Creating Space for…Nourishment
A warm bowl of homemade chicken noodle soup…a hot lavender bath with candles …a sunset with colors that touch your soul…a nap…pancakes with butter,syrup and all the time in the world to eat them…a child’s laugh…a long hug…music music music!Can you feel it? What nourishes you?
Creating space for nourishment…has many healing benefits!!Creating space for my own nourishment has been a theme in my life for the last few years now. It is part of what I like to call my “daily deal”…making time to feed myself…body, mind and soul that is! Without it…I feel less present and stress can quickly begin to creep in and run the show. It also helps with “a flow in my life” that almost seems effortless…and what I always seemed to be pushing towards before. Yes that flow…you know what I am talking about…that slightly blissful peace we often feel on vacation or at a retreat? My friends this is possible in daily life…that retreat feeling of flow and bliss!!!
You want to know the secret? Begin small. Create time for one sweet nourishing thing a day, move and EAT WELL! Then watch how things begin to shift just a wee bit at first…then the bliss momentum begins… yum!!! Breathe…and maybe take a nap!
In the last 2 months I have cooked for 2 yoga retreats…YUM! It was an opportunity for me to create nourishing food for 4 to 5 days in a nourishing beautiful environment. Even though I cooked…I also created space to nourish myself…resting and connecting with nature that surrounded both of these magnificent spaces. I was creating that blissful flow with my work and my “daily deal”!!! You can do it too!!!
Come join Demi and I this New Years to bring in 2012 at a “Nourishing Yoga Food Retreat” in Brian Head, Utah. Let us nourish you and share nourishing tips on creating space for your own personal nourishment in your daily life…YUM!
Blessings and Happy Eating…Pati 
Addicted??? by Pati Reiss
Addicted…???
Well aren’t we all…to something? My morning latte ritual (homemade) had been disrupted while I was doing a cleanse. It made me stop and realize my deep attachment to the ritual, the taste and ok the caffeine…yes the BUZZ!!
This particular addiction happens to be one of my least damaging ones. I am proud to say…that I am skilled at making things I like into the healthiest versions possible. And I tried that with my drinking and drug use. I only drank organic wine and my pot was pesticide free…I was the holistic addict!
I now can share this journey of the darkest despair that I have ever known to the blissful joy I now live!
My early years a s a child were so lovely. We were pretty much a happy, healthy family…lots of laughter and love. My father was a holistic chiropractor back in the 60’s in NY…a man ahead of his time. In 1966 he was killed in front of our home…a sight and day that changed my life. The bubble that I created around me was my protection from the horror I witnessed and was living in.
That bubble was filled with sugar and many years later with alcohol…then pot to help me feel normal and deal with life. It felt like “I was home”. I also felt a sense of connection to “God”…Spirit and a “Universal Intelligence”. What I realize now is that this feeling was mostly a bio-chemical reaction to a broken brain that felt better with these chemicals!!
So for all the years I drank and smoked pot…I could have had a natural replacement for these??? Well…yes…but it involves a wee bit more than that. It is a “lifestyle change” as well! A deeper look into the anxiety and depression I was experiencing…that was not only a result of the trauma, divorce, etc…but my own personal bio-chemical brain imbalance!
My days of darkness were so intense!!! Suicide felt like the only option! How could I think of suicide? I had two beautiful children, a family who loved me, great friends. None of that mattered then…my brain and body were so broken and sick that relief was all that I was seeking!
So from my sugar addiction as a child and young adult to my alcohol, pot (and a few other drugs here and there) I am now the keeper of a healthy body, brain and soul! Yes they are all interconnected. Like a 3 legged stool that cannot stand upright unless all 3 are well. Is there hope? You bet there is! I am a living example of this. Never in my darkest days would I have thought I could feel this way without my drugs and alcohol. As my nephew’s friends inquired about me to him “Dude what drugs is your Aunt on”? My joy, bliss and humor had to be related to a drug? I am proud to say my drug of choice now is..food, brain nutrients, hiking, skiing, laughing, yoga, dance, meditation, healthy relationships, giving to others and LOVE!
PS…I still have my latte!!!
Blessings…Pati Reiss
The Holistic Gourmet
Addicted? Tired of a Broken Brain?
There is Hope…
* 30 days…A Brain Repair Program
* Exhale…A Recovery Retreat
www.patireiss.com
Yoga in the Kitchen…….
I read an article from a favorite yoga teacher of mine months ago on this topic, I responded with connection and delight. He asked me about my “yoga on the kitchen”. So as my first official blog post I am writing about my “yoga in the kitchen”……hoping to maybe inspiring yours as well!
Food was not always my friend ….can you relate? I grew up with family meals and with an awareness of the demon “sugar”. My dad was a holistic chiropractor….a rare breed in the 60s. We had no junk food and sugar in our home. Well that is till he died in 1966 (accident…not health ‘sugar’ related). Welcome sugar….canned macaroni and cheese and well….home cooked meals…greens??? I don’t think so!!! So the food roller coaster began…and I struggled for years and years not understanding the connection between my intake of food and my fluctuating mood and energy swings. I could not concentrate in school…was labeled a slow learner….”shut up”…..and my life continued to ebb and flow with instability. Yes I know my life experience did play a role in this…however…would it have been different if my food was different. YOU BET! But the contrast helps me write to you today.
Food is now my friend. I realize that everything I put into my body becomes part of me. So that I am actually “walking food”. And it is not just about “what goes in” but…..”how it is prepared”. Yes cooking is like yoga to me. It is a spiritual creative experience. I don’t always know what I’m doing…do you? But try anyway and experiment. So one of my experiments came out ok. The “Chia Pet Bean Burger”…..made a video on this ….will post it soon! I came up with this recipe when I was doing a “liver cleanse”…don’t ask! So no meat and dairy on this cleanse (duh)…but I am hypoglycemic so I need protein! Mmmmmmm….beans…rice…hemp seeds…. chia seeds…onions…garlic…..cilantro…..spices…walah a burger was born! I do my yoga in the kitchen….maybe this was power yoga that day….I prefer restore…makes better soup! I made a big batch….froze the leftovers and continued on my liver cleanse.
One of the quotes from the nutrition school I attended in NYC was…”cook like your life depended on it…because it does” I hated that quote when I was not cooking and preparing my food. But now I get it. So just begin….baby steps…..maybe make on thing today or tomorrow. Make a little extra so you can have more meals. Connect with the food…breathe…look at the food…feel it…it is quite miraculous some of these edible life healing morsels from Mother Earth. Feel gratitude and begin your own “yoga in the kitchen”…Namaste’ and Bon Appetite! Pati
Feeding the Throat Chakra
The Holistic Gourmet’s Cooking Class
Wednesday October 27th
6:30 Pati’s Kitchen
417 J ST SLC UT 84103
“Feeding the Throat Chakra”
truth…speaking…self-knowledge…hearing…smell…taste…sound…faith
choice…authenticity…communication…surrender…verbal expression
“One’s philosophy is not best expressed in words;
it is expressed in the choice one makes”
~Eleanor Roosevelt
Reserve your plate and space for an evening of cooking..food and health inspiration!!
Price: $75…includes recipes…nutrition/cooking talk and demo…healing handouts for the throat chakra…breath work…meditation and full meal! YUM!!!
The Power of Feeding the Body, Mind and Spirit
The power is ours and the choice is ours. When we learn about the effects food and nutrients have on our bodies, brains, and life we then have the opportunity to be empowered; to take our health to heart and feel… AMAZING!!!
“We are what we eat,” but what do we eat?
This question has confused many. Eating can be pleasurable and healthy. It can heal our bodies, balance our brain chemicals, and connect us to our spiritual essence!
Our marvelous bodies are energy systems that need vibrant sources of fuel to provide them with the necessary energy to perform their functions. In the same way that a car’s engine has been designed to perform at its optimum with the right fuel mixture, so too do our bodies require the best fuel for their optimum performance. And gosh darn it…we are worth it! Let’s eat!!
