Create A Personal Spring Within

This is the time of year we naturally gravitate toward fresh, light foods that embody the expansive energy of the spring season. Match your diet to the season by choosing foods that emphasize spring time qualities like young plants, fresh greens, and sprouts that move qi up and out. Use the flavors of the season which are pungent and sweet like the cooking herbs basil, fennel, marjoram, mint, rosemary, caraway, dill, cilantro, and bay leaf.

Here are a few recipes that will help you create a personal spring within:

Spring Time Brown Rice:

Add a handful of mixed, chopped basil, parsley, cilantro, arugula, and/or spinach with a few halved red and yellow cherry tomatoes to some soaked and cooked, warm brown rice. Finish with a drizzle of olive oil and a touch of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.


Parsley and Mint Relish:

1 cup parsley or cilantro
1/2 cup mint leaves
1 green chili
1 clove garlic minced (optional)
2 dried apricot (soaked and minced) or juice of 1 lemon
1/2 teaspoon sea salt

Wash the mint and parsley/cilantro.
Chop and grind together with the green chili.
Mix with the rest of the ingredients.
Yields 1 1/2 cup.

So Hum Meditation

Developing equanimity of mind is not exciting or glamorous in the usual sense, but equipose offers us the gift of knowing our own heart which is the most precious experience of all.

It takes regular practice to achieve any great feat and that includes creating steadiness of mind. Practicing meditation every day will emancipate you from the incessant chatter of the mind so that you can realize your heart's divine splendor.

The So Hum meditation is easy to learn and uses breath and mantra to still the mind and relax the body. For the best results, practice for twenty minutes twice daily.

Find a place to practice where you will not be disturbed.

Sit comfortably with your spine fully elongated.

Focus on your natural breath for a few minutes.

After a few minutes, inhale through your nose while thinking the word SO. Make the sound last as long as the inhale.

Exhale slowly and fully through your nose while thinking the word HUM.

Continue at your own pace, steadily and silently.

If your mind wanders to other thoughts or sensations, simply begin again by gently refocusing on your breath and mantra.