Can awakening and tending our dreams help us be creative enough to solve our greatest global issues? And if anyone can and should get involved with constructive dreaming, isn’t it those seekers of transcendence, the yogis? Can dreams help yogis save the planet? Stephen Aizenstat, Chancellor of Pacifica Graduate Institute, thinks so and I have to agree.
I’ve always been a pretty good sleeper (well, until menopause but that’s another story). For most of my life, I’ve slept the dream-free sleep of the dead. Close eyes, relax, zzzz, open eyes, off we go. However, as I’ve journeyed through life with a sleeping partner who truly struggles (he’s inspired by my ability to go offline so quickly and completely), I’ve become more curious as to what is happening during sleep consciousness, and if I am as dream-free as I think. So just what are dreams and why do we have them?
It’s great to be human. For so many reasons. One is that we can change our consciousness. We can go through our day be our beloved distractable selves, but then we can slow down, shift and drop into a meditative state – we can and do change our state of consciousness. Waking, sleeping, dreaming, meditating. While just what dreams are and why we dream is still a bit of a mystery, those of you who join us end of April for Yoga & The Global Dream Initiative, will be in the know after a weekend with some of the nation’s foremost thinkers on dreaming, yoga and consciousness.
I am endlessly curious as to what helps us realize who we truly are, and what gives us the clarity and courage to move toward that life. When I met Dr. Stephen Aizenstat at Pacifica last year, and heard him speak about the possibilities that waking up to our own dream consciousness has for our own and global healing, it was a “this is it!” aha for me. I have been concerned with how challenged we are with the global environmental crisis, and how even the most engaged vacillate between despair and delusion. Might this be a practical way for us to shift from despair to creative action? Don’t you want to find out?
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Much gratitude to those of you who answered my reader survey over the past month. It is deeply inspiring to learn about who we are, to hear what you value, the aspects of lifestyle that can be challenging for you, and how I do and can support you. I’ve contacted the lucky winner of books – yeah. Our path forward is clear, thanks to the results of the survey.
I’ll share the results of the reader survey in two charts. The first focuses on who we are as a group. 45 of you responded to the survey (great for first-time-out), and 97.78% (or 44) who responded were women. We scale a wide age range, and 2/3 of us are over 50. This feels right to me; I have been focused on integrative health through our lifespan and while that’s interesting to women in their 20’s, as life progresses interest in just how we live well, feel well, and be well throughout the journey tends to intensify. My life’s work is offering insight and mentoring to those interested in lifestyle as a spiritual path to wholeness. Seems we have found each other.
Next we asked what areas of lifestyle you find most challenging. Now, survey design aside (the 4 areas I chose do overlap, particularly when you get into resiliency, stress management, rest and relaxation), but I found the results interesting and informative. Here’s a summary chart:
When I look at how you listed your first, and your first two areas of greatest challenge, physical activity ends up on top. I hear you on that – maintaining an active lifestyle in today’s screen-centric sedentary culture can be a challenge for sure. It is for me, and I love to move! It’s a practice! I will be focusing on what science says about the role of physical activity in health and happiness over the next months, and giving you lots of ideas to weave it in. As we go through life, the type of physical activity that works for us changes, and our needs evolve. We’ll be talking about that, too.
The dance of stress and eating, which shared a second-overall-but important place on your priorities list, again give a nod to the way these two areas of lifestyle interact. I have been fascinated lately with the neurobiological science of the reward system and epigenetics (how our choices and thoughts influence gene expression, which ultimately determines how well we function for the rest of our lives), and just what stress does to our ability to eat well and feel well (so, our ability to be well).
Again, thanks for your input, and I hope you find knowing a little more about other readers of this blog and newsletter interesting and perhaps even, like me, the whole community feels more like a community.
Be well.
Annie
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For those of you who stop by from time to time, and who are looking for inspiration for leading an integrated healthful life, let me know what you want!
Of course, there’s a prize for participating – I’ll be randomly drawing a winner and sending along a signed copy of BOTH my books to anywhere in the US of A.
Please give 5 minutes to let me know what you value and what you value not as much. It will make the blog more effective and interesting for you. I will be publishing results from the survey here, describing our little community.
The survey will be running the month of February, and you’ll be hearing about results (and who knows…getting a call with books) in March.
Warm Regards,
Annie
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Here’s a nice thick nutrient-packed vegan red lentil stew or soup for a warm winter infusion of tasty goodness. Coconut and tahini make this rich & satisfying.
Vegan Red Lentil Stew Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 large yellow onion, chopped
- 5-6 medium carrots, cleaned and chopped
- Small bunch organic celery, chopped
- 1 c dry red lentils
- 2.5 c water
- 1/4 c turmeric
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 2 Tbsp coconut manna
- 3-4 thumbs-sized piece of fresh ginger, cleaned and chopped
- 1 large clove garlic, chopped
- 3 Tbsp tahini
- 1/2 c fresh parsley, chopped
Directions
Toss onions, carrot and celery into a large stock pot, add olive oil and sauté until vegetables are soft and there’s a smidgen of browning. Add remaining ingredients except parsley, and simmer on low for 40 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in parsley and enjoy.
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When I was young I worked on Bentley’s Farm in my bucolic hometown of Lyndonville, NY. Like many kids in my town, I walked down to Bentley’s to pick apples and raspberries, hoe tomatoes and plant Brussel sprouts. I sat on a contraption with seven other women (a combination of middle school girls and migrant farmers) which was dragged behind a tractor, with a tray of seedlings in front of me. A metal arm circled up between two of us, and every other one, we set the seedlings to be planted. What I remember most clearly is the exhaust and the dirt – dirt deep in my ears, in my teeth, way up my nose – you get the picture. Too, it’s one of those heavy-equipment jobs that we didn’t really think about but modern moms would probably not allow their kids to do…too dangerous. Things did get caught in those metal arms, and it was unnerving.
While I always liked cabbage, these sort of experiences in early life tend to put one off certain foods, and Brussel sprouts were one of those for me. Not until just the last couple years have I allowed myself this particular appreciation. Perhaps the smells and the relentlessness of planting who knows how many thousands of Brussel sprout plants has faded. Happy to say I now I love ’em. One of my favorite ways of serving these little lovelies is with a seasoning of local honey and a good seeded Dijon-style mustard.
Honey Mustard Brussels Sprouts
Ingredients
- 1/2 pound Brussel sprouts, about a dozen
- 2 Tbsp grape seed oil or ghee
- 3 Tbsp Dijon-style mustard
- 1 Tbsp local honey
Directions
- First, clean the sprouts by pulling off any yellowed leaves, and trimming the base. Rinse if needed then slice into quarters.
- Heat a large heavy skillet on medium-high, and add the oil or ghee.
- Pop the Brussel sprouts into the oil and sauté for 10-15 minutes until they reach the desired texture and done-ness (I like them al dente – with some life left in them!).
- Spoon honey and mustard into the dish and toss. Heat until the well coated and yummy.
- Serve warm, and saves well for a day or two.
Here’s the incomparable George Mateljan Foundation on Brussels Sprout Nutrition.
What’s your favorite way to eat Brussels sprouts?
May you stay warm and dry and eat well this week.
New year blessings – Annie
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