We all play a major role in creating sustainable habitats for plants and animals. As the world opens up again, find sanctuaries to breathe and hold natural, sacred space. 

June is a magical month for flowers. Did you ever, as a young person, stand next to a peony bush and watch the ants work their magic on a peony bud? The buds are a food source for the ants and the peony is protected from other sap-feeding insects. This is a form of mutualism in nature. 

When the peony blooms, the scent draws one in. Each petal is a velvety layer of beauty, ever-expanding until an early summer rain causes the flower heads to droop, thus ending their magnificent, annual display. 

Don’t delay. Watch nature’s fashion show through the summer. Driving around town, I just noticed my first roses blooming in various gardens. The new color appears, seemingly out of nowhere. Bees gather the rose nectar and pollen. 

Pay attention as the floral world...

Watch underlying health conditions resolve when you are the boss of sugar and caffeine. 

Make small changes for a big impact in your life. Abundant, pure energy offers so much, especially at ages 50 and over. Sixty million Americans have a sleep disorder which can lead to irritability, diabetes, and heart disease. 

Eat the food rainbow for its many benefits. Red fruits and vegetables have anti-inflammatory and antioxidant benefits and may lower the risk of heart disease. Blue and purple foods may boost brain power and lessen the risk of a type-2 diabetes diagnosis. 

Increase your consumption of healthy fruits and vegetables as an alternative to sugary foods. Reduce sugary foods in the diet and minimize the production of stress hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol. Without the hormonal imbalance brought on by excessive sugar, the ease with which one can relax, sleep more easily, and remember more, is magnified.  

Do some...

Are you ready to spring clean? 

Will you tackle an inside cleaning project that has been talking to you? There’s raking outside for those with yards. The grass is always so grateful to have its back scratched. Watch the grass spring to life in a matter of days. 

When I do a deep seasonal clean, I’ll look at an object and ask myself, “If I lived in a tiny house, would I need this?” If the answer is No, then into the give-away bag it goes. 

Keep only what serves you. 

When you’re out for a vigorous walk or on your yoga mat after a good session, let go of your worries and woes. Walk near a river, lake, or ocean and allow the water to absorb your anxiety. 

With an increased number of people getting vaccinated, the world is starting to feel a bit more open. Don’t get overwhelmed with plans. One story told of a beach in Mexico where it was hard to see the sand due to the massive crowds of...

How do you make your biggest and boldest stand in the world? 

What fuels you? 

This month we had Earth Day and it is Stress Awareness Month. Is that coincidental? 

How has the pandemic reduced your carbon footprint? 

Less air travel? Fewer trips around town? 

We were going out of our house so infrequently last year that a mallard hen laid nine eggs next to our front porch. A few weeks later, Proud Mama walked her nine hatchlings down to the creek behind the house, never to be seen again. 

A mating pair has been dining at our bird feeder lately but now that we’re vaccinated and feeling a little more adventurous, I think the increased traffic on the porch may preclude this year’s nesting activities. 

Do what you can to protect Mother Nature. Make sure you responsibly dispose of your masks. 1.5 billion masks ended up in the ocean in 2020.

We were just in Seattle visiting our son for the first time in 14 months. This...

January 2021

In the end, only 3 things matter: how deeply you loved, how gently you lived, and how gracefully you let go of things not meant for you. ~Buddha

People have been meditating and journaling and doing meditative music for as long as there have been people. Follow your heart this year, for “Your heart shines by its own light.” ~Yoga Sutras

It’s a new year! We made it through. Daily, go within and manifest your best 2021. Share it with the world. Our universe depends on it. I can’t wait to see the great changes that are in store for you! Let’s continue our journey together.

In the January 3-day Live stream, New Year, Healthy You ~ 3 Paths to Manifest Your Healthiest 2021 ~ Body, Mind, and Soul, we turned inward. Aligning the chakras helps us to notice and source energy from those centers that are strong and send energy to the chakras that need our attention. 

We journaled to answer questions that help us bring into being that which...

Sept 2020

Winter Wellness Begins in Autumn

Use these strategies to be well all winter. We’re in this together – I’ll pass on what I know and you do the same. Winter Wellness begins now. Stay healthy all year. Don’t let an illness in the autumn send you down a slippery slope this winter. Last week we finished a 4-day Winter Wellness Begins in Autumn Retreat. You can check out the recordings in the A RAY of Wellness Facebook Group. https://www.facebook.com/groups/ARAYofWellnessGroup/?source_id=532370877266699

How many paths are there for good health? Do you ever feel as though you were born in the wrong time period? When I learned about how easy it was to make extracts, shrubs (an herbal syrup made with vinegar), and elixirs, I felt as though I had discovered the secrets of the ancestors. It’s possible to go back in time and rest in the wisdom of those who have gone before. Good health doesn’t have to be complicated.

Do you have...

August 2020

Wow, we are still going through this together. Thank goodness we have each other. To know I can rest in to our community of like-minded, wellness-oriented kindred spirits helps me stay calm through these scary and uncertain times.

In my 3-day training in August, we discussed how to keep your wellness, and that of your loved ones, at the top of your to-do list, even, or especially, during the pandemic. Over one thousand years ago, Avicenna, the father of early modern medicine recommended that in order to maintain optimal health, we pay attention to nutrition, exercise, and sleep. We’re still figuring this out today, a millennium later! Focus on wellness in an understanding manner, one that spurs us to lead more meaningful lives, reduce suffering, and increase the amount of love in the world. We can create a microcosm of our optimal world in each of our lives. This mentality can change the world.

Boosting our brain strength can help us remain...

July 2020

   “A well-spent day brings happy sleep.” Leonardo da Vinci

It can be difficult to wake refreshed when we feel out of control of our destiny. So much of our psyche is reeling with the effects of the pandemic, not to mention other events that happen in people’s lives that are troubling. The not knowing tends to creep up on us, trying to steal our peace. We need to be vigilant, as exhausting as that is. Do we want one more thing to deal with? No, and yet if we don’t pay attention, the effects of living in these uncertain times will have their way with us. Focus. Be present with what is, what comes up.

If you’ve been dealing with life and it’s hard, harder than you’ve ever known, notice this and be gentler with yourself. Sleep is the great equalizer. Look at sleep as having the same positive impact on you as if you’re going out with friends-it’s restorative, can make you happy, and can make...

June 2020

Wildflowers!

*A salve, made in the early 1600s by John Gerard, was “the most precious remedy for deep wounds”.

“The arbutus is now open everywhere in the woods and groves. How pleasant it is to meet the same flowers year after year! …. We admire the strange and brilliant plant of the green-house, but we love most the simple flowers we have loved of old, which have bloomed many a spring, through rain and sunshine, on our native soil.”

― Susan Fenimore Cooper

In the world of wildflowers, the magic and power of wildflowers create health and vitality, if we only know enough to search there.

Let’s discuss the importance of wildflowers, especially native ones, the dangers of invasive species, how to sustainably harvest them, and the top 2 for health and vitality.

Who has a childhood memory of blowing a wish out into the wind on a dandelion seedhead? Food, shelter, pollen, nectar, and nesting materials are...

May 2020

Every day, breathe deeply. Breathe oxygen into the chest, then allow it to fall to the ribs and finally drop into the belly. This inhalation or inspiration is referred to as puraka in Hatha yoga. In Eastern philosophy, this inhalation can be compared to birth. Each breath can be taken as though it is our first and is filled with the potential of the world’s possibilities. Breathing in this manner is a conscious event. One’s attention is focused on this one task. Breathing usually happens automatically. When we allow the rest of the world to fall away and laser in and do conscious breathing, a physiological cascade starts to happen. The heart rate slows, blood pressure is decreased, stress hormone production is lowered and a sense of calm settles over the one-who-is-breathing.

Let the breath sit in the belly for a moment or two, neither inhaling nor exhaling. Feel the full potential of that one inhalation. This part of respiration is called kumbhaka...