Supreme Self Care: A Tea Consultation Giveaway

It's pretty well known that I adore the handiwork of the tea goddess known as Lindsay from Whole Body Alchemy. Being lucky enough to win an Ayurvedic Tea Consultation with her, I had no choice but to indulge in some supreme self care.

For those of you who have been tossing around the idea of treating yourself to a tea consultation, I am offering you the chance to win one! 

***I truly believe in her medicine***

From my self-care warrior to yours, from my lucky abundance to yours. I'm putting good karma out to someone who could use some. This is all about giving back, reaching out and reminding one of you of your beautiful worth.

This is about paying it forward. I won this wonderful experience, and so should you!

A wee bit about Lindsay...

Lindsay is a rebel farm girl. Living a simple, yet dirty life on a five acre hobby farm in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. Happily married with 3 wild boys and a plethora of flora and fauna keeping her busy, she balances her time between being a mom and running Whole Body Alchemy.

Since a young child she has been fascinated with the natural world and all the beautiful and abundant gifts mother earth has to offer. Lindsay has had extensive training in Ayurveda, Western Herbalism and other healing modalities.

What will you win from this rebel farm girl?

The prize consists of:

One Ayurvedic Tea Consultation with Lindsay, valued at $45 (non transferable), which must be used within 30 days of winning and it must be used for yourself. It cannot be gifted to another due to this being about YOUR self care.   

If you win, you will receive:

• A 4 page in-depth Ayurvedic assessment 
• A unique-to-you tea made from a combination of more than one type of herb
• Instructions for Tea Ritual
• All lovingly packaged in a beautifully decorative box

Your blend can be refilled for a fee of $12.00 (Price subject to change without notice)

Lindsay uses only the freshest, organic, dried botanicals. When available, most herbs come from her farm and are grown bio-dynamically and without the use of pesticides or other nasties.

You can expect your delivery within one week post consultation results.

How do you enter?

Mandatory:
1) Become a follower of Fate-Filled times via Blog Lovin' (link above) or other (please specify in comment)

2) Like Whole Body Alchemy on fb
3) Leave a comment letting us know why you would like to win this consultation

Bonus:
4) Share on fb (1 Bonus Entry)

5) Share the image below on Instagram. If you already follow me on Instagram, you'll see the image on my feed (NellieGrey) (1 Bonus Entry)

6) Share on twitter (1 Entry)

IMPORTANT: This giveaway is only open to those who have not yet received an Ayurvedic Tea Consultation. It is also only open to mailing addresses in Canada and the United States.

Winner will be drawn out of a hat on the full moon, May 25/2013, and it will be posted soon after.

GOOD LUCK TO ALL!!


"In a world that is so chaotic, taking time to care for ourselves is not an indulgence, its a daily ritual for healthy soul maintenance".

~ Lindsay Holt

Tugs & More Tugs & Nature & Supreme Self Care

Lately I've been thinking about my relationship with Mother Earth. I've been feeling tugs.

Tugs to go to the lake.
Tugs to feel grass between my toes.
Tugs to lie on the earth, face to the sky.
Tugs to swim in the lake.
Tugs to breathe with the forest.

And yet, I will find myself in bed watching tv or out shopping. Those are my automatic fall backs when I want to relax.

I'm really not okay with this anymore. The reason why? These kinds of activities aren't bad or wrong or harmful, necessarily, but if they are overindulged, they become a weak way to live my life.

*These are my own judgments of myself. They are not judgments of you.*

I don't want to live my life this way anymore.

I know I require time with Mother Earth to feel like a whole person, to fill my spiritual well, to stay grounded.

The past week or two I have felt the tug to go to the lake. Being new in my city, I honestly was letting the unknown hold me back.  

I knew the direction of the lake. I knew if I tried to get there, I'd figure it out. Yet, the uncertainty of a new experience actually held me back.

It was a lot easier to just open the windows and hang out at home.

Yesterday, I had a change of heart. I hummed and hawed over what to do with my afternoon. Back and forth, back and forth. Finally, I looked at a map of my city and laughed at how close the lake is--a ten minute walk straight down the street and *voila* the lake.

One sunshine-y walk later, there I was.

It was breathtaking.

And I wondered, what took so long?

I sat for an hour on my rock.

Completely blissed out.

It turned out to be the most perfect day.

 

Money can't buy it.

Stuff can't match it.

It's more engaging than tv,

more relaxing than my bed.

It's where I can breathe,

think,

wonder,

fill up.

Be in solitude, yet

with the birds,

and the trees

and the moving waters.

 

 

What was I waiting for?

 

What are you waiting for?

 

What are we waiting for?

 

 

What's tugging at you?

 

 

Big love,

 

Amy

 

(p.s. stay tuned for a beautiful giveaway. my supreme self-care wants to reach out to your potential supreme self care.)

 

Springtime Observations

I've noticed a few things lately.

One thing I've noticed is I keep abandoning partial blog posts. I'm struggling to write anything to completion. There's a cemetery of lost words & ideas sitting in my drafts folder. I partly blame my lack of internet at home. I partly don't really care at all. I mostly know if a post is meant to be published, I rarely have to force it into existence (unless it's one of those posts that feels like a birthing process, which is a totally different situation).

Free flow and letting go...

I think this is my strange way of apologizing for lack of content these days. I'm devouring the words of others as a silent witness. I love reading my favourite blogs. Unfortunately, IPhones don't make it easy to post blogs or comment on them. Fortunately, this gives me a bit more space to just be in the present now. It allows me to let go a bit more of my inner perfectionist.

Another thing I have been noticing is that many of my fellow blogger friends are struggling through personal challenges. As a person who adores personal, raw, honest writing, I'm thrilled that you're sharing the growing pains with me. I feel like I am supporting you from afar. We are all on our own journeys. I'm the type to immediately want to fix you, nurture you, help you. At the same time, I know you're being taught these lessons for a greater reason. You have a greater purpose and you're finding your way to it and through it.

I've noticed if I try to keep up, I become exhausted. If I slow down, I feel more present and more full.

Lately I've been slowing down and life feels better at this pace. 

I'm tired of running from here-to-there and then from there-to-here. 

I'm tired of worrying right now about yesterday and tomorrow. 

I want to be here in the present now.

I've noticed that sleeping in makes me a more balanced person, that I don't enjoy black tea like I used to and splurging a bit on beautiful, soft clothing can be a big slice of welcomed self-care.

I've noticed lately what real love is. Not lust, not possessive partnership, not boyfriend-girlfriend-do-this-don't-do-that. Real, true-blue, best friend love. The kind that gets us through the tough times.

I've noticed I'm trying to find the balance between rest and play. I like sleeping in but I also like morning yoga classes.

I've noticed my creativity comes and goes. My energy comes and goes. Friendships come and go. At the centre of it all is my own relationship with myself, which is grounded and solid, ever-evolving and mostly kind.

I've noticed:

blooming trees
wildlife (hawks, snakes, raccoons, birds and squirrels)
sunshine
a warm breeze
kindness multiplied
good energy growing
less anxiety
magnet-like attraction
kindred spirit friends
the power of intention
the satisfaction that comes with making things from scratch

I'm keeping my eyes open, slowing down my steps and really taking notice of everything around me in the present now.


What have you noticed lately?


Happy Weekend,

Amy
 

Taking A Break, The Present Now & Adopting A Cat

Let's have a tea date

Oh, hello there. It's been a while.

I've spent the past couple weeks on my own personal break. The same-old-same-old began to wear on me and I noticed myself feeling even more tired, even more sad and even more unmotivated. It was a bit of a downward spiral. I was rushing from here to there without really enjoying the present now. Yoga started to feel like a chore. I didn't have any mornings to sleep in. My diet felt overly regimented (I'm still working my way through an elimination diet) as well as my supplement schedule; this one on an empty stomach, that one on a full stomach.

I didn't have time to let the day lead me rather than me leading the day with an over-organized, pre-planned schedule.

Admission: For the past two weeks, I made it to an average of 1 yoga class per week.

To some, this might seem like a good achievement and to others it might seem lazy. In my perfectionist, driven mind, this is viewed as lazy. Unacceptable even. Why bother? Ideally, I want to be attending class 4-5 times per week, so making it to 1 class almost feels pointless. I tend to be a black or white, all or nothing type of person. I struggle with the in between, grey areas. As I write this, I am aware of how hard I am on myself. I hear and acknowledge the mean, demanding, guilt-ridden thoughts. I am aware of them yet I still let them take the lead too much of the time.

For the past two weeks I've been able to push these thoughts mostly to the background of my mind and enjoy the present now. I have allowed space for sleeping in, drinking tea on quiet mornings, cleaning and organizing my kitchen with my favourite music on, watching marathons of television shows and writing in my art journal.

This has been a freeing experience. Days are beautiful when you allow for the unexpected and the unplanned. Days feel good when there's no demand to be anywhere but right here in the present now.

In letting my days be fluid, I allowed space for new experiences.  

We have been in the process of adopting a cat. The conversations started a while back. We wondered if we could manage a third. We wondered if our two ladies would adapt to a male joining our tribe. Last week, we spontaneously visited the local humane society to see if they had any kittens. The youngest were between 6 months to a year. My image of adopting a tiny kitten quickly shifted to being thrilled at the idea of offering any of the sweet cats we met a warm, loving, lifelong home.

As much as this has been an enjoyable process (I have loved visiting the humane society, getting to know the animals and watching them be adopted one after another) I have also experienced a lot of stress, uncertainty and...worry.

I am a worrier. It hurts my body. My stomach experiences pain, my shoulder muscles ache and my breathing becomes shallow.

Change, change, change.

I am safe; it's only change. Louise Hay and her affirmations have been a great help to me lately. I recently found her wonderful book, You Can Heal Your Life, at the local thrift store for 99 cents. Since I've been feeling so fatigued lately, I looked up the emotional cause in her book.  She says fatigue is caused by lack of enthusiasm and boredom.

I also found out from my naturopath that my iron is a low. 

No wonder I feel like I'm dragging my feet.

This is the time to step back and care for my body before it reacts to all of this negativity.

Louise Hay's affirmation: I am enthusiastic about life and filled with energy and enthusiasm.

It's a wee bit redundant, but I could shorten it to: I am enthusiastic about life and filled with energy.

(I don't feel this way at all, by the way)

I wish I did. 

I feel worn out. Tired. Beat. Bored. Frustrated.  

This is why I need my days to be more fluid and allow for rest.

I need to stop punishing myself for being imperfect.

I need time to nest and I need the space to forgive myself.

It's very much possible that this blog post reads as a big old ball of negative. As much as these past weeks have been challenging, they exist to teach me. 

What have I learned?

- Change is tough but I am resilient (so are the lady cats)

- Sleeping in is a must at least once per week

- Quiet, slow, tea-filled mornings keep me sane and balanced

- De-cluttering is healing

- Taking a break from Yoga will not suddenly cause me lose all the 
health I've already earned

- An elimination diet is more mentally challenging than physically challenging

- Getting my hair done just feels really good

- I really enjoy my current friendships 

- My body tells me what it needs, especially when I'm not listening

Did I tell you how it went with our new cat? His name is Watson and he is one year old. He's mostly white with some orange tabby stripes and spots. He's the biggest sweetheart. He talked to me the day I met him. I found him to be intense. I told him I knew he wanted me to adopt him, but it wasn't up to me to decide. We were actually settled on another cat, one that was not available yet. When I went home that night, I had a dream about Watson. He was in our bedroom, rolling around on the carpet. I found the dream to be strange. When we went back to the Humane Society, he was available for adoption, but our other choice was not. You see, they only allow pets to be adopted if they are in good health and have been cleared. When we took Watson to a get-to-know-you room, he immediately jumped into my fiance's lap. There was an immediate bond. He was the one. We are slowing introducing him to our home. He is a little blessing. 

Watson

Moving Towards The Good


Spiritual/Personal Insight:

Have you watched any of KV's moon phase astrology reports? They are fantastic.

KV also sells birth charts in her Etsy shop at a very reasonable rate. I am so pleased with mine. KV is a force of positivity. She reminds me to move slower.  

My Birth Chart

Body/Mind Health:

Recently, I won a Custom Ayurvedic Tea Consultation from Whole Body Alchemy. Lindsay is a tea artist, a tea goddess. She created me the most delicious tasting, best smelling, most beautiful looking tea I have ever tried. I am smitten with her work. If you treat yourself to some self care and order a tea consultation, add on a bag of her chai tea. It is phenomenal. 

Tea Consultation

 Emotional Cleanse:

Have you seen this video? Raw emotion. Connection. Love.

This post feels long overdue. 


I hope you are well and peaceful wherever you are, 


Amy

Today: A List

Today I woke up at work. 

Today I thought I lost my engagement ring.

Today I am tired of being an adult.

Today I am wishing money wasn't so important.

Today I had a hot stone massage, with little stones tucked between each of my toes.

Today my shoulders still hurt from carrying burdens. 

Today I walked slower than usual and lingered in the thrift shop.

Today we made fish with salsa verde and avocado on toast.

Today I didn't feel ugly.

Today I enjoyed fresh juice made with kale and blueberries, pineapple and carrot. 

Today I meant to clean the cat litter and drink more water.

Today I marked 4 weeks of eating a hypoallergenic diet. 

Today I reflected on how much I've missed tomatoes, potatoes, bananas and maple syrup.

Today I told the receptionist how tired I feel. 

Today I bought my ma a birthday present. 


Today. Today. Today. 


I did a lot today.  


I'm thankful for today, even though some things feel heavy and some things feel flat. 


I am thankful that I can feel the full range of human emotion, for this provides contrast. 



What would happy be without sad?