Barbados Reiki Association

Eat for your Belly!

Here are a couple of tasty and healthy recipes to help tone and maintain a healthy belly.

Baba Ghanoush

1 large eggplant

3 cloves garlic, mashed to a paste

4 Tablespoons lemon juice

4 Tablespoons tahini (optional – Turkish style is without tahini)

Sea salt

Red pepper

Olive oil

Fresh chopped parsley

METHOD

Place eggplant over the flame of a gas stove, turning it occasionally and cool until skin is blackened (or bake in a hot oven). Put over sink and cool with water. Peel skin and chip into small pieces. Add garlic and lemon juice and mash until smooth. Add optional tahini. Spoon into a bowl, top with a little olive oil and garnish with red pepper and parsley.

Jordanian Healthy Omelette

Egg whites, fresh sautéed garlic, onions, in-season veggies, ground lamb and Eastern spices. Serve with a side of sliced tomatoes.

Beauty Naturally

Yogurt pick-me-up: Mix 1 teaspoon of plain yogurt with the juice of ¼ orange. Apply to face and leave on for 5 mins.

Mini-milk Hand Bath: Soak hands for 5 mins in milk to strengthen the nails and moisturize the skin.

Eastern Spicy Foot Soak: Mix 1 cup of fresh lemon juice, a sprinkle of ground cinnamon (or a stick), flower petals (optional), 1 Tablespoon almond oil and ¼ cup milk. Pour into a basin larger enough to soak your feet. Add enough water to cover feet and soak for 15 mins. Leaves skin refreshed and with a lovely fragrance.

Contributed by Rosemarie Layne

Eat for your Belly!

We all have different body types, known as doshas in Indian tradition and each has its specific needs. Some foods don’t agree with some bellies while others help them to thrive

This said, our bellies have certain needs and don’t like to feel hungry or deprived. This doesn’t mean we should gorge on sweets and potato chips - no matter how satisfying they seem at the time.

Below are a few tips to help you achieve/ maintain a toned and healthy abdomen:

Fruit – a perennially healthy choice – can be jazzed up with some cayenne pepper or paprika. Add a dash of this, along with some lemon juice to some slices of apple, pineapple, oranges, grapefruit and kiwi and experience the fat-burning effect. Excellent for digestion and circulation!

Juice it – instead of traditional tea, which dehydrates, go for fresh vegetable juices. A combination of celery and apple juice (fresh) is a great cleanser and give you an instant lift.

Throw out the salt shaker – since salt bloats, substitute this for aromatic herbs, garlic and ginger (in rice, potatoes or steamed veggies, for example) and you’ll have additional flavour - and a faster metabolism to boot.

Beauty Naturally

Used teabags reduce puffiness around the eyes

Don’t dump that overripe banana, but mash it, add 1 tablespoon of honey and apply to your face and leave on for 15-20 mins for a velvety smooth texture.

If you’re an acne sufferer, grate an apple and add 5 tablespoons of honey and leave for 10 mins.

A crushed ripe tomato help control excess oil, while melon juice is great for heat-induced break-outs.

Tired? Apply plain yogurt and the juice of ¼ orange and leave on for 5 mins for a quick and natural pick-me-up.

Contributed by Rosemarie Layne

‘Speech is the essence of humanity’- so say the Vedas, an ancient Sanskrit know-how on metaphysics. Ideas remain unactualised until they are created through the power of speech. In the New Testament, the Gospel of St. John starts with ‘In the beginning was The Word. And the Word was with God and the Word was God’.

We wait with bated breath for our babies to say their first word – we know it as a huge milestone in their development. Have you not been enchanted with poetry and the elegance of how the words are put together – and then listened to it being spoken aloud? Our own George Lamming has a beautiful reading voice and to hear him speak his word is a thoroughly delightful experience.

Generically, mantra refers to sacred words or syllables used repeatedly in religious and ceremonial rituals.

When that word has a special meaning, as in Buddhist and classical Hinduism, it is known as a Mantra. These religions view mantras as necessary for spiritual advancement.

However, mantras are also common in Judaism, Christianity and Islam. In Catholicism there are the prayers as the Our Father and Hail Mary, especially when prayed as the Rosary. And Protestantism embodies the Our Father. The Old Testament refers to Yahweh which was considered so powerful a word that in ancient times only the High Priests would be able to articulate the word, and only on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, the most sacred Jewish religious event. (Often Adonai and Elohim were substituted for Yahweh).

But what exactly is a mantra? The word “mantra” is derived from two Sanskrit words. (Sanskrit is an ancient language with very precise meanings to its words). The first is ‘Manas’ or ‘mind’. The second syllable comes from the word ‘trai’ meaning ‘to protect’ or ‘to free from’. Therefore, in its most literal sense, the word Mantra means to free from the mind. Mantras are thought to be charged with vibrational power and be able to help the practitioner achieve an altered state of consciousness. In such a state it is believed possible to perceive the true nature of the mind.

Some schools stress methodology in the use of mantras. For instance, the correct pronunciation and intonement is considered extremely important. Mantras can be used in three ways: silent, semi-verbal or verbal.

The verbal way is called chanting and is a marvelous opportunity to experience the effects of the mantra.

To summarise:
1. Mantras are energy-based sounds. Saying any word produces an actual physical vibration.
2. Mantras create thought-energy waves. Human consciousness is really a collection of states of consciousness which exist through the physical and subtle bodies. Over time, the mantra produces a state where the organism vibrates at a rate completely in tune with the energy and spiritual state represented by and contained in the mantra. At this point, a change also occurs in the organism.
3. Mantras are tools of power and tools for power. Using a mantra is a means to freedom from the random wanderings of the mind. Chanting a mantra allows the mind to deepen.

Try this chanting practice
Find a quiet place to sit and relax. Keep your mala handy. Use a traditional chant such as Om Shanti (I am a peaceful soul) or put yourself into the frame of mind you wish the mantra to achieve – let’s say Abundance. Think about the abundance in Nature, the almost-careless disregard for waste, the bounty of seeds that a tree produces, and then think about that shower around you. Start to say your mantra, using your mala (which will allow you to focus on the sound and words of your chant, rather than the counting). After you have finished the beads, or achieved the desired time you set out to chant, allow a moment of silence and notice the feelings in your body and your heightened senses.

Researched and written by Verity Dawson

Reiki Level 1
Introduction to contact healing through understanding the inter-connectedness of all life forms. Non-denominational - Reiki comes from the heart!
Saturday and Sunday 4-5 October 2008
10 a.m. to 4.30 p.m. (registration 9.30 a.m. 4th). Fee: $300

Meditation
Meditation is proven to relieve stress, improve health and general well-being. Easily assimilated principles and expert guidance.
13, 14 and 21 October 6.30 to 8.30 p.m. Fee: $150

Reiki Level 2
The student is encouraged to go deeper into the understandings of quantum energetics and archetypes to enable distance healing.
Saturday 11 and Sunday 12 October. Fee: $600

For further information do visit the website!
www. CaribHolistic Insights.com

To register, call Verity at 420-6382 and leave contact details.

Harmony in the Home. Create peace in your personal environment through the practical application of form and colour based on ancient Chinese principles.

Every Wednesday evening 6.30 to 9 p.m. starting 24 September.

Four sessions. Fee: $300

Reiki School of Natural Healing

www.CaribHolisticInsights.com