Author Archives: Dreama Vance

So how are those New Year’s Resolutions?

by Dreama Vance

DreamaMaybe I shouldn’t even go there 🙂 but if a change in your diet was one of your resolutions and is now a thing of the past, then let me share a secret to success.

Many people think going cold turkey is the best way to stop doing something or the best way to stop eating something. For some people this is successful.

If this works for you, congratulations! For many of us, however, the step is too big. A hole gets left when the activity or the food choice is eliminated. This hole is particularly noticeable because what we want to eliminate is something that is habitual. When we completely eliminate the habit, we tend to look around and wonder what to do with ourselves! What do we do instead with the time? What do we eat instead of bread, or soda pop? If the answer is Nothing, we may start to get very antsy. The Universe abhors a vacuum!

So the secret is to insert a step called “Substitute” first before you eliminate. You can stay at the Substitute stage for as long as you need to remain at that level. Always keep your ultimate goal in the back of your mind, knowing you will eventually get to it. The Substitute level is a step in your journey to better health and wholeness.

Here is our example of how we eliminated bread at our house. First we changed from “normal bread” to sprouted grain bread. In the U.S. there is a brand called Ezekiel bread, and this is what we started buying. I will tell you that when we started eating this, it tasted like straw or hay to me… at least that was my idea of what straw would taste like.

But, after a bit, we got used to the taste and forgot about the other stuff we used to eat. In other words, we created a new habit and just always bought the Ezekiel bread when we went to the store. We stayed at this level for quite awhile. Sandwiches and wraps play a big role in most of our food choices because they are convenient and easy to fix or grab and go, particularly for lunches.

When I was finally ready to eliminate bread, the step was not so big. By then, I had figured out that I could put everything I would normally put in a sandwich into a bowl without the bread.

At our house, one of our favorite Sunday traditions is breakfast burritos. The burritos have evolved as we have changed our diets. When I eliminated eggs and cheese, we substituted beans and potatoes – vegan style. Here, too, we utilized the substitution step. Later, we changed the tortilla wrap to a sprouted grain wrap. Then, later still, we completely eliminated the wrap and put everything layered into a bowl.

The first time we tried the burrito without the tortilla, we were sure we were going to really miss the wrap. What a surprise to find the taste was so much better without the bread! Who knew the bread actually dulled the taste of the other ingredients? Yep, even my husband liked it better without the tortilla wrap.

I used the same technique with coffee. I substituted Teeccino, which is a caffeine-free herbal coffee. You even brew it like coffee. Sometimes, just the routine of making something, like a pot of coffee in the morning, is what we find comforting. I used this for years, until I stopped, and then replaced it with warm lemon water in the morning.

There are two points to make this Substitution step successful. One is to allow yourself the freedom to substitute. It’s okay. You don’t have to go cold turkey. Realize that you will take that final step of eliminating what you no longer desire in your diet or life and that the Substitution step is a step towards this.

The second key is to substitute with something that is better for you and similar enough that you still enjoy it. In other words, you want to replace so that you are not creating what feels like a big hole in your life.

This technique has been used successfully by many in changing to healthier diets and in creating better habits.

Here’s to the New You!

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Reflections

by Dreama Vance

WinterSolsticeIn December of 2012, Spiritual Dynamics held our first Deep Soul Access course in conjunction with preparation for the 2012 Gateway on Winter Solstice. This was a deeply spiritual time when many across the planet were in meditation for the transformative energy of the planet. I seemed to live mostly from the fourth level of consciousness during those three weeks, barely aware of daily living happening at our third level of consciousness. It was a magical time as the Earth stepped into that Gateway.

As a result of this experience, Winter Solstice has become my favorite day of the year. For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, Winter Solstice is December 21st.

It is the day when Yin energy is at its peak and calls us to move into inner reflection.

YinYangYin and Yang energy are the two basic energies. They are polar opposites and come together to create everything in our universe. They are constantly transitioning. When one is strongest, the other is weakest. This only happens two times a year. As one energy reaches its peak and tips over, the other energy then begins to grow and strengthen. The switching point is a very powerful time.

As Yin energy reaches its strongest point on Winter Solstice we are drawn by the energy to experience our inner wisdom, to delve into the deep mysteries of the inner planes.

Take time on this December 21st to walk through the beauty of your life during the past year. Look at what you have accomplished and see how you have progressed in your journey.

In qigong I have learned there is no “wrong” way to practice; there is only good, better, and best. I have learned to apply that concept throughout my life. When you review this past year, I hope you will utilize this concept of good, better and best as you assess your progress. There is no failure and no wrong. If you even gave thought to change in a positive direction, this is good.

For the last four years in my work with the Masters, I have been told of the importance of juicing and the importance of using the essential oils from Young Living. This is why I began to teach and write articles about these topics.

As we move into higher frequencies, it is important that we lighten the physical body. One of the things happening now on the planet is we are receiving more light. In order to hold this light and this energy, we can assist the body by eating lighter foods and what I call cleaner foods. These are foods that do not clog the body. They are easy to digest; they are high in water content and, therefore, are cleansing by nature. These are fruits and vegetables in there natural uncooked state.

Fresh juice, unpasteurized, is one of the easiest and best ways to consume these foods. They are nutrient dense and the body absorbs these quickly and easily.

So, when the Masters began to give me this information, I had to start working on this. I had to get serious about what they were telling me. I had been juicing for years, but it was “occasional” juicing… when it was convenient. Now that the Masters were giving me this information with repeated frequency, I decided to start doing some juice fasting and to start juicing on a regular basis.

This is how I discovered Jason Vale and his quarterly juice fasts. I am amazed as I review my year, that I participated and completed every one of his juice fasts this year. Additionally, I have, for the past several months, been very successful at daily juicing 32 ounces of vegetable juice. Even when time is short and I need to be running out the door in the morning, I manage to juice at least a quart (i.e. 32 ounces or 1 liter) of mixed citrus juices to take on the go.

Why am I telling you about my success? Because if I can do this, anyone can do this.

It is a fabulous thing to do for your body and your health. But even more important is the fact that, yes, it does make a difference in your spiritual growth. It is the same with the essential oils. Will you see a difference if you juice just once or use an oil once? Probably not, although some people have had life changing experiences with one application of a Young Living essential oil, so I’m not saying it can’t happen. But usually it is something you become aware of over a period of time. Clarity begins to happen. Your emotions begin to balance out. Your focus changes. What seemed important becomes not so important after all and you find yourself seeking quiet time, seeking contemplation. You find yourself wanting less clutter in your life and less noise in your mind.

As the feminine Yin energy reaches its peak on December 21st and then begins to lessen, the Yang energy starts to grow.

In beautiful synchronicity, another key event occurs on December 20th this year. The 260-day Tzolkin calendar, one of the Mayan calendars, restarts on December 20th. This is the energy of rebirth and a new cycle of galactic energy. Each 260-day cycle is a sacred cycle of creation and is a spiral voyage in time that reflects the human gestational period. This galactic calendar spins in ongoing 260-day spiraling cycles perpetually. The Solstice will magnify these beginning, birthing energies, thus making this the perfect time to reflect on our past successes and the perfect time to reflect on new beginnings. It is the time to dream our visions and choose our desires for manifestation during this next ascending evolutionary spiral of galactic spin.

First, reflect on what you have accomplished. Then, reflect on the potential within you to create. Visualize these energies you want to bring into manifested form. Then you will be ready to move into action, as the Yang energy begins to grow and the new spiral of galactic energies begin once again.

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In the Still of the Night

by Dreama Vance

A ritual, as opposed to a habit or routine, is something done with intention and for me it holds a sense of reverence. Therein lies the power of ritual.

This is one of my favorite ways to use Young Living essential oils. They are such beautiful gifts from the essence of Creation itself. To be conscious of this every time you open one of these tiny bottles of pure essential oils brings you into the present moment. If you are conscious of what you are holding in your hand, it will center you and bring you fully present into the here and now.

By holding an intention, the oils will magnify this vibrationally. This is why you want to be conscious and aware of what you are thinking and your emotional intent when you use these oils.

I use Young Living essential oils throughout my day. I always start and end my day with them. They are such a pleasure to use and bring me such joy. If you don’t yet have a set of these spiritually empowering oils, you can use the link at the bottom of this article to order yours.

It took me a couple of years of using a select group of these oils everyday before I began to understand how these oils work from a spiritual point of view. They carry the blueprint of the Infinite within them. They carry the energy of the Sun, the Earth, and the stars within them. It is this Universal energy that calls to me. And it is this energy that attracts this same energy to me. In other words, these oils draw to me what will support me in my spiritual growth. This is what I have found.

Do you see this? Can you understand how much bigger these oils are than just their chemical composition? I have only found this with Young Living oils and it is entirely due to the Seed to Seal process that is Young Living’s guarantee. It is this promise of caring, of stewardship, of purity, and the knowledge and wisdom of decades of research that allow these oils to come to us with this energy intact.

On our spiritual journey, there are many things that come our way that seem ridiculous to our unawakened mind. It is a step of faith to move forward in spite of the mind’s arguments. Yet, we all have this calling within us to move forward on our path. It is only as we do so that we are able to see from a different perspective. What seemed ridiculous now becomes a path to greater truth.

Night time, when we sleep, is an opportunity to accomplish so much! Healing happens when we sleep. Our day gets processed through our dreams. We may be doing much work from a spiritual point of view when we are sleeping. Before we go to sleep is a great time to set your intention for those next few hours.

Do you have a beautiful ritual before bed?

There are two Young Living essential oils I like to use just before bed: Sacred Frankincense and Peace and Calming.

Just the name, Sacred Frankincense, says it all. Frankincense is a life-enhancing oil. Sacred life. What better place to go during sleep than to that sacred place within your own being? Set your intention to be in that beautiful place and apply the oil where ever you choose… the crown of the head, over the heart center…let your intuition guide you.

Peace and Calming is one of those gorgeous oils. The fragrance is rich and romantic. It reminds me of hearts and flowers and it has a beautiful blue color.

Each night as you prepare for bed, put a drop of Peace and Calming on the sole of each foot. Then, put a couple of drops in your hand and circle three times clockwise, to activate and harmonize the oil with your intention, then smooth the oil over your neck and top of your shoulders.

Breathe from your hands once you are in bed. Just breathe naturally nine times. Feel how your breathing deepens as you go along. Feel how the tension begins to ease. Feel how the mind starts to quiet. Place yourself in the presence of the Infinite.

In the still of the night, Peace and Calming, Sacred Frankincense… a blissful night.

If you don’t yet have a set of these spiritually empowering oils, here is the link to learn more about their purity and remarkable qualities:

http://www.spiritualdynamics.net/oils

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Spice Up Your Life

by Dreama Vance

It has turned cold and gray and rainy where we are in Colorado. When the weather turns cold, cooling raw foods lose their appeal. The last thing I want in the morning is a cold smoothie!

There is hope, however, for those of us still aspiring to increase our raw food intake. It comes in the form of additions to our fresh juices and at the top of the list is fresh ginger. I rediscovered this spice last year at this time and I have been adding it to my green juices and my carrot-based juices for over a year now.

Using fresh ginger warms you all the way through your body and keeps you warm long after the juice is gone. It has amazing health benefits which you can research yourself.

In the last Juice Cleanse event with Jason Vale, we started each day with a Ginger Shot. Just before you start to juice your regular juice, juice half an apple and half an inch (1 cm+) of fresh ginger root. You can pour this into a shot glass and drink it in one swallow, but I like to just drink mine normally. As you get used to ginger, you can add more. If you are timid, you can start out with less ginger. This is a great wake-up in the morning. It is particularly good to replace caffeine. It also gets you started until your normal juice is ready!

Here is another one of Jason Vale’s recipes from a previous cleanse, Lemon/Ginger Zinger. Juice 2 carrots, 2 sweet apples, 1-inch (2.5 cm) of lemon (with peel if organic,) and a quarter-inch of fresh ginger root. I like to add about an inch of ginger. It’s delicious.

My last recipe is a green juice and an adaptation of Lou Corona’s Lemon Ginger Blast. Juice 2 sweet apples (such as Fuji or Gala,) 4 sticks of celery, 1 cucumber, some greens such as Swiss chard, kale, or spinach, 1 lemon (with peel if organic,) 1 inch of ginger root, 1 inch of jalapeno pepper. This is spicy hot and delicious. If you aren’t accustomed to heat, start with less ginger and jalapeno. I like the fresh jalapeno pepper much better than dry cayenne powder. This juice is a power house. Once you have the basic recipe down, then you can add and subtract to it or swap out your greens. You can add dandelion, fennel, and mint or cilantro or parsley. Each ingredient has its own healing properties.

You may never do a complete cleanse and you may never do a juice fast or a water fast. However, if you juice everyday, with your own fresh juice or fresh juice from a juice bar, you will start on a path of good health.

Green juices don’t have to taste yucky. Two sweet apples make just about any green juice palatable. For hardier fare, carrot juice combinations work well.

If you start your day with fresh juice, when the stomach is empty, the juice is quickly absorbed right into your system. You will begin to alkalize and hydrate your body. You will begin to nourish your body with easily accessible nutrients. It is one of the best ways to take charge of your health.

Jay Kordich, a Master of Juice Therapy recommends 32 ounces (equal to one liter or one US quart) of fresh juice a day. I like to get mine done first thing in the morning so I am finished for the day; otherwise, one excuse after another gets in the way. You will be surprised at how nourishing, filling, and long-lasting those 32 ounces of juice are.

If you haven’t made daily juicing one of your steps on the journey of good health, I hope you will be inspired to start!

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

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Cleanse and Purify

by Dreama Vance

One of the arts we are taught from spiritual wisdom teachings is the practice of cleansing and fasting.

We have just finished the Juice Challenge with Jason Vale and I hope you joined in with us! A juice fast is a great way to reset your thought processes, repattern your behaviors, and restart your good intentions.

Any cleanse awakens newness within you. Insights begin to come to you. Awareness is revealed about food and your choices. Realizations that were hidden are suddenly right there in your mind if you pay attention and take a few minutes to reflect and allow Spirit to reveal itself.

Is it any wonder we are told to cleanse and fast? I am amazed that this is not more specifically addressed by today’s spiritual teachers.

I love NEW. I love the feel of fresh, clean sheets on the bed. I love the energy of a just-cleaned house. I love the beginning of a month and use that as a time to start new projects. I am a seeker; I love learning new things. I love beginnings. If you can relate to any of these ideas, then you can understand the value of a cleanse. It is about renewal.

There are many ways to cleanse the body. Juice fasting is just one of them and is a fairly general, overall aid in assisting the body. There are, however, many other resources available and specific cleanses for the different body systems.

Cleansing is probably the most important thing you can do for your health.

The Young Living Essential Oils company has wonderful products that support cleansing the body and I would like to talk about how to start with one of their products that is a specific cleansing protocol called Cleansing Trio. It is incredibly easy to do.

If you are like my husband who swears he will never do a juice fast, then this is for you! If my husband can do it, anyone can. It is that simple and easy.

First, did you know there is an order to follow in cleansing the body systems? Many people have heard of a liver cleanse or a gallbladder cleanse. However, you don’t want to do any of those until you have first done a colon cleanse. The colon is the main avenue of exit for removal of toxins from the body. You don’t want to be cleansing the liver of toxins and have a colon that is not functioning up to par!

In Chinese Medicine, we clean the colon in the Fall, which allows us to prepare for the spring time cleaning of the liver, when we naturally gravitate to those wonderful bitter greens such as dandelion. Your body has a rhythm that follows Nature. Chinese Medicine and the Five Element Theory is the a study of this connection. It has been studied and practiced for thousands of years, with a focus on longevity and good health.

You can start your colon cleanse with Young Living’s Cleansing Trio.

The Cleansing Trio is a kit that contains three products: Comfortone, ICP, and Essentialzyme, all packaged together and priced lower than the sum of each product sold individually.

The primary reason this cleanse is so easy to do is that it is self-monitoring. Another reason it is so easy is because you don’t have to change your diet! I did this cleanse last year over the holidays and during a house move!

White flour products and most dairy products are the culprits in creating the paste that lines the colon and starts creating problems. The more you eliminate these and the more you increase “real food” – actual fruits and vegetables – the better and happier your digestive system will be. If you have never done a cleanse, now is the time to start!

The secret to keeping this cleanse comfortable is drinking at least two quarts (two liters) of water a day, preferably three quarts. This is key. It may sound like a lot, but it is quite manageable.

Using Young Living products is one of the ways I take care of my family. This company is about empowering you to take control of your health. Taking action is the first step.

The deeper you cleanse and the cleaner your food, the more you open the channels of communication to the inner you, allowing greater intuition, insight, and clarity to express into your conscious awareness.

Your body is beautiful and amazing. Love and care for it. It is the only one you get in this circle of life.

If you already are a Young Living member, just sign in and order the Cleansing Trio (Item no. 3115) at: https://www.youngliving.org

If you are not a Young Living member, JOIN! I always recommend the Premium Starter Kit with Home Diffuser. It includes the Premium Essential Oils Collection. This is a US$300 value that you can get for $160 and it is a great way to get started. It includes a diffuser and eleven different essential oils that you can use for so many normal everyday needs. You can add the Cleansing Trio (item no. 3115) to your order.

If you don’t want the Premium Starter Kit, you can still become a member by buying the Basic Starter Kit for $40 (US). This basically gives you membership and allows you to purchase at wholesale pricing. (You can also purchase the Cleansing Trio retail; it is completely up to you.) You can add the Cleansing Trio (item no. 3115) to your order. To sign up as a new Member, go to:

http://www.spiritualdynamics.net/oils/signup.htm

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The Bigger Picture

by Dreama Vance

Are you, right now, in the Present Moment? Or is your mind on a thousand different things, thinking about what you have on hand to fix for supper tonight, whether you are going to be late to pick up the kids, the argument you had with a colleague or your boss…

Breathe.

If you have some Young Living oils, take out a bottle, open it up and inhale. I love Stress Away for this, or Lavender, or Frankincense, or Sacred Mountain, or Believe, or… you get my point. Just breathing consciously is good, but we have to work at it a little to let go of that charged up energy of hurry, hurry, hurry, too-much-to-do!

Breathing in one of Young Living’s essential oils is better. Why? Because it makes centering so much easier. Centering happens almost automatically when you inhale one of these oils. Breathing in one of these oils six to eight times, you will find… Yourself.

Yes, you didn’t even know you were lost, but you were scattered all over the place and this is where most of us live most of the time. Our energy is quite literally splattered. So when this happens, when your energy is all over the place, where are you? Take a moment to find yourself and to be present.

Now that you are here in the present moment, open your heart. Open your heart so that you are receptive to a new way of seeing, of understanding at a different level.

Open your heart, knowing that there is so much more to life than our everyday perception of it. Allow wisdom to begin to percolate as you continue reading, knowing that information comes to you on many levels, not just at an intellectual level.

The Big Picture

We live within the consciousness of the planet. Yes, that’s right. We live within the consciousness of the planet. Hold that thought in your awareness as I briefly run through the way most people think about the evolution of consciousness.

Overall, humanity as a whole has functioned at the solar plexus level of consciousness for many eons of time, believing in separation and the duality of existence.

We are beginning to shift in our awareness to lower heart-centered consciousness. This is where we become aware of something bigger than ourselves… where something more important than “me and mine” enters our awareness. The environmental movement is a good example of this.

As we move to upper heart-centered consciousness, we get the first glimpse of the spiritual levels of existence as the upper heart center bridges the lower physical chakras with the higher spiritual ones.

Around in this area, we begin to perceive unity consciousness. We know it intellectually and think we understand it, but that is really solar plexus thinking! It is the experience at these higher levels of consciousness that begins to awaken our understanding of this concept.

From this initial understanding of unity consciousness, many people make a gigantic leap and go straight to, “I am God.” At this point, they consider themselves “enlightened” and basically done. They think, “I am God. God is all. What else is there?”

Hmm… I think they left out the middle bit.

Very few teachers, if any, talk about this concept of planetary consciousness dwelling within us, or us living within the consciousness of the Earth.

We certainly know the Earth is a conscious being. However, even in this understanding, we tend to view the Earth from an egocentric position. What this means is we still perceive ourselves as most important and the Earth as just… well, someone or something else.

We see her as important, yes, of course… we recognize all of the environmental issues. We may even have experience with the Essene teachings where we recognize her as the Earthly Mother. We may even acknowledge with gratitude her role as our home, just as we acknowledge the Sun and its role in supporting life on our planet. Yet, we still see both the Earth and the Sun as objects.

In all of this, we have failed, quite miserably, to comprehend the truly enormous spiritual power of the Earth. The Earth is a conscious being. We have not understood the sacredness, the holy energy that is the breath and heart of this planet. Her light and power would literally blind us, should she reveal it to us.

Because we have not been aware of that energy, we have missed the realization of her tremendous sacrifice in shielding that light so that we may have residence here to experience our own evolution in consciousness. This is a master teaching for another time but if your heart is open, you will begin to understand the thought I told you to hold in your focus:

We live in the consciousness of the planet.

So, here is a part of the Bigger Picture. In our movement into separation, we have gone farther and farther away from the teachings of Wholeness. We have moved away from the foundations of life provided by the planet. Those foundations are based on plants. Plants are the foundation of our food supply. The rainforests are foundational in climate control and helping oxygenate the air we breathe. Plants as food and medicine are inextricably woven together.

If you think of the Earth as a Mother, then plants are mother’s milk to her children. They are our food; they nourish us; they protect us; they heal us.

We are in the middle of The Shift. The Earth is calling us back to her teachings. As she continues to release more spiritual energy, we are vibrationally pulled to her larger consciousness.

This is why changes in diet are so prevalent at this time. This is why veganism, whole food and raw food diets are popping up all over the world. This is why people are seeking alternative healing methods. This is why Young Living essential oils are global… Plants! They have been and are the foundation to Wholeness.

Now you have a glimpse of the bigger picture. However, as you expand in consciousness, the picture continues to get bigger! Next time, we will look at another facet of the bigger picture…it is all about energy.

In the meantime, you can find out more about Young Living essential oils with two great educational videos here:

http://www.spiritualdynamics.net/oils

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Messages From Your Soul

by Dreama Vance

When I first started writing these articles about conscious eating, I asked for guidance about where to begin. After all, there is a vast array of information available.

Imagine my surprise when Spirit said, “Eat Light.”

Eat Light. Information from our soul can be quite literal. Eat Light, as in vital life energy. The closest foods that fit this definition, of course, are fresh, living foods, the closer to nature the better. You only have to harvest from your own garden to appreciate the living vibration that comes from the plant itself. We have been privileged to visually experience the light that radiates from fresh, live food through Kirlian photography.

You might contemplate on this subject in your meditations. Eat Light. When we eat fresh living food, we literally eat the light of the Sun. Notice, that Spirit did not get bogged down with the more physical aspects of diet choices. Spirit did not give me a big, long list of nutrients that must be included, or negative things to exclude. Spirit went right to the heart of the matter. Eat Light. We are, after all, made of Light.

Now, there are many ways to add Light to the body. We can practice certain meditations specifically focused on adding light. We can practice qigong; we can use Young Living essential oils, which have light energy in them; we can practice certain types of yoga and breathing exercises; and we can eat as much fresh raw fruits and vegetables as we can, including fresh juices.

During this time of monumental change, our bodies are literally becoming less dense as we prepare for the Shift. Everything we can do to assist this process makes our own transformation easier.

The second message I kept receiving was, “Eat clean food.” Well, of course, we aren’t going to eat dirty food, except for maybe Cajun Dirty Rice! I would naturally assume that this means to eat as organic as possible, staying away from pesticides, and all of the other toxic chemicals that are so prevalent now on our planet. However, as I contemplated on this message, I began to see a deeper meaning. I began to realize clean food is food that is clean in the body. Once again, we are led to fresh, raw, foods with high water content. The physical body, in good health and youthfulness, is over 70% water. We know to stay hydrated. Hydration is important to our well being. Fresh, living fruits and vegetables have the best water for us!

These are beautiful messages; and so simple and easy to follow. In this simplicity, however, is profound wisdom and guidance.

Let us shift direction and look at another way the soul provides messages. We can easily see from the above information what provides the body with the foundational foods for good health.

When we have something happen that causes a physical imbalance, it is a good bet our soul consciousness is trying to get our attention. If you are normally in good health and something happens that isn’t related to an accident, my first recommendation is to look at your food choices. Have you added or inadvertently deleted something from your diet?

Here is an example. A couple of years ago I woke up on the first of January raring to go exercise and get started on those New Year’s resolutions. As I hopped out of bed, I looked down to see that my knee was the size of a grapefruit. It didn’t hurt, per se, but as I tried to do extended walking, it would start to ache. I started using my natural remedies, sure I would be fine very soon. While this helped the immediate pain, I wasn’t solving the problem.

Two weeks later, finally, I sat down and started taking my own advice! I looked at my diet to see what was different. After a bit of analysis, I realized I had accidentally increased my omega 6 fatty acids and practically eliminated my omega 3 fatty acids. I immediately set about correcting this and within two days, my knee was healed.

Our food choices are foundational to the physical body. This is why we start there. Many, many solutions are found here. If this does not provide a solution, then we move to the next level, which includes the emotional components and our mental, and/or belief systems.

Our soul uses problems in the physical body and also our emotional states to get our attention and to tell us when we are off track. We, as individuals, have each set up our own system of internal communication. We have individually designed a system whereby our soul lets us know whether we are accomplishing our goals and growth for this lifetime, or whether we have taken a detour or, perhaps are stuck in a rut and not advancing in our purpose.

It is fairly simple to ask and receive information from the body itself and also to communicate with our own soul. There is a lovely book, “Soul Speak” by Julia Cannon that I really like and recommend for learning the process of communication and discovering what our issues are telling us, if you need such assistance. Julia has worked with her mother, Dolores Cannon, the well-known past life regression therapist, and her many hypnosis clients for many years and brings this expertise as well as her own guidance to the book.

I had the privilege to study with Dolores and know first hand how very simple healing can be if we but pay attention to the messages our souls are communicating. I was very saddened to hear that Dolores made her transition last October. She did amazing work during her lifetime with us and was a pioneer in the field of hypnosis and past life regression. Her many books will open your eyes to the many, many, different lives and expressions of conscious energy in the Universe.

Life is a joy to live and experience as we evolve in consciousness. Part of that evolution is our own development of our soul connection. As we learn to listen and create attunement with higher consciousness, life begins to mirror those states of light, expansion, harmony, beauty, and love.

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It’s a Matter of Mind

by Dreama Vance

Change is an ongoing constant of the Universe.

Think not? Take a look at a picture of yourself ten years ago and then look in the mirror! Better yet, get an old movie of one of your favorite actors and look at how young they were back when the movie was made!

Yep, change is a constant.

You, however, have in your hand a great deal of power to determine how change happens. Will it be for the better or for the worse? If we don’t make conscious decisions for the better, then by default we choose the latter. If we don’t make the positive choices and enact them, time takes care of it for us and we have ultimately chosen entropy.

Focus on the Positive

The past couple of weeks we talked about removing processed food from our diet. At first, this seems like our focus is on what not to eat. However, I hope you can see how tremendously positive this one step is in moving you forward on your journey. It really doesn’t matter how much good stuff you eat, if you continue to eat the junk. You are basically just treading water to keep your head afloat.

Consider an injury that is related to repetitive motion, such as carpal tunnel syndrome or tennis elbow. You can put on oils, creams, salves, and whatever else the doctor dishes up; but until you stop doing whatever is causing the problem, the injury is going to stay irritated and inflamed, no matter what you put on it; no matter what good things you say about it or how much you love it. See what I’m saying?

So often I have heard raw foodist Dr. Fred Bisci say, “It is what you leave out of your diet, completely, that matters.” Even though I have heard that a gazillion times over the last decade, I didn’t really get it until several months ago. I understood it intellectually, of course, but it didn’t make the shift from the intellect (solar plexus chakra) to the heart chakra until just recently.

When this happens with any type of intellectual knowledge, an entire field of understanding opens up at a different level of consciousness. It is literally as if you never understood it before, even though we think we do. Leaving the bad stuff out of the diet is like resting the elbow or wrist. The body has the opportunity to start healing. The internal terrain changes, the tissue itself changes, and the energetic picture changes.

Okay, now I want to continue with the focus on the positive. It is the focus on the positive that enables you to make changes. If you see it as easy, it IS easy. If you see it as hard, it will be difficult. Your mind plays an important role here. How you view what you want to accomplish makes change enjoyable or a hardship that you struggle against every step of the way.

Let’s take a look at what I call the “Happy Shoulds.” Maybe these will dislodge some of the misperceptions we have all been saddled with from the get-go.

I always laugh when people indignantly say, “I don’t like to be told what to eat!” We’ve always been told what to eat! As a babe in the womb, you drew nourishment, or the lack thereof, from your mother. As a wee babe, you ate what she fed you, till you got big enough to spit out food you really didn’t like. Then, you were conditioned to eat what your friends were eating, what the television told you was good, what you saw on commercials in between cartoons, what the family ate, and on and on it goes.

Food is how we are indoctrinated into our society. If you go to a foreign country, you will immediately notice how they eat differently from what you are used to eating. Even different parts of the same country have their own cuisine specialties.

The Happy Shoulds

#1. Food should be delicious. I don’t know about you, but I want my food to taste good. If you believe “health food ” is boring, bland, and… well, awful, sometimes it is! But it shouldn’t be! So kick that idea right out to the curb. There are many, many delicious vegan, vegetarian, and raw food dishes that absolutely shine! And everyone can enjoy these foods. Everyone eats vegetables, whether they are vegetarian or not! Everyone can eat live, fresh food whether they are a raw foodist or not! My husband is always telling me to teach how to prepare tasty vegan cuisine because I have learned how to make food taste good. You can, too!

I will tell you in advance that when you begin removing processed foods from your diet, your tastes will change and foods that you thought were rather bland begin to reveal their true colors. Who would have thought plain celery juice was delicious? Ironically, processed foods that you thought were a real treat will begin to taste like cardboard. Isn’t that interesting?

Your green juice, smoothies and “good for you” superfoods should taste delicious, too. With very few exceptions, you should enjoy these. Why? If you don’t like them, you won’t stay with the practice for very long.

#2. You should eat when you are not yet hungry. What? Everyone says, “Don’t eat until you’re hungry.” I say, if you follow that advice, you’ll eat everything in the refrigerator when you come home. I say, never wait until you are really hungry to eat. Plan to eat on a schedule, that way you are never starving and your body gets used to having food in a timely manner. There are energy systems inside the body that follow the clock of the sun. The more we can follow a schedule of eating, sleeping, arising, and so forth, the more in harmony we are with the wisdom of the body.

#3. You should eat enough so you aren’t still hungry. This “happy should” takes care of the misconception that you will starve to death on a vegan, vegetarian, or raw food diet. Not gonna happen. Eat and be happy with your food. Eat enough to be fulfilled.

Somehow when I first studied the raw food diet, a sense of “don’t eat too much” got hammered into my brain. It finally dawned on me this past year that I had somehow bought into this sense of lack as being beneficial. That idea is really a disservice, particularly when it comes to a mainly raw food diet.

The flip side of that is eating until you are stuffed to the gills and that is just as miserable in the other direction. I think the best way to phrase it is, “Eat in balance and in harmony with your body.” Enjoy your food, take your time dining, and allow your body time to signal you when it is full. This takes about 20 minutes. The rule of thumb is, “Stop when you are 80% full.” So how do you know when that is? For me it is when I would like to have a second helping of something… just one more scoop. If you stop without indulging, you give your body the time needed to send the message, “That’s enough!” Pay attention to what your body is telling you when it is happy.

#4. You should eat a wide variety of food. Eat good-for-you fats such as avocado and raw nuts and seeds. Eat raw fruits. You should eat greens. You should eat vegetables. Most of your food should be plant-based and you should eat as much raw, living food as you can. You should keep your meals simple. That way they are easy to prepare and easier to digest.

There is probably at least one expert out there in disagreement with at least one of these recommendations. If you are following a specific protocol, then by all means feel free to ignore whatever is not applicable to your protocol.

My goal here is to empower you in making your own decisions. No one knows your body better than you do. By the same token, no one is responsible for what you do to it but you.

If you listen and just pay attention, you will find your higher self communicating with you. Back around 2000, tofu was all the rage. So I would buy boxes of tofu thinking I would make things with it. The expiration dates would come and the boxes would get thrown out and I would buy more the next trip into town. After about three trips of this happening, I finally got the message… maybe this wasn’t for me. The same thing happened with cacao beans. Raw cacao beans became the rage in the raw food movement, so I bought a bunch thinking of all the wonderful desserts I would make. I think they are still in my cupboard, several years old. Your higher self will either let you know what is wise for you, or just take care of it for you!

#5. You should use your common sense. Be smart. Personally, I am never going to eat 30 bananas in one day. I am also not going to eat three cups of nuts in one slice of raw cheesecake. My point here is for you not to get hung up over labels or someone’s indoctrination. Do your own research and also realize that just because some study “proves” something, that doesn’t mean it is “true” and it doesn’t mean it carries the message the proponent wants you to think it does. It doesn’t mean it is necessarily for you, specifically, either.

Listen to your higher wisdom. There are no food police. There are no wagons from which to fall; there is no failure.

There are only good, better, and best decisions to be made. Keep your goal in mind and enjoy becoming more and more conscious!

Tip of the Day

Here is my favorite tip for you to include in your healthy journey. Soup is one of my favorite meals. It is easy to prepare ahead of time and I usually fix enough for several meals and to freeze some. This tip works great for just about anything chunky: vegetable soups, bean soups, spaghetti sauce. Here it is.

Gather a bunch of raw spinach under your hand on a cutting board. Make thin ribbon slices by cutting across the board (not your hand!) to produce a chiffonade, which is just shredded or finely-cut vegetables. Place a handful of the spinach in a bowl before adding your soup or beans, or on top of your pasta before adding sauce. This is a great way to add some fresh raw food to your dish and to boost the nutrient content of your meal. The heat from your soup or sauce will wilt the spinach just enough to soften it and not cook the life out of it. Chopped, fresh baby tomatoes work nicely as an addition, too.

Next week we will cover more about your soul. Although we did talk a bit about the wisdom of your higher self in this article, there is still a little more information I want to give you. The bigger picture includes quite a bit of information, so we will see how that spans out in the next article or two.

Happy Eating!

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Take It Slow and Easy, but Run as Fast as You Can!

by Dreama Vance

Evolving our diet is a process. It goes hand in hand with our spiritual growth.

As part of your path of spiritual evolution, it is best to take the evolution of your diet slow and easy, but keep moving in the right direction in a determined fashion.

The path of dietary evolution typically begins where a majority of people are, which is eating a Standard American Diet (SAD). Even other countries are now consuming this diet because Americans have managed to export it around the globe, thanks to the fast food chains and mega food companies.

The Dietary Spectrum

So, we have the SAD diet at one end of the spectrum, which promotes large quantities of meat, dairy, and packaged products that have a long shelf life, and are loaded with sugars, salt, preservatives, dyes and artificial flavorings. At the other end is a live food or raw vegan diet, which has finally, at least, hit the mainstream news, and is about as far from SAD as one can get.

In the middle of this path are terms such as the paleo diet, vegetarian diet, vegan diet, and macrobiotic diet. This is a broad overview. These are stations that people explore, usually in search of a healthier lifestyle, and/or for ethical reasons. These are usually lifestyle changes. These are the steps we explore as we evolve.

Within this spectrum are sprinkled various “diets” that people go on, usually to lose weight, such as the South Beach Diet. These “go on a diet” choices are not intended to be lifelong, but rather short term to achieve a desired effect. These short term diets are not really the topic of this article, but I will say they only work short term, and that is because people revert back to their original eating style, rather than making a lifestyle change.

So I hope you have a pretty clear picture of the spectrum with the SAD at one end and the living food or raw food diet at the other end. You can see now how we evolve the diet. You can see that it is a process. Most people do not go from a SAD to a raw vegan lifestyle overnight. In fact, it is not even something I recommend.

Many people may never want to go as far as that goal of a raw vegan diet. It is, however, a bright star to hold in your consciousness as a goal. It serves as the anchor point for your direction. It keeps you on track and it keeps you moving, at your own pace, toward improvement and toward spiritual light.

A solid starting point

Out of the picture that I have just painted for you, I want to lift out a starting point for anyone wondering how to begin the journey and, for those of you already on the journey, I want you to realize that what I am about to say applies across the spectrum.

The number one thing you can do to start and to move forward no matter where you are on the path, is to eliminate processed food. I like to say, “Eat real food.” Real food is what you find on the outer edges of the grocery store, labeled Produce. It is what you find at the farmers’ markets. Processed food is all of the other stuff in the center of the grocery store, along with the paper products and soap powders!

It took me 30 years of study to figure this out. But, the first thing to do and the best thing you can do is this one step – eliminate processed food. Begin with the most obvious things – fast food and junk foods – and then move forward from there to the “convenience” foods. Advance as quickly as you can.

Now, for those of you who think you are already beyond this point, let me just suggest you take another look around your kitchen. You may be surprised at what you are holding onto in your life. Like I said, it flows across the spectrum; there are many processed foods in the vegetarian movement and in the vegan movement, too. When I went vegetarian back in the 1970s, there were no fake meat substitutes available. Consequently, and fortunately, I never made a switch to those products.

Like I said, the key is to “Eat real food.” You will find people now making reference to this way of eating as a whole foods diet and, when animal products are also eliminated, it may be called a whole food plant-based diet. These are relatively new terms that emphasize the importance of eating whole foods and eliminating most of the processed foods.

Out of this decision to eliminate processed food, come two results. 1) You have to prepare your own cooked food and/or 2) you have to eat live food, otherwise known as fruits and vegetables. Fresh fruits and vegetables as a meal help save time and also add tremendously to your health, vitality and spiritual light.

Connecting with the light

You will find that when you move into this way of living, particularly when following a plant-strong whole foods diet, you become very conscious of what you are eating. Awareness begins to penetrate your food preparation and when you begin to honor all who have brought this bounty to your table – the Mother Earth, the Sun, the people, the bees – then you begin to prepare food with such love and gratitude.

You will be filled, not just with nourishing food, but with peace and beauty and harmony. These qualities will come through your food to bless those you serve. We have, to a very large degree, lost this in our hurry-up, grab-it-and-go, eat-on-the-run world.

Next article: We will look at one of my favorite teachers and discover how healing Real Food can be for the body in Take It Slow and Easy, but Do It!

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Take It Slow and Easy, but Do It!

by Dreama Vance

Last week we talked about eliminating processed foods from the diet. This one step, in and of itself, starts a healing journey for the body.

You see, the body is designed to be self-healing. Have you ever cut your finger and done nothing to help it? Did it heal? The Divine energy that is within us, that is us, has intelligence. It is what beats our heart, draws our breath, causes our blood to flow and our food to digest.

The body is designed to maintain homeostasis, or balance.

So what happens to throw the body out of balance? How do we end up with such things as heart disease and arthritis?

In the world of natural health, illness or disease is deemed to result from either 1) toxicity, or 2) a lack or depletion, usually of nutrients. We also now know that there can be a mind-body-spirit component involved, but for now, let’s stay focused on the physical.

In Dr. T. Colin Campbell’s book, ‘The China Study,” he divides disease into two types: Diseases of affluence (nutritional extravagance) such as cancers, diabetes, coronary heart disease; and diseases of poverty (nutritional inadequacy and poor sanitation) such as pneumonia, pulmonary tuberculosis, and parasitic disease.

You can easily see that processed food would weigh heavily in the toxic category and would also weigh in under diseases of affluence.

When you stop consuming something harmful, your body will naturally begin to release and detoxify, start the healing journey, and find its way back to balance. This applies to both harmful foods and harmful thoughts.

I know many of you are already on this journey and are quite conscious of your diet; however, I continue to be astounded to find wellness educators, energy workers, and others at work in the healing field who appear to be oblivious to this information. I want you to know just how important your diet is, how wrongly informed we have been, and how to start coming into alignment with natural law and the wonderful results that happen, at all levels of our being, when we do. My purpose in writing these articles is to lay a foundation here for you to use in creating the life you desire. We all want health and vitality!

There are many resources out there now informing us of this healing way: Dr. Joel Fuhrman, Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn and his work on heart disease, along with his son’s, “The Engine 2 Diet,” created to assist his fellow firemen. Then there is Dr. T. Colin Campbell’s work and his son’s involvement in Plant-Pure Nation. These are all people bringing information to the public that nutrition and the choices you make about your food play a foundational role in your health. Disease does not just befall you. We have created it, through our ignorance of truth.

Dr. Fred Bisci said in an interview last year, “Humanity has fallen into darkness.” It was a poignant statement. I continue to have friends, old and new, who look at me as if I’m from Mars when I suggest that diet changes could help them with their fibromyalgia, their cancers, their arthritis, or their blood disorder. Dr. Bisci’s statement just about broke my heart.

The good news is you can take action because you now have information and you can help loved ones in your family. Two principles in “The China Study” are relevant here.

Principle #6: “The same nutrition that prevents disease in its early stages (before diagnosis) can also halt or reverse disease in its later stages (after diagnosis).”

Principle # 7: “Nutrition that is truly beneficial for one chronic disease will support health across the board.”

It isn’t that hard. We don’t need a different diet for every disease! Every one of the people mentioned above have books and information available that are easily doable. If brawny firemen in steak-central Austin, Texas can get rid of meat, dairy, refined and processed foods and go plant-strong, anyone can. (See www.Engine2Diet.com)

All of the above people have proven success records and their recommendations are not extreme. The raw and living foods diet has a defined healing diet within it and there are other benefits that arise out of this type of diet that relate to spiritual clarity, but with the exception of serious life-threatening disease, much progress can be made by choosing whole foods and plant-strong diets, which are in the middle of the dietary spectrum we talked about in the previous article.

I want to talk for a moment about Dr. Fred Bisci because I love his work for so many reasons. He is in his 80’s and has been a raw foodist for over 40 years. Very early on my path of exploration into the raw food movement, I got to hear him speak to a small group of about 25 people. He believes strongly in the spiritual foundation of life. He is a PhD nutritionist and has had a long clinical practice, working with many who are sick and ill and those referred by medical doctors.

Although he is a raw foodist, he designs specific diet recommendations to meet you where you are on your journey. He has developed what he calls the Intermediate Diet with a focus on what you leave out (processed food) as well as what you include, such as fresh raw organic food and a moderate amount of cooked food. You can check out the great information on his website, www.AnyDoubtLeaveItOut.com. He is still in practice, so if you need assistance, he is available for consultation.

I promised some of my own tips for making the transition, so here are a few ideas to get you started:

DO IT – Drop One, Include Two.

Drop One processed or unhealthy food from your diet. Include Two practices that promote health.

Just choose one thing to eliminate and two things to add. Focus only on this for a month. By then, it becomes a habit. The habit continues, but you don’t really pay much attention to it, rather like brushing your teeth, you just DO IT!

Next month you will choose again – one thing to eliminate, two good things to add. Focus on those for a month. It becomes a habit. Slowly, over time, you very successfully and easily change.

You don’t really need me to tell you what is unhealthy or what to eliminate. But here are some ideas for adding the good things.

1. Start your day with a 16 oz. glass of good, pure water and the juice of half a lemon. After a while you can add another glass of plain water so that you are getting a quart or liter of water in the morning. This helps flush the system and hydrate the body.

2. Eat some fresh raw fruit or vegetables with every meal. It is very easy to go all day without eating anything raw or fresh. By focusing on adding something fresh to each meal and eating it first, we start to pay attention to consuming live, energy-rich food.

3. Make your snacks raw. My husband decided to give up his afternoon soda pop. Being a Brit, he likes tea. So he replaced the soda with a cup of tea and an orange. This is definitely a step in the right direction! Fresh fruit, a handful of raw nuts and seeds, fresh veggie sticks all make great snacks. One of my favorite mid-morning treats when we are on the road is sliced apple with a small container of raw almond butter. Just dip and munch. Yum!

4. Have raw food for breakfast. This can include fresh fruit, fresh veggie juice, a smoothie, a green smoothie, raw granola or even chia pudding.

5. Every day, make one meal a salad meal. Have most of the salad fresh greens and add your favorite raw veggies for color. Then if you like, you can add some cooked veggies like potato or sweet potato, or steamed broccoli and carrots, or cauliflower, or even add a scoop of cooked beans.

These are just some ideas to get you started or you can create your own healthy practices. The key is to get started and DO IT!

Soon, we will continue to build the foundation by taking a look at the bigger picture to include the planet, the soul and the mind!

Until then, enjoy delicious, health-promoting food!

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