Reflections On a 1-Week Internet/"Left-Brain" Fast :)

I am BACK :) 

As you may recall, I was on a week-long "internet/left-brain fast" this last week and it was an absolutely FABULOUS experience for me... Yesterday I shared in my newsletter three of the main insights/observations this "fast" brought up for me and I wanted to post these here too, for those who may have missed the newsletter... I sense that some of these thoughts shared below may be a little challenging to follow or relate to for some people - as ever, please simply take whatever might speak to you from this sharing and leave the rest... ;)

*I was very surprised to find that the main activity my energy was drawn towards during this "fast" was clearing/cleaning in our house ;O Over the course of the last week, I literally went through every single item in every single room of our home, organising, clearing, sorting and getting everything clear for *myself* about where things are, how things work and so on...I had no idea this would come up for me as an activity of interest and in fact it turned out to feel like a hugely cleansing, clearing and settling experience for me... It felt so empowering for me to get such clarity abt what is and isn't here, how it all fits together and so on...I understand that this might sound a bit strange to some people - lol - and it is certainly not smthg I anticipated being engaged in, or enjoying so thoroughly... I had no idea I would even have an interest in doing such a thing until I *actually* disconnected from the internet/left brain/schedule world and asked my being what it wanted to do...well, here I am on the other side of a wonderful week of clearing, with such an extraordinary feeling of *lightness*, clarity and joy in my being...
This is pretty much the first "home" that I've had as an adult - I was on the road for abt 14 years prior to us moving here to Vilcabamba...and our short time here so far has felt pretty PACKED with activity, people, stuff, expansion, projects...any clear sense of what was where in this house had long since escaped me, even though we don't own THAT many things and I didn't even *know* I felt this way until I disconnected and got quiet enough to tune into what I really wanted to focus on... Well, now my strong inner Virgo is definitely very happy, everything is in an order and place that makes sense to me and I have a huge sense of joy, lightness and "settling" that I didn't even know wasn't there before...a wonderful exploratory experience :)


On July 12th-19th I was on a week-long "left-brain/internet fast" and I appreciated the same kind of stuff each day - smthg like this:

1 quart water
1 cup mandarin/granadilla juice
handful of fresh strawberries/other fresh fruit
2 cups coconut water blended with Elixir of The Lake
little bowl of energy soup, nori sheets with Sea Clear, pistachio butter and sauerkraut on the side, followed by a sliced apple spread with almond butter
big mug of herbal tea
water of a young coconut
3 granadilla, chunk of papaya
1 cup water



*Going back online on Tuesday night for the first time in a week felt very odd... ;) I did not miss being on the internet *at all*, in fact it felt HUGELY liberating for me to be outside that reality for a while. Just like when someone does a fast from solid food and can finally get some perspective on their relationship with food, disconnecting from the internet/left-brain/schedule world for a week was amazing for me in terms of getting to clearly observe my relationship with the internet from a distance and to consider how I might love to restructure this relationship on the other side of this "fast". There were very interesting energetic sensations in my body and being from being back online...I noted how when I first reconnected, my whole being was still very calm, very relaxed, in no "rush" to get anything in particular done, taking things slowly, breathing easily...later as I got further into the connection, especially starting to work through the mound of emails accumulated over a week, I could feel my energy body getting tighter and it also felt more concentrated in my MIND, rather than lower in my heart and whole body - the experience was shifting... I worked through about half of the accumulated emails and then chose to leave it all and go to bed, yet discovered that my energy field was now altered...as I got into bed, there was a clear sense of agitation, restlessness, unsettled energy in my field...everything felt "higher up", in my mind, rather than a smooth sense of my energy field feeling evened out, serene and peaceful, as it had done the whole previous week...very interesting for me to observe... So, one conclusion I am drawing from this is the desire to outline for myself from now on specific times in any given day when I intend to be online/dealing with emails etc, then free myself from that connection completely the rest of the time...it feels especially in alignment for me right now to not be online towards the end of the day, as this seemed to have a distinct and unsettling effect on my energy field last night...


On July the 20th I enjoyed:

1 quart water
1 cup mandarin/granadilla juice
chunk of fresh papaya
2 cups coconut water blended with Elixir of The Lake
little bowl of energy soup, a little cucumber salad stuffed into nori sheets with Sea Clear and sauerkraut, followed by a sliced apple spread with almond butter
big mug of herbal tea
tastings of *amazing* raw creations at a delicious raw potluck spread: the "alfredo fettucine", pesto and pizza were all outstanding to my tastebuds, followed by some yummy frozen strawberry/mango cake :)
2 cups water


*I have been left with a new, even clearer sense of awareness of my energetic field from this "fasting" experience...this may be a little challenging to convey in words, let's see...there is a rich, full sense of stillness, presence and flow inside my being that was very nourished by this fasting experience - it feels very "filled-out" and more solid than ever before - call it the "still, small voice within", "intuition", "core being" or whatever word/phrase might make sense to you - there is a very full and expanded sense of that energy connection inside me after this fasting experience...and it feels clearly like smthg I want to maintain - it feels like a very strong "feminine" energy to me, which wants to be witnessed and involved...and interestingly I am ever-more able to notice small "disturbances" in this energy f!eld now, as and when smthg more "left-brain" is called to my attention, for example, or when the energy of a situation feels like it is getting "off-centre" in some way... This "feminine" flow energy feels very rooted in my whole torso, rather than up in my head/higher chakras... I feel very grateful for its presence and hold the intention to maintain this rich connection, choosing more time/space/flow in my life for "right-brain"/nourishing activities for me, rather than feeling more "fenced in" by left-brain things... ;) 

Ahhhhhhhh (deep breath)...I hope you enjoyed reading these musings and that perhaps smthg in here resonated for you too - I know for myself that this "fasting" has been a wonderful, very rich and nourishing experience, one filled with joy, gratitude, insights and upliftment and I feel that potentially my life will be permanently shifted into a different way of being after this week-long break - we'll see how things unfold from here... thank you :)

All love,
A. C. Stokes-Monaaaaaaaaaaaaarch :) xxx

Left Brain/Right Brain Musings...

Mmmm...today I would like to share some recent mmmmmmusings on right-brain activation...
Since going raw almost eight years ago, I feel less and less willing to do 'left-brain' things: anything to do with numbers or logistics for example seems to be increasingly unappealing, challenging and even 'tedious' for me these days...

I seem to have been stepping further and further into right-brain modus operandi and away from the left-brain conditioning of my background... I am frequently reminded of a comment made by one of the founders of the Damanhur community in Italy when I visited there about two years into my raw food journey...the founder was describing how most of the members of the community there are artists/creators of the most astounding pieces of art and so on, yet something like paying an electricity bill seems almost *impossible* for them...at the point when I heard this, I couldn't really relate - I couldn't understand feeling that way, living in that kind of flow...now I feel like I totally get it ;)

Now...I can *do* numbers/logistics/left-brain blahblah if I choose to, don't get me wrong - I was a straight A student in all subjects at school, including maths and sciences...and YET...these kinds of areas hold absolutely *no* zing or passion for me at all...I may have been able to force my being as a child and teenager inside a system, to do my best and push into all kinds of crevices of my left brain to get the grades...now though, in the reality I choose for myself, that kind of behaviour is of no interest to me and there is simply no energy there anymore to 'force' myself into left-brain labouring ;) I sense that many people go through these kinds of transitions with a raw lifestyle, as we reconnect more to our 'true' selves, inner peace, creative flow and genuine bliss...mmmmm...I wish you all the very best of hemispheric balance ;)


on April the 28th I enjoyed:

1 quart water
2 cups greeeeeen juice mixed with pineapple juice
water of a young coconut
2 yummy little cherimoyas, 2 cups greeeeen/mango smoothie
2 cups greeeeeen juice mixed with pineapple juice
2 cups water
spontaneous, yummy little bowl of salad: avocado, soaked wakame, chopped tomatoes, lots of sauerkraut :)
mug of resihi/shilajit/ormus tea
2 cups water

Here are a couple more upcoming raw-friendly events that have been sent in recently by readers - enjoy :)

* May 8th * Blue Oak Anti-Aging Center Grand Opening * Auburn, CA *

Full day of workshops, seminars, delicious organic raw and fermented foods, http://rawmatt.com/events.html

* May 22nd * Vibrant Life Expo * Newburyport, MA *

A day of fun, education and empowerment - transform your life, mind, body and spirit - see http://www.vibrantlifeexpo.com

Remember as ever that there are also fabulous, free weekly listings of raw food events, classified ads etc, over at The Daily Raw Cafe, on Thursdays - "Raw News You Can Use" - love it ;)


on April the 29th I loved:

1 quart water
water of a young coconut
2 cups greeeeeen juice mixed with pineapple juice
3 cups greeeeeen/mango smoothie with the delicious Mr. M :)
2 cups water
2 cups greeeeeeeeeeeen juice mixed with pineapple juice
a papaya
lovely shared meal with friends of a cucumber/zucchini salad, leftover peanut pate, crackers, coconut chips etc - yummy :)
mug of reishi/shilajit/ormus tea
2 cups water


on April the 30th I appreciated:

1 quart water
2 cups greeeen juice mixed with pineapple juice
water of a young coconut
an apple, 30 chlorella tablets, little handful of bee pollen
a cherimoya
a few crackers topped with avocado, lime juice, dulse and chlorella coconut chips
3 cups water
cup of greeeeeeeen smoothie
little bowl of cucumber salad with Mr. M, stuffed in lettuce leaves and on top of flax crackers, followed by a yummy slice of raw apple pie made by visiting friends :)
mug of reishi/shilajit/ormus tea
2 cups water


OMGoddess, I fell deeeeeeeeeply in love with a new musical inspiration yesterday, thanks to one reader, Colleen, who sent me the suggestion to listen in to some tooooons from Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros - WOW - love at first listen - here's my favourite find of their gorgeous creations so far - enjoy :)))

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRA5S59KjwY

All love, light and blissings to *your* home :)
Angelalaalalaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. xxx

Flowing Realities...

WOW – today I finally got around to watching the Jill Bolte-Taylor video on Ted.com, about the left and right hemispheres of the brain – have you seen it? AMAZING...Mr. M told me about this video many many months ago and it somehow evaded me until now...in this speech, brain researcher Jill explains how she had the extraordinary experience of personally living through a stroke, analysing the situation as her brain and body slowly shut down. Her eloquent and PASSIONATE tale of the differences she perceived as her brain function slowly teetered between the left and right hemispheres and then out into the great abyss is just AMAZING...wonderful story-telling...(and it all actually reminds me clearly of an out-of-body experience I once had after doing a wheatgrass implant - lol ;) You can watch Jill's speech for free (along with HUNDREDS of other amazing, inspiring videos) on Ted.com HERE – enjoy :)
(Thank you Mr. Monarch for the link :)


on November the 4th I had:

2 quarts water
1.5 cups veggie juice: celery, cucumber, spinach, kale, cabbage, carrot, ginger
2 cups energy soup with okra and flax crackers, followed by goji berry powder
little cup of rooibus tea
3 cups water
1.5 cups veggie juice: celery, cucumber, spinach, kale, cabbage, carrot, ginger
1.5 cups energy soup with okra and flax crackers on the side, followed by a yumball of new sweet gloop made by Mr. M – containing papaya, chia flour, lucuma powder, coconut flakes
3 cups water

Oooohhhhh, I love Iceland...did I ever mention that before??? ;)
Hmmmm, so dear Iceland seems to be in a VERY interesting stage of transition right now, after some pretty dramatic recent financial rumblings up there...I’m getting some incredible emails from friends there about how the whole nature and structure of life in Iceland seems to be shifting now – one friend mentioned that there are a lot of public meetings with people gathering to work out what they want to do next, now that the old system seems to be crunched into rubble...WOW...intense times – many people have seen all their savings wiped out, there seems to be huge upheaval and at the same time, so many possibilities... I am VERY excited to see what comes out of these discussions and how they move forward...my friend mentioned that next time I see the place, I will very likely see a VERY different country than the one I have known...I don’t really know what that will mean...I am curious to see though...and I will choose to visualise it involving greenhouses, lots of leafy greens and smiling faces ;)
One of the things I appreciate the most about Iceland is that because the population is so petite (around 300,000 people), things can move through the collective conscious so much more swiftly than in other places (if wanted). I sense that the Icelanders have an incredible opportunity to rise like a phoenix now...and I’m glad to see that at least some are maintaining a sense of humour through this experience: one photographer, Thorkell Thorkelsson decided to highlight the absurdity of the anti-terrorism legislation that was recently used by the British government against Iceland, by putting together a photo exhibition called ‘Icelandic Terrorists’. For this series of photos, Thorkell invited all Icelanders to come along to a photo session, bringing their ‘weapon’ of choice – lol – people turned up with varying objects, from snowballs to pens to pacifiers ;) You can read about that exhibition on the wonderful 'Iceland Review' site HERE and HERE is a recent, very thorough write-up from The Guardian on the current situation in Iceland.
Mmmm, sending love, light and healing to our friends and loved ones in the North...


on November the 5th I had:

1 quart water
1.5 cups watermelon/orange juice
2 cups veggie juice: celery, cucumber, spinach, kale, cabbage, carrot, ginger
plate of delicious salads – greens, raw waldorf salad, coleslaw mix, red cabbage soup with flax crackers, followed by some little sweet yumballs
2 cups herbal teas
2 cups water
1.5 cups veggie juice: celery, cucumber, spinach, kale, cabbage, carrot, ginger
1.5 cups energy soup with okra on the side, followed by more sweet yumballs (lucuma, chia flour, goji berries, maca powder, etc)
3 cups water


on November the 6th I had:

1.5 quarts water
1 gorgeous persimmon
2 cups veggie juice: celery, cucumber, kale, carrot, endive, fennel
2 cups energy soup with okra on the side, followed by a little yumpot of hazelnut butter mixed with lucuma powder, maca powder, carob powder and water
little cup of rooibus tea
3 cups water
1.5 cups veggie juice: celery, cucumber, kale, carrot, endive, fennel
bowl of Shellbel yummy grawnola
little cup of rooibus tea
2 cups water


I’ve been noticing a lot recently about the amount of water I use in the mornings...it seems like a very H20 intense time of day to me – does anyone else notice that? Here are some of the water-based activities I usually perform daily, immediately upon waking:

*flushing the toilet
*drinking water (at least a quart/litre usually)
*boiling the kettle (usually has at least 2 cups of water in it)
*filling a neti pot to rinse out my nose (with around 1 cup salt water – part cold, part hot)
*rinsing off sprouts (usually around 2 cups of water to get round them all)
*making a cup of herbal tea

Add to that during the course of a day showering, washing dishes, washing hands, drinking at least another 2 quarts of water, adding water to energy soup, more toilet flushes, rinsing sprouts again and possibly washing clothes/watering plants etc too and that all adds up to quite a watery footprint, methinks ;) We are SO reliant on water and yet so much of it worldwide seems insanely polluted...I am so excited to settle on a piece of land where we can have an abundant, clean source of water to enjoy...mmmm, holding that vision ;)
Incidentally, I recently came across some of the notes I made whilst living at the Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT) in Wales a few years back...there were some interesting watery facts in there, such as that back then (2004), the average UK household used around 150 litres (about 40 gallons) of water a day and the average US household used around 400 litres (approx. 105 gallons) a day, whereas the average African household used around 10 litres a day (approx. 2.5 gallons) - :O wow... I wonder if those stats have shifted much in the last 4 years...
Here are three user-friendly sites with some great ideas around water conservation, for anyone who’d love to curb their current contribution to intense water-cleaning processes...:

*Fema – US Govt site with a good list of general tips.

*Planet Green - watery tips from a big online eco-friendly source.

*Water, Use It Wisely - US site that offers 100 different tips, depending on location.


ENJOY :)
With a watery wink and a shiny shimmy,
Angelaalalalaaaaaaaa. xxx

Who'd like a slice of Raw SPAM...???

HELLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO :)))
I’m back :) Apologies for being suddenly ex communicado this last week – Blogger decided to run some tests on this blog, checking for spam – well, I guess they realised in the end that no raw foodist would likely be spreading SPAM around ;) LOL...and so we’re back in business...yeeeee-HAH... :)
I hope you’ve had a great week – we’ve been having fun. We went down to Christchurch, further south in New Zealand, where we spoke to a lovely group of vibrant beings...we heard some great healing stories, including a plumber whose knee was so inflamed, he could barely touch it or walk – he felt like he’d ‘tried everything’ to relieve it and didn’t know what else to do…then he heard abt the idea of colonic irrigations to relieve stress on the body and ‘unplug the sink’ of the blocked-up colon ;) I guess maybe it appealed to his plumber’s mind and he got to work on making his own enema kit from a few things he had laying around, used the enema and found that within 2 DAYS his knee was back to normal :))) WOW – we love hearing stories like that :))) People picking up simple concepts, taking responsibility for their OWN health (instead of turning to a doctor/allopathic pills, for example) and relieving their symptoms…beautiful :)
Thanks to all of you who came along to the talk...we speak next in Golden Bay on April the 13th, then Wellington on the 19th, Melbourne on the 23rd...see you there…??? ;)

Ok, hold on tight for an unprecedented TRIPLE-whammy of food logs today:

On April the 3rd I had:

1.5 quarts water
1 quart watermelon/tangelo juice
1 pint cucumber/dandelion/lettuce/spinach/cabbage/carrot juice
about 12 fresh figs, straight from the trees
2 cups water
3 cups cucumber/dandelion/lettuce/spinach/cabbage/carrot juice
little bowl of Mulberry magic: dried mulberries blended with sesame seeds, water and spirulina
little meal of pumpkin seeds with wakame seaweed fronds, then avocado, karengo seaweed and apple slices stuffed in romaine lettuce leaves
1.5 quarts water


on April the 4th I had:

1.5 quarts water
2.5 cups watermelon/orange juice
1 pint ‘Chocolate Milk’: spinach/romaine/carrot juice
bowl of figgy pudding: fresh figs blended with oranges and lucuma/maca/vanilla/cinnamon powders
2 cups water
1 tbsp green powder
handful of wakame seaweed with pumpkin seeds
2 cups rooibus tea
½ a watermelon
1 quart water

We had a really interesting link sent through a couple of days ago from Kate Magic. CLICK HERE and see which way you see the dancer twirling – clockwise or counterclockwise? People who mainly use the right side of the brain (creative, flowing, intuitive, open) see the dancer turning clockwise, whereas those who tend to be in their left hemispheres (logical, linear, detail-orientated, data-crunching ;) see her spinning counterclockwise. What do YOU see? I think this is fascinating. When I first looked, I only saw her spinning clockwise, on and on for ages, then suddenly it flipped, when I was laughing at one point, then after a while, back to clockwise...the Monarch on the other hand was flip-flopping between each direction from the outset – I guess that makes him...ambi-hemispherical or smthg ;) It was very interesting to be looking at the same image at the same time, with one of us seeing it going in one direction and the other in the opposite direction – wow ;) For those of you who are interested in hearing more abt left/right brain antics, you can check out the video from Jill Bolte Taylor on TED.com that Mr. Monarch recently recommended on his blog – he LOVES it ;)

Ok, left-brains at the ready – more food logs to digest...

on April the 5th I had:

1.5 quarts water
2 cups watermelon/orange juice
1 tbsp green powder
bowl of blended apples/mulberries mixed with ground flaxseed and spirulina
1 quart water
meal of cucumber yum: grated cucumber, mushed with avocado, finely diced onion, mixed sprouts and karengo seaweed, stuffed in lettuce leaves, with wakame fronds and pumpkin seeds on the side :)
1 quart water
2 pears
1.5 quarts watermelon/orange juice
2 cups water


on April the 6th I had:

1.5 quarts water
1 quart watermelon/tangelo juice
24oz celery/parsley/spinach/lettuce/sprouts/carrot juice
belly-full of fresh figs picked straight from the trees, along with the first persimmon of the season, a little handful of delicious concord grapes and 2 apples – YUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM :)
1 quart water
20oz celery/parsley/spinach/lettuce/sprouts/carrot juice
cucumber yummm: grated cucumber, mushed with avocado, finely diced onion, mixed sprouts and karengo seaweed, stuffed in lettuce leaves, with wakame fronds and pumpkin seeds on the side :)
1.5 quarts water

I’m VERY excited to announce that there is going to be a RAW OLYMPICS taking place this December, from the 13th -17th, at the Kalani Resort on the Big Island of Hawaii. WOW :) I hope we can be there...spaces are open right now for people to register to attend, compete and get involved in any way that helps their right brain hummmmmm ;) The basic idea is that raw foodists’ bodies, abilities and health can literally be in a different league to other athletes – so, let’s gather all those on this journey who might want to sweat, bounce and jiggle together, on a more ‘even’ playing field of all-raw kiddies ;) I am particularly intrigued by this event, as I’ve long felt drawn to suggest there ought to be a ‘Cacao Olymics’ event at the Raw Spirit Festival, wherein participants would ingest large amounts of the ancient brown stuff and see what super-abilities pour forth, as they go about tasks like high-jumping, long-jumping or rope-skipping ;) LOL...well, while I still think that would be fascinating to witness, I’m also delighted to see that someone is taking the far more sensible approach of simply having a RAW Olympics, not based around cacao ;) Hmmm, I wonder if the attendees will be ‘tested’ for cacao before participating...???
You can explore more at http://www.rawolympics.org.

On April the 7th I had a juicy day of:

1.5 quarts water
60oz watermelon/orange juice :O
2 cups water
16oz celery/parsley/spinach/carrot juice (potassium broth)
1 quart beetroot/celery/apple juice
1 tbsp wheatgrass powder
3 cups watermelon/orange juice
3 cups zucchini/carrot juice
2 cups water


on April the 8th I had:

2 cups water
1 quart nettle tea/water
3 cups watermelon/orange juice
3 cups celery/dandelion/lettuce/zucchini/carrot juice
handful of fresh figs, 3 outrageous ripe persimmons, 2 apples – all picked by hand, straight from the orchard – BLISS :)
3 cups water
3 cups celery/cabbage/zucchini/lettuce/carrot juice
bowl of cucumber yummmm: grated cucumber, mushed with avocado, finely diced onion, mixed sprouts and karengo seaweed, stuffed in lettuce leaves
3 cups water

Thanks for all the juicy feedback that continues to flow in about ‘Raw Emotions’ – it’s so rewarding to hear about your experiences. One blogger, Tanisha, had this to see about the book:

“This book is by far one of the best books I have read on how to stop utilizing food as a comfort. I bought this book and 3PM on Saturday last week and finished reading it by 9PM. It is not a short book but it kept my attention. Angela talks about how we use cooked foods to comfort us, and gives tons of tips on how to push away the food and eat only when necessary.”

Thanks Tanisha :) You can check out her whole post HERE and if you have not yet delved into the vibrant flow of Raw Emotions yourself, you can pick up your own copy HERE.

ENJOOOOOOOOOOOOY :)
All love,
Angelalalaalalaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. xxx