Do Less

    

Why PigPen Is A Peaced-out Brainiac

Om  = mc ^2

If you are reading this, you must be using some kind of device like a computer, tablet, or phone. Therefore, I know that you aren't doing what this brief article will hopefully rouse you to do, which is to...

                       DIG IN THE DIRT.

A recent study found that a certain bacterium living in soil,  Mycobacterium Vaccae, increases serotonin levels and neurological growth when inhaled or injested.  
More serotonin = less anxiety and fear
 as well as increased mental capabilities (namely, learning).  

Well, what do you know? Looks like we have evolved to benefit from messing around in fresh soil and sunlight!

For MORE about the health benefits of dirt, CLICK HERE

You're GROUNDED!!!

When was the last time you were grounded ? 

And more importantly, what was your relationship

to the grounding itself? 

Did it get you defeated or angry? 

I grounded my two year old earlier this week BIG TIME. 

She needed it.

Truth is, WE ALL DO.

GROUNDing, also known as Earthing, is the practice of using the direct contact
between the soles of your feet and the earth itself to stimulate healing

GET SOME "VITAMIN G" !

The electrons that are transferred from the ground to your body when you walk over sand, grass, dirt, etc. act as powerful antioxidants. Science is now showing that walking/lying/sitting/standing on or over organic surfaces lowers blood pressure, increases functionality of the immune system, decreases blood thickness, and lowers cortisol levels...and that's barely scratching the surface of all the benefits.

Our feet were MADE for uneven Earthly surfaces!
And we all know how important our feet are for wellness, right?
If not, click HERE and HERE.

Now let those two dogs out of their crates and squish some mud between them piggies, y'all!

B Flat Transformational

Do you have the patience to wait
till your mud settles and the water is clear?

Can you remain unmoving
till the right action arises by itself?*

CLICK HERE & LISTEN

*-Lao Tzu

Go Forage and Prosper

   

  The time has come for me to take matters into my own hands--

the way Nature intends and invites us to do. She drops bombs left and right at our feet. Look around you. There is good medicine EVERYWHERE.

 

 I am making products that I WISH existed.

After many years of loving a lotion but not the plastic bottle that it comes in or wanting more out of what I can find at local stores, I have begun the process of cooking up some pretty good stuff for you guys. Yesterday, I hand-collected important ingredients that will be featured in products coming to you soon!

My market:

 

My assistant:

Score! This is exactly what we were looking for: 

 

 We found some cool stuff along the way.

white-tailed deer skull

fiddleheads covered in lanugo-like fuzz. sweet forest babies

 And left with a bountiful harvest.

...to be continued

Confessions Of A Cellular Junkie

     As I was strapping the baby into her carseat a couple months ago, I put my iPhone on top of the car. Then I drove off. My phone, well... I've imagined it in a ditch, in the clutches of some teenaged boys, and in shards, crunched by a semi in the middle of A1A. All of those are possibilities.

I had my "LIFE" in that phone! (...Or did I???)

Notice what came next. It surprised me;

Freedom.  

Like a technologically naive grandmother, I could spread my wings and soar under the cellular radar, to a land where no calls nor texts could touch me. Like a lone mama wolf, I could curl up with my pup, tucked away in our reclusive den, without electromagnetic radiation clouding our cuddle.  I seriously considered not buying a replacement. I'll get a landline, I said. It'll be old school. Yeah. I'll be plugged into the DIRT.

 But alas, I eventually caved.

Any silly guilt aside, this got me thinking about addiction. I am a cell phone addict. iPhones ARE the new cigarettes. Just reach down and get one out of your pocket, light it up, and tune out the world around you.

They need to add a cellphone to this

Are you addicted to your cell phone, too? I stumbled across an article by Dr. Andrew Weil that helped explain WHY CELLPHONES ARE SO DAMN ADDICTIVE. You can read it here. 

Short story: Harvard Rats were put into three groups. One group pressed a bar and got a treat every time. The second group pressed a bar BUT only got a treat sometimes--and it was RANDOM. The third group got squat. Guess which group was all cracked out, pressing the bar nonstop? The second group. Our phones are the levers that RANDOMLY give out treats. You might check your email five times in an hour and only get an email ONE of those times. But that's enough--that random positive feedback conditions you to keep checking. Obsessively. All. Day. Long.

Must. Keep. Refreshing.

Ding!

Now we hear other people's phones going off wherever we are and are sent into a Pavlovian hunger to check our own. Was that for me?

All this cell phone business is keeping our minds active and chatty. (Not to mention feeling the slow burn of electromagnetic radiation)

Andrew Weil turns his phone off every day at 4. Do you have the guts to try that? Set the boundary and see how it feels, even if you just try it for a week. Anxiety at first is normal. Freedom might be just around the corner.

Ill sign off for now with a couple laughs, thanks to comic genius, Louis CK. * And by the way, if you are gonna put your cellphone next to your pillow at night, keep it on airplane mode!!!

Bloom

"We are more closely related to Fungi 

than any other kingdom."
- Paul Stamets

Can you see yourself in this?

. This is a snipet of the first in a collaboration of Louie Schwartzberg of Blacklight films (Movingart.tv) and Paul Stamets of Fungi Perfecti (fungi.com). 

The Duval Milky Way

Say hello to my new project...

Galaxy Jax

 The word Galaxy comes from Greek, meaning 'milky circle'. It also denotes "a gathering of famous, brilliant or distinguished people". What better name for a
  
Breastfeeding Support and Advocacy group?
  

• If you know anyone who is pregnant or currently breastfeeding, please let them know about this new organization in Jacksonville Beach. 
  
  We will meet the first Wednesday of each month and have amazing guest speakers who are experts in fields such as:
  
  •  maternal nutrition for nursing
    
    • lactation consulting
      
      • yoga 
        
        • postpardem emotions
          
          •  infant massage
            
            • self-care/bodywork 
              
               For more info, click here
               or to email the Galaxy, click here.
              Like us on Facebook! www.facebook.com/GalaxyJax

I'm Still Here

Take A Hint

The arteries of rabbits fed a high cholesterol diet 

and 

petted (a.k.a. massaged) regularly 

had 60 % less blockage 

than did the arteries of unpetted :( but similarly fed rabbits.