omkara – Michelle Berry

Grounding sitting practice

Take your seat on a chair. Close your eyes and allow your attention to rest on your experience of your body in the chair.

Notice the areas of contact between your body and the chair. Notice the support the chair is offering to you right now. Become aware that the chair is supporting your body right now by carrying most of your physical weight.

Allow this to happen. Allow a comfortable sense of heaviness to spread through your body, supported and carried by the chair. Notice the rise and fall of your breath as you inhale and exhale. Notice any tension you are holding within your body, the neck, shoulders, down the arms, the weight of the head. Notice any tension in your back down the spine, into your buttocks, legs, ankles and feet. Notice any tension in your belly or chest.

Each time you notice any tightness or difficulty in these different parts of your body allow it to drain into your chair, be absorbed by your chair. Just rest in this experience of being supported by the chair for a few minutes.

Whenever you are feeling anxious, unsupported or lonely, return to this practice which helps to build a nourishing reciprocal role such as caring or supporting in relation to being cared for or supported.

You are safe. You are supported. You are cared for. You are loved.

Have a beautiful day!

With Gratitude,

Michelle

Awakening from the cocoon and sleeping

As we reopen to the outside world, lets remember to sleep.

This month I have been focusing on building strong immunity, sleep is the pillar of good health and strong immunity. Its at night, from 10pm-2am, that our organs get a chance to repair, metabolize waste and rejuvenate. However with stimulating technology and to-do lists on our minds it can be easy to get a second wind at 10pm, and then later finding it difficult to fall asleep, stay asleep and wake feeling rejuvenated. Nothing depletes us more than being in a cycle of turning the midnight oil.

To honor your immunity, I strongly recommend creating nighttime rituals that support your transitions from activity to rest. Guided Meditations or relaxing music are a great way to deregulate the nervous system to a more relaxed place. Breathing practices like Nadi Shodhana can be soothing for a busy mind. Another thing you can do is try to use binaural beats to get your brain waves to a certain state.

If your having trouble falling asleep, wear blue blocker glasses in the evening and try turning all screens off by 9pm, dim your lights, sip Golden Milk or Cardamom & Saffron Sleep Tonic before bed. Use tranquil mind essential oils. Transition with an evening meditation and quiet music. Here is a cello, base and singing bowl meditation my husband and I made with a friend of ours.

If your having trouble staying asleep, try taking a hot bath and massage warm oil onto your feet before bed. Grounding heart centered prayers and intentions before or upon awakening at night help.

If your having trouble waking up, a grounding gratitude practice, where you are thankful to Mother Earth for supporting you and creating the beauty all around you before you ever get out of bed. Try waking before the sun and start the morning with mindful movement, Sun Salutations and breathing practices to wake up your mind and body.

Finally, its good to keep in mind to limit your EMF exposure, especially at night. To do this you can simply turn off your in home WiFi, don’t sleep near your phone, if you do, put a piece of shungite stone between you and the phone. You may also want to consider painting your room with EMF blocking paint or purchasing a Lumerian Plug or a Tachyon Disk.

Cardamom and Saffron Sleep Tonic

This Ayurvedic tonic recipe is both a remedy for better sleep and building overall vitality. The combination of soaked almonds, ghee, sweet dates and raw honey are considered to be rasayanas ~~ foods that nourish and build vitality.
This recipe uses ashwagandha, a unique adaptogenic herb that enables the body to reserve and sustain vital energy throughout the day while aiding restful sleep at night. It is considered one of the best herbs for supporting the nervous system, which can often cause difficulties staying asleep at night. Saffron is also a potent medicinal spice with many benefits from supporting the reproductive organs to relaxing the nerves. Make this drink after dinner to satisfy a sweet tooth and to help you wind down after a long day and prepare for a restful night sleep.

Ingredients:
2 cups fresh almond milk (or organic milk of choice)
1-2 pitted dates
1 TBSP Ghee
1 TBSP raw honey
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
2-3 threads saffron or pinch of nutmeg
1/4 tsp ashwagandha powder

In a small saucepan, lightly heat ingredients until warm, not boiling. Transfer to blender or use a hand whisk, pour into your favorite mug.
In-Joy!

Much love to all as we reopen and get wonderful sleep!

~Michelle~

Low Iron

Iron is found in every cell of the body. I have struggled my whole life with having low iron levels, so naturally when I became pregnant and the volume of my blood increased my hemoglobin levels have been low. Hemoglobin is the substance in red blood cells that transports oxygen all over the body. If you don¹t have enough iron, your body has to work a whole lot harder to get the energy it needs, which has left me feeling tired, weak, irritable and unable to focus. The nurse practitioner suggested I take Ferrous sulphate, which is commonly prescribed to prevent and correct iron deficiency anemia during pregnancy, I chose to avoid it because ferrous sulphate is often times poorly absorbed by the body and taxes the organs of elimination – liver, kidneys, intestines – and can be very constipating. I chose to fight my extreme fatigue I have been experiencing caused by this iron deficiency, I first turn to iron-rich foods. By changing my diet, and adding iron rich foods I could see significant changes in your energy level within a couple of days.

Yellow Dock Root tincture that I made, its an herb widely used by herbalists as a general health tonic. It grows throughout North America and is used in Native American herbal formulas. You can purchase some at my online shop! Yellow Dock Root has historically been used as an iron-builder for pregnant women because it replenishes the bloods hemoglobin. It’s also a great digestive aid that alleviates heartburn by increasing the digestive enzymes in the stomach. Who doesn’t need that when they are pregnant?? No more heartburn! Always listen to your intuition before adding an herbal supplement to your diet.

Below is a list of iron rich foods that I have been trying to include in my diet along with nettle tea, dandelion root coffee and a kelp supplement called ErythroPro by Premier Research labs, it contains organic kelp, organic Irish moss, organic oat grass, organic beet root, as well as organic chlorella, Organic tomato, Organic bilberry and reishi mushroom extract. Great supplements combines with great greens and beets I make sure to add plenty of vitamin C to help with absorption and assimilation of the iron has made a huge difference in my energy levels!! My favorite vitamin C sources are grapefruit and strawberries!!!

There are some foods to avoid and that would be coffee, excess bran, alkalinizes and phosphates as they inhibit the absorption of iron.

Energy Building Juice:

4 beets

2 carrots

2 grapefruits

Juice and enjoy!!

Anemia Prevention Brew:

1/2 ounce dried Nettle leaves

1/2 ounce dried Parsley leaves

1/2 ounce dried Comfrey leaves

1/2 ounce dried Yellow Dock root

1/4 ounce dried Peppermint leaves

Measure herbs and put in half gallon mason jar …….. Pour boiling water in jar until it is totally full. Steep herbs for 8 hours.

This brew contains 3 excellent sources of iron: nettle, parsley and yellow dock root. It provides folic acid from the parsley and vitamin B12 from the Comfrey. The green eras all contain vitamin C which aids iron absorption and the Mint makes it taste good!

Drink freely up to four cups a day for up to 1 week. You can use this medicine every month as a blood builder and purifier!

Enjoy these blood builders and many blessings on your journey!

Many Blessings!

Michelle

~ A mother lovingly nourishes her child who has entered her womb, and brings them forth with care. ~

Lettuce Tacos

Here is a family favorite for Taco Tuesday!!!!

1 Head Romaine Lettuce
Sunflower Seed Pate
Cashew Sour Cream
Guacamole
Cherry Tomatoes
Cilantro

Sunflower Seed Pate

1 cup Sun-Dried Tomatoes (soaked)
2 cups Sunflower Seeds (soaked)
1/2 Jalapeno (seeded)
1 handful Cilantro
1-2 Green Onions
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
2 teaspoons Chili Powder
1/2 teaspoon Himalayan Salt
1 teaspoon Cumin
1 clove Garlic
Juice of 1 Lemon

In the bowl of the food processor fitted with the “S” blade, puree the drained seeds, tomatoes and chili powder into a refried-bean like consistency. Now place the rest of the ingredients into the bowl of the food processor and mix until well incorporated.

Taste your pate and adjust the flavor if necessary. Ready to serve!

Cashew Sour Cream

1 cup Cashews (soaked)
Juice of 1 Lemon
Purified Water (enough to cover cashews in blender and make creamy)
Salt to taste
Pinch of Nutmeg

Drain cashews and rinse. Place all ingredients in blender. Blend until smooth.

Guacamole

2 Avocados
1 teaspoon Garlic powder
Juice of 1 Lime
Salt to taste

Place all ingredients in bowl and smash together with fork till desired consistency. Serve! This dip wont last long!

Now you have all of your parts, put your tacos together! Wash and cut bottom off romaine to make a taco shell. Next place sunflower seed pate, cashew sour cream and guacamole in lettuce shells. Top with tomatoes, cilantro and fresh lime!

Many Blessings,

Michelle