August 2015 Evolving Santa Fe

volving August 2015 ~ Vol. I, Issue 4

in Santa Fe

A Guide for Conscious Living Full Spectrum Sex Is for Everyone Cultivating the Capacity for Sacred Sexuality through Committed Self Self--Love Ayurveda for Sexual and Reproductive Vitality Develop Your Yogic Superpowers Evolving‌in SANTA FE

1

August 2015

Evolving‌in SANTA FE

2

August 2015

Associate Publisher’s Letter...

Contents

Dear Friend, Last month, UNM hosted its 15th annual Curanderismo conference, a gathering of healers and health practitioners from all over who share their knowledge about the art of folk healing (primarily in the Southwest and Mexico, but people now come from Africa, Cuba, and elsewhere—so it’s more about what folk-healing communities have in common than how different they are). Beyond the sharing of herbs and traditional medicine, the conference was yet another demonstration of how holistic approaches to health and well-being—and beingness in general—have grown.

Fifteen years ago there were only 30 people at the Curanderismo; this year, there were over 300. And these weren’t just your grandma’s curanderas; there were attendees from medical schools, pharmacies, and nursing schools. (And the instructors included Evolving’s very own Tomas Enos and Erin Galiger, of Milagro Herbs.)

There wasn’t much about sexuality or sex that I saw at the conference, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of curandera-inspired remedies addressing those topics. Which leads me to this month’s theme: sacred sexuality. Which, in a way, very much ties into what the Curanderismo conference represents: a challenge to the prevailing belief system. Which is also what sacred sexuality—as I see it—does: challenge the sexual status quo, in order to reconnect us to our higher selves.

So whatever personal baggage we may bring to sexuality, there’s also what Octavio Paz argued against in The Double Flame: the separation of mind from body through capitalism. Capitalism has transformed the body into a marketing tool while at the same time commodified desire—at the expense of our souls. And without a soulful regard for the body—that quality that gives each person their individuality—there is no love. No love. No sexuality. No spirituality.

At the core, that’s what sacred sexuality, and the curanderas, and Evolving, and the people writing for and reading Evolving, are all aspiring toward: spirituality. A deeper connection to self and others. Being healthier, more loving, more giving.

A Q+A with Somatic Libido Coach Isa Magdalena

WxäÉÇ ]tv~áÉÇ

Loving Yourself Makes You More Attractive

Stay Connected all Month! *Read the magazine online: www.EvolvingMagazine.com *Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/EvolvingSantaFe *Follow us on Twitter: @EvolvingMag

Evolving Magazine, LLC Jill Dutton, Publisher Associate Publisher Devon Jackson Print Layout/Design Alea Smith

Astarte & Eriene: Channeling about Sacred Sexuality 13

Full Spectrum Sex Is for Everyone: 14

Cultivating the Capacity for Sacred Sexuality through Committed Self-Love 16

18

Departments

Monthly Columnists Valeria Alarcón, Tomas Enos, Corine Frankland, Erin Galiger, Heather Robertson, Judy Scher Advertising Devon Jackson mccannman@comcast.net Jill Dutton jill@evolvingmagazine.com

EVOLVING© 2015 all rights reserved. The opinions expressed are those of the authors.

The articles in EVOLVING are not meant to represent any form of medical or psychiatric care.

No portion of the publication may be reproduced without express written permission from the publisher.

Evolving…in SANTA FE

News & Tips

4

Multi-Dimensional Mastery

6

Heart & Business

7

Somatic Psychology

8

Herbal Wisdom

9

Healing, Inc.– Community Profile

10

Eating Well in Santa Fe

11

Horoscope

21

Events

23

ON THE COVER: Untitled, 8 x 10 acrylic on masonite, by Lavanya Reed.

“The meaning of my work as it comes into being is not always evident until it is complete. Some come from an exploration of my subconscious, which is not always light in mood but can be transformed into something beautiful. This is an expression of my life’s journey and its metamorphosis from subliminal shadow into something that shines with wonder.” Contact Lavanya at: lavalovedawn@gmail.com.

3

August 2015

News & Tips

A Mushroom for Sexual Strength and Well-Being?!

-by Harmony West-

Cordyceps gained fame in 1993 when Chinese Olympic athletes credited their successes to this unique mushroom. After winning three gold medals and breaking five world records for women’s running as well as other track records, the Chinese team was tested for steroids. The results were negative but the coach admitted to giving the entire team Cordyceps mushrooms.

Cordyceps is also known as an aphrodisiac fungus. Humans all over the globe are spending a fortune hoping for a more satisfying sexual life and the markets are flooded with all kinds of herbs, tonics, and medicines touted to enhance one’s sexual mojo. Well, this little mushroom was reserved exclusively by ancient royal families to increase libido and virility and is gaining more and more attention in modern times.

Unlike most other medicinal mushrooms this mushroom is not symbiotic with a tree. This fungus lives on certain caterpillars in the high mountain regions of China and Tibet. (Cordyceps also reproduces happily in the laboratory, grown on organic cultivated grains.) Tibetan herders observed that when their yaks grazed on Cordyceps mushrooms, they displayed a noticeable rise in their energy levels and vigor.

This medicinal mushroom, touted for its effectiveness as an aphrodisiac, is highly sought after as a sexual tonic. Word on the street is that Cordyceps works like herbal Viagra, improving libido in both women and men. In a double-blind placebocontrolled study published in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 21 women who were experiencing sexual frustration were given Cordyceps and 90 percent reported

improvements in libido and sexual health, compared with none in the control group.

Wow. Cordyceps seems to help with erectile dysfunction and increase male virility and stamina. It highly influences the release of testosterone, by increasing blood circulation and thus making the male erection sturdier and increasing the possibility of longer sexual contact. It also shows an improvement in sperm’s mobility, so is used for fertility protocols.

In traditional Chinese medicine, not only is Cordyceps touted as an effective herb for improving sexual function, it supports the circulatory, respiratory, and immune systems. Because of its ability to improve energy, stamina, appetite, endurance, and sleeping patterns, it is also classified as a general health tonic.

This medicinal mushroom, like most medicinal mushrooms, is a rock star for your immune system.

It is recommended for people who feel achy or depressed from overwork, pollution, or bad dietary habits. This mushroom may also be beneficial for

Evolving…in SANTA FE

4

August 2015

fighting cancer and may shrink tumor size, particularly with lung or skin cancers.

So many medications are available over-thecounter and so many of them can harm your body and have bad side effects. If you want to increase your sexual energy, try Cordyceps. It is totally free of any side effects and can be taken without any fear.

Harmony West is the founder of MycoMama Medicinals, a new Santa Fe business that uses organic, USA-grown Cordyceps in their medicinal mushroom teas.

MycoMamaMedicinals.com

News & Tips

Ayurveda for Sexual and Reproductive Vitality Humans have been using the subtle qualities of herbs to strengthen the body for thousands of years.

One prime example is the use of herbs in Ayurvedic medicine. Ayurveda is the ancient healing modality of India and has been cultivated and nurtured for over 5,000 years. Ayurveda uses the qualities of different activities, foods, herbs, and spices to bring balance to the body.

Widely grown in Kashmir, saffron (Crocus sativus) is a beautifully unique spice with qualities that support reproductive and sexual health. Saffron nourishes all tissues with a particular affinity toward male/female reproductive tissues, blood, and the heart. This aromatic sweet-scented treasure encourages compassion while acting as a tonic for the blood systems. Saffron is used in Ayurveda to treat impotence, infertility, and low libido.

Experience love by drinking a few strands of crushed saffron soaked in a cup of heated milk with cinnamon, cardamom, and honey. This can be drunk before romantic embrace to boost sexual desire, or to nourish the satisfied partners after their amorous evening.

This next herb is said to give the person the sexual stamina of a horse.

Rightly named Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera), which means “horse scent,” the roots of this plant increase sperm production, sexual potency and strength, and revitalize male and female reproductive tissues.

It acts to calm and relax the nervous system while also energizing the body.

In Ayurveda, Ashwagandha is traditionally suggested for males and females for impotence, sexual debility, oligospermia, dysmenorrhea, amenorrhea, and menstrual imbalances. This herb is also taken best in warmed milk along with honey and ghee.

—Courtesy of Emily Glaser of Agni Ayurveda, 1622 St. Michael’s Drive, Santa Fe, 505-438-1163 www.AgniAyurveda.com.

Acupuncture: The Key to Balancing Masculine and Feminine Energies There are many secrets in Chinese medicine. One complex and often misunderstood ancient Chinese treatment is acupuncture. Acupuncture is a system that involves pricking the skin or tissues with needles, used to alleviate pain and to treat various physical, mental, and emotional conditions.

Each cell, tissue, nerve ending, and organ holds its own energy and each has its own function within the self to keep the body running smoothly as a complete, unified whole. Strategically placing needles is said to be able to balance your life force known as qi or Chi. This life force is dual natured with both a masculine (yang) and feminine (yin) side.

Nicole Miller, an acupuncture therapist and the owner of Infinity Chiropractic and Acupuncture in Kansas City, Missouri says that, “The energy found in the body moves in cycles—back to front, side to side. This cycle represents the different elements (fire, earth, water, metal, and wood.) When there is an imbalance within the body, there is usually an issue with a specific element. For example, someone with a greenish tint would be experiencing a woodsy or earthy problem.”

Nicole has many clients who have imbalances specifically within their gallbladder. The Chinese see this small organ as yang because it stores and excretes bile. They consider the liver to be the opposite, or yin, of the gallbladder because it is a more resting organ that sends the gallbladder bile. If one is off balance, so is the other. This creates issues such as vomiting, regurgitation, and hiccups.

“Acupuncture, just like anything else, always relays back to metaphysics,” says Miller, who has been practicing acupuncture for six years and initially received a degree in chiropractic studies.

Currently, she is studying at the School of Metaphysics in Kansas City, Kansas. “The people who have gallbladder issues are always very negative and complain a lot. This negative mental activity throws your body off balance. Thoughts are very important in keeping your body balanced and healthy.”

Alicia Allison is currently a student at the School of Metaphysics in Kansas City, KS. She holds a Journalism degree from St. John’s University and is working on publishing a book.

Evolving…in SANTA FE

5

August 2015

Multi-Dimensional Mastery

Signals from the Universe

T

here are signals that the universe gives us to help us to pay attention in ways that support our life.

The signals are there all the time whether or not we see them. If we know how to listen and are open to experience something different beyond our day-today conditioned state, our perceptual habits, into one of focused awareness—then we can access the lessons that these signals have to give us.

Signals come in many forms, from how our body speaks to us, to how nature shares its wisdom with us, to how we see ourselves in the universe. When we choose to interact with life’s signals, they open the way to a new level of discovery for ourselves and about ourselves.

A first step to being able to watch out for these signals is to simply notice what is asking you for your attention.

This could be a discomfort or pain, emotional or physical, or it could be a shift in energy through your body, even the wind going through the trees, the movement of a bird, or the colors of the sunset. Notice what grabs your attention and if you are attracted to staying with it. This attraction toward something is your inner nature being “touched” by something meaningful to you that often is coming from your subconscious.

You can know that you are attracted to staying focused with something simply by asking permission to communicate with it. If, after a short pause, you sense that there is an invitation to stay with your experience, then stay with it and notice what you are aware of. If you do not get permission to stay present with what you are focusing on, then move on to something else. Sometimes, even if something doesn’t feel comfortable, it could still feel right

to stay present with it. For instance, it can feel “good” to stay with a part of your body that feels hurt if it’s the right time for making a connection.

Exploring who we are beyond our conditioned state can initially be challenging, even when we notice the “signals.”

The reason is that the way we “do” ourselves—our feelings, thoughts, and the way we structure our lives—is formed over years and gets anchored into place by patterns within our nervous system. Over time what we focus on actually changes the architecture of the brain. This continual focus sets up the dominant patterns in our nervous systems that either reward or punish us biochemically for the choices we make. If we focus on needing to protect ourselves, that pattern will become written into our brain and nervous system accompanied by patterns of rigidity and tension in our body. If we focus on ways to empower ourselves, conversely we set up neural and energetic pathways to support that.

Opening ourselves up to listening to life’s signals is a powerful way to introduce novel information into your nervous system. Your nervous system needs novel input in order to grow new neural pathways. These signals are the way your body and feelings are attempting to get your attention in order to inspire you to wake up and do something differently.

When we can see things fresh, in a way that offers us a novel perspective, we start to listen and participate with all of life and move into a depth of experience that wasn’t available before. That depth brings greater presence to our lives. We can then change the conditioned behavior habits that were formed over a lifetime, enhancing a sense of well

-being. We begin to see that what happens to us in our lives isn’t a series of problems but rather are a series of signals—allowing us the opportunity to change and grow, if only we choose to acknowledge them.

The more you cultivate the ability to listen to and respond to signals from the universe, the more choices you have in your body and in your life that are congruent to who you really are. When this happens, your body, your chemistry, and your energetic structures reward you with chemicals of love, rapture, and grace.

Judy Scher, D.C. is Director of the Scher Center in Santa Fe since 1992. She is an international teacher, workshop leader, and keynote speaker.

The Scher Center utilizes cutting-edge reorganizational healing tools including Network Spinal Analysis Care. For more info go to www.HealingWithoutLimits.com or call 505-989-9373

Herbal Wisdom

An Herbal Sense of Place

T

he tradition of herbal use in New Mexico is rich with a diversity of lore and plants. The earliest evidence of human encampment in the Rio Grande basin is about 8,000 years ago. Most of those people were probably migrating through the area from the Four Corners on hunting and gathering trips; more permanent settlements by Native Americans around 6,000 years ago have continued until the present. The earliest inhabitants depended on wild game such as deer and elk as well as native plants for survival and well-being.

This has been verified in a recent study at Cochiti Reservoir south of Santa Fe: 218 distinct plant species were identified with 96 of those having food uses. Many more can be documented which have medicinal and utilitarian value. Because many of the medicinal plants native to our area were tested and utilized on a regular basis by the Pueblo people, their knowledge is carried on today as part of their oral tradition. Quite a few are used in ceremonies considered sacred to the Pueblos and therefore kept within the tribes.

The Spanish settlers in New Mexico brought a whole other herbal tradition from Europe that still lives on today.

Because Spain has a varied history of occupation and commerce with countries within Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, knowledge regarding herbal medicine is very diverse. For example, the Moors from northern Africa colonized Spain from the eighth to the fifteenth century, bringing with them both a tribal and a rich Ayurvedic herbal medical science from India. The common plant alfalfa, which grows in the valleys of northern New Mexico came to us from the Moors who named it “the Father of all herbs.” We now know alfalfa as a tonic food and medicine which benefits the blood, liver, kidneys, and overall digestion. It is high in protein, calcium, and trace

minerals; it is used to tonify horses, cattle, and poor soil.

Its root system is extensive and runs deep underground, giving us a strong grounding from the water and soil in which it is grown. Alfalfa is an ally for people who are depleted after sickness, who have a poor diet, or lack essential nutrients. It gives strength to people that have poor quality hair, skin, and finger/toe nails.

Because the native and “acculturated” plants of our state are so well adapted to our environment, I usually recommend that once living here a person ingest common tea plants of the desert on a regular basis to also become well adapted. One of those natives is Indian Tea, or Cota.

It makes a delicious brown tea which benefits the kidneys, meaning it keeps us hydrated and relieves our bodies of toxins. You may drink it hot or cool, just plain or with a bit of local honey. Indian Tea is useful for people on cleansing diets or on drug detoxification programs because it washes the kidneys clean while building inherent strength. This tea gives us stability and purpose in our desert plateau region.

During the fall season consider the potential benefits of plants such as Osha for protection and health of our lungs against colds and flu. Many families that have lived here for centuries keep a small root or extract of Osha in the medicine cabinet to “warm the lungs” and boost immunity.

Osha has a particularly strong pungent flavor which may be softened by placing the chopped root in honey and keeping it warm for two weeks. It is a documented remedy for lung and stomach infections; much success has been had using Osha for gum and mouth sores. Consider it our native natural replacement for synthetic antibiotics. Osha is our connection to the high sierras where the air is pure; it assists us in adapting to high altitudes where the lower oxygen levels and cool air challenge our lungs.

Evolving…in SANTA FE

6

August 2015

The native plant allies are our sisters and brothers. We coexist, breathe the same air, drink the same water, and live in the same soil. Many of them direct us into balance when we feel sick, stressed, or emotionally distraught.

You may notice that after drinking a native tea herb that you become more integrated, more sensitive, and more comfortable in this place. As you drink it remember why you are in New Mexico and give thanks to the plants for helping you be at peace here. I also like to wish that particular plant a continued abundance and protection from harm.

Tomas Enos studied with Michael Moore in 1990 and then created Milagro Herbs. Erin Galiger has worked with herbs for 10 years.

Their philosophy of health and healing is holistic and rooted in the ancient tradition of “Solar Living,” synchronizing our bodies according to the biological time clock, circadian rhythms, and seasonal patterns found on Earth. www.milagroherbs.com 505820-6321 info@milagroherbs.com 419 Orchard Drive (off Paseo de Peralta next to Kakawa Chocolate House)

Heart & Business

Retreating = Re-Sourcing

I

’m a big believer that retreating • Do your best to find a retreat regularly will enhance success and within a short driving distance from brilliance in any business endeavor. your home.

Stepping out of the constant • Retreat someplace that takes you movement both mentally and physically into something you love—cooking, and stepping into the stillness emotionally yoga, travel, nature, great friends or and spiritually is a gift and one I invite family. you to offer yourself.

• Ensure you have supportive foods Retreating to transform is customary that will nourish you. among cultures worldwide and as old as • Get rid of the car and ride a bike if humans have been around. I refer to you retreat in a town that allows for retreats as “rethis. sourcing.” Re-sourcing “Most approaches to • Go on a re-source is an opportunity for experience that will re-sourcing have the extraordinary change stretch you on all levels. and a time to circle opportunity to build your These are just a few, around to the spirit or however I want to get capacity for resiliency, your genius in you. You are wheels moving and your greatest resource ignite some curiosity creativity, less stress, and the starting point with how you can invite to accessing that emotional stability, seeing a re-source experience resource begins within. your life. This will the bigger picture, and into Most approaches to reenhance what you bring sourcing have the having the energy to to the world and opportunity to build ultimately increase your handle challenging your capacity for leverage to grow your resiliency, creativity, business. situations.” less stress, emotional If you don’t have a stability, seeing the few days the next alternative would be bigger picture, and having the energy to what I call “pulsing.” Much like the ocean handle challenging situations. you roll in with energy, ride the wave, and In the rediscovered stillness we can then roll out for a quick reboot. You may connect with the deeper aspects of already do this, however the goal is to ourselves—our spirit. Our spirits “hunger” constantly come back to the light you are for us to feel, acknowledge, and listen. and replenish quickly.

They are thirsty to work with us and offer Whether it is re-sourcing or pulsing— up our true purpose out into the world. discover what method is best for your We need both the fire and the grace within lifestyle and enjoy. our bustling lives. Some may say they do not have the time or can’t afford it—I say find a way and find it now. The doorway will show up when you commit. I attend re -source retreats regularly. They are scheduled into my calendar every year and into every strategic plan I create for the growth of my business.

Here are a few ways to get into the resource mode and make it happen: • When you re-source do not combine it with visiting anyone, scheduling client appointments to make it a tax deduction, or create more work for yourself.

• Create a sacred space that will support rest, a direct line to your heart, and a space that speaks to you.

• Ensure what matters to you is taken care of. If you have children or are caring for parents, only retreat when you know they will be cared for in the capacity that aligns for you.

Your heart and mind must rest.

BEnergy Are You Ready for This?

All of Life comes to me with Ease, Joy & Glory!

Get your "Bars" run today!!

A light- touch energetic modality that when received can create the Change you have always desired. It IS possible, quick and effective!!

Book your appointment today:

Brennan ~ Reconnective

Subtle Vibrational EnergyWork & Life-Reading

Kathy White C.F.M.W.

Who is that voice inside, that you identify as You? Come to that stillness within.

Your destiny is calling you.

You are Consciousness.

Access Consciousness Certified Bars Facilitator

505.366.9120 call/txt 1919 5th Street, Suite O, Office #5 Santa Fe, NM

LYDIA SAFINA ~ 505-699-7796 imnawakened1@aol.com 27 years experience

Lisa "Astarte" Stakes, L.M.T. NM Lic#7669 •

Heather Robertson E-RYT, CTC, CF is an entrepreneur, facilitator, and mentor, with endless commitment to presence and purpose within business and life. She is owner of Wide Awake

by Design, located in Santa Fe, NM. Need the more formal version or want to know more: www.wideawakebydesign.com or email info@wideawakebydesign.com Evolving…in SANTA FE

• •

Energy Healer Psychic Massage Therapist Astartehealing.com 505-603-0888 astarteearthart@gmail.com

7

August 2015

One Great Magazine.

Two Great Cities.

Evolving Magazine now in Kansas City AND Santa Fe, NM. Read both issues online at:

EvolvingMagazine.com

Evolving…in SANTA FE

Somatic Psychology

Healing Sexual Trauma: The Journey to Conscious and Consensual Intimacy

S

exual intimacy brings pleasure, cognitive behavioral therapy and delight, ease, and embodiment into EMDR (Eye Movement our lives. It expands our senses, Desensitization and Reprocessing ). unites our longing for wholeness • Pelvic-Focused Physical Therapy and connection, and transports us to for women who experience chronic higher levels of consciousness. The pelvic pain. Treatment may include documented benefits of sexual intimacy skin rolling, deep tissue massage include a reduction in stress and anxiety (myofascial release), and trigger point and an increase in self-perception, welltherapy to release tight knot-like spots being, and creativity. Yet, despite the within the vagina or rectum. benefits, those who have touch bodywork such “If trauma is not •asLight experienced sexual violence somatic polarity therapy or may find it challenging to addressed and craniosacral therapy to enjoy sexual intimacy. release tension and energetic released, it stores blocks The Rape, Abuse, and in the body and to Incest National Network cultivate an active and in the body (RAINN) estimates that 1 in 4 reciprocal relationship women will experience sexual creating dis-ease.” between the mind and body. violence in her lifetime. This • Self-care including statistic includes childhood sexual abuse nourishing meals, regular sleep, and sexual assault occurring in adulthood. moving the body, mindful breathing, According to the American Counseling making time for solitude, spending Association, many of these women will time with trusted friends or family, suffer long-term psychological and and treating oneself with dignity and physical challenges including depression, respect. guilt, shame, self-blame, eating disorders, somatic concerns, anxiety, dissociative The first step in the healing journey is patterns, repression, denial, sexual to ask for help. When we seek support problems, and relationship problems. from a trusted friend or a skilled Sexual violence impacts the mind-body professional, we begin to shed layers of connection. Memories stored in the body, isolation. As we explore our wounds and remembered or not, seek expression release painful experiences, we are given through our organs, our nervous system, the opportunity to examine survival and via our thought patterns and strategies that have kept us disassociated behaviors. If trauma is not addressed and from our bodies and emotions. We come to released, it stores in the body creating dis- see that our body is a source of wholeness ease. Trauma can manifest as chronic pain, to which we can return and embody fully. fatigue, and sudden mood shifts or Releasing energetic blocks and gaining outbursts, many of which appear to have skills for self-empowerment builds no explanation. Psychosomatic symptoms confidence in the innate intelligence of the may continue to manifest, years after the mind-body connection, returning us to the abuse, in attempts to release bound energy. sensual nature of our bodies. We emerge Many survivors associate sexual from our journey as women who thrive, intimacy with pain. Some women may fully embodied with the ability and insight avoid sexual activity, fearing losing control to engage in conscious and consensual of their body or in an attempt to manage intimacy. the intensity of emotion, triggers, and memories that arise with sexual intimacy.

Others may respond with compulsive sexual patterns marked by a lack of personal boundaries, a need to please, or a desire to reclaim sexual power. Some survivors experience actual physical pain with intimate touch. The most common disorder impacting women who have Corine Frankland, Ph.D., is survived sexual abuse and assault is Pelvic the department chair of liberal arts Floor Disorder (PFD), a painful condition at Santa Fe University of Art and marked by inflammation and constriction Design, where she teaches courses in the muscles, ligaments, connective in women’s psychology, archetypal tissues, and nerves that support the psychology, and Kundalini bladder, uterus, vagina, and rectum. yoga. She is also a somatic polarity Healing sexual trauma should include a practitioner, specializing in anxiety comprehensive support system that reduction, grief and depression, recognizes the interconnectedness of the and women’s reproductive health mind and body. Methods include: and wellness. You can find her on • Psychotherapy with a Facebook at Vibrational Healing compassionate therapist who Santa Fe or visit her website at specializes in sexual trauma and www.myvibrationalhealing.org 8

August 2015

Healing, Inc.—Business Profile

B

Silver Day Trading Co.

efore moving from Missouri to New Mexico in 1996, Dayton Simmons was just another nuts and bolts guy: a solid Midwesterner born and raised in Kansas City (whose parents tried to raise him as a good Catholic), a Boy Scout, a college graduate (who majored in both German and cultural communications at Kansas University). But once he’d relocated, practically overnight he went from painting houses to dealing in turquoise (having been entrusted by one of the dealers at the old Trader Jack’s flea market with going out and selling $100,000 worth of turquoise), and it didn’t take long before those blue and green sky stones, those talismans of kings, shamans, and warriors, those stones of protection and self-realization that strengthen and calm the mind and body, that align all chakras, that protect and bless the user, these ancient absorbers of negativity, these power stones, these rocks that some Native American tribes used to guard their burial sites, these ornamental gems of water and copper and aluminum, well, soon after relocating he started noticing things. “In addition to working with and learning from mineral collectors and miners and jewelers and turquoise dealers, I’d also been working with some shamans, and I started putting two and two together,” says Simmons from inside his Silver DayTrading Co. in Madrid. “They soon told me that I had some healing abilities.” Abilities he developed and that the turquoise probably brought out from within him. So much so that now, “The rocks talk to me all the time,” he says. “Before someone picks a rock from out of a bowl, I know which one they’re going to choose.

I know what rock people need and how it’s going to help them.”

He was only 12 when he set his first piece of turquoise— courtesy of the old man across the street with the silversmithing workshop. “The first time I saw a solder,” recalls Simmons, “I was hooked.”

But he wouldn’t take it up again till moving to Santa Fe years later (lured out after visiting a high school buddy in 1988 who’d gone to St. John’s).

Nevertheless, within an hour of hiring himself on with one of the dealers at Trader Jack’s (the flea market that predated the one currently located at the Downs), he’d been offered the job of dealing in turquoise. His boss “wanted to groom me to be honest,” says Simmons. “Because turquoise dealers are notoriously dishonest.”

In addition to crisscrossing the country dealing gems and rocks, he took metalsmithing classes back at KU and learned how to repair jewelry.

“That,” says Simmons, who has a workshop in the backroom of Silver Day Trading, “is my bread and butter.”

In time, he developed a reputation as an authority on turquoise. He still teaches classes at Poeh Cultural Center in Pojoaque, and gives talks

Simmons thinks of himself as a messenger, someone bringing healing energy to everything he does and passing that on—through turquoise and his many other gems and stones—to others.

Evolving…in SANTA FE

throughout the country on turquoise (the one he gave to the Gemological Institute of America became part of their curriculum). He’s also a turquoise purist. He deals only in natural turquoise—stones that are unaltered and come directly from the mine (which are rarer and more valuable).

But Simmons really thinks of himself as a messenger, someone bringing healing energy to everything he does and passing that on—through turquoise and his many other gems and stones—to others. “I’m also like a doctor—certain minerals will be prescriptions, and even though I don’t prescribe things per se I look up what a certain mineral’s properties are,” says Simmons, who often refers to Love Is in the Earth by Melody, the bible for all good rock dealers. “I find out what people need and see how a particular stone is going to help them.”

Most often that stone is turquoise.

“It’s the master healer,” says Simmons, who’ll be celebrating his store’s one-year anniversary this month (he’d moved back to Kansas City in 2011 to care for his ailing mother, then moved back to Madrid to open Silver DayTrading). “It has energetic frequencies and vibrations with incredible healing potential, especially when used in conjunction with other gems and stones. It magnifies and amplifies the properties of other rocks.

And it enables a person to tap into a level of compassion and helps them lower their frequency enough to get calm. It brings things into check and allows people to see what’s really important in life. It’s the physical representation of the Creator. God. Spirit.”

—Devon Jackson

9

August 2015

Eating Well in Santa Fe

. . . e v l o v X

Vitality Foods: What’s On Your Fork?

Into something beautiful.

Santa Fe’s newest resource for holistic living offers online and print options for living well.

www.EvolvingMagazine.com • • • • •

Read current articles from both Santa Fe and Kansas City editions Locate Wellness Practitioners with the Holistic Online Directory Find locations to pick up the print edition, searchable by zip code Free online calendar of events And more!

Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ EvolvingSantaFe and follow us on Twitter: @EvolvingMag To stay connected all month!

NEW! Free Online Calendar. Another great resource provided by Evolving Magazine. Feel free to add your events or copy an event you want to attend to your own calendar.

Evolving…in SANTA FE

W

e are what we eat. This is a fact. So what’s on your fork?

And have you noticed how the foods that you are consuming are igniting your vitality or robbing you of it? Due to the highly processed foods readily available to the majority of the population we are seeing and experiencing a pandemic in diabetes, heart disease, digestive illnesses, autoimmune illnesses, and cancer. However, more and more we are also seeing the sprouting of local organic farmer’s markets, which provide a variety in seasonal fruits, vegetables, and other essential health-promoting items like local honey, bitters, cheeses/yogurts, sprouted whole-grain breads, and seed starters.

Naturally cultivated and harvested foods are loaded with essential nutrients and vitamins, all that your body needs. Our bodies possess divine wisdom, the ability to regenerate and heal itself if given the right foods, of course. Every day, trillions of cells restore and regenerate, thus with every bite of food we are given the opportunity to support our trillions of cell’s continued health and vitality.

Here’s a quick educational and empowering experiment: For a week write down everything you eat throughout each day. Capture how you feel physically, emotionally, and energy-wise 20 minutes after each meal or snack. By the end of the week you will be able to identify the foods that contributed to feeling lethargic, foggy minded, sleepy, heavy and you will also be able to identify the foods that promoted more energy, increased stamina, increased mental clarity and focus. Once you identify the culprits, you can begin to omit the energy-depleting foods and include more energy-promoting foods.

So what are these energy-promoting foods? you may be asking. Well, these foods sure don’t come in a box, can, or sealed bag. Energy-promoting foods come from the earth in its natural state— uncontaminated by carcinogenic chemicals, pesticides, herbicides, hormones, antibiotics, or genetic modification. The health benefits from consuming locally grown and traditionally (safely) planted, and cultivated seasonal produce not only aids our health but also the health of our children, communities, and the environment—and yes, even the local economy. With each bite of locally sourced and organic food we support local farmers who treat the earth and cultivate through environmentally conscious practices and we support the employment in and around the farming communities, thus investing in our local economy.

What’s on your fork is more than just making a healthy food choice, which in 10

August 2015

itself is an important piece, it’s also about making healthy choices that have a broader ripple effect. The macrocosm of the We is a powerful force and possesses great influence with every choice we make, so let’s choose wisely.

Summer’s Vitality Pesto!

6 cups of basil 2 cloves of garlic (minced) 2 tablespoons of olive oil 4 Brazil nuts or ½ cup of walnuts 2 tablespoons of Parmesan reggiano cheese Add all ingredients in a food processor or blender, process until mixture becomes a paste consistency.

You can add the pesto to sprouted wholegrain bread and garnish with sliced prosciutto and heirloom tomato slices Or You can make noodles from cucumbers and green zucchini and add pesto for a cooling version of pesto pasta Enjoy! And here’s to your continued health and vitality!

Valeria Alarcón is a Holistic Health Coach and Advocate AADP, whose mission is to inspire, educate, and empower individuals who are committed to reclaiming life and vitality through health and wellness.

As a cancer survivor Val knows what it takes to reclaim life and vitality, and she is delighted to be of support to her community. For more information visit www.VitalityWithVal.us.

Revelations

Developing Your Yogic Superpowers to Make the World a Better Place

A

nyone who casually skims the verses of The Yoga Sutra, the third-century root text available in nearly every yoga studio, bumps into a most perplexing fact. The third chapter on Mystical Powers describes specific causes for supernormal abilities like mind reading, invisibility, and flying.

So what exactly are the causes for superpowers? And how can we develop them within ourselves to make the world a better place?

Fortunately, superpowers don’t come from radioactive spider bites or laboratory mishaps.

Instead, Master Patanjali tells us in The Yoga Sutra that, “The powers are found in love and the rest.” He’s referring to the Four Immeasurables: Immeasurable Equanimity, Immeasurable Compassion, Immeasurable Love, and Immeasurable Joy. These attitudes are immeasurable because they are aimed at every living being and because the merit they generate is immeasurable. Indeed, as Patanjali tells us, the merit from these attitudes of heart are so powerful they lead to miraculous abilities.

The Buddha first taught the Four Immeasurables around 500 B.C.E. These attitudes were so well known in ancient India during Patanjali’s time that he could simply say “the powers are found in love and the rest” and everyone who was supposed to know, would understand the code.

So how can you develop these attitudes in your own heart? One of the most effective ways is to follow the Buddhist heart-opening practice of Exchanging Self and Others. This essential practice was taught by the eighth-century master Shantideva. After giving this teaching, a hall-full of monks reported Shantideva flew out of the temple into the sky. This practice has four simple steps that you can put into practice immediately in your daily life.

1. Recognize that everyone wants to be happy.

We are all bliss seekers and pain avoiders. Give anyone even the simplest of choices and people will always choose what they believe will lead to happiness. Even when people act out or act badly it’s because they are trying to get something that they believe will make them happy. When we can recognize that we are all the same in this way, we can begin to wish happiness for everyone.

2. Recognize a tendency of mind to think more about yourself.

Here’s the thing: villains are always trying to get stuff for themselves at the expense of others.

Heroes are always willing to sacrifice themselves to protect even total strangers. As you go about your day, do you want to be a hero or a villain?

Just watch your mind. Do you spend more time worrying about your own problems and challenges or worrying about someone else’s?

Think about these two choices like black and white rocks on an ancient scale. Every time you worry about yourself, stack a black rock on one tray. And every time you think about making someone else happy, stack a white rock. At the end of the day, which way does the balance tip?

3. Watch for what other people want.

Now wherever you go, use your eyes, ears, and mind to pay attention to what other people want.

Try to stand in their shoes and see how they see the world. Maybe someone just wants their talents recognized with a little praise. Or maybe someone is having a hard time on a project and could use an extra hand. Or maybe someone wants a friend to treat them to a nice dinner and listen to their stories. Stay on the lookout for a chance to help like a hero, without wanting anything in return.

4. Make the exchange.

When you see some way to help someone, act.

Decide that you will make efforts using whatever skills and abilities you have to help that person get what they want to feel happier (as long as it’s not hurting someone else, of course). When you are totally focused on ensuring another person’s happiness, you are transforming a habitual, human tendency to be self-centered--that villain energy--into gaining a supernormal habit to serve other people’s happiness first.

Just start small and build up. Anything can become a habit of mind if you keep at it. And we are talking about going from a normal person to a superyogi.

A most curious thing happens if you keep this practice up. Watch as you become happier and the people in your world become happier. As Master Shantideva explains in one of the most important teachings ever given:

The total amount of happiness That exists in the world has come from Wanting to make others happy.

The total amount of suffering That exists in the world has come from Wanting to make yourself happy.

Evolving…in SANTA FE

11

August 2015

So there is a reason that villains never get happy endings. They are only thinking about themselves.

If you keep this practice of Exchanging Self and Others going for a while, another curious thing can happen. You’ll get so good at getting your small self out of the way—and serving others as if they were you—that according to ancient Buddhist and Yoga texts, you can begin to be able to read minds. As Master Patanjali explains in The Yoga Sutra, “With the necessary cause, one can read the minds of others.”

One fortunate thing about yogic superpowers is that they usually only come to people who can get their small self out of the way and care for everyone. This is why miracles in history are usually performed by saints who are focused on alleviating the suffering of others.

True, an occasional villain slips in because powers can be gained and then corrupted, but generally supernormal abilities belong to saints who want to serve others.

Let’s just hope you will use your yogic supernormal powers for good.

James Connor recently completed an isolated three-year meditation retreat. He is the author of The Superyogi Scenario, a pageturning thriller that allows readers to experience authentic wisdom that creates superheroes. He founded GoBeyond.org, a nonprofit that teaches people how to meditate from authentic scriptural sources in the Buddhist and Yoga lineages. www.byjamesconnor.com www.gobeyond.org

Feature

Full Spectrum Sex Is for Everyone: A Q+A with Somatic Libido Coach Isa Magdalena

I

sa Magdalena, a longtime somatic libido coach, recently relocated from Taos to Santa Fe, where she also just opened her new practice, The Amazing Body, with Feldenkrais and Alexander Technique practitioner Sherry Stephenson.

Magdalena moved to the U.S. from Amsterdam in 1991. Evolving asked her about her and her work, and if there really is a difference between what women want and what men are after.

Evolving: What is the connection between sexuality and spirituality?

The energy that turns on our lust is the same energy that ignites love and connection to spirit, and, for that matter, creativity, power, inspiration, expression.

That energy is our life force. We know it by such words and phrases as libido, sexual energy, kundalini shakti, ching chi. The central highway for this energy runs in our spine. All spiritual, mystical, shamanistic lineages use this pathway to climb the ladder, so to speak, from the realm of

matter into the realm of spirit—invisible energy. The “engine” of this energy lives in our pelvis. Sexual stimulation cranks up the engine, but not only sexual stimulation, also rocking, dancing, even moving your pelvis while sitting. I’ve come to the term Full Spectrum Sex, rather than Sacred Sex, because it’s neutral, it has no moral connotations. It simply refers to the fact that we are Full Spectrum Humans, and in the end are most fulfilled when we can live our life full spectrum, in bed and out of bed.

E: Is sex mystical? In what ways?

understand the cause of all this: sexual energy. It still took many years to bridge my own split between sex and spirit and find ways to articulate it, as in the Full Spectrum paradigm, that shows what happens when we use sexual energy in a conscious way and as a means to become more whole.

I was invited to the U.S. and developed the women’s program for the Body Electric School in Oakland in 1992.

That launched me into teaching workshops, very radical events, sort of like the fast track to heaven. I don’t work that way anymore, because the fast track can overwhelm our nervous system and be difficult to integrate in our lives. So, the last 25 years I’ve spent learning to slow down and fill in the details along that track, especially through working with women and learning about trauma and the body.

“The energy that turns on our lust is the same energy that ignites love and connection to spirit, and, for that matter, creativity, power, inspiration, expression.That energy is our life

According to the mystical path I’m on, Universal Sufism, mysticism is about the essence of things, rather than the outer form of things, with which religion tends to be concerned. So in that sense, yes, sex is one of the avenues that can open us up to our essence, which is Essence.

To elaborate, Sufism offers an Inner School and an Outer School, the first offers practices to deepen the inner life, the latter is about living in the world of form, which, of course, is the real test. I feel the same about conscious sexuality: inner practice makes us aware of our deeper self, from which we then relate to our partner, hopefully in a less cluttered way.

E: What is somatic libido coaching?

Somatic means “body based.”

Libido is our life force.

Coaching is a model that looks at where you are, where you want to go, and how to get there. Libido coaching is about body awareness, integrating the physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional. It’s about cultivating body intelligence, differentiating various feelings and sensations, learning to express what we want.

To work with issues as charged as sexuality, it’s very important to be clear about boundaries and to establish safety E: How did you get started in and trust. We talk. We identify inner doing what you’re doing now, resources. We may use breath, focused attention, visualization. Touch can help to libido coaching? focus our attention and move energy. This It’s where I’ve come to after a long journey that once began, unconsciously, in may sound boring, but usually it’s quite search of healing the split between my love exciting when we rediscover parts of our for sexuality and my love for mysticism. My self that had been lost or hiding. As someone recently commented, “It’s as if profession as a massage therapist, way you’re reintroducing me to my body.” back in Amsterdam, was the bridge, when confronted with the sensations of arousal E: Is there scientific proof of the my clients almost always had during existence of libido or its sessions. I didn’t consider those bad, nor did I want to go the “happy ending” route, evolution?

Oh, my. You make me think about and those sensations simply came and biology, even though I do not have a went and came and went, enlivening the entire body and everybody was happy. But scientific background and might mangle this answer. For me, libido is a movement I wanted to know, what really happened? of energy that is contained in matter (our Tantric and Taoist literature emerged in bodies) via the autonomic nervous system. that time, and eventually I began to Evolving…in SANTA FE

12

August 2015

Feature

entire business from zero to seven, let’s say, we have a lot—a lot!—of room to play.

Arousal can go up and down, up and down, we can hold still or stop when we need to, when our body-heart-mind changed its course, for one reason or another, searching for a new destination. Maybe we don’t want orgasm after all, or want to kiss, or hold still, or wrestle a bit. Maybe we just want to feel the love, the affection, the lucky fact that we have someone, our self and/or a partner, to play with, to love with.

E: Are men, women, and gender fluid people different in their goals and motivations?

Sex in all its stages—arousal, plateau, climax, and afterglow—is one of the only biological processes that use all three branches of the vagus nerve that is sheathed in our spines from brain to tail (stimulation, rest/rebuild, and tend/ befriend). The vagus nerve also manages the Four Fs: fight, flight, freeze, fuck. The nervous system is designed to respond and adapt, learn and grow. Every peak experience, whether in joy or fear, activates a vagus response cycle.

Suppression of the nervous system gets us clogged up, which makes us more likely to be held hostage by old traumas. Most spiritual practices use conscious breathing to support our natural biology and keep this alternating system healthy or chronic stress from running off with our lives. Pleasure, play, sex, and meditation all use libido and they all help balance and clean out nervous system toxins, all the while stimulating evolution and awareness.

Yes and no. Deep down it’s about evolving, not only as individual people, but as a collective. In the West, the only culture I can talk about, we are the product of a sexually schizophrenic atmosphere that has separated sex from heart and spirit for a very long time. I feel that different genders hold a different piece of that puzzle. Please forgive my overgeneralization here, but in today’s western cultures, women may be more likely to get severed from sexuality by being dissociated from our bodies, men by being dissociated from their feelings, gender queer folks by embodying feminineE: What are you trying to get masculine in an unusual way. And all of us have been severed from the conscious use your clients to do? of life force, robbing us of our own inner Tip number one (to number 5,083): guidance. In practicality, this means that as Listen to your body! We tend to override women, we tend to be insecure about our the messages and needs of our body body and appearance; women are more constantly, and in sex that’s detrimental.

We can end up performing according to an likely to want to explore a lack of libido and agenda our mind has made up, usually with sexual satisfaction. A lot of men have had more permission to explore sex, but come all sorts of expectations that have little to do with how we feel looking to improve their skills as a lover. at the moment, and Gender queer people can end up confused about their sexual role(s) and who to relate we launch for a with or how. But in the end, we seem to all certain outcome.

When that outcome want the same: to love and be loved, truly, as ourselves. is different, we feel we failed. This is a terrible set-up! So, Isa Magdalena is the author of here is tip number Libido, Where Sex, Science and two: Let go of the Spirit Meet—A Map of Full outcome. This is Spectrum Sex. She is a certified easier said and not somatic sex educator and coach, easily done, especially because arousal is an working with individuals, couples, excitement of the nervous system, that, and groups of all genders. The when it gets high, it gains a momentum of Amazing Body studio is a its own. So there comes a phase in sexual collaborative initiative dedicated arousal, let’s say, between seven and eight to how we live in our body and our on a scale of zero to ten, that we need to environment. Visit keep going, otherwise our nervous system isamagdalena.com. gets jerked in a way that makes for confusion, shame, hurt, trauma. But the

“Listen to your body! We tend to override the messages and needs of our body constantly, and in sex that’s detrimental.”

Evolving…in SANTA FE

13

August 2015

Feature

12 ways to Change from Performance to Pleasure

M

en, do you ever worry about whether you will be able to get or maintain an erection?

Women, do you worry about not having any desire for sex? Men and women, do you feel pressured by your partner to have an orgasm every time?

Has your sex life become boring? Are you worried that your body isn’t responding sexually the way it used to? As a certified sex therapist and tantric teacher, these are concerns I hear from my clients on a regular basis. With some education about more realistic expectations, combined with my tips below, you can find more pleasure in your sexuality. Additionally, sacred sexuality practices, often called Tantra, focus on connection, being present, and enhanced pleasure. The tips below incorporate some tantra practices.

We can expand our view of sex beyond the physical into the emotional, mental, and spiritual domains.

Men’s Sexuality According to Barry McCarthy in Coping with Erectile Dysfunction, 90 percent of men by age 40 have one incidence of inability to achieve an erection sufficient for intercourse, and 50 percent of men by age 50 have some erectile anxiety. Between the ages of 6065, one-third of men abstain from having sex due to inhibited desire caused by performance anxiety, and between the ages of 70-75 this number has increased to two-thirds. I share with men that it is normal to not always have an erection when you want one, and that it is nothing to worry about.

Instead, he can focus on pleasuring his partner with kisses and caresses, or his fingers and tongue.

The penis can still feel pleasure even when it is not erect. If the man focuses on his anxiety about getting or maintaining

an erection, he is likely to lose the erection.

Women’s Sexuality For women, the most common complaint I hear is a lack of sexual desire.

They wonder what happened to the desire they felt in their younger years before their career, babies, and roles as a wife and homeowner. Many women think that if they lack sexual desire, they won’t be able to be sexual. I suggest to women to get in the mood by creating the mood.

Hire a babysitter and go on a date. Create a sensual evening at home. Get away for a romantic night or two where you both can relax and have fun. Most women need to be able to relax and connect with their partner in order to feel “in the mood.”

Orgasm Facts Men and women in my practice often think each one needs to have an orgasm every time. I share with them that it isn’t necessary for a man to ejaculate every time, especially after age 50, and that it can put pressure on a woman to feel she needs to reach a climax. Here are some interesting orgasm statistics from The Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Canada: 10 percent of women are not able to orgasm. Only about a third of women experience orgasm regularly during intercourse. A third can reach orgasm with intercourse but need extra stimulation. A third never achieve orgasm during intercourse but can by manual and oral stimulation. Think about love making as the journey rather than orgasm as the destination. Many women report to me that the most important part of lovemaking for them is the physical closeness and intimacy. So how can we shift from a performance-based mode to a pleasure orientation?

12 Ways to Change from Performance to Pleasure 1. Expand your focus. Many couples head right for the genitals. Instead, try caressing the head, neck, hands, arms, legs, back, stomach, and feet. Every part of your body is a potential erogenous zone. Consider using oil, such as coconut oil. Use light touch and don’t try to give a therapeutic massage.

Give and receive pleasure without any goal.

2. Take your time. Set aside 30 minutes to two hours for love play.

3. Make it playful. Be silly and laugh.

Act like animals. Create a role play such as she is the policewoman who

Evolving…in SANTA FE

has pulled over the man who now has to give sexual favors to her.

4. Gaze into each other’s eyes. Spend time in the silence looking into each other’s eyes for five to 15 minutes. This exercise is very intimate!

5. Take turns creating a night of pleasure for your partner. Make it all about your partner’s pleasure and take your time.

6. Make intercourse off limits for a month or more but have weekly or more often sexual dates where you explore everything else but intercourse.

Think back to all the things you enjoyed doing in your younger years before you began having intercourse.

7. Have a long make-out session, or demonstrate on your partner how you like to be kissed. Many women have told me that taking time with kissing is what most gets them in the mood.

8. Have a tantric coaching session.

Explore how to shift into a sacred space, be mindful with love play, connect deeply, and expand orgasms. I love teaching Tantra to couples. Or take a weekend Tantra class. Check out www.ipsalutantra.org, www.tantraheart.com, or www.skydancingtantra.org.

9. Breathe together. You can meditate together or spoon and breathe together. This practice literally gets the two of you on the same wavelength.

10. Dance together or for your partner.

Moving your body, especially your pelvis, can stir up the juices!

14

August 2015

11. Show and tell. Demonstrate for your partner how you like to be touched.

12. Learn the exciting new practice called Orgasmic Meditation. Check out www.onetaste.us. I can refer you to a coach.

Conclusion So now you have lots of ideas on how to be more pleasure focused. Try one new idea each week or month that you both agree on. Trying new things will relieve any boredom that has crept into your sex life. As we age, it is more and more important to focus on pleasure rather than performance because our bodies may not respond as easily as in younger years.

With a pleasure-based focus, you can enjoy sexuality through your whole life rather than giving it up.

Karen Harrison is a Certified Sex Therapist, Tantra teacher, marriage and family therapist, and Reiki teacher. www.karenharrison.net

Feature

C

hanneling is the process of receiving and relaying information from an outside entity while in an altered state of consciousness. Entities that can be channeled vary greatly Astarte and Eriene bring communication from a group of interdimensional light beings in their channeling. The following is a channeled piece from Astarte and Eriene on the topic of Sacred Sexuality.

Q: Please explain the meaning of Sacred Sexuality?

A: Sacred Sexuality is realizing the power and respecting the energy of your sexuality. It’s bringing these two aspects together. It involves conscious direction of the power of sexuality and the respect of that energy. Also, making clear choices with whom and how to share this part of yourself by learning to not take this energy lightly or recreationally. Sacred Sexuality encompasses a common integrity with what you are doing with each other in a

sexual way, and what your intentions are with that energy.

know yourself and be clear about what feels good to you. When you feel, on this journey of self-discovery, that you are at a Q: How can single people utilize place that you feel good about yourself and their own sacred sexuality? the things you are doing, you’ll attract an A: In the journey of human sexuality, individual that will match yourself based whether or not it is shared with another, on your fully-encompassing energy that it’s important to hold feelings of joy for life. you’ve created as YOU. It’s precisely when In living the single life, the activities that you don’t actually need that person that you participate they’ll appear in in, the places your life because and people you it’s in this moment see, it’s that you feel whole important to do again after being this all in the separated from spirit of joy and Source, from all love because that that is. represents your relationship with yourself. This is what you Q: What’s an exercise that would benefit two people are drawing to yourself, your experiences, the mirror of yourself that you are seeing in practicing Sacred Sexuality? others. It’s a journey that shows you A: The most important thing that a something you may want to change about couple can do is to build trust between each yourself or something that you truly love other. Use trust as the foundation of what about yourself. This journey of selfyou wish to experience together. When you discovery and self-mastery is sacred, and truly trust your partner, there’s no reason one that should not be that you can’t open your soul and reveal it looked at as less to the other person. This is what is most desirable. If one sacred in your relationship. A very doesn’t have a sexual important exercise to build trust between partner to share in each other is by taking turns falling back these experiences, one into the other person’s arms. This builds should be in gratitude trust and opens the heart at the same time. for living a life of As the person standing in front begins to beauty and love on lean back (like a back bend from the waist), this planet at this they open their arms out to the sides (90 time. Gratitude degree angle) and open their chest cavity encompasses self-love. saying, “I love you, I trust you.” The person The single journey is behind them says, “I accept your love, I just as important, and accept your trust,” as they hold their left one that we’ll all hand on the center back and their right experience at some hand on the center of the chest. If the point on our soul path. partner is willing to experiment with this exercise, it could be a turning point for Q: How does couples. This may foster a someone become some commitment into a higher level of in alignment to relationship with each other, or perhaps a attract a sacred realization that you want to experience a deeper level and this person is not able to sexuality meet you there. This is a very expansive, relationship? healing exercise which can take a A: The most relationship in either direction. important thing that you can do is to know yourself. Know what you enjoy, what activities you enjoy, what foods you like to eat, what thoughts you like to have. Really

Astarte & Eriene: Channeling about Sacred Sexuality

“Sacred Sexuality is realizing the power and respecting the energy of your sexuality.”

Evolving…in SANTA FE

15

August 2015

Astarte is a channel, psychic, and healer, and Eriene is an herbalist and flower essence practitioner in Santa Fe. They work together bringing forth communication from a group of inter-dimensional light beings to answer questions for the collective.

AstarteHealingSantaFe@gmail.co m ErieneIris@gmail.com We’re creating a book on Sacred Sexuality with a release date of Spring 2016, following with group retreats at sacred sites focusing on inner alchemy which supports Sacred Sexuality and utilizes the

Feature

Cultivating the Capacity for Sacred Sexuality through Committed Self-Love

D

o you long for soulful sexual connection that feels deep, raw, juicy, vulnerable, generous, vast, and free? Do you want to give yourself completely, open your body, heart, mind, and spirit, and hold nothing back? Do you desire to be cherished for every aspect of you—the light, the dark, and everything in between?

We all long for this kind of sacred union. It is one of our deepest human needs. So how do we get there? Most people skip the first few steps by seeking connection through another person.

Several years ago, through a series of painful events, I became aware that I had unconsciously been using sex most of my adult life as a desperate attempt to feel connection. I had a lot of great sexual experience—fun, hot, juicy, tender, and wild— but I had no idea how to love myself. I kept creating disappointing relationships with men who also did not love themselves.

We cannot get connection from anyone outside of ourselves. It already exists within us, but we must do the work of going within to find it. Sacred sexuality begins with connection with your self and the true source of love, your Inner Beloved.

“Beloved” is simply a name for the divine source of unconditional love.

The Beloved lives in us, as us, and all around us. There is never any shortage of love, only our resistance to, or unawareness of it.

The Beloved is always available for us, no matter what.

Communing with your Inner Beloved provides a pathway for developing true self-love.

Sheri Winston, one of America’s leading teachers of sacred sexuality, writes in her book, Women’s Anatomy of Arousal: Secret Maps to Buried Pleasure, “If you want to have better sex, explore your full potential and have deeply healthy and sustainable relationships with others, you need to begin with your relationship with yourself and bring your sexuality into the light of awareness. Only after you have done this important learning and healing work and developed a strong foundation of self-love and connection to your source can you become your own fabulous lover, and proceed from there to have your relationships with others be the healing partnerships and divine union we all long for.”

I stumbled upon my Inner Beloved in the midst of a breakup eight years ago.

Lying in bed one night, lonely and miserable, I cried out to Spirit to help me learn to love myself so that I could stop creating such painful relationships. As if in answer to that prayer, I suddenly felt the presence of a strong, loving masculine energy next to me in bed.

Tall, dark, and mysterious, my Inner Beloved wrapped his arms around me and held me as I cried. He listened to my pain and told me I could cry in his arms as long as I needed. Something changed in me that night. My panic subsided, a deep sense of calm and contentment permeated my being and I slept deeply.

Each subsequent night when I crawled into bed and the lonely feelings crept in with me, I called upon my Inner Beloved to hold and love me. I shared my fears, hopes, and insecurities. He listened, stroked my hair and said loving things to me.

Eventually, I made love with my Inner Beloved. Not just masturbating to achieve orgasm, but slowing everything down, breathing deeply, opening my heart, and imagining my Beloved making love with me in exactly the ways that I longed for.

At last, I had a healthy way to express my own sacred sexual energy—a way that actually generated the experience of love that I longed for—rather than

“You are the principle source of your own pleasure.The poverty or richness of your sexual experience is ultimately up to you. No one can give you sexual ecstasy; it comes from within.”

—Margot Anand

Evolving…in SANTA FE

16

August 2015

Feature

“When you enter a loving relationship with yourself, you become both the lover - the one who gives love - and the beloved - the one who receives it.”

—Margot Anand

your potential to be orgasmic is greatly yourself into your relationships. This is the enhanced.” true foundation of sacred sexuality.

As I practiced connecting with my Inner Beloved, I began to feel loved and whole within myself. I learned to value myself and treat myself well. A year into this practice an entirely different quality of man came into my life. Conscious, loving, and deeply engaged in his own Inner Beloved practice, this man eventually became my life partner.

We made a commitment from the beginning to share all parts of ourselves— Laura Wolf teaches radical selfcreating chaos and disappointment in my all of our thoughts, fears, doubts, dreams, love and the path to unlocking your life. and especially anything we thought the sacred purpose. As a Internationally acclaimed authority on other person might not accept about us. transformation coach, workshop Tantra Margot Anand writes, “The purpose We also committed to reconnect over and leader, Master Facilitator of the of meeting your Inner Lover is rooted in over again with the source of love within Shamanic Breathwork Process and the understanding that the more selfourselves, especially when we are upset the founder of Shaman’s Heart accepting you are, the more orgasmic you with each other.

Sanctuary, Laura works with become. When you criticize yourself, one Inner Beloved practice allows you to clients via phone and Skype and part of you is fighting against another part, feel held, heard, loved, and supported from leads retreats around the world. and consequently your energy is in conflict. within, regardless of outer circumstances. www.shamansheartsanctuary.org In a state of self-acceptance, your energy is When you provide spaciousness, laurawolf@ unified. By connecting with your Inner gentleness, compassion, and love for all shamansheartsanctuary.org.

Lover and experiencing self-acceptance, parts of yourself, you can bring all parts of

Communing with Your Inner Beloved Are you willing to be totally raw, juicy, vulnerable and deeply connected with yourself? Here are some simple steps for beginning a relationship with your Inner Beloved: 1. What does your ideal lover look like? What are some of your Inner Beloved’s character traits (kind, loving, generous, funny, fun, romantic, etc.)? Write out as many details about your Beloved as you can.

2. What does your Inner Beloved appreciate about you? How do you want to be loved?

3. Sit quietly and begin to connect to your breath, slowing down and relaxing your body. When you feel present with your self, conjure up the presence of your Inner Beloved. Just be together at first, breathing in each other’s essence.

4. Imagine your Inner Beloved holding you and infusing you with love.

5. Repeat often!

Evolving…in SANTA FE

17

August 2015

Books

Q&A With Barry Eaton

What happens when you die?

What does it feel like?

What is the light at the end of the tunnel?

Is reincarnation real?

And if so, do spirits have any influence over their lives to come?

About Barry Barry Eaton has wide international experience in all areas of the media and entertainment industries. He is a wellknown radio and TV presenter, having spent many years with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and various commercial radio and TV stations. He produces and hosts the internet radio program RadioOutThere.com, now in its 11th year, enjoying a worldwide audience.

His first book, Afterlife – Uncovering the Secrets of Life After Death, was published in 2011 by Allen and Unwin in Australia and New Zealand and now published in the US by Tarcher, an imprint of Penguin Books. Barry is a qualified astrologer, psychic, and medium. He was given the 2012 Hall of Fame Award by the Australian Psychics Association. As Head of the Faculty of Journalism at Macleay College in Sydney, Barry lectured in radio journalism and production from 1995-99.

Australian screenwriter and film producer, who gave me his story from the other side. When I spoke to John after the book was published via a trance medium, he told me that we had a lot more work to do. At first I thought I was only connecting with John, but later found that he is actually a spokesman for a large group. Some of the people in the group gradually revealed themselves as the story of No Goodbyes unfolded, and I received quite a few shocks when I discovered their identities.

3. What new areas does No Goodbyes cover?

I am able to go much deeper into some of the mysteries of life, both in the world of spirit and here on earth. As I revealed in Afterlife we are all spiritual energies having a human experience, and once each life is completed we return to our real home. The real reason for our earthly life is to have as many experiences as possible so that our soul can develop. This means we all make lots of mistakes along the n No Goodbyes: Life-Changing Insights from the way. Everything we say and do affects our soul experience, so Other Side, Barry Eaton delves deeper into the we need to take responsibility for this. Topics such as destiny mysteries of the spirit realm and life between lives, and reveals how they can and do influence our current and free will, the effects of negativity and addictions, life contracts, world unrest, even consulting psychics and lives on earth. mediums are discussed.

Barry’s first, bestselling book, Afterlife, has been 4. Where did you get further information about the acclaimed all over the world, helping people to cope with afterlife for your new book? their fear of death. The book first introduced Judy, his late

I

partner, who inspired and encouraged him to write. Judy’s soul has since advanced to higher levels and now offers fascinating new details shared in No Goodbyes about life on both sides of the veil.

No Goodbyes reveals new information from advanced spirits in the afterlife who believe that the time has come to let people know the answers to the mysteries that have puzzled them for generations.

From a number of sources. Working with a trance medium, I was able to access an advanced group of spirits who provided a wide range of information via John Dingwall, their spokesman in the afterlife. At first I thought John was the font of all knowledge about the afterlife and beyond, but I soon discovered he was actually channeling a large group for their collective wisdom.

I also worked with three very talented mediums who contacted my late partner Judy in the world of spirit. Judy 1. Why did you decide to write a follow-up book to was the inspiration for writing Afterlife and has now Afterlife? advanced to a higher plane in the afterlife. Her story captured the hearts of many readers of Afterlife and I know The decision was taken out of my hands. I thought that I had they will be keen to hear how her journey is unfolding. finished writing about this subject, but my contacts in the world of spirit had other ideas. I received some very strong 5. Can you really talk to dead people? messages that my work had really just begun. There is a concerted drive by the powers-that-be in the afterlife to get No, I don’t talk to dead people… I communicate with live as much information about life continuing beyond what we people in spirit. In Afterlife, I explained how we never really call death to as many people as possible. I was also told that I die or disappear. It helps to think of ourselves as a spiritual am one of many messengers all over the world – just in case being with a human body and not the other way around.

I got a swelled head, I guess!

Basically, the spiritual force that energizes our human 2. Can you tell us more about these spirit contacts? body returns to its former state once the body perishes.

Science shows that energy cannot be destroyed, but the I originally connected with John Dingwall, a former spiritual force that energizes us continues, as do we. So it Evolving…in SANTA FE

18

August 2015

Books

makes sense that since we are energy we continue—that we return to the same place we came from—to the world of spirit, or the afterlife.

Whilst we’re in the world of spirit, our spirit energy rests and recuperates and prepares for the next stage of its evolution. Basically, everything we do in this life or the afterlife is about the evolution of our soul. This process continues, but is sped up in earthly life as there are more challenges, and new experiences to embrace.

6. What other new topics do you write about in No Goodbyes?

John Dingwall’s group introduced many topics they wished to raise, some universal, others very down to earth, even controversial. The subjects include how new souls are created, the puzzling question of time, soul energy guidance during our life on earth, TV in the afterlife, GMOs, sceptics, mental health, etc.

There are also a few controversial subjects that they wanted included such as homosexuality, euthanasia, and prison reform.

The group also wished to speak out about the effects of negativity and addictions on spirits returning to the afterlife, world chaos, and psychics and mediums.

7. In Afterlife you wrote about your immediate past life as a soldier in World War I. Do you have any other past-life experiences to recount?

My guide M, who is my mentor for my books on the afterlife, gave me explicit instructions to investigate other past lives after I had reached an impasse with my new book. I consulted an expert hypnotherapist in the area of life between lives, who

Basically, the spiritual force that energizes, our human body returns to its former state once the body perishes. Science shows that energy cannot be destroyed, but the spiritual force that energizes us continues as do we. So it makes sense that since we are energy we continue—that we return to the same place we came from—to the world of spirit, or the afterlife.

Evolving…in SANTA FE

19

August 2015

now runs the Dr Michael Newton Life Between Lives program in Australia. Newton is the world-renowned author of Journey of Souls, Destiny of Souls and Life Between Lives. After a very deep regression, which went for over four hours, I discovered some past lives that I had no idea about previously. The two lives I visited in detail demonstrate how our spiritual journey through the ages takes many forms, so that the soul can have a multitude of experiences and learn and grow accordingly. The lessons learned and the between-life process after each of these lives shows graphically how we all develop during the course of our many earthly incarnations. I have written extensively about this in No Goodbyes.

Feature

Loving Yourself Makes You More Attractive

J

ust about everyone wants a beautiful, strong, deeply devoted lover. Unless you’ve taken a vow of celibacy, finding a soulmate is probably quite high on your list of priorities. After all, what good is success in life when you don’t have someone awesome to share it with?

But the desire for romantic companionship can be so intense, so allencompassing that it can become an unhealthy obsession that stunts your growth and gets in the way of your natural development. Whether you are in a relationship or not, it simply isn’t healthy to get too focused on other people. There is always room to love yourself more fully, to care for yourself more deeply, to improve yourself. Take advantage of this opportunity instead of focusing on what you don’t have.

Single men find themselves thinking of sex all the time, yet somehow unable to evoke even the slightest bit of interest from the women they desire, creeping them out and driving them away instead of piquing their interest. Every man who has lived the bachelor life knows how hard it can be.

When I lived alone, I would go to a store and wander the aisles aimlessly, just to be around other people, even if they were strangers. I rarely had the courage to chat up an attractive woman, and found myself loneliest in crowds of people I didn’t know.

When I finally mustered the bravery to say something, I’d get blown off or ignored. It was depressing. The more desperate you get, the harder it gets to capture a woman’s interest. At the same time, some men in relationships find themselves unable to stay loyal to the woman they are with, or unable to keep the woman’s interest in the long term.

Women find themselves in relationships that don’t really fulfill them,

Evolving…in SANTA FE

not really happy with their situations yet unwilling to leave the relationship for fear of being alone. Other women find themselves just as lonely as bachelors, wishing that a worthy man would come sweep them off their feet, yet somehow unable to make that happen. Women in relationships can get so carried away with taking care of their partners, their children, and everyone else in their lives that they don’t make time for their own pursuits.

When they finally put a foot down and start living for themselves, they discover that the man in their life has no clean clothes and hasn’t eaten a meal in days.

Make no mistake—having a romantic partner is not a fix-all solution. Living alone can be hard, but being in a relationship doesn’t automatically make your life any easier. Sometimes, it complicates things considerably. A single person who is working hard and making progress will be happier than a married person whose relationship is abusive and codependent. You are better off single and proud than married to a monster. Even if it gets lonely sometimes, at least you don’t have to deal with being abused or caring for someone who doesn’t care about themselves. If you are single, appreciate your freedom and make the most of it!

It is essential to understand that the primary model for all of your relationships in life is your relationship with yourself.

Your capacity to attract someone who will truly fulfill you is a function of your ability to give love to yourself and receive love from yourself. Like attracts like. People who are good at loving themselves are also good at loving others. They attract other people who are skilled at expressing love.

People who aren’t good at loving themselves aren’t great at loving anyone else either. They wind up with partners who don’t know how to love, just like them.

When you don’t live in your heart and live life to the fullest, you attract the wrong kinds of people.

Self-love is a skill that many Americans have failed to develop. The reason for this is the obsession our society has for material things, for money, and for appearances. It all begins with parents focusing too much on getting more stuff and failing to really be present for their children. When someone isn’t given true, unconditional love from the beginning by their parents, they learn to love conditionally, which isn’t real love. The root of the problem is that a lot of people simply never got real love to

begin with. You can’t give what you don’t have.

If you aren’t so good at loving, then practice on yourself. You have to love yourself authentically and consistently in order to love another person well. You have to believe that you are worthy of love in order to receive it and appreciate it, whether from yourself or from a partner.

It is fashionable in our culture to either selfdepreciate or selfaggrandize. Neither of these activities is true self-love.

Playing yourself down doesn’t serve you or anyone else. It accomplishes nothing but annoyance. Selfaggrandizement is no less annoying or ineffective at garnering respect and admiration. Having a giant truck, a loud motorcycle, an expensive handbag, or a designer dress doesn’t make you a better person or any more attractive to the opposite sex, at least not to the members of the opposite sex who are worth being with!

True self-love consists of selfacceptance, self-care, and selfimprovement. When you get your next paycheck, don’t just buy another gadget or another pair of shoes. Instead, sign up for a class, take a trip out of town, or get yourself a gym membership (and use it). Use your money to enrich your life experience and involve yourself in society instead of filling up your apartment with more stuff. When you have some free time, don’t just sit there on Facebook scrolling through your news feed, sending friend requests to all the attractive people. Instead, pick up a paintbrush, crank up the stereo, and dance in your living room while you paint! The more you put into life, the more lovable you become.

It is essential to understand that the primary model for all of your relationships in life is your relationship with yourself.

20

August 2015

Brennan Murphey has been a metaphysical spiritual teacher since 2008 when he founded the Interlight Mystery School. He integrates the ancient wisdom of the western mystery tradition with his own understanding of how to best apply this wisdom in modern life. To learn more about Brennan and the Interlight Mystery School, please visit his website, www.InterLightMystery School.com

Spiritual Horoscope

August 2015 Leo (July 23 – Aug. 22) Happy birthday Leo! Mars is in your sign, giving energy and enthusiasm! You’ve got courage to make many changes, so meditate about your deepest desires, set goals, and go for it!

Prosperous Jupiter creates abundant finances, self-worth, and emotions this whole birth year.You got it made! Enjoy your good karma!

Virgo (Aug. 23 – Sept. 22) Yea! Jupiter is in your sign for 12 months, bringing happiness, prosperity, and all the blessings you can visualize and open up to! Be sure to meditate and release old frustrations, anger, and disappointment from the past two years. Say, No!! to limiting beliefs you’ve created from these challenges. Work with affirmations to manifest the reality you want and deserve!

Libra (Sept. 23 – Oct. 22) Saturn moves forward, relieving financial stress! Revisit your budget and get clear on spending habits to allow more abundance to flow. Spiritual Jupiter reignites your faith. Meditation will be easier and more fruitful. Rest in the internal peacefulness, knowing your soul’s desires (whatever they be) will be fulfilled!

resentments and fears that create blocks.

Even awareness of subconscious pieces dissolves them! Look forward to a new job, promotion, or an amazing supervisor; improvements in emotions and with family; enthusiasm for spiritual growth!

Capricorn (Dec. 22 – Jan. 19) Expect prosperity, creativity, and empowerment! You’ll also feel super-sexy, or at least others will think you are! More importantly, Jupiter inspires you over the next 12 months to pursue spiritual goals.

You’ll have blissful meditations and link easily with your intuition. You might even travel to a place that lights up your soul.

You have the power to erase negative karmic patterns and rewrite fulfilling life outcomes!

Mars empowers you at work, giving a promotion, raise, or an exciting project that leads to acclaim! Make sure you meditate to continue to sweep away negative expectations and limiting beliefs.

Saturn in Scorpio has been a challenge these past three years, but now you’ll reap rewards of hard work, so stay positive!

Also, open to new fun, spiritual friends!

Many changes are happening in relationships. You can be stubborn, so meditate on flexibility. These shifts will free you from limiting patterns and allow more joy and fulfillment. Sexuality and intimacy issues heal. Prosperity avenues also open. Career blocks will resolve and creativity flows. Be open, even if fearful, and watch life blossom!

Pisces (Feb. 19 – March 20) Sagittarius (Nov. 22 – Dec. 21) The Universe will show what keeps you from achieving goals—be they career, interpersonal, or spiritual. Meditation reveals past-life karma or this-life

Relationship struggles are resolved!

Jupiter opens doors that haven’t been for 12 years. Walk through them with gratitude, while releasing old thought frameworks created from years of disappointments. You’ll also feel more Evolving…in SANTA FE

empowered to make work changes too.

Rely on potent affirmations to maintain your motivation.

Cancer (June 21 – July 22) Aries (March 21 – April 19)

Aquarius (Jan. 20 – Feb. 18) Scorpio (Oct. 23 – Nov. 21)

love from the Universe and know that you are an amazing, valuable soul. Get out in nature each day to enhance your moods even further.

Like Pisces pals, it’s a great relationship month! You can meet someone new or have a current connection reignite with passion. Meditate to release old issues that block joy. Trust in the present! Also think lovingly about your body. How can you treat it better? Maybe plan meals instead of eating on the run. Or book regular massages. Or be consistent with yoga. You’re worth the extra effort!

Big improvements happen in relationships! Meditate about how you might withhold emotion or be passiveaggressive due to old hurts. Those issues can also be from old partners, parents, or even past lives. Opening your heart attracts prosperity too. You’ll feel inwardly strong and protected, knowing you’re the master of your life. You’re only a victim to your karmic script, which you can alter once you’re aware of how it’s been subconsciously running you!

Taurus (April 20 – May 20) Many signs have great relationships this month, and you’re one! Release all negative belief systems and open to new possibilities! Your past only dictates your future if you allow it. Meditate on a written list of your deepest wishes about love and intimacy. Sit with it each day, affirming the Universe fulfills these desires. Keep clearing out limiting thoughts as they pop up to receive your blessings!

Gemini (May 21 – June 20) Make a decision to eliminate bad health habits. Prioritize your list in order of importance and take steps toward each item. Maybe quit sugar and gluten — or make time for mediation and yoga — whatever stands in the way of optimal health and joy. You’ll feel more 21

August 2015

Aluna Michaels is a secondgeneration astrologer and soul evolutionist practitioner. She also holds a Masters in Spiritual Counseling and has been teaching and consulting for more than three decades. Her book “Spiritual Gifts of the 12 Astrological Signs” is now on Amazon in Kindle version and as an E-book on her website. Aluna is available for appointments in her home, by phone or Skype.

Call (727) 239-7179 or visit www.alunamichaels.com

Resource Directory EDUCATION

SELF CARE

Holos University Graduate Seminary Studies in Spirituality and Health. Graduate degrees grounded in scholarship, intuitive inspiration, self-development, and research.

888-272-6109

Beth Budesheim, Artist, LMT, RN, ATP® Your Goddess Energy Portrait™, therapeutic massage and energy medicine, chakra work, Art Rituals™, paintings. www.BethBudesheim.com

SKIN CARE

Southwestern College/New Earth Institute: Consciousness-Centered Graduate School for Counseling and Art Therapy 3960 San Felipe Road, Santa Fe, NM 87507 toll free: 877-471-5756 direct: 505-471-5756 email: info@swc.edu

Sharon’s Skin Care "Give me beauty in the inward soul; and may the inner and the outer be as one." — Socrates ~ Contact Sharon Fernandes at 505-983-7470.

SPIRITUALITY

METAPHYSICS

Heart of the Mother Healing by Gwendolyn Hill Individual spiritual sessions and classes on ascension topics both remotely via teleseminars and in person in Albuquerque, NM. For more information: http://gwendolynhill.com, 505-864-4084, gwendolyn@gwendolynhill.com.

Natural Kingdoms Oracle Readings by Gale Litvak Thurs., Fri. and most Sat. afternoons, noon-4 p.m. In a sacred space of nature’s energies, receive support for areas of concern in your life.

Sugg. donation: $20/15 minutes. Drop-ins welcome. 505-984-8009.

Hillside, 86 Old Las Vegas Highway, Santa Fe. www.santafehillside.com.

Unity Santa Fe is a welcoming Interspiritual Community that offers practical tools for a healthy, abundant life. Sunday Service at 10:30 a.m., variety of classes and workshops. www.unitysantafe.org 1212 Unity Way, Santa Fe 87506. 505-989-4433

NUMEROLOGY John Holmes, Numerologist Confirm your Pre-Intended Life Story. Three-part reading, two-hour consultation by phone or in my Santa Fe office. Contact John with inquiries or to schedule a reading: jrholmes@gmx.com or call 505-466-4297.

One Great Magazine.

Two Great Cities.

Evolving Magazine now in Kansas City AND Santa Fe, NM. Read both issues online at:

www.EvolvingMagazine.com

Evolving…in SANTA FE

22

August 2015

Events AUGUST 6 UNITY SANTA FE SPIRITUAL CINEMA PRESENTS: BEYOND RIGHT & WRONG: STORIES OF JUSTICE AND FORGIVENESS 7 p.m. This documentary explores the intersections of justice and forgiveness as survivors heal from tragedies. www.unitysantafe.org AUGUST 15 LOVE SELF. LOVE LIFE. Rediscover and ignite the profound impressions your heart’s wisdom can have on yourself and your viability in the world. WideAwakebyDesign.com for more details.

AUGUST 15 LEARN THE ART OF FLOWER ESSENCES 10 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Erin Galiger will cover the history and theory, how they are made and work energetically with us, and selection methods. You’ll leave this experiential workshop with your own. All materials provided. Cost: $25 Milagro Herbs, 419 Orchard Drive (next to Kakawa Chocolate House on Paseo de Peralta). Register: 505-820-6321 AUGUST 15 SACRED BODY THREE Our Body Earth I. 5 p.m. In this workshop we will focus on how our interconnection with the Earth relates to our personal and collective ecological leadership. We will reflect upon our habits, practices, and insights as we investigate how we live in relationship to the Earth and how we are responding to our current ecological crisis. Through qigong, creative exercises, writing, guided visualization, and partner and small group work we will develop personal and collective practices and a vision for embodied and compassionate ecological leadership. This workshop is the third in a three-part series, Our Sacred Bodies, building our personal and collective capacity for ecological leadership through fostering connections between our sensual body, relational human body, and the larger Earth body. Three 4-hour workshops. $100 for all three or $40 each. To

register for all three at the discounted rate please call Kim at 505-995-1860 or email programs@aloveoflearning.org.

AUGUST 16 ROBYN BENSON, THE HEALTHY CONSCIOUS TRAVELER: 8 PATHWAYS TO SMART AND EFFORTLESS TRAVEL Sunday, 2-4 p.m. The ARK 133 Romero St. 505-988-3709 www.arkbooks.com AUGUST 23 MARIE-ROSE PHAN-LȆ, TALKING STORY: ONE WOMAN’S QUEST TO PRESERVE ANCIENT SPIRITUAL AND HEALING TRADITIONS. 2-4 p.m. The ARK - 133 Romero St. 505-988-3709 www.arkbooks.com

Events at the Scher Center. Top photo by Leslie Slavins.

AUGUST 24 FREE COMMUNITY WELLNESS DINNER WORKSHOP 6:30 p.m. Given by the Scher Center for Well Being. Take your health and your life to the next level! Increase your energy and improve your immune system.Go beyond managing pain into thriving. To reserve your space and find out the location call 505-989-9373.

AUGUST 29 SOUND HEALING CELEBRATION: GONG VORTEX MEDITATION Jere & Ellen Friedman & Candace Caldwell 7:00 p.m. Unity Santa Fe 1212 Unity Way. Love offering: $10-20 www.unitysantafe.org AUGUST 29 MICHÈLE HUFF, THE TRANSFORMATIVE NEGOTIATOR: CHANGING THE WAY WE COME TO AGREEMENT FROM THE INSIDE OUT Saturday, 3-5 p.m. The ARK 133 Romero St. 505-988-3709 www.arkbooks.com

Evolving…in SANTA FE

AUGUST 26 INTRODUCTION TO REORGANIZATIONAL HEALING AND NETWORK CARE 6:30 p.m. Learn how life uses energy, focused attention, and the intelligence of the body to optimize your healing and growth. Find out how to become empowered in your healing process.

Demonstration of Network Spinal Analysis session. Call Scher Center for Well Being to reserve your space 505989-9373. Free to the public.

23

August 2015

AUGUST 31 INTRODUCTION TO SOMATORESPIRATORY INTEGRATION (SRI) 6:30 p.m. – Learn how simple bodyawareness exercises can help you be more present, connected, and at peace no matter what is going on in your life and body. Call Scher Center for Well Being to reserve your space 505-9899373. $20 for an 1½ hour class. www.healingwithoutlimits.com ONGOING Hatha Soul Yoga Join Heather Robertson in her Hatha Soul Yoga class to awaken your inner strength for less stress and more freedom. WideAwakebyDesign.com for more details.

...

Into something beautiful.

Santa Fe’s newest resource for holistic living offers online and print options for living well.

www.EvolvingMagazine.com NEW! Free Online Calendar.

Another great resource provided by Evolving Magazine. Feel free to add your events or copy an event you want to attend to your own calendar.

•

•

•

•

Read current articles from both Santa Fe and Kansas City editions Locate Wellness Practitioners with the Holistic Online Directory Find locations to pick up the print edition, searchable by zip code And more!

Don’t forget to Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/EvolvingSantaFe and follow us on Twitter: @EvolvingMag To stay connected all month!

Evolving…in SANTA FE

24

August 2015