Believe in Greeeeeeeeeen ;)

There's a new online summit coming up soon that I'd love to tell you about, called "Believe in Green", which is being hosted by the Raw Divas ;) In celebration of "International Green Smoothie Day" on August 15th, the "Believe in Green" (BiG) Summit will kick off with a series of *free* interviews on environmental/greeeeeeeen topics, with 10 guest speakers, including...me ;)

The calls are free to listen to and will run from August 15th to 24th; here is the speaker line-up:

Ani Phyo, Kris Carr, Sarma MeIngailis, ME :), Julia Butterfly Hill (WOW :), 

Renee Loux, Majora Carter,  Robyn Openshaw, Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins 

AND one special male guest - Anthony the Raw Model ;)

Now, this whole event is also actually an inspiring fund-raiser, to help raise $10,000 for the Lower East Side Girls' Club in NYC, where some of the girls are using a bicycle-powered blender to share info, inspiration and classes with their peers about healthier eating. If you'd love to support this fundraising effort, you can donate $10 to the Believe in Green event and in return you'll receive full transcripts of the calls, access and info for a LIVE 10-day Green Smoothie Challenge, access to a contest to win a FREE Blendtec blender, plus other giveaways and bonuses - fun :)
100% of the money donated to this event is going to the girls at the Lower East Side Girls' Club, to help fund their nutrition and education programmes...SO, if you'd love to help out, click on over HERE to sign up for the event and register your $10 contribution, if you'd love to help... :)

ENJOY :)

on July the 28th I appreciated:

1 quart water
2 cups greeeeen juice mixed with pineapple juice
2 cups greeeeen juice mixed with pineapple juice
a small papaya
water of a young coconut
shared cucumber salad meal with Mr. M, followed by a hand-stirred yumpot of tahini+stevia, chocolate extract, water
mug of horchata tea
a few fresh kale chips
mug of reishi/shilajit/ormus tea
1 cup water


I am thrilled to also announce that we have now worked out who the winners are for the giveaway of our books and dvds that we announced in our 500th TV Show episode ;) We asked you to leave a comment telling us YOUR favourite moment so far from our first 500 shows...
Mr. M chose the winners in this video HERE and I counted out the following five people as the winners of the goodies (skipping over multiple entries and removed comments):

todayisthedaytolive My favorite moment was when matt had clay on his face and was acting a little crazy!

RawFatLoss When Matt tried to ride the motorcycle. That was so funny!!!

GojiTara My Fav Episodes.. are.. Your Wedding ! it was so special for you to share and (even tho)

Matt was not feeling well... Christmas that you spent together in Mexico.. when Matt gave Angela this Glass to drink out of that said " Love " in gold on it.. ( I purchased one too ) Thanks for sharing your lives with us ! Peace...... Tara

RAWRAWdinosaur favourite moment was when Matt and Angela made goji berry juice and then matt suprised angela with beyonce tickets :D

drshamast 500 ! See at 5000

I have emailed all five of these winners through YouTube and we hope to have your prizes on their way to you all soon - thanks for joining in the fun...and indeed, massive THANKS, love and gratitude to ALL of you who left such lovely comments for this celebration video - it was so much fun to hear which moments stand out for all of you - we appreciate *you* :)


on July the 29th I enjoyed:

1 quart water
2 cups greeeeen juice mixed with pineapple juice
1 cup greeeeen juice mixed with pineapple juice
a small papaya
shared cucumber salad meal with Mr. M, followed by a mug of horchata tea with stevia
2 cups horchata tea
1 cup water


on July the 30th I was blissed with:

1 quart water
2 cups watermelon/orange juice
2 cups greeeeen juice mixed with pineapple juice
3 cups greeeeeen juice mixed with pineapple juice
a small papaya
shared cucumber salad meal with Mr. M, followed by a mug of horchata tea with stevia
1 cup water


Reminder: tomorrow (Aug. 1st) is the deadline for getting in your entries for the current giveaway contest, to win a whole year's subscription to conscious parenting magazine, "The Mother" :) Here's a reminder again of the deeeeeeeets:

I am *SO* delighted to be able to offer a whole year's subscription to the delightful 'conscious parenting' magazine from the UK, "The Mother", to be sent anywhere in the world.
You may recall me mentioning this fabulous publication on various occasions before - I absolutely LOVE this magazine (and once again, just to be clear, I am *not* pregnant - just parenting-curious ;) I literally read every issue cover-to-cover and often send subscriptions for the mag to friends who become pregnant or have little ones...this magazine offers SUCH a magnificent wealth of love, wisdom, knowledge, support and healing...every article is like a gem and I'm thrilled to be able to offer this giveaway subscription to one fortunate winner :)

To be in with a chance of winning this lovely gift, just send in your answer to the following question:

"What is the most inspiring thing you've ever learnt from a child...?"

Send answers to angela@rawreform.comangela@rawreform.comThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it by August the 1st and the winner shall be picked at random and with ecstatic glee shortly thereafter... ;)

All love and visions of beauty,
A. C. Stokes-Monarch. xxx

Healing the Ancestral Lineage...

I just posted an article this week in my newsletter about healing our ancestral lineages...in case some of you missed this piece, I wanted to share it again here...enjoy :)

Yesterday I experienced a very powerful healing meditation that I wanted to share with you here, as perhaps some of you will love to guide yourselves through this healing too. Most of us at this point seem to have blockages of some kind in our family lineage that might benefit from some loving attention and release...

This meditation I enjoyed yesterday was suggested to me by a fabulous "Reiki Do Satori" practitioner here in Vilcabamba, called Elena Alekseeva. The meditation helps to clear any blockages/issues/karma in the ancestral lineage, especially through the female line. Elena gave me the outline for the meditation and I will share with you here how I experienced this healing process:

I sat outside in nature for this meditation with eyes closed and got calm, quiet, centred. I visualised myself as a baby inside my mother's womb. I then sent love, light and healing into the energetic field around that vision - I chose to use the "Ho'oponopono" prayer especially, to help clear the energy:

"Thank You, I Love You, Please Forgive Me, I'm Sorry".

I kept repeating this prayer until it felt like the energy in that connection was lighter. Then I moved backwards a generation, to visualise my mother as a baby inside the womb of my grandmother. Again, I sent love, light and healing into that energetic connection, repeating the Ho'oponopono prayer especially until it felt like something shifted...then I moved backwards another generation and so on, clearing the fields all the way back through seven generations of women.
It was a very powerful and transformative experience for me. I found the messages and energies I received from the women of the different generations very interesting - those from the pre-Victorian era for example seemed a lot more at peace with life than those who came later...
Once I had worked back through all these generations, I then visualised the clear flowing luminescent light and energy through the whole lineage, from myself stretching back through all the women who came before me...it was a very beautiful moment. (Continued below...)






on July the 26th I enjoyed:

1 quart water
2 cups greeeeen juice mixed with pineapple juice
2 cups greeeeen juice mixed with pineapple juice
a small papaya
shared meal with friends of chopped fruits, raw soup, salad, walnut pate etc
2 cups water
mug of horchata tea
1 cup water


I also chose to visualise this generational healing through my father's side of the family too, starting with him as a male, then moving backwards solely through the female line from there, again from womb to womb. This also felt very healing.
Once I had completed both lines and could visualise clear, shimmering energy paths through each side, I united both sides into one vision, with myself as the current 'end point'...there was a great sense of release and lightening...and I was also prompted to pick up pen and paper and draw two pictures to represent what I had experienced. These were given the names "The Lineage" and "The Union". Although I do not feel like I am *fabulous* at drawing at this point in my life, I will share these pictures here below, as I sense that others may enjoy these images and also receive healing benefits from the energy they carry...



I appreciate these images and feel there is great power behind them, even if they look nothing like the shimmering, glorious versions that I see in my mind's eye ;) In fact, I was also prompted to share the message that if any of *you* do feel more gifted as visual artists and would love to re-interpret these drawings in your own style, I would LOVE to see the outcome... :)
For now, I trust that some inspiration for generational healing may have been transmitted through my sharing this story here...I wish you all the very best with your own healing journeys... :)



on July the 27th I loved:

1 quart water
3 cups greeeeeeen juice mixed with pineapple juice
½ a papaya
2 cups greeeeeeen juice mixed with pineapple juice
cucumber salad meal stuffed into nori sheets, with walnut pate on the side, followed by a mug of horchata tea with stevia :)
cup of horchata tea
2 cups water


On another note, I suddenly got a rush of emails lately asking *what* exactly we use in our daily greeeeeeen juices...I thought it might be a good idea to answer this here too, as this seems to be a Q for quite a few people...here we go:

...right now we're living in Ecuador and picking all the greens straight from our garden, so the 'ingredients' might not be so recognisable/transferable to your location, depending on where you are in the world...we use a lot of 'weeds'/wild greens for example...
Things people *usually* use in green juices include: celery, cucumber, lettuces, spinach, kales, fennel, cabbage, beetroot/carrot tops, herbs such as parsley, dill, dandelion, cilantro etc...pretty much anything green that you can find and eat ;) If I'm drinking STRAIGHT green juice, I prefer to have it with lime and ginger to flavour it a bit...here in Ecuador we use pineapple, as it is abundant, cheap and makes the juice VERY tasty ;) Most people who are starting out find green juices VERY intense, so it's best to 'cut' them with something like apple or carrot juice etc...

For 'recipe'/combo ideas you might look at a site such as http://www.goneraw.com for green juice recipes, or here are a few simple ideas:

'chocolate milk' - spinach/romaine/carrot

celery/apple/cucumber/ginger - very light and refreshing

pineapple with greens

We make green juice using a juicer...here's an example video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFnMNRl1LeA

You can also make green juice in a blender - see here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jp4SzDD5QDk

Hope this helps ;)

All love,
Angelalalalalaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. xxx

Celebrating Our 500th TV Episode - Win Prizes :)

As you may know, we recently celebrated our 500TH episode of our online 'daily' TV Show, The Raw Food World :) This felt like quite a landmark to have reached, for a project I was unsure about in the beginning ;) We started the show back in December 2008 and it has been going from strength to strength ever since (despite being taken offline by YouTube twice earlier this year ;)
We decided to celebrate the 500th show with a special little giveaway of our books and DVD...you can check out the details for this contest in our 500th show video below...just leave a comment on the video telling us *your* favourite moment from these first 500 shows, to be in with a chance of winning a prize - *TOMORROW* (Tuesday July 27th) is the last day to enter this giveaway, so get in there soon if you'd love to participate - enjoy :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwLD0oG-1W4

on July the 22nd I was pleased with:

1 quart water
mug of horchata tea
2 cups watermelon/orange juice
2 cups greeeeeen juice mixed with pineapple juice
½ papaya
3 tbsp bee pollen, 2 tbsp spirulina crunchies
2 cups greeeeen juice mixed with pineapple juice
avocado mushed with sauerkraut and dulse, spread on flax crackers, followed by a couple of slices of dried pineapple
2 cups horchata tea
1 cup water


on July the 23rd I enjoyed:

1 quart water
mug of horchata tea
½ a yummy papaya
2 cups greeeeeen juice mixed with pineapple juice
avocado mushed with sauerkraut and dulse, spread on flax crackers, followed by a chunk of home-dried banana/coconut 'jerky' ;)
2 cups water
water of a young coconut
4 granadilla
cup of horchata tea
1 cup water

LOVE this clear little quote sent in to me recently by one reader, Rebecca, from an article by George Malkmus of Hallelujah Acres:

"I do believe, though, that if a child were to be placed in a room with only a rabbit and an apple, instinct would take over. The child would instinctively not chase after the rabbit until he caught it, then sink his teeth into the rabbit's flesh and eat a chunk. He would rather play with the rabbit and by natural instinct eat the apple."

LOL - LOVE this simple and powerful visual...here is the link to the full article, if you are interested to read more: http://healthtip.hacres.com/index.php/2010/07/20/the-root-of-addiction/ - thanks, Rebecca :)


on July the 24th I loved:

1 quart water
½ a papaya
2 cups greeeeeeen juice mixed with pineapple juice
2 tbsp bee pollen, water of a young coconut
bowl of mango/avocado 'ice cream', sprinkled with bee pollen
2 cups water
avocado mushed with sauerkraut and dulse, stuffed into nori sheets, followed by a couple of slices of dried pineapple ;)
mug of horchata tea
1 cup water


on July the 25th I enjoyed:

1 quart water
water of a young coconut
glass of sugar cane juice
2 cups coconut/orange/sugarcane juice
a small papaya
water and jelly-meat of a young coconut
2 tbsp bee pollen, 15 chlorella tablets
walnut 'pate' and coconut 'sour cream' on flax crackers, followed by chunk of homemade coconut/banana 'jerky'
mug of horchata tea
1 cup water


Another reader, Stephanie, has been enjoying an amazing Tabouleh Salad recently that she wanted to share with y'all - sounds amazing - here we go:

Tabouleh Salad with Pineapple Avocado Dressing

by Stephanie Terranova

I love this dish because it satisfies all my taste buds at once, is easy to digest, and with the sprouts and sea vegetables is a mineral powerhouse! It’s easy to make yet should be prepared in advance in order for all of the flavors and textures to come together. I like to make it in the morning for my lunch box.

Salad: (for one serving)
2 parts curly parsley, stems removed
1 part each of basil and mint
1 cucumber, diced
1 lemon, juiced
salt
Sprouts (I use fully sprouted (tails coming out) quinoa)
Diced tomatoes
Pineapple-Avocado dressing (see below)
Soaked wakame (if desired)

Chop herbs very finely. You can use a mini food processor. Put in a mixing bowl with the diced cucumber. Pour the lemon juice and (a little) salt over the mixture and stir well. Alternatively, you could use some kind of vinegar instead of lemon and salt. “Pack” the salad into something tight, adding a weight to the top if possible. Let it sit for at least 4hrs and not longer than 10hrs. Before eating, add sprouts, tomatoes, dressing, and some wakame if desired and mix thoroughly.


Dressing:
1/2 avocado
2-3 pineapple chunks
Dulse
Cumin
Garlic and onion powder (optional)
Nutritional yeast (optional)

Combine dry ingredients with dulse and pineapple in a food processor. Add the avocado and process till smooth.

THANKS for sharing, Stephanie :)

All love and juicy flow,
Angelalalalaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. xxx

Upcoming Raw Food Events :)

I'm very excited to say that Mr. Monarch has been working away in the background to set up a new little talk tour for us in N. America, on our upcoming trip back there from August to October. We have around six tour dates to share, all based around the west coast, including a *VERY* exciting "International Day of Juice Feasting" in Seattle...we do hope you'll be able to join us at one of these talks, as they are likely to be the last presentations we do in N. America for quite some time...you can check out all the details that we have so far on our events page HERE: http://www.therawfoodworld.com/blog/?page_id=11

...and here is a summary of the planned events so far:

* August 25th, Orange County, CA *
* September 8th, Oakland, CA *
* September 10th, Portland, OR *
* September 11th, Seattle, WA - International Day of Juice Feasting *
* September 15th, Calgary, AB (details to come) *
* September 24th-26th, Orange County, CA - Longevity Conference with David Wolfe *

We look forward to seeing y'all there if you're able to join us...

on July the 19th I was blissed with:

1 quart water
2 cups greeeeen juice mixed with pineapple juice
a little papaya
2 cups greeeeen juice mixed with pineapple juice
an avocado mushed with sauerkraut and dulse, spread on flax crackers, followed by a couple of slices of dried pineapple
mug of DELICIOUS horchata tea
a small papaya
1 cup water


WOW, there are SO many other raw events coming up soon too - 'tis the season to connect and celebrate, dear friends ;)
Here are some of the upcoming events that the organisers would love to remind y'all about:

* July 31st-Aug 1st * Raw Food Health Expo * Santa Rosa, California *
This will be the second year or this vibrant little festie hosted by John Kohler. Speakers, booths, farmers' market and more... http://www.rawhealthexpo.com

* August 16th-22nd * Ronora Juice Feast and Green Synergy Fest * Watervliet, Michigan *
A fresh and juicy raw celebration in the mid-west: a 4-day Juice Feast followed by a 3 day raw festival - fun :) http://www.RonoraLodge.com and http://greensynergyfestival.com.

*September 4th-6th * Eco-Skills Celebration * West Sussex, England *
Eco-skills workshops, music, yurts and tipis, community gathering and fun ;) http://www.ecoskillscelebration.co.uk

*September 18th * Third Annual Raw Living Health Festival * Brighton, Michigan *
Live raw food demos and sample, live music, wild edible walks, booths, live blood cell analysis, body workers and more - full deets can be found over at http://www.naturalagelessliving.com/index_files/Page11728.htm

There are MANY other events and festies to explore too - I wrote a whole list of summer raw festies in a blog post HERE (some of those events have now passed already) and then there were more updates HERE and HERE...and if none of these work out for you to attend, you can always look on rawfood.meetup.com to find local groups in your area to connect with... ;)
Feel free to also let us know if there are other events not covered here... ENJOY :)))




on July the 20th I enjoyed:

1 quart water
mug of horchata tea
2 cups watermelon/orange juice
3 cups greeeeeeen juice - some dill/sugarcane, some greeeen juice mixed with pineapple juice
1 cup greeeen juice micxed with pineapple juice
bowl of cucumber dill soup, with flax crackers and sauerkraut on the side, followed by a chunk of dried coconut/banana/maca/cinnamon/cardamom jerky :)
2 cups water


on July the 21st I appreciated:

1 quart water
3 cups greeeeeeeen juice mixed with pineapple juice
2 small papayas, 5 granadillas
2 tbsp bee pollen, 2 tbsp spirulina crunchies
2 cups water
2 cups greeeeeen juice mixed with pineapple juice
bowl of cucumber dill soup, with flax crackers and sauerkraut on the side, followed by a chunk of dried coconut/banana/maca/cinnamon/cardamom jerky :)
mug of horchata tea
1 cup water


In other news, our dear friend Kiu from "The Guru of You" recently interviewed me about various topics, from our new life here in Ecuador, to my thoughts on child-raising, community living, gardening and so on - 'twas a lot of fun and you can see the interview in five parts on YouTube at these links below:

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xG6bsizujeE

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qgXwrokFmU

Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNoYclod_Ww

Part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKeXUU4ok6M

Part 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEdXy_f0Rvc

ENJOY :)

All love and masterpieces of divine creation,
Ms. A. S-M. xxx

Life Without Electricity... ;)

Our electricity went out recently for about 24 hours...it was a very interesting time...as it turned out, it was just an issue with OUR electricity (we thought everyone in our area was affected ;)...it's all fixed up again now, yet that day or so without electricity was such a valuable experience and eye-opener for me...mostly it showed me how bizarrely attached we are to electricity...it inspired me more than ever to get solar panels in place...and it was so interesting to me to note how the use of electricity is so deeply ingrained as part of my daily life that I couldn't even immediately identify if something involved the use of electricity or not...hmmmm, that might sound odd...let me try to explain further: I was acutely aware that something was different in my surroundings and it was now necessary to first question whether any action I wanted to take was currently going to be possible, with no 'current' ;) The answers to these questions were something I found that I actually needed to think about, e.g. "I want to use the toilet, is that possible?" Yes, the toilet doesn't use electricity. "I want to make a smoothie, is that possible?" Answer: No. " I want to go and buy something at the market, is that possible?" Yes, money doesn't involve electricity...and so on - I found myself questioning everything - electricity is so involved in so many aspects of my life and I'm so used to it just working that I couldn't instantly distinguish which activities involve electricity or not...if you haven't recently experienced life without electricity, I can imagine that this all maybe sounds quite odd - I encourage perhaps living for 24 hours without electricity though, to try this out and see how it feels to you... ;)

Now, I was considering this reality that I currently experience, in contrast to, for example, someone living in a tiny countryside village somewhere, who may use electricity for one light bulb for example. I imagine for them that in cases when the electricity is absent, it seems *much* easier for them to go about their lives as usual and they're very aware of what the impact of the absent electricity means - it just means no light bulb, which can be easily replaced with some candles or smthg similar - no big deal...whereas for us, electricity is the "hidden component" behind so much of what we're involved with daily that life becomes a little bit confused without it... ;) lol...


On July the 16th I enjoyed:

1 quart water
1 cup *amazing* granadilla/mandarin/orange juice
2 cups 'tree tomato' juice - nice ;)
2 cups greeeeeeeen juice mixed with pineapple juice
water of a young coconut, 1 tbsp bee pollen
2 cups greeeeeeeen juice mixed with pineapple juice
little bowl of mango/avocado ice cream, a papaya
20 chllorella tablets
shared cucumber salad meal with Mr. M, followed by a hand-stirred 'yumpot' of tahini mixed with maca, honey, chocolate extractand cinnamon
mug of horchata tea
1 cup water

Another aspect of life that became very apparent to me during this recent power 'outage' was how peculiar and blessed our online connections with other people all around the world are...when the portal to that huge inter-connecting web of individuals was snapped away at the trip of a circuit breaker, I suddenly felt this huge amount of gratitude for the connections we are able to foster through the internet with so many amazing friends worldwide...I reflected on life for raw foodies 20 or so years back, when internet access was a very rare thing indeed and raw foodies were few and far between, supping on wheatgrass juice and probably feeling kinda awkward ;) We are SO blessed to be able to share info and connect online as we do these days and to use this connection portal to arrange to meet people in person too...wow, we are so very blessed...may we remember this ;)
One friend was telling me recently that his impression of how things will likely unfold in the coming years in terms of energy/resources is that most likely power-outages, water shortages and so on will keep on getting more and more frequent...there will be no 'advance warning' about this, things will just gradually go more and more in that direction...so...bring on the solar panels and may we appreciate all the connections that we do have, while we still have them ;) lol...

on July the 17th I loved:

1 quart water
2 cups greeeeen juice mixed with pineapple juice
3 tbsp spirulina crunchies :)
water of a young coconut
a papaya
gorgeous salad straight from our garden - WOW :), followed by a hand-stirred 'yumpot' of tahini mixed with maca, honey, chocolate extract and cinnamon
2 cups water


on July the 18th I appreciated:

1 quart water
little cup of green juice
little cup of sugar cane juice
water of a young coconut
2 cups cucumber/sugarcane/lime juice
2 small papayas, 3 granadilla
1.5 cups almond milk with cinnamon, cardamom, stevia and maca :)
shared cucumber/jicama salad with Mr. M, with almond/dill 'cheese', stuffed into nori sheets, followed by a hand-stirred 'yumpot' of tahini mixed with maca, honey, chocolate extract and cinnamon
1 cup water


LOVE this 20-minute video with Jamie Oliver posted recently to TED.com, sharing his views on the obesity epidemic, disease and teaching children about food. Jamie lays out all the facts in his simple, down-to-Earth, Essex-boy kinda way ;) Some of the images and stories he shares of morbidly obese people in the USA are truly moving, for me at least...and the footage of children who are *clueless* as to which fruits and veggies are which is jaw-dropping for me too...wow, what a bizarre situation we've gotten ourselves into as a species...and Jamie is here as a no-nonsense beacon of clarity for simple food...how *wonderful* to see him invited to share on this topic at TED - love it...I hope you enjoy this video too (thanks to Ricki for sharing this link with us ;):

http://www.ted.com/talks/jamie_oliver.html

All love and grace unfolding,
Angelalalalalaaaaaaaa. xxx