Saturday, August 9, 2008

Hangin at the TREE

Alrighty!! I have so much to share.

I'm at the Tree of Life in beautiful Patagonia. This place is truly amazing.
What I'm doing here is partaking in a 10 week Spiritual Living Foods Chef Instructor course. How cool is that!


I get to eat 100% Organic, super fresh, unprocessed, unradiated, unmicrowaved, non GMO, totally raw cuisine! My body is just loving this.




The Tree Cafe

There are 10 girls on the course and we all stay in dorms (which is so much fun..It's like I have 3 new sisters), as well as the course we can participate in all the happenings around the Tree.



There's Yoga, different dance courses, African drumming, Veganic gardening, sprouting, heaps of different spiritual ceremonies from different cultures and many many other fun activities.

Temple


The people here are wonderful, so loving, friendly and POSITIVE! As well as the staff and helpers the guests are all really cool, they're all here for different courses and reasons. When I arrived 3 guests were leaving with this amazing glow..Why? They had just CURED their diabetes!!! Isn't diabetes incurable? Hmm?


At the moment there are a number of juice fasters here. It's really cool seeing them go through all the changes as their bodies are detoxing. The first few days they look like they've been hit by a bus. They have green juices for each meal, their days are full of treatments to help the detoxification process, they're constantly being monitored my doctors. Then all of a sudden they just start gleaming!


Gabrielle Cousens, the founder of the tree of life is an amazing person and has been a holistic doctor for many many years. He is constantly reviewing and scientifically studying different foods and their effects on people & their blood.

The available foods are limited as we try to stick to a phase 1 diet (low glycemic raw vegan-so basically lots of greens, seeds and some nuts) which is Gabrielle's recommendation for people in need of healing. Although the foods are limited we play around in the kitchen all day whipping up a huge variety of super tasty dishes.

Here is what myself, Joshua & Carla prepared today for lunch...


SPROUTS!!
Top row-Dill cucumber salad, butternut squash & beets soup
Pressed salad
Bottom row-3 different Pate, Dulse, Spicy & Spirulina

Joshua (Instructor) & I with our creations



The lovely Esther going for the Cheeze & Pickles


Last night we had the Inipi.

The I-ni-pi ceremony, a type of sweat lodge, is a Lakota purification ceremony, and one of the Seven Sacred Rites of the Lakota people. It is an ancient and sacred ceremony of the Lakota people and has been passed down through the generations of Lakota.
The full ceremony is not taught to non-Lakotas, it involves an I-ni-pi lodge (a small frame of saplings covered with hides or blankets). Stones are heated in a fire, then placed into a central pit in the lodge. Water is then poured on the stones to create hot steam. Traditional prayers and songs are offered in the Lakota language. Held at the time of the new moon.

We're able to participate in an I-ni-pi because Gabriel has been adopted into the Lakota Sioux Tribe and initiated as a sweat leader.


Ready for Inipi


The ceremony lasted about 2 hours, there was approx 20 people in the lodge which is about the size of a 2 man tent. We sang traditional songs and sweated it out for 2 hours. I was really worried about lasting that length of time inside but with the drums and singing time flew by. I felt super cleansed afterwards.



Some more piccies.....



The super cute Megan (Garden apprentice) & Ben (Chef Apprentice)






Playing music to the sprouts!!






Our neverending abundant supply of WHEATGRASS


The overflowing Veganic Garden







May Peace Prevail on Earth

MUCH LOVE X