Food For Thought

For me, plant powered living has created a holistic awareness to my being. It has connected my mind, body and spirit in a pleasant, simple way.

On a physical level:  My digestive system doesn't have to work so hard to process food & my nervous system has relaxed.

On a mental level:  My mind is flowing with more positive thoughts & freedom.

On a spiritual level:  I asked the universe for a heart felt life guided by compassion and the next moment I was plant powered and seeing the karma associated with the food industry.

It has been an easy transition for me since I am surrounded by the amazing support of the people of Plant Powered Living, my husband and my neighborhood in San Diego (within 10 minutes from me there are 7 vegan friendly restaurants, and two vegan ice cream shops). I understand that the choice to go plant powered is not as simple for all. Some do not get support from family and friends and in some areas there are no plant powered friendly restaurants in site.

Awesome news!   Things in this world are slowly shifting into compassionate awareness of all beings and I see real health, fitness and consciousness growing in society and its every day moments.

Love, Light & Aliveness with tons of Gratitude,
Leilainia

Activate Your Health and Your Spirit

Life is filled with adventure, health, food, sensuality, silliness, fun, philosophy, love, culture and imagination.

Share in the abundance and activate your health and spirit.

As we are breaking out of our robot shells we begin to feel the human experience. We are loosening the bricks in the architecture of our minds and beginning  to feel  the celestial beings living in this human body. As we experience our deep selves, and begin to really FEEL  this human experience,we allow the garden of our hearts to flourish and take over the machine. In doing so we give permission to nature to take over the walls and buildings we have created internally and we begin to regain balance.

We are here because we chose to be here. We are here because we choose to be here. Liven up your life.  Loosen up your life and feel! Doing so will require you to analyze your values, morals and day-to-day responses. In turn this will cause you to step out of your routine and breathe. It is frightening and there maybe some ugly hellish realities to face, but in the end there is always beauty and love. In the end all of nature will open up its arms and embrace the child and his/her dreams.

Artist: Akira Chan www.akirachanarts.com

Are you ready to start living the life you deserve? Are you ready to embrace all that life has to offer? It all starts NOW, within you. It all starts with a deep breath of appreciation for all you are and all you have experienced.

Follow these 10 steps to change your life.

Step one: Breathe.

Step two:  Say to yourself "I love you"

Step three:  Repeat that for eternity in your mind and allow it to erase fear doubt and self loathing

Step four:  Say to yourself  "I forgive you"

Step five:  Repeat that for eternity sending it throughout your body and allow it to bring back blocked memories within your body.

Step six: Stay here for a while forgiving your self for being human and begin to feel.

Step  seven: Say to your self  "I am sorry"

Step eight: Find the child within and apologize for any harm you have done. Call the child back into your being and vow to protect her/him from here on out.

Step nine: Repeat all the steps together, intertwining them all; feeling where they take you.

Step ten:  It's okay and natural to feel.  It is okay to be afraid.  It is okay to face the perceived ugliness within. I forgive you. I love you. I accept your apology with an open heart. We are one. I feel you! And I will be here with beauty on the other end armored in love.

Artist: Hal Marcus www.halmarcus.com

Watch this video by my sister, Adelaide, and film maker Akira Chan.  You will enjoy this!

Unleash the feminine divine through dance

The following is meant to be read like a poetic prose.

When I dance, I allow all I thought should be, could be, will be, has been, go. I allow all time to slip away. My only clock is the heart beat within the drum. My only fuel is the wind of the strings. My only attachment to this earth is the physical body I dance within.  

When I dance, all emotion flows through me and the crystalline body dissolves into water crystals of love.  The music helps carry the gunk from my bones and flows it into the ether where all is neutral, leaving me an open source for healing. 

When I dance, I set boundaries of protection around my stage with eyes of fire and breathe of wisdom. I create liquid chi fields of energy that absorb goo and transform it to peace. 

When I dance, I caress the meridians of the audience and smooth out blocked passages of light. With mudras and form, I spring tendons of negativity out of their aura  leaving room for joy. 

When I dance, vibrations of sacred geometry resonate in my body, intensifying my projection of gratitude to the music.  

When I dance I unleash the goddess of me. When I dance I release the authentic me. When I dance I simply am me..... So what's the difference between the dancing me and the everyday me?  Where did the separateness settle in and when did I put "me" in a staged box of performing? 

On stage I found a perfect way to be present inside the moment. But it isn't just me, it's the musicians as well, we are all present in that performance moment together and we create it together. In that moment of performance all chakras are spinning, kundalini is rising and our bodies are in tune with it self and each other.  By choosing to be in that moment together, we have chosen to be tethered to time by the drum, to be fueled by the strings and be attached to the earth only by our physical form. 

On stage I found the perfect way to bring the audience on the journey with us by creating emotional awareness of movements that hypnotize the viewer in empathy. From stage I feel their excitement, their jealousy, their love, their sexuality, their insecurity. When I dance I am able to guide that emotion  into the ether of neutral acceptance of humanity.  .... So why just on stage? 

Because on stage we have all set up a sacred space for performance. We have all ( the musicians, the audience, and myself) set permitters for creation. We have set the allotted time, the allotted energy, the allotted attention span. We have all committed to be in that moment together with the parameters of the reality we are in. Unknowingly we have created a sacred space for connection. (Whether we choose to keep that space sacred is a different story.)

In every day life could we create that same space for authenticity or are their too many walls of resentment for the self within?  Is it possible for humanity, as a whole,  to look deep enough within to find acceptance for the Human within. The Human is ugly, shy, silly, beautiful, messy, greedy, jealous, lazy, smelly, hungry, childish, lovely, sacred, sweet, sensual, sexual, flirty, crazy, mean, kind, gentle, hurtful, wounded, broken. The human is covered in societal norms and filled with tar. The mind runs in mazes trying to make sense of it all, building walls and rivers just to ease the broken heart. That broken heart:  broken by it's own self. Broken by the neglect of self. Broken by the violence of fear.  That broken heart cries at night for the simple love of universal oneness. The broken heart craves addiction so that no truth can seep in and unravel the distant self hidden deep within. 

In everyday life I could love you. YOU. I could love YOU. I could fall deeply in love with anyone of you and forever be in bliss. And you could love me. We could all be deeply in love with all, even with our hatred. In everyday life I would always be connected .... if you were connected....... You go first...... no wait me.... no wait.... damn I'll see you on stage. and in that moment we will feel the power of chi{life force energy}.

REVISED ENDING 2/7/12:  On second thought : I will go first. I LOVE YOU in all your humanity. I love it when you are sad, depressed, angry, emotional, happy, full of life, crazy, silly, down, up, picky, strong, divine, weak, simple, sultry, wild, mundane, silent, authentic. I LOVE YOU always because I know we are all doing our best in every moment to find that solace of life that makes us feel alive.  I love you because I love me and I know we are all one.   Not only do I love you, but I hear you in every tear, in every laugh , in each breath. I hear your soul awaken and it sparks chi within my core and I feel alive a bit more.

I open my eyes and see that life is not only for performing. Life is for being present in the moment for being raw and wild: Wild as a flower is wild. Wild as a stream is wild. Wild in love with the moment: Growing. Expanding. Nourishing.  And just plain being in the element of the moment.  Life is about being still and fluid in the moment.

So yes I will go first. I have stepped off stage and into the real of Human. I will still see you on stage and yes that will be grand. And I will see you on the street and that shall be just as grand....if you open your eyes with mine and take the time to notice. I'll see you when  you see we are all one in the breathe of stillness.  And in that moment we will feel the power of chi{life force energy}.

Nine Seasons: Beyond 2012 : A Manual of Ancient Aztec and Mayan Wisdom

Nine Seasons: Beyond 2012 : A Manual of Ancient Aztec and Mayan Wisdom 
by Carlos Aceves; published by:  paso al sol 2011
Book Review, Recipes and Story by Leilainia Penix

  Video: Hal Marcus - Tezcatlipoca Codex Videography by: Akira Chan  AkiraChanArts.com

 "This is a wonderful time to be alive and aware," writes Carlos Aceves in Nine Seasons: Beyond 2012 : A Manual of Ancient Aztec and Mayan Wisdom.  "Our ancestors throughout the world spoke of this age over 5,000 years ago.  This is a moment of celebration primarily because we are aware of the infinite possibilities." Aceves is a teacher and author. His Nahuatl name is Yolohuitzcalotl, which means crow with a hummingbird for a heart. He believes each day is a moment for celebration because we "have an opportunity to change the vibration of human existence and redirect our connection to Mother Earth and the Great Spirit." He teaches that "being grateful is the beginning of celebration."

 The book is an amazing manual for this human existence. I was blown away at how simple yet meaningful and to the point this ancient wisdom is. It hit to the core of the human form discussing the energetic process within the womb, our journey to death and everything in between. It starts out full of  numerology, which was a bit overwhelming, but as Aceves continues to explain the knowledge carried down from the ancient ones the numerology made more sense and the wisdom within the numbers was made clear.

 There is a full chapter dedicated to the Seven Warrior Foods. At the top of the Seven Warrior Foods pyramid are Maiz (corn), Ayotli (squash), and Etl (beans). Then there is Metl (maguey or agave), Nopal (cactus), Chilli (chile), and Huactli (amaranth).

"Over five thousand years ago, the people of central Mexico decided the birth date of corn," Aceves writes. "They made a covenant with a thistle-like plant called teocentli so that she would transform in a way that would feed the people and that they would always plant her seeds. In this way both species would survive." The ancients  had a special heart-felt relationship with all the plants in their lives. "Our ancients asked permission from a plant when cutting any part of it." They even called the Nopal ( cactus)  plant "Tree of Life".

 In honor of the ancient ones, on 11-11-11 my husband, Gabriel Penix and I catered a ceremony in Escondido, California, for 47 people. The ceremony was led under the stars around a fire pit by a shaman (Dr. John) and was adorned with fire dancers (The Shimmy Sisters and Riff). The next part of the evening was held in a yurt where a casual explanation of the importance of 2012 by Dr. Duncan Earl and Artist Hal Marcus was given.  On cue as we entered the yurt, the clouds began to roll over the mountains and rain began to purify the land. Everyone settled into the cushions, carpets and comforters and allowed the knowledge to settle in as I danced the transformation into 2012. I danced the removing of the mask that needs to happen in order for us to step into this new paradigm where we are able to see the clear path of light. Through dance I tuned the meridians of the community with mudras and movements and left the room lifted with a beautiful healing aroma. And when the morning sun peaked through the curtains it woke the bodies and we all gave thanks to the land with a walk in the orchards where we picked fruits, avocados, and nuts and created a plant powered breakfast potluck.
*** check out photos from the 11-11-11 event on facebook.

The emergence into 2012 has been filled with blessings of knowledge coming from listening to the inner light within and stepping outside into nature. As Aceves says "In nature [Mesoamericans] found lessons that taught them a healthy path for living. The basic duties and functions of humankind, such as breathing, drinking, eating, sleeping,or love making are integral to our relationship with Mother Creation."

  Learn more about the Seven Warrior Foods  in Nine Seasons: Beyond 2012 : A Manual of Ancient Aztec and Mayan Wisdom " Buy the Book It is a great guide to interpreting our journey as humankind.  http://www.halmarcus.com/artbook.html 

 "Long ago people practiced the Tao. They maintained balance of the body and mind. It is not surprising that they were able to live over one hundred years." ~ The Neijin Suwen



 For recipes I created for the 11-11-11 ceremony check out our food Blog at http://www.plantpoweredliving.com

Maiz Salada (Corn Salad)                                          Nopalitos (Cactus) 
          


"The Doctor of the future will no longer treat the human frame with drugs, but rather will cure and prevent disease with nutrition." -Thomas Edison

Dia de Los Muertos / Day of the Dead

Day of the Dead / Dia de Los Muertos

Los Cabos / San Juan

Nov 1,  2011 : The day children sprit return if called upon.

"Become friends with death," I heard a shaman say once, "it's the shaman's way. Like a best friend, death is always there sitting right next to you." I use to have a seductive romance with death. This dark gothic love for the once known now forgotten was romantically cupeled with deep fear. Now, my relationship with death seems friendly and respectful. "I see you," i told the spirit when i say it sitting patently in the corner of my mind. "I recognize you as death. Come forward and stop lurking my my shadow."  A few days later death did come to the forefront with flashing images of skeletons. " I see you," I told the spirit. " I recognize you as death. Stop trying to instill fear around who you are. Come forward and be friendly." 

In befriending death my fear of life has lifted and I feel as if death helps me see reality a bit clearer. With fear of death and fear of life lightened my mind can accurately access situations in a clear elegant way, which adds wisdom to my steps, were before emotion may had been. 

In building this relationship with death I recognize that each one of my beloved friends and family could be taken at each moment and that I could be taken from them at each second. I realize that all things are living and all things can die. I realize that death is only a death of ego, form and personality, but not of energy as a whole. I realize death is only rebirth into something new and what remains is your energy imprint you left on this plane of existence. 

It was so appropriate that in gaining this new insight and friendship, that  I was placed in Cabo San Lucas on Nov 1.  A friend Paulina had hired me to perform as a mermaid in a private event at the Hilton San Juan on Nov 2. So Nov 1 i was traveling with her through her day. It lead us to her children's motesory school at 7pm for a Dia De Los Muertos gathering.  Children ran around the mock grave yard as parents stood around the tombstones talking. Paulina explained that each child had made their own tomb stone. "Here in Mexico we kind of make fun of death," she said. "So each child made a tomb stone and wrote their own obituary."  Candles were lit at each tomb stone, some where created more like alters than tomb stones and a few people were dressed in traditional Dia De Los Muertos outfits with skull faced painted. 

To me it looked like this:

On this day, Nov 1, the spirit of children had a chance to return to the place they once walked upon the earth. Now, centuries later, the graveyard was empty of humans, which left a beautiful area for all the spirits to play with each other again, remembering what it was like to once be in human form and frolic with the senses. 

We left and went to the center of town to see a performance. Traditional Aztec dancers performed their warrior dance. Ballerinas choreographed a beautiful seduction with death. Poetry was written, fire was spun, and they story of Mexico's future, present and past was shared through art. 

To me it looked like this:

Humans gather to be part of the community and watch gladly as artists pour their passion into the moment. The artists dance with the idea that the spirits are watching and that maybe Frida Kahlo will make a appearance at her alter and see how much she was loved. Artists dance to express their need for change knowing that we only have a few breaths on this land and we must make those breaths meaningful. Drums Drum, Music plays, fire spins, dancers leap all in hope that in that moment we all become free of fear and step into a reality filled with life. 

The day was over and we head home. Death in the form of Karma came to me in my  dream. It showed me that in all the possible actions I make, each once creates an imprint in my mind and soul and that imprint guides my next action/reaction. 

I awake hoping I have many more breathes to take with those I love and with nature. "Death i see you. Take this journey of life together with me and at the end we will both be ready to embark on the new journey. But first lets live this adventure of love in this existence fully!" 

So today is Nov 2 . Dia De Los Muertos the day to call upon the adult spirits. I take this day to call upon all those I love, dead and alive, and celebrate YOUR spirit. Your time here on earth is beautifully shared within me. I see your spirit  swirl around my existence daily. Thank you for helping me on the journey of existence and for creating in me love!

Dragon of Light

Surrounded by my closest fiends and family, I stood in a canyon looking up at the high edge of stone and sand.  The night was black with a hit of looming purples and grays. We  were all frozen in terror by the sounds of the dominating dragon stomping our way. He was all that a dominate, aggressive dragon should be and the entire human civilization lived enslaved by the fear he protruded.  As each step came closer our way our energy shrank and spirit hid.  I could see the side of his face and body as he got closer to the edge. The sky rumbled. All his slaves looked up into the night sky which began to fill with the aurora borealis. In all his majesty and ego The dragon growled with wild anger.  A huge comet shot down from the cosmos straight for the dragon, hit him in the solar plexus and continued on it's way , taking him with it , into the cosmos. In shock and relief all human beings went from frozen terror, to frozen disbelief, to frozen joy. Just then a light was heading toward us from the cosmos.  A  yellow, white, orange dragon made of light gently stepped onto earth. As he walked past us all to his dragon lair he said "You are all now Free."  All human jumped for joy and yelled in celebration. 

I turned to my family and friends, "Lets go meet him" , at which,  we began a long adventure filled with travels, cultures, and the elements. When we finally found the dragon's lair we found DJ's playing, people dancing, musicians creating and an amazing rave in this huge cavern. We passed through the edge of the cavern, up the mazes and finally came upon a beautiful buddhist temple where the dragon lay resting. Absent of words, I snuggled up to him and shared his light with my light. 

As I woke from this dream into reality, I caught myself in that space between awake and dreaming, I recalled this dream and mediated on it deeply. Then a hand appeared to me, offering me a ball of light. I took the ball of light and instinctively began to put it into my husbands heart center. Then I stopped. "Wait is this for me?"  I energetically  felt the answer: "Listen to your instincts."   I continued to place the ball of light into my husbands heart center. To the right and behind me was a cloaked character waiting patently. 

It seems in reptiles come to my in vivid dreams during transformative times in my life. They are Wise, Powerful, symbolize the beginning of a new spiritual insight. 

I felt this vision of a dark, ego driven reality being blasted away by the cosmos and replaced with a compassionate, spiritual light being in power is very powerful imagery to visualize as we move into the next stage of civilization and humanity. As we come upon Oct 28, 2011 and into 2012, visualize our reality void of unconscious ego and filled with light beings of freedom. 

The mermaid within is asking for healing.

I write to you today from the mermaid within that is asking for healing. 

I hope you can join us in a ocean mediation, which guides us into the ocean. We will gift the ocean, and all it's living beings, our love imprint. This is a gift to us, to all of our children so that they may share space with dolphins and fish, and to the water itself, to remind it that we have not forgotten it's importances in this realm of earth. 

“Over the centuries, humankind has constantly robbed from the earth, and left it ever more polluted – the history of which is recorded by water. Now, water is beginning to speak to us. Through water crystals, it is telling us what we need to know.”  Dr. Masaru Emoto,  The Hidden Messages in Water (Page 152)

Who: Those interested in being present with the healing power within the human form and open to sharing that with nature.

What: Ocean Meditation 

When: Ever time you find your self at the beach and/or in water. 

Why: Because the human being is a powerful conductor of healing love.
How: Ground your feet into the sand (imagine you are a stone earthed deep into the sand). Take deep breaths from the depth of your belly. Begin to think positive thoughts that heal all that is around you. Rub your hands together and place within them your intention for the ocean. With your intention and imagination spiral that energy into the ocean so that every water crystal will form into healing love crystals and so that every being that comes across that energy field may be forever wrapped in that healing love energy. 

I had a intense talk with the ocean as Saturday night disappeared and Sundays slowly settled in. (7/2-3/11) The conversation was one of simple truth and despair. It has left me feeling very disillusioned by humanity. And I must clarify this now: Humanity has been misinformed. We have always thought that the oceans, rivers, and streams were filters. They are not the worlds filter. We humans are! and instead of filtering love, healing, gratitude, and light, we as a society have been filtering darkness, junk, gloom, disease, grease, oil, smelly shit, forever lasting disposable plastics…We take in all of life and filter out sludge. We have polluted our life force with greed, gluttony and ignorance. Our oceans can not take it any more.This great pollution scale has tipped and we forgot to do our part. We forgot that the flowing energy through our astral bodies, physical bodies, minds, blood and water ( all which flows through our human being) filters so much more than any other thing in this universe. Our bodies are the mega filters. 

Water is our life force and without it we'd be nonexistent. Water is the main source that makes us US , that makes plants, that makes kitties and birds and dolphins, it's all based on water. I might even dare say that our soul is made of water and without it our soul, yes even our soul, will dehydrate.   

Everything eventually ends up in the ocean. And the ocean is now covered in hopeless despair. Can we change it? Can we do anything? Is it toto late? Maybe. Maybe not... In a moment of anxiety  Dr. Masaru Emoto, author of The Hidden Messages in Water, gives me a bit of hope:

"The human body is comprised mostly of water. And it’s common knowledge that much of the water in the world today – including the tap water many people drink on a daily basis – is polluted, tainted, and toxic. Everything in the universe – from the stars to the shoes on your feet – generates its own unique vibratory frequency. Because vibrations create sound, they can be measured by water, a “master listener” (pg. 43). Using this theoretical structure, Dr. Emoto exposed different kinds of water (e.g., tap, filtered, spring) to different sounds, words, and images, and then photographed the crystals that resulted when each water sample was frozen. The results are quite amazing: Purified or spring water presented with beautiful music and kind words created the most delicate, lovely, and shapely crystals; harsh music, words, and images resulted in deformed, distorted or otherwise imperfect crystals. Distilling this information into practical use, Dr. Emoto’s message indicates that purifying the water within us – from which we are made – is the way to achieve health and happiness. Dr. Emoto’s work strongly suggests that encouraging a life of positive emotions – especially love and gratitude – is what is necessary to not only transform the water within us, but the world outside."

He goes on to prove "that tap and polluted water produced malformed, misshapen crystals regardless of the words, pictures or music directed at it."   This I think we can prove to be wrong. We know our power of love as a group. We know our love imprint has been cast and has been acknowledged by the divine universal law. It is powerful together. 

“If we fill our lives with love and gratitude for all, this consciousness will become a wonderful power that will spread throughout the world. And this is what water crystals are trying to tell us.” - Dr. Masaru Emoto,  The Hidden Messages in Water (Page 146)

Love Light Leilainia

http://mymermaids.com

Allow life to blossom into a love light lotus!