We gave our hands some serious love on Sunday at the Sweethaven Farm Pop Up Shop. In the first workshop of the Herbal Wellness Series we made our own thick and luscious lavender salve. It's really easy to do...these are the instructions I gave to the ladies:​

After doing a bunch of research and making it home a few times, I found that this was the easiest combination to get some great results. *I will say that if you want it to be a bit creamier/softer, add more olive oil or sweet olive oil. 

While our concoctions cooled I taught them a little bit about the anatomy of the hand (27 bones in the hand and wrist!) as well as some of my favorite Shiatsu points. Then we worked through the following sequence on one another. It's easy to practice on yourself.

The Shiatsu points we worked on were:

Pericardium 6: "The Inner Gate" - good for nausea 
Heart 7: "Spirit Gate" - relieves pain in your upper side ribs and helps with insomnia 
Large Intestine 4: "The Great Eliminator" - helps with constipation and will induce labor. 
*Side note: if you really learn how to work this point you will be the most popular girl at a destination bachelorette party FOR SURE. Or with any group that is very dehydrated...don't do it on a pregnant friend unless she's ready to give birth! 
Pericardium 8: "Palace of Anxiety" - calms the spirit (and apparently helps relieve mouth sores...)
​

Thank you to everyone who came!!

Essential Oil Body Scrubs - Sunday, December 6, 1pm  $15
Create your own scrubs that feature easy to find ingredients and unique combinations of essential oils that suit you, a friend, or a loved one perfectly. Special guest from Young Living Essential Oils will be available for consult! Includes table discussion on other holistic ways to maintain healthy skin, including yoga, nutrition, strength training, foam rolling and meditation. ​

15-minute “Tune Up” Chair Massage - Sunday, December 6, ongoing throughout the day
Already stressed with holiday shopping and planning? Chronic tension in the neck, shoulders, and back that won’t go away? Stop in for a “Tune Up” chair massage and stretch after you run your Sunday errands. $10 for 10 minutes or $15 for 15 minutes. ​

This blog has been a long time comin'.

​I think it's best to start here:

And here:

​(And perhaps with the disclaimer that I originally wanted to call it it:

​"Big Hair, Big Butt, Big Dreams: A Country Girl's Life in the Big City." ​

But I had to go with the Body Electric because one of my very best friends whom I affectionately refer to as "Buddy" marked this passage in her copy of Leaves of Grass for me and told me I would like it. And I did. And even though not all of it makes sense to me, singing and electricity and the body DO, so it has nudged its way into the foundation of my practice. 

Which brings us to today, and the title of this post: Mind, Body, Soil. 

It's taken some time, but I've found a place where I can combine my passions in a way that also positively influence my clients. I split my time between gardening and crafting, and body work and movement coaching. The two spheres influence each other, most notably, in my experience, in the expression of Five Element Theory:​

Which posits that we are inherently born into a world of dark and light, masculine and feminine, Yin and Yang, and our energy ebbs and flows back and forth between the contrasting energies, influencing how our internal and external environments interact.

​The force that drives the exchange is referred to as Qi or "life force energy", and it is responsible for giving us form and movement and potential. The symbol for Qi looks like this: 

And it is a combination of two characters: vapor and rice. The pictogram represents the essence of Qi, which is the coming together of the material and the energetic, the tangible and the ephemeral.
Qi comes from your parents and the universe at the time of conception, as well as in the form of
food, air, and relationships.   

In studying Shiatsu and Five-Element Theory, as well as Western physical and social sciences, I've come to understand that there are a few underlying principles that have been guiding me somewhat under the radar as I continue to evolve as a practitioner, and just as a human.

Those are: 
​
Nature
Community
Legacy 

And at some point I will have a cool graphic that breaks down how each of those principles influence my actual work with individuals and groups, but for now it feels good just to throw it out there.

If you've read through the rest of the site then you've seen my tag line : 

and this is the most articulate, clear way I can describe Kadence. 

Looking forward to writing more soon.