Goal Setting for a Healthy & Fulfilling New Year + Journal Prompts
The transition from the old year to the new is a perfect time to reflect on our lives and determine what is working for us and what isn’t, what we should nurture, and what we should jettison from our day-to-day. We are blessed to share our friend Kiva Rose Hardin’s beautiful reflections on measuring time in the rhythm of the botanical world and developing deeper relationships with plants.
Journaling can be an effective and transformational part of the process—writing down thoughts, ideas, and insights can provide structure as well as a record of what we’re learning and where we hope to head in the future. Happily, Kiva offers some wonderful writing themes to help us all think about relationships, transformation, gratitude, and more! Happy New Year, friends!
Herbal Tea Blend Recipe For Meditation
I am not known for my ability to sit still. I am always moving, shaking, and thinking of all of the things that need to get done. This is the main reason that meditation has always been a bit of a struggle for me. I really enjoy it and see its vast benefits, but this act of slowing down does not come easily to me. So, I was delighted to discover that I could reach for some trusted herbal allies to help me slow down, break the cycle of an overactive mind, and sit still for longer than five minutes.
Not only does the act of brewing and sipping tea help to start the process of slowing down, but the herbs themselves begin to prepare my mind and body for the upcoming practice. The blend I am going to share here is made up of six ingredients that all play a special role in helping to quiet the mind, release tension in the body, and please the tastebuds at the same time.
The Sacred Copal Tree + Ceremonial Uses for Día de Muertos
Copalli—the Nahuatl word for Copal—is a resin extracted from the Copal tree and has been used in Indigenous practices for thousands of years. In honor of Dia de Muertos, our friend Patricia Cortez has written a beautiful blog about her memories of how her Mamá Trini trained her in El Salvador to work with Copalli. We love the story of how she learned to befriend and honor the Protium Copal tree and the traditional way of using maguey cactus to harvest the copal. And did you know that in 2016 the Mexican government designated Dia de Muertos as a Cultural Heritage to the world? We all have Ancestors to honor and celebrate regardless of where we are from. What do you recall about your ancestors and how do you honor them?
Voiceover graciously provided by Patricia Cortez.
Patricia Cortez is a bilingual-bicultural holistic practitioner at Eugene Reiki Healing in Eugene, Oregon. Visit her here: www.eugenereikihealing.com.
