Our food these days, whether of vegetable or animal origin, is not only deficient in nutrients, but also full of pollutants and farming chemicals. The modern process of denaturing foods via heavy refining and chemical treatment deeply affects the life force of our food supply, making it difficult to foster equilibrium and health.

Pesticides, which have been shown to cause cancer and liver, kidney and blood diseases, create extra work for the immune system. They lodge and accumulate in tissue, resulting in a weakened immune system, and consequently allow other carcinogens and pathogens to filter into the body and affect our health. Organic certification is the public’s assurance that products have been grown and handled according to strict procedures without persistent toxic chemical inputs.

Top 10 reasons to buy and eat organic foods:

1.    Keep chemicals off your plate. Pesticides are poisons designed to kill living organisms and thus are harmful to humans. Many approved pesticides were registered long before extensive research linked these chemicals to cancer and other diseases. Organic agriculture is a way to prevent any more of these chemicals from getting into the air, water and food supply.

2.    Protect future generations. Children are four times more sensitive to exposure to cancer-causing pesticides in foods than adults.

3.    Protect water quality. Pesticides pollute the public’s primary source of drinking water for more than half the country’s population.

4.    Organic farmers work in harmony with nature. Three billion tons of topsoil erodes from croplands in the U.S. each year, and much of it is due to conventional farming practices, which often ignore the health of the soil. Organic agriculture respects the balance necessary for a healthy ecosystem; wildlife is encouraged by including forage crops in rotation and by retaining fencerows, wetlands and other natural areas.

5.    Save energy. More energy is now used to produce synthetic fertilizers than to till, cultivate and harvest all the crops in the U.S.

6.    Help small farmers. Although more and more large-scale farms are making the conversion to organic practices, most organic farms are small, independently owned and operated family farms. USDA reported that in 1997, half of U.S. farm production came from only 2% of farms. Organic agriculture can be a lifeline for small farms because it offers an alternative market where sellers can demand fair prices for crops.

7.    Support a true economy. Organic foods might seem expensive at first. However, your tax dollars pay for hazardous waste clean-up and environmental damage caused by conventional farming.

8.    Promote biodiversity. Planting large plots of land with the same crop year after year tripled farm production between 1950 and 1970, but the lack of natural diversity of plant life has negatively affected soil quality.

9.    Nourishment. Organic farming starts with the nourishment of the soil, in turn producing nourishing plants. Well-maintained soil produces strong, healthy plants that have more nutrients than conventionally grown produce.

10.  Flavor. Organic produce simply tastes better. Conduct your own taste test!

Adapted from materials provided by Whole Foods Market and the Organic Trade Association.

If you are interested in creating simple, fun, yummy meals your family will love! Join me this Summer.

Healthy Summertime Meals

July 17 9AM-1PM   Gourmet Raw Foods.  Super quick, tasty delicacies
July 31 9AM-1PM   Cooked Vegetarian dishes. Learn simple steps to prepare great meals. Recipes that are versatile & tasty
August 14 9AM-1PM   Creative Juicing & learn how to safely detox your body. Learn about Super foods to add to your juices for extraordinary nutrition

Take home recipes & enjoy lunch!!

Contact Grace 603-651-9642  graceventura1@gmail.com
http://www.embodydreamprograms.com/

Over the past 25 years our national healthcare system has disintegrated. The lack of conscious education in our social structures is insidious. People are dying unnecessarily from diseases, stress and yes, poor diets! For decades we have modeled the USDA Food Pyramid that is based on familiarity and government promotion rather than eating a more plant based diet based on bio-individuality and understanding that what we feed ourselves isn’t just about food but also the relationship with yourself. You can be eating really well yet still poisoning yourself with negative feelings and thoughts. There is a sense of desperation, neglect and fear. I serve others in shifting their perspective from being a victim to re-claiming their birthright of health & vitality.

The Journey of aligning body, mind & spirit begins when you say YES to how you want to live no matter what life challenges arise. Anyone can radically improve their health and wellness by listening to their body and learning what their nutritional needs are rather than emotionally eating or out of a lack of education. Respecting one’s bio-individuality and aligning with your integrity is the doorway to freedom, peace and bliss!

Begin with Presence. Put your attention on the breath and body. Grounding yourself in the moment will open the doorway to hearing what your body wants right now. Not 30 years ago when your Mother fed you meat and potatoes at 7PM even though you didn’t feel hungry for those foods. Through childhood and adolescence most of us learned to disregard our bodies. To neglect our inner voice.

Presence aligns you with your perception, truth & integrity. Presence helps us tap into that “gut feeling” that is our truth. Only then can we transform fear to faith. When we deny our true feelings, we will never be able to move on to clearer vision. This is not to say one should “act” on those feelings … but rather allow them to surface so you can “see” them for what they are … and discover how they got there. We can then make a new choice based on our present truth rather than a story or concept in the mind.

Thoughts are not truth. Thoughts generally arise from distorted beliefs & identities based on self-destructive programs learned from our parents and other authority figures. An example is living with family members who routinely stuffed themselves with junk food when what they really needed was a hug. Someone growing in such a home might unconsciously think that the best thing to do when they feel alone and stressed is to eat chips, sweets or a big bowl of pasta. I remember as a kid my Mom would make spaghetti o’gratin at 10PM as a treat. It was loaded with butter and cheeses. In retrospect, I can see that her treat may very well have been having comfort food to help her wounded heart. And I went along for the ride!

Your body is a vehicle to profound awareness. It reflects a metaphoric story ready to guide the next steps in your life. The pain or pleasure we experience, our eyesight (how we “see” the world or how we are seen), our hearing (how we listen or want to be heard), how our skin feels (the skin is the largest organ than receives and gives touch). How do we feel about being touched? Yes, diet, effects the skin and organs. Computers effect our eyes. Loud music distorts our hearing. But what came first? Our experience as a child not being hugged? Or a painful world that we didn’t want to “see” or “hear”?

Ask yourself, what is really going on in my body? How am I treating my body? Am I trusting what I hear inside me?  Do I respect my own feelings? What is my relationship with food? How do I use food? For nutrition, entertainment or as a numbing agent?

Here are a few indicators when you are acting contrary to your integrity:
1. A sense something is not right inside. You feel unhappy & shut down.

2. Tendency to blame others & feel overwhelmed. You feel doubt, guilt, shame & separate.

3. Not living in present time but rather dwelling on past events or future dreams.

So what do you end up doing? Eat that piece of chocolate or scoop of ice cream that’s going bring you instant happiness. Fill that hole in your heart with one more slice of pizza. When will you end this viscous cycle by finally deciding to feed yourself only nutritious yummy meals? And getting support so you can actually follow through?

When we ask these questions, we can find our way home to our true North, our integrity. If we all were eating wonderfully nutritious food but never addressed listening to and feeding our primary needs, no diet would ever really work. A broken heart can surely lead to cancer. Our immune system function is a direct result of our ability to handle the many stresses of life.

Over years I have experimented and created hundreds of yummy recipes. People who have been strict meat-&-potatoes devotees have been pleasantly surprised how amazing healthy food can taste. And juicing … wow what flavors! The earth provides us with the resources to live magnificent lives. When combined with the presence of listening to our bodies’ needs, we can truly live in Earthly Delight!! With abundance & gratitude!

Join me in learning tools to support great health & wellness…. an Earthly Delight, June 18,19 & 20 in Beverly Farms,Ma. Go here for more information. http://www.embodydreamprograms.com/blog.html

It’s so easy to make promises about the year ahead. We will stick to our diets, spend more time exercising, be more financially responsible, be more loving to our family, But, for most of us, the resolutions made today will be empty dreams six months from now. Why is it so difficult to make lasting changes? Real change happens when we feel genuinely inspired by our heart’s desire and unwilling to settle for anything less. It happens when we commit with all of ourselves to a new way of life.

If we harbor feelings of guilt or unworthiness, how can dreams ever manifest? No matter how hard you try, the result will still come back to sabotaging feeling happy with yourself, relationships, work, etc. Most of the time we walk around not even understanding why we are miserable, stuck or unfulfilled. We yearn to feel connected, happy, living our bliss or to even get a clue what our bliss is.

The ability for us to access our creativity, play and imagination is a direct result of clearing our limiting beliefs and self-sabotaging patterns that hinder our ability to live fully. In other words … lightening our emotional load. When our commitments fall to the wayside, it is not that we want to be quitters but rather that we are unconsciously more committed to an old story about ourselves that is comfortable and safe. Often outdated distorted beliefs will have you return to autopilot, asleep at the wheel, rather than being awake and alert as you traverse the limitless possibility of expressing your heart’s desire and purpose.

A sure-fire recipe for aligning with your true heart begins with facing whatever stories show up in your mind that you believe are the reasons for unhappiness or dissatisfaction with your life. What better way to celebrate the New Year than by revealing these unconscious stories about money, sex, self-care, religion or spirituality, politics, education, health care, what is right and wrong, etc. Once we have awareness of these cloaked beliefs, we are free to make conscious choices from our heart. We have a chance to be happy and create our lives in alignment with truth rather than what we should be doing.

These days prior to the New Year are prime-time moments to review what has past in the last 12 months and commit to the days & months ahead. You can ask a few questions to clear old baggage while guiding your life in the direction of your true heart.

1. A dream is born from our heart’s desire. Take a moment. Close your eyes. Imagine your dreams for the New Year. If you had nothing in your way…money, time, resources, no fears, doubts…where would you be doing? How would you feel? Who would you spend time with? What qualities would you like in your environment at home and work?

2. What are you willing to give up to get them? What habits, limiting beliefs, unhealthy relationships or situations?

3. As you reflect on your life, when did you become unwilling to do whatever it takes to have what you want? And why?

4. What cravings/addictions or unmet needs will keep you away from your heart’s desire?

5. What do you have your faith and trust invested in? Is your faith in line with your true heart and dreams or is it part of the old, outdated support system that no longer works?

6. What structure of support will you need to ensure this new future?

7. Who will help you stay awake and on the track of your true heart and be a loving supportive “kick in the butt” friend, gently reminding you to stay awake?

If you wish to manifest your dreams, begin by setting your vision on a dream you can reach and then create a plan that will be your guide. If at any time you don’t feel like following your plan, stop. Take a deep breath. Call forth your vision. Then pick up your phone and dial your friend. Ask him/her to remind you that veering off your path really isn’t worth the pain of repeating the past. It will only leave you feeling disappointed, depressed and unhappy in a dark gloomy hole rather than living the bright, amazing and fantastic life that is your birthright!

So today, YOU have the power to choose the course of your dreams, create a plan and stick to it. So gather your courage, strength and commitment and make 2010 the most inspiring year of your life! Manifesting dreams is just steps away! Instead of making those New Years resolutions this year only to find your self drifting away and dissatisfied, let’s make it work this time! Join me in Manifesting Your Dreams through The 4 Alignments of Self Care ™.

This workshop will be in 3 parts the following Wednesday evenings 6:30-9PM, January 6, February 3, March 3, 2010 at Yoga Passion, Beverly Farms, Ma. The cost is $85/series. You do have the option to attend individual sessions for $35.

Jan 6 – Write your Story

Feb 3 – Purpose & Priorities

March 3 – Treasure Mapping

Workshop practices include lectures, 4 Alignments™, awareness-building exercises, Meditation practices, group interaction.

The series ends with an optional journey to the pyramids of Teotihuacan, Mexico from March 25-30, 2010

Contact Grace: 603-651-9642 or graceventura1@gmail.com

to attend workshops or private sessions in-person or long distance.

Do you have the desire to balance & increase your health, happiness and well-being? Through EMBD’s new Coaching based on “The 4 Alignments of Self-Care™”, you will work together with Grace to create & implement a personalized program for your physical, emotional & spiritual health. This program will span 6 months and include 2 (1) hour private sessions, 1 group sessions, email & phone support plus unlimited access to her web library filled with an abundance of nutritional support.

Please click here to contact Grace, or call 603-651-9642 to schedule your session long distance or in person!

serves 4-6
Dried Fruit
1/4 cup agave nectar
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup dried apricots, chopped into small pieces
1/4 cup dried pineapples, chopped into small pieces
1/4 cup dried cherries
1/4 cup golden raisins

Cake
4 cups walnuts
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup dates

In a large bowl, whisk agave nectar and water together. Add all of dried fruit into bowl. Let set for one-two hours or until the fruit softens.

In a food processor, combine walnuts, seasonings and sea salt. Add dates and continue to mix until you achieve a sticky dough.

Transfer the walnut dough to a large bowl. Fold in the soaked fruit until distributed throughout the dough.

Shape the fruitcake in a 5-inch round or square or however you choose. Have fun with it!

Through The 4 Alignments of Self Care ™, the journey of Manifesting Your Dreams begins with the desire to be healthy, happy & well. Next, the awareness of your personal history, e.g., story of your life. Once there is alignment with your core purpose & priorities, dream manifestation is the result.

Workshop includes lectures, 4 Alignments awareness-building exercises, Toltec Dreaming practices, group interaction. The series ends with an optional journey to the pyramids of Teotihuacan, Mexico from March 25-30, 2010. To See flyer click here.

How often are any of us in the experience of genuine feeling vs. thinking about feeling/judgment? The mind is such a conniving trickster. In a recent session a client said, “I have been doing all the things I think I should do. I am eating right, walking, getting enough sleep, and doing my spiritual practice. Yet I still get sick. How could this be?” I asked how she was feeling emotionally.

I sensed a disconnection between what she thinks she should do vs. how she was really feeling. Through our dialogue she gradually uncovered the exact moment when she decided to stop feeling. Her ego won the battle but her integrity & health lost the war. Does this scenario sound familiar?

What’s more important? Exercising power over the body or truly loving, feeling & caring for oneself? What’s the cost of disconnecting by listening to the mind’s agendas and judgments? How do we find our way back home to our inner knowing? Here are a few steps towards inner alignment:

1. Willingness to look at oneself honestly with the barometer of integrity.
2. Acceptance of who you are with no judgment.
3. Awareness of the mind’s distorted beliefs.
4. Remembering that every reaction/experience is an opportunity to see yourself.
5. The world is a mirror. You create your reality from beliefs of whom you “think” you are.
6. Lighten up. It’s just your ego in reaction. Its not really who you are!

Join Grace in aligning with your true heart and cultivating self-care. There are 2 options currently available:
Bimonthly meetings of Wisdom & Grace in Beverly, Ma or Embody Your True Heart at the sacred pyramids in Teotihuacan, Mexico March 25-30, 2010

For more information you can visit Grace’s website http://www.embodydreamprograms.com/

This past month my middle daughter’s dear childhood friend Jessy was murdered by her Marine husband after he returned from the Iraq war. She was a beautiful 21-year old with a heart of gold. The memories I have of this young man/boy are that he too was a sensitive kindred spirit.

The immediate response I felt to this news was deep sadness at the thought of never again seeing Jessy, whom I had watched grow up alongside my daughter. Then I was enveloped in judgments about the war, the Marines & our political leaders. How could this beautiful soul be taken so young and so horrifically? I started feeling in my heart and landed in my head in reaction. I wanted to judge, make someone wrong.

It blew me away when Jessy’s mother expressed no animosity to the boy. Instead she felt deep compassion for his troubled mind. And wanted him to get help. She knew they were in love and happy. She also knew that he returned from the war a changed man/boy. He had left as a sweet soul and returned deeply pained. Now tragedy had struck.

I found it quite a challenge to wrap my mind around this experience and find neutral ground. How can I stay present in my heart with all of my mind’s editorials? It’s so easy to lose track of our way. Heart or mind? How do I integrate both for clear expression instead of either/or, right or wrong?

I looked at a couple of ways I could express my feelings. I could say “I feel deep sadness, loss and pain in my heart for the passing of Jessy, the lousy war, insensitive Marines who didn’t even call to acknowledge her passing and offer their comrade any kind of support.” Or I could say, “I feel deep sadness, loss and pain in my heart for the passing of Jessy. I can feel the light that radiated from her smile and laughter. I can feel the sweetness of her gentle heart. I carry her sparkle with me as she is an angel buzzing around sharing her love in the heavens.”

I then I ask myself, how do I feel after each communication? Which one keeps me in my heart or takes me into my thinking/judging mind resulting in feeling negative and like a victim?

We have a choice. We can get hooked into old patterns of drama, gossip, ill-will, fear, negativity & judgment. Or simply feel what’s in your heart.

There is a presence in you that is always experiencing. It is a presence that is separate from your thoughts, from your feelings and from everything else.

This presence is the nonlocal domain from which everything originates. It is the infinite source of possibility and potential. It is you, without name, without concepts, without beliefs, without anything your mind could think of.

When you learn to live from this level of existence you are the one manifesting everything. You are the wizard – and remarkable revelations at this level become almost ordinary and normal. Tom Herold

What will inspire you to have gratitude and take responsibility for your life?. A loved one dying or witnessing a new life being born? Or you could step out into nature, breathe deep, feel the rhythms of life in the trees, rivers, oceans, the earth beneath your feet and FEEL YOUR PRESENCE connecting your mind and body.

Now I breathe and consciously feel my lungs expanding in my chest. I am waking up my muscles after long weeks disconnected slumber. Boy, does it feel great! I feel life coursing through me again. At once I feel relaxation and energy. I am whole. I am alive. My body is my earthly vehicle. How can I love it even more? When I am connected to all of myself, I feel plugged into all of life.

Ask yourself a few questions. Am I truly feeling today or do I think I’m feeling? And what concrete actions can I take to make feeling life a higher priority than mentalizing life?
Are you trying to put them into a box so your mind understands? Or are you living in presence? The discipline of asking such questions can wake us up to splendor of feeling alive today. From wherever Jessy is now, I’m sure she’d agree that it’s worth the inquiry!

A few weeks ago I asked myself, “What is my heart’s desire right now?” Without thinking, the words flew out of my mouth….To be at peace wherever I am. In that instant I recognized a couple of things.

1. If this is my heart’s desire then I am not living it. If I was living my heart’s desire, my answer would have been something else.

2. Being at peace wherever I am has to do with every aspect of my life…emotional, physical, mental, spiritual, my relationships…all of it! I saw how I was not at peace in several areas.

Next was the inquiry. What does it mean to be at peace wherever I am? What would it take for me to be at peace? It begins with putting an end to resistance & fighting with what is. Acceptance with no judgement. It doesn’t mean being complacent but rather having trust & faith in life.

If I am trying to sell my house (which I am!) and it isn’t happening, I have a choice. I can get frustrated, angry and impatient…the result of which will be unhappiness or I could have so much gratitude for my home, enjoy whatever time I have left there and be happy and at peace.

For the greater part of my life I wanted my body to be different… slimmer, stronger, taller, etc. Through dance, yoga and other disciplines I endeavored to reach the goals I set for my body. Some were easier than others. I haven’t figured out how to make myself grow! I have felt frustrated, indifference, hopeless, resentful and unhappy each time I chose not to accept me as I am. The only way to make a shift is from a place of peace. Not war. It is through love & compassion that the greatest and most lasting changes happen both personally & globally.

One other example is the desire for others who are close to me to change. As a Mother, Healer, & Teacher, I have repeatedly witnessed children and clients come against the psycho-spiritual crossroads of not accepting things as they are vs. one’s earnest desire for personal transformation. There is a fine line. On the one hand in order to make healthy shifts in one’s life, you need to change certain behaviors, beliefs & habits. On the other hand, if you judge yourself & others by making them wrong & failing to accept things as they are, an inner battle & downward spiral into old negative self-talk & expectations ensues. What’s to do?

Step 1 – Acknowledge what is true. I am not at peace. And I want to be.
Step 2 – Take inventory of myself by pulling my energy back inside & reviewing how I truly feel. I looked at my close relationships and knew I needed to step away from others so I could go inside and see where I am. It’s much more challenging to “see” myself when I am with others. Space gives me room to ’see’. I do regular check-ins asking, “What is my heart’s desire right now? What would make me happy and at peace right now? How do I feel? ”
Step 3 – Give myself what I want. It may be as simple as more rest, a bike ride, movie or a glass of water!
As I am discovering how to continually give to myself whatever my heart desires, I feel at peace. I breathe deeply and sigh, “Ahhhhhhh!”

Join me on a Holistic journey to the sacred pyramids in Teotihuacan, Mexico Embody Your True Heart March 25-30, 2010

with Lynne(Little Feather) Patrice & Peter Sklivas of Yoga Passion

Transformation through Reflection

The desire for transformation is evident as so many changes are upon us both inside & out. Our inner knowing tells us it is time but how do we do it?
In these wisdom groups we will explore tools of transformation that will bridge the gap of our desire to ‘break on through to the other side!’
We will use The Voice of Knowledge by don Miguel Ruiz , author of the best selling The Four Agreements, as our study guide.
Cost: Suggested donation $15.00/class. The class is open to new participants.

Grace Ventura Sardonicus, creator of EmBodyDream™, brings a wealth of wisdom as a healer and guide to transcend patterns that stifle vitality, joy and wellness. EmBodyDream™ offers the opportunity to nurture your self on a new level through group programs and one-on-one sessions in Health Counseling & Massage Therapy. Visit our website at http://www.embodydreamprograms.com/about.html

For more info please contact Grace at graceventura1@gmail.com or call 603-651-9642