Social Venture Institute

This was my second time attending this event, and I have to stay the second time is the best time. The first year was epic. I signed up after a nudge from my friend and mentor Madeleine Shaw from Lunapads to get on board and go go go for some business with heart inspiration, and travelled to Cortez Island, BC by floatplane! This time I took the Transformation Projects bus with my friends Adrian and Andrea. Think school bus that has been transformed to a sauna party bus, with kitchen, shower and rolling wifi. Have you ever made hot chocolate for 12 while flying down the highway, so FUN!

I was honoured to share up a handful of yin yoga classes. I love this practice so so much for the potency, simplicity and its ability to easily make an impact. What a joy to hear feedback from a handful of newbie’s about how much they loved this style and how it really gave them a renewed moment. SVI is so much fun, but also very full. It’s a whirlwind of beauty, energy, excitement and top skill sets and dreams that are literally rocking a revolution on this planet.

My favourite part is the human aspect. Where else in the world can you share a breakfast with a millionaire visionary one moment, a not for profit dreamer and do-er at lunch and then a table of bankers and artists for dinner. The diversity is so beautiful because our common vision is the same: we all truly believe its possible to dream, create and participate in a better world where money is a force for good and alliances are magic. We have a chance in this day and age to really connect and align with each other to produce nothing short of what seems impossible.  Our value is in our humanness and our ability to see and support each other.

I love this event. Last year I made the greatest connections in the most comfortable and common ways. I built a slow alliance around me and we continue to support each other. This year I feel more so. Knowing the comfortable vibe allowed me to show up as me and fully joy the time, instead of racing to attend all parts and pieces.  I took time for one-on-ones, conversations with leaders that inspired me and planted seeds of greatness for projects to come.  

The ferry road back was pretty much the best travel trip I have had in a long time and that is a bold statement as I spend a lot of time on the road! Nothing like a bus with a subwoofer, blasting same of my favourite sounds (check out the mixtape were rocking!). We danced for nearly 2 hours in the bus, had tea and crackers and made new friends. WHY, cause the revolution of good action not only needs a good sound, but a good people and having a GOOD time. Fill your cup and change the world, make friends while doing it. BOOM! Can’t wait til next year’s SVI, please come and join me or ask about if you are interested and curious! 

Yin Sequences in Squamish

What a sweet joy to host this training in Squamish at North Yoga. For a place so close to Vancouver, I haven’t spent much time there at all! The wind is medicine, the food is amazing, the cafes are are filled with sweet people and I have a handful of hardworking, yin loving friends there. Giving thanks for invitations to share what I love with people and that these great teaching invites make for wonderful adventures and beautiful insights. I am currently booking some winter dates and summer 2017, so please get in touch if you would like to organize a yin training near you.

Please enjoy these practices as a taste of what we experienced in Squamish this summer:

Day One AM

1. Laying on back, bolster under the knees: 10 minutes
2. One knee bent into chest, on back: 4 minutes each side.
3. Forward Fold with Bolster: 5 minutes
4. Childs Pose: 6 minutes
5. Reclined Butterfly (Laying on your back, feet together, knees wide) 3.5 minutes
6. Shoelace: 4 minutes
7. Toe Squat: 2.5 minutes
8. Seated Butterfly: 4.5 minutes
9. Reclining Hero: one leg at a time. 3 minutes each side.
10. Yogis Choice, 4 minutes each side

Day One PM

1. Feet Wide/Knees Together : 5 minutes
2. Crescent Moon: 3.5 on each side.
3. Eagle Arms: 2.5 minutes each side.
4. Cross Legged Seat andfolding forward: 3 minutes
5. Ham String Stretches on your back: 3 minutes
6. Supine Twist: 4.5 minutes

Day 2 AM

1. Square Pose: 4.5 minutes each side
2. Squat: 5 minutes
3. Dragonfly (seated legs forward and wide): 4 minutes
4. Swan: 6 minutes each side
5. Seated Forward Fold with Ankles Crossed: 3.5 minutes each side.
6. 10 minutes Rest

Day 2 PM

1. Rest 10 minutes
2. From your back, hands and feet in circles in the air
3. Butterfly, feet together and knees wide:  6 min
4. Ankle to Knee Pose: 5 minutes
5. Half Happy Baby: 3 minutes each side

Day 3

1. Legs up the wall:10 minutes
2. Butterfly on the Wall: 4 minutes
3. Ankle to Knee Pose on the wall:  4 minutes
4. Heart Opener on the wall
5. Twisted Child’s Pose: 3 minutes each side
6. Cat pulling its tail: 4 minutes

Day 4

1. Seated Forward Fold: 5 minutes
2. Seated Twist each side: 4 minutes each side.
3. Flat on belly, head turned to one side: 3 minutes each side.
4. Sphinx:3 minutes
5. Flat Peeing Dog (From belly, right knees slides up to right arm pit):  4 minutes
6. Supine Twist: 4 minutes each side

Jamaica Dates, Save Them!

Hey. Save the dates! We have February 16 to March 2nd rocking out at the beautiful sea for Yin Yoga and Social Justice: Structures and Systems of Change. 

Application is coming, and details soon. 

Stay Posted via our Newsletter 

New Moon Yin Challenge

Challenge your body, mind and heart with these yin postures!

New to Full Moon Yin

I hope you are following along with us for the New to Full Moon Yin Challenge!

Bend The VOTE: Yoga Votes!

Hey Yogis!

This is a call to action to the yoga community. Vote, vote together. Bend the VOTE. Put the yoga into action and lets make the best decisions to create the greatest change. This is a call to teachers to include in their intentions and themes a reminder to vote, and a reminder to check to see all is well with registration. Check here!  Lets talk about voting in the studios, lets gather our yoga friends and go and vote together. Vote together while drinking a kombucha on your way to class. And hey studio owners and managers, maybe you could help Bend the VOTE by offering up a discount or free class to those that have voted in a grow of 5 or more? Or vote and come and join Tank Gyal and me at Fortune on October 19th for Revolution themed  Reggae Yoga: Sound Salutations. Boom. We will celebrating the fall of the Harper Regime together for certain, so get your yoga selves out to the election polls. And engage your community. Talk to your neighbours, bring vegan gluten free cookies to volunteer door knockers in the swing ridings. Check out your resources like Vote Together, make a mantra for political change, chant VOTTTTEEEEEEE instead of OM until the 20th. 

Bend the VOTE.  Not voting is really a vote for Harper. Remember...its not always what we do that  counts....what we don't do counts often more, we yogis know this! 

I would love to hear your thoughts? I was surprised to find out how many of my fellow leaders in the yoga community don't vote cause they don't believe in the system.  Agreed, I live and abide outside mainstream as much as I can...but last  I checked we are all in this planet together and living in the systems. Lets bend those systems and shape shift the ways things have been going. 

Bend the Vote! 

Sometimes You’ll Knock Down That Wall for Good

Guest Blogger: Emily Walker, best known for I'm Fat Vancouver, Get Over It

I took a yin class for the first time in 2009 in a yoga studio near my parent’s house in Southwest Portland.  I was taking yoga classes three to four days a week, not because I necessarily wanted to, but because I was seeing a low-cost therapist who told me I needed to start making goals around leaving the house. With a recent diagnosis of bipolar disorder and my confidence, pride and independence in tatters all over the floor, I forced myself to go to this therapist and talk because I was existing in two states: awake and asleep.  Sometimes they were two parallel roads but other times they looked like a venn diagram. Showers were too hard. Putting on clothes that weren’t pajamas before 7pm was out of the question. Leaving my parent’s basement was too complex. Some days I would set my therapy appointments for 10am so I could say see, I got out bed like a normal person, and come home and immediately crawl back into bed until dinner, and then go back to bed after that.  This therapist, a doctoral candidate at the low-cost university training center, made me make a list of things I liked to besides writing, reading, watching hockey or drinking. I only put one thing on the list. One time I took a yoga class when I was 18. I kind of liked that.

So I was taking beginner hatha courses, and then advanced up to vinyasa, and tried Iyengar, Kundalini, and Anusara. One night I walked into a yin class, kind of by accident and immediately discounted it for being restorative—a bore fest in my opinion. This wasn’t going to help keep my body busy enough for my mind not to interfere with its constant soundtrack of thoughts and doubts. But then we started in and after a few poses we moved into pigeon pose and I felt this shifting inside: I like this, this feels great, and whoa this is actually hard.

When you’re bipolar, there is nothing harder in the world than keeping your brain as still as possible while your body also is.

I’m also fat, which adds a whole other dimension to this journey with yin and yoga in general. I say the word fat in the context of the body positivity movement. I’ve written extensively about my experience within that movement and I try whenever possible to reclaim that word. But it’s worth noting when you are labeled as fat, feelings around your body are often discounted. You are often told every failing with your body is a byproduct of you. You created this problem—you not only need to live with it, you need to face the music that your life is complete shit because of your body. But, you must never complain. You must never acknowledge the pain, the aches, the signals it tells you, whether weight has anything to do with it or not. You didn’t do your job, you must live with the consequences. You deserve all of this. Push through.

I worked as a stagehand for several years in Vancouver, Canada. Before that I did several years of event production jobs in Portland, OR. When I finally had my worst meltdown and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, I worked for only 90 days in a book-distribution warehouse throwing around large boxes of books for hours and hours at a time. Local crew jobs replicate the rapid-cycling bipolar folk best—three or four 16+ hours days with a week off in between. That book warehouse was five days a week, eight hours a day and it almost killed me. These jobs were almost always male-dominated professions. If I didn’t pull my weight on the job while also carrying mine, it was because I was the weak girl. My mantra became never stop, don’t let them see you bend. You certainly must not break. I’m stubborn about all the wrong things. I have a permanently destroyed shoulder because I walked around with it separated for 16 months straight. I was 17 when I finally started physical therapy for it. 

I think that’s why yin was so revolutionary for me-- for once I was told it was okay for me not to push everything 100% and dial everything up to 11. For once I was told listen to what your body is telling you. I didn’t even know what that meant. I was never allowed to stop and listen. For once I was told your hips may hurt for more of a reason than the weight you carry and maybe it’s not your fucking fault. It could be because you had an alcoholic, undiagnosed-bipolar, military dad who told you at six years old to “man-up” on the daily. And that’s a really freeing feeling—to comfortably test your limits-- to comfortably say no and to comfortably say yes. Forget being a fat woman—to have someone say “you can say no” is devastating and such a relief at the same time as a woman the first time you hear it.

I see yin as an amazing metaphor—push yourself in small doses and if you do that you will go deeper and farther in the long run. I’m a contradiction—I’m completely stubborn but I’m also a professional quitter. I’ve quit everything I’ve ever loved when I was no longer “good” at it or the minute something got “hard”. Yin is amazing for the fact that a pose can feel boring or easy for the first five minutes and increase in difficulty the further you dig in. It can also go the other way. Yin was what finally made me realize that sometimes shit can be difficult and uncomfortable to begin with, but the longer you sit there in the muck the less likely that feeling of anxiety is to kill you. I try to move that into my daily life—sit here in the haze of uncomfortable, wait for it to pass, but if it gets to be too much you can back out for awhile and try again later. But you can also push back really hard, and sometimes you’ll knock down that wall for good, forever. 

From Trauma to Teacher

Guest Blogger: Lisa Melton

I feel dark today. I’ve woken up with a heaviness in my body; my skin constricting my happiness. I go to the washroom and can’t even look at the “You are beautiful” sticker that is fused to my mirror. My first thought this morning? Wishing I had a knife so I could carve out my insides and start afresh. I crave lightness, to feel good in my skin, to feel calm in my mind. My distaste for this increasing heaviness pushes me to question why I fill myself with unhealth. I know my being is too full. I know I am uncomfortable. Yet I continue. I have done this my whole life. I have always hidden it and yet, today, it feels unbearable and as though I am experiencing it on a new level.

For some reason I am taken back to my first day of Yin Yoga Teacher Training (YYTT). I was so shy and embarrassed by my body. I convinced myself that everyone would laugh at me because I wasn’t skinny and wearing Lululemon. I was convinced everyone would judge me for invading their sacred space with my old yoga pants and my used, two dollar flip-flops. I never imagined that I could ever teach a class. Me? Stand in front of all these thin, powerful women and try teach THEM something? To have them listen to me speak and have them give a shit? right. Don’t get me wrong, I have done some serious work on myself in regards to dealing with and overcoming my life’s experience to date. Somehow, I was gifted with an incredible chance to experience this YYTT. But I was terrified. But, I went.

For four days I was essentially a mute, frozen by my fear. I was overwhelmed by information that was spoken in a language I hadn’t really heard before. I was floored by the amazing women I met. One woman was from Iran and I was struck by her tenacious articulation. Another woman possessed her Master’s in Divinity, she struck me with her ability to express what she needed in any moment. Yet another woman was a badass,tree hugging, animal activist who always graced me with her smile and her willingness to listen. These women, among the others in the group, helped me to begin feeling like my voice mattered… like I mattered.

Day after day, everything got heavier and more challenging. By day four I was raw. I was exhausted. But, I went. From day four on I wept every day. And for the first time, I didn’t judge myself for it. I wept in front of others and they respected my need to do so. They just sat with me or handed me a box of tissues. They allowed me to have that moment with myself – what a gift! Day after day, things began to change inside. I no longer weighed myself upon waking. I no longer worried about my clothes not being expensive enough or ‘yoga’ enough. I stopped looking in the mirror. Not because I couldn’t look at myself but because I was now able to see myself so much clearer without it. I began to feel good in my skin and I no longer woke up feeling as though I wanted to scrape my insides out.

Our incredibly inspirational yoga guide gifted us all a yoga pillow that she made. I, for whatever reason, used it to cover my eyes during our morning Asana sessions. I loved the way it removed my sense of sight and how it helped me delve deeper into my body. Suddenly it occurred to me, having the yoga pillow over my eyes allowed me to quiet the acute hyper-awareness I had utilized as a way to survive in this life of mine. In that moment, I no longer needed that comfort and protection. In that moment, I was ok without it. When i removed the yoga pillow from my eyes I fully embraced this new vision, a new way of looking at the world and my position in it. This was when it happened. We were asked to teach the class. Gulp!

Nervously, I stepped out in front of my peers. I was to teach them two of my favourite shapes. I was terrified. But, I did it. In the beginning, I stumbled over my words as though rocks had been sporadically placed beneath my feet. My first shape was feet up the wall. I had always loved how I would feel tingles down my legs, as though the stars were filling me up with hope inside. The next pose was a supported heart opener with the yoga pillow over the eyes and a sandbag across the stomach. At this moment, Olafur’s ‘Tomorrow Song’ came on my iPod. For some reason, unknown to me at the time, I hopped up and grabbed my journal. I began reading a piece of writing I had done on what Yin means to me. Suddenly I felt confident in my words, calm in my delivery and my heart was truly open. This moment changed my life. My voice mattered. My life experience mattered. My ability to connect with these breathtaking souls mattered. The song finished and I quietly went back to my mat. After collecting themselves, one woman said it was like she could feel me, another said I felt really authentic, another mouthed the words, “I love you”. This moment changed my life.

My life has been a messy mural of sexual, physical and emotional abuse. Two failed marriages. Drug and alcohol addictions. And a level of self-hatred and hopelessness that, in many life questioning moments, I never thought I could overcome. I have always searched for love, thinking that in hearing those three words I would be saved from myself. And here, in this moment, a stranger only had to mouth those words for me to hear a voice arise from inside myself. I didn’t need to actually hear her say those words to me – I could hear my voice in my ears. This is the first moment that I thought, Yes! I could be a teacher. From that day on, whenever I said, “I’m not a teacher” at least one woman would say ‘Yet!’. And then I too began saying ‘yet’.

So, I bring you back to present day. The day where I awoke to a life of darkness, another day where I wished I could take that knife and carve out my insides as a means of cleansing myself. This day where I find myself restricting my tears in spite of this quiet soul’s whisper that says “It’s ok, it’s just a little healing”. Truth be told, I have not done Yin since I completed the teacher training. Boy, do I feel a difference! Sharing my experience here has helped me to understand that I have been given a gift. For me, to teach Yin would be a radical act of surrender and self-love. Teacher training changed my life. My eyes have been opened to what I am capable of feeling and I can no longer go back to my old self soothing patterns of over-consumption on any level. That first teaching experience, combined with a number of experiences since, has shown me that I can be a teacher. Because I matter. Because my existence in this life matters. My wounds can be my weapons and I can share my experiences so others can ignite their own self-love.

I used to think that in order for my life to matter, I had to die in the name of something honorable. Today, as I write this, I believe that in order for my life to matter, I need to live in the name of something honorable. That something is me.

Wanderlusting: The Collective Power

I loved my time at Wanderlust! Not for the advertising, the shine or the big bang of the yoga business; not for the market of plastic wrapped samples, or even the commercialism of an industry exploding. I love it for the people. ALL the PEOPLE.

I can’t even express to you the beauty of seeing over 500 bodies move at once. Yes, Seane’s classes as the event headliner are packed. And yes, I know one assistant in a room isn’t much, but it really does call for people to be honest with where they are and to show up none the less. Assisting in the classes over the weekend meant I got moments with new yogis curious about the glitter of a festival:, men brought by their wives and rocked on the mat for the first time;. women that were due in a few weeks, bodies of many levels and sizes. Experienced teachers and famous musicians;, kids reading books on mats while mama practiced;, teens in groups giggling;, completely advanced students doing mind blowing things; and, other people that couldn’t keep their left straight from their right.

One of my greatest moments of the weekend was working with a man in a wheelchair in a Vinyasa class. No feeling or use of his legs, and in fact, Seane and I met him at Wanderlust three years ago and supported him in class. There are no words to express the moments of humanity, between he and I as we worked together to rock a yoga practice that was seated and support and creative enough to get some serious stretching on! We were grateful for each other, our stubbornness to find a solution together, while laughing and caring deeply,  between strangers sharing over this practice of adaptable yoga.

Me and my yoga hOMies spend time chilling in nature, bathing in the river, introducing each other to out of town friends and ruminating on yoga and life.  We meet international artists, hung out  backstage with rock stars that are really just happy, but tried traveling people.  I feel this is the deep practice of yoga, like its meaning intended; union, to gather and connect. Yoga; to create strong bonds that not only change the world, but our view of the world.  I give thanks to those that make it work and gather there.

I also feel a deep honour to meet and get to know the crew and staff, the musicians, the event crew and everyone else from behind the scenes. As I love to produce my own events, I love to know the team behind the scenes. I am curious about how a festival with a dream grew huge, expanded internationally and recently added a media company to their offerings. Thats a big and beautiful reach, so the question is... what are we really saying to the collective?

I spoke to many powers that be about there being a way to be wayyy more plastic free and to include more diverse community. To connect to local resources and progress businesses that BC really works.  I had some really interesting conversations with people to hear about the bigger view and vision of their projects. It’s pretty amazing, and it's a privilege to be in the conversation. If we think about yoga and systems of oppression and structural troubles, we do have to enter the system with our privilege as a tool, that our voices will be heard in the shifting of the course.  

I have attended this event every single year it’s been in BC. I have taught once, and all other times assisted my friend and teacher Seane Corn. I know the grassroots rebel yogis in my community always think it's strange that I would show up and support a big box event. I know, I at times feel that same way. But I go not for the shine, but for the multiple opportunities to connect to people. It’s an honour and a privilege to spend time with my teacher, and mentor in the yoga industry that I look up to. Her work in the world is major -spiritually speaking- and her deep call for humans to rise up and participate in the bigger knowing of life is revolutionary. And this is actually it. We can spend all our hours judging and wanting things to be different. Great change requires great action. Deep change requires numbers of people to step outside their daily lives and look upon the world with bigger eyes.

It’s way too easy to judge, complain and interpret from the outside. We must participate, communicate and show up in the world if we want to see change occur. We need to meet each other where we are on the path and offer up compassion and guidance before judgement and criticism.  

These events call the masses from all over to be together in ways we can’t even imagine. I have met and maintained friendships from all over the world that created new projects and inspirations. I have received invites to come and share my skills all over the world and also share moments when we realize this crazy world is a small miracle.

What I am trying to say is that my attitude toward big box yoga events changed this year: We have a powerful system, hating from the outside doesn’t always affect change. Let’s use this system to harness the change we want. There are so many good things happening here. There are people and exchanges happening. Affecting change from the inside can be more potent than criticizing from the outside. There are many roads to Nirvana. Rise up, step in and participate with a bigger picture in mind, with courage to hold steady, and to embody the principles of a teacher. Not everyone is where we want them to be in their evolution.  And many need guidance, or at least a chance to see another option. Rocking out your authentic nature with solid and true values is really how you can be the change you want to see in the world. So hold steady world, get on the battlefield Arjuna and step up and be the best you, with your greatest tools, to make the most profound change.

Natural Living

Recently I’ve been getting curious questions and glamorous praise for the homesteading, seed saving, salve-making natural life posts I’ve been making. It’s so interesting to me that this move to natural-living is becoming ‘trendy’ and ‘modern’, and there is a deep desire to know more about it. I feel honoured at the number of messages I receive from people wanting more info on how to make their own powerful natural things. Canning, drying, planning, compost, making natural goods –these are all actually our roots. I believe these things are actually just in our bones.

And yes, it’s a lot of work. I choose to haul fruits home in 50-pound loads to dry on my Saturday, post-market day. I could also go out and blast those funds on drinks and party. I don’t. I crank music, chill with myself, prep this magical fruit in a few different ways, knowing I am making my own medicine, honouring organic and local farmers, and prepping for the seasons ahead. It makes me reflect on my ends, where I spend my time, and what I consider important in my life.

Hey, and the good news is I am self-taught, meaning you can be too! I’ve spent loads of time just sifting through methods, finding what is right, honouring that this knowledge is all out and about, just within your reach. I also experimented. A lot. I tried many things, asked loads of questions, read books, looked on the Internet, but mostly I trust my intuition. Yes, that is all “new age”, but it worked when I transitioned over to being the main farmer at our house about 3 years ago. Meaning I had to set up my game to plant, grow, seed save, compost, preserve, plan, and make. I trusted that I could and would know what would work. I know now, after so much watching and learning what every little sprout coming up in my garden is and its time. I have been staring at the same backyard farm for 7 years, longer than I have ever lived anywhere before. The medicine making and all other parts of natural living came in time.

Looking for a place to start? Start now. Do anything! Decide what you want to grow and read charts to see when to plant it. And remember: nature was a boss ruler before we came into control and wrangle. Plants want to grow, flowers want to flourish, and bees want to snack. Things have cycles –we just interpret them to make it better for us.

The best thing I learned was to watch the cycles of plants; from seed, to sprout, to plant, to flower or fruit, to seed, to drop, to decay. It’s amazing. It also means that you can let it do its thing –and let seeds fall and it will grow. My farm is a kale and swiss chard sanctuary. Some planting, but most on its own cycles. Did you know seeds stay dormant under the soil for seasons, even years? Kinda like waiting for just the right moment to sprout up and rejoice! I have watched many of these ‘volunteer’ plants show up and produce amazing flowers and foods, pretty much on their own!

Tea: I make a lot of own teas. I save and dry mint, sage, lemon balm, rose petals, yarrow and calendula as main yums! Its easy –you just watch for when the leaves are ready. Collect, dry and spread them out on an old screen from a window, or a straw mat, and boom. Tea. Dry it completely and store in jars. My trick is I put them in baskets on top of my dehydrator, and you have a warm and fast drying space.

Drying: I have 2 dehydrators, including an old, yet badass Excalibur. The last few years I have been drying peaches, pears, plums and apricots. I aim to dry enough to make it until the spring, when fruit is back in season. It’s a lot of money and time in the beginning, but worth it. And in Vancouver, people have fruit trees that they don’t harvest. So don’t let money be the deterrent. Wild Forge, call out, hunt for fruit. I can’t tell you how thick to cut the fruit because it depends on what you like. I sometimes do half an apricot, for longer drying time. Or sometimes I do thin slices, faster drying. Depends on what you want, and you still have to keep them in until they are all and completely dry, so you gotta watch and trust.

Seed saving: My fav! I love, love, love to let food follow its natural cycle, produce seeds that birds eat, some that drop to become volunteer plants later, and some I save for the day I have my own massive organic yoga farm school! Dream and save now! It becomes clear when seeds are down, when the plant lives its full cycle and essentially dies in the process of changing to a seed making plant. Think seeds, just like the fruit or greens of a plant, need to go through its full cycle to complete. I dry seeds –keep them clean and dry in jars and label with the name of the plant and the year. I currently have in my seed saving cellar: kale, swiss chard, sage, mint, beets, shiso, basil, calendula, borage, lettuce, sorrel, cilantro, nasturtium, poppies, lemon balm and lots of flowers. I think there are more, but this is just off the top of my head!

Canning: This one is a bit tricky at first, mostly because of fear of the unknown bacteria. There are tons of online resources on how to do it. It depends on what you are canning. I do pickled peppers, beets, and other veggies. I can salsa, tomato sauce and pesto. I rock out canned pears, jams and berries. Once I realized how easy it is, I can’t stop. It’s so yummy. But still, it’s a process that requires effort, and requires tools. But I can’t explain the feeling of accomplishment when you crack open canned pears in the middle of winter. It’s summer in a jar, pure food medicine: local, organic and not sitting in chemicals in a plastic lined can. I mean, really food is so, so much healthier jarred. You can do it! I recently got a pressure cooker at a garage sale for $10, ordered the missing part for $15 and boom! My next step is to learn how to rock it. Good thing I have some serious homesteading friends to ask! For now, I actually love the process of cleaning and heating jars, creating the culinary contents, processing in hot water bath to jar, cooling it and looking at its post canning glory. And yes, it requires time. I often party solo on a Saturday night with my canning supplies: dehydrator, good tunes, nice vibes and vegan chocolate chips on the side for inspiration. Canning is my favourite meditation practice. Cut, dry, cook, can. Great mantras!

Salves: I adore making my own beauty products. I haven’t touched a snip of makeup since the late 90’s. I don’t use synthetic chemical anything in, on or near my body –it’s my temple. What touches it should be it praises and offerings instead. I make salves and potions with a shea butter base and have made my own toothpaste and deodorant. All these recipes are on the internet; you can copy one or gather pieces from many and trust your kitchen witching intuition will guide you.

I hope this post inspires you to trust that you have the knowledge and skills to do these things, it’s in your bones from your grandmother’s past! Trust your intuition and learn from your mistakes. I have had so many request for my vegan recipes over the years, I promise I will be making more food loving blog posts!

I would love to know the things you need support or making, or even share up your favourite recipes in the comments below.