SPRING TIME… It's time to play!
We are all guilty of crime—the great crime
of not living life to the full.
We can stop thinking of what we have failed to do and
do whatever lies within our power.
What those powers that are in us may be, no one has
truly dared to imagine.
That they are infinite we will realize the day we
admit to ourselves that imagination is everything.
Imagination is the voice of daring.
--Henry Miller
Dare to start imagining yourself living the life you have always dreamed of living. One step at a time... just take one step towards what is making you happy, and the urges that motivate you to smile yourself back towards a more confident life! This is a wake-up call for the whole planet right now. Don't go down the rabbit hole of fear and despair but instead, rise up, connect, believe and trust that everything is working out.
Seize the day, as they say, and do what the poet Rumi calls us to do:
“Take an axe to the prison wall!
Step out like someone suddenly born into color.
Do it now!”
Come celebrate this magical time of year with one of our specially-designed Women’s Quest retreats to spark your spirit, renew your body, and exalt your senses!
This year we are offering three fantastic summer retreats in Tuscany. It has been so much fun planning that we hope you can join us! Each retreat will be a wonderful time of connecting with the essential parts of yourself, while experiencing this beautiful part of the world. In Italy, living is considered a passionate work of art. Come join other like-minded women of all ages and abilities in experiencing “la dolce vita”, the sweet life in Tuscany, on the quest for health, fun, and self-discovery. You will return from a retreat inspired and renewed.
If you have not yet attended a Women’s Quest adventure, you are in for a treat! Check out www.womensquest.com to learn more about how our programs inspire women of all ages and abilities to manifest vitality and balance in their lives.
It’s time to be refreshed and revived! Come rejuvenate your body, mind and spirit— we are serving up a glorious feast for all your senses in magnificent Tuscany. Choose the retreat that sparks your passion for living!
Toscana Creativa May 29 – June 5, 2009
Our special art and creativity retreat in Tuscany! This retreat will be a week-long celebration of art, and the art-of-living, Tuscany-style. Open to all women regardless of previous art experience.
Come stay with us on a magnificent wine-and-olive oil-producing villa in the heart of the most magical area of Tuscany. We will teach you to paint outdoors in the landscape and the medieval villages surrounding us. You will have a feast of subjects to spark your soul, and morning yoga will be offered daily to refresh the body. Painting can be a profound experience that engages all of our senses, our minds, and our spirits. We begin to see the world as never before, and our paintings give evidence of that new vision.
Guidance will be keyed to your experience level, whether first-time beginner wishing to uncover your hidden creative side, or seasoned artist hungry for the time, space, and inspiration this retreat affords, in a setting of unrivalved beauty and fascination. (Click here to learn more.)
Exclusive Athleta Tuscany Cycling Tour June 7 – 14, 2009
This Athleta sponsored retreat will allow your senses to run wild, with 7 days of cycling, yoga, outrageous fun and spirited adventures in the magical heart of Tuscany. We cycle quiet back roads through the Tuscan wine country, visit magnificent medieval villages for amazing lunches, discover the best gelato, enjoy the mindfulness of daily poetry and "yoga for cyclists", savor the freshest local cuisine, participate in a cooking class taught by a local chef, and taste the finest wines and cheeses. (Click here to learn more.)
“La Dolce Vita” Spring Tuscany Tour June 14 – 21, 2009
Come join us on this fantastic springtime version of our most celebrated retreat and rekindle your passion for the art of living: "La Dolce Vita". We cycle quiet back roads through the Tuscan wine country, visit magnificent medieval villages, discover the best gelato and cappuccino stops, hike along the shimmering Mediterranean sea, enjoy the mindfulness of daily poetry and yoga, savor the freshest local cuisine, learn to prepare authentic dishes from local cooks, taste the finest wines, olive oils, and cheeses together with the families that produce them, and experience true Tuscan hospitality and local color in all aspects of this unique, women-only retreat. All ability levels welcome. (Click here to learn more.)
Daisy Lee
My friend and teacher, Daisy Lee, shares Qigong for “Spring Cleaning” of the body, mind and spirit.
According to Qigong principles, spring is thought to be the season when the liver needs to flush out stagnant energy from its winter hibernation, especially after the excesses of the holiday season. Our liver processes blood and fluids and filters out harmful chemicals, drugs and additives that come from our food and environment. When the liver isn’t functioning optimally, women will often experience problems with their menstrual cycles such as painful periods, excessive clotting, or anger and irritability often associated with PMS, as well as menopausal symptoms like hot flashes.
Practicing one or two of the following exercises for even a few minutes each day can help to clear stagnations and blocked energy from the liver and help to facilitate smooth qi flow throughout the body.
1. Using the edge of your hand like a knife, pull back and underneath the bottom right rib. This helps to stimulate the physical liver as well as releasing any blocked energy from that organ system. You can use the left hand on the left side at the same time to support digestion in the stomach and pancreas. Continue this pulling-back motion for 1 minute.
2. Starting on the left, circle the eyes in a big infinity sign, looking up and around, down and around, then moving up towards the right side in the same motion. Move the eyes as slowly and smoothly as possible in one continuous flowing movement, breathing deeply and gently as you do the exercise. This supports the channel of energy for the liver and improves the elasticity of the eye muscles - great for computer users, couch potatoes, and those who wish to avoid cataract surgery.
3. Rub the palms together vigorously and place the warm palms over your eyes for one minute…use whenever eyes are fatigued.
Visit www.kahunavalley.org for more info on the complete Qigong for Cleansing and Detox DVD – including the Liver Cleansing & Strengthening Movement which improves all bodily functions, but can also help failing eyesight and release the emotion of anger that is thought to stagnate in the liver when one takes too much medication, drinks too much alcohol, eats improperly or is facing ill health.
Daisy Lee is an international Qigong teacher who travels across North America, Europe, Asia and Australia to teach Qigong. She co-stars on Fit-TV with Francesco Garripoli and co-produced the documentary, ‘Qigong – Ancient Chinese Healing for the 21st Century’ that airs on PBS TV. Their award-winning DVD’s can be purchased at www.kahunavalley.org. Daisy specializes in the Radiant Lotus Qigong for Women passed down from her teachers in China and Tibet. She will be starting a certification program to empower women to share these techniques in August of 2009. Daisy also takes groups of students to study Qigong in China every September.
Contact information: To learn more about Daisy Lee’s Qigong study trips or to book a private health reading, email radiantlotus@gmail.com and visit www.kahunavalleyorg and www.radiantlotusqigong.com.
Semeli Natural Products
Our good friends from Semeli Natural Products provide these tips for springtime skincare:
Spring is just around the corner, the time we peel away the layers of winter revealing our often neglected layers of skin. It’s time to pamper our skin so that it looks healthy and radiant, ready for those spring dresses and summer vacations! One of the easiest ways to do this is with a full body exfoliation. Exfoliation is a technique aimed to improve the appearance of the skin to achieve a glowing and even complexion. Exfoliating twice a week is recommended to remove dry skin, stimulate circulation and increase the skin’s absorption of nourishing and moisturizing ingredients.
By exfoliating, you remove the top layer of dead skin cells that accumulate over time. If these are not removed, your skin may look dull, rough and lusterless. Regular exfoliation of the skin will help maintain its optimum condition; accelerating its renewal process and creating a new level of smoothness, leaving your skin feeling sleek and polished. As we age it is especially effective as cell turnover slows and skin begins to retain less moisture. Don't forget to spend extra time on your rough spots; elbows, knees and heels. Also, be sure to use a rich moisturizing body lotion afterward to help keep your skin supple.
An extra bonus: by stimulating the lymphatic system, exfoliation is also an effective and easy way to help eliminate toxins from the body.
Semeli Exfoliating Body Polish - For all Skin Types
With Organic Olive Oil & Olive Seed Powder
Olive Oil Seed Powder exfoliates dry skin, tones, and stimulates blood circulation. Olive Oil & Almond Oil moisture, nourish, and encourage skin's natural function. Panthenol & Calendula softens, heals, moisturizes and aids tissue repair. Aloe Vera & Vitamin E renew, detoxify and strengthen skin tone, improving collagen and elasticity. Leaving your skin soft, bright, silky and refreshed.
Use in the shower on wet body. Massage Semeli Body Polish all over (not intended for face or neck). Rinse thoroughly.
Contact information: www.semeli.net ~ 888.473.6354
Spring Nutrition
Spring is green and new and our optimal foods for the season should reflect these qualities. Our spring diet is the lightest and simplest of the year and is also designed to support the liver and gall bladder, which benefit from cleansing at this time of year.
Our diet this season should reflect the expanding energy of the spring, and focus on what is available: fresh greens, sprouts, and young, baby vegetables. This is also the time of year to leave the sodium-rich, energy-sinking diet of winter behind. The heavier diet of the winter can overtax the liver at this time of renewal.
As described in the Chinese philosophy of health, spring's color is green and its taste is sour. In keeping with this, our spring diet includes more raw and sprouted foods as well as sour foods. Salads made of spring greens with lemon-based dressings are ideal this time of year. Cooking styles also change with spring. Very fast sautés, stir-frys and quick steaming are some of the best cooking methods to optimize the digestibility of the fresh veggies, while keeping the nutritional content of the foods intact.
Yoga inspiration by Gretchen Spiro
Discipline for yoga—does this term excite you or make you feel resistant? It’s interesting how much our expectations (wanting to do something “perfectly” or “completely”) can sometimes get in the way of doing any yoga at all. If an intention in yoga is to be present with yourself as you are, and to come to the yoga mat as you are…with the body you have today…what’s stopping you?
Yoga is not about what you get, it is about what you give. The word “discipline” comes from the root of the Latin root “descipulus”, which means “learner.” What do you want to learn? Do you want to learn about your capacity for balance, for peacefulness, for more energy—try some daily yoga! Be realistic about what your practice can entail, given the time and energy you have available. Start simply. You could begin with 2 minutes of mindful breathing and two rounds of sun salutations in the morning. Try 8 minutes every day for a month—a cleansing “welcome” to the coming spring and more vibrant energy. The most important part is to bring yourself to your practice, with consistency and commitment.
The sage Patanjali describes the Sanskrit term, abhyasa as “to apply oneself.” From this viewpoint, every aspect of your life is in opportunity for practice. Try this: roll out your yoga mat, see how you can offer yourself to the discipline of yoga—being a learner. Commit to your purification and growth so that “the old escapes into the new.”
Join Gretchen on the Mexico Yoga Retreat in Maya Tulum Oct 31-Nov 7th
(Link to WQ Mexico Retreat)
Poem by Wendell Barry
A PURIFICATION
At start of spring I open a trench
in the ground. I put into it
the winter's accumulation of paper,
pages I do not want to read
again, useless words, fragments,
errors. And I put into it
the contents of the outhouse:
light of the sun, growth of the ground,
finished with one of their journeys.
To the sky, to the wind, then,
and to the faithful trees, I confess
my sins: that I have not been happy
enough, considering my good luck,
have listened to too much noise,
have been inattentive to wonders,
have lusted after praise.
And then upon the gathered refuse
of mind and body, I close the trench,
folding shut again the dark,
the deathless earth. Beneath that seal
the old escapes into the new.
