Erika Tangari’s SOL (Secret of Life) – Food Activation

Food Activation – Erika Tangari’s SOL (Secret of Life)

What is food activation? What does it mean?

You could also term it eating ‘live’ food or food which is alive. That is a concept which, when eating animals is one long known in many cultures but considered abhorrent in Western societies.

Food activation is moving the things you eat from a dormant state to one in which they are prepared or preparing to move into the next phase of their life cycle.

Meat is dead, there’s no two ways about it.

Most start with a plant based diet, but in actual fact live food used to and can/could still include milk, cheese, eggs, yoghurt as well as more modern day familiar live foods like kombucha and kefir. Bear in mind that if you buy either of these in the supermarket – including the health food shop – they are no longer alive because they have been pasteurised, same for cheese, milk and most yoghurt is no longer live. It is easy to see in kombucha. If a kombucha drink is live after about four days a ‘mother’ will start to form on the surface. (There are never any mothers in supermarket kombucha...)

The less you cook your food the better. So eating food that is alive has gotta be the best. Certainly this is argued by proponents of more than once section and version of healthy eating.

So basically activating your food is eating food that is as alive as possible.

There are many arguments as to why this is the best thing to do.

Lots of people will tell you that legumes and beans are bad for you because they ferment in your insides and give you gas. I can' t think of anyone anywhere who will tell you that eating sprouted beans is in any way bad for your digestion unless you have one of a number of conditions which make the digestion of fibre an issue.

Activating your food is setting the little energy spark that turns a bean into a sprout or a seed into a plant and either suspending the process just after the spark or eating the spark of energy and taking that 'life' within.

It's not a difficult process at all. It consists of soaking seed, grain, bean or legume in water for an appropriate amount of time. You can also try aiming to eat unpasteurised foods whenever you can find them.

Those of us lucky enough to live in a city, country or area where the water is absent of chlorine, fluoride and other chemicals can feel perfectly happy just using tap water, some people in areas like London or in places where the water is heavily fluoridated or chlorinated will want to use some kind of a filter for the water that they activate with.

Various, mainly non scientific, studies show living foods have healing powers that may, and many claim have and do alleviate conditions such as low energy, allergies, digestive disorders, weak immune system, damaged intestinal system, high cholesterol, candida, obesity, etc. Live food and a raw food diet is said prevent the body's healthy cells from turning into malignant cancerous cells.

Raw foods are supposedly easy (or easier) to digest and when you do so they are said to provide the maximum amount of energy with minimum bodily effort.

The sprouting process brings out live enzymes and other nutrients in germinated seeds, legumes, and grains which in turn makes them easy to digest.

Enzymes are complex organic substances that originate from living cells. They initiate chemical changes in surrounding organic substances and so help to transform and digest them. Unfortunately, virtually none of these delicate entities can survive temperatures greater than 46° C , most enzymes start to degrade at about 40°, so they are destroyed by the heat of cooking, pasteurisation and any commercial processing.

The enzymes in live foods act like catalytic converters for general digestion, they aid the body in properly absorbing nutrients but also in eliminating non-live foods we consume. Most live foods are also high in fibre. So eating live foods is said to help your system make better use of virtually every healthy thing you eat

Sprouts (as in sprouted seeds, beans and nuts) are living foods full of pure vitamins and minerals, rich in chlorophyll and a great source of plant protein. Vitamins and minerals need enzymes, to accomplish their nutritive missions.

Enzymes are living biochemical factors that activate and carry out all the biological processes in the body such as digestion, nerve impulses, detoxification processes, functioning of RNA/DNA, repair and healing of the body, and the functioning of the mind. There are natural enzymes in raw food, these minimize the use of enzymes created and secreted by the body for digestion. The body’s enzymes can then be converted and used for the process of detoxification, repair, and overall healing. The preservation of our enzymes by eating live foods seems to play an important role in slowing the aging process. Enzyme reserve seems to be connected to life force, health, and longevity. As we age there seems to be a significant drop in enzyme reserve.

Researchers found that Inuit peoples eating (their natural diet of) about two pounds of raw blubber a day had no heart disease or atherosclerosis. When the same community (under pressure from Western influences) began eating the same amount of blubber cooked , they developed high rates of both of these Western killers.

Live foods have the highest amount of bioactive food nutrients, phytonutrients, bioelectrical energy, biologically active water, electrons, and most energized and organized SOEF’s (subtle organizing energy fields).

Dr. Bircher-Brenner started the first modern live food clinic in 1897. He felt that eating raw foods was a way of restoring the diseased body and the mind’s ability to heal itself. Other healers have used living foods with their clients. Dr. Max Gerson claimed to have cured cancer cases in Mexico, including having healed Dr. Albert Schweitzer of diabetes and his wife of TB. This is unproven but his raw diet has definitely adversely affected some people. He claimed with the use of live foods a 90% cure rate, 17% of which had been considered incurable.

Personally I do not think a raw food diet is a healthy option for anyone living in a damp, northern, four season climate. I do believe it is important to eat an amount of raw food every day (if possible) and that the body works best with as wide a mixture as possible with an emphasis on local, seasonal, less dense, lighter and plant based foods. Which isn't to say that that is how I eat most of the time!

I asked Erika (Tangari) where the name Sol (Secret of Life) came from? 

 

In another article I wrote about my almost mystical experience eating plant based food that she had prepared. This reaction is fairly common

“People ask me constantly; ‘What are your techniques, (how) can I also make food that makes one feel alive and so present? 

 

The method is born from a mixture of a scientific approach to food (literally in terms of nutrition), from our feelings, our emotional and spiritual connections to what we eat and of course the stories that our grandmothers told us (as they coaxed us to eat the food we refused from our mothers). The stories, the history, the journeys, the tastes and how they change, the emotions and experiences of food are the secret of life.

My grandmother for example taught me to activate brown beans before eating them, so that they are their most nutritious, the best way to absorb protein in your diet and the least aggravating for your body. This is information, passed through the oral traditions that we are so often told exist no more. These traditions, these are the ones that we absorb through most usually, our grandmothers (cooking) are the secret of life. 

 

A human being has many levels/layers, the brain/mind, the heart, the physical body, the emotions and the spirit. The Secret Of Life is the space in which they all exist, balancing themselves with each other. 

 

There are moments when I am teaching that the Secret of Life is physical, purely chemical, nutritional science, at other moments it’s more subtle and we are exchanging nebulous ideas concepts and information: food memory and or soul memory or the teaching can be practical. As in where the food comes from, how it is grown and transported. 

 

Sol has a multi layered meaning. Secret of Life yes, but also the name of the sun, central life giver of our SOLar system. It also the 5^th or dominant note of the Western (often with different spelling) doh-ray–me–far–sol musical scale. That 5^th note is a natural human toning, occurring all over the world naturally and spontaneously from childhood. The name of that note is used in the name of teaching musical theory – SOLfege. This is deliberate.

In the same way that music is integral to humanity and has many layers and functions so is it also with the philosophy, preparation, teaching and enjoyment of preparing and eating (Secret of Life) activated food

In my recipes section I have a food activated gomasio recipe

This information in this article is not intended to replace the diagnosis, treatment and services of a physician. Any recommendations and indications are at the reader's discretion. For severe or life-threatening conditions, always seek immediate medical attention.

Changing the View and Perception of Food

A (New/Different/) Better Way Of Eating

I am interviewing, reviewing or writing about predominantly women (and possibly some men) who I find, inspiring, interesting or think need a spotlight for what they do, how or why they do it, the way they think or just because I like or love them.

What better way to start than with an interview with someone about food.

I am very interested in any reader responses to the articles or the people featured in them.

My article/review of the one day Soul Song Retreat in Amsterdam was a start on the project. The day was done in part by Lex Empress. The afternoon was called Food Activation and done with Erica Tangari. Her concept of activating food is the core of a completely different way of engaging with our food. Taking the food from a dormant state to a live and activated state (and then suspending it in that state to eat it). 

 

There is so much hype around vegan food. The amount of tasteless, overproduced, ethically immoral, animal/human exploitative but plant based food available is for me ultimately depressing and a clear sign of most of the things that are wrong in our society. i.e. you take a concept that is aimed at creating a fairer world for animals and people and that sustains rather than exploits the planet. Within three years this concept has been hyped to the point where apart from giving a lot of over privileged people the chance to crow and feel good about themselves it actually in many cases ends up doing the exact opposite of its aims.

Eating activated food, learning how to activate your food is so much more meaningful in terms of cruelty free eating than veganism as it is now presented. Unsurprisingly Erika is far from a fan of the term – vegan(ism).

Changing The View And Perception Of Food

Erika Tangari was born and raised in Milano Italy, her family roots are from the South of the country. Her parents were 'the best parents you could imagine'. Her father a bank worker, her mother a teacher. From the age of six every holiday was spent travelling in a caravan. Erika credits these journeys as one of the foundations of her connection to food;

Erika's plant based foods have the feeling and passion of Italian cuisine, the medicinal context of Indian cooking, combined with the aesthetic sense of the Japanese kitchen. When I ate her food it allowed me to come back into myself and be in me. It was a scary experience. I understood that if I only ate her food I would lose my fat (my protection). Her food fills you on so many levels but leaves the space you need to absorb what is happening to you when you eat the food. It is impossible to overeat. Her food in your body is an physical experience of unconditional love.

 

The revolutionary journey from my grandmother's food to mine is that I feed people for humanity. Food from our mothers and grandmother's doesn't leave the space my food does. Their food was and is designed to fill the child. I call the space that I place into my food the Lazarus space. The space between the words that call to life and the decision to (re)inhabit and come back to life. The old style food is almost an overdose of love. It leaves no space. My food brings a memory and love of the past. It brings the love of Mothers and grandmothers without filling the whole space. It fills the spaces that need to be filled and allow the rest of the body to reactivate and regenerate. To self heal.

The food of our (enslaved) ancestors was designed to allow us to survive the outside world, it's difficulties, struggles and hatred by placing within the food, and so within the body the knowledge of the love that could not been allowed to show.

Tell me how you came to this point? Your journey to this space with teaching and sharing your/this understanding of the power of food and eating.

Food for me has always been the way to meet The Other.

My earliest memories around food are; myself as a child, as children are; with full potential and infinite possibilities. I think I was five when I first had that sense of why I had come here, that I had reincarnated, it happened with the memory in the food. The memory, taste, sensation; being fully present in the moment of tasting. That ability to be fully present when tasting, when eating brings you into the presence of your being and not being.

I remember that on Sundays I would be waiting for the opportunity to cook with my mother and or grandmother. In those moments I didn't feel alone, I was happy and in my place. From the age of about 11/12 I started to cook alone. Cooking for and eating with my family; my grandmother, father, brother, and mother. They would look at me; 'This is different, delicious, good' in those moments I began to develop the magic touch with food. I knew I was doing what I was supposed to do. In those moments with the whole family present in body and spirit. There to enjoy the experience of my food, celebrating life and the taste of the present moment

The issues and problems with my father's job, the stress engendered by the school where my mother worked they all disappeared in those living moments of the shared meal.

When we sat at the table we were completely present, undistracted. We didn't sit eating, thinking and speaking of other things; what needed to be done the next day. My family didn't sit to eat and do other things. Which is something that happens often. We would sit and really be there, eating and feeling the work the food was doing. For me those Sunday meals were a celebration of the present moment and also a celebration of me as a child. 

It is through her sense of smell and her engagement with food that Erika first connected with her deep knowledge of past lives and the existence of re incarnation.

We know that children are connected to the true present, they live in the present. Those meals for me were the celebration of truth. I would sit with the five loves that is my family, all present, all there to celebrate the love of life, in food. It was not every Sunday but often. Everyone was home. It was a day of celebration.

I remember we sat down at the table to eat, the first argument would be what we were going to eat next. Literally sitting down to lunch, my grandmother would ask 'What would you like for dinner?' 'Nonna, I haven't even tasted lunch yet I can't think about dinner'. The next conversation was about what we were eating; it's good, it's tasty. In Italy you eat also for pleasure not just because you have to eat. Food takes, brings and holds our attention. It is an illusion of presence.

One of my mantra's is that we eat at least 3x a day our whole life. If we make eating an exercise of being present. Then we will be present at least in those 3x a day for the rest of our life.

We met at your Soul Song and Food Activation One day retreat in Amsterdam. It was amazing. Will you be doing more of them?

We will be repeating the one day retreats, but not this time.

This visit we are working on setting up an innovative kitchen concept in two restaurants.

We want to evolve a kitchen that is different from what you expect or generally get. A place where you create medicine. I am not speaking about a focus on healing a specific medical condition, the basic concept of the cuisine is reconnection. This reconnection is actually more a recognition of the truth. I am working to create a sustainable kitchen in a city. A place where people come to eat and through/with the food remember the knowledge, reasons and purpose of their re incarnation. The WHY they are in this life.

For me the analogy is 'it's like eating food made for you by your grandmother.' But upscaled. It is very clear to me at the moment as I have just come from visiting my home and family and once again eating my grandmother's food.

There is a sense of the present that you can feel, taste, experience when eating activated food. It is a meditation, this exercise, this experience is what I want to bring to the city.

The second restaurant, the same collaboration, bringing the same concept is an opening with a friend of their restaurant in London.

I asked Erika why she is working in Amsterdam in a nation of 'fuel'ies, people who eat food only because and as fuel rather than 'foodies' who enjoy the sensual pleasures of eating.

This is the place where change around food needs to occur. Aside from the personal reasons, (Lex her partner is Dutch). I came to Amsterdam for the first time a year ago but for the last five years I have been telling people 'There is something for me in NL' They made jokes like 'Yes you're going to learn to cook with tulips'!

There is a pragmatism here. In Italy we can have a thousand ideas and then we speak and chat and discuss these ideas over cappuccino, meals, wherever and whenever. In NL they have one idea and they bring it to fruition. The history of this country is that they are responsible for bringing spice all around the world. They made food a commodity. Food is full of stories, the Dutch ignore that. In France and in Italy food is a knowledge, your history passed with passion down a family line.

The art of food is also the (dark) story of humanity and it is the story of science. Food allows you to connect to a person's soul.

When I fed Dutch people on the retreat, their eyes popped open with shock, they became immediately present. They looked at me and said 'This has never happened to me before.'

So there are people who came to the Retreat a year ago, they have formed a small community of individuals who are still activating their food. They have completely changed the way they eat and are encouraging others to do the same.

This country has everything, it is so consumerist, it imports and exports. Food is still tied into oppression. Here you can buy anything, everything. This is the place you need to start or to set the change. We need to change lifestyles, we need them and eating to become sustainable. It is possible if people can change their focus, aim to eat in the most simple, healthful way.

If we can change the way we eat as a species, if we can steer that in the direction that I am sharing, we have a big chance of creating a better world. The NL is the best place to begin to make this change (and of course we are also going to London next).

It is important to understand this way of cooking, this way of looking at and understanding food. That is why I want to do it here.

The space that Erika's food leaves and creates is a call to bring those dead, unloved spaces and places within us back to life. The Lazarus space (as she calls it) is the place where only the individual can make the choice to step once more into life. Erika's food allows you to recognise all the parts and spaces within that have died in this struggle to BE and it creates the possibility to step back into life. Personally I found that call challenging, unspoken, but felt clearly in the food, a call to embrace and step (back) into life

“What I do is bring this memory of the hurt and pain in the body, through all time and space.”

The body is the both the concrete and the subtle connection to the work that Lex does when she sings in the energies of the galaxy. Lex places those energies into the space that I create with the food. Lex enters and revitalises, allowing the possibility to be in the present and jump into the future. I make the space with the food. The combination of what we do is so beautiful to watch; to see and experience what materialises in front of me. In my case it was also beautiful to feel the changes materialising within!

The day retreat was like walking into a clogged room in the morning, the soul song exercises clear out all the junk. Erika's food (2 meals) clean, disinfect and open the space, then in the evening Lex's personalised soul songs give ideas and blueprints on how to further inhabit, decorate or design that newly created space.

Erika and Lex have been working together for just over a year. They first met three years ago in the restaurant where Erika worked on Ibiza. Where were you working?

It is a magical, ancient, finca that was one of the first restaurants on the Island. It has deep energy and a history of creating foods of love. When I worked there the owner would ask people how they were feeling. There was a daily menu but I watched and connected with the people when they came in and fed them from my intuition.

Lex ate and said 'Who made this food. Is she gay? Is she single? I want to marry her!'

She then did a month group cooking course with me. And she showed me that what she does with her voice work is the same as my work. She asked if we could collaborate at that time but it took me a while. I was running around, doing lots of other jobs, still trying a little to escape, not living my full potential, not really trusting my path.

When I finally came back to the Island after Xmas holiday, I met her at one of the plant based restaurants and she asked (again) if I would work with her on the Retreat. That is when we began the journey, we have been together ever since.

I actually began the interview with a check in on how she's doing?

I have just come back to Amsterdam, I was in Italy and Spain. I'll be here for 2/3 days and then I am not sure. The next retreat is in October. I am open to other things at the moment.

In the summer the energy in Ibiza is a little unstable and it's best not to push. To try to do the work there in summer energy is too much. The function of The Work is to go inside, to go deep within the self. In the summer everything is outside. The spirit is far from the body. Energetic work needs to be compatible with the seasons to aid the work.

On her past and how she literally came to this moment

I studied architecture and interior design. I grew up in the illusion. Society doesn't allow us, at the moment, obviously we are trying to change this but it doesn't allow or give us the room to grow into our full potential. We are unable to do easily what we are supposed to do.

Doing what you love and working were in my brain incompatible. So I studied architecture which is also on of my passions but it is not my way to completely express what I am feeling inside. It is a beautiful form in which to express but I have always been so attracted to sustainability and when I was studying, sustainability was not on the university's agenda. So the use of certain materials for me was just crazy.

Like eating oysters in Ibiza or salmon in the centre of Milano. Food that doesn't connect with the land, the space is not appropriate to eat in that land or space and I felt the same with construction.

After the architecture I did a masters in yacht (interior) design. I went and worked in the Lake Como area, while I was there I was invited to come and work in Dubai. It was in Dubai that I realised my/the calling of my path.

I would gather to eat with the Italian ex-pats. It became almost a ritual. At these gatherings, I would cook. People kept asking me “Why isn't this your job?”

I was the youngest Italian ex pat. But I wanted, maybe needed to create the kind of Sunday dinners I remembered with my family, so I started to do them there. People really enjoyed it, they kept telling me I had a talent and that this was really special. The repetition of this idea, gave me the strength, it finally convinced me to go back to Italy.

Nothing in Dubai is sustainable. There are retinues of slaves maintaining illusions. There was a moment at a party when I was so disappointed with a cake. They called it an Italian cake, claimed it was a typical kind of cake made in the area that my family come from but actually it lacked everything necessary to make it authentic. Moreover it was a type of cake that requires a lot of time and attention. I had been taught to make that kind cake from a very young age I was almost devastated by what was being passed off as this Sicilian delicacy. Talking to the chef about my reaction, being able to list everything that was wrong with it. A lightbulb moment.

It was a big deal to go home and say to everybody, especially my family. 'Thank you all so much, thank you for having been able to study but, I really feel that food is my journey. I was 24.

Food is what makes me feel happy and enables me to make the people around me very happy. I believe this is my mission.

I began to work anywhere and everywhere it was possible to learn something, anything about food. I consciously chose to go back to Italy because somehow there, everything come back to or down to food. You go into a cheese shop it's a cheese immersion course from everything the shop worker knows to the way they cut the cheese. Italians are made of food!

When I had been in Milan for five months a big adventure started. Santeria was a poly functional space, with a performance area, and a small shop, kind of Berlin style. A group of fifteen people from music, graphic and artistic worlds created this mixed platform. 

I was the chef of what was initially going to be a little bistro serving maybe 25 plates. After 6 months we had 150-160 people for Sunday brunch. After a year it was one of the most popular places in Milan and the kitchen was non stop. We served up to and over 200 plates a day from a 15 metre square kitchen!

I worked there for four years, doing chef school in the evenings for six months. I did the study because although I was head chef I had no training. The staff working for me were all trained and in the beginning they would ask for or about things and I had no idea what they were talking about or asking for. So in addition to the 80 hours I was working in the kitchen I did another 20 in the evening to gain my certification for the job I was doing!

I really honed my skills and learnt my trade in Santeria. In the beginning there were three of us two chefs and the dishwasher, when I left there were seven chefs alone! It was an amazing experience but after four years I felt a calling to learn and explore other cuisines. I travelled for a year going to India, Thailand, Indonesia, Nepal. Then I went back to Italy and after I had spent two weeks in Milan a friend called me to say she was going to open a finca in Ibiza. I went to help her for two weeks but I have now been there for four years.

The purity and the quality of what we do is unique, beautiful, powerful. It is so far beyond the mundane, our personalities, our decisions, it is a constant yes to What Is. The work makes us truly greater than the sum of our parts. We amplify but bigger, each other but more importantly the work. I see us as the moment when the finger of God and the finger of Adam meet in the Michael Angelo painting. I am working from the gifts of mother Earth and Lex is bringing in gifts from the centre of the galaxy the person in the middle receives both.

I have always had a really clear, strong gut feeling. I trust it. Anything that is not right or just, I feel. I have to follow that feeling. There is no possibility for 99 or 98% truth it is or it isn't. Everything that nature creates is sustainable and there is no reason for us not to operate from that same place.

My mother always taught me that whatever you take or use or put back, the space that you took it from and that item has to be left or returned better and or cleaner and or more beautiful after our use.

Currently there are a lot of things in the pipe line and Erika promises that she will have a whole new load of adventures to share very soon if our readers are interested…

What I loved most about meeting Erika at the day retreat and also in the conversation is her focus and determination to change the world.

“The most important thing is to try; the purpose of our lives is to try. We know the planet will be fine, the issue is will humanity survive?

There are things that need to happen, we need to mitigate the impact that humanity has on the planet. We could do it, we could get it done.

Whether humanity is really worth saving we won't go into because the most important thing is to find and follow our true mission and strive to protect the Earth. It's about what we do and that we keep trying to the best of our ability to the very end.”

Vervain / Verbena

Vervain or Verbena is a genus in the family Verbenaceae. It contains about 250 species of annual and perennial herbaceous or semi-woody flowering plants.

According to the ancient Egyptians this divine herb came from Isis's tears when she wept at the death of Osiris her lover/partner/brother, the ancient Greeks called it Hera' tears, the Romans Juno's. It was dedicated to Eos Erigineia, a Titaness and the goddess of the dawn, who rose each morning from her home at the edge of the Oceanus.
Many societies believed vervain held hidden powers. In Persia it was the herb of prophecy for the magi: mystic sages. Revered by many cultures and peoples for millennia it was one of the most sacred herbs to the Druids, who are said to have gathered it from shady places, preferably when Sirius, the dog star was  rising, before sunrise, to utilise for divination, consecration and cleansing sacred spaces. It is described as having been presented on Jupiter altars.
in many Central and Eastern European languages the name is often associated with iron. e.g.  Dutch; Ijzerhard -iron-hard, Danish; Læge-Jernurt - medical iron root, German; Echtes Eisenkraut true iron herb, Slovak; Železník lekársky medical iron herb, Hungarian; vasfű - iron grass. 1
In Greek texts it was suggested for treating fever and plague. Aztecs used the root as a diuretic they named it “medicine for urinating”. In other areas of the Northern  Americas, other Nations used it to boost circulation, for headaches and insomnia. Chaticks si Chaticks (or "Men of Men, usually referred to as) the Pawnee have adopted common vervain as an entheogen enhancer and in oneiromancy (dream divination). Christians call V. officinalis "Herb of the Cross, Holy Herb or Devil's Bane because  'it was used to staunch Jesus' blood when he was taken from the cross'.
In The History and Practice of Magic a book written in 1870 by "Paul Christian" (Jean-Baptiste Pitois) it is used to prepare a mandragora charm.The book tells of it's antiseptic capabilities (p.336), and use as a protection against spells (pp.339, 414).

Despite it's long and varied use there are few human trials and inconsistent direction in those with animals2

When used to combat depression and mood swings, it is said that, this deeply penetrating nervine soothes and sedates the nervous system, is relaxing and uplifting, yet can stimulate the release of (the neurotransmitters) dopamine and serotonin, enhancing mood and well being.
Vervain is said to be effective in promoting a good night's sleep without a groggy feeling in the morning. Studies have found that the compound in Vervain responsible for inducing sleep is verbenalin - an iridoid glucoside.
A “bitter herb”, Vervain is called a digestive stimulant, which means it improves digestive function by increasing saliva production, and promoting stomach acid and digestive enzyme production.
It is said to be especially good when digestive issues are stress related – if we are stressed our digestion can shut down;  it is seen as non essential when dealing with a serious threat. The fight or flight stress response is prioritised over freeze. Vervain suposedly helps to stimulate the appetite by relaxing the stomach when tension is held there. As a tea many have found alleviation of cramps, bloating and flatulence.
Vervain active ingredients include aucubin and oleanolic acid, these powerful plant compounds suggest hepatoprotective benefits.
Vervain tea can purportedly help to stimulate the liver and encourage healing of any damage. If consumed on a regular basis it should help to strengthen the liver, supporting the elimination of toxins from the body.
It is a diuretic, assisting in flushing out unwanted toxins, especially from the urinary tract, this helps combat water retention, which improves kidney function. Apigenin is a compound of the plant that has also been found to prevent kidney damage.3

Alwareness June; Being True to Yourself

One of the first things I discovered about myself on my journey towards self realization was that it is massively important to me to (learn to) be authentic.

Time for my own truth. I asked what being true to myself meant for me, which became who am I? I asked the question for many years before it became plain to me that all  answers to the questions that plague us.  All the answers reside in the physical body. The loops in our head of self attack, the judgement, criticism, the understanding of the nightmares and sweet dreams, the answers to the why's of sickness.

The answers are inside us. They reside in the body's twitches and tingles, the tiny shocks and tensions each and everyone of them is a message, sometimes a word, but it can be a sentence or a paragraph. Firstly they are often a message of our general dehydration. Beyond that they are about our discomforts from a soul, historic, genetic and core level with the choices, decisions, comments, actions we take and make. 

When you feel these indications from your body. 'Place' your attention at that spot. Feel the sensation, if you can give it a texture, colour, weight, do so. It is not easy. If you feel really uncomfortable put two nostrils in the centre of the place and BREATHE IN! Imagine there is a lot of space in you, in your mind. And the answer, the message your body is trying to communicate to you will come. A clear indication of the step(s) you need to take.

Everything and anything you NEED to know the answer to, lies literally in your body. Learning to listen to these signals is the simplest way to connect to your truth. Simple but not easy. Learning to listen and pay attention to your body is not easy.

Children are taught to ignore their bodies messages from the youngest age. They learn that their truth, being in their truth, listening to their truth is a dangerous place to be. As adults it is no longer as dangerous. Maybe still as uncomfortable for those around you however, the more you do it the better it feels.

Be aware that this is WORK. There is an ocean of pain stored in our bodies from each and every attack, negation, avoidance. If a person want to avoid going there, it is completely understandable (but unhelpful to your journey to your true self).

To come to our true self we need to be prepared to step slowly into that pain acknowledge that it is there and has a right and a reason to be. Acceptance of our damage is the first and most important step towards healing it.

Happiness is achievable. Possible but unlikely to be easily. Happiness has to be created. Think of it like the steps to building a house. You can just start and put it together as you go along but it will be quicker more efficient and you can guarantee that you get what you want if you have a plan and if you do the vast majority of the work yourself. Simple, certainly, absolutely pretty much as far from easy as you can get.

Always remember that the main barrier to becoming happy is that our whole belief system, the moral structures we live under and within are designed to keep the individual as far a possible from defining, let alone working on the things that make them happy.

If you were really happy, would you go to work? There are very few people who look forward to making the money they have decided they need for the things they have chosen to bring them transitory happiness. We 'have to' work to pay for social life, home, car, holiday, clothes, make up, shoes, smells, children. Many think that the feelings of gratification and pride they achieve from the things they have bought (include many partners in this) are happiness.
But true happiness is something completely different. Mostly it is fleeting moments that pass almost before one is aware.







Try being willing to unsubscribe
to the notion and mores of traditions
of an elitist hierarchical, violent, self aggrandizing,
monotheistic, oppressive, inhabitance of personal space.

Work to to fill the energetic spheres with the essence of presence,
allowing all other essences and presences in their passage, in their way

Refuse to adhere to notions of fear,
Hold cautious awareness for the knowledge
and possible appearance of the predators,
who advocate and prosper in the notions, the motives, the traditions,
superstitious power mongering, amassing;
The appropriation of planet as an asset is
sick, sad, fearful, greedy, isolating,
destructive ultimately, intrinsically, unfulfilling

Benzoin EO

This golden, aromatic, thick, resinous oil with a vanilla-like aroma has been used for thousands of years, in some of the oldest civilizations for religious ceremonies and as a medicine.

Styrax benzoin is a tree with hairy, oval leaves and fleshy, greenish yellow flowers, it grows to about 20 m (66 ft). Originating in Laos and Vietnam, now grown in Malaysia, Java and Sumatra. Benzoin is the gum resin which exudes from the bark when tapped, the trees produce resin for about 15 to 20 years.
The name is derived from the Arabic (luban-jawi), ‘frankincense from Java’.

In addition to it's document use by the Ancient Greeks and Romans: In 1461, the Sultan of Egypt, Melech Elmazda, sent the Doge of Venice 30 rotoli - 80kg/177lb! The Queen of Cyprus received 15 rotoli from the Sultan in 1476. In 1623, the British set up a factory in Siam (Thailand) to produce and export benzoin.

Nostradamus, gave many recipes using benzoin in a script published in 1556. He classified it as antispasmodic and a tonic for skin infections. In France it was noted as; a pulmonary balsam, taken for colds,‘flu and as an anti-asthmatic. In Britain it was also used as an inhalant and application for ulcers and wounds.

I always keep it in the house and use it undiluted on small wounds and scars, to heal and reduce them respectively - I have sensitive, keloid skin

It's main properties are;

Antidepressant - It uplifts mood, stimulates the heart beat and improves circulation. 

Carminative – flatulent, its relaxing effects relieve inflation of the intestines. It relaxes muscular tension in the abdominal area helping gases pass out, which helps digestion and improves appetite.

Cordial - when inhaled and transmitted to the brain, it stimulates the nervous centre, the heart beat and improves circulation giving a warm feeling. 

Deodorant – Antiseptic – Anti-inflammatory - Anti-rheumatic - 

Relaxant/Sedative - relieves anxiety, tension, stress in the nervous and neurotic systems, relaxes anxiety and stress and tranquillizes. One to be avoided by students, particularly when they intend to study over night.

Disinfectant -an excellent antiseptic, a very effective germicide, bactericide, fungicide and antiviral substances. Its smoke disinfects the zone in which it spreads. Applied externally, it prevents sepsis.

Diuretic - facilitates urination, in frequency and quantity, helping remove toxins from the blood. Urination also helps lower blood pressure, lose weight and improve digestion.

Expectorant - loosens mucus from the respiratory system - trachea, bronchi, lungs - which relieves congestion and eases breathing. Benzoin's tranquillizing properties relax and induce sleep during extreme coughs and colds, it is also used in balms, rubs and vaporizers.

Vulnerary – heals minor wounds

Astringent – causes contraction of skin cells and body tissues, this reduces bleeding from minor abrasions and makes the skin less oily.

Alwareness March 17 - 2 continuing on the theme....

In my opinion there are only two types of women, those who have orgasms like falling off a log and those who have to make an effort to have an orgasm. The girls who have orgasms like falling off a log are usually slaves to the Quim and the larger group who don't see sex largely as a tool or a weapon. Which is not to say that the first group don't or that the second group don't enjoy sex, never have orgasms or aren't also ruled by queen Quim

For myself I can't see the point of having something attached to you or a part of your body that people want to grope but that has little if any sensation. It seems to me that if women are willing to cut through their breasts and in many cases of breast reduction cut off their nipples as well as their inner labia lips so they have breasts and vagina's that they think are more attractive, they cannot be getting much pleasure from these more attractive places. Which means that our sex education is seriously messed up.

How many women listening think it's disgusting or strange, weird, inappropriate, not done to pleasure themselves? If as is the case with far too many women you have no idea how or can't give yourself an orgasm how and why on earth would/do you expect someone else to be able to?

To truly enjoy getting the benefits of getting older we need to come into our sexuality. As you get above 40 having orgasms becomes easier. Unfortunately by the time they get to 40 lots of women have had so many horrible or just inadequate sexual experiences they are not interested in it any more. This is actually cutting off their access to simple and easy rejuvenation.

Some women say they like anal sex. Every one I asked said no they didn't like it the first few times but they got used to it and finally got around to liking it. I remember doing that will alcohol and I wish I hadn't bothered!

One woman said that she'd finally had an orgasm while having anal sex but a longer conversation showed that actually she was just starting to have easier orgasms in general and they were much better when clitoral or vaginal.

My advice to all women of all ages is to get into defining and enjoying your sexuality. Independantly of another especially men.

Once you get over 40 you are too old for guilt, kick it to the kerb. Learn how to pleasure yourself, if you don't already know and give yourself physical, sexual pleasure as often as possible.

I've been talking a lot recently about rape. I think it is important to address what is actually a very common occurrence in our society from childhood to old age. Women all over the world are being raped as I speak.

When I bring this up a sad number of women and far too many men dismiss rape experiences as a 'bad fuck' There is no such thing as a bad fuck. There is either two people engaging in a mutually pleasurable and exciting experience or there is rape.

I am blessed and cursed to have a partner who will not engage in sexual activity with me unless I am fully present. Whenever my mind wanders, if I have a flash back or in anyway am not 100% engaged he stops. Doesn't matter at what stage it is. His doing this has taught me that most of my sexual activity has been rape. Just because you (I) don't(didn't) fight against it or possibly even say anything doesn't make it less so.

Every sexual experience where you were un engaged, uninvited to enjoy each sexual activity, every sexual experience that you were coerced into or did because it was easier than getting home or getting into a fight or argument or where you were too drunk to take part, or where you agreed to do things that did nothing for you – were rape experiences and every single one of them has damaged your ability to connect to your true sexuality and pleasure.

When you can start to admit that these experience were rape, you can begin the journey of connecting to your ability to rejuvenate your core energy. You can begin to recreate the internal connections between your emotional, spiritual, physical, mental and your sexual sides. You can begin to enjoy what it means to be an older woman.

Yes, there can be issues with lubrication, in my experience all lot of that is to do with the fact that most of us are dehydrated the vast majority of the time – a couple of glasses of water and jojoba or coconut oil – both of these are 100% natural fluid waxes so they are fine to use with sex toys which makes them so much better to be putting on or inside you than the nasty (expensive, petroleum derivative) silicone oils that women (and men) are usually persuaded to purchase.

At this point in your life there is a freedom from needing to fear pregnancy (for the heteros) – obviously by this time you know your body and it's cycles so well, you know when the one week is that you can get pregnant and avoid it or take precautions! You know yourself well enough to be able to just explore your sexuality.

Our enjoyment of our sexuality is a baseline connection to our spirituality, which is the key to understanding ourself which is the key to becoming happy.

Alwareness January

Hoe kan je veranderingen aanbrengen in je leven, how can one affect change in their life?
Kunnen wij onszelf iets nieuws aanleren, En hoe dan ? How do we teach ourselves something new?
Wat als het niet lukt, Hoe ga je er dan mee om? What if you can't learn? How do you deal with that?

Iets anders proberen ? Try something else?

When I look at this list of questions, I see is that the last three questions deal with themselves.

What if you can't learn? (I will come back to this.) Wat als het niet lukt, Hoe ga je er dan mee om?

What if you can't learn? How do you deal with that? Iets anders proberen?

Let's accept the first of the three questions at face value. OK you can't learn. How do you deal with that? The last question is the answer. Try something else.

It doesn't actually matter what you try because trying is exactly that, it's a test, it is a promise that is only limited by your imagination. Having no imagination is more of a problem than not being able to learn.

In truth I do not believe that anyone is unable to learn. Everyone is incapable of mastering some things, some people will take much longer to learn one thing than another. Everybody is capable of learning most things. Some people can learn many different things, others a very limited number or possibly only a facet of things. Some people can teach anyone how to do one thing. Some people can teach anyone how to do anything. It can depend on the teacher. Some 'teachers' unfortunately, can't actually do it for al their learning. All they every do, is instil in people the fear that they are incapable of learning. So before you try anything, remember to consciously ignore, anything negative, any teacher, ever, has said to you!

Which leads back to the answer as question – Always be prepared to try something else.

Some say you can't teach an old dog new tricks, others you're never too old to learn. It's as simple as that. Which one do you believe?

Then there is the issue, that what we believe changes from day to day, if not hour or even minute to minute. On a a good day it is easy to believe in ones limitless potential. Try telling yourself that you have limitless potential on the first heavy day of your period, or when your boyfriend or boss just kicked your ass to the kerb.

Try telling yourself you live in a world of limitless possibilities all geared towards you when your child is in an ambulance or operating theatre or hospital bed.

It's all comes down to what you believe and what it means to you or what you do, when you believe something.

Is your belief; a call to action, a call to stride forward and stand up for justice? Justice as defined in your own terms, by your reactions and responses to the events and people around you.

Or is your belief, the pat line, that gets you off from being forced to engage with the other two leggeds around you?

When you state your beliefs or belief system(s) is it shorthand for; 'Now leave me alone, if you are not on the same page' or are you saying; 'So, what do you think? And how can we find out more about each other'?

Our beliefs are an indication of our attitude to learning.

Learning and enjoying learning; being willing and able to learn or seeking to learn; being perfectly happy with everything you have learnt up until now; having a desire to stop learning and do something, even nothing else. Or having not enjoyed anything that you have been taught. Or knowing that learning involves pain, negative judgement, criticism and failure?

We all have different reactions to the idea of learning. Each of these thoughts, knowledge, convictions or beliefs will take a person to a completely different life experience.

The first two questions are again question and answer.

Hoe kan je veranderingen aanbrengen in je leven, how can you we affect change in our lives?
Kunnen wij onszelf iets nieuws aanleren, En hoe dan ? How do we teach ourselves something new?

You change yourself by learning something new. Any acquired knowledge changes the recipient. If you learn something it changes you. When you have learnt something you are different from the person who learnt or was learning or wanted to learn. - If you need that explaining you have to pay me for my time, you can contact me via Radio and TV Alwareness!

Kunnen wij onszelf iets nieuws aanleren, En hoe dan ? Can we teach ourselves something new? And How? These are the core questions for the month of January.

It is easy for me to say, of course we can teach ourselves something new, isn't it? (Not really!)

Are you happy and contented with everything about where you are here and now? (I wish I were.)

Something tells me that if you were, completely satisfied you wouldn't be listening to this radio program or checking this website. Nor would I be here.

Of course, this could be your favourite hour of fun. Listening only to ridicule, sitting with a couple of friends and laughing yourselves backwards and forwards from the toilet to the radio, remembering to drink water and stay dehydrated so you actually have some laughter to piss. (I was told to explain this joke. In English we say 'pissing yrself with laughter' because so many of us have surely come close if not actually done it!)

Are you listening to this program (reading this article) because it confirms to you that you have made all the right choices in your life. Are you are happily sailing, coasting and fully enjoying the journey of your life?

My guess is that if you are still reading, listening to this program, it is because you are dissatisfied with many of the options you are presented.

Is there a niggling little voice inside you telling you, that you are NOT this that. Your life/choices/possibilities are NOT limited to this that. Is there a niggling little voice inside you telling you, that there are other dissenting, niggling voices that could take you somewhere else?

If you listen to the niggling, if you give credence to that feeling, if you choose to trust the rebel in your belly then you are already in a state of learning. The next step is open willingness and grace.

We have limitless possibilities, only our refusal to explore them (fear) holds us back. What will others think? What will it cost? What will we have to give up?

How do we know we have limitless possibilities?

Only by trying.

The literal translation of the work karma is action. Our actions, the things we do, our habits, our beliefs are the deciding factors in what works or does not work towards creating our happiness. Happiness is 'The Greater Vehicle” which is the translation of the meaning of Mahayana.

Interestingly I can't find a translation of the word 'grace' that is acceptable (to me). Gratie, genade, gunst hmmm.......No! I mean a space, a feeling, the innate knowledge, of true beneficence, plus power and ability to use and apply both (power and beneficence) in every moment.

Although it is encapsulated in in NMRK*. This is a determination, an affirmation, a mantra that I wrote for myself that I would like to share with you.

I am open and willing to receive the lessons the universe brings me, with courage and grace. I know and trust that the universe is intrinsically benign. I understand that my learning comes to me as I choose to perceive it. I am receiving these lessons as loving gifts.

Ik ben open en bereid om de lessen die het universum mij brengt te ontavangen met moed en 'grace'. I weet en vertrouw erop dat het universum intrinsiek goedaardig is. Ik begrijp dat my lessen komen zoals ik kies om ze te ontvangen. Ik ontvang mijn lessen als liefdevolle geschenken.

*Nam Myoho Renge Kyo – Devotion(alignment) with/to the Mystic Law of the universe (cause and effect) / a commitment to creating world peace beginning with oneself and immediate surroundings.