Basil tastes like summer

It's basil season, and I can't get enough.  This fragrant and delicious herb makes any meal feel alive and fresh.  This week I made a Spinach and Basil Pesto using produce from my Tiny's Organic CSA bag.  The recipe is so easy and goes with everything.  One meal I put the pesto over quinoa pasta.  Then I put it over mayacoba beans and broiled asparagus.  I'm excited to try it on pizza and other grilled veggies.  The major hit of nutrients (calcium, fiber, folic acid, magnesium, lutein, vitamins A & C) explains the happy glow after eating.  For a fun, fresh dose of summer, just add ingredients and blend.

Spinach and Basil Pesto
2 cups spinach leaves
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 cup basil leaves
4 cloves garlic, peeled/quartered
1/2 tsp lemon zest
1/2 cup pine nuts
1/2 cup olive oil
salt and pepper

Blend ingredients in a food processor until smooth, scraping the sides of the bowl with a spatula as necessary.  Makes enough pesto for 1-2 people.

For another fun dose of basil, try Chaco Canyon's chilled Avocado and Basil soup.  It comes with toast, rice or quinoa.  Perfect for a summer day.

Photo credit: Shoot to Cook

Ayurveda and Miracles

Why do you believe in miracles?

 

Gabrielle Bernstein posed this question to her readers.  She's picking a few people to be in a commercial for her next book, May Cause Miracles.  It's a beautiful question that helped me reflect and verbalize a piece of my path to healing.  Enjoy!

""Healing begins in the mind." Check out this amazing Spirit Junkie Nicole... You too can send me a video like this and be part of my May Cause Miracles book commercial! Thank you Nicole!"

-Gabrielle Bernstein

"Another guru to add to my ever increasing list of amazing women. Love you blogs, keep 'em coming :-) xx"  -Dawn Barrington

Listen to this little nugget!

Have you ever felt overwhelmed?  Do you wish you could mute the traffic, construction workers or negative people in you life?  In this week's vlog, I share some strategies for tapping into the healing power of sound.  By using mantras and positive thinking, we can clear the chaos in our mind.  We correct and align our vibrations thus attracting other positive, loving people and experiences into our life. 

My favorite mantra is the Gayatri mantra.  This powerful healing mantra helped me cure my own thyroid disease, eliminating my need for medication.  Using this mantra, we call upon the divine radiance of the sun to heal the body.  If you would like additional resources about primordial sound therapy or healing mantras, I recommend Deepak Chopra's book, Perfect Health.

Interdependence Day

This week I'm dedicating my blog post to my boyfriend, Kevin.  We're celebrating our one-year anniversary, and I couldn't be more thrilled, thankful and happy about it.  My heart and these feelings of connectedness and inspiration show me that I'm in the right place.  I truly believe that relationships are assignments, opportunities to love, grow and learn.  They bring all of our issues right up to the surface so we can look at them honestly.  Kevin is often my mirror, showing me parts of myself that I didn't see before.  I love him so much for engaging me in a loving, accepting and open way.

This week our country also celebrates Independence Day, the 4th of July.  There is definitely a way to merge love, unity and independence.  If I had to graph a healthy relationship with together time, social time and independent time, it might look like this:

Integrating independent time into my relationship has proven to be very important.  Time to sleep, meditate, cook the foods I like, journal and see friends keeps me sane and balanced.  I know that his alone time allows Kevin to do Crossfit, video games, watch sports and read.  I don't need to be there for all those things.  We each get to fuel ourselves independently so we can be present when we are together.  It is a rich blend that allows us to give and receive love.

In Ayurveda, nourishment of the mind is equally as important as nourishment of the body.  It is ideal to be surrounded by positive people and be at the Buddhi level of the mind, which helps us focus inward towards the truth rather than outward in search of momentary pleasures and happiness.  Instead of needing Kevin to present me happiness on a platter, I know that I will find my happiness inside and then be able to share it with him.  Instead of focusing on what I'm getting or not getting within the context of my relationship, I focus on ways to love, give, support and accept.  Never before have I felt this happy, this calm and this sure of myself in a relationship. 

As Donna Henes writes, "All borders and boundaries and separations are pure illusion. Each time we touch someone we leave some of our skin atoms behind and pick up a parcel of new ones in an intimate epidermal exchange. Thus we merge, quite literally becoming part of each other. I am you and you are me and we are we. We are all in this together, inextricably bound, riding on our beautiful blue planet through space and time. We are one team, one community, one world, one living, breathing entity. And the sooner we realize it, the happier, safer and saner we will be."

By celebrating my anniversary, honoring our country and engaging in loving friendships, I feel so connected to the people around me.  May we celebrate Independence day as Interdependence day, honoring the loving bonds that unite and nourish us all.