People used to forage for all their food. There were no grocery stores. There were no manufactured foods. In times of emergencies, it’s very good to know how to return to the habits of our ancestors, so we can feed ourselves.
In this wild edibles mini series, author Sergei Boutenko discussing how to forage, clean, and prepare common weeds and wild edibles safely and responsibly. This series is great for those interested in survival, foraging, homesteading, gardening, and nutrition. For more info on foraging please visit: http:www.SergeiBoutenko.com
Category Archives: Healing
Homemade Ginger Ale – Good for what ails you
In traditional holistic medicine, ginger has long been held in high esteem. It is frequently used to treat a variety of ailments including nausea, stomach upset, arthritis and heart disease. It also reduces chronic inflammation, pain and migraine headaches. And of all the ways to consume ginger, homemade ginger ale may be the easiest and most delicious.
Ginger has been used in Chinese medicine for more than 2,000 years. The active compounds in ginger that provide its healing power are gingerol and shogaol, known to be beneficial in treating ulcers, gout and the complications of diabetes. It is also high in potassium, a mineral vital for correct heart function, and maganese, which increases resistance to disease. Manganese also strengthens the body’s circulatory system and the lining of the heart. Other minerals are phosphorus, sodium, iron, calcium and zinc.
Silicon is another component of ginger. It supports healthy skin, hair, teeth and nails. Ginger contains vitamins A, C., E. and B complex. It is high in beta-carotene.
Research studies have proven that ginger reduces muscle pain and back pain. For women, ginger reduces menstrual pain. Science has demonstrated ginger’s anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties, proving it inhibits the formation of inflammatory compounds.
One of the best known uses of ginger is the treatment of nausea. Ginger is more effective in treating nausea and indigestion than many commercial antacids. For cold and flu symptoms, ginger is as effective as many antihistamines and decongestants. A good recipe for colds and coughing can be made by brewing ginger and tamarind leaves in hot water, then crushing them and adding some honey.
Now you’re convinced of the benefit of using ginger, try this great recipe for Homemade Ginger Ale:
Ingredients
1 cup peeled, finely chopped or grated ginger
2 cups purified water
raw honey (optional)
sparkling water
1 lemon, juiced
Preparation
Boil 2 cups of water, and add ginger. Reduce the heat to medium low, then let the mixture simmer for 5 minutes.
Remove from heat and strain.
To serve
Use one part ginger syrup and three parts sparkling water. Serve on the rocks. Sweeten the drink to your taste with raw honey or stevia, and add a little lemon juice. Yum!
Emotional Freedom Technique – EFT
This video is an introduction to Emotional Freedom Technique. EFT seemed pretty silly to me when I first heard about it… but I grew into it. Once I understood how it worked, I was sold. Continue reading Emotional Freedom Technique – EFT
Re-evaluation Co-counseling (RC)
Re-evaluation co-counseling is a peer counseling system. RC has been very helpful for a lot of people. I consider it to be a “big chunk” tool. It lets you know that tears, thrashing about and shaking are not “bad” but are natural ways the body discharges emotion. I have seen it work miracles. Continue reading Re-evaluation Co-counseling (RC)
Lester Levenson, The Release Technique & The Sedona Method
Lester Levenson, was a physicist and engineer who lived from 1909 to 1984. He inspired The Sedona Method, and the Release Technique. At age 43, he was told he only had weeks to live. He lived 40 more years because of what he learned about healing himself.
Lester, like us, liked simplicity. He said “KISS” means Keep It Simple, Sweetheart. And he did it. There is nothing complicated about what he taught — and yet it is extremely powerful and helpful. Two people took the ball for a touchdown after Lester died: Larry Crane and Hale Dwoskin.
Larry Crane of the The Release Technique, writes,
In 1952, after being sent home by his doctors to die, Lester realized two truths that literally saved his life. The first was that his own feelings were the cause of all his problems, and not the world or the people in it, as he had previously thought. He also realized his own feelings were what he had struggled so hard and long against. And this struggle was what had destroyed his health and caused him to suffer in every way.
The second truth he discovered was that he had the inborn ability to let go of his feelings. He discovered how to completely discharge them and their negative influences from his life. Instead of struggling with them by suppressing, coping and venting as he had previously done, he discovered how to totally release them. This put an end to his struggle! He found permanent happiness. And, he found the more he released his feelings, the happier and healthier he became. In fact, within three months he was completely well, and he stayed well for over 40 more years!
The Release Technique is the most wonderful little 24-minute audio with Larry Crane and Lester Levenson. Listen very closely. Listen again. You can apply this simple understanding to all the fear in your life and release it easily, painlessly. As Lester says in this talk,
This thing called love is your basic nature. All the love in the universe is in your basic nature. You will discover that happiness — your happiness — equates to your capacity to love, and conversely all your miseries equate to your need to be loved. Just love, love, love and you will be so happy and healthy and prosperous.
Remember, you merely need to let go of your non-love feelings.
The Sedona Method is a series of CDs and books that Hale Dwoskin developed, based on Lester Levenson’s work. First, you find an issue or uncomfortable feeling that calls for attention. Then you ask yourself these three simple questions:
Could I let it go?
Would I let it go?
When?
Give each question sincere thought and an honest answer. There are no right or wrong answers.
The firstand second questions can be answered either “yes” or “no”. The third question can be answered with “now” or whatever time is true for you. If you are not ready to let it go “now”, repeat the questions until you reach a point where you no longer wish to hold on to it. You may find yourself laughing out loud on the third or fourth repetition of the questions. Of course, if you get really stuck with a difficult issue, you can always work on it later.
Another statement by Lester Levenson:
One of the things that happened in my process to love all was I discovered my identification with others. I saw that we are all related, we are all interconnected. Each mind is like a radio broadcasting and receiving station; that we are all tuned into each other unconsciously — that we are just not aware of it. I also saw that life was meant to be beautiful… meant to be happy all the time with no sorrow. And to be with perfect health. And so after reaching that high point of understanding in 1952, I have wanted to help others to discover what I had discovered.
Feeling Good – Cognitive Therapy
Please read this free article by Aaron T. Beck who developed Cognitive Therapy and read Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy by David D. Burns.
Steps to healing 1-2-3-4-5
Steps 1-2-3-4-5
Below are some very simple steps all healing goes through.
1) Determine to free yourself — “I am willing to see this differently.”
Healing cannot be forced upon you. It needs to be invited before it comes to help.
2) Assure yourself that you are safe here & now…
Look around you, make sure that you are safe, here and now. Assure yourself that your story happened in the past and the past is gone. Breathe into any tension or tightness, bodily sensations, you notice. Let the breath massage all the fear and tension out of you.
3) Tell or write your story in the first person, or as if it is happening to someone else…
Continue reading Steps to healing 1-2-3-4-5
Sick of being sick?
“The sage is never sick because he is sick of being sick.”
~ Tao te Ching
“Haven’t got time for the pain”
~ Carly Simon
Tolerance for pain may be high, but it is not without limit.
Eventually everyone begins to recognize, however dimly,
that there must be a better way.
As this recognition becomes more firmly established,
it becomes a turning point.
This ultimately reawakens spiritual vision,
simultaneously weakening the investment in physical sight.
The alternating investment in the two levels of perception
is usually experienced as conflict,
which can become very acute.
But the outcome is as certain as God.
Is Healing Certain?
Healing is always certain.
~ A Course In Miracles
No words, just a handle
Words are difficult for some of us, especially those of us who were badly traumatized. So we feel perplexed by words. We don’t know how to express what we feel. Is what we feel “panic” or “anxiety”? Is it “fear” or terror” or “horror” or “dread” or “regret”? We don’t know the exact words to use. But there is a very simple way to get at what we need to get at.
Forget about words and focus on the uncomfortable bodily sensations that comes up for you when you think about the issue. Where in your body are they located? Can you compare them to something you are familiar with? Is what you feel similar to having a heavy weight on your chest? Or is it more like a searing pain in your back? This is everything you need to do the work you came here to do.
The body is the subconscious and all trauma is stored in it. The sensations you feel are what you are here to heal, to release. A tension, a tightness, a contraction, a pain – these are the ‘feelings’ you are looking for.
Once you have a handle on a feeling, a sensation, then perhaps words might come: “it’s kinda like…” An entire story might come. If words don’t come, that’s ok. Just feel the feeling and, knowing you are safe here and now, allow yourself to breathe fully, freely and deeply.
Start today to release tensions now to reclaim your health and happiness. It works!
Love & Fear
All healing is essentially the release from fear.
To make our healing work very simple, it helps to think of the light switch on the wall that is either on or off. If we agree to call our inner emotional states by two terms, either love or fear, then our progress will be rapid.
Just as one is never just a “little” pregnant — you are also neither a “little” in love or fear. You are either relaxed and happy and aware of love — or not. You could think of the inner human state simply as, “love on” or “love off” — and we call “love off”, for want of a better term, fear. Continue reading Love & Fear