Iron: Your Vitality Depends on It!

Iron is an essential mineral for health and vitality.  Iron keeps the blood rich in oxygen.  A deficiency in iron leads to exhaustion, fatigue and edginess, which all contribute to a poor resistance to stress.  An iron deficiency leads to a weakened immune system.

Women take care
to iron deficiencies.  Women who experience heavy menstrual cycles lose iron and may become deficient.  Iron is depleted during pregnancy so most pregnant women need to take iron supplements at this time.

Tired of feeling tired?
If you are experiencing a lot of fatigue, are pale in the face, find yourself easily susceptible to viruses and other illnesses and generally are feeling overwhelmed by minor stresses, you may want to have your iron levels checked out.

Taking the time to build-up
Once iron is depleted, it takes a while to build-up the levels in our body.  You support yourself by eating iron-rich foods, taking an iron herbal tonic or supplement and by eating foods rich in vitamin C.  Vitamin C helps your body absorb iron.  "Floradix" is a herbal formula by a company called Salus.  This iron tonic is quite popular.  However, if your iron is really low or in the deficient zone, you will want to choose something which will supply you with a higher dosage of elemental iron.  "Spa Tone," is a liquid iron that comes in little pouches.  It is water that is rich in iron from rocks.  You can take the homeopathic tissue salt #4, "Pherrum Phos," which increases the body's absorb ability of the iron.

Sources of Iron
alfalfa, apricots, beets and beet greens, blackstrap molasses, bran, cereal grains, (especially oats), comfrey, eggs, horsetail, nettle, parsley, raisins, seaweeds, spinach, sunflower seeds, tofu, watercress, wheat germ, whole grains and yellow dock root.
 
Herbal Iron Syrup
(taken from Rosemary Gladstar's book: "Herbal Recipes for Vibrant Health")

This tasty formula abounds in vitamins and minerals, especially iron. 
3 parts dandelion leaf
3 parts dandelion root
3 parts nettle
3 parts raspberry leaf
2 parts alfalfa leaf
2 parts yellow dock root
1 part hawthron berry
Honey.
1. combine all the herbs.  With the honey, prepare as a syrup, (see below for syrup recipe).
2. Remove the syrup from the heat.  For every 2 cups of syrup, add the following.
1 cup brandy
1/4 cup fruit concentrate, (make sure it's concentrate, not juice)
2 tablespoons blackstrap molasses
2 teaspoons nutritional yeast
2 teaspoons spirulina powder
3. Stir well, then bottle, seal, and label.  Store in the refrigerator, where the syrup will keep for several months.  Take 4-6 tablespoons daily.

Preparing the Syrup
1. Use 2 ounces of herb mixture to one quart of water.  Over low heat, simmer the liquid down to 1 pint.  this will give you a very concentrated tea.
2. Strain the herbs from the liquid.  Poor the liquid back into the pot.
3.To each pint of liquid, add I cup of honey. 
4. Warm the honey and the liquid together only enough to mix well.  If honey is heated too high, the natural enzymes are destroyed and honey also becomes toxic at this point. 
5. Continue with step 2 in iron syrup recipe.

May you be healthy, vital and present to the celebration of your life!

Blessed be...

Satkiana
Dream Roots
www.dreamroots1.blogspot.com
(613) 230-0254

Some reflections about retreats led by bhuvaneswari

By Sophy Ryan

 The retreat is an exquisite opportunity to actively live in the moment regardless.   Anything can happen and it does!   We are there to be aware of our responses and reactions,  and be super-skillfully guided by the Teacher to become ever more free of all that causes our repeated patterns, depressions and failures.

We each have our own work to perform.  The make or break is to grasp what the Teacher is communicating to us!   Thus the retreat is a call to love, a time to witness all the myriad expressions that love takes  through the Teacher, and through us, toward each other.

However, there is no retreat recipe!  All we can be is in this moment, and experience what is, and again be in this moment right now, and in this moment....

This is no easy task as we all know, but what can be of greater value than to be with Someone totally set upon destroying all our destructive tendencies?

THANK YOU BHUVANESWARI  FOR GIVING US EVERYTHING, AND BEING  UTTERLY WILLING TO ACCEPT OUR IGNORANT BEHAVIORS THAT SO FREQUENTLY MISUNDERSTAND YOUR PASSIONATE AND PROFOUND LOVE.

silence retreat, training in the emptiness

Facing where you are

The Sacred Silence Retreat is only for lovers of growing. This advanced program is designed to give you no choice but to be with you, to the precious part of you, to the most sacred part of you, to the quiet part of you. Our modern life, our busy minds, our turbulent emotions, our complex relationships, our non-stopable speech, our duties, our responsibilities, all remove us from the garden of our heart and makes us  live our lives guided by our mind. Silent retreat opens the doorway to the now by quieting our minds with silence.

My teacher gave me ” no choice”

I took my first retreat in a non-voluntary way. I was twenty-two  years old, living in the Amazon triangle where it was very common to be infected by malaria. I was taken to a medicine-man, and he kindly offered his residence as a hospital for me to heal. I was treated with herbs, with smoke, with incomprehensible chants, and with a neutral mind. During my eight days of convalescence,  I had the chance to observe that more than physical healing was happening to me, and to the others who were in the same situation. As a young psychologist, I became very curious, and  inquired into the possibility of remaining longer in that place to find the secret of my unexpected burst of peace, centeredness and openness. I was declined.

The battle to remain around the teacher

That was enough for me to become more interested and to find methods to remain around my teacher. All my manipulative methods were  confronted and exterminated before I was accepted, but that was not the end. I had to remain in silence for ninety days, and to help in all types of mundane work.

Surely I didn’t feel any spiritual work being done. I felt more like a slave with all my mental and emotional turbulence facing me, and visible to to both my teacher and the other members of the group. It was hateful and delightful at the same time. I realized that the hateful part was due to my self-centeredness, my expectations,  and  my desire to remain aloof, disconnected, and detached. My moments of delight slowly began to appear more often as I my perception was attuned  with gratitude,  service and simplicity.

Time gives perspective

As time passed, I calmed down and allowed my naturalness to relax. I started experiencing the emergence of a new, unrecognizable me. The profound impact of this simple method still strikes me to this day, After my ninety days, I was invited to leave. So for a period of time, I went out into the world, where I had a social and family life.


I was able to see that my perceptions were not only sharper but happier, rmore elaxed, and I was eager to engage, with vitality, in my own life. Since that time, I have been exposed to different teachings from different teachers.  All, in one way or another, have encouraged me to have a time when different consciousness-sculpting methods can be exercised and fully established in the body. I understood that the heart is only truly open when there is silence, containment, and exposure to the ones who can supply that.

I am silence wherever I go

Silent retreat  for me continues to be a true holiday for my soul. It is a recharging, rejuvenating,  and relaxing experience for all my mental roles. It is healing, it is forgiving, and it is overall loving. We are never too advanced,  nor too novice, to experience ourselves in this format that only offers kindness, humbleness, and an opportunity to drop all inner tensions.

EMOTIONS IN THE CREATIVE PROCESS

Emotions or commotions?

Uneducated emotions are the source of deteriorating relationships and success.  We tend to overextend them or to bury them.  These polarities not only cause tension in our nervous system, but also create a feeling of exhaustion. The unrealistic management of our emotions, as well as the lack of knowledge about them, is one of the biggest impediments in the development of equanimity and self-centeredness. It gives us a false sense of self based on reactions, dramas and destructive commotions.

Rasas or the essence of emotions

The essential aspect, or energy, that defines a set of emotions and moods that belong to the same “family” is called Rasas in Sanskrit. Rasas are very specific and defined energies that affect the mind and the body.

The nine Rasas

We as humans can be slaves of the oscillation of these energies. We need to study them and form steady behaviors in order to increase our happiness and constructive expression. There are 9 rasas with subdivisions or related aspects--each Rasa has a corresponding practice to be matured and/or enhanced.

Rasa	Related aspect
Love (shringara)	Beauty, devotion
Joy (hasya)	Humor, sarcasm
Wonder (adbhuta)	Curiosity, mystery
Peace (shanta)	Calmness, relaxation
Anger (raudra)	Irritation, stress
Courage (veera)	Pride, confidence
Sadness (karuna)	Compassion, pity
Fear (bhayanaka)	Anxiety, worry
Disgust (vibhatsa)	Depression, self-pity

Emotions in art

The creation of art with certain Rasas can be healing and educational, however the manifestation of pure art in order to be healing and inspiring needs the maturation of the artist’s inner Rasas. The art that is able to communicate the subtlety, and the non-verbal aspects of a group of “friendly” Rasas (love, joy and peace) has a powerful, transformative and permanent impact on the subconscious of the spectators.

The creation of art with less desirable Rasas should not be neglected. Expressing them only can enhance the power of the opposite. The group of emotions is not there for us to be selective about them. We don’t want to create a division of our likes and dislikes, but to embrace all palettes of the divine expression and to chose an unattached attitude about them. After all, we have passed through them in one way or another. What remains important then is to regain a discipline that enhances, supports and matures these inner tendencies.

Shringara Rasa

Shringara is the Rasa of love, art, beauty and spiritual devotion. It is the royal of all rasas, the very purpose of creation and the universe. It refers to the enjoyment of the company of the opposite sex, in a very lovely and romantic manner. This Rasa is also the mood on which we concentrate when creating a lovely atmosphere, on family and friends, on good manners, art, culture, decoration, dressing attractively, behaving nicely, on beauty and enjoyment. Shringara literally means “good taste”.

Cultivating Love (Shringara Rasa)

To master beauty, to be beautiful and to manifest it all around you, you need to put the beloved in every thing you see. The expression of love is simple and the mind has a hard time assimilating this basic concept. De-cluttering complications in all aspects of life gives the opportunity for love to be. Neatness, attention and harmony are part of this sadhana (daily practice).

Love is diverse.  This is another concept that the mind twists into possession or obsession. The diversity of food, friends, company, and culture bring expansiveness to your heart. Taste and touch are natural ingredients of this Rasa; all we need is to approach it with moderation.  The cultivation of love will allow admiration, aesthetic, sentiment and devotion to emerge. By mastering these four sub-rasas you achieve the power of attainment or Prapti,

The art of being the love and the beloved

This is the ultimate art… to make you a vehicle of the beloved and to express that inherent divinity through your grace, speech and behavior. Without being moody you represent yourself with respectability and a sense of worth. To be devoted to any expression of this Rasa gives you accessibility to your spirit, to peace and to the diversity of wonders that the universe offers you. You will never be bored, complaining or disempowered. You will be the art piece and the creator, and in that union, an atomic explosion of truth and enlightenment will remain as a witness of a simple smile.

See how beautiful you are

Death came as a temptress, but I said no.
Rebuilding took a few years,
Nothing to brag about, and yet...

Silence was slow to come
It’s presence is now around, beckoning.
``Time to leave the fear behind,
Come meet me, it’s not too late.
Come learn to play again
Please your soul, make it sing.
Discover, my love; discover.``

And so it is that I sold my house, quit my job,
Retiring from a world view no longer shared,
Grateful for what it had to teach,
That it continues outside the familiar walls.
Grateful too for the seeds planted along the way
Their smiles now showing up in the mirror.
You’re here! You made it!, they say.
Let’s multiply and look in the mirror again
See how beautiful you are…

Samyukta Blanchet
Owner - Face to Grace