by natalia | Mar 26, 2021 | Books, Health & Wellness, Health Foods, Social Conditioning
Socially Conditioned Eating
In order to begin to understand emotional eating, we must discuss social conditioning, which was once a very little-known term but is becoming more widely used among today’s conscious youth.
Social conditioning refers to the norms that we have inherited practically from birth; they are so much a part of the fabric of our culture that it can feel strange to question them. But here’s what we need to understand: these norms are intimately connected with the act of emotional eating.
Social conditioning at large has compromised our sanity, but socially conditioned eating specifically has given rise to all of our eating disorders—from relatively mild expressions to full-blown cases. If it were not for social conditioning, we would not have eating disorders.
Only civilized people have eating disorders. But why is this so?
In the answer to this question lies the solution for emotional eating.
Pondering this question in light of all my personal and professional experience, logic, and intuition has led me to the conclusion that our stresses, anxieties, regrets, primal childhood experiences, repressed emotions, and blocked creativity are all symptoms of our social wiring. Our way of life constricts us, limits us, and emotionally poisons us.
With all due respect to our society’s merits, among them are some devastating drawbacks. I remain hopeful that we may become innovative enough to take the best of civilization and leave behind the rest—that which does not serve our evolving well.
In the meantime, though, the social blueprint that we are asked to accept renders us physically and emotionally handicapped.
– From Emotional Eating SOS by Natalia Rose
by natalia | Mar 25, 2021 | Health Foods, Recipes
Roasted Red Pepper Soup with Harissa
INGREDIENTS
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 garlic cloves chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
3 large ball peppers, cored, seeded, and chopped
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 tablespoon harissa paste
4 cups All-Purpose Vegetable Stock (see page 92 of The Fresh Energy Cookbook) or water
Kosher salt and black pepper to taste
METHOD
Heat a large saucepan over medium heat and add the olive oil. Add the garlic, onion and red bell peppers.
Cook slowly until the onions are translucent (about 8 minutes)
Stir in the tomato paste and harissa.
Add the vegetable stock or water and bring to the boil.
Turn down the heat and simmer for 30 minutes.
Puree the soup using an immersion blender or in batches in a blender or food processor.
Season with salt and pepper as desired.
SERVES 4
Recipe from The Fresh Energy Cookbook, by Natalia Rose and Doris Choi
by natalia | Mar 24, 2021 | Health & Wellness, Personal Development
“The redeemed person is the person who outgrows the limitation that he has placed on his own life.”– Manly P. Hall
Swimming with Crocodiles
So, when you (or Supreme Will) decide it is time, there will be a shift away from something that doesn’t fit. Something that does fit will step in to replace it but you might not see that right away, making it very difficult to accept what is happening. It takes enormous courage to proceed under these circumstances. I call this “Swimming with the crocodiles.”
The Ancient Egyptians
The ancient Egyptians used to test their Initiates by making them swim in muddy, crocodile-infested waters. The crocodiles represented the Initiate’s deepest fear – the fear of death. If they could restrain their emotions and just swim without fear, they would pass on to the next level. What’s more, if they could sustain a level of calm and focus without the frequency of fear reverberating through them, the crocodiles would themselves be harmless to the Initiates.
Absolute Vulnerability
This is precisely what we must do when we make the transition and take off what no longer fits. When we take off the old, too-tight clothes there will be a moment when we are buck naked. This is our willingness to be absolutely vulnerable to the Supreme Intelligence and demonstrate our trust in the process. This is not for the faint of heart. Will the new, more fitting clothes appear? There is only one way to find out.
Illusion of Light vs True Light
Oh, yes: when the Initiates dive into the dark waters there will appear a light, a sense of an opening. But it’s a trap. Those who swim for that ‘early light’ quickly realize it is an illusion of freedom and safety. The wise Initiate identifies that illusory light immediately as being a trap — the path of least resistance — and proceeds into the darkness, knowing his/her only escape will be through the dark, not by avoiding it. Those that follow the shallow, early light meet their demise. Those who are willing to dive deeper to find the true light, the true openings are more apt to survive. Every heartbeat along the way will determine the outcome.
Rebirth!
It is not unlike the journey we make through the birth canal. A true initiation is like a second birth. And as we live and embrace change that suits our expansion, we surely have many initiations, many re-births. Outgrowing your previously held limitations is the most natural thing in the world if you are truly alive!
in loving service,
Natalia
by natalia | Mar 23, 2021 | Health & Wellness
Slant Boards
This is not a gratuitous body shot. Rather, I wanted to share with you how you can turn an incline in your garden (or local park or hill) into a body slant board. What you’re looking at here is a little hard to see but I’m lying on a rather steep incline in my garden (it’s steeper than it looks).
I take the opportunity to double up on my sunbathing and inversions – two body care essentials – just by doing my sunbathing with a gentle inversion on the grass.
Slant boards are just gentle inversions ensuring the head is below the feet. The body slant board was introduced into the natural health world by Bernard Jensen in the 1960’s. And unlike full inversions like headstands which are not ideal unless you are already in excellent health, the slant board provides all the benefits of reversing gravity’s pressure on the body: enabling the blood flow to be directed to the brain and eyes, relieving strain on the internal organs and so much more!
When we find clever ways of doing many body/spirit care practices at once, it’s a huge win! You can sunbathe, invert, meditate, cleanse your mind & purify your heart, cleanse your field, receive the cosmic intelligence from the sun’s rays and the healing frequency from the earth all at once!
in loving service,
Natalia
by natalia | Mar 22, 2021 | Literature, Personal Development
Decadence Unveiled:
I know who you are
I know why you came
It’s either out of your vanity or out of your shame
You wish to pose and show all your wares
You, me and ‘the ghost’ know there’s no soul left in there
But, go on inside, after all, you’ve arrived
Like Hotel California, pink champagne is on ice
Do come in, imbibe and consume
The Master’s chambers, you’ll find, are brimming with tunes
As you smile at your host and wish him great cheer
Devil knows what’s really brought you here
I’ve observed and even tried to admire you
But could find nothing but liars in the lot of you
In the end you sided with fear, with vanity, materiality
Wasted the dear, sanity, philanthropy
I don’t, for the record, place myself above you
I do hope somehow you might come to love you
And when you do, you’ll see it all as a sham
And perhaps you’ll understand why I am as I am.
-Natalia Rose
