West Side Story...

We’re on the west coast of Australia now...it is HOT :O ...pheeeeeeeeeew...and a looooooong journey all the way over here – this continent is VAST...I spent most of the plane journey involved in mane management ;) Mr Monarch’s hair had become insanely knotted into dread-like masses and I eased it all out – now it looks beautiful again and we’re about to go on stage very shortly here in Perth to speak to a lovely audience above the ‘Alive Organics’ health food store, run by the delightful Jill and John. This shop is SO cool – run with masses of love, stocked with very carefully chosen raw, organic and other foods, with all kinds of kitchen appliances on display, free raw food info pamphlets, regular raw gatherings and classes in a space upstairs and so on – what an ASSET to any community... ;) They are extremely detail-orientated here about precisely which temperatures foods are processed at – they also grow a lot of their own food for the store, dehydrate fruits, soaked nuts, seeds and so on – there’s a LOT of love here...how blessed we are... :)

on January the 22nd I had:

1 quart water
1 quart watermelon juice
3 cups green smoothie: blueberries/mango/banana/sorrel/’tree spinach’, with goji berries, maca and cinnamon stirred in
3 cups water
1 pint radish/cabbage/sorrel/tree spinach/carrot/cucumber/ginger/apple juice
¾ avo mushed with salt, mixed sprouts, diced garlic and tomatoes
2 cups water
5 little egg fruits
3 cups water

Brian Johnson, the man behind incredible social entrepreneur website Zaadz (now called Gaia), has launched a FUN new site: ThinkArete.com. Here’s what he shares about this new playground:

“Emerson instructs us to "Make your own Bible. Select and collect all the words and sentences that in all your reading have been to you like the blast of triumph out of Shakespeare, Seneca, Moses, John and Paul." I like Emerson. So, I’ve followed his guidance. After selling my last business (Zaadz), I decided to go through all my favorite books and journals and notes from seminars and capture the “Big Ideas” I learned. My goal is to distill the essence of these lessons into fun, inspiring, practical bits of wisdom we can immediately apply to our lives.”

There’s some GREAT stuff on there – get into the ‘big ideas’ section and poke around a bit – I’m sure you’ll find smthg to inspire ;)

on January the 23rd I had:

1.5 quarts water
3 peaches
2 cups green smoothie: mango/banana/blueberry/lettuce/parsley/mizuna
3 cups water
¾ avo mushed with diced tomatoes and sea kelp and served in lettuce leaves
1.5 quarts water
1 mango
2 cups water
handful of raw chocolate coated brazil nuts and mulberries
3 cups water

Thank you for ALL your amazing emails and feedback about my recent silent meditation experience – it’s been lovely to hear all your different perspectives on it all ;) The lovely Zelia recently sent in a little account of HER Vipassana experience in Colombia and I asked her if I could share some of it with y’all here, as I think it’s great to hear different perspectives:

“I appreciated reading your truthful description of your Vipassana experience. I wanted to share a little of mine with you. I did my first 10 day retreat in July in Bogota, Colombia. 100% raw as well. The Colombians were very gracious in accommodating my diet- though the American teacher had a few issues with my having a different diet from the other students. That’s a whole other story though. What I found was that my mind didn’t actually start slowing down until the 4th day- that’s the day that they teach the actual method. The first 3 days are just focused on breathing- the intent being to slow the mind to prepare for learning the method. The actual method consists of scanning the body from head to feet and back up, using both hemispheres of the brain at one time- to me this makes a lot of sense physiologically in terms of creating more balance. The whole intent is learning to be ok with impermanence- at least that’s what I took from it. Learning to be ok with that helps one to let go of self-created suffering. They actually have a policy that people who are new to the method cant sit for less than 10 days the first time to ensure that people get the full experience. Goenke also speaks a few times about the importance of food in meditating. I felt like he was totally validating my raw diet- though he doesn’t specifically talk about raw food- just about eating lightly etc. Anyway, I just wanted to share that with you. I am hoping to sponsor a raw Vipassana retreat here in Cuenca, Ecuador in the coming year. We’ll see...”

Thanks Zelia ;)

One love,
Angela. xxx

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

Sombre...

Did you get to see the E! Entertainment special with Wolfie this weekend? I couldn’t work out how to watch it online...we heard that the show had a bit of a ‘negative’ slant to it though, focusing a lot on the death of 5-month old raw vegan baby Wohyah Andressohn back in 2003. If you’re not familiar with the Andressohn’s story, HERE is an informative article from Jinjee, written back in 2005. In this article, Jinjee explains how baby Wohyah was born with a birth defect – DiGeorge Syndrome - he had no thymus – and that many babies with this condition die before they are 2 months old. Wohyah lived for 5 months – surely a testimony to his parents’ love. This side of the story is rarely reported however. Well, personally I’d lost track of this story and was not sure of many of the details, so was interested to at least hear something of the developments. I’m saddened however to hear that apparently his parents are still imprisoned. Hmmm...breathing deep here and sending prayers for them and their other 4 children, who were apparently taken from their parents on the day of their brother’s death, given non-raw foods and kept from their parents for many months. I don’t know where they are now – if anyone has more recent details on this case, please do let us know. Here is a statement from Lamoy Andressohn, the children's mother, which to me, clearly illustrates the love and compassion of this woman:

”God has somehow chosen me to walk this path and I’m not sure why. I know I must follow it for bigger reasons than I understand and I don’t hold any ill will toward any part of the state because they are doing what they are trained to do. I am honored that God chose me to walk this path and I will embrace it until the end. I know how much my pain and suffering will effect the rights of others and I can’t afford to be selfish knowing this will affect the rights of the children of the future who choose to live this lifestyle.”

On January the 6th I had:

1.5 quarts water
big handful of cherries
1 luscious mango
1 pint intense celery/carrot/beetroot/ginger juice
little pot of gorgeous freshly made raw banana/mango ice cream whip
little handful of dried figs dipped straight into raw tahini
3 cups water
1 pint mizuna/tatsoi/bok choi/celery/cucumber/arugula/ginger/lime/apple/carrot juice
3 ‘finger’ bananas mashed up and swirled with raw tahini, pumpkin seeds, goji berries and a diced apple
3 cups water

A man died in a car accident outside our house yesterday. Our garden backs sideways onto an old highway, which is still used by some drivers. We heard a huge bang and went out to see what had happened. We ran through the garden onto the roadside. There had been a big crash. Many cars were stopped and people were calling emergency vehicles. On the floor laid a man. A handful of people seemed to already be on the case with everything, so I kept still at the roadside and held a space of love, focusing especially on the guy on the floor. A few minutes later, he had left his body. Emergency vehicles started to arrive and he was pronounced dead. I was glad to have at least been sending love to him as he left. It was a sombre event that really ‘put things in perspective’ for me, as such dramatic scenarios tend to do. I reflected on the apparent fragile nature of things – how all which that guy had created and experienced for years here was suddenly ‘gone’ – blanked out in an instant...and on went the rest of life...people still drove down the street, the birds still sang in the trees and I noticed plants in the garden I’d never seen before as we walked solemnly back to the house... Death is not something I regularly encounter and I was drawn to think of my soul sis*star* Zoe, back in the UK, who is a nurse and works often with elderly and ill people who are close to death. She has been with many hundreds of people over the years as they pass on. She seems to approach this work with such gentle understanding and kind compassion. She has witnessed death so often, I think it’s much easier for her now to integrate it as part of the life cycle than perhaps it is for me. Today I took flowers to the place where he died, to honour his life. There were many dozens of people there, in roadside vigil. I have been sending blessings with him and to those whose lives he touched, including ours, in his closing moments here...

on January the 7th I had:

1.5 quarts water
slice of watermelon
1 juicy mango
1 quart cucumber/beetroot/apple juice
bowl of 3 finger bananas, mashed up and swirled with finely chopped basil and garlic, alfalfa, fenugreek and lentil sprouts, tahini and pumpkin seeds, with sunflower greens, cucumber sticks and a flax cracker on the side – yummmmmmmmmmmmmm
3 cups water
slice of watermelon
3 cups mizuna/tatsoi/bok choi/celery/cucumber/arugula/ginger/lime/apple/carrot juice
big handful of cherries
2 cups water

Hmmmmmm...OK then...so, I’m sorry to be heading off after such a sombre day of messaging...I'm looking forward though to going off on silent retreat tomorrow for four days. Thanks to all of you who took the time to vote in the little poll about Mr Monarch taking over blogging here for the next few days. :) I’m sorry to hear so many of you had issues locating or using the poll – thanks to all of you who emailed your responses in instead though...so...time for the verdict...de-de-de-de-de-de-de-de-deeeeeeehhhhhhh –and the answer is: he’s in ;) You voted almost unanimously to receive the Monarch musings...NICE :) Well, I do hope you enjoy his yummy sharings…so, play nicely now, petals and I’ll reconnect in a few days :) All blessings to you all...

One love,
Angela. xxx

Input, please... ;)

Thanks for all your kind messages about the crazy rains here... ;) It was amazing actually – as soon as I wrote about it all, it stopped – we woke up today to a sunny day :) It was like someone up above had forgotten to turn off the tap (faucet) and then realised... ;) I guess I’ll put the build-your-own-ark kit back in the garage for now then ;) As a result of the sun making a welcome return, today was also outlandishly humid here, as the heat evaporated up lots of the moisture we’ve been sitting in for days. The air was so thick it felt challenging to even breathe at times, let alone eat much and our appetites dramatically fell away…mainly liquids and fruits all day…I also noticed that masses of mushrooms had grown up all over the place when I went out for a walk in our area – I guess damp, dark and muggy are ideal mushroom conditions and they’ve been thriving, while everyone else has been grumbling... ;)

on January the 4th I had:

1.5 quarts water
big slice of watermelon
1 pint mizuna/tatsoi/romaine/bok choi/kale/radish/cucumber/fennel/celery/arugula/red chicory leaf/carrot/apple juice
bowl of soaked dried figs blended with hemp seed, with dried apricots dipped in raw tahini on the side – yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
3 cups water
big handful of cherries
1 pint mizuna/tatsoi/romaine/bok choi/kale/radish/cucumber/fennel/celery/arugula/red chicory leaf/carrot/apple juice
slice of watermelon
3 cups beetroot/cucumber/apple juice
1 cup water

I grabbed the opportunity to wash our clothes today while the sun was here to dry them – everything’s been damp or dirty…or both…for the last week or so ;) Now we have shiny, happy, dry clothes again and in the process I realised I’d never got round to writing here about the laundry ‘soap’ we use...why would you want to know about laundry soap, you may be wondering...well, this ain’t no ordinary soap, m’dear...in fact it’s a product I’m REALLY excited about in terms of the potential global implications for sustainability and reducing pollution. We’ve been using ‘Maggie’s Soap Nuts’ - the only laundry soap that grows on trees :) Yes, quite remarkably, these ‘soap nuts’ are simply the dried fruit of a tree – the Chinese Soapberry tree. These lychee-like fruits contain ‘saponin’, a natural cleaner used for thousands of years to clean clothes, like the plants used by Native Americans for washing. You just put a few of the soap nuts into a little cotton sack which they come supplied with and drop it in your laundry. The saponin ‘soaps up’ during the wash and your clothes come out clean, vibrant, and soft. I have truly never used anything for washing clothes that leaves them feeling so ‘silky’ and…loved. :) I think they’re amazing. They’re also obviously totally biodegradable, as well as re-usable and hypoallergenic. How exciting is THAT??? Your clothes, your skin, your family, and your planet will thank you for using them :) I love them so much that we’ve started to sell them in the RawReform Store and have them in various pack sizes, from a sweet little trial size pack of a handful of ‘nuts’ to 200 load tubs. You can see more about them in the store HERE.

on January the 5th, I had:

1.5 quarts water
big slice of watermelon
1 pint mizuna/romaine/fennel/radish/cucumber/celery/kale/bok choi/arugula/red chicory leaf/carrot/apple juice
bowl of fenugreek and lentil sprouts stirred with diced tomatoes and a bit of tahini, with another little bowl of straight sea spaghetti and sunflower greens on the side. Homemade dessert of a little bowl of tahini mixed with raw honey and cracao powder – chocolate halva – yummmmmmmmmmmmmm :)
3 cups water
slice of watermelon
1 pint mizuna/romaine/fennel/radish/cucumber/celery/kale/bok choi/arugula/red chicory leaf/carrot/apple juice
big handful of outrageously gorgeous cherries
2 cups water

I’d like your opinion on something, please. :) I’m going away on silent retreat this Tuesday, for 4 days. I’m very excited. This is something I’ve been wanting to do for many years and it has never quite flowed with schedules and locations...it seems now is the time... ;) So... where do you fit into this? Well, I’m going to be completely out of communication while I’m on retreat – no email, no blogging, no phone, no talking even...and in my absence, Mr Monarch has volunteered to take over writing the RawReform E-Journal (as a guest writer this time, rather than monkey-ing his way in... ;) Soooooooo, whaddaya reckon? Do you wanna read more musings from the Monarch for a few days? I’ve made a little poll on the RawReform site where you can easily register YOUR opinion before Monday. That seems democratic to me...it’s you who reads here, after all... ;) So, click HERE or on the poll picture to register YOUR vote. :) Just scroll down a little on the RawReform Homepage to see the poll on the right hand side... Thanks :)

One love,
Angela. xxx