Holiday

Giving and Receiving: An afternoon of Yoga, Self-Care and Gift Making

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Giving and Receiving: An afternoon of Yoga, Self-Care and Gift-Making
with Anastasia Gambill and Genevieve Johnson
Sunday, December 6th 2-5pm
Cost: $40 (includes gift-making materials), $35 for Yoga Refuge membersAs we enter the season of festivities, feasts, and family, it is easy to feel overwhelmed and fall into habits of stress. How can we celebrate our loved ones and learn to give and receive without becoming maxed out? Can we care for ourselves first so that we have more generosity of spirit for others?

The first half of this 3-hour workshop will combine meditation and intention setting with a gentle yoga practice that will help you to refocus your holdiays into a celebration of self care and giving from the heart. After this nourishing practice, participants will enjoy a tea tasting and learn to make an enlivening body scrub, refreshing toner, and a soothing salve, all wonderful as both gifts and self care. Materials will be provided and you will leave with gifts in hand! Workshop participants will also get a 10% discount for the afternoon on any items in the Yoga Refuge boutique, which includes yoga mats, yogi toes towels, handmade eye pillows and other accessories for self-care practice.

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Some of the products we made in the Body Product Class

Holiday Body Products Class

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Some of the products we made in the Body Product Class

A great Holiday Class on making all natural vegan body products for gifts or for pampering yourself! This class will be about 2 hours long taught by Genevieve Johnson, L.Ac. with snacks and tea provided. We will make: a spicy body scrub, face cream, facial toner and fresh feet salve.

When: Saturday, December 13th at 10:30 am – noonish

Where: This class will be located at the An Sen Clinic, 4424 NE Glisan, Portland, Oregon 97213. Registration is limited, please email Genevieve at genevegan@hotmail.com to confirm registration.

Cost: $30/person… you get a container of body scrub, face cream, toner, and foot salve. And the chance to personalize/decorate your containers for gifts.

Hawthorne Berry a Holiday Favorite

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hawthorne berries close 6 Jan 12

Hawthorne Berry or Shan Zha is an herb that is extremely popular is both Traditional Chinese Medicine and Western Medicine alike. In Chinese Medicine we use this herb to alleviate food stagnation by assisting in digesting meats and greasy foods and to nourish the heart and improve circulation. In Western Medicine hawthorne berry is used to lower blood pressure, lower cholesterol and help maintain a healthy weight. Since the most gluttonous of all holidays is quickly approaching (Thanksgiving) I thought it would be a great herb to focus on this month.

It was Thanksgiving 23 years ago that I decided to go vegetarian, and then subsequently vegan and more recently gluten free. When I was 12 I had my first pet, Buddy, a parakeet. This little bird really made me think twice about the turkey focused holiday and I decided I could not eat my beloved Buddy’s relative the turkey. So I am thankful for Buddy for laying the groundwork for many positive changes that I have come to make. I am also very thankful for my amazing and supportive family. Okay now back to the topic at hand… hawthorne berries!!!

Since we tend to eat lots of high fat foods during the holidays hawthorne berries are a perfect herb to help us digest our favorite holiday foods. Hawthorne berries are available in tea, tincture, powdered and capsule form. Making tea is a great way to enjoy this herbal medicine and you can have it with your meals to help you digest your food.

Hawthorne Berry Tea

  • 1-2 teaspoons dried berries
  • 1 cup water

Boil water and pour over berries. Let steep covered for 8-10 minutes. Strain out the berries and enjoy! Can also add some sweetener and or lemon juice to taste. A sprinkle of cinnamon is good too.

Formulas for Improving Digestion

There are many great Traditional Chinese Medicine formulas for eliminating food stagnation and helping to aid digestion of our heavy holiday meals.

Bao He Wan- Contains hawthorne and other herbs like Shen Qu* (fermented massa) to digest all types of foods. *Shen Qu is a fermented product, but sometimes contains gluten.

Curing Pills (Kang Ning Wan)- is another great formula for reducing food stagnation, but again contains Shen Qu (gluten).

Mu Xiang Shen Qi Wan- aids in digestion and is even supportive for digestive issues from a stomach flu. Gluten Free!!!

Even though there are great formulas and herbs to improve digestion the best way to feel good over the holidays is to eat healthy foods, eat slowly and chew your food!!!

Here is a great blog for more fun things to do with Hawthorne Berry. Have fun!

 

 

Delicious Almond Sesame Cookies

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I love this time of year… yes the holidays! Because there are always amazing vegan potlucks and great times to share with family and friends. I have always loved anything almond or sesame inspired especially when it is combined with sweet. These cookies are super fun and easy and are kind of cheating because I use a cake mix.

I typically don’t have sugar in the house and I was almost out of medjoul dates, but I really wanted something sweet. I did have Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Vanilla Cake mix so I used some of that to be the base of these super chewy cookies. I took these to a vegan white elephant Holiday Party and they were a hit, everyone kept asking for the recipe and here it is!!!!

Cookie Dough

Almond Sesame Cookies (375 for 8-12 minutes)

  • 2 cups Bob’s GF Vanilla Cake Mix
  • 1/2 cup sesame seeds
  • 1 cup oats
  • 1/2 cup almond meal
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon almond extract
  • 1/2 cup tahini
  • 1/2 cup water (maybe slightly more if needed)

Mix all dry ingredients first and then add the tahini (ground sesame seeds) and water. Slowly mix it up and you may need a couple more teaspoons of water to achieve the right cookie consistency. Roll into balls (slightly smaller than ping pong balls) and you will get about 3 dozen cookies.

Almond Sesame Cookies