Our food sources are being altered in subtle and not-so-subtle ways by rising temperatures. Changes affecting plants and animals will test the resilience of nature and the adaptability of humankind in coming years. Optimists will have their work cut out for them.

Juicing for Beginners: How to Get Started the Right Way

Juicing is a healthy trend that you’ve likely heard about. Though it’s not a recent invention, its popularity has surged recently. Juice stands are appearing on street corners across the country and many of us have brought juicers into our own homes, making it a daily habit.

Do you ever feel like your mind is moving around in circles and you are not getting any answers? Or as if you are floating in life from one thing to the next, without your feet on the ground? Do you ever feel dizzy? Confused? Get headaches? If so, you may be feeling the ungrounded effects of an Earth Element imbalance according to the Five Element system of Chinese medicine.

Welcome to our #WellnessWednesday yoga primer. Yoga is a wonderful way to become attuned to your body and increase circulation and flexibility. Each week I'll offer you a pose with benefits and instruction.

Week 18: Bhujangasana / Baby Cobra

Benefits:

I propose a challenge to you, dear reader: take time to be kind to someone for absolutely no reason and without any expectation of return. Do this for one whole month and see how it affects or changes you and those around you. It is the simple acts of kindness that spread positivity throughout the world. A smile can be contagious and it spreads like jam over a warm piece of toast.

This dish will make you reconsider how you use herbs in cooking. The epitome of fresh, tabbouleh is a classic Lebanese herb salad. If you have never tried Lebanese food before, then let this be your first taste.

Vegan Yogurt Pops

Serves 8

Time to cool off with some fruity yogurt pops! Quick and easy, you can mostly use ingredients that you already have in the fridge. You can even use a cupcake pan if you have one laying around and don’t want to use paper cups. Feel free to experiment with various types of fruit for some fun colors and flavors that are sure to please on a hot summer day in the park or by the pool. 

Ingredients:

2 cups sliced strawberries

2 cups plain or vanilla non-dairy yogurt

What's Your Dosha?

Ayurveda is the ancient Indian science of health and philosophy that came about the same time as the Vedic texts, around 1500 BCE. The Rishis, or “seers”, who compiled the Vedas were known for their deep contemplative practices; they looked into their inner world to make observations and connections about living in accordance with the laws of nature. Ayurveda then became a means of preventative health and achieving overall wellbeing; therefore it encompasses all aspects of being—body, mind and spirit.

“I love not Man the less, but Nature more,
From these our interviews, in which I steal
From all I may be, or have been before,
To mingle with the Universe, and feel”

Quote From Lord Byron: Childe Harold's Pilgrimage

 Recently, I stumbled upon a poem that struck me.  Technically, it isn’t quite a poem, but just a note, jotted beside a sketch in a book of poems my mother gave me, years ago.  Now, the book—Leonard Cohen’s, The Book of Longing—is tattered.  Its pages are dog-eared and inked with my own musings, and the note my mom wrote me on the backside of the front cover has long since faded.