Body Talk

by Sarah Bradshaw 

This event was quite possibly my favourite to date. Designed around the scientific evidence that your physical body is a representation of your thoughts, emotions, and energetic state, July’s themed Body Talk blew my mind. It was interesting, empowering, and mind-opening, and I left feeling completely in charge of my life – in health and all other departments and took us through ways to communicate with our bodies to further understand the secret messages that we sometimes ignore and to ultimately help generate a healthier and happier version of ourselves. What I really enjoyed was applying those symptoms to the corresponding chakras and realising the truth behind my physical ailments was so obviously linked to the emotional symptoms I had been ignoring and the spiritual intuition I had missed before that. And like the magic magician would say, ‘presto!’ Physical discomfort. Lower back pain to be precise, which funnily enough relates directly to that particular spot between the base and sacral chakra linking itself to relationship issues, mental overstimulation, lack of creative flow, clashing with others, and family issues. Oh dear, am I deaf? How did I miss those cues?

So, what have I done about it? Nothing. And thanks to not expressing myself, communicating poorly, and holding on too long to negative ways I now have killer wisdom tooth pain, swollen glands, a sore neck AND I’m sporting a gorgeous little spider bite – on my face. Copy that throat chakra, copy that loud and clear.

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Before you turn your nose up, hear me out.

Warm Cabbage Salad
(from mynewroots.org)

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

1 red onion, diced

3 medium cloves garlic, minced

1 pound head of red cabbage quartered and cut into thin ribbons

1-2 crisp green apples, chopped into chunks

2 teaspoons fresh rosemary, minced

a couple of handfuls of golden raisins (or another plump, chopped dried fruit)

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1/2 cup walnuts (or toasted hazelnuts, or pumpkin seeds, or sunflower seeds…)

fine grain sea salt

2 ounces goat cheese, crumbled (totally optional)

Directions:

1. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet and sauté the onion for a minute or two with a couple of pinches of salt. Stir in the garlic, and the cabbage, and a few more pinches of salt.

Stir and cook for just a minute or so, or until the cabbage softens up just a touch.

2. Then stir in the rosemary, most of the raisins, and the vinegar. (The cabbage will continue to get more and more tender even after you remove it from the heat, so keep that in mind, and do your best to avoid overcooking it – where it collapses entirely). Fold in half of the goat cheese, the apples, raisins and walnuts, then taste. Season with more salt if needed.

3. Serve garnished with the remaining raisins, goat cheese, and walnuts, and perhaps a sprinkling of rosemary sprigs.

To make a complete meal, serve this salad on a bed of wild rice, adding to the overall “woodsy-ness” of it all. For vegans, omit the goat cheese and throw in more nuts. 

Copyright 2012 My New Roots at mynewroots.blogspot.com