Beyond the Silence...

HelLLLllLlllLLllllllllOOOoOoooOooOooooOooOooOOOOOOOOOOO :)
...back from the silence now...apologies for the temporary hiatus in communication from either of us – I promise I hadn’t absorbed the Monarch into silence too ;) ...we were just re-integrating life here after my absence...then last night we also spoke here in Byron Bay, which was a bit ‘trippy’ for me, to speak to a room full of people after silence for 4 days ;) In any case...I’m happy to be back from the ‘void’ now and DELIGHTED that you all seemed to enjoy the Monarch musings so much last week :) That’s so lovely :) Perhaps we can persuade him to write more frequently in the future... ;) I think he did a wonderful job...and feel very humbled to have such a loving, open-hearted and generous partner at my side… ;)
Thank you for ALL your messages to both of us during this last week – it’s taking a while to catch up with email, so please be patient if you’re still waiting for a response to smthg... ;)

Here’s what I had for the 4 days while I was away:
Jan 8th I had:

1.5 quarts water
1 papaya with lime juice
1 pint celery/cucumber/mizuna/parsley/apple/carrot/red chicory leaves/radish juice
2 cups water
bowl of mushed banana mixed with chopped basil and garlic, alfalfa sprouts and tahini, served with sunflower greens, cucumber sticks and a piece of macadamia/flax bread
1 mango
3 cups water
1 avocado mushed up with curry Alive Hummus & Himalayan salt, served with fresh salad – lettuce/tomato/cucumber/carrot/zucchini
3 cups water


On Jan the 9th I had:

1.5 quarts water
1 cup celery/cucumber/mizuna/parsley/apple/carrot/red chicory leaves/radish juice
big bowl of fruit salad: papaya/mango/kiwi/orange/apple/banana
1 quart water
½ a cup celery/cucumber/mizuna/parsley/apple/carrot/red chicory leaves/radish juice
¾ avocado mushed with Chilli Alive Hummus & Himalayan salt & lime juice served with cucumber sticks, a simple green salad and sunflower greens
1.5 quarts water
bowl of salad: lettuce, corn, tomatoes, onion, carrot, beetroot, cucumber, zucchini w/ olive oil & apple cider vinegar dressing, plus a little guacamole
10 dried figs dipped in tahini
1.5 quarts water

My silent retreat experience was...in a word – INTENSE...I was in meditation for 11 hours a day, starting at 5.30am and finishing at 9pm daily. I really appreciated the gift of majorly slowing down and getting masses of clear ‘headspace’, with no distractions at all – no books, media, computers, phones – nothing – not even eye contact with others or speech. Vipassana is certainly an INWARDS process. This was not a ‘traditional’ Vipassana retreat though, by any means – those are 10 days long for newbies and apparently involve seated meditation all day long, often with many dozens of people in attendance. This one I attended was a kind of ‘private’ Vipassana with just 12 attendees, private rooms available, a mixture of both seated and walking meditations and the option to go for shorter periods – e.g. 4 days like I was able to go for. I have never done SUCH intensive meditation. I meditate every day in my usual life, for around 15 minutes in the morning, plus also ‘tune in’ throughout the day to re-connect to the Divine. That’s a BIG difference though to being in an almost constant state of meditation for days on end... I found the method of meditation very different to my own path. It was essentially the concept of going into the ‘void’, where the attention is on nothing other than one’s own breathing or walking, for moment after moment, minute after minute, hour after hour, day after day...noting one’s thoughts/feelings etc as they arise in the mind, then always bringing the focus back to the breath or walking feet. I felt a lot of resistance come up in me towards the whole process. While I appreciated the theoretical value of being ‘in the void’ so much as a way of connecting to truth, in my actual experience, I mostly found it...hmmmmm, how to put this...???? ...dull...lol...now, I’m very aware that Vipassana is a pathway of examining the self, so I guess we could draw some interesting conclusions then about my self-concept ;) In any case, my prevailing feeling was ‘where is the love in this process?’ It felt so...empty...I am able to go into the ‘void’ as I choose and certainly appreciate the break it offers me when I do – however, I don’t seem to resonate much with being in there hour after hour after hour...my feeling is that at the moment I am embodied here as a human and there are things to enjoy, love to share, people to interact with and so on...when I leave here and return to the void, that seems the time to really enjoy THAT reality, rather than being out there now, when I could be playing here instead. I hope that makes sense and that people realise I’m simply relating the truth of my personal experience here. I believe the paths to the Divine are many and the Truth is one. This kind of intense meditation is certainly a path that millions worldwide seem to embrace – it just doesn’t resonate that much for me – there are other paths and practices that speak to me much more – and I trust my feelings about that. My feelings are my guidance system. This kind of meditation also felt very ‘masculine’ to me – that love of the ‘void’. David Deida has a great way of explaining how people with masculine energy love to ‘die’ to everything and blank out into the void (picture the 'typical' scene of a guy coming home at the end of a working day, for example, sitting down and blankly flicking between TV channels). I felt that kind of energy in this process – a blanking out, shutting down…nothingness…empty…which can be great and yes of course at the ultimate level, that’s all there really is – nothing, everything, the grand illusion, the web of interconnectedness, the cosmic giggle…and yet...at this stage of my life, passing large amounts of time constantly in that kind of space doesn’t much appeal to me...
I’m back to my own daily meditations here at home and definitely sense how they have deepened as a result of my experience there...and I am also aware that this was my first experience of ‘dipping my toes’ into the deeeeeeeeeeeeeep waters of such intensive meditating and that perhaps in the future I will feel drawn to go there again...we shall see... ;)

On January the 10th I had:

1.5 quarts water
4tbsp chia gel w/ a big bowl of fruit salad: pineapple/plum/apple/kiwi/orange/mango/papaya/passion fruit/banana
1.5 quarts water
big slice of watermelon
salad of lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes, zucchini, onion, carrot, beetroot, corn, served with avo mushed with hummus and salt, in romaine wraps
1.5 quarts water
2 tbsp chia gel w/ a bowl of fruit salad: black plum/pear/banana/cherries
little bowl of salad with apple cider vinegar/olive oil dressing and a little piece of macadamia/flax bread
1 quart water


On January the 11th I had:

1 quart water
4tbsp of chia gel with bowl of fruit salad: banana/mango/passion fruit/kiwi/orange/plum/apple/pineapple/pear
1.5 cups rooibus tea
big slice of watermelon
bowl of salad – lettuce, cucumber, zucchini, carrot, beetroot, corn, onion, served with avocado mushed with hummus & salt, served with romaine leaves
1.5 quarts water
3 black plums and a big handful of cherries
1 pint green juice with lemon
1 quart water

I felt extremely blessed in terms of the food I had during this retreat. As a 100% raw foodist, one of the main things that has already held me back from going on Vipassana was the fact that the catering is mostly cooked veggie/vegan dishes. As I said though, this was a more ‘private’ setting and my food choices were willingly embraced. The chef supplied me with some delicious salads, mostly made with produce straight from their organic gardens and with MUCH love ;) I then added in some denser foods and it all worked out fine :) As you can see from the above food lists for that period, I ate salads quite a lot – this was really interesting for me, as I can’t even remember the last time I ate a salad prior to this week – I just don’t eat stuff like that anymore. I drink my veggies far more often than eating them. There was no juicer to use there though, so I was eating salads and found that they were DELICIOUS – it felt really refreshing to eat such simple fare, prepared with a great deal of love and care. Chia and avo with hummus were definitely my saviours though during this event. I made up a batch of chia gel with water, put it in the fridge and would then spoon some out into fruit salads, to help balance my blood sugars and keep me satiated between sessions. Then I would mush up avocado with some of the Alive Hummus and have an instant yummy dip or sauce for salads. I would DEFINITELY recommend travelling with those 3 items... I was also delighted to see on my return to email-world that Mike Adams over at NewsTarget had published my ‘Chia Cheat Sheet’ article to his site in my absence – NICE – masses more people are getting turned on to the magic of chia now :) You can see the article on NewsTarget HERE.
I also noticed that I drank HUGE amounts of water during the retreat…I wasn’t getting my usual juice and the absence of celery and cucumber juice especially makes a big difference, besides which, I think my throat just felt dried out so much from not speaking...I actually didn’t even speak much for the first few hours after Mr Monarch came to collect me...it felt too odd to do so...then as I started to speak...and smile...and LAUGH again, it was SO much fun – I was astounded by the sound of my own laugh – I had not heard it for so many days, it seemed huge and foreign...and I LOVED it :) It felt soooooooooooo good to laugh again and interact and enjoy...in fact, very rapidly, within just half an hour perhaps of leaving the retreat centre, it felt to me as if the whole thing had never even happened – or like it was all a dream – it was SO very far from the reality I was entering back into – watching the trees move past the car windows, holding hands with my beloved and gently, lovingly, joyfully laughing... ;)

All love,
Angela. xxx

Protect YOUR Leafy Greens...

Eeeeeeek…seems it’s time for another ‘public service announcement’…
Yep...after pasteurising all the almonds already, the USDA are after your leafy greens now…following the supposed spinach-related ‘e coli’ outbreaks last year, a proposed new law would essentially squish out small and medium sized growers with specified, institutionalised growing rules for ALL leafy greens. The blessed Cornucopia Institute are on the case with this one – with step-by-step guidelines of how to express your objections to this bill BEFORE DECEMBER THE 3RD, HERE: http://cornucopia.org/index.php/protect-fresh-leafy-greens-and-family-farms/#more-362
...and this is just one part of the picture that’s unfolding at the moment – I would strongly recommend you check out the very insightful article posted today by Mike Adams of NewsTarget for more info – HERE: http://www.newstarget.com/022308.html

on November the 29th I had:

1 quart water
1 cup sugar cane/ginger/lime juice
2 cups cucumber/celery/parsley/tatsoi/beet greens/red dandelion/carrot/apple/all-kinds-of-greeeeeens juice
2 pieces of Mr Monarch’s new pizza marvel – base of ground buckwheat and coconut flour, topping of avo mushed with sundried tomato hummus and diced fresh tomatoes, with a dusting of coconut powder and sundried tomatoes ontop
3 cups water
1 cup cucumber/celery/parsley/tatsoi/beet greens/red dandelion/carrot/apple/all-kinds-of-greeeeeens juice
½ an egg fruit, big chunk of amaaaaazing soft jack fruit
3 cups water

So, on the subject of leafy greens…I was absolutely DELIGHTED to go on a 4 hour long forage this morning with a local ‘bush tucker’ guy called Cockatoo Paul…WOW…the plant knowledge this man holds is simply phenomenal…he left home when he was around 16…he ended up living on the streets, destitute and hungry. He then realised that Aboriginal people had been living on this land for centuries with no issues and set about learning what to eat from them. He has now been learning for about 20 years. It was such a gift to me to spend a few hours looking at the local landscape through the eyes of someone who sees it all so differently…I learnt and tasted SO much…it is my desire to learn more and more about foraging and wild edibles, especially considering any bizarre laws that may be introduced for commercially-grown produce ;)…I would love to download the contents of Cockatoo Paul’s head into mine… Instead I put my new knowledge to immediate use this afternoon and picked my own little collection of edibles, including these ext-RAW-dinary purple berries (see pic) that I’d been eyeing for days and assuming couldn’t be edible for us – the colour just looked too intense…WELL, turns out they’re called ‘dianella lily’ and they’re delicious. I would thoroughly recommend checking out Paul’s work if you’re in this area…he has a MySpace page, which actually shares about...his music and jewellry skills (he's a very talented guy ;) HERE:

http://www.myspace.com/cockatoopaul

on November the 30th I had:

1 quart water
1.2 quarts watermelon/orange juice
lots of bits and pieces of flowers, seeds, leaves and tubers on a foraging walk
2 cups water
1 apple, Mexican powersticks
bowl of soaked figs blended with hemp seeds
1 pint celery/cucumber/cilantro/spinach/dandelion/beet greens/tatsoi/carrot/apple/all-kinds-of-fresh-greens juice
2 cups water
big chunk of delicious watermelon
1.5 cups celery/cucumber/cilantro/spinach/dandelion/beet greens/tatsoi/carrot/apple/all-kinds-of-fresh-greens juice
3 cups green smoothie: papaya/mango/foraged leaves and berries/greens from market, swirled with goji berries
2 cups water

Thanks BTW for all the Paul Potts-related emails and updates from y’all – SO, it seems I was indeed months out of date with that story ;) Thanks for letting me know that he DID in fact win the talent show and has since gone on to sell over 2 million copies of his debut album and wow audiences all over the world – including an appearance on Oprah, apparently – WOW – what a beautiful story…I poked around on YouTube a bit and there are many clips of him there that have been watched MILLIONS of times…here’s one of him winning the final…aaaaaaaahhh, so inspiring…I get shivers every time I watch him sing…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqWvuMJV0Yw

One love,
Angela. xxx

BLOG ACTION DAY...(and 'no-email-action' day ;)

First off, a PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT
This comment was left by Heidi today and I replied to it on the comments section, but am copying it all here as well, as I want to be sure everyone sees it who may want to know... ;)
Heidi said:
Angela,
I have been trying to reach you via email, but I can't get through to your email. I keep getting undeliverable messages via rawreform@rawreform.com Please let me know if you have a new email address? Perhaps your email is down?
Hope to talk to you soon,
~ Heidi

I replied:
THANK YOU for your message - yes, having major issues with all '@rawreform.com' emails right now, I'm very sorry to say :( Apologies to all of you who have been trying to send messages there and find they bounce back...The email server gremlins seem to have monkeyed the whole thing at the moment...some 'webmasters' are currently working on fixing the issue though ;) Please send good ju-ju their way and hopefully all of your messages won't have been warped into cyber-space...In the meantime, please re-direct any messages to rawreform@hotmail.com if you want to be sure they get through...

Ok...(exhale)...so, on with the show ;)

Secondly...WOW, today NewsTarget published one of my weight loss articles as their lead article in a whole email blast about raw foods. If you’re not familiar with the work of NewsTarget and its founder, Mike Adams, I’d highly recommend checking it out. They send out email shots most days with cutting-edge alternative health info. It is an extremely popular email service, with over 100,000 subscribers I believe…and today, raw foods got highlighted in a big email blast to that whole list…WOW...imagine if ALL those people shimmied a little further into the light of raw foods, what am impact that would have... :)…aside from my article, which you can see HERE, Mike Adams himself also just posted an insightful personal report from the Raw Spirit Fest – see HERE, plus another article examines gluten intolerance…

on October the 15th I had:

1.2 litres water
800ml green juice with carrot
bowl of soaked dried figs blended with hemp seeds and cinnamon – RIDICULOUSLY yummy and simple…
1 litre water
800ml green juice with carrot
bowl of sea spaghetti with pumpkin seed butter and granulated wrack
Pro2Go packs for ‘dessert’ ;)
1.5 litres water

Thirdly (yet by no means lastly ;) ...today – October the 15th – is officially ‘Blog Action Day’, wherein bloggers all over the world form a ‘united front’ to blog on the same topic, hence drawing attention to that subject. The theme this year is ‘The Environment’…hmmmmmm…well, well, well…what would I like to share about the environment…??? Where to begin…? I think I will give my top ten tips for ENVIRONMENTAL ACTION – action, after all, is where it’s at – we can read and write all the blahblah we like about the environment – taking action is the key for real, lasting shifts…so, here we go, in no particular order…

1. Compost your food scraps and re-use/recycle all else that you can of your waste. Start TODAY. (Hmmmm...have I ever mentioned composting before…??? ;) Are you starting to see a pattern emerging here…? ;)

2. Grow your own food – even if it’s in window boxes, plant pots or indoors – get truly ‘local’ with your food choices and grow your own.

3. Choose organic, if you’re not already. That goes for food, clothes and anything else where you have a choice. You vote with your dollar on these matters every single day – what are you going to choose?

4. Learn more about foraging – the more people who are able to identify edible plants and make use of them/educate others, the better, in my opinion. This is a HIGHLY valuable skill.

5. Read the Anastasia books and put what you learn into practice. NOTHING in recent years has motivated me more to get to a piece of land and start raising my own food and family than these books.

6. Try walking or riding a bike somewhere you would normally drive a car to reach. Re-evaluate this journey. Do you really ‘need’ to use a vehicle to get there, or are actually driving from habit?

7. Plant some trees OR support charities that do so. We support The Woodland Trust in the UK and The Fruit Tree Planting Foundation, based in the US.

8. Pick up some litter in YOUR area – caring for the earth is something we can all do. Maybe you didn’t drop that litter yourself. You could pick it up though. Try seeing all pieces of land, all aspects of nature - the whole picture - as something you are connected to.

9. Cease using new plastic/paper bags at shops. Invest in some fabric bags or ‘bags for life’, as sold in many supermarkets these days. Keep some in your vehicle, or near your keys etc – somewhere you will remember to take them with you to the shops. If you live in a country where the shops do not yet charge you for each plastic bag you use, try to imagine you DO live somewhere like that…imagine each bag cost you $1 – then how many would you use?

10. Dry your clothes OUTSIDE IN THE AIR/SUN whenever possible. Tumble dryers are one of the most energy-consuming appliances in the home.

Ok…that will do for now ;) I could have gone on for a few more pages there…10 is a good start…I’d recommend checking out the site of The Centre for Alternative Technology in Wales for more ideas…I used to live/work there…it’s a phenomenal place…

One Earth, one love,
Angela. xxx