Closed on Boxing Day

Another reason to love Newfoundland. All of the stores are actually closed on Boxing Day. It's another quiet holiday to spend with family.

We visited with family this morning and drove to Cape Spear this afternoon -- it's the most eastern point of North America. Very pretty and very windy.

Natural living

Simple things make me happy...

I found a place to buy sage. Not the kind to eat or to season, but to burn. It helps to purify and cleanse your energetic field. The Hemp Store on Duckworth carries it. Yay -- I just found out today, and that makes me very happy. I haven't been there yet, but I plan on making a trip there very soon. I don't need sage now, but I wanted to know where I could find it.

We also found a place to buy organic turkeys, chickens and lamb. Right from the farm. A place in St. Phillips -- about 20 minutes from our home. So we have a frozen turkey in our freezer and have been eating lamb for the last three nights. Lamb burgers and lamb stew. We're hoping that Alex will do okay with organic lamb. The only problem is that he doesn't like it -- not yet anyway... This is the first place that we've been able to find organic meat, so we're pretty happy. It's seasonal though (which makes sense, of course), so the chickens won't be available until June.

We started composting. (I haven't composted since the unfortunate worm composting incident of 2004...) That being said, I'm thrilled to be composting again. We don't have a compost bin yet as we haven't been able to find one yet -- probably since it's out of season right now. But, I've started to collect my compost scraps in a rubbermade container on the deck. Even something as simple as composting makes me happy.

I have to say that Newfoundland is behing the times in recycling. On the plus side of things, Mount Pearl has curbside paper recycling, which is amazing. But, many things that we were able to recycle in Calgary is un-recyclable. Hopefully that will change soon....

Yoga space

I've been on a journey finding a yoga space. And, I'm delighted to report that I feel that I have found the perfect space. I still need to meet with one of the owners of the space, so it's not quite official, but in my heart, it feels like I have found IT.

Another prayer answered. And, it's better than I even imagined it would be!

Because it's taken longer than my other manifestations (i.e., not instantaneous / more than 6 weeks), I was starting to think that teaching yoga wasn't being supported by the universe at the moment. I was disappointed, but also knew enough that I didn't want to force it if it wasn't being supported.

Then last week, I had a dream that I was teaching a large group of students -- say 100 students -- in a library setting. I often have dreams where I am teaching yoga -- I feel that it's the universe's way of telling me that even if I'm not teaching in the physical, I'm still teaching out there in the etheric. My classes in my dreams are always full -- and are often very large!

Someone shared with me that they saw me teaching closer to the core (where I hadn't been looking -- I'd been looking in Mount Pearl, which is where we live) and also in a chiropractor's office. So, I looked in the yellowpages, went through each one and asked mySelf which one it was. And, I got the answer to my prayer.

I googled the space and found out that they offered workshops. And, that they also share the same vision / values that I do... I met with one of the owners last weekend and it felt like I was meeting with a soul sister. It was a beautiful meeting.

The space has beautiful healing energy in it. I got the sense that healing happens within those walls. It felt like a sacred space. The yoga room is intimate, beautiful and has huge windows and overlooks a lake.

Simple Living

We try to keep everything in our lives as simple as possible.

I've been re-reading one of my books called "Simple Living Guide". About 10 years ago, I was very interested in the idea of simple living and now that I've revisited the book, I'm delighted that we are living many of the things that are described in the book.

The nice thing about it is that everyone gets to decide what simple living means to them. In essence, simple living is about living intentionally.

We have a small-ish home, which means there is less room for a lot of stuff.

We are quite mindful about the things we buy. I try to purchase only things that I love.

I received a new coat for Christmas, and so I gave away a coat today. I use Freecycle St. John's to find a home for things that I'm ready to part with, so that it can be used and loved by other people. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stjohnsfreecycle/ There are freecycle groups all over the world!

I bought a new pair of winter boots yesterday and gave away another pair that I wasn't using.

We try to minimize the amount of Christmas presents that we buy so that we can spend less time shopping and more time enjoying this quiet season.

We are intentional about how we spend our time, who we spend it with and how we spend it. We've learned to say no so that we're not overbooked or overworked. And, we've learned to say yes to the things that we love...

Crystal testing

Some big prayers were answered in the last month.

It's been a very big struggle to feed our son as he is quite a sensitive little boy. And when I say sensitive, I mean sensitive.

A mom who also has a child with multiple allergies sent me this link regarding crystal testing. Essentially I can use a crystal on a string to figure out what foods would be good for Alex.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsXRonRpFic

It's been a God-send as I have literally been praying for an instruction booklet on how to feed Alex. And happily, there are some things that are safe for him to eat, like organic apples and organic bananas.

Anyone can use the crystal testing though to figure out what foods would be best to consume... And, one can also ask just about any "yes or no" question from the crystal....