Packing For Travel

Getting ready to leave on a plane....
packing....
preparing....
last minute details...

What to take in a small suitcase that's easy to carry?? Not too heavy but has all my essentials for the next few weeks.... As I ponder this I realize that it IS only temporary, like all things.

The nervousness, the excitement, all the planning for the past year for this trip is now coming to reality. I realize I don't need much and nowadays you can purchase most of what you need in the places where I am going.

It is also challenging to pack for a warm, tropical, humid place when I am currently in a cold, snowy place.  But... here goes....

Giving Thanks for this year and more...

     I have an amazing life, which I am truly thankful for!  I have grown up and lived on a beautiful island in the gulf of Alaska and because of this my wanderlust has taken me to over 30 countries, thus far.  I have been blessed to learn Yoga and for my teachers of this ancient practice I am very thankful. And now, to study, and practice a bit of Ayurveda, which many people don't even know what it is, this too is a blessing.  These ancient secrets unfold into a life creating balance, harmony, health, peace and joy when one practices the dinacharya's (daily practices).

     As the month of giving thanks comes to an end and the last month of 2017 is on the rise, another full moon is also (December 3, 2017).  I love following the moons cycle and seeing what all in the cosmos is impacted by this, including myself and my family.  There is much to be gained from observing the environment around us and nature, Herself.  I look forward to writing more blogposts and sharing my perspective as Yogini, Mama, Ayurvedic Practitioner, Daughter, Traveller of this planet. Please comment and stay in touch, I am thankful for YOU too, friend, amiga, amico, Freund, ami, etc...

Arizona Mermaid

About a month ago my daughter and I went to Arizona.  We arrived in Phoenix a massive city in the desert.  A hot, dry, sprawling, American city that appears to be growing approximately 300 newcomers every day.  We stayed with a friend at his Air B-n-B, met up with another friend who drove us all over the state and south of the border to Mexico.  Among the places we drove to or through were: Sedona, Jerome, Prescott, Scottsdale, Quartzite, Wickenburg, Tempe, Yuma.  One of my favorite places we went to was a place called 'Slide Rock', near Sedona.  The beautiful red rock of the area had been worn into a shape of a slide where a small river ran. We soaked up the sun here and got into the water and this is where I saw a mermaid!  A beautiful young blonde mermaid with blue and green scales.

Ahh! It was so nice to get into some warm, dry, sun - I am missing it so much already.  I am back in Kodiak in the November weather where winter is fast approaching and dark nights are getting longer, creating shorter days, so not much sun and warmth here.  I am looking for a place to move to where I can possibly be a snow bird and return to Kodiak in the summers - or whatever works out best for me.  I would love to set up my studio and shop elsewhere and continue practicing Ayurveda and start adding more classes.  If you happen to know of a place, I do like the sun and the desert and the tropics.  After all, I am the traveling yogini and I am willing to be that traveling Ayurvedic~Doula~Yogini!

I have a small space I use for seeing clients.  It is where I can work on clients who want an Ayurvedic Body Therapy session; I can see Doula clients and have one on one Yoga sessions.  Kodiak is a small, conservative town which is why I am "wearing many hats", as Doula, Yoga Instructor, Ayurvedic Practitioner, Mom, 'Sub' for the High Schoolers.  Not sure this is the best community for me to be practicing in but it is a start and at least I am getting out there while I am here! 

Being a doula is a very interesting work. I am doing both birth and postpartum doula work with an Ayurvedic approach.  My background in Yoga and Ayurveda add much to my doula practice.  I have enjoyed cooking postpartum foods which support lactation, are easy to digest and help prevent postpartum depression.  Food truly is medicine.  

Kodiak Crud, oh dear, this isn't cold season!

Appears I have what is known as the "Kodiak Crud".  Aka: a bad cold or flu that will not go away due to the supporting environment of cold, wet, and dreary grayness.

Thankful I have soup - not just any soup, but homemade chicken bone broth simple soup, with garlic, onion, cabbage!   It's what I am subsisting off of to rid myself of this awful Crud!  The cold came on slowly, beginning with a headache, and slowly the crud crept into my head, then lungs and into a cough and achey bones.  Well, it appears to almost be gone, lest I slip and eat something other than the soup, o God forbid! - and then cause me to have a coughing fit. Gee whiz!  Terrible...

It is Sunday, so pray to God this Crud shall subside and move on just like the heavy fog and dreary weather!   Bring on sunshine and higher ceilings in the sky!

And so the journey continues, inward and even with a cold or the Crud... it's there lingering. Giving the journey a bit of a challenge and heavy burden.

Happy Sunday! Blessings to whoever reads this.

The journey continues wherever you are....

The journey is often inward.  As we are faced with challenges every day, travel takes its form not in planes, trains and automobiles but in small discoveries of every day life.   I always see that life is an adventure. The universe tests us in ways that seem so small.

I am sick today. I have body aches, a head cold, a deep cough and I just don't feel well.  This too is part of the journey. When we do not heed to what we need, our body speaks to us and makes us slow down if we don't.

Today, my journey took me from my bed to the kitchen to make several cups of hot tea, then back to bed, to the bathroom and finally to a hot bath.

Dreams at night take us on further journeys, into another realm, into our subconscious.  If we listen we will hear our body speak to us and our dreams speak to us, telling us what we already know but maybe we don't want to see.

Journey onward now, through sickness and health, till death do we then part.

Traveling and Blogging

Traveling is a big part of my life. Blogging, on the other hand, is not!  Obviously! I have been to busy: working; living; traveling; parenting; etc.  Maybe I can get into it again. I've had this blog for some time now and have traveled.  Most recently I went to Chicago and Iowa for two Ayurvedic conferences.  I then, rented a car and drove from Fairfield, Iowa to Maryville, Missouri and then on through Nebraska to Golden, Colorado.  It was great to get off island and down to the "lower 48", as we Alaskans call it.  Sometimes life is too busy and too full to blog!

Have a slice of this! 

                                                                   Homemade GF Cardamom Coffee Cake

North, to Alaska!

Back on the island of Kodiak, Alaska. Approximately one year from the time I wrote my last blog.

I have an office in downtown Kodiak to begin my Ayurvedic practice for the people in this island community.

Yesterday I had a table at the farmers market. I sold hot chai, gluten free cardamom coffee cake, homemade organic ghee and kicheree packets (which includes a recipe for kicheree,  mung beans and rice, and spices.

Above: Making the ghee

Below: Finished ghee in jars

Gluten Free Cardamom Coffee Cake