Without it, we fail to thrive, fall ill and/or go insane. Eventually, we die.
To babies, touch is everything. As new beings in the open world, their bodies are thirsty for tactile sensation. And when that sensation (touch) provides warmth, safety, and love, it sets the stage for a healthy life. As limited locomotorers, babies who get moved and held and cuddled receive extra input that guides them to better self awareness.
I loved the time that I spent with Jax Beach Breastfeeding Support (nee Galaxy Jax), recently. It has now been over a year since I stepped down from my role as group organizer, and I am overjoyed that it has quadrupled in size and is able to provide support to so many deserving women. Circled up with the moms, I was able to share some thoughts on the importance of touch and a few ways to connect with their nurslings. Thanks again for the opportunity to share my time and passion with you, Milkin' Honeys!
For more information about Jax Beach Breastfeeding Support click HERE
Every part of you has a secret language your hands and your feet say what you’ve done and every need brings in what’s needed pain bears its cure like a child
Your pain "bears its cure like a child", because
the cure is the pain.
Jesus said, "If you bring forth what is within you,
what you bring forth will save you.
If you do not bring forth what is
within you, what you do not bring forth
There is no place to go, no master to seek, no medicine to find. The untruth, or ignorance, is that you are separate from the world. This separate "I" is seeking answers. Ask yourself: What cure am I bearing? The truth is that you already have the answers. Allow the "you" that is material-istic to step aside and invite the you that is inner space to present itself. Don't know how? Be still. Come rest your feet and your hands. Let's listen to what is here.
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
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
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!
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
AsI
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!!!
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 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.
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