and still eat it without making a mess! Plus, you can add those juicy tomatoes and not drip them on your shirt! Don’t you usually add lettuce and tomato to your sandwich? I always build mine with greens on the bottom, mix in your mayo, add your filling, top with tomato, sprouts, whatever you like, and dig into the super-good flavors.

You will be amazed at how good it is. It is so much better without the bread! I love cucumber and arugula sandwiches so I just scrunch up some baby arugula in a bowl, add my homemade nut “mayo,” stir it into the arugula, top with sliced cucumbers and sliced tomatoes and that’s it! You can do exactly the same with a veggie burger. You have to try it to believe it, but it actually does have more taste and flavor than it does on bread. The bread dampens the taste. Without the bread, those fresh veggies just shine with juicy goodness.

Don’t add any other ingredients than what you like on your sandwich. This is not a salad. It is a sandwich in a bowl. You can add more of what you normally put into your sandwich, but not a bunch of other things. You can load up on all of the things that go into a sandwich and eat as much as you want. There is no bread to weigh you down and your meal will leave you feeling light, satisfied, and refreshed.

It is so simple and easy to eat this way. I could feel a difference when I quit eating bread and wheat products. Many people who go gluten-free comment that they just feel better. That is probably because wheat processed into flour is a bit pro-inflammatory in the body.

Plus, did you know that wheat has 15 opioid elements that interact in a morphine-like manner with your brain?

Changing our habits takes effort. This Return to the Garden series of articles is designed to encourage you with simple ways you can begin to transition. When you begin the journey of making changes in the food you eat, you see from a certain perspective. Just like driving in a car when you start out on a trip, you are looking forward and moving toward a destination.

Once you get to where you are going, you see from a different perspective. The journey is behind you and your focus is now not on the trip, but on your destination. In other words, you have arrived. It doesn’t mean you didn’t enjoy the journey, because you should, by all means! But the point is that you want to get to where you’re going. It is here, when you arrive, that the blessings unfold like a bouquet of flowers.

Yes, you will experience many benefits along the way, more energy, balanced weight, better sleep, better concentration, less brain fog and many other physical, emotional, and mental benefits. All of these things can show up as you transition. But when you are no longer “working” to get there, when you have finally achieved your goal, that is when you can really notice the other wonderful things that take place in spirit.

It has taken me almost 18 years to discover the connection between raw, living food and spirituality. Almost from the beginning of my introduction to this way of eating I intuitively knew there was a connection. But how exactly did it work? There are many who talk about the benefits received physically, emotionally, and mentally. However, there just is not much information about the spiritual changes. People will tell you they “feel more alive,” or they feel “more connected.” Dr. Gabriel Cousens has a book on the topic, a tome really, that talks about our subtle energy bodies and 72,000 nadis. But what does all of that mean on a practical day to day level?

Here are the secrets I have discovered and want to share with you, for it is truly the spiritual benefits that make the effort to eat this way so worthwhile.

First and foremost, eating this way changes our consciousness. It took me 8 years after becoming a vegan to realize that veganism is about consciousness. Elevating consciousness is the reason spiritual teachings of old tell us to eat a vegetarian diet. Ancient teachings didn’t have to tell us not to eat processed food because there wasn’t any! But in today’s world, processed “food,” like the plague it is, must also be avoided. When you eat a primarily raw and living food diet even deeper changes happen in consciousness. It is your consciousness that transitions. You see life from a different level.

You experience a Freedom you weren’t even previously aware was missing. Once you reach this level of consciousness, one of the things you will be able to do is look back at your old self and see how you were bound to the miasma of 3D consciousness because of your food choices. It literally appears to stick to you, like stringy glue. You don’t see this when you are functioning at the level of 3 D because you are in it and experiencing life from that point of view. But as you rise in consciousness and are freed from those trappings, you can look back and see it. It is incredibly liberating.

Dreama, California coast

The second experience is Joy. This Joy, I think, comes from that higher state of consciousness as it resides with you no matter the outer circumstances of life. I have written about this Joy in previous articles and I know many of you know joy. I can only tell you that when I changed to a vegan diet, within two weeks that Joy descended upon me, almost like the descent of Grace, and it has never left me, not even in difficult and trying, soul-testing times.

The third thing is Communion. You begin to experience an actual communion with the food you eat. You will actually feel happy just by picking up your peach or your apple or cucumber. You will begin to “see” life in them. You will feel it, sense it. The life in the food begins to feed you in a totally different way. It is this experience, life communing with life, this opening to spirit that unveils itself when we come into harmony with nature with our food choices that I want you to understand.

This harmony begins to resonate within your being, connecting you to all life. You feel that connection all the time, not just once in awhile, or during deep meditation. Compassion, beauty, peace, these are the fruits of the spirit we receive when we eat the fruits and foods of the garden.

Tell a friend…

Return to the Garden – Part Four: What’s For Lunch?

by Dreama Vance

I don’t know about you, but for me when someone says, “What’s for lunch?” I immediately think soup and sandwich.

So let’s look at the first half of that possibility. Let’s talk soup! Blended soups that are fresh and living food. Savory smoothies can fall into this category, but I like to call them raw soup because if I offer my husband a smoothie at lunch time, he turns up his nose, but if I call it a raw soup and serve it in a warm bowl, he slurps it up and asks for more! So, soup it is! Plus, after you blend up your recipe, you can dice some additional veggies into your bowl and it really is a soup.

Soup carries a different mindset. It naturally says lunch or dinner for most of us and so living soups that are blended and creamy fit right into our transition to adding more foods from the garden. After all, most of us grew up with tomato soup from a can and it is super easy and so much more delicious to make a raw tomato soup, particularly since tomatoes are now in season for us north of the equator! Add a bit of beautiful basil and oh, my goodness! That is exactly what it is: goodness. We are putting the good into our bodies.

These living soup recipes can also pack in the greens and you can use avocado to make them creamy or you can use nuts, seeds, or nut butters. Either way, you want them to be delicious. If you think of them as soups, then you can add pinches of spices like you would a cooked soup to flavor your recipe. Take your ingredients out of the fridge early and let them come to room temperature. That way you don’t have cold soup and if it is a good recipe, you’ll not even think about it being uncooked, it will just be good! You’ll be surprised at how filling they are, too.

Here are my two secret tips for when a raw savory soup recipe turns out to be less than you had hoped: Consider adding a bit of miso to your blender of soup. A teaspoon to a tablespoon usually does the trick. I usually use a chickpea miso that is unpasteurized. This adds that savory component that sometimes is missing in raw soup recipes. Also, consider adding a bit of lemon juice, about a tablespoon or two per blender of soup. Just like in cooked food, lemon juice “brightens” the flavor of food. These are tips I have used when my soup recipe didn’t measure up to my expectations. Let’s face it, some recipes are great and some are mediocre.

You’ll find favorite recipes, just like with cooked foods, and make them your own. When making living food recipes, listen to your intuition. You’ll find it telling you up front if it sounds like too much salt or too much chili pepper in a recipe! Learn to listen. Always go small to start. You can add more of an ingredient as needed. It is almost impossible to take it away!

Here is the thing about raw and living food: Each individual fruit, veggie, and herb is slightly different. For example, some lemons are more tart, some tomatoes are sweeter than others; some celery tastes salty and some has a sweetness to it. These differences are very noticeable in raw food dishes, unlike in cooked food where flavors tend to meld together and differences go unnoticed. It is one of the delights of living foods. Once you understand this, you’ll be able to modify your recipes accordingly.

Here is one of my most important tips: If a raw recipe calls for a clove of garlic, I often replace this with a bit of garlic powder. Raw garlic, as opposed to cooked garlic, is spicy hot and packs a punch that can be overwhelming. Garlic powder can add flavor without that pungency. I do this with onions, too, often replacing them with a bit of onion powder. Cooking onion and garlic softens and sweetens these herbs. In their raw form, they are much more potent and can easily end up being the only thing you taste in your raw spaghetti sauce! If it is a dish that usually has these herbs raw, like a salsa, then you may be on safer ground, but I would still start with a smaller amount than the recipe calls for and add as needed. These are tips I have learned and offer if you’re a newbie to this way of eating.

You want your food to be delicious. As your tastes change, as your taste buds awaken, you will discover all the vibrant flavors in fresh foods that have been hidden to you because we’ve eaten so much processed food. Your tastes will come alive, but this takes time. So it is important that you like your food; otherwise, you’ll stay stuck where you are on your journey. The vibrancy, good health, and realizations awaiting your discovery are too important. I don’t want you to miss them!

So, start small with one tiny habit. Make it yours. Hug it to you and guard it. Like a lioness guarding her cubs, don’t let anything come between you and your life-promoting habit. There are “thieves” and “robbers” out there waiting to pounce and steal your joy. Don’t let them. Guard that tiny habit and nurture it. It is precious. Here is a wisdom teaching:

When you make something a sacred part of your day, it moves up in priority. When this happens, it becomes important to you.

Make your tiny habit a sacred part of your day. Think about eating as a sacred act. After all, we are nourished by the Divine. Living foods connect us with that Light. When you begin to consciously eat living foods, at some point a shift will happen. It is like a door opens in consciousness. Think of what you eat as a doorway. When you eat living plant food, the door opens to more Light, to higher consciousness. When you eat cooked food, the light is gone out of the food and the door closes, leaving us as we have been, shrouded in the thick veils of illusion. The living food thins the veils of consciousness, revealing more and more our connection to all life.

We have talked about two major daily habits you can start using to move you forward on your healthy and conscious journey: the daily juice habit and fruit smoothies. These make great breakfast foods to start your day. Now you can add savory soups to your repertoire. At Rawfoodrecipes.com you can find lots of raw food recipes from many different chefs to get you started.

Here is one of my favorite anecdotes:

The teacher was explaining to John the difference between juicing and blending. She explained how juicing removed some of the fiber, but packed in the nutrients, and how juice was quickly absorbed into the bloodstream, requiring little expenditure of digestive energy. She explained that blending kept all of the fiber, was fast and easy to prepare, but still had to be digested. John listened, nodding his head as if he understood, and then said, with his brow furrowed, “Why don’t I just eat the food?” The teacher laughed and said, “I don’t know! Why don’t you? But you don’t. We have to find a way to get the real food into you. This is why we juice and blend.”

This story illustrates why daily juicing and daily smoothies and living soups are so powerful. This is how we get the living food, filled with light, into our bodies.

Next time we’ll talk about the other half of the soup and sandwich equation! But for now…

Eat from the garden. Eat real food. Juice every day. Have a smoothie or living soup every day. Eat some fruit every day. JUST START! You’ll be on your way, dancing with delight, and loving it in no time at all!

Tell a friend…

Return to the Garden – Part Three: The Royal House

by Dreama Vance

“I’m never going to juice!” she said.

“Never, never, never!”

Okay, no one is twisting your arm. You don’t have to juice to change your diet. Think of it this way, you can push your car up the hill, or, you can get in, start the engine, and drive up the hill. Driving is a lot easier than pushing. This is what juicing does. It starts the engine and powers your body up the hill. The hill is the change you’re making in your eating habits.

Part Two of Return to the Garden explained the whys of juicing. It is the King. It carries the power. It carries the power both nutritionally and energetically. It’s your choice.

There are still easy ways to add fresh, living foods to your diet. These foods add light and life to your whole being. Living foods from the garden are enlightening and enlivening foods. Of course we want to eat them!

This series of articles is not about medical advice or nutritional advice. This series is about awakening consciousness and what we can do to support this process. What we eat makes a difference. There is much controversy and confusion about diet today. My guiding principle in all of my studies and amidst the confusion has been Nature. What does Nature give us to eat? Fruits, greens, veggies, herbs, nuts and seeds, sprouts. Always, I let Nature guide me in my decision-making process. She is much wiser than most of us!

Before I go on, let’s take a moment to clear up a myth about fruit. I don’t know where it started, but there is an idea that fruit is bad for you. Well, I would not recommend a fried apple pie from a fast food restaurant. But, once again, I look at Nature. What does she tell us about fruit? It is abundant! She gives us abundant fruits throughout the different seasons. This is all I need to know.

However, if you need more confirmation, Dr. Michael Greger of NutritionFacts.org says we should stuff ourselves with fruit. He says, “The two most prominent dietary risks for death and disability in the world are not eating enough fruit and eating too much salt.”

Hmm, I told you Mother Nature knows best. As you start eating more real food from the garden, you naturally eat less processed food. Thus, a lot of that salt and sugar that is hidden in processed “food” goes away, too. This is also how your tastes will naturally evolve and come alive.

By the way, if you have trouble digesting fruit, eat fruit first. It digests quickly. If you are used to eating fruit for dessert, eat dessert first! You know what they say about life being short! Food combining rules are a topic for an entire article, but eating fruits alone or with leafy greens is easier on the digestive process.

So, who is Queen of the Royal House? Smoothies, of course! Why? Because they are so fast, convenient, easy and… delicious! Smoothies got boosted into the limelight when Victoria Boutenko discovered she could get more greens into her diet by blending them with some fruit and water. Thus, green smoothies were born and became a revolution.

Most people find it easy to eat a banana, not so much a head of kale. So when you can combine them and they taste like a banana, but have the nutrient density of kale, you have a winner that just about everyone enjoys.

Remember to rotate the greens, both in smoothies and in juicing. It is important that you do this. Variety is important. Each type of plant offers a different nutrient profile. Also, each individual plant can have slight variations. I often buy the same type of vegetable from different farmers at the market because they are grown in different places, and thus have a slightly different nutritional profile for the body. With variety, you offer the body a smorgasbord of nutritional choices to meet its needs.

Note: Unlike juices that remove most of the fiber, smoothies keep the fiber. This is one of the benefits because we need fiber in our diet. However, you still have to digest this even though most of the chewing has been done for you by the blender blade. Therefore, it is wise to only blend up the same amount of food you would normally be able to chew up and eat. In other words, you’re not going to be able to blend up those 11 carrots and think you can consume them that way instead of juicing. That is a sure way to a tummy ache. So keep that concept in mind when you start blending smoothies.

Most people think about a sweet flavor when they hear the word smoothie, so let’s talk about sweet fruit smoothies.

You can vary the recipes by changing your fruits and greens. I like to keep mine simple, so here is my go-to recipe: fresh or frozen bananas, frozen berries, greens, and water or fresh orange juice. This is my staple recipe and then I can add other fruits as I desire.

I usually use bananas because they are widely available, inexpensive, easy to cut up and freeze to keep on hand, and they give your smoothie a creamy consistency. You can also use mango, peaches or avocado for that creamy consistency. I use frozen organic berries because they are readily available all year. They are usually frozen quickly after they are picked, thus maintaining their powerhouse of antioxidants. If you are new to green smoothies, you could start with spinach or even romaine lettuce for your greens as they are very mild in flavor.

I started drinking green smoothies when I had orange trees in my backyard, so I would quickly hand-squeeze the juice and use it in my smoothies. Yum! It makes the smoothie a little sweeter than when you use just water as the liquid. I found this was delicious and I didn’t need to add sweeteners like dates. As your tastes evolve, or if you already don’t like too much sweet, you can just use water, or mix it half and half. You can then use the whole peeled orange as one of your added fruits or not. No cheating with pasteurized orange juice! Use only fresh juice! Always!

When making your smoothies, put your liquid in first and add enough to start things blending, about a cup. Add about 2/3 fruit and 1/3 greens when you first start and you can add more greens as you get used to the taste. Be sure you have enough liquid to get the blender moving and you can then add more liquid if needed to get the consistency you like in your smoothie.

So here is my secret tip for all of you devoted smoothie fans. This will take your sweet smoothie recipe to a gourmet level. I add a few fresh leaves from my rosemary plant, not too many, just enough to add an interesting note to my Banana Blueberry O.J. smoothie. Use about an inch or two of one of the sprigs of the plant, and just use the leaves. You can also do this with fresh basil. Use a small handful of basil leaves. Add one or the other to your blender full of green fruit smoothie and enjoy!

Does it have to be a green smoothie? Of course not! Who doesn’t love the beautiful pink of a strawberry banana smoothie? There are a gazillion recipes to try.

One of my favorite snacks is a “chocolate milkshake.” It is just water, frozen banana, 2 or three dates, a tablespoon each of carob and mesquite powder, a teaspoon of tahini and a few ice cubes. It has no dairy and no chocolate. It is delicious and easy and I always have these ingredients on hand. This is living food. It nourishes your body, delights your senses, and you feel happy when you eat this way.

The only reason we focus on green smoothies is because it is such an easy way to add greens to your diet. Remember, greens are your mineral storehouse.

One of the reasons my green fruit smoothies are routinely bananas, berries and greens is because I prefer to just eat other fruits that are in season! I love to eat and totally enjoy whatever delicious fruit is in season. I don’t want to blend it with other things. I want to eat my juicy mango just as it is, or my peaches, or my cherries, or watermelon…. Yum! This way of eating doesn’t have to be complex. It can be simple and easy. In fact, the simpler it is, the easier your body likes it.

Before I forget, let me just say that a high-powered blender works best for smoothies and also for making nut milks and other goodies in a living food lifestyle. I’ve had a Vitamix for years and years, the same one, and use it all the time. There are other brands out now, too. They are more expensive than a regular blender, but worth it if you want to pursue this lifestyle. I’d much rather have a smoothie than a chunkie! Once you start blending everyday, often multiple times a day, the high-powered blender will more than pay for itself.

Next time, we’ll talk about “What’s for lunch?” and how you can add more food from the garden in the same simple and easy way.

The daily juice habit, a daily smoothie, and fresh fruit are ways to start your day with the light of the Sun. They empower your spirit, nurture you, and connect you to Life. Choose one and make it a conscious daily habit. Start to consciously add light to your life and body.

No matter where you are on your journey, you can begin. Come alive in a totally new way! I have so much more to share. But you only experience the change when you decide to implement it!

Tell a friend…

Arise and Shine

by Dreama Vance

A couple of years ago when we first moved to our new place, we popped into the brand new big chain grocery store that had just been built in our tiny little town, which is basically out in the boonies.

We stopped to get some organic apples since we were getting ready for a car trip. I stood in the checkout line and observed the woman in front of me. Her shopping cart was full of boxed and bottled items. The bottles were full of neon-colored liquid. I have no idea what was actually in those bottles, but she did have two boys with her that looked to be about 15 and 12, as well as a little girl in the cart. I can only assume those bottles of something that could not possibly have been grown in nature were for the kids. The two boys were busy raiding the candy trays on display at the counter and holding bottles of soda pop. I don’t really know what was in the boxes in her cart, either, but they, too, had bright colors and “grab your attention” packaging.

There was not one item of LIVE food in her cart. Not one piece of fruit, nor one vegetable was to be found. As I stood and watched the tableau of this family, my heart actually hurt for them. This picture has stayed with me and still weighs heavy in my heart.

Believe it or not, our food choices are closely tied to consciousness. Dead “food” promotes a “culture of death” as Dr. Gabriel Cousens calls it. Live food promotes life and feeds our spiritual awareness. Dr. Cousens is a well known advocate of a raw vegan diet and the spiritual enhancement that comes from this diet and lifestyle. He has several books out about the topic, including “Spiritual Nutrition,” where he specifically talks about how our food choices effect the subtle energy bodies, kundalini, and ultimately our spiritual path to God.

Processed food is, quite frankly, killing us. No matter how much good stuff you put into the body, if you are still polluting your system, you will simply be treading water, not making headway.

Think of your body as a pristine pool of water. When we start adding a drop of black ink to the pool, at first it is hardly noticeable. The more we add, however, the murkier the water becomes. If we decide to clean up and restore our pool to its pristine state, we can eventually do that by adding clean water, but only if we stop adding the black ink.

Improving our own well being and therefore increasing our spiritual awareness must involve the two steps of 1) eliminating the bad stuff and 2) increasing the good stuff that we eat.

I’ve often wondered which comes first, a change in diet, or a change in consciousness. I think perhaps they dance together with one taking the lead first and then the other. One thing that happens for sure is the cleaner you eat, the more aware and conscious you become, the more emotions will arise to the surface for you to become aware of and that you will have to handle.

Food and emotions are intricately linked in all of us. In fact, it is one of the main ways we are socialized into our culture. The sooner we see this food and emotion connection and begin to understand it, the easier it will be to make our own changes in diet and the more tolerance we will have in understanding others.

I’ve been involved in the raw food movement since about 2002. How that happened is a story for another time. I have watched many come and go in the movement. I’ve watched many leaders change their tune. Although I am not 100% raw, I am always moving in that direction. It stands as a guiding light in front of me, beckoning me on to better wellness and higher consciousness.

Recently I was talking a friend through prepping a raw dish and she looked at me and said, “You like doing this.” I stopped and realized, it brings me joy. Eating this way brings be joy. Somewhere in my journey during these last 15 years, the decision to eat more raw and living foods went from an intellectual decision to make good choices to one of wanting to make choices because they make me happy!

Before this realization, I often said I am in the “want to want to stage.” Many of us live in this stage for a long time, whatever the subject matter, be it doing daily exercise, starting a yoga practice, learning a new skill, or eating healthier. We live in that “want to want to stage” thinking about it, maybe even doing it, but if we are actually doing it, it is our willpower and discipline that carries us. When we finally reach the “want to stage” it is like finding freedom! Now we are doing whatever it is because we want to do it. Just like if you want a glass of water, you get up and go get one. Now you are motivated by the experience itself, and the joy and happiness you feel with the practice.

We all make choices everyday. We all do the best we can with what we know at the time and with the circumstances we encounter. So always love yourself. Always love the real food you eat and be most grateful for it.

Soon, I’ll talk about how I got started on this branch of my journey and share some tips for adding more living food to your lifestyle.

Tell a friend…

Pebbles or Rose Petals?

by Dreama Vance

“Love, Forgiveness, and Kindness.” With those three words the Qigong Master roped me into his teaching. “The source of qigong healing power is unconditional love, forgiveness, and kindness,” he said. Having studied qigong with two other Qigong Masters and two other teachers over the years and never hearing any use of those words in their teachings, I was immediately captivated by this radiant, small Chinese man. I knew I had finally found the Qigong Master for me.

roseandpetalsThese three words, love, kindness and forgiveness are a guideline for a happy, joyful life. The further I go on my own spiritual journey, the more I see how the actions of these three words, love, kindness, and forgiveness directly parallel the results obtained from the actions: happiness and joy.

Most of us have been taught these principles as children, but something happens as we mature and discover, as Scott Peck tells us in The Road Less Traveled, “Life is difficult.”

Every spiritual seeker can cultivate these actions. As we go into our quiet space, we can contemplate these words. As we live our daily life, we can put these words into action. As we put these words into action, we manifest the joy and happiness we seek and want to experience in this lifetime.

Most of humanity practices conditional love. It is, in fact, pretty easy to practice conditional love! It is unconditional love where we sometimes struggle. However, unconditional love is something, I have discovered, that comes from the Divine.

Unconditional love flows through you. It is always there. We don’t really need to struggle to experience it. We just need to tap into it. We only need to remember it. We need to connect with it…and when we do… the power of this energy will bring us to our knees. Honestly, when you begin to practice this way of being, it is difficult not to grab people off the street and hug them. You will feel such love for everything… for all of humanity. You will love the Earth. You will see her. You will see beauty as if you had never seen the world.

I still remember a raw food teacher talking about returning to Russia when her mother was dying. As she sat by the bedside, her mother was going in and out of consciousness. Just as she thought her mother had drawn her last breath, her mother opened her eyes and looked at her and said, “I have wasted my entire life. It is all about love.”

Now, the mother was a very successful woman. She was a college professor and had reared a family of well-adjusted and successful children. How could she have thought she had wasted her life? And yet, it is obvious from her last words… “it is all about love” that she had in the end, seen that light of understanding that can only come from Spirit. Life, is indeed, all about love.

Forgiveness is a major player in both our emotional and our physical well being. Unbalanced emotions themselves play a big role in creating physical problems in the body. It is pretty easy to forgive small matters. What about big issues? Is there something someone did that is unforgivable? Stop and think. Are you still carrying that baggage around with you?

If you find it impossible to let go of the hurt and anger, pretend. You know you need to forgive for your own sake. So set the intention that you will forgive and then pretend you are forgiving that person. Practice pretending to forgive over and over in your quiet space, chanting, “I forgive you.” Watch as the miracle of forgiveness opens within you. Forgiveness opens the doors to freedom of the spirit.

Kindness is, I find, the most actionable of the three words in our daily life. Out of the three words, kindness is the word that we do (or don’t do) as we go about living our life. We become, as the Wizard of Oz says, good-deed-doers. Overt acts of kindness are easily recognizable. You hold open the door at a store for someone using a walker. You volunteer at the hospital or a nursing home. You adopt a pet from the Humane Society. These are acts of kindness.

There are, however, deeper, more subtle levels of this energy. It expresses through our very nature as we mature in our spiritual growth. We begin to be aware of our words and thoughts. Are we throwing pebbles (okay, some people actually throw stones) with our words? Are we critical in any way when we speak to others? Are we critical when we speak about others? Is our own self-talk negative? Constructive criticism is an oxymoron. Our words should be rose petals of kindness. We want to uplift with our words.

As this energy deepens, it becomes even more subtle. Now we find, not only do we want our words to be love in action, but even our very thoughts are being overtaken by this energy of kindness. This energy begins to grow more conscious in our awareness. It begins to evolve within us, kindly demanding to be expressed in our very thoughts and words of expression.

pinkrosepetalsIt is amazing to me how this energy of kindness develops. Now, instead of “trying to be nice” we find this energy is living and expressing through us. It feels almost like an Angel of Kindness has taken up residence in our being. This energy is very connected to a peaceful spirit. I find that the more kindness is expressed, the stronger peace settles into our being.

So, scatter rose petals wherever you go, spreading love, kindness, and forgiveness into the world. Experience a life of happiness and joy!

Tell a friend…

What’s the Plan?

by Dreama Vance

DarrenHardyDarren Hardy is a motivational speaker that I heard at a convention. He had a PowerPoint slide with two side-by-side images. On one side was a slovenly dressed, middle-aged, overweight man in front of a clunker of a car, in front of a run-down house. On the other side was a picture of a well-groomed, trim man with a beautiful woman and two smiling children in front of a sleek car in front of a beautiful house and landscaped lawn. His question was, “Where do you want to be?”

I always laugh when I think about this picture because it is such a visual image and is applicable to just about everything in life. Indeed, his message in his presentation was that it is what you do everyday that determines where you will be in five, ten or twenty years. But first, you have to have a plan.

Everything starts with a plan. Do you want to have lunch with friends? You have to make a plan. Do you want to lose ten pounds weight? You have to have a plan. Do you want to be spiritually enlightened? What’s the plan? The odds are pretty good that something is not going to fall out of the sky, hit you in the head, and magically transform you.

Getting things done and accomplished requires a plan. When you go buy weekly groceries, you probably go with a plan… either you have a grocery list of things to buy, or you have some idea in your head of what your meals will be in the coming week and therefore know what you need to purchase. There is a maintenance plan for your car and when you take it in for service, you either plan to wait for it or plan for someone to pick you up and return you when the car is ready. There is a plan.

Making plans and following them help us get to where we want to be. You have the picture of what you want and then you break it down into daily practices that are doable and will get you the desired outcome. If your plan is to one day run a marathon and you have never run a mile, you aren’t going to go out and run that marathon today. You are going to train for it. You are going to map out a plan. You are going to keep your ultimate goal in mind, but start with a much smaller and manageable aspect of the bigger picture.

Only you can make your plans. Others can help and give assistance, but your plan depends on you… where you are now, where do you want to be, what are you already doing on a consistent basis, how big a step can you take at a time… these all depend on you.

Can you meditate for two hours everyday? If you already meditate for an hour, then probably the answer is yes; but if you find it difficult to meditate twenty minutes, then you will need to decrease your time to a more comfortable period so that you can maintain the daily habit. If twenty minutes is uncomfortable, then you will soon give up. Better to decrease the time and establish the habit. Once the habit is comfortably established, then you can slowly increase the time. See how it works?

What you do consistently is how you achieve the desired outcome.

So make your plans for your health and well-being by mapping out the changes in your diet and your exercise routine, your spiritual life, time with family, whatever your priorities are. What do you want that picture of you to look like in five years time?

Design your plan!

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So how are those New Year’s Resolutions?

by Dreama Vance

DreamaMaybe I shouldn’t even go there 🙂 but if a change in your diet was one of your resolutions and is now a thing of the past, then let me share a secret to success.

Many people think going cold turkey is the best way to stop doing something or the best way to stop eating something. For some people this is successful.

If this works for you, congratulations! For many of us, however, the step is too big. A hole gets left when the activity or the food choice is eliminated. This hole is particularly noticeable because what we want to eliminate is something that is habitual. When we completely eliminate the habit, we tend to look around and wonder what to do with ourselves! What do we do instead with the time? What do we eat instead of bread, or soda pop? If the answer is Nothing, we may start to get very antsy. The Universe abhors a vacuum!

So the secret is to insert a step called “Substitute” first before you eliminate. You can stay at the Substitute stage for as long as you need to remain at that level. Always keep your ultimate goal in the back of your mind, knowing you will eventually get to it. The Substitute level is a step in your journey to better health and wholeness.

Here is our example of how we eliminated bread at our house. First we changed from “normal bread” to sprouted grain bread. In the U.S. there is a brand called Ezekiel bread, and this is what we started buying. I will tell you that when we started eating this, it tasted like straw or hay to me… at least that was my idea of what straw would taste like.

But, after a bit, we got used to the taste and forgot about the other stuff we used to eat. In other words, we created a new habit and just always bought the Ezekiel bread when we went to the store. We stayed at this level for quite awhile. Sandwiches and wraps play a big role in most of our food choices because they are convenient and easy to fix or grab and go, particularly for lunches.

When I was finally ready to eliminate bread, the step was not so big. By then, I had figured out that I could put everything I would normally put in a sandwich into a bowl without the bread.

At our house, one of our favorite Sunday traditions is breakfast burritos. The burritos have evolved as we have changed our diets. When I eliminated eggs and cheese, we substituted beans and potatoes – vegan style. Here, too, we utilized the substitution step. Later, we changed the tortilla wrap to a sprouted grain wrap. Then, later still, we completely eliminated the wrap and put everything layered into a bowl.

The first time we tried the burrito without the tortilla, we were sure we were going to really miss the wrap. What a surprise to find the taste was so much better without the bread! Who knew the bread actually dulled the taste of the other ingredients? Yep, even my husband liked it better without the tortilla wrap.

I used the same technique with coffee. I substituted Teeccino, which is a caffeine-free herbal coffee. You even brew it like coffee. Sometimes, just the routine of making something, like a pot of coffee in the morning, is what we find comforting. I used this for years, until I stopped, and then replaced it with warm lemon water in the morning.

There are two points to make this Substitution step successful. One is to allow yourself the freedom to substitute. It’s okay. You don’t have to go cold turkey. Realize that you will take that final step of eliminating what you no longer desire in your diet or life and that the Substitution step is a step towards this.

The second key is to substitute with something that is better for you and similar enough that you still enjoy it. In other words, you want to replace so that you are not creating what feels like a big hole in your life.

This technique has been used successfully by many in changing to healthier diets and in creating better habits.

Here’s to the New You!

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Reflections

by Dreama Vance

WinterSolsticeIn December of 2012, Spiritual Dynamics held our first Deep Soul Access course in conjunction with preparation for the 2012 Gateway on Winter Solstice. This was a deeply spiritual time when many across the planet were in meditation for the transformative energy of the planet. I seemed to live mostly from the fourth level of consciousness during those three weeks, barely aware of daily living happening at our third level of consciousness. It was a magical time as the Earth stepped into that Gateway.

As a result of this experience, Winter Solstice has become my favorite day of the year. For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, Winter Solstice is December 21st.

It is the day when Yin energy is at its peak and calls us to move into inner reflection.

YinYangYin and Yang energy are the two basic energies. They are polar opposites and come together to create everything in our universe. They are constantly transitioning. When one is strongest, the other is weakest. This only happens two times a year. As one energy reaches its peak and tips over, the other energy then begins to grow and strengthen. The switching point is a very powerful time.

As Yin energy reaches its strongest point on Winter Solstice we are drawn by the energy to experience our inner wisdom, to delve into the deep mysteries of the inner planes.

Take time on this December 21st to walk through the beauty of your life during the past year. Look at what you have accomplished and see how you have progressed in your journey.

In qigong I have learned there is no “wrong” way to practice; there is only good, better, and best. I have learned to apply that concept throughout my life. When you review this past year, I hope you will utilize this concept of good, better and best as you assess your progress. There is no failure and no wrong. If you even gave thought to change in a positive direction, this is good.

For the last four years in my work with the Masters, I have been told of the importance of juicing and the importance of using the essential oils from Young Living. This is why I began to teach and write articles about these topics.

As we move into higher frequencies, it is important that we lighten the physical body. One of the things happening now on the planet is we are receiving more light. In order to hold this light and this energy, we can assist the body by eating lighter foods and what I call cleaner foods. These are foods that do not clog the body. They are easy to digest; they are high in water content and, therefore, are cleansing by nature. These are fruits and vegetables in there natural uncooked state.

Fresh juice, unpasteurized, is one of the easiest and best ways to consume these foods. They are nutrient dense and the body absorbs these quickly and easily.

So, when the Masters began to give me this information, I had to start working on this. I had to get serious about what they were telling me. I had been juicing for years, but it was “occasional” juicing… when it was convenient. Now that the Masters were giving me this information with repeated frequency, I decided to start doing some juice fasting and to start juicing on a regular basis.

This is how I discovered Jason Vale and his quarterly juice fasts. I am amazed as I review my year, that I participated and completed every one of his juice fasts this year. Additionally, I have, for the past several months, been very successful at daily juicing 32 ounces of vegetable juice. Even when time is short and I need to be running out the door in the morning, I manage to juice at least a quart (i.e. 32 ounces or 1 liter) of mixed citrus juices to take on the go.

Why am I telling you about my success? Because if I can do this, anyone can do this.

It is a fabulous thing to do for your body and your health. But even more important is the fact that, yes, it does make a difference in your spiritual growth. It is the same with the essential oils. Will you see a difference if you juice just once or use an oil once? Probably not, although some people have had life changing experiences with one application of a Young Living essential oil, so I’m not saying it can’t happen. But usually it is something you become aware of over a period of time. Clarity begins to happen. Your emotions begin to balance out. Your focus changes. What seemed important becomes not so important after all and you find yourself seeking quiet time, seeking contemplation. You find yourself wanting less clutter in your life and less noise in your mind.

As the feminine Yin energy reaches its peak on December 21st and then begins to lessen, the Yang energy starts to grow.

In beautiful synchronicity, another key event occurs on December 20th this year. The 260-day Tzolkin calendar, one of the Mayan calendars, restarts on December 20th. This is the energy of rebirth and a new cycle of galactic energy. Each 260-day cycle is a sacred cycle of creation and is a spiral voyage in time that reflects the human gestational period. This galactic calendar spins in ongoing 260-day spiraling cycles perpetually. The Solstice will magnify these beginning, birthing energies, thus making this the perfect time to reflect on our past successes and the perfect time to reflect on new beginnings. It is the time to dream our visions and choose our desires for manifestation during this next ascending evolutionary spiral of galactic spin.

First, reflect on what you have accomplished. Then, reflect on the potential within you to create. Visualize these energies you want to bring into manifested form. Then you will be ready to move into action, as the Yang energy begins to grow and the new spiral of galactic energies begin once again.

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In the Still of the Night

by Dreama Vance

A ritual, as opposed to a habit or routine, is something done with intention and for me it holds a sense of reverence. Therein lies the power of ritual.

This is one of my favorite ways to use Young Living essential oils. They are such beautiful gifts from the essence of Creation itself. To be conscious of this every time you open one of these tiny bottles of pure essential oils brings you into the present moment. If you are conscious of what you are holding in your hand, it will center you and bring you fully present into the here and now.

By holding an intention, the oils will magnify this vibrationally. This is why you want to be conscious and aware of what you are thinking and your emotional intent when you use these oils.

I use Young Living essential oils throughout my day. I always start and end my day with them. They are such a pleasure to use and bring me such joy. If you don’t yet have a set of these spiritually empowering oils, you can use the link at the bottom of this article to order yours.

It took me a couple of years of using a select group of these oils everyday before I began to understand how these oils work from a spiritual point of view. They carry the blueprint of the Infinite within them. They carry the energy of the Sun, the Earth, and the stars within them. It is this Universal energy that calls to me. And it is this energy that attracts this same energy to me. In other words, these oils draw to me what will support me in my spiritual growth. This is what I have found.

Do you see this? Can you understand how much bigger these oils are than just their chemical composition? I have only found this with Young Living oils and it is entirely due to the Seed to Seal process that is Young Living’s guarantee. It is this promise of caring, of stewardship, of purity, and the knowledge and wisdom of decades of research that allow these oils to come to us with this energy intact.

On our spiritual journey, there are many things that come our way that seem ridiculous to our unawakened mind. It is a step of faith to move forward in spite of the mind’s arguments. Yet, we all have this calling within us to move forward on our path. It is only as we do so that we are able to see from a different perspective. What seemed ridiculous now becomes a path to greater truth.

Night time, when we sleep, is an opportunity to accomplish so much! Healing happens when we sleep. Our day gets processed through our dreams. We may be doing much work from a spiritual point of view when we are sleeping. Before we go to sleep is a great time to set your intention for those next few hours.

Do you have a beautiful ritual before bed?

There are two Young Living essential oils I like to use just before bed: Sacred Frankincense and Peace and Calming.

Just the name, Sacred Frankincense, says it all. Frankincense is a life-enhancing oil. Sacred life. What better place to go during sleep than to that sacred place within your own being? Set your intention to be in that beautiful place and apply the oil where ever you choose… the crown of the head, over the heart center…let your intuition guide you.

Peace and Calming is one of those gorgeous oils. The fragrance is rich and romantic. It reminds me of hearts and flowers and it has a beautiful blue color.

Each night as you prepare for bed, put a drop of Peace and Calming on the sole of each foot. Then, put a couple of drops in your hand and circle three times clockwise, to activate and harmonize the oil with your intention, then smooth the oil over your neck and top of your shoulders.

Breathe from your hands once you are in bed. Just breathe naturally nine times. Feel how your breathing deepens as you go along. Feel how the tension begins to ease. Feel how the mind starts to quiet. Place yourself in the presence of the Infinite.

In the still of the night, Peace and Calming, Sacred Frankincense… a blissful night.

If you don’t yet have a set of these spiritually empowering oils, here is the link to learn more about their purity and remarkable qualities:

http://www.spiritualdynamics.net/oils

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Spice Up Your Life

by Dreama Vance

It has turned cold and gray and rainy where we are in Colorado. When the weather turns cold, cooling raw foods lose their appeal. The last thing I want in the morning is a cold smoothie!

There is hope, however, for those of us still aspiring to increase our raw food intake. It comes in the form of additions to our fresh juices and at the top of the list is fresh ginger. I rediscovered this spice last year at this time and I have been adding it to my green juices and my carrot-based juices for over a year now.

Using fresh ginger warms you all the way through your body and keeps you warm long after the juice is gone. It has amazing health benefits which you can research yourself.

In the last Juice Cleanse event with Jason Vale, we started each day with a Ginger Shot. Just before you start to juice your regular juice, juice half an apple and half an inch (1 cm+) of fresh ginger root. You can pour this into a shot glass and drink it in one swallow, but I like to just drink mine normally. As you get used to ginger, you can add more. If you are timid, you can start out with less ginger. This is a great wake-up in the morning. It is particularly good to replace caffeine. It also gets you started until your normal juice is ready!

Here is another one of Jason Vale’s recipes from a previous cleanse, Lemon/Ginger Zinger. Juice 2 carrots, 2 sweet apples, 1-inch (2.5 cm) of lemon (with peel if organic,) and a quarter-inch of fresh ginger root. I like to add about an inch of ginger. It’s delicious.

My last recipe is a green juice and an adaptation of Lou Corona’s Lemon Ginger Blast. Juice 2 sweet apples (such as Fuji or Gala,) 4 sticks of celery, 1 cucumber, some greens such as Swiss chard, kale, or spinach, 1 lemon (with peel if organic,) 1 inch of ginger root, 1 inch of jalapeno pepper. This is spicy hot and delicious. If you aren’t accustomed to heat, start with less ginger and jalapeno. I like the fresh jalapeno pepper much better than dry cayenne powder. This juice is a power house. Once you have the basic recipe down, then you can add and subtract to it or swap out your greens. You can add dandelion, fennel, and mint or cilantro or parsley. Each ingredient has its own healing properties.

You may never do a complete cleanse and you may never do a juice fast or a water fast. However, if you juice everyday, with your own fresh juice or fresh juice from a juice bar, you will start on a path of good health.

Green juices don’t have to taste yucky. Two sweet apples make just about any green juice palatable. For hardier fare, carrot juice combinations work well.

If you start your day with fresh juice, when the stomach is empty, the juice is quickly absorbed right into your system. You will begin to alkalize and hydrate your body. You will begin to nourish your body with easily accessible nutrients. It is one of the best ways to take charge of your health.

Jay Kordich, a Master of Juice Therapy recommends 32 ounces (equal to one liter or one US quart) of fresh juice a day. I like to get mine done first thing in the morning so I am finished for the day; otherwise, one excuse after another gets in the way. You will be surprised at how nourishing, filling, and long-lasting those 32 ounces of juice are.

If you haven’t made daily juicing one of your steps on the journey of good health, I hope you will be inspired to start!

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

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