Hello again!
My time in Devon was very amazing. I feel that I am beginning to really understand many things about macrobiotics. But you know what is strange? At the same time I feel so much conflict and confusion and I feel like there is a really long road in front of me that I must travel down in order to really get it and then really be able to apply macrobiotics to my life and my health.
It feels like there are many different levels of understanding to macrobiotics and I still feel like I’m at the very superficial level. It’s one thing eating all the ingredients and avoiding meat, dairy and sugar. But it feels like a completely new ball game really being able to apply the knowledge to your own health. Once I have mastered that, then I know I can begin looking to help other people. Oohhh, I’m excited about that, but first I must learn to become the master of my own health and well being.
I had a consultation whilst I was in Devon which was sooo useful.
I meant to tell you the other day that I experienced the most painful period EVER (which is unusual for me)…now I realise this is due to stagnation in my liver. It seems that all the experimentation I have done recently has been so useful at teaching me many things about my body and the effects that foods have on it. I urge you to do the same, to explore and experiment. By doing this, and especially by getting it wrong, it can really teach you so don’t be afraid of that as difficulties are often our biggest teachers. But make sure you get support and seek the experience of others, speak to teachers, fellow macros, have a consutlation, study, read as all these things will help you go deeper.
I was also lucky enough to do some emotional work too which was/is sooo helpful. Emotional work kind of feels like taking a bandage off to reveal the raw and open wounds….ouch! It seems so easy to tune out of emotions and to think that everything is ok, but when you start looking closer you become aware of pain that you can be carrying. I feel so blessed to have an opportunity to do this. I’m pretty sure we all carry wounds. It seems that many people have had upbringings or experiences that make us bandage them up in hope that they will go away and be forgotten. But ignorance is not bliss…it just means that there is less room for light (or bliss!) to come in to your being and into your life. So, if you want to heal then you have peel off the bandages to see and heal what is there.
I find it so fascinating that our food can play a part in this. What we eat can either help to take the bandages off or we can eat in a way to keep the bandages on! When people change their way of eating this can cause a shift in energy, especially as we replenish our bodies with whole foods. Part of this shift can involve old emotions coming to the surface which can feel pretty daunting when it begins to happen, especially since it is likely that it would feel uncomfortable. It is often here that many people can revert back to their old eating habits because it keeps the lid on things, or it keeps you back in that safe place with the bandage on. But how can real healing take place if you never allow the bandage to come off?
This can also happen when you begin eating in a more yin way (especially for those who have been into macrobiotics for a while). When I talk about eating in a more yin way I’m talking about ‘safe’ yin as in eating the more yin grains and vegetables etc (not sugar, drugs, alcohol, coffee, fruit, fruit juices, grain sweetners etc). Of course, this won’t always happen and it depends on our condition, on our experiences and on our wounds. It just good to be aware and know that if this kind of thing does happen you can look for some kind of emotional support to help with the process. There is always light at the end of the tunnel, no matter how dark the tunnel may seem!
I have decided that instead of doing a grain fast I will instead put to use the knowledge that I have and follow a healing plan for the next 6 weeks. This is part of my homework that I have tried to do before but I’ve always found a way of not doing it. However, I think that if I can really focus no staying on track and having real consciousness about what I’m eating and why, this will bring about some results and changes in my health. I feel like I’m ready for that now.
So, my condition…well, it seems that I have the following main imbalances:
Metal – this can be be seen by my swollen red lower lip (the diagnostic area of the large intestine), pimples on my cheeks (the area for the lungs) (these pimples are taking soooo long to clear up!), pale skin colour on my face, carrying sadness & grief (the emotions associated with metal energy), especially around relationships (the metal energy is very much about relationships and boundaries), having psoriasis (you know I said I had some eczema after the brown rice fast, well, I realise this is actually psoriasis and not eczema) which I have had on and off for quite some time (skin problems are also related to the metal transformation), hmmm I’m sure there are other things but I can’t think of them!
Tree – blocked/stuck tree energy – this can be seen by dryness in the middle of my eyes (the diagnositc area on the face for the liver), a hard liver (you can do this by palpating your abdomen which is a pretty strange thing to do but very useful!), painful period, headaces behind the eyes and on the gall bladder meridian, and emotionally I am sure I have alot of unexpressed anger that needs to come out (eeek!!)
What else? Oh yes, my kidneys, my poor kidneys (ha ha…it seems like I’m a hypochondriac now!! lol). Well, I have some darkness around my eyes which indicates an imbalance in kidney energy. Throughout my life, through doing things to weaken my kidney energy (such as drinking too much alcohol, taking drugs, having too much yin (sugar, fruit juices etc) this has weakened my kidney energy alot so I must also work on replenishing this.
So, these are the main imbalances that I would like to focus on improving over the next six weeks. Tomorrow, I will write about how I will go about doing this. It feels good to have a focus and to have some clarity about what I need to do. In six weeks time it’s Christmas so I can think about planning a lovely celebratory christmas meal as a celebration for sticking to my healing diet for 6 weeks :O). Yeahhh, I like the idea of an incentive to keep me going as I’m sure there will be some tough times. I’m sure six weeks is going to seem like a long time following a particular diet. Lets see how it goes!
Breakfast
This morning I prepared a lovely 3 grain porridge but then I realised that I wasn’t hungry. So, instead I had a drink of hot water with half a lemon squeezed into it…for the good of my liver! Ahh, my liver loved it. (I reckon I’m going to start conversing with my organs and asking them what they want and how they are. Think Dr Dolittle but replace animals with body parts…ha ha…now you may be questioning my sanity!!)
Lunch
Miso soup with onions, carrot, cabbage, shiitake & dulse & sauerkraut- I made this with barley miso (barley is helpful for the liver)
Pressed leeks (good for the liver) with ume su (also good for the liver) & a delicious barley stew made with carrot, onions, brocolli and a bit of oat cream
Dinner
I haven’t had this yet but I think I’ll have a lovely dinner cooked with all the 5 energies in mind. Maybe I will have some fish (good for the kidneys) or maybe an aduki bean pie (adukis are good for the kidneys). I will decide when I get home…and will update you later…
Ciao!
Sharlene
Dinner
A medicinal ame-kuzu drink (for my large intestine)
White fish with garlic, ginger & parsley, nishime parsnip, watercress with mustard dressing, quinoa, millet & hato mugi & steamed squash
1/2 cup of mu tea
Love & darkness (I thought we could have a bit of darkness for a change, since it would not make sense and would be pretty boring if there was only light all the time!! ;o)
Sharlene
mmmmm!
