Sunday, November 29, 2015

Juice Feasting Through the Holidays





In pre-agricultural times, when we humans lived in small migratory bands, there would often be lean times as we would move from one place of abundance to another.  These times of scarcity would occur periodically and often would grow more profound while in the depths of winter.  It is felt by many, myself included, that these times of intermittent fasting and occasional longer times of fasting would allow our bodies to do a deep self cleaning.

Many of our contemporary health practitioners advocate the benefits of intermittent fasting or times of significantly reduced caloric intake for our health.  And the benefits of longer term fasting regimes, like water fasting have long been known within a variety of spiritual communities for the ability to bring exceptional clarity and insight to the practitioner.

I have done extensive fasting in the past, both for reasons of health and for clarity, and have found these experiences to be most profound, leaving me with a feeling of being 'preternaturally clear.'   However, in recent years, I have discovered juice fasting, or 'juice feasting,' as it is fondly called by those who have enjoyed it.

A common adage in natural healing advises that we rebuild while we detoxify.  And this is what occurs while we juice feast.  Here, the reduced caloric intake lets our bodies remove toxins while the large servings of fresh, raw, organic, vegetable juices flood our bodies with the nutrition needed for healthy metabolism and the rebuilding of damaged or worn out body tissues.

Frank and I have long enjoyed adding a pint of fresh, raw, organic, vegetable juices into our daily meal plans.  We prefer the juice without the pulp because we can consume so much more nutrition that way: lots and lots of enzymes, minerals, flavonoids, vitamins, and other beneficial phyto-chemicals.   The difference is between consuming the equivalent of two stalks of celery and one cucumber versus a whole bunch of celery and several cucumbers along with any number of other leafy greens, all of which would be impossible to eat in a single sitting.  Plus the juice is loaded with soluble fiber, which is what our body really needs and we get plenty of other fibrous materials with which to sweep our colons clean in our other foods.  So, most mornings, it is our fresh, raw, organic, vegetable juice that we enjoy for breakfast because it gives us such a great nutritional and energy packed start to our day.

This year as the onslaught of holiday foods began to loom ahead, we decided, in early November, to take a different tact in regards to holiday feasting.  Instead of risking ill health and distended organs, we made the choice to do what nature has long encouraged us humans to do and began a time of reduced caloric intake.  Only this time, in addition, we decided to add the benefit of health building nutrition with juice feasting. 

I must tell you, it has been great.  We are feeling fantastic.  All of the little aches and pains and other signs of inflammation have simply melted away.  And, please pardon me for boasting, but I must share that my vision, which has always been good, has progressed to crystal clear.  I've been jokingly saying that I can see a mosquito on the arm of a hiker on the mountain, which isn't quite true, but it gives you an idea of the increased level of health that our time of juice feasting is blessing us with.

Of course our loved ones are missing us at the holiday feasts, but our doors are always open to them for a nice cup of herbal tea.  And we are delighting in using this time of celebration for detoxification and the rebuilding of our beautiful health.


© Josephine Laing, 2015





As a Clairvoyant Healer, Spiritual Counselor and Intuition Instructor, I share many tips for leading a healthy and fulfilling life.  Please be advised that I am not a doctor. Nor am I licensed in any healing modality. However, I have had years of experience in alternative and complementary health and healing. All healing programs, including standard western medical protocols in addition to natural therapies, can cause harm rather than the benefit that you may be searching for. After all some people can have a strong reaction to something as seemingly innocent as peanuts or strawberries. Therefore, anything that I may recommend in these blogs and videos could be dangerous for you to try. So, it is important that you Ask Your Doctor First before trying any natural healing protocol. However, most medical doctors have little experience regarding natural healing programs and herbal medicine. So please understand if your doctor is unfamiliar with these ideas. 

Monday, November 23, 2015

Just Being Me and Creativity




One of the best ways to increase our creativity is to do what we did so well in childhood. I referring to devoting little moments throughout our days to "Just Being Me." It is simple and easy and brings us adults great reward.

© Josephine Laing, 2015

Monday, November 16, 2015

Paris



The images that our hearts and minds call up when we think of Paris are not congruent with what has happened this past week.  We think of culture and great food, art and music.  Now our minds are flooded with the impossible.  Grief is everywhere.  Unresolved questions abound. 

I remember reading years ago about a group of peacemakers, half men and half women, who would go into the hearts of areas of unrest and ask to hear the people's stories.  Many of our great spiritual teachers tell us that it is not until we have heard each other's pain and seen each other's tears fall that we can begin to understand.  Until then we think only of retaliation… for the retaliation… that came as a result of retaliation…  and on it goes.  This is at the heart of this kind of war.  And in my book, the utter useless, wasteful futility of war is something whose time has come. 

In relationships, if I am vigilant, and if I do my inner work, I will always find an offense, that I did first, that caused the offense of the other.  We in the West have some very heavy responsibility for much of the suffering in the rest of the world.  As the takers, we have squandered and displaced many - world round - from their homes, their livelihood and their ability to be in happiness and peace.

I'm not saying that that is what is at play here.  I'm just saying that we need to take a look at our own selves.  With open eyes.  Who is bombing who?  And why?  And for how long?  And where?  We need to look at ourselves if we are going to create a world beyond war.

The wisdom of this planet's human elders, those rare few who have lived in peace and in harmony for millennia, all hold within their knowledge the importance of the balance of the masculine and the feminine.  The woman and the man are acknowledged as separate and different and yet both are equal and equally honored.  And they serve to bring each other in check.

One of my friends from South America said that the peaceful high Andean people, the Quechua, felt that they could only forgive the conquistadors.  This was because the conquistadors came from a group of people who had no equal feminine.  They referred to them as 'the ones who had no mother,' no woman to balance their vanquishing and larcenous purely aggressive unchecked masculine energy. 

The mother says, 'No!' to violence, aggression and war.  And so does the Crone.  When the masculine and the feminine are held in equal regard, they hold each other in check.  My questions are, "Who is bombing who?"  And, "Where is the mother?"

© Josephine Laing, 2015

Monday, November 9, 2015

One More Beautiful Ghost Story



Over the last two weeks on this Blog/Video Log, I've shared with you how I've been blessed by spirit reaching out to help and protect me during some of the more challenging moments in my life.  This week, I'd like to share with you one more story where a gentleman who had recently passed away was protecting his wife by reaching across the veil between life and death. 

This particular event took place when my husband, Frank and I were traveling in New Zealand in 2005.  We had always longed to go there knowing how truly beautiful it is in so many ways.  For our accommodations we preferred farm stays and home stays as this gave us the opportunity to make friends and have more personal interactions.  New Zealand's people are bright, intelligent, creative and kind.  The landscape is spectacular.  And for me, as a working psychic, I was amazed and delighted to discover that my clairvoyant function was extremely heightened every day that we were there.  I was able to avert danger, interact with nature and sense the presence of spirit at a much more profound level.  

The story, that I'd like to share with you now, took place after we had crossed from one "island" to the next.  At the ferry station we decided to take a taxi van with several other travelers to our separate destinations in the area.  I helped the driver load our luggage into his enclosed trailer.  Then off we went.  After dropping off most of the other tourists, but with still a few to go, we arrived at our destination, the home of a woman whom we had contacted a day or two before.  

Frank jumped out to go to her door and be sure that we had arrived at the correct address and I got into the trailer with the cabby to sort out our bags and began placing them on the curb.  Frank came and got a load of our cases and took them in.  Then an older gentleman, presumably the husband of our hostess arrived on the curb full of appreciative and welcoming softly murmured comments.  After a quick little exchange of smiles, I resumed my activity in the trailer and emerged a few moments later with the last of our bags.  From the curb, I saw the elder gentleman enter the front door of the home and I then followed after him. 

Once inside, I met our hostess, who was just showing Frank to our room, right near the entrance.  I went on into the room to freshen up while she invited Frank to come upstairs and see the kitchen.  After showing Frank around, she then went up to the third level to resume watching a very exciting tennis match on the telly, and invited us to join her, if we'd like, once we had settled in.  

After looking around, Frank returned downstairs and I asked how he liked meeting her husband.  Frank was nonplussed by this and said that her husband and her two teen-aged children had all died the previous year in an automobile accident.  Our hostess had shown him a photo of them.  She also said that she was looking for a little more income and that we were her first home stay guests.  It was right after that that she had excused herself to go upstairs to finish watching the game. 

Hearing this I followed Frank up to the kitchen area to see the picture and there, in a photo, with two beautiful youngsters and our hostess beside him, was the older gentleman who had greeted me with smiles of welcome out in front of their home.  Apparently the husband, unbeknownst to our hostess, had reached across the veil to greet us at the curb to see if wee would be suitable guests in their home.  Evidently we passed his approval and received his welcome.

I am touched to know that our loved ones can help us not only in life, but also in death.  They watch over us, whether we are aware of it or not, just making sure that all is well.

© Josephine Laing, 2015

Tuesday, November 3, 2015

How Our Deceased Loved Ones Can Help Us






This is the time of year when the veil between the worlds is thin and we can more easily connect with those who have passed on.  Please enjoy these two stories about loved ones who have passed away and yet were able to reach across the veil between the living and the dead in order to help us.

© Josephine Laing, 2015