October Meditation Challenge

I know what you're thinking - Meditation & Challenge are an unlikely duo. Isn't meditating all about peace, calm, stillness, & compassion? Well, yeah. Sometimes. But, it's also about learning HOW TO BE WITH WHAT IS, whether that means luxuriating in the juicy silence of those rare moments when we sink into nothingness, or hanging on for dear life as things seem to spin in all directions at once. Can we witness both extremes with a neutral, non-judgmental, undisturbed eye? Can we be THE ONE WHO SEES, the one who LISTENS, the one who LOVES IT ALL?

Can we appreciate that such a practice may feel challenging at times (or most of the time) & know that that's okay? In fact, it's A GIFT. There is FREEDOM & unencumbered CONTENTMENT in the abundance of infinite nothingness & complex simplicity that awaits our arrival WITHIN - should we be willing to accept the invitation & brave the journey.

There are often obstacles & apparent adversaries - potholes, quicksand, peaks & valleys, fires of the flesh, hurricanes of the mind - that aim to pull us back into the stories we've become accustomed to, that delight in watching up gasp for breath beneath the weight of old memories, toxic thoughts, addictions, worries, & ways of being we've carried so long our spines have curved & concretized in compensation. And so, meditation becomes an OPPORTUNITY. A chance to pause, put down the sack we carry, open it up, & peer inside. It is a practice of NOTICING, letting go, & letting be. 

So, perhaps you have decided to get curious - to REMEMBER what it is you are carrying around & how it informs the way you live. And maybe you discover that you've been hanging on to shit that you definitely don't need anymore, but it feels scary at first to leave it behind. DO YOU STRUGGLE WITH LETTING GO? Hey guess what, YOU'RE HUMAN!?! This is SO normal.

So, in the spirit of the FALL season (+ the recent Hunter’s Moon), & its corresponding element of METAL/Gold, the organ systems of the LUNG & LARGE INTESTINE/colon, & the emotions of GRIEF & sadness, we’ve designed a meditation practice to facilitate the SHEDDING of old habits, patterns, beliefs, accumulations, & suppressed emotions through MINDFULNESS & BREATHWORK. When we are able to let go of what no longer serves us (just as the colon eliminates what is unnecessary or toxic from our bodies), to find ways to honor what or who we have lost by loosening our grip, we can create spaciousness within, exhume our innate energy, & welcome in new life (just as the lungs enable us to inhale fresh air & receive the pure Qi of the heavens). Join us for our first ever Instagram challenge, & let our delightful community support you on the journey of letting go & discovering the golden glimmer of your intrinsic worthiness for love & abundance!

This challenge is designed for folks of all walks of life to participate in! If you feel called to RELEASE old programming, attachments, ailments, & emotions, to tap into your POWER, cultivate LOVE & WELLBEING, improve your ENERGY, learn how to BREATHE your way into a CALM centered state, & shift from negative self-talk into a RADIANT force of POSITIVITY & FREEDOM, this challenge is for YOU! 

This is a challenge, which means it's okay to have some fun (it's also totally okay to have moments of sadness, resistance, doubt, etc. etc). To the extent that we can, we are going to share our experiences with each other, because this challenge is meant to foster community while simultaneously developing an inner awareness. And of course, there's a PRIZE at the end (as if radiance, freedom, wellbeing, & greater self-awareness weren't enough?!)! Join us in meditation each day for the chance to WIN a FREE CUPPING or AURICULAR (ear) ACUPUNCTURE session at our beautiful Healing Arts Center in Los Angeles! If you can’t make it to LA (or Santa Barbara), we will gladly gift you a free herbal & nutritional consultation instead. 

One lucky WINNER will be randomly selected & announced on Instagram & in our next newsletter on October 20th.

HOW TO PLAY:

1. Follow @elementalfamily & @friespirit on Instagram
2. Tag 3 friends in the comments of today's post who might benefit from participating! Expand your community of support & invite your friends to join you in the challenge! The more the merrier!
3. Screenshot today's post & share it on your Instagram page or in your story with the hashtag #meditationchallenge & tag @elementalfamily & @friespirit to let your community know what’s up! Sharing is caring
4. Most importantly, MEDITATE & BREATHE! From Saturday 10/7 through Friday 10/13 (that’s 1 week total), commit to meditating for at least 5 minutes each day. Any time of day will do. We suggest using this month’s Elemental Family meditation, available for free on Soundcloud & linked in our newsletter, as your guide, especially if you are new to meditation &/or you wish to focus on letting go. Other great sources of guided meditations are the apps Insight Timer, Headspace, & Calm.
5. Throughout the challenge, we will post a daily inspiration & loving reminder to meditate on Instagram. Check in as often as is sensible for you, & let us know you are participating by liking posts, & commenting on what you are letting go of &/or inviting in. When we show up honestly & vulnerably, we allow others to better support us! 
6. Even more bonus points for posting your own photos to show us how the challenge looks for you or reposting our images to your feed &/or Instagram story with the hashtag & tags listed in #3.
7. Relax. Stay Curious. Be Intentional - spend a moment each day exploring what you might need to let go of & what you would like to cultivate more of. Write it down. Enjoy the process. Be present to what is. Smile, cry, be still, dance, go inward, journal, connect with others, know what this moment requires. Inhale the good shit, Exhale the bullshit. 

Keep checking in to our Instagram page for challenge details, inspiration, motivation, & tips throughout the next 7 days! 

Will you join us?!

Keep Your Kids Calm, Cool & Connected This Summer

Fire Element Acupressure + Essential Oil Combo

Take matters into your own hands this blazing hot season. Summer is the Fire season and as such is full of fun, fun, fun and countless opportunities for expansive joy; however, as we all know, sometimes it can be just too much for a kid's still-developing nervous system to handle in a regulated way. From the Chinese medicine perspective, it is possible to experience more joy or excitement than you know what to do with :-). When this happens, our kids usually let us know by offloading with the following symptoms and overstimulated behaviors: hyperactivity, anxiety, meltdowns, running too hot in general, low blood sugar, and/or trouble sleeping due to an inability to calm their brain and body enough to allow for sleep to take over.

Keep your kids calm, cool, and connected this summer with these two Fire-regulating acupressure points. Remember, we don't always need to use needles (or "taps" as we call them in the office) to treat your kiddos. Acupressure is a simple yet effective tool to help support a child's nervous system. You can do these points alone or combine with the recommended essential oils to enhance the calming effect. Check out this easy treatment you can perform on your children (or yourself for that matter):

Treatment: 

• Rub one drop of Geranium or Neroli essential oil on each of the acupressure points pictured below
• Press and rub in a circular motion for 30 seconds to 1 minute
• Repeat as needed to calm the mind and cool an agitated Heart

FAQ: 

• What do I mean by "Fire regulating"? 
  • Summer is the season of the Fire element in Chinese medicine. This means that the energy of the season corresponds to the qualities of Fire, including both the delicious, exuberant aspects as well as a propensity to burn out of control. Keep your kids in the chill & happy zone with acupressure, as well as plenty of healthy food, adequate fluids, and downtime to balance the fun.
• Why Geranium and Neroli?
  • Both of these oil are calming and Heart (and thus Fire) regulating. They specifically ease stress and anxiety while enhancing the natural state of the Heart = joy. 
• What can I expect to see post treatment? 
  • Acupressure generally induces a relaxed state of being, and the functions of these points should help your child to balance the heat of excitement with the need for mental and physical rest and recuperation. Repeat a few times a day for best results.

View fullsize

Acupressure points for Fire regulation during summer:

Heart 3 - located on the inner aspect of the elbow, in the soft spot between the bony protrusion and the tendons in the middle of the elbow crease

This point calls upon the balancing nature of Water to counteract excessive Fire in the body, thus calming the spirit and cooling excess heat.

Pericardium 6 - located in the middle of the inner aspect of the forearm, about two finger-widths (your child's fingers) above the wrist crease

This point protects the Heart and calms a wide range of emotional dysregulation.

Awesome Autumn Apple-Pear Crisp

Today I am sharing one of my favorite autumn apple recipes, chock full of delicious and nutritious, immune-boosting ingredients...

While I am grateful for the warm and sun-drenched life here in Southern California and how we never lack for idyllic days, one of the main things I miss about living on the East Coast is fall. I miss fall with a deep, empty ache in my gut. I crave the crisp September air that displaces the brutal, heavy heat of summer with a laughable swiftness. I miss simply needing to wear a scarf and sweater occasionally.

Each of the five Elements in Chinese medicine ~ Fire, Earth, Metal, Water, and Wood ~ is associated with a season. For us Metal types, we resonate most directly with autumn. So it gives me some consolation that my longing for crackly autumn leaves and drizzly skies is rooted in my constitution. It’s not that I don’t appreciate the sunshine, but I am wired for clouds and apple season. Sorry, beaches, it’s not you…it’s me.

In order to simulate a little bit of fall in my LA kitchen, I recently made this delicious and nutritious fruit crisp. There are lots of reasons that I love this recipe. It is immune boosting for sure, and inspires cozy feelings with its cinnamon-y smells. It is flexible ingredient-wise and can thusly fit any number of dietary persuasions or restrictions. It is equally edible as a vegan treat or made with butter, sweetened with maple syrup or deriving its sweetness purely from the fruit. I used organic apples and pears because that is what I had in the house, but raspberries or blueberries are a welcome addition.

The acupuncturist in me loves this crisp because its flavor profile is balanced, and highlights ingredients like apples and pears that strengthen the organ that is most taxed during the fall and winter cold season, the Lung. Warming cinnamon and ginger harmonize the digestive system (the root of all immunity, see this post), and pair perfectly with the tart and cooling lemon juice. Lemon harmonizes the Liver, the organ that mitigates the impact of daily stressors on our body and immune reserves.

Awesome Autumn Apple-Pear Crisp

Apples in Collander 2

Ingredients for the Fruit Filling:

3-4 organic apples

3-4 organic pears

Juice of 1-3 lemons (to taste)

1 tsp vanilla

1 tbsp honey

1 tbsp cinnamon

1 tsp ground ginger

Ingredients for the Oat Topping:

1.5 c oats

1.5 c whole wheat flour (can substitute gluten free flour, like almond or coconut)

1/4 tsp salt

1 tbsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp ginger

1/3 c coconut oil, melted (can substitute butter)

1/3 c maple syrup

Step 1:

Cut up apples and pears into slices of equal-ish thickness (keep the peels on to retain fiber and nutrients).  Arrange in an even layer in baking pan.

Apples in pan 2

Step 2:

Drizzle the lemon juice, honey, and vanilla over the fruit. Next add the cinnamon and ginger. Stir to distribute evenly.

Step 3:

Mix oats, flour, salt, cinnamon, ginger, melted coconut oil, and maple syrup in a large bowl.

Step 4:

Evenly cover the apples and pears with the oat topping.

Apples pre-cooking

Step 5:

Bake at 325 degrees for approximately 30-40 minutes, or until the fruit has softened to your liking.

Apples cooked

Enjoy as dessert, breakfast, or a mid-day snack. Store leftovers in the fridge. It is great hot or cold/room temp. Yum!

Elemental Family Focus on Immunity, Part 2: Do You Know Where 80% of Your Immune System Lives?

Welcome back to immune prep central! Part 2 of our series is about the relationship between your immune system and your digestive system.

The phrase “immune system” might conjure up an assortment of connotations from your high school biology days: bacteria and viruses, innate and acquired, antibody and antigen, and so on.  The science-y talk ends here, but the point is there is an even more salient fact about your immune system that most of us haven’t been taught. One of the most important predictors of your immune function is already within you and can have either a hugely beneficial or a dramatically negative influence on your ability to fight off illness.

Okay people, drumroll please: 70-90% of your immune system actually resides in your GUT. Your gut is host to your body’s largest population of immune cells, and the proper functioning of those cells relies on a remarkable, and largely uncharted, community of trillions of bacterial cells, known collectively as the microbiome. Those coils upon coils of small intestine house all of the intestinal bacteria that play an essential role in doing the digesting that we are oh so familiar with, but it turns out that the small intestine is the site of the majority of your immune response as well.

Your microbiome is a vast, diverse, and unique assortment of a multitude of strains of bacteria and other organisms, that essentially make you, you! Turns out, you are so much more than just what you eat. The microbiome consists of a mix of both helpful and opportunistic bacteria. The microbiome is truly a new frontier within us that is only beginning to be explored, categorized, and understood, with incredible and exciting ramifications for health conditions in a wide range of categories, from auto-immune conditions to ADHD to depression.

Probiotics are all the rage in the health-o-sphere these days, and for good reason. Probiotics comprise the good guys in your microbiome. Although the majority of them live in your digestive tract, probiotics exert a significant influence well beyond your belly. Probiotics are the key players in overall wellness and maintaining a balanced, healthy system. They rule the roost in three essential realms of your wellbeing: digestion, immunity, and brain function.

To go a little more in depth, here are just a few reasons why probiotics are such an integral part of your immune system:

• If you think of your gut microbiome as a garden, then the probiotics are the flowers and the opportunistic bacteria are the weeds. The more flowers there are, the less room there is for weeds to grow. The flowers protect your gut by crowding out the weeds and preventing them from sticking to the gut lining.

• As explained earlier in the post, your gut is host to your body’s largest population of immune cells. Probiotics serve to amplify and enhance the immune activity at these sites.

• Probiotics act as an immune barrier in the gut, only allowing certain things to pass into the bloodstream, and blocking illness-causing pathogens.

How do you know if you need to take probiotics? Well, most of us do. What type and for how long will vary widely, but if you have ever taken an antibiotic (and I mean ever in your life), then you probably want to explore getting on a probiotic.

My recommended brands for general immune and digestive health, and the ones I carry in my office are:

• For infants – Klaire Labs Infant Probiotic (powder) or Metagenics Ultraflora Baby (drops)
• For toddlers and older children – Metagenics UltraFlora Children's (chewable) (or one of the above infant products if your toddler isn't into chewables)
• For teens and adults – Klaire Labs Therbiotic Complete or Metagenics UltraFlora Spectrum (capsules)

If you are interested in learning more about your microbiome, here are two very worthwhile links to check out:

1) Super informative article by Michael Pollan about the microbiome:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/19/magazine/say-hello-to-the-100-trillion-bacteria-that-make-up-your-microbiome.html?pagewanted=all

2) Great slideshow about the microbiome:

http://discovermagazine.com/galleries/zen-photo/m/microbiome

(Featured image courtesy of probiotics.org)

Thanks for reading and please be sure to check out Part 1 of the series here: http://elementalfamily.com/fall-focus-on-immunity-preparatory-medicine/. We'd love to have you join our virtual Elemental Family to stay in the loop with these types of posts in the future! You can opt-in on the home page here: http://elementalfamily.com.

Acupuncture Myths

Chinese medicine suffers from an image problem. Let’s dispel a few myths here and now to help you understand what to expect when seeking out treatment at The Elemental Family… MYTH #1: Chinese medicine treatments must include acupuncture.

TRUTH: Chinese medicine treatments certainly can, and usually do, include acupuncture, but that is just one tool in a wide and varied toolbox. At the Elemental Family, I choose the most appropriate and efficacious treatment methods based on your individual needs and comfort level. This is especially true when it comes to working with kids! Many pediatric treatments are completely needle-free (although I find the majority of kids to be both curious and brave enough to try a “tap” or two).

Aside from acupuncture, Chinese medicine offers herbal formulas, nutritional recommendations, hands-on techniques including massage techniques, gua sha and cupping, as well as moxibustion and heat therapy. Your treatments will incorporate as many of the above as needed to create the most healing protocol for you.

MYTH #2: Chinese medicine is actually magic/voodoo and cures you in one treatment.

TRUTH: Sorry to burst the bubble on this one, but the healing process takes time, no matter what the intervention. Chinese medicine is a full medical system that has been used for thousands of years all over the world. It has powerful effects, but it is also a subtle intervention that requires time, patience, and trust to create the conditions necessary for lasting change in the body and mind. If you are ready to make this commitment to your health, Chinese medicine will provide the well-worn, centuries-old scaffolding to support you.

Progress is seen most rapidly with consistent weekly or bi-weekly treatments. Consistent treatment allows you to see how your body actually responds to this medicine, and it enables me to make adjustments on a regular basis to optimize your healing process. Chinese medicine treatments have a cumulative effect in the body, meaning that the more frequently you remind your body of the healthy patterns you are trying to establish, the more quickly you will reach your goal.

MYTH #3: You must choose only one type of medicine for yourself and your family and stick to that philosophy for all ailments, at all times.

TRUTH: Different types of medical systems have very different strengths and they should be recognized and utilized accordingly. Integrative medicine (combining Western and Eastern therapies in the same clinical setting) is gaining a huge foothold in this country for this very reason. Western medicine provides life-saving and life-altering treatments with the use of miraculous technology. It also excels at damage control – think of any episode of TV medical dramas (Greys, ER, you get the picture). However, the vast majority of ailments, including many of the health epidemics that are afflicting our society (allergies, ADD, the Autism spectrum, diabetes, etc), are of a chronic nature and they don’t require or respond to emergency medical treatment. Chinese medicine and other holistic systems excel at jump-starting your body’s own healing capacity and setting the stage for stronger health down the road.

Halloween Doesn't Have to be SUGARY Scary!

The sugariest day of the year is right around the corner. This post offers fun and yummy non-candy treats for all the cute pumpkin faces who ring your doorbell this Friday night...

I have plenty of childhood Halloween memories that revolve around seemingly endless amounts of candy, but the fact of the matter is that sugar has a hugely negative impact on immunity and overall health. I believe that the body can tolerate almost anything when used in moderation, but Halloween is not exactly the most moderate sugary experience for most kids. Here are some easy ways to mitigate all the sugar floating around this Oct 31.

Halloween Treat Ideas that Aren't Scary (1)