A bio-dynamic farmers crop is not growing as "planned".  Harvest is coming.  The farmer is full of many fears - money, food, family, lots of future thinking.  The farmer thinks for an instant about using fertilizer to speed natures process, but that goes directly against all the farmer knows.  The farmer knows that if he uses chemical fertilizer his crop may come as "planned" but his crop will not be bio-dynamic and his crop will not be as nutrient rich or as "happy".  The farmer decides to trust Great Spirit.  This crop never comes to harvest.  The farmer loses money etc...  The farmer has "hard times", but the farmer learns much from this experience, and through this experience his family becomes much closer and stronger.   They make it through the hard times and the next harvest is "unexpectedly" perfect AGAIN. 

Apply this scenario to RELATIONSHIPS
We are bio-dynamic farmers, we have ego "plans" that do not always turn out the way we expect.  We think..  but harvest is coming! Fears arise, anxiety settles in and we get lost in the future rather than being present in this moment.  We may think of pressuring others to get what we want (chemical fertilizer) but on the conscious path we know that if we pressure others to meet our wants we may end up with very resentful relationships (nutrient empty, unhappy crops).  We may not get what the "i" wants and this may be perceived as "hard times", but we will always get exactly what the "i" needs in terms of lessons and experience.  We can then turn the "hard time" perceived by the "i" into periods of great personal evolution.  Every moment is perfect and full of LOVe "i" just "need" to change my perception.

FIRE
Nutrition | Digestion

Nutrition

Eating whole fresh food from a sustainable organic source will give you the energy needed to create change in your life.  Healthy soil creates healthy plants, healthy plants feed and create healthy animals, healthy happy animals feed and create healthy, happy, human beings.  A critical step towards health is getting to know where and who your food comes from.  Do your best to seek out small local farmers and talk to them about their farming practices.  If you do not have access to local sustainable sources look for the freshest organic sources you can find.  The term “organic” has been bought and paid for; it no longer guarantees a pure, healthy source for food.  Large scale agriculture can now produce food to be sold as “organic”.

These farms are using organic pesticides and fertilizer which is a better choice than conventional but you will still be ingesting a large number of chemicals and the food will not be as vital because of the dead soil.  Nature loves diversity!  Seek out farmers that use a polyculture system (meaning more than 1 crop); farmers that rotate their crops, compost and rotational graze for meat production are raising soil that is full of health, which produces healthier plants and animals.  The vitamin, mineral and enzyme content are higher in truly organic or biodynamic food and these substances each play extremely important roles in creating a healthy body.  Prepare food for increased or maintained nutrition, and easier digestion.  Healthy cooking is a science within itself, we recommend taking a few cooking classes on how to cook, prepare, and organize healthy food for yourself and your family.  Much of the nutritional work that is published advocates higher carbohydrate consumption than WE (unless your metabolic type is carbohydrate or higher carbohydrate mixed).

It is important to note that not all calories are created equal, Healthy fat from pasture raised animals function much differently in the body than a conventional animal.  All mammals store excess toxins in their fat. When you eat conventional animals and their fat you are getting a significant dose of toxins that you will not receive with a pasture raised animal.  Every meal should consist of high quality fat, carbohydrate, and protein in the right proportions for your dynamic metabolic type.

Digestion

Your health is only as good as your digestive system.  If your digestive system is sub-optimal you will not utilize and convert all this good food into a new healthy body.  Healing your gut takes time and patience. Being mindful of slowing your eating down (trying to chew each bite 50x), not watching the news or stressful media while eating, avoiding foods that you are intolerant or allergic to, and whenever possible start your meals with raw or fermented foods.

Eating every 3-4 hours gives your digestive system a much needed rest between meals.  If you wait longer than this to eat, your body will move into a sympathetic state, meaning it will store fat and bring sugar levels up by breaking down lean mass.  Mild hunger is a sign that you are creating an opportunity to use your own body fat as energy but drowsiness is a sign that have moved into a sympathetic state.  After each meal you should feel a normal state of well being, good mental focus, no cravings, optimal response to exercise, and clarity of thought.

Prepare food for increased or maintained nutrition

When preparing food to eat we encourage raw or slow cooking. The real nutrition within animal products such as fat-soluble vitamins, enzymes and omega 3 fatty acids can all be denatured with higher temperatures.  80 degrees is usually best for slow cooking.  Invest in a ceramic crock pot, put food in the oven before you leave to work and let your food cook for the day, when you return home you will have a healthy meal waiting for you.  If you cannot slow cook your food daily, it is fine to use a lower temperature to cook your foods when you return home, just remember slower is better.  A very easy way to always have nutritious food available is to cook a large dinner and use the leftovers for the next day’s breakfast and lunch.

Raw food, especially raw animal products have been given a bad reputation and rightly so when you study the poor farming methods utilized by most farmers. Poor farming methods leave the finished animal product in a sub healthy state, which is more prone to unhealthy spoilage.

Some food will not release nutrition or block the absorption of nutrition if not prepared correctly such as nuts, seeds, grains, cruciferous vegetables. Having these foods raw can play havoc on your digestive system.

We recommend the following for quality cookware (Ceramic, Ceramic coated Iron, Titanium)
http://www.mercola.com 
http://www.lecreuset.com
http://www.saladmaster.com

A full-spectrum nutritional cookbook with a startling message–animal fats and cholesterol are vital factors in the human diet, necessary for reproduction and normal growth, proper function of the brain and nervous system, protection from disease and optimum energy levels. Includes information on how to prepare grains, health benefits of bone broths and enzyme-rich lacto-fermented foods.

Nourishing Traditions  by Sally Fallon

Raw & Fermented Foods

The focus on raw or slow cooked eggs, meat, fat, dairy, lacto-fermented foods is very important to the health of your body and your digestive system.  These foods will have a higher enzyme content, which will increase the absorption rate of amino acids, fatty acids, minerals, and vitamins.  In our experience most clients walk through our doors with a digestive system that is not fully functional because of processed foods, stress, and improperly prepared foods. Taking your time to eat raw and fermented foods as well as bone broths will help heal your gut, and help create a higher level of health and wellness within.  If you find yourself short on time to create dishes like these a fantastic food co-op that prepares many great healing dishes is Three Stone Hearth.

http://www.threestonehearth.com/

Vitamin D

A great way to optimize Vitamin D levels is through safe, smart and limited sunscreen-free exposure to the sun.

Here is a general rule:

Older people need more sun exposure than younger people, larger people more than smaller people, northern people more than southern people, dark skinned more than light skinned, winter people more than summer people and sun phobics more than sun worshippers.

Get 15-30 minutes of unprotected sun exposure 2-4 times per week.  After that, use sunscreen.  Once the sunscreen is on, you cannot manufacture Vitamin D. Always avoid sunburn.

The synthesis of Vitamin D comes from the fatty acid secretions in the skin.  Avoid washing the skin with soap for up to 48hrs after getting sun, as this will wash away the vitamin D before it enters the circulation.

The richest nutritional source of Vitamin D can be found in fermented Cod Liver Oil. We recommend Green Pasture because of the high source quality and minimal processing of their products. http://www.greenpasture.org/public/Home/index.cfm

WE Cleanse Seasonally

You will generally reach your set point level of body fat just by living our principals.  Once this becomes your lifestyle, if you are not happy with your body fat or you want to gain muscle we can make intelligent choices on how to reach these goals.  Slow consistent loss of body fat is important because you will need to detoxify the stored toxicity in your fat as you burn through the stored energy.  This is why we advise a seasonal cleanse for the last two weeks of every season.  This cleanse will help your detoxification systems to run optimally for the next phase of your training.

WE cleanse follows the principals above, removing the following:
All grains, seeds, legumes (nuts ok, except peanuts)
Caffeinated beverages
Alcohol and drugs
All root vegetables except carrot and ginger
All fruits except berries, green apples, grapefruit, lemon, lime, avocado, and tomato

In addition to the above we recommend consulting with Kanako Kobayashi Nutrition Consultant who can suggest specific supplemental protocols for detoxification and overall health.  contact@feedingwellnes.com

Here is a list of foods that we promote and their optimal preparation.
Pastured Beef 
Raw – cured in Lemon Juice
Slow cooked 80 degrees > 4hrs
Seared in white hot stainless or cast iron pan 1min max (inside bloody)
Pastured Lamb
Slow cooked 80 degrees > 4hrs
Seared in white hot stainless or cast iron pan 1min max (inside bloody)
Pastured Pork & Chicken
Slow cooked 90 degrees > 4hrs
Sustainable Seafood
Raw – cured in Lemon Juice
Slow cooked 80 degrees > 4hrs
Seared in white hot stainless pan inside raw
Dairy
Raw
Cultured
www.organicpastures.com
www.claravaledairy.com
Salad Greens, Fresh Herbs
Raw
Carrots & Beets 
Raw
Green Apples, Berries, Grapefruit, Avocado, Lemons & limes
Raw
Zucchini, Pumpkin, Spinach, Sweet Potatoes
Slow cooked less than 100 degrees
Lightly steamed or sautéed in high quality fat (coconut oil, butter, ghee)
Cruciferous Vegetable family
Slow cooked less than 100 degrees
Lightly steamed or sautéed in high quality fat (coconut oil, butter, ghee)
Nuts, seeds, legumes & grains
Soaked, sprouted, fermented

Without internal peace...  one will not reach external peace...

MINDFUL STRETCHING

When we are stretching we are addressing much more than just the length tension relationships of our bodies.  We are stretching our physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual bodies.  Stretching is a powerful healing tool, but to use it as such we must bring awareness and intention to our stretches.  This is a basic guide to your corrective stretching program, there are many ways to be mindful during your stretching, choose a few or one from the list below and watch as your body releases and opens up.

1.       Stretching should not be a painful experience, if your baby was crying would you pick up your baby and shake him/her around?  Most of us would probably pick our baby up and soothe him/her, relax and show love.  Go into your stretching with the mindfulness that your tight areas are “crying babies”, you want to soothe them and love them, by doing this you will get a much better release and it will be a good practice in mindfulness and loving yourself.

2.       Mindful stretching is a good time to bring awareness to posture and your breathing, never miss an opportunity to be mindful of deep 3D breathing and postural alignment.  The more often we are aware the easier it is to change and let go what no longer serves us.

3.       Be aware of the images and thoughts that arise during each stretch, the body will guide you as to what may be energetically stored in these tight areas.  Journal these images and thoughts, bring what you would like to share and we can explore the deeper meanings together.

4.        Your stretching can be used as chakra/zone work, use your EMBH book and correlate each stretch to a given chakra/zone.  You can breathe in the correlating chakra/zone color as you do each stretch; imagining each cell breathing deeply with you and releasing what no longer serves you.  You can repeat correlating mantras during each stretch or as above you can pay attention to the correlating lessons from each level of chakra/zone.  Stretching is a great opportunity to get to know yourself.

5.       As you stretch you can also imagine every cell in your body taking a deep breath with you, especially focusing on the areas of tightness or pain.  Imagine with each inhale you are bringing in nourishment, oxygen, healing etc, and with each exhale you are simply letting go anything that no longer serves you.  Intend those areas to open up and release, imagine them in your mind’s eye gaining more range and letting go of tension.

6.        It is also a great idea to stretch in the evening before bed.  This will not only set you up for a good night sleep but it will also have profound effect on your length/tension relationships.  You will be healing and regenerating throughout the night in alignment without gravity pushing you back into your old patterns.   If you have the time in the evening it may serve you well to do longer static holds during your stretching (1:00+), this will be a more relaxing mindful stretching session as compared to the contract/relax method.