What To Do With Rosehips

Q: I harvested some rosehips off my rosebushes but I’m not sure what to do with them. Can you give me an idea?

A: Yes! Rosehips are little Vitamin C powerhouses that have nice benefit to our immune system, are great for our skin, and have an energetic affinity to deep internal wisdom nourishing our Heartmind (via Jing in Water connecting to the Fire Element).

FIRST: Rinse them in clean water, then dry them in a flat layer either in a food dehydrator,  on paper towels in the sun, or in the oven set to 200 degrees until they look leathery.

Once dried, you can either store them whole in a glass jar or Ziploc bag, or you can chop them in a food processor first then store in a glass jar.

ROSEHIP SEED TEA FOR FALL:
In 2 cups of water, add 1 Tbsp Rosehip Seeds, 1 Tbsp Goji Berries, and 1 Cinnamon Stick.  Simmer 10-20 minutes covered, strain.  Garnish with a thin slice of Orange for a beautiful hot cup of tea. Sweeten with a little honey if desired.

ESSENTIAL OIL BLEND TO ENJOY WITH YOUR TEA:
To compliment the delicious tea, make yourself an essential oil blend to diffuse or dilute and apply topically.  Try Juniper Berry, Australian Balm Mint, and a touch of either Clove or Ginger. (If someone applies this to your feet while you’re sipping your tea you get extra bonus points!)

ROSEHIP SEED HERBAL INFUSED OIL:
Chop completely dried Rosehip Seeds in the food processor.  Add to a mason jar.  Cover completely with Olive Oil, plus extra oil at the top.  Place jar in the sun.  Turn it every day for 3-6 weeks.  The oil should pick up a gorgeous pink hue but won’t have much of a smell. Strain the oil and keep in a clean jar.  With quality Olive Oil as a base, shelf life will be about 18-24 months.

-          Use the herbal infused oil to drizzle on veggies or make salad dressing.

-          Use it as 20-25% of the carrier oil base in homemade creams, balms, salves, or essential oil blends.  It’s excellent for face, body, massage, and after-shower body moisturizer.

Love this type of information? Learn more in my Online Courses:  http://www.alaska-institute-of-oriental-medicine.thinkific.com/

5 Best Ways to Use Massage Therapy

Getting a massage here and there when we’re stressed out or sore is great, however getting a massage on a regular basis has some huge benefits worth looking at.

Depending on our health goals and the resources we commit to our self-care, regular massage can be once a week, once every other week, or once a month.

1.  Detox with massage
In today’s world filled with pollution, environmental chemicals, and industrialized food, it’s difficult if not impossible to not be affected by all of this.  Detoxing our body becomes a priority to consider.  There are many great ways to do this, like cleansing fasts, juicing, bathing with essential oils, and more – and getting a regular massage complements all of them because of the way it releases substances held in our tissues.  Once released, these waste products go back into circulation to get flushed out.  That’s one reason massage therapists always remind us to “Drink More Water” afterwards.

2.  Supercharge your immune system
There is tons of research on this topic.  When our immune system is healthy and vibrant we have a much better chance at warding off colds, the flu, and even things like cancer that show up when our immune system is highly compromised. Gotta care for our little T-Cells!

3.  Reduce injury intensity (pain sensation) and duration with massage
Hopefully we won’t get injured, but if we do, people who get regular massage experience less pain and heal noticeably faster.  This is great for outdoorsy athletes, and especially everyone over 40 because of the way our healing response slows with age.  Even if we don’t get regular massage, when massage puts our body into the relaxation response, it reduces the sensation of pain everywhere in our whole body.

4.  Avoid common effects of stress and muscle constriction
It’s estimated that up to 85% of Dr. visits are related to the effects of stress in some form.  For example, digestive issues and ulcers, high blood pressure, anxiety, depression, and more.  When we’re stressed out and our muscles constrict this causes decreased circulation and holding toxins in our tissues which greatly contributes to headaches, migraines, chronic pain, and skin issues. Get a massage and get those muscles relaxed and flowing.

5.  Build a more intuitive relationship with yourself
Studies have shown that people who do yoga and get regular massage tend to eat better and generally take more control over their own health.  A huge benefit of experiencing our natural state of relaxation and flow is that we can become very aware of things that take us out of that.  We notice when our breathing shifts, when our intestines rebel, when our emotions constrict our neck and shoulders, and we can actually do something about it right in the moment.  #SelfLove, one of the most important things in life.

True Warrior Immune Boosting Soup

From my workshop tonight on 5-Element Nutrition, here is a delicious Metal Element immune boosting soup that is quick and easy to make.  If you are familiar with cooking with Chinese herbs, it would also be excellent to add one or more of the following, depending on actions desired: Huang Qi, Ren Shen, Bei Sha Shen, Chen Pi, Xing Ren.

In a soup pot, place the following ingredients:

8-10 cups water (OR 2-4 cups broth with additional water)

1 cup sweet rice, rinsed

½ lemon – sliced very thin w/ peel on

2 Tbsp Vegetable or Chicken Broth Powder

1 Tbsp Shiitake Mushroom Powder (optional)

1 Tsp quality sea salt

Bring to an almost boil, then lower heat and cook until rice is tender, about 20 minutes. Next add:

1 pear, peeled & sliced thin

1 spoonful (to taste) dried hot chili peppers

Cook another 15 minutes, remove from heat.

In a frying pan, sauté the following together until slightly crispy:

1 Tbsp olive oil

2-3 cloves garlic, chopped

1” fresh ginger root, peeled & chopped

2 cups baby Bok Choy

4 shiitake mushrooms, sliced

Sprinkle of soy sauce

When done, add to the rest of soup and serve.

New National Emergency: Fear of Flu Weakens Americans!

What has been happening to us lately – us being Americans – has finally reached a point of ridiculousness! Today our local newspaper provided a beautiful color pamphlet insert called “Flu Guide” (Fight the Flu – It Starts With You), published by our city government.

This pamphlet contains a well organized chart of symptoms and actions to take when you have them, a list of helpful supplies to have on hand (7 out of 19 listed are medications), flu facts, phone numbers for various health centers, and a fold out of 5 major ways to fight the flu:

#1: Get the H1N1 vaccine
#2: Cover your coughs or sneezes
#3: Wash your hands
#4: Don’t touch your face
#5: Stay home if you are sick

NOWHERE in this information, or anywhere else that supplies public information, are we being given direct and reinforced directions on how to boost our own immune systems and prevent or lessen the impact of the flu. It’s like there’s nothing proactive we can do – we’re going to get it - OH NO – so we better get vaccinated because it’s the only thing that’s going to save us.

PLEASE! I don’t care if you get the vaccine or not. Get it if it makes you feel better, but don’t think it’s the only choice you have!

If the government can tell the herd of sheep that the best way to protect yourself from the flu is a vaccine and we believe it, then we deserve to be sheep.

What would happen if our caring government actually gave some empowering advice such as “The Top 5 Ways to Pump Up Your Immune System and Avoid the Flu” and strongly promoted it along with the vaccine information? For example:

#1: Decrease your stress levels however possible, since stress greatly harms your immune system: Get a massage, meditate, practice yoga or tai chi, do something kind, forgive someone.

#2: Get enough rest: Its flu season so you need to take extra good care of yourself. Try to go to bed at least one hour earlier for the next 2 months. Take a quick nap whenever you can.

#3: Watch your nutrition: Remember during cold & flu season to cut down on the junk and increase your intake of fresh fruits and vegetables.

#4: Vitamin Supplements: This is a great season to supplement your Vitamin D (Cod liver oil is a great choice) and take an extra Vitamin C. Remember that Vitamin D needs fat in order to be used, so don’t rely on low fat milk as your only source.

#5: Take time to feel happy: Laughing heartily and taking a few minutes each day to feel happy about something is a very powerful and fun way to boost your immune system.

What’s the worst that could happen if we heard this message over and over and over again – on the TV news, on the radio, in the newspaper? We might become strong and healthy?

To your health,
Cynthia

Recipe: Medicinal Mushroom Chutney with Coconut Curry Leaf Rice

Several people asked me for the recipe of the potluck dish I brought to the very fun Chinese Trip photo sharing gathering we had tonight, so here it is. It’s awesome for your immune system, and yes, I really eat like this – I just made this up for my own breakfast one morning. I don’t measure my spices, so I’m guessing at the amount.

Ingredients:

Rice:
2 cups sweet rice, uncooked and rinsed
3 ½ cups combined mushroom soaking water plus extra water
¼ cup unsweetened coconut flakes (I use Bob’s Red Mill brand)
1 Tbsp. dried curry leaves
5 cardamom pods, cut open

Mushroom Chutney:
8 dried Shitake mushrooms
1 large dried Maitake mushroom
6 fresh Crimini mushrooms (or other of your choice)
¼ cup chopped walnuts
1 shake cumin seeds
sprinkle of turmeric
sprinkle of curry
olive oil for sautéing
sprinkle of soy sauce
1 fresh roma tomato, chopped
2-3 fresh garlic cloves, chopped
2 Tbsp. flax seed oil

Directions:

First, place the dried mushrooms in a bowl and cover with boiling water. Cover the bowl and let soak for about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, chop the fresh mushrooms, tomato, and garlic cloves, and rinse the rice well.

Once the mushrooms are re-hydrated, take them out but keep the soaking water to use as part of the liquid to cook the rice in. Chop the mushrooms, discarding any tough stems.

Combine all ingredients for rice and cook until done. Remove the cardamom pods when the rice is finished cooking (it’s ok to eat the round black seeds in the middle, so leave them in if you want!).

For the mushroom chutney, heat the olive oil in a frying pan over med-high heat. Sprinkle the cumin seeds in, and when they start to sizzle a little add all the chopped mushrooms and walnuts. Sprinkle on some turmeric and curry spices. Stir fry until the mushrooms are slightly browned. Then pour a little soy sauce over the mixture, give it a few stirs and turn it off.

In a bowl, stir together the cooked mushroom mixture with the fresh tomato, fresh chopped garlic, and flax seed oil. Use this as a topping for the rice. Enjoy!!

~Cynthia
Instructor for Taoist Five Element Nutrition Program

Essential Oil Travel Spritzer

I had recently seen an essential oil travel spritzer that Cynthia McMullen had put out for everyone that was traveling to China. Just a couple days ago, I did some traveling myself from Anchorage down to the states. Usually when I'm traveling on the 2 or more planes I start feeling very sleepy, groggy, restless, etc. So I decided to try out this spritzer. I actually forgot about it when I first got on the plane, but then remembered about an hour in. After I sprayed it, I felt refreshed, it was very nice. I didn't spray a whole lot, since I was a little concerned about the people around me. I then took it with me when I went to the bathroom and sprayed a good amount around me in there. That felt even more refreshing. I do have to say that I stayed awake the rest of the flight, when I usually drift in and out of sleep. My eyes were tired, but the rest of me felt pretty good. On my second flight I ended up spraying it on my hands and taking smells of it that way.
If you are concerned about the people around you not liking that you are spraying it, the way I thought of it was it would be just like putting on a scented lotion. Most people dont say anything when you put that on.
Here are the ingredients if you are interested in trying it the next time you travel:
1 oz. spritzer bottle filled with water
tea tree 6 drops
frankincense 5 drops
eucalyptus 2 drops
lavendar 8 drops
rose geranium 1 drop (optional)
SHAKE WELL BEFORE EACH USE

ENJOY! *Lauren