Rolfing & Yoga Sessions by L'aura

Structural Bodywork by L'aura  $90

Private Yoga Session  $40 hr. 

Direct. 505.692.3559

Ellesophia@gmail.com

Herbs to Promote Menses

Believe it of not, there are dozens of herbal remedies & foods that promote menstrual flow...keep in mind, this is if you are very late and know that your body just needs some help getting things flowing. *Please consult a physician if you are more than 3 months late*

Herbs used to promote menstrual flow as know as Emmenagogues. At least 50 of these are in common use:

Ginger root, tansy leaves (not tansy ragwort), pennyroyal leaves & oil used topically (this is very powerful - please heed the advice of an herbalist), vitamin C - 6000 mg daily, angelica root infusion: 10 drops 3X daily for 4 days, fresh parsley leaves & juice: vaginal insert, rice leaf infusion, saffron stigmas.

Foods:

Raspberries...yes, a berry can promote flow. Here's how and why.....

Holy Basil & Stress - from Tradition to Science

Holy Basil, know as Tulsi in Ayurvedic medicine, is know as the Incomparable One due to it's majestic qualities. An Ayurvedic master, Vaidya, once commented that Tulsi is "anti-mutagenic" and "anti-inflammatory." It is a rasayana, or an herb that on it's own nourishes a person's growth to perfect health and enlightenment. Here in the west, we find that it significantly promotes a positive stress response and elevates the spirit. 

Phytonutrients within Holy Basil are some of the most prized molecules in the plant pharmacy. In the U.S., researchers have determined that Holy Basil's 'active' molecules' cell protective properties have been studied with respect to cells of the breast and oral cavity (United States), colon (China), prostate (Korea), skin (Hungary) and liver (Korea). They have also been studied worldwide for their effects on apoptosis (programmed cell death) and proliferation (rapid production of a cell).

Medicinal Properties: 

The leaves are a Nerve Tonic while sharpening the memory. The leaves also promote the removal of catarrhal matter & phlegm from the bronchial tube. The leaves also strengthen the stomach. 

Benefits of Holy Basil:

Fever & common cold, coughs, sore throat, respiratory disorder, kidney stones, heart disorder, children's ailments {from diarrhea to chicken pox}, STRESS, mouth infections, insect bites, skin disorders {ringworm to leucoderma}, headaches & eye disorder. 

Transformative learning

A process of getting beyond gaining factual knowledge alone to instead become changed by what one learns in some meaningful way. It involves questioning assumptions, beliefs and values, and considering multiple points of view,  while always seeking to verify reasoning.

There is great debate on what qualifies as “transformative” and whether the process is best understood intellectually, emotionally, spiritually or politically. For instance, transformation can inspire action to change the world, and unfair distribution of resources and power in particular, in order to promote the welfare of all peoples.

sus.tain.a.ble - The Sun News

sus.tain.a.ble

*able to be maintained at a certain rate of level
*to be upheld or defined
*conserving an ecological balance by avoiding depletion of natural resources

My name is L'aura Marie Campisi. I am, among other things, a Structural Bodyworker, Yoga Teacher, Wellness Educator, 35 and a dog owner for the 1st time. I have been hired as the concept manager to ICE Architectural Design & Energy Consulting to design the look of the company and develop a marketing strategy. I have also had the privilege to live on a 'Sustainable' 40 acre piece of land in Northern New Mexico, Abiquiu to be exact. On this property, there existed not one energy-utility line or pole. Our source of heat came from one fireplace, south facing windows, electricity from Solar Panels and a well that collected water from the land there. I emphasize the word Sustainable for many reasons. First, to wake in the morning in the light of the day without an alarm clock is sustainable. To cut wood from the land to heat my home is sustainable. To be able to hear, know and see the land - following a rhythm in which I can hear my own internal clock is sustainable. Being able to and, having access, to local food is sustainable. Taking public transportation, walking, biking, etc. to work is also sustainable -as well as local schools. I did not necessarily have the later advantages where I was but could have easily grown food myself or with others given some minor organization, as well as creatively sought out work that I could preform in my home. What I would like to pose as a question to the public and hopefully form discussion about is the essence behind this widely used word 'Sustainable'. I have visited many places in the past year that consider themselves to be Green or Sustainable businesses, developments, etc. Yet, thru these eyes, this is not what I see. I see, in not all but most, a mere marketing term being used to generate profit. I see more key phrases within this culture being utilized to meet the demand of our ever changing market. As a well traveled yoga teacher, spending time in places such as Boulder, Portland, San Diego & New York; I have become quite sensitive to such trends and what particular wave is being ridden at the present time. I question what the intent is behind using such wording.

I feel most of us are trying to do the right things: recycle (when we can, a real challenge here in Santa Fe) eat organic, etc etc. Bottom line, I feel we are slightly confused with to what to do and where to go for change, that we latch on to these words as if to find some goodness behind it all....I feel there is way too much information out there about whether to go solar or not - that one can afford to be 'sustainable' or not - that one has to do away with the niceties of life or their television for goodness sake - that you have to be political, vegetarian, an activist, so on and so forth. My grandparents came to this country from Italy in the 1930's with nothing more than my father in hand and maybe a loaf of bread. They were sustainable, not by choice but by necessity. My grandfather did not have a credit card to buy his way here, he saved his cash money and took the boat across the Atlantic. Cause and effect. My papu (grandfather) was a stone mason by trade and apprenticed my father at a very early age. They both worked for the family to create a life here in the New World. I ask myself often, what happened to their dreams of safety and security and the FACT that they came here to give my brothers, sisters and myself a better life. Do I have a better life? I'm not so sure. I pay bills...lots of them. I work tirelessly towards my own dreams of having financial freedom from student loans, car insurance, constantly rising energy bills. Just when I begin to make more money, I have higher bills - and no, I am not buying more Italian shoes with that pay increase.

I recall stories of my grandmother having a garden in the city and making bread that she fed to her family. I recall stories of them wanting more. So, here we sit, flying down the highway cell phone in hand, latte in the other with MORE and what are we doing with him. I am not blaming the desire in us as human beings to want, nor am I wishing to go back to how my papu and nana did things...I like my MAC, my car, for my dog to eat rather expensive food just as much as I love my wood burning stove for heat, farmers markets, public transportation and pot lucks. Point being, we now have MORE so where do we go from here with the rising cost of everything? How can we possibly keep up? I think what we are reaching for in fact is a powerful phrase I've been hearing for some time now from the founder of the company I work for, ICE. And that phrase is "The New Renaissance."

As a part of the ICE team, I have assisted in the development of an 8 week Sustainable Sciences curriculum birthed by the founder over a year ago. What has astonished me thru this experience, is that there's actually a need to teach one how to sustain in todays world, how poetic. We know how just by being human, yet we've strayed so far over the years that most of us don't even know our own vibration let alone how to work with the MORE that we've attained. I couldn't digest the fact that much of our youth believes that packaged meat in a market comes from the meat guy, as my 10 year old nephew once put it, not an actual animal. Yes, we need education.

What ICE proposes is security first, so that we can offer much more of ourselves to our community, our families, this world that we know as home. We propose a new way of being in the world. One in which we can rely on one another, that each person cannot fall too far. We have hit a place that is a dog-eat-dog, each man for himself existence. Women that work too hard and too often in order to raise a family on her own. What if she could rely on local food that was less expensive and no energy bills? I am a single woman living on my own and, at times, feel the burden of how I will get things done alone. Imagine a world where we actually had more time to pursue our dreams rather than chase them into the closet never to be seen except maybe in our retirement...if we're lucky. In my time at ICE, one thing I hear over and over again is that going solar or being sustainable is expensive. The initial cost of a solar system is like buying a car, think of it in that way with one exception, this car is not going to depreciate after 5 years. You take a solar panel out of the show room and your path to Freedom Highway begins. In our culture (United America), most of us do not see the long term value in the simple necessities of life. We can adopt much of what other countries do in order to conserve. For example, India's water fountains. One fountain will re-hydrate hundreds of thousands of people in which community metal cups at the fountain are used by holding it over one's mouth not taking it to the lips in order to drink. Plastic bottles do not exist everywhere. Yes, there is a little more involved but we need to become more involved. This may slow somethings down a bit, yet the personal health that will come will surprise even the obstinate critic. I was once harassed endlessly in Italy because I wanted to take pasta to-go so that I had more time to see everything. To not take the time to sit, enjoy and digest one's food is a punishable crime in Italy. We have become a society that is ON and available 24/7, this leads to a dampening of the spirit and eventually puts the fire out completely. So, this is where MORE resides, relentlessly pushing us forward so that he has company and we comply to these ideals, hand over are hard earned cash to the power monsters that be.

Today is the beginning of much change that is already underway. Many of us here in Santa Fe are completely aware of this. I invite each and every one of you readers to visit us here at ICE for conversation, community building, information about sustainability or whatever your social concern is. We believe this shift will take community in it's entirety for the re-creation of where we need to go in rebuilding our home planet earth. In that together we have a brain, a heart, much compassion and forgiveness builds the beauty we all desire.