Simple Qigong Exercise For Cooling Down

This simple qigong exercise can be done at home
It’s can cool down an over-heated heart on a hot day.

“Make Your Own Fermented Foods” Course, Oct. 23-25, 2014

Join us October 23-25, 2014, at “The Whole Way House” in Oroville, CA, to learn how to make your own chickpea miso, tempeh, natto, amasake, quick sauerkraut, brine pickles, fermented and stemmed rice bread…and now includes making “Salt Koji Pickles,” an easy way to make delicious recipes, including salad dressings and spectacular “tofu cream cheese.” Soy-Free and Gluten-Free versions will also be discussed.

Fermented foods have become one of those most popular health foods today
What you can make on your own is so much tastier, fresher, and healthier than the store-bought versions. You won’t believe the difference!

For more information and/or to register, please go to:
https://www.macroamerica.com/#!/~/product/category=5417211&id=10502700

or call 530-521-0236

Planting Our First Tea Bush For Making “Twig Tea”

Planting Our First Tea Bush For Making “Twig Tea” by David Briscoe

Sunday, May 18, 2014 , we planted our first tea bush in hopes that some day we can make our own kukicha “twig tea,” as well as green leaf tea. Our goal is to little by little attempt to make as many of the foods as we can that are usually imported for use in a traditional macrobiotic diet. Of course, it’s possible to have a macrobiotic diet without using twig tea, but we thought it would be fun and interesting, and more economical, to grow the tea that we personally like to use often.

The tea bush pictured is one of five we will be planting to make a hedge that we hope will produce enough tea for us and our family. The variety we chose is the kind that is commonly cultivated in Japan. It produces smaller leaves and more stems.

One of the benefits of twig tea that we appreciate the most is its alkaline support in the body
When properly prepared, the twigs release their minerals into the water, creating a mineral-rich alkaline brew. We make twig tea from the loose twigs, not from kukicha tea bags. The tea bags don’t release the same amount of minerals into the water, since simply steeping the tea bag in a cup of hot water doesn’t allow much of the twigs mineral content to be released. We prefer cooking the loose twigs for 15-20 minutes. Loose kukicha tea twigs can be purchased at many natural foods stores, or bought online. If the resulting tea seems too dark or too concentrated for you, simply add more water until it’s the color and dilution that you prefer.

We hope you’ll come and visit us at the Macrobiotics America “Whole Way House” in Oroville, CA, to share a cup of tea with us!

Visit us at www.macroamerica.com.

In Praise of Green by David Briscoe

In Praise of Green by David Briscoe

Yes, it’s March,  but this is not about St. Patrick’s Day, though I was raised in a wonderful American-Irish family. My mother’s maiden name was Mahoney, that says it all, I’d say! No, I’m writing here about the green of life. Have you noticed how life on earth is totally beholden to green? No green, no life. So, I’m here to celebrate green, and to let green know how grateful I am.

Green of the plants allows us to have oxygen. It makes food possible, too. If the plants aren’t green, you and I are sunk. Without the green chloroplast cells in the plants there would be no whole grains, vegetables or beans. No animal meat either for the carnivores among us. No sushi in Los Angeles. No caviar for a queen’s crackers
Animals have to eat plant food before someone can eat the animals.  And darn it, junk food requires green, too!

It’s funny, I grew up hating science, but now I thoroughly enjoy reading books about photosynthesis, the process by which the plants convert sunshine into stored energy, converting it into their own carbohydrates, protein and fat to feed themselves. They have no intention to feed us, we just wait around until they grow, and then we grab the plants and eat them. Thank you, plants, I happily accept my dependence on your efforts. What delicious sunshine you are! Actually, the photosynthesis books give me the feeling that I am reading something very spiritual. For what could be more life-giving than green and photosynthesis?

Now that spring is rearing its green, I’m reminded of a little poem I wrote when I was 18:

early spring
like a faint green smoke
snakes through bare trees
in the distance

Please enjoy the following funny multi-media “The Photosynthesis Song”…

MACROBIOTIC PRINCIPLES: FRONT & BACK by David Briscoe

Macrobiotic Principles: Front & Back by David Briscoe

Modern thinking likes big easy on the front side, but as a result we get big difficulty on the back side. For example, “easy fast food” on the front side brings the slow developing difficulty of physical and mental health deterioration on the back side. It is inescapable this natural play of front and back. Everywhere you look in the modern world, everyone is rushing toward “easy,” not seeing that difficulty is being rushed toward simultaneously. When difficulty finally appears no one wants to accept it, no one understands where it came from, no one sees that they chose it when they chose “easy” earlier. They want the difficulty to go away as quickly as possible.
The macrobiotic  view is opposite of the modern view. On the front side of macrobiotics there is  what appears to be “difficulty.” This is the difficulty of transforming one’s thinking and habits, the difficulty of changing one’s way of eating, and many other difficulties. But when one takes on these difficulties and move through them, one opens the door to finding ease of health, ease of mind, ease of being in the world. When many modern people first see this front side difficulty, they turn away from macrobiotics and grasp at something that offers “easy” on the front side
But when a person consciously takes on the front side difficulty of macrobiotics, in a patient and enduring way,  this brings to life the possibility of ease of health and being in the world that is awaiting on the back side. This conscious acceptance of the difficulty of doing macrobiotics is the key that opens the door to a life of deep ease, completely different from the illusory “easy” of the modern view.