5 Aspects Of Coaching
Fundamentally, Eating As A Spiritual Practice is about stewardship. By starting as a good steward of yourself – acting in your own best interest, loving yourself and nourishing yourself daily – you’ll become a stronger steward for the greater good, to help nurture each other and our planet. We’re all connected. Our health and vibrancy affects the whole.
I believe that in awakening and acting on our own behalf it is essential that we address self care in 5 important areas of life. Let's break them down...
Food.
About Essential Cuisine
Essential Cuisine is the culinary-based practice I created from my life experiences as a mother, chef, foodie, healthy food and environmental activist, author of Essential Cuisine cooking DVDs, keynote speaker, spiritual student and teacher.
Notice that I am not calling Essential Cuisine a “diet.” I think diets are confusing and constricting and they deny pleasure. Essential Cuisine is rather a daily practice – a way of life where nourishment, flavor, respect for the Earth, and health and vitality are the essential ingredients. Food is simply the seed (pun intended) I believe that helps you fully bloom into your higher self. When your body is healthy, it can serve as the vital vessel that enables you to pursue your calling and do the work you were meant to do. Learn to bring yourself into alignment – physically, mentally and spiritually. When your body is in harmony, your life is in harmony.
At its root, I designed this practice to awaken and dazzle the senses by providing people with foods the body loves and the palate craves: delicious pure, organic, natural whole foods. Essential Cuisine combines the best of raw, cooked and cultured foods. The inspiration is derived from luscious flavors and textures, highly functional super foods, alkaline foods, probiotic rich foods, artisan oils and a healthy combination of organic whole foods from the Earth.
You’ll learn how to “eat from the earth not the factory” with a focus on:
- Raw foods and sprouting
- Healthy fats and oils
- Cultured, fermented foods
- Nuts, seeds and grains
- Healing foods, such as bone broth, and Ayurveda principles and ingredients that help heal your gut (the core system of good health)
Don’t worry; it’s not complicated. I’m not one to color within the lines; in fact, rigid recipes make my eye twitch! So I’ll teach you to let loose and enjoy cooking with simple ingredients that bring huge pleasure (you’ll hear me say “lavishly sprinkle…” a lot!). We’ll learn the basics about how to easily make delicious, nourishing, high-quality foods while keeping it affordable, simple and aligned with your unique lifestyle. Forget about rules and “the” way – this is all about what feels right for YOU. We’ll take baby steps that will help you make big leaps.
Mind.
You can’t be creative and inventive if your mind is foggy and you’re lethargic. You can’t tune into your intuition and grow spiritually when you’re weak and over medicated. And if you’re mind is filled with “I can’t do that” negative thoughts, you’ll likely shut down before you ever begin. People have issues about food and their bodies. Our thoughts and limiting beliefs run our lives and can sabotage us. And often our limiting beliefs show themselves in our daily dietary and lifestyle habits. Do either of these sound familiar?
"I don’t know where to start in the kitchen with cooking. It’s overwhelming. So I give up. And that makes me feel guilty. I feel like I’m a failure. So I eat a Twinkie and stay in my rut."
"I have a bad habit of purchasing all I need for a week and then I don’t want what I have available or I’m too tired to prepare it or it’s too much work. So I just stop in my tracks."
These thoughts give clues to what’s really holding you back. As part of Eating As A Spiritual Practice we’ll take the time and space to look inside and face those thoughts and limiting beliefs head on. We’ll practice what I call deep “inner work” that I still do almost daily. As a dedicated and certified student of the Work of Byron Katie and Avatar Wizard I can attest to the utter profound value of doing this inner work. Learning to navigate your own consciousness will awaken you and finally help you lift out of the fog of negative untruths.
Yoga.
As a certified Yoga teacher, I’ll share simple techniques to renew your breath, create flexibility and strengthen your spine to help you stand upright as you age. A healthy spine is paramount. You must start now to create a spine that lasts for a lifetime. Great health is about staying in alignment. Whether you like yoga or not, there are a few easy movements that will serve you greatly in restoring and strengthening your spine. Your body will love you for it. Please read the blog post to learn why Yoga is one of the only ways to keep that spine or yours straight and strong.
Earth.
As an author and environmentalist with vast experience working with the top health and environmental professionals in the country, I have come to understand what it takes to keep us in alignment with the Earth and her living systems. Understanding the dynamics and laws of the universe are key in providing the support and knowledge you need to become the steward you are meant to be. Today, more than ever, environmental issues must be considered in our health and wellness practice. Trust me, aligning with Earth's living systems just might be the catalyst you need to fall in love with your life.
Spirit.
Essential Cuisine helps you realize how eating and living well are a spiritual practice. Our interconnection is clear in these reciprocal relationships that begin with food:
- When you eat well, you live well.
- When you are healthy and well, you can serve others.
- When you make good food choices (from farm not factory), you are making good choices that affect the health of our planet and the earth’s living systems.
- When you truly love yourself, you can love others.
In our practice together, I will listen deeply and gently guide you with techniques I’ve learned along my vibrant path of spiritual awakening and personal development. Come, join me.
This is your opportunity to experience pleasure instead of deprivation, feel complete instead of full, and satisfied instead of wanting. A lifestyle that embraces a deep and respectful relationship with all life on Earth offers simplicity, ease, vitality and fulfillment.
Although much of my work is focused on food, I’ll share with you the lifestyle practices that challenged me and ultimately brought me to a place of blissful living or at least blissful living most of the time. My intention is to serve and inspire you to awaken to deep and meaningful stewardship of your life – just as I have done in my own life. I promise you will learn and become inspired to take the action you desire and most likely need, whether you realize it now or not.
Please contact me for a no-obligation 30 to 60-minute complimentary health, wellness, and nutrition coaching session by phone, by Skype or in person (on Maui).