Relaxed into the Flow of Existence

What a great way to welcome the New Year, an in-the-flow living meditation. Or, the next best thing, which happens to be a video of a guy named Jordan (from Conscious Alchemy) talking to (being interviewed by) Leija Turunen. It’s refreshing to see another person that can express what it’s like to be connected to the flow and how that helps for developing hyper-sensitive abilities.

The video is almost 25 minutes long, but it’s really worth it. Jordan’s point of view is refreshing and, better yet, he’s allowed to freely talk which leads to a really intuitive conversation. Rather than hearing the interviewer’s point of view, you simply get Jordan with all his natural insights.  

Without saying to much more to color your interpretation of this, I would simply encourage you to give it a go. Here it is:

One of my favorite parts goes something like this, “… You shouldn’t have to, you know, like you can study things, but it’s not form the actual studying that you’re going to learn. It’s from putting something into practice and feeling what it feels like to do it, that you’re going to learn from.” (22:30) I completely agree with how he said this. This is fundamental to the process of growing. It’s core to the process of being a better human. … practice. Studying something is completely different than practicing it.

I also love the part where he waves his arms around to simulate the energy that some people have. I would add to this that this energy is really their awareness being scattered anywhere and everywhere. It’s when that energy calms down – becomes more centered. Which, by the way, that becoming centered is a conscious act – It’s done with practice. This calming leads to enhanced abilities to be in touch with the natural life force energies that exist in everything always.

It’s like, if you go to hear a beautiful singer, but you spend all your time talking to your friends, you’ll tune out the amazing music. The only way you can hear the music is if you stop talking. It’s the same way with feeling the flow of energy. If you are always using the energy in gross ways (moving, thinking, etc), you’ll never get to the point where the subtle energy flows can be felt. To feel them, you’ve got to ‘stop talking’. You’ve got to practice calming yourself down so that you can really get into … feeling.

I also like his mature attitude towards what it takes to really make this happen. That is, the act of accepting the feeling of gratitude and consciously removing resistance opens you up to what comes naturally. We naturally feel.

So, for this next year relax and do what comes naturally. Bring your awareness in so that you notice the gross energy flows and direct them in conscious ways. Take time to still the gross movements so that the subtle ones can be felt. Explore and … be grateful.

Vegas Style Green Smoothie with Spinach

Hi Everyone, I know it’s been a while since I posted a green smoothie recipe. The last half year, or so, has felt like a rerun of the previous few years when it comes to creating new green smoothie recipes. But today is a little different.

A few weeks ago, I mentioned to a friend that I would look into changing the base for my smoothies in order to make it something that would be a little friendlier for her new-found diet and her new-found restricted income. Basically, she didn’t like the idea of using juice as a base and her friend was allergic to coconut milk. Juice can also be expensive. To me, those are two really good base liquids that greatly enhance the flavor of smoothies. I don’t mind spending a little more for that enhancement.

So, I’m making an effort to remove some of the cost along with reducing the calories.

To do this, welcome Tea! Not just any tea, but your favorite tea! In my case, it’s Sweet Oolong Revolution from Teavana. You can find it on Teavana’s tea wall here. Notice they’ve got White, Green, Oolong, Black, Red and Herbal tea blends. They’re generally not cheap, but they sure are good. 

The best part about these particular teas is that they’re full of flavor. The Sweet Oolong Revolution tea has a hint of cinnamon which really caries through the smoothie. Because the key to a good smoothie is a flavorful base, these teas serve that function well.

Recipe:

2 apples

  • 4 Medjool dates
  • 2 cups seedless grapes
  • 2 bananas
  • 1 cup almond milk
  • 1+ cup Sweet Oolong Revolution tea (chilled)
  • 1lb Baby spinach

I like to place the soft fruit first. That way I’ll quickly get some mass in the blender that will suck down the harder fruit (like apples).

After you’ve worked the chunks out, it’s time to pack in the greens. It’s amazing how many leaves you can press into the blender as the liquid fills in all around it.

You might need to help the blender get through the ‘plug’ of leaves. But once you do, breakfast is only 60 seconds away!

Note that this recipe makes a little more than 2 quarts. If it was just for me, I’d cut the ingredient list in half.

It’s also interesting to note that apples give a fluff to green smoothies that other fruit doesn’t do. Notice all the air in the jar? After I let this mixture sit for an hour (made before yoga, consumed afterwards) the volume was reduced almost a cup.

Banana’s a cinnamon go together very well. Even though there are extra dates added, the mixture comes across as being a bit more savory than sweet.

If you have a favorite tea that you’d love to see mixed into a smoothie, let me know.

Oh, almost forgot. A long time ago I came across a video describing a Vegas Style Smoothie. I did a quick search and found this by the Renegade Health Show.

At one time I was an advocate for putting lots of different powders in my smoothie. But it just doesn’t make sense to me any longer. I’m all about simplicity and ease. Yet, I did make one association in this video and that was Tea with Vegas! I’ve forever thought of Vegas Smoothies as being Tea based. I guess I should have thought of them as being over the top with 40+ ingredients.

Oh well. I don’t know of anyone that’s explicitly calling tea based smoothies anything different. Thus, to me, they are Green Smoothies Vegas Style!

See ya soon…