Posted on No Comments on Earth day Celebration – How art sustains the roots of modern culture

Earth day Celebration – How art sustains the roots of modern culture

My friend and local sculpture, Lauren Trimble, paired with the budding yoga  and community space [ahimsa] in Mile End for an evening of Art & Music: Artic! this Friday night in celebration of earth day.  I was graciously invited to sell and sample some of  Sustainable Healing’s herbal delights.  Thanks folks!   We all envision this to be a celebratory and mindful event, in line with the ethics of Lauren, [ahimsa] and Sustainable Healing.  With the idea of taking things a bit further  I  wanted to ask Lauren about art and it’s relationship with sustainability in our culture.  What is the value of art in a world with so much stuff already?  With over-consumerism  finally becoming not-so-cool?  How do we rationalize buying art or making art in modern day-eco-conscious-no-plastics-leave-no-trace-isms?

Earth Day has become quite the marketing tool in the past ten years, now with multiple websites luring you to events all over the globe.  So I think it’s nice to get back to our roots so to speak and at least try and contemplate some important  and new ideas of why we are celebrating earth day in the first place.  So this one is a bit longer than usual, but give it a chance, there’s much food for thought!

Some brain food from Lauren:

What was the inspiration for combining your vernissage with music and an earth day theme?

“The event really evolved by circumstance. It was Miranda’s idea of the art and music combination for March, that soon had to be April seeing as we needed to find musicians and had no one in mind.  The fact that Earth Day was also my birthday, a Friday night and in April we just went with it. Seeing as [ahimsa] is based on sustainability and non-violence and has gone through some amazing transformations such as the medicine wheel ceremony to create sacred space, it is very, very cool that it is now hosting an Earth Day event.  We will be posting the Earth Charter for everyone to read, and have a place where people can make some conscious affirmations for the Earth.  And the Buddha and torso sculptures I make also fit well with yoga, ahimsa and Earth Day.  The Balkan music to be honest, is for the sheer joy of that kind of music.”

What’s the deeper relationship for you between art and sustainability in our culture? (besides the obviousness that you work with clay and it’s durable earthy-ness!)

“I love saying that clay is, in essence, dirt and that it is one of the oldest materials used to make objects for ceremony, beauty and art. However, beyond that, I feel that art is the place where we put ideas, dreams, thoughts and criticisms.

Art is a creative act directed by mind and heart (the creative element), and according to some, including myself, by external muses and spirits (someone else’s or something else’s heart or spirit).

Art is also the main basis for how we define culture. It is the expression of a culture as much as language is the matrix. Even if art as a critique tries to tear apart culture, or change it or even mock it.  Looking at our own culture, it is easy to see that designed art for marketing intention has taken over our visual landscape and therefore takes on the dominant role of art that we experience.

Is this sustainable over the long term, will people continue to allow their visual senses to absorb up to 5000 advertisements/designs a day in large, urban environments?

It is not hard to understand how input in leads to input out when considering that the brain, in my opinion, functions as a computer. It does not actually create but merely organizes and stores information for use when it is needed. So the dreams and ideas we reflect back into our culture when our hearts are not engaged and when we are not inspired by love, are ones of a marketing stratagem, whatever that implies in our Post-postmodern era!

When I look at most contemporary installation art, the emphasis is on the idea or concept and the medium is only a carrier of that intention. Art is capable of transmitting itself through endless mediums, even those we are trying to reduce or avoid such as plastics, so if the materials are only temporary, and the art itself is only temporary, this is often overlooked as long as the desired effect is performed. The artist then creates a moment in time to be absorbed and felt and that unless it is documented by photography or video, will not last.  It is then thrown away because the construction is usually such that it is not in fact meant to last or it is stored in some unfrequented place to make room for the next installation.  What does this say about the sustainability of the idea, of the lasting impact of the dream?  How can a culture grow and flourish when its roots are never planted and kept in view to grow with the light?  Is it any wonder we all have the sense of constantly starting over or even of making it up as we go along?

I feel the more we leave art to become a mechanistic production of advertisements and the less we support and invest in art created by the heart and created with the intention to last over time, we are in turn making our culture less nourishing and possibly even toxic.  We are forgetting something important about how our collective dreams and ideas can thrive and be sustainable in the long term and continue to grow and evolve for the coming generations.”

mmmm. good food for thought.  How does art weave sustainably or not into your life?

Join us for more juicy conversation & awesome Balkan Gypsy music!

Friday at 8:30pm at [ahimsa]

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Posted on No Comments on Ayurveda everyday, all the time ( or Ayur…what? I thought you practiced Chinese medicine?)

Ayurveda everyday, all the time ( or Ayur…what? I thought you practiced Chinese medicine?)

Folks want to know what’s with all this Ayurveda talk?  I thought you did acupressure, jin shin do, Chinese medicine? I find it easy to add in another ‘label’ or ‘model’ to get equally enthusiastic about.  Especially when it’s so functional!  It’s always been really important me to highlight the connections between seemingly unique and separate ancient models of health and healing.  How are things the same is way more fun for me than how are they different.

My own dive into the world of  Ayurveda has changed my life.  It’s given me more beautiful user-friendly tools in my personal survival toolbox.  More awareness of how I feel everyday, with my interactions with food, myself, others, movements that I make, exercise, stagnation, my emotions!  With this plunge I am realizing that these tools are forever because they grow with me and keep me linking to everything that I interact with, even when those interactions change.

This is what is ultimately sustainable about ayurveda.

It has the capacity to evolove and resonate with present culture, in this case:  March 2011 Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Earth.

This intro into the beauty of ayurveda is not all doshic labeling and imported herbs and foods from India.

Especially when Matthew Remski’s talking about Ayurveda.  One of things that was really unique and wonderful when I took the Everyday Nectar Course last year in distance format was the okay-ness with questioning what we were learning and how applicable it is to our daily lives.  This is really important to me when learning anything that has ancient wisdom to offer. I always want to remember: “hey! We live here, now, so how does this work in my life?”

So Matthew’s coming to Montreal on April 3 for one whole week of Ayurveda learning, talk, tea, food and consults!

And I thought it’d be nice to get Matthew’s own words (‘cause he’s so good with the words!) on the sustainability of Ayurveda, it’s longevity and the benefit Montreal yogis  could gain by adding in Ayurveda to their practices.

what is sustainable about Ayurveda?

MR: Ayurveda is a path of relationship. It teaches attunement to your natural balancing strategies, and helps to turn every common interaction (with food, weather, relationship, activity) into a tool in your personal medicine chest.

what is the longevity of taking everyday nectar?

MR:  Over the years I’ve tried to create a learning system that’s self-perpetuating. This makes use of books and other hardcopy resources, but more important are the intuition strategies that I try to communicate — tools that make Ayurvedic discovery natural and ongoing.

what’s the benefit for  Montreal yogis to add Ayurveda knowledge to their practice?

MR: For millennia, the yoga traditions have assumed that the practitioner was employing Ayurveda naturopathy to support her evolutionary arc. What’s lovely about Ayur-language is that it interfaces with general yoga knowledge on the levels of gross and subtle anatomy. It’s the nuts-and-bolts medicine of yoga, and its elegant to learn. Asana teachers especially feel their instructions and interactions bloom once they get a little bit of Ayurveda under their belts…

Whether are a yoga practitioner or you just want to get to know yourself better and better, this particular Ayurveda course is a priceless tool in your personal toolbox. For life.

Still not sure?  Come to a by donation lecture at my second home, [ahimsa yoga] on Sunday April 3 7pm and take part in an interactive dialogue with Matthew to find out how much Ayurveda you instinctually know.  Ask questions, gain insight and drink tea!

One of the kernels I remember from this first course was this idea that it’s easy for Ayurveda to be idealized, so don’t be misled!  I am not saying that Ayurveda is the absolute only way and best way.  It simply has beautiful gifts to offer.  And as we learn them we must consider always how Ayurveda must be practical and in conversation with modern culture.

One week of Everyday Nectar gives us the space to begin this conversation.

Contact me! Nadia, for details & to register.

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Posted on No Comments on Qi Gong (or: What is an inanimate object, really?)

Qi Gong (or: What is an inanimate object, really?)

A couple of weeks ago I took time to have what turned out to be an amazing phone conversation with Paul Fraser,  qi gong teacher, practitioner, healer.  He doesn’t really know this (yet!) but it really helped me turn my week around.

It was one of those conversations that could so easily have been “let me go on and on about myself for that free promo of my course and work” and instead it was a deep and sweet reminder of the underlying connection between us all, and a couple of weeks ago I really need this reminder.

The idea was:  I wanted to see if I could authentically, ethically recommend this fellow as he is teaching a full medical qi gong training here in Montreal for the 2nd time starting in February.

In brief: Take this course! This fellow is an amazing teacher. I can now say that if you are interested in qi gong, check out his  free lecture on February 24.  And even see if the weekend trainings are for you.

So what is gi gong? And even more juicy:  Why might you want to practice it?

Gong: work, movement, act, cultivation,  done with devotion over a long period of time.

Qi:  energy, basically anything that promotes, protects, nurtures life.

In Paul’s words:  (because I wanted him to tell me why it should even be in a blog about sustainable healing!)

“It’s probably one of the most sustainable systems of medicine there is:  if it’s done properly there are no risks, no side effects, no waste and no equipment. The power source is Universal Energy (QI) and there is an unlimited supply. The practice of cultivating this Universal Energy brings the practitioner into a deep state of calm, with an expanded awareness of the inherent Life in all things.”

And here is the really juicy part:   “This helps to foster a type of reverence for the Natural World, it’s inhabitants and their relationship to one another.  Feeling the deep connection of all of us to one another, to our planet, and even beyond, tends to make us more cooperative and respectful.  More than just an idea or theory, it gives us the experience that we are all in this together.”

This experience that we are part of something, or even just part of the whole, is one that we all seek, no matter what culture, creed, or healing art you practice.

As Paul so aptly puts it:  “ Practices like these could well be our saving graces as human beings. Helping us to move past our primal fear towards the point of recognition that we are different manifestations for one divine organism.”  We might have enough experiences of this we may begin to wonder:  “what really is an inanimate object?”  The lines begin to blur.  yay!

A great practice for us urban dwellers where everything seems disconnected and concrete at times. or most of the time?

This is reassuring in itself, when I am reminded of the great qi gong/yoga divide in my city (and most likely everywhere?).  We are all practicing the same thing here folks!

A sense of oneness, wholeness, samadhi, whatever you want to call it, and however you want to practice it:  little glimpses of this are what we keep going back to these practices for, whether it is qi gong, meditation, yoga, asana, a run in the woods.

We gently and furiously swing from isolation to communion in our lives and the sense of connection we can tap into with a practice like qi gong keeps that pendulum going at a more even rate.

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Posted on 1 Comment on Conversation

Conversation

The need to question and contemplate and continually re-evaluate is where the change and enlightening revelation come from. Everyday.

Communication about how we feel, why we choose what we do and what it all means: this is the means to healing and changing the social, economic, environmental imbalances all around us. It all begins and ends with self-reflection and sharing, this is real community building.

I like this: communi-ty communi-cation. They both have the same Latin roots “com-mun” or “cum” meaning together or with each other, and “munus” meaning gift or offerings. Very cool.

“Resolution begins within the Self”, or so Thich Nhat Hanh aptly reminds us. This begins with dialogue. With ourselves, with each other.

I focus on this type of dialogue when I work with clients. If you have ever had a session with me, this is the starting point: beginning the dialogue with yourself, what is your body communicating to you, right now? Take some time with your breath and LISTEN.

So a great place to start and, easy to say, but do we do it? Well of course not all the time! Human beings such as we are, but I want to try and I want to surround myself with folks who want this as well. Once we start getting to know ourselves so to speak, on a fairly regular basis, it becomes much easier to begin sharing, dialoguing with each other.

This is the sustainable platform from which we plunge deep into the choices we make everyday. Why sustainable? I think it is because we can not merely claim ourselves “holistic” “healthy” “eco-friendly” “green” “ethical” “yogic minded”. For me it has to run deeper than this.

Just choosing an action, an exercise, a lifestyle and latching on to it, without any personal inquiry into why or how this impacts our every moment actions, makes these motions merely that: a motion, without a deeply personal thread running through. All of these “labels” by their nature require us to be constantly self-reflective and to share with others our thoughts, experiences, doubts, revelations, and hopefully our willingness to evolve, to adapt.

Here are some folks who I feel are inspirations:

Yoga Community Toronto. It seems so simple, the idea, let’s just get together all the amazing people in our local community who are doing amazing work already. But yet! It’s almost revelatory because it’s just not happening all that much, yet….. Just this past weekend was the Yoga Festival Toronto and to be truthful I did contemplate going but I had to resist and continue working on projects here, right in my own city, my own community, my own home, and truthfully, in my own being. This felt right to me and I think that the beauty of what the organizers of the this festival are fostering is something that we can all learn from and transpose to our own local communities. I think we really can be inspired from a distance and then act wherever we actually are. Check out their manifesto, it’s truly beautiful and inspiring.

University of the Streets Café. Have you been yet? These local events are happening all over the city, and the whole point is: yes! You guessed it: Conversation! Amazing, so simple, but yet so effective! From travel, to transition, to letting go, to storytelling, to education impact, to food issues, discussions focus on what’s affecting our lives in our community around us. Get people talking, sharing about important, current, even trendy issues and boom! Things start happening. I love it. The new semester starts up sometime in September.

More inspirations to come! What are yours? What conversation do you want to have?

So here’s my mission: Be Brave! It’s not easy to converse about things that are “difficult” or “controversial”, just like it’s not “easy” to really feel what’s going on in my body all the time, sometimes it’s uncomfortable, but I care about myself, my body, my everything, and my community, so I take the time. In the end it’s worth it.

The need to question and contemplate and continually re-evaluate is where the change and enlightening revelation come from. Everyday.

Communication about how we feel, why we choose what we do and what it all means: this is the means to healing and changing the social, economic, environmental imbalances all around us. It all begins and ends with self-reflection and sharing, this is real community building.

I like this: communi-ty communi-cation. They both have the same Latin roots “com-mun” or “cum” meaning together or with each other, and “munus” meaning gift or offerings. Very cool.

“Resolution begins within the Self”, or so Thich Nhat Hanh aptly reminds us. This begins with dialogue. With ourselves, with each other.

I focus on this type of dialogue when I work with clients. If you have ever had a session with me, this is the starting point: beginning the dialogue with yourself, what is your body communicating to you, right now? Take some time with your breath and LISTEN.

So a great place to start and, easy to say, but do we do it? Well of course not all the time! Human beings such as we are, but I want to try and I want to surround myself with folks who want this as well. Once we start getting to know ourselves so to speak, on a fairly regular basis, it becomes much easier to begin sharing, dialoguing with each other.

This is the sustainable platform from which we plunge deep into the choices we make everyday. Why sustainable? I think it is because we can not merely claim ourselves “holistic” “healthy” “eco-friendly” “green” “ethical” “yogic minded”. For me it has to run deeper than this.

Just choosing an action, an exercise, a lifestyle and latching on to it, without any personal inquiry into why or how this impacts our every moment actions, makes these motions merely that: a motion, without a deeply personal thread running through. All of these “labels” by their nature require us to be constantly self-reflective and to share with others our thoughts, experiences, doubts, revelations, and hopefully our willingness to evolve, to adapt.

Here are some folks who I feel are inspirations:

Yoga Community Toronto. It seems so simple, the idea, let’s just get together all the amazing people in our local community who are doing amazing work already. But yet! It’s almost revelatory because it’s just not happening all that much, yet….. Just this past weekend was the Yoga Festival Toronto and to be truthful I did contemplate going but I had to resist and continue working on projects here, right in my own city, my own community, my own home, and truthfully, in my own being. This felt right to me and I think that the beauty of what the organizers of the this festival are fostering is something that we can all learn from and transpose to our own local communities. I think we really can be inspired from a distance and then act wherever we actually are. Check out their manifesto, it’s truly beautiful and inspiring.

University of the Streets Café. Have you been yet? These local events are happening all over the city, and the whole point is: yes! You guessed it: Conversation! Amazing, so simple, but yet so effective! From travel, to transition, to letting go, to storytelling, to education impact, to food issues, discussions focus on what’s affecting our lives in our community around us. Get people talking, sharing about important, current, even trendy issues and boom! Things start happening. I love it. The new semester starts up sometime in September.

More inspirations to come! What are yours? What conversation do you want to have?

So here’s my mission: Be Brave! It’s not easy to converse about things that are “difficult” or “controversial”, just like it’s not “easy” to really feel what’s going on in my body all the time, sometimes it’s uncomfortable, but I care about myself, my body, my everything, and my community, so I take the time. In the end it’s worth it.

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Posted on No Comments on Made With Love

Made With Love


There are restaurant lists for “the best vegetarians restaurants in Montreal”, “top 5 vegan places to eat in Montreal”, “best burger”, “best indian” etc……….


What I want to know is: “Where in Montreal is the food that’s Made With Love?”

How do you even determine such a thing?! For me, being a self proclaimed super sensitive foodie, it’s based on how I feel at the end of the meal. Can I feel the love? Being organic, local, vegan, living, raw, are not the most important things for me. I want to feel happy, sated, fulfilled, digestively balanced and energized. As if I had made the meal myself or someone who loves me had made it for me. It is about what kind of energy, thoughts and feelings that were put into the food while it was being harvested, cleaned and transformed into what will eventually become me.

So here they are! Some of the restaurants where I have had the “Made With Love” experience.
It is not always consistent, as we are all human and not machines pumping out the same thing each time! But I have had at least a couple of love-filled meals at each place below.

Where was the last place in Montreal you ate a love-filled meal?

Top 10 Montreal Restaurants Made With Love:
9. Rumi


There are restaurant lists for “the best vegetarians restaurants in Montreal”, “top 5 vegan places to eat in Montreal”, “best burger”, “best indian” etc……….


What I want to know is: “Where in Montreal is the food that’s Made With Love?”

How do you even determine such a thing?! For me, being a self proclaimed super sensitive foodie, it’s based on how I feel at the end of the meal. Can I feel the love? Being organic, local, vegan, living, raw, are not the most important things for me. I want to feel happy, sated, fulfilled, digestively balanced and energized. As if I had made the meal myself or someone who loves me had made it for me. It is about what kind of energy, thoughts and feelings that were put into the food while it was being harvested, cleaned and transformed into what will eventually become me.

So here they are! Some of the restaurants where I have had the “Made With Love” experience.
It is not always consistent, as we are all human and not machines pumping out the same thing each time! But I have had at least a couple of love-filled meals at each place below.

Where was the last place in Montreal you ate a love-filled meal?

Top 10 Montreal Restaurants Made With Love:
9. Rumi

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Posted on No Comments on Grace

Grace

Just a quick reading break!


Right now I am newly enthralled with Ron Kurtz and Greg Johanson‘s book: Grace Unfolding,
Psychotherapy in the Spirit of the Tao-te ching.
I got this about 5 years ago during a Hakomi workshop in Montreal and it really hasn’t spoken to me until now! Another good reason to collect books, you just never know when they are going to need you or when you’ll need them.

My happiest quote so far:
“Awareness and experience, the bottomless bowl through which the Tao feeds us.”

Check it out! or any other book that maybe is calling to you that didn’t before??

Just a quick reading break!


Right now I am newly enthralled with Ron Kurtz and Greg Johanson‘s book: Grace Unfolding,
Psychotherapy in the Spirit of the Tao-te ching.
I got this about 5 years ago during a Hakomi workshop in Montreal and it really hasn’t spoken to me until now! Another good reason to collect books, you just never know when they are going to need you or when you’ll need them.

My happiest quote so far:
“Awareness and experience, the bottomless bowl through which the Tao feeds us.”

Check it out! or any other book that maybe is calling to you that didn’t before??

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Posted on 1 Comment on Ethics?

Ethics?

Speak your truth. This is the word on the holistic street. Sometimes it is hard, challenging and scary. And when you do speak your truth what happens? Do people really want to know? Not always, even if they say they do.

Here’s my question: As a bodywork therapist do you want to know that I am practicing what I am preaching, at least a little bit? Do you care? Do you take my services more authentically with the knowledge that I am receiving my own bodywork session, in whatever form, at least once per week? Do you assume this or do you even care, as long as you feel good after your session?
I had a colleague share with me yesterday that her professional association had implemented a policy to receive 4 sessions per year of their respective modality. Amazing! I thought, but not so for everyone in that association. People don’t generally like to be ‘required’ to so something, especially when it challenges their personal ethics. But why the resistance? Is it based in fear and needing control over the parts of lives that we feel we can control? And even if this particular ethic is not part of our respective association’s “code of ethics”, are we not compelled to have an ethic of our own? Whatever that may be.

Personally I would love to join a professional association that required me to receive sessions in my chosen modality. I feel that this kind of commitment to oneself fosters sustainability at its’ roots. If I can advertise, promote, encourage, this amazing-ness of what I practice it truly sustains me at my roots. And there is so much talk these days about wanting “complementary medicine” to be more valued for what it is, especially by the allopathic medical model. If the healing community as a whole truly desires this then even more the reason to regularly support all kinds of healing modalities, not only the ones we practice ourselves! This community commitment is one that will sustain these practices over the long term, as we, practitioners ourselves, are models for our clients and community that we really do believe in what we are saying and doing.

Of course, while pausing to write this I came across another great quote to give me some encouragement:

“The basic work of health professionals in general and psychotherapists in particular is to become full human beings and to inspire full human-beingness in people who feel starved about their lives.” -Chogyam Trungpa

Nice. No matter if you are a health professional or a psychotherapist, or a massage therapist or a naturopath, isn’t this statement from Trungpa is solidly true? Being human is enough qualification for me to inspire full human-beingness in myself and others. This is my truth for today.

Speak your truth. This is the word on the holistic street. Sometimes it is hard, challenging and scary. And when you do speak your truth what happens? Do people really want to know? Not always, even if they say they do.

Here’s my question: As a bodywork therapist do you want to know that I am practicing what I am preaching, at least a little bit? Do you care? Do you take my services more authentically with the knowledge that I am receiving my own bodywork session, in whatever form, at least once per week? Do you assume this or do you even care, as long as you feel good after your session?
I had a colleague share with me yesterday that her professional association had implemented a policy to receive 4 sessions per year of their respective modality. Amazing! I thought, but not so for everyone in that association. People don’t generally like to be ‘required’ to so something, especially when it challenges their personal ethics. But why the resistance? Is it based in fear and needing control over the parts of lives that we feel we can control? And even if this particular ethic is not part of our respective association’s “code of ethics”, are we not compelled to have an ethic of our own? Whatever that may be.

Personally I would love to join a professional association that required me to receive sessions in my chosen modality. I feel that this kind of commitment to oneself fosters sustainability at its’ roots. If I can advertise, promote, encourage, this amazing-ness of what I practice it truly sustains me at my roots. And there is so much talk these days about wanting “complementary medicine” to be more valued for what it is, especially by the allopathic medical model. If the healing community as a whole truly desires this then even more the reason to regularly support all kinds of healing modalities, not only the ones we practice ourselves! This community commitment is one that will sustain these practices over the long term, as we, practitioners ourselves, are models for our clients and community that we really do believe in what we are saying and doing.

Of course, while pausing to write this I came across another great quote to give me some encouragement:

“The basic work of health professionals in general and psychotherapists in particular is to become full human beings and to inspire full human-beingness in people who feel starved about their lives.” -Chogyam Trungpa

Nice. No matter if you are a health professional or a psychotherapist, or a massage therapist or a naturopath, isn’t this statement from Trungpa is solidly true? Being human is enough qualification for me to inspire full human-beingness in myself and others. This is my truth for today.

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Posted on No Comments on And Now, A Message From our Sponsors

And Now, A Message From our Sponsors

Do you know someone, a teacher or practitioner of some complementary medicine, that exemplifies the spirit of the quote of the day?

How have you been witness to this type of self-vigilance?

“What we’re teaching in massage (bodywork) and counseling is refining our capacity to be sensitive to another’s state by being continually vigilant of our own.” -Constance Buck

I’d love to hear your experiences!

Do you know someone, a teacher or practitioner of some complementary medicine, that exemplifies the spirit of the quote of the day?

How have you been witness to this type of self-vigilance?

“What we’re teaching in massage (bodywork) and counseling is refining our capacity to be sensitive to another’s state by being continually vigilant of our own.” -Constance Buck

I’d love to hear your experiences!

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Posted on No Comments on "Quote Of The Day"

"Quote Of The Day"

I just re-joined facebook recently and I am still struggling with the whole “status” thing. When, if, what, how. Or not. And then I came across this really great quote which put my feelings about bodywork, yoga and teaching into a not-too-wordy phrasing. And now, of course, I am plastering this awesome quote everywhere.


“What we’re teaching in massage (bodywork) and counseling is refining our capacity to be sensitive to another’s state by being continually vigilant of our own.” -Constance Buck

Whoa! Sustainable or what? For me this is it. It’s work to be truly vigilant of our own state, real work, no question about that. And mainstream north american culture (where I live!) definitely does not support this type of vigilance. Feed the masses, dope ’em up with feel good, forget everything, cushy couchness of don’t-worry-just-google-it. Which was my initial resistance to the whole blog thing in the first place. I mean, seriously what can you really trust on the internet anyway?

Nonetheless, I forged onward, mostly because of the very sentiment of today’s quote: If I am as vigilant as I can be (keeping in mind my humanness!) then I am doing healthy, sustainable work with my clients and students.
I want to reflect back this concept to them. How can any of us in the field of complimentary medicines truly be there for our clients if we are not continually there for our own selves? Simply, we can not. We must continually do our own work and continue our own studentship. And never forget that we too need help!
For me the sustainability lies in my ability to continue this presence and vigilance in my own life and impart this to clients and students, so that they can do this for themselves and not be dependent on my sessions or classes indefinitely.
This is the sustainable gift: to foster self-awareness
This is the gift that lasts, this is seed saving, this is reducing our footprint, this is mindfulness, this yoga, this is meditation, this non-violence, this is yamas and niyamas, this is presence.
For me.

I just re-joined facebook recently and I am still struggling with the whole “status” thing. When, if, what, how. Or not. And then I came across this really great quote which put my feelings about bodywork, yoga and teaching into a not-too-wordy phrasing. And now, of course, I am plastering this awesome quote everywhere.


“What we’re teaching in massage (bodywork) and counseling is refining our capacity to be sensitive to another’s state by being continually vigilant of our own.” -Constance Buck

Whoa! Sustainable or what? For me this is it. It’s work to be truly vigilant of our own state, real work, no question about that. And mainstream north american culture (where I live!) definitely does not support this type of vigilance. Feed the masses, dope ’em up with feel good, forget everything, cushy couchness of don’t-worry-just-google-it. Which was my initial resistance to the whole blog thing in the first place. I mean, seriously what can you really trust on the internet anyway?

Nonetheless, I forged onward, mostly because of the very sentiment of today’s quote: If I am as vigilant as I can be (keeping in mind my humanness!) then I am doing healthy, sustainable work with my clients and students.
I want to reflect back this concept to them. How can any of us in the field of complimentary medicines truly be there for our clients if we are not continually there for our own selves? Simply, we can not. We must continually do our own work and continue our own studentship. And never forget that we too need help!
For me the sustainability lies in my ability to continue this presence and vigilance in my own life and impart this to clients and students, so that they can do this for themselves and not be dependent on my sessions or classes indefinitely.
This is the sustainable gift: to foster self-awareness
This is the gift that lasts, this is seed saving, this is reducing our footprint, this is mindfulness, this yoga, this is meditation, this non-violence, this is yamas and niyamas, this is presence.
For me.

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POW WOW

Kahnawake 20 years later. Many folks at the recent pow wow, myself included, said: “20 years after what?” The Oka crisis. Oh. I remember, I was a teenager then and it was on the television all the time. What can I say? Thinking about it now and every time I go to Kahnawake I tear up. I am sensitive. And there is a lot to say. It just doesn’t feel productive for me to go on and on about native land issues and human rights issues so I’ll just say this so you can know where I am coming from before I go on about how this does relate to sustainability:


Not all that much has changed in 20 years in terms of native land issues and basic human rights. Do your own research on this one.

What has changed in 20 years is the wonderful marketing of native, aboriginal, first peoples etc. medicines, creams, beauty and health products in the natural trade industry. And like it or not lots of folks are cashing in on this trend, and it was indeed, apparent at the pow pow in Kahnawake last weekend. So if we support the concept of seven generations that stems from this tidy marketed package of native sweetgrass incense, sage body oil and natural arthritis relief salve, then do all these products really support this philosophy from harvest to sold profit? By the looks of the pow wow vendors wares apparently not. Not all, but many products were packaged in the very overtly non-seventh generation compliant plastic and much over-packaging was abound with not a recycle bin in site.

So what to do? Does this mean that my beloved pow wow is not sustainable? Well, I guess not entirely (and as we go on it seems not much really is “enitrely”!), but supporting this event and maybe encouraging organizers to look at event criteria and re-igniting the native land issues conversation with those willing IS definitely encouraging a more sustainable me. It gets me thinking and questioning myself, which to me is what becoming more sustainable is all about. Why I am attracted to the snazzily packaged native sweetgrass incense? Isn’t the real sweetgrass that I learned how to harvest ethically and spiritually enough anymore?
I think it is.


Kahnawake 20 years later. Many folks at the recent pow wow, myself included, said: “20 years after what?” The Oka crisis. Oh. I remember, I was a teenager then and it was on the television all the time. What can I say? Thinking about it now and every time I go to Kahnawake I tear up. I am sensitive. And there is a lot to say. It just doesn’t feel productive for me to go on and on about native land issues and human rights issues so I’ll just say this so you can know where I am coming from before I go on about how this does relate to sustainability:


Not all that much has changed in 20 years in terms of native land issues and basic human rights. Do your own research on this one.

What has changed in 20 years is the wonderful marketing of native, aboriginal, first peoples etc. medicines, creams, beauty and health products in the natural trade industry. And like it or not lots of folks are cashing in on this trend, and it was indeed, apparent at the pow pow in Kahnawake last weekend. So if we support the concept of seven generations that stems from this tidy marketed package of native sweetgrass incense, sage body oil and natural arthritis relief salve, then do all these products really support this philosophy from harvest to sold profit? By the looks of the pow wow vendors wares apparently not. Not all, but many products were packaged in the very overtly non-seventh generation compliant plastic and much over-packaging was abound with not a recycle bin in site.

So what to do? Does this mean that my beloved pow wow is not sustainable? Well, I guess not entirely (and as we go on it seems not much really is “enitrely”!), but supporting this event and maybe encouraging organizers to look at event criteria and re-igniting the native land issues conversation with those willing IS definitely encouraging a more sustainable me. It gets me thinking and questioning myself, which to me is what becoming more sustainable is all about. Why I am attracted to the snazzily packaged native sweetgrass incense? Isn’t the real sweetgrass that I learned how to harvest ethically and spiritually enough anymore?
I think it is.


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