A (Vague) Resolution or Two for 2019: Response to The Natural Medicine Resolution Challenge (Plus Weekend Away in Strathbogie - Photos)

I've just got back from the Strathbogie Ranges in Victoria, where we stayed in the van in a friends driveway. We had a beautiful time sitting by the creek under an apple tree chinwagging and swimming, eating cheese and drinking wine. Conversation moved from crop circles to aliens, making tinctures to the brilliance of dogs, how fucking great blue cheese is and what we have planned for the year ahead. My friend is an artist, and her resolution was - well, damn resolute - she quite adamantly said that she refused to slip into the same old patterns as the years before. In fact, the resolutions she was making were written on mirrors and cabinets and paper all throughout her house!

image.png

So much of the conversation this weekend was how much potential we all have - we can do anything we set our minds to. Both my mates and my man were begging me to get into the yoga teaching that I'd started upon completing my teacher training course in 2017, but I was really struggling with this one. Part of me wants to run a community yoga class, part of me has huge problems with showing up when I'm struggling to show up for myself. Can I commit to a weekly yoga class - more than likely a yin class, which I'd love to teach, and still manage all the other things I have in my life? I felt a bit pressured and teary about it - they were saying how brilliant I'd be when I'd already given up the idea because the demands of teaching yoga are much, much more than you'd think. Whilst it'd be wonderful natural medicine for the community, I'm wondering to what extent it's going to be natural medicine for me, or just another cause of anxiety and stress.



Perhaps I'm just being too hard on myself. Small reminders of this were also written on scraps of paper and mirrors and surfaces throughout the beautiful mudbrick house.

In no less than 5 rooms she had written:

I am Enough.

This made me smile - one of my resolutions this year is most definitely being kinder to myself. I'm struggling with my part time job at the moment and I don't want to do it anymore, but I have another year or two to get enough cash together to semi-retire or at least pay off the mortgage, and then we're going on long service leave, so I just need to do the best I can with what I've got and keep moving forward spiritually and psychologically, so as long as I'm doing that, I'm doing a good job.

I don't really like new year's resolutions as such, but since solstice I've been thinking about how I want to spend the coming year, and thus whilst I don't have a determined resolution as such, there's many things I want to achieve. Last night I dreamt that I enrolled in a herbal medicine course, which has planted a seed inside of me. I'd always wanted to be a naturopath but I can't afford the fees and nor do I want to study at this stage in my life, accumulating another debt and setting me up for more work at a time in my life that I actually want to do less! However, I've started to do some research and make enquiries. Is there a part time online course I could do? How expensive would it be? It's part of a bigger 'herbal medicine' resolution that's been inspired by my involvement with @naturalmedicine, and even if this doesn't come to anything, there's a few things I want to achieve this year:

  • Get organised to make tinctures for the first time
  • Learn about indigenous plant medicines
  • Extend/create a dedicated herb garden

I always used to grow lots of varieties of herbs but I don't so much anymore, mainly due the maintenance issue. But there's a few plants I want to grow again so I can collect my own herbs to make tinctures rather than order them online.



Like every year, I resolve myself to spending as much time in nature as I can, tending our 5 acres so we have something to leave for future generations who might appreciate all the food we've planted here. I also want to surf more, do more yoga, and more meditation - it's these practices that heal me from the inside out. As my last few posts have suggested, I'd like to be more careful about spending time online, and manage that better than last year. I need to spend more time learning outside the universe of the internet, and get back to some old school study - reading more books, for one!





image.png

Whilst my resolutions might appear quite vague, I'm fairly happy with where things are going and what is formulating in my head. Whatever they are, I know I'm going to make some important decisions about my own future in terms of healing myself but also the world around me - I'm committing to lunchtime yoga nidra classes for the Year 12 students at work and I'm still wrestling with the idea of yin, as well as consciously musing and manifesting what actions I can take to help heal and support this beautiful Earth we live on.

I'm certainly committing to @naturalmedicine here on Steemit - the community is growing, and the knowledge we share and the support we give each other is really an important part of this blockchain. I take my role quite seriously there and am thrilled to get the support from others here that help me keep it going. Perhaps this is the only resolution that's not vague! As long as I have the support of Steemfolk in this regard, I can keep up my energies in this online space that's SO awesome for learning about natural healing resources, from meditation to herbalism and all sorts of practices!

I think @senorcoconut's vision board was a great response to the Natural Medicine Challenge this month, as it was a fun way of thinking about what was important in their lives and where it might head without committing to concrete goals. Life is always in change and flux, with new opportunities presenting themselves when we least expect them, so it seems crazy to get all hot and bothered about forcing a goal that isn't quite clear yet.

What are your natural medicine resolutions?

If you'd like to enter this challenge, with the chance to win 20 steem worth of prizes, you will find the link to the contest guidelines in this half way post here. Entries close on Wednesday 16th 12pm AEST.

'Healing is a matter of time, but it sometimes also a matter of opportunity' - Hippocrates



B2235A50C31CD126067343B513524EE62.gif


NaturalMedicineBanner.jpg
Join us on Natural Medicine Discord here

Sort:  

ǝɹǝɥ sɐʍ ɹoʇɐɹnƆ pɐW ǝɥ┴

I too plan to be more gentle with myself. I wrote my post up after @walkerland suggested it on discord about 12 days ago, I kind of get ahead of myself which does not happen often.
And oh I really want to get back to reading more as well, I love the rest of your resolutions, I really would love to make more tinctures and do a better herb garden, so much to learn I can get a little over whelmed thinking of all I want to achieve but then I remember to breathe, You my dear are most certainly enough and I thank you so much for being your wonderful self and i look forward to connecting with you more this year xxxx

Well let's both inspire each other to do just that!!

Yeah, it was offered to NM members only then we opened it up to the rest of Steemit - sorry for confusion. I read your post and it was brilliant and inspiring, as usual! We have a big year ahead of us girl, let's be there for each other x

indeed, I am so here if you need me, much love xxx

Strathbogies! Gorgeous!!

Firstly, don’t do a Naturopathy course.... another mortgage for information you could probably learn within the NM community (and probably learn better stuff anyway). I know there’s a free online herbalism course my partner is doing, and I think I saw someone mention it in our group.... maybe it was @ofsedgeandsalt?

The biggest mistake I ever made with teaching Tai Chi & Qigong was that what I was teaching others wasn’t what I needed for my own personal practice.

I became so obsessed with ensuring I was practicing the forms and movements I was teaching others, that I ignored the ones I needed for where I was at. I read an interview with yogini a year or so back that gave that wisdom — for your own practice do what is appropriate for you. Of course we’re going to be at different levels than our students...

You’ve got this!
😊🙏🏽☯️💜

Posted using Partiko iOS

Both good bits of advice, babe, and thankyou - muchly appreciated. If you've got the link to the herbalism course, that'd be awesome. How is your partner finding that course? I guess I still wonder about some kind of personal legitimacy you gain from a certification but that's bollocks of course. And no way would I contemplate naturopathy - no way do I want the debt just as I'm scaling down work life! Don't you worry about that!

I was trying to explain that to J. and friend - hence why I got teary. The thing is, I know I'd be good at it, but far out, it's sooo much work and energy when really what do I do it for? My own personal development and joy. And yeah, I certainly don't want to teach what I can't do myself, which kinda worries me too, as I'm always going through such STUFF that I dont feel responsible enough to guide others through their own stuff! Does that make sense?

Love you x

Oh and yeah, the Strathbogies - gee it's nice up there! The swimming creeks/holes were definitely needed - it was really hot up there too!

Yeah and the way things are going, anyone with a Naturopathy degree is not going to be able to see clients anyway, and they’re all just trained to peddle our nutraceuticals and supplements.

There’s a couple of good podcasts she listens to also, I’ll find some info and shoot it your way.

And despite all the positivity gibberish, I feel that if I’m not confident to teach something to someone it’s because I’m not meant to. Personal opinion, not a popular one.

Posted using Partiko iOS

Well that's a shame. My naturopath is BRILLIANT...

Posted using Partiko Android


This post was shared in the Curation Collective Discord community for curators, and upvoted and resteemed by the @c-squared community account after manual review.
@c-squared runs a community witness. Please consider using one of your witness votes on us here

Oh I need to update my witnesses!!!

Posted using Partiko Android

What a lovely place - thank you for sharing. I might borrow the Idea to write positive affirmations, goals and other things I need to remind myself of here and there.

I have taken smaller courses and can't really afford to go for certification right now but truthfully, the most valuable NM learning I have done is self-taught through actual real-world experience.

I am in love with studying the plants around me. It seems so much more useful to me than trying to know all these plants I don't even have access to or will never use.

I've got a big book where I keep notes on each plant (where they are growing, when they should be harvested, when they go to seed, issues, etc., what they are beneficial for, any safety hazards and various recipes). Eventually, I'll add some sketches and photographs as well. I just keep building up these pages as I discover more about each plant or tree.

I am confident that you are a fantastic yoga instructor, but if instructing brings you anxiety right now rather than joy, then perhaps you need to allow yourself the pleasure of doing it for yourself until you feel ready. Honestly, learning from an instructor that is being real is so refreshing, I would love to learn from you.

I love that idea about a notebook for self study.. I will purchase a beautiful one asap!!!! That's a great idea. It would help me retain the info more. Was it you that shared the link for the short course? If so, could you resend it?

The affirmations were so lovely. I'm going to put some about myself. She is such a hippy artist pixie. On her kitchen table is a conference of 6 homemade small stuffed toys around a big crystal. So cute. I couldn't bear the clutter but I love it at their place. I loved the feather wreath and I think I might make one of cockatoo feathers as there's so many around here.

There were also Hawthorns on the riverbank entwined with a gum sand it was bearing tons of berries . Must make a haw wine again or find a Hawthorn accessible around here as they come to ripening.

Thanks for your vote of confidence 're yoga teaching. I think I just need to commit. That's what I am having most trouble with!

Posted using Partiko Android

This is a link to the free mini-course, It is a very light course, I whipped through it in one quick sitting but I appreciated the info they provide on the best practices when writing about natural medicine. https://theherbalacademy.com/product/becoming-herbalist-mini-course/?ap_id=walkerland

oh I might check that out xxx

Let's all do it!

I understand all your qualms about teaching yoga! For me, being on time to anything is difficult as I care for so many creatures that my time is not easy to control, so I have to plan and rush and stress and park and pay and and.. . just to get to a class on time so I can relax. Seems silly. I never considered that the teacher, who also had to plan the class, might be experiencing the same! Good for you for knowing teaching yoga is not what you need.

And this post helped me to see something that I would like to do with my suburban property: sow it with medicinal plants. I've kind of been doing this by encouraging wild plants to be happy here, but with the @homesteaderscoop, I now have access to seeds that will speed that along.

We need to relearn how to heal ourselves. Members of the @naturalmedicine community and others on the steem blockchain have been helping me enormously in my goal to learn and teach my children how our marvelous bodies heal themselves, so yes! We've all got this!

I'm so sorry, just saw this. Thanks so much for your comment. Yeah, I think it's far harder for teachers than you think. Most get paid very little and have to hustle shifts at different studios, let alone the preparation time!

Sowing with medicinal plants seems like a great idea!! I'm glad @naturalmedicine is helping you learn so much - that's awesome!

You are enough is something a friend once send to me on a huge gorgeous decorated paper. It still makes me smile whenever I see it. It's such a powerful phrase. A real eye-opener in a world that always tries to tell you you are not enough, you can be more... (fill in the superficial words like wealth, thin, successful...)

I'm not very knowledgeable in natural medicine but I took too many painkillers last year for more or less chronic pains so decided to do some research and fell in love with the power of CBD. They help me soften some of the sharper edges of the pain - not totally numb it. Win-win: I still get reminded of my limitations (pain has a purpose as well as being annoying :D) and I don't have to take in any stuff with side-effects anymore. So yeah, totally googling more and more the phrase 'natural remedies for...' ;-)

That's fantastic. I have heard such good things about CBD - I've never been in enough chronic pain to order some - I did order some to see what it was all about but havne't tried it yet.

I do think natural medicines are the first go to for most things - allopathic medicine is definitely important too and I wouldn't choose to go without it, as some do (i.e for cancer) but I think we are more powerful if we're armed with the knowledge and wisdom to heal ourselves as much as we are able, or to at least make informed choices about what we put in our bodies and how we treat ourselves!

That paper sounds beautiful -- what a gift!

Hi @riverflows!

Your post was upvoted by @steem-ua, new Steem dApp, using UserAuthority for algorithmic post curation!
Your UA account score is currently 4.598 which ranks you at #1755 across all Steem accounts.
Your rank has improved 20 places in the last three days (old rank 1775).

In our last Algorithmic Curation Round, consisting of 248 contributions, your post is ranked at #56.

Evaluation of your UA score:
  • Some people are already following you, keep going!
  • The readers appreciate your great work!
  • Good user engagement!

Feel free to join our @steem-ua Discord server

Coin Marketplace

STEEM 0.35
TRX 0.12
JST 0.040
BTC 70884.24
ETH 3570.27
USDT 1.00
SBD 4.76