Pics and Footage of Opening Events for 2011 Vilcabamba Raw Food Gathering :)

WELL...what an eventful last 48 hours or so we've been experiencing here in Vilcabamba, where the 2011 Raw Food Gathering kicked off for a two-week run last Sunday...yesterday we enjoyed a lovely opening circle at the beautiful Madre Tierra resort, followed by an absolutely fabulous Opening Reception evening catered by the delightful Kirsten Gum of RawTrips.com and her hearty crew of helpers - over 100 revellers were there to celebrate the opening of this event, delighting in the delicious raw appetizers, soaking up the lush surroundings and mingling with friends old and new...beautiful times... :)

You can see some of my photos from the day here on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/fbx/?set=a.10150231154231410.360034.684101409&l=6ad8b301ee

Mr. M also uploaded a fun video today from the Opening Reception - 

you can check that out HERE - enjoy :)))

on May the 1st I loved:

1 quart water
1 cup VIBRANT mandarin/passionfruit juice
a few berries from the garden and a yummmmmers dragonfruit
shotglass of powerful greeeeen elixir from Mr. M; coconut water, Elixir of the Lake, Greener Grasses, Vitamineral Green
1 quart greeeeeen juice mixed with pineapple juice
little pot of hemp seeds mixed with hemp oil and salt, stuffed into nori sheets (a long-forgotten favourite power snack ;)
watr of three young coconuts

On the subject of this current Raw Gathering, I want to give a big shout out to the lovely Claudia Morales in Chile, who has so kindly and generously volunteered herself as the online translator of all the info for the Gathering from English to Spanish (e.g. on the schedule page HERE, all of the Spanish translation is provided by Claudia - thanks :) Claudia and her boyfriend have also recently started their own blog, in Spanish, all about healthy living, with videos and articles - if you or anyone you know would love to connect more to raw/health info in Spanish, please feel free to check out her work at: www.lovinglife.cl/blog - thanks again, Claudia :)))


on May the 2nd I enjoyed:

1 quart water
1 quart coconut water/mandarin juice/passion fruit juice
a dragon fruit and half a mango
1 cup coconut water
1 cup coconut water mixed with intense greeeeeeen powders
little pot of hemp seeds mixed with hemp oil and salt, stuffed into nori sheets, followed by a DELICIOUS little bowl of homemade raw lavender ice cream - WOW :)
water of a young coconut
a few little *delicious* appetizer morsels at the opening night of the 2011 Vilcabamba Raw Food Gathering - yummmmers :)
water of a young coconut


on May the 3rd I appreciated:

1 quart water
3 cups watermelon juice mixed with passionfruit juice
a dragon fruit
water of a young coconut
an avocado with lime juice, little pot of hemp seeds mixed with hemp oil and salt, stuffed into nori sheets, followed by a sample of Lucuma Balls from Diviana
water of three young coconuts

PLEASE NOTE: we have had a couple of recent schedule changes for The Raw Food World Radio Show. The interview with super-star raw chef Ani Phyo this week has moved from Thursday to Friday at noon Pacific, 3pm Eastern.
Also, we have been able to reschedule the call with the lovely Nadine Artemis of Living Libations, whose call got "eaten" by internet gremlins a couple of weeks ago...we're lined up to be speaking with Nadine again on June the 9th at 6pm Eastern, 3pm Pacific.
Please visit http://www.TheRawFoodWorldRadioShow.com to get the call-in info for these events and...ENJOY :)


All love and blossoming joy,
A. C. Stokes-Monarch. xxx

The "Inspiring Women Summit" Starts Soon... :)

I was very excited to see that there is a wonderful looking new free online summit coming up soon called the "Inspiring Women Summit", which runs from May 7th to the 13th. This summit features over 40 prominent female mover-shakers of the world, including:

Our dear friend Elena Tonetti-Vladimirova, Lynne McTaggart, Marci Shimoff, 

Barbara Marx Hubbard, Janet Attwood, Geneen Roth and many more...

This looks set to be a wonderfully inspiring, educational and entertaining set of interviews and discussions - check out the details and get signed up for this free event HERE - ENJOY :)


on April the 21st I liked:

1 quart water
chunk of fresh watermelon
chunk of pineapple with a few blackberries
little bowl of mango "mousse" while preparing food for a potluck
YUMMERRRRSSSSSS plate of salads and spreads at potluck, followed by some frozen mango pie/banana ice cream
Water of two young coconuts


The Vilcabamba Raw Food Gathering 2011 starts in a *week*, on May 1st - exciting :)
We are curious to see who actually makes it all the way here to the high Andes for this celebration... :)
The "hub" for the event this year is the beautiful Madre Tierra hotel and breaking news from them is that they have a few free rooms left to rent, due to some last minute cancellations - if you're headed this way and looking for a place to stay, just contact Peter Fox on back2olam@gmail.com or 509-928-2141 for details...
All of the info and current schedule outline for the gathering can be found at http://www.therawfoodworld.com/vilcabamba.html - enjoy :)


On April the 22nd I enjoyed:

1 quart water
chunk of fresh watermelon
3 cups vibrant watermelon/passion fruit juice
40 chlorella tablets
water of a young coconut
yummmmmmmmmmmers, *amazing* fresh salad from our garden with 40+ greens, flowers, veggies and more - soooooooooo BEAUTIFUL :))) Topped with some delicious nut pate from David Rainoshek...
bowl of mango "mousse" - mango, coconut oil, vanilla powder
water of three young coconuts


on April the 23rd I appreciated:

1 quart water
3 cups coconut water with passion fruit juice
chunk of fresh pineapple
40 chlorella tablets
little bowl of mango "mousse" - mango and vanilla powder
lovely raw platter at a friend's house - various salads, guacamole, nut burgers with onion bread, followed by a delicious raw fruit cobbler
water of two young coconuts

*Apologies* to all of you on our live call with the lovely Nadine Artemis on Friday evening when our Ecuadorian internet suddenly tanked and has yet still to resurface as I write this on Sunday afternoon, almost two full days later... (Easter weekend in Catholic country = no-one at work in internet company, apparently ;)
Right now we are gratefully connected online for a short time via a friend's generous line-sharing...and we *hope* to be back online again as usual by tomorrow...whereupon we can hopefully reschedule the call with the gracious Nadine ;)
The first 15 minutes of call time that we were able to enjoy together were GREAT, so here's looking forward to the next installment...you can sign up for access at http://www.TheRawFoodWorldRadioShow.com if you're not already signed up for call info for this interview...

Also, remember that the RawReform Giveaway Contest prize this month is a gift pack of gorgeous skin care goodies from Nadine too - see HERE for more info...

Wishing all of you whom enjoy this holiday a very Happy Easter :)

All love,
Angelalalaalaaaaaaaaaaa. xxx

Do You Give The Best Of Yourself To Your Loved Ones...?

I'd love to let you know about a series of inspiring short free videos from our dear friend Brian Johnson over at PhilosophersNotes.com - as you may recall, Brian recently published a book on the top 100 ideas that most stood out to him from the countless dozens of inspiring books he has read in the last few years for his "PhilosophersNotes" project...now he is taking those top 100 distilled ideas from his book and making a short video for each one, so you can actually pretty much "read" the whole book for freeee via this video series - you can check the videos out HERE - there are 9 of the 100 videos already posted as I write this - the rest will keep on coming, so get on board now if you wanna see how they flow - enjoy :)


on April the 9th I loved:

1 quart water
chunk of fresh watermelon
1 quart greeeeeeeeen juice mixed with pineapple juice
40 chlorella tablets
bowl of chia pudding with maca, ashwaghanda, banana, mango
3 cups water
YUMMERRRRSSSSSS Gopal's Curry Powersticks :)
Water of a young coconut

There are still a few last-minute rooms left at the beautiful Madre Tierra hotel here in Vilcabamba for the 2011 Raw Food Gathering, May 1st-14th...if you're intending to head this way and you're not sure where you're staying, you can contact Peter, the hotel owner on 509-928-2141 or back2olam@gmail.com to secure your place.

You can check the current schedule outline for this gathering, along with travel guidance etc at http://www.TheRawFoodWorld.com/vilcabamba.html.

Come on down, meet other like-minded lovelies, soak up the radiant sun and munch into the luscious fresh produce... If you'd love to offer a talk or other kind of event during the gathering, just email matthew.monarch123@gmail.com and let us know your preferred date/time slot and the theme you'd love to share...

As ever, if anyone is also willing or able to bring extra goodies/baggage down here with them, we'd love to hear from you...please email matthew.monarch123@gmail.com to let us know your travel plans :)

We look forward to enjoying a fun gathering soon with whoever actually finds their way here... :)

on April the 10th I appreciated:

1 quart water
chunk of fresh pineapple
3 cups greeeeeeen juice mixed with carrot juice
40 chlorella tablets
an avocado spread onto nori sheets with a little spicy red bell pepper sauce on top, followed by 2 cups sesame/banana milk
water of a young coconut


At a retreat I was holding once, a wise woman once shared this idea with the group:
 

"I like to make sure I give the best of myself to my loved ones, not other people." 

This struck me as simple, golden guidance. How often it seems that people reserve the apparent "best" of themselves for maintaining a public show that "all is well", while behaving in other-than-radiant ways with their families, close friends or house mates...whether that means complaining, arguing, gossiping or shouting at our supposed "nearest and dearest", or whatever this behaviour manifests as...what a refreshing idea to consciously choose to keep our best for those whom we believe that we love and cherish the most...makes sense, non...?
Of course, it would be the loveliest intention methinks to treat everyone with a gentle, open heart, compassion, understanding and joy...however, if we do not yet, for whatever reason, feel able or willing to hold that kind of space with everyone we encounter, we could at least choose to treat our closest associates with loving appreciation and compassion. What a turn around this could bring, if people everywhere chose to act on this idea...
I am reminded of another sage piece of guidance shared with me along this theme when I was in the grip some years back of a particularly co-dependent, abusive relationship...an older woman pointed out to me that the guy in this relationship was CHOOSING to speak to me in unsupportive, violent and unkind ways - he would not, for example, choose to scream or shout in rage at someone he briefly encountered, like someone trying to help him locate an item in a supermarket, or someone who had just delivered him mail...yet he would choose to speak to me, the person supposedly nearest and dearest to him, in harsh tones and with violent outbursts - a bizarre state of events when viewed from the outside, yet one that seems remarkably common from my observances of modern, strained human relationships...may we all remember to do our best to share our radiant selves with others, especially those whom we claim to love the most... ;)

All love and explorations of joy,
ACS-M. xxx

Vilcabamba Raw Gathering Starts in 1 Month :)

Happy April to Everyone :)

The Vilcabamba Raw Food Gathering for 2011 starts a MONTH from today, on May the 1st :)
All the details for the gathering are at http://www.TheRawFoodWorld.com/vilcabamba.html, including the schedule as it is shaping up...with talks/events from such yumsters as:  

Mr. Monarch, Kirsten Gum, Dave the Raw Trucker & Tresa, 

Tanya Alekseeva, David Rainoshek, Brother Echo, Lou Corona, 

Yves Zehnder, The Raw Chocolate Party crew from Amsterdam...

...and many more - check it all out HERE... There are still a few rooms left at Madre Tierra, the "hub" hotel for the event - you can contact them on 509-928-2141 or back2olam@gmail.com to secure a place now...
If anyone coming from N. America is willing/able to bring us down some extra goodies from our California warehouse, that would be GREAT, as the postal service here is not exactly reliable ;) Contact us on matthew.monarch123@gmail.com if you're able to bring some extras with you for us, thanks :)

We look forward to a two-week party in "paradise" with y'all ;)

on March the 28th I appreciated:

1 quart water
½ cup orange juice
2 cups watermelon juice
1 quart greeeen juice mixed with pineapple juice
a yummmmerrrsss mango
shared cucumber/jicama salad with mr. M; salad stuffed into nori sheets and spread on raw "bread" with Sea Clear and fresh almond butter, followed by a few Hunza apricots with fresh tahini :)
mug of maca tea
mug of horchata tea


on March the 29th I loved:

1 quart water
½ cup orange juice
water of a young coconut
1 quart greeeen juice mixed with pineapple juice
a yummmmerrrsss mango
yummerrrrrrrs bowl of spicy mango soup, with ½ an avocado spread onto raw "bread", with some new garlic/cumin coconut chips on the side
mug of herbal tea


The Longevity Now Conference in Costa Mesa kicks off TODAY :)
If you're not able to attend in person, you can still register to watch the whole event at home by streaming, with playbacks available for the next three months - check all the details out HERE - huge blessings and bliss to all in the Longevity flow this weekend ;)


on March the 30th I enjoyed:

1 quart water
3 cups watermelon juice
shotglass of Elixir of the Lake in coconut water
3 cups coconut water
yummerrrrrrrs bowl of spicy mango soup, with ½ an avocado spread onto raw "bread", with some new garlic/cumin coconut chips on the side
mug of herbal tea


on March the 31st I resonated with:

1 quart water
½ cup orange juice
1 quart greeeen juice mixed with pineapple juice
bowl of yummerrrss chia pudding mixed with mango, banana, maca, ashwagandha
mug of herbal tea
two carob-almond yumballs
water of a young coconut


I'd like to comment that my perspective on languages took on a radical shift recently. As some of you possibly know, my degree is in Linguistics - I have studied language a lot in my life and very much resonated with the idea that it is a "tragedy" when languages die out. While I still think that individual languages are fascinating and am enthralled with the possible different perspectives they can help us to perceive, my outlook on the *overall value* of having different languages was totally flipped recently when I heard an old African healer speaking on the idea that we are more divided by different languages than we are united - that all of these different languages we encounter worldwide could be considered another thread in a possible "divide and control" model, rather than something to be revered and treasured...an interesting perspective...as I said, I still find our multiple human languages fascinating - and I also really appreciated thinking about this alternative perspective... I also note that as I progress now on the path of learning more and more Spanish, I find that my attitude towards this task is subtley different than before this revelation - now it feels somehow more like "cracking a code" and less intimidating - I'm simply seeking to learn the Spanish equivalents for how I would say something in English, rather than feeling potentially overwhelmed by the possiblity of learning a whole new language and way of perceiving the world...it's a subtle difference, yet learning this next language feels like a simpler task in many ways now and I'm grateful for that too... ;)

All love and twisted tongues,
Angelalalaaaaaaaaaa. xxx