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Direct. 505.692.3559

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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.....

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. 

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.

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.

Featuring William Roberts, Tai Chi practitioner.

Could you talk about the health importance of the kidneys from a Chinese perspective?
The kidneys in chinese theory contain and generate intrinsic energy in the body which there brings health to the whole. Kidneys clean the blood.

What is intrinsic energy?
Chi or Qi is a general term for energy within the body. The Chi in the kidney is known as 'Jing'. Jing is a creative energy, It is essential to keeping the kidneys balanced in keeping overall health. Lifestyle choices today attribute to stress of kidneys: Being in a constant state of fear. Drugs, excessive sex, drugs in food deplete health. Stress.

Situation a country can be in - negative stories of life and where the world we are going in. Movies that stimulate fear, fright, stressful especially before sleep.

What happens to the health of the kidneys if you are not sleeping well?
You move into a cycle of stimulants such as coffee, chocolate, caffeine, stress at work, etc. You are on the hamster wheel.
Fear and insecurities creep in and you live a life of stress, cycle of depleting your life force.
Preform and produce = creating havoc to the health of the being.
Affecting the reproductive systems and diabetes. De-genitive illnesses such as Cancers,etc. Are initially triggered by the kidney depletion within the body. The door opens up to illness.

All alternative health have support programs to heal the kidneys. Yoga, chinese medicine, ayurveda.
Quite possibly why we .............

What about people coming to alternative medicine?
when you pursue a whole health practitioner, you discover ways to take care of the whole. I think that is why people are drawn to holistic - proactive.
It is also less expensive in most cases. Modern wellness is more about the problem and finding a fix than treating the whole.

How would someone know if their kidneys are deficient?
*lack of energy, yellow skin, dark circles,

*Tai Chi
Are there exercises for the kidney???
yes.

What are they?
Since the internal martial arts are concerned with circulation and creation of Qi in the body, all tai chi forms the support kidney. Standing postures stimulate the kidney thru the acupuncture meridian points that begins in the foot.

If you stand all day at your job, how might your kidneys be affected?
if you put yourself into a posture into a body that makes you tense and tight...leads to depletion. if you are conscious of how you are standing, you can use that to your benefit to strengthen the kidneys.

IS tai chi alone what supports this?
no, yoga does as well. tai chi systems (internal martial arts) also have meditations, and physical exercise and sound to nourish the kidneys.

But wait! One distinct characteristic of the sutra is brevity, so the word atha is there for good reason. It's there to grab your attention: I'm ready to teach, Patanjali is saying, so listen up. But atha also signals the value of what you're about to dive into. These days you can flip through the Yoga Sutra whenever you please, and then return it to the shelf, but long ago it took a long period of preparation just to gain access to it. The study of classical yoga was serious business that required commitment. At some point the teacher determined that—atha, "now"—the novice was qualified enough for instruction. It must have been an exhilarating moment when students left behind their everyday identities to assume a new role as spiritual aspirants.

For modern yogis, atha whispers a subtle reminder that all yoga teaching emerges from and leads us back to the timeless, ever-present now. Before you begin your next practice, say it silently and see if it draws you into the present. If you're really lucky, you might feel, in the words of Patanjali, that the "layers and imperfections concealing truth" are "washed away," and your authentic self is revealed.

Second, select a couple of aspects of your daily life that you want to change and begin to practice starting over. Maybe you'll choose a person you find difficult to interact with, or a particular task at work, or perhaps some behavior related to diet or speech. When you discover that you have gotten lost, say to yourself, "Yes, I just got lost, and now I'll just start over." "And" practice empowers you to remember your intentions and goals, and it helps you move through negative feelings and return to the present moment. Try practicing this way for three months in these two areas, while maintaining mindfulness of all the times you don't start over in the other areas of your life. You will start to notice a difference. Seeing this for yourself creates more faith and, therefore, still more motivation. Then, when you feel ready, add yet another aspect of your life to your starting—over practice. Be prepared for disappointments and for forgetting your commitment; after all, you are teaching your mind a completely new automatic response.

Finally, let meditation be your laboratory for training your mind to think and respond in this new way. Meditation is a safe environment for developing the capacity for starting over because it involves only you; nobody knows when you're starting over. Plus, it builds your ability to stay concentrated and focused, so you are less likely to be thrown off center in daily life. It also cultivates equanimity and calmness, qualities that help you simply return to your intention whenever you need to start over. Practicing starting over in meditation is very simple: No matter how many times your mind wanders, simply go back to noticing your breath (or whatever you choose for your object of concentration), without making any judgments. Don't be interested in how well you're staying with your breath. Be interested in how well you start over.**

Topic: Irregular Menses of the 21st Century

I have been personally studying the issues of womens menses (moon time) for over 10 years. My passion dives into one of our most common & complex epidemics of our time as women - irregular menses. Of the issues seen, monthly lapses in menses sometimes equating to 6 months or more is just scratching the surface to what I believes to be an enormous negative shift among our species. My personal experience in this arena and continued research for meaning and solutions both physically as well as spiritually, are found in my focus based on the theory that we need to work together to support, find and learn how to move thru to this next level of healing.

My studies include women in traditional Native American cultures having preformed moon lodges and creating space for the visions that came from moon time. I believe that if we work in conjunction with these & other methods, that we can come back into the balance we are meant to be in. It is about reclaiming what is ours - Moon Time is our way of true knowing. Moon Time is our time to reflect,to cleanse,to nourish & create!

Each forum will begin with a brief explanation of my personal experience with late menses, late starting age and the discouraging search for help within the western medical field. Following will be an exploration on possible causes supported by a variety of remedy's, movement techniques, nutrition and meditation. This is an open dialog.

This group is the 1st of it's kind. My intention is to build community around the subject. These meetings will be on-going for the public and not inclusive to woman only. I believe that we all need to understand the rhythm & cycles of life in order to find solutions. Please call for information. 505.692.3559
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