Food for thought…

Sometime ago I was sharing with a work colleague some of my experiences around food and how my body seems to let me know what it is I really need in the moment to meet my needs...

So what do I mean by that, well here are some examples:

Yew Berries: (Taxus baccata): All parts of the Yew except the fully ripe fruit (which is toxin free) are highly poisonous. I have eaten them on many an occasion and for me they are sweet to taste with the texture of jam. I love these and when I attended a course with Marcus Harrison from Wild Food Wisdom he was telling me that if you need a sugar rush especially if you’re diabetic then eat yew berries but you will only need 3-4 berries. Well here is the thing when I eat them I have only ever eaten 3-4 berries and recently I found that I am borderline diabetic.

Mussels: While was on the Island of Islay staying in a cave there for a week with Jeremy Hastings from Islay Bushcraft, we went forging and collected some mussels amongst other things. We cooked them over our fire near to a rock pool. What I can tell you is this I ate only one mussel and that was all I needed my body felt like it had come alive, I felt completely energised. I know for sure if I had bought a bag of them in a shop I would not have had the same experience, perhaps because they were not as fresh as the one I ate. Either way the feeling I experience was unparalleled.

Apples: These are something I rarely eat even though I do enjoy them. Two years ago I found myself binging on bags of apples for several weeks, which for me was most unusual. I was sharing this experience of eating so many apples with my friend Phil who is into eating raw food and he informed me that a good detox for people with diabetes is to eat apples. Shortly after binging on them I was diagnosed diabetic.

Oats: Several years ago I went to see my doctor I cannot remember what for now, but he said to me that I was to eat plenty of oats this would help with the issue I had. Yes you guessed it the week before I had started to have porridge for breakfast having not eaten it for years.

I know that there are many more examples of a similar experience, and my point here is this. I am not particularly into the medicinal side of food although I do have some basic knowledge, and yet for some reason I am aware that my body tells me what I need and I just go and eat that food source without giving it too much thought. So how do I know this?

I feel very sure that are body cells contain memory and the experiences of our ancestors who lived in nature and who were very much connected to and in tune with their environment learnt and experienced the wisdom of their wild food. This memory contained in our DNA is handed down to us and when we need it to help us it comes to the surface even when we do not understand it, we just know and feel it is the right thing to do against all the logic that the modern world tells us is true.

Here is another example of what I am taking about

Clover: "Mate that was the best sleep I have had in six months..." that's what he told me after he woke up five hours later having been on a plant meditation with me. He was from Australia and I had given him the clover as his plant to work with during a plant meditation. I am often guided to give certain people certain plants, after giving someone a plant, I would then I end up going back and exchanging it for a different one, only to discover at the end of the session that was exactly the plant they needed.

Sometime after the session the senior nurse in the rehab I was working in said to me, “What did you do to him”. I said what do you mean? She told me that he had become very emotional, and that he was shocked that such a small plant could have such an effect on him. Later when she went to see him in his room where he had gone to lay down, she was unable to wake him.

I went immediately to his room to see if he was ok, and he was still out for the count. He seemed ok so I did one more check on him some time later, this time he was awake. I asked him if he was ok, he responded by saying "Mate that was the best sleep I have had in over six months, I feel great". I was completely unaware that he was an insomniac and he had not been sleeping at all since being in rehab, and guess what, Clover induces sleep.

There are many other examples of even animals knowing what to do to stay healthy allow me to share with you the following tale. While I was in the USA recently my friend Pam shared a story with about a bear that did some self-healing using plants and on my return I have since found a book on the subject. I have always believed that animals have a higher level of awareness that many people believe is not possible. The story below I feel shows that animals do indeed have a higher level of awareness as do we when it comes to tuning into nature.

The story goes as follows. Two herbalists were hiking one day when they came across a blood trail which they decided to follow, sometime later they found a bear who had a horrible wound in his side. He had packed his wound full of Osha (Ligusticum porteri). It seems that for this particular bear it was too late perhaps the wound was too server as he was dead when they found him.

In Native American language osha is referred to as bear root or bear medicine, the plants are typically eaten by bears, for what appears to be for medicinal purposes. Often Native Americans would observe the bears seeking out stands of this plant in order to consume its roots, usually after becoming wounded or sick and even after emerging from hibernation. The Native Americans also learned of Echinacea (Echinacea angustifolia) by observing elk seeking out these plants to consume them when they were sick or wounded this plant became known to the Native Americans as elk root.

Here is another extract from Cindy Engels book called 'Lessons in natural wellness from the animal kingdom Wild Health'.

"The dog taken by fever seeks rest in a quiet corner, but is found eating herbs when his stomach is upset. Nobody taught him what herbs to eat, but he will instinctively seek those that make him vomit or improve his condition in some other way".

Henry Sigerist, American Physician, 1951

"When the kunkis [tame elephants] are sick, the mahouts take them to the forest where the elephants pick the herbs or plants they need. Somehow they are able to prescribe their own medicine".

Dinesh Choudhury, Indian elephant hunter, 2000

So as you can see there is much more going on in around our relationship with our food and the plants that we depend on for our survival. There is I believe a connectedness that goes back thousands of years and which has been handed down to us either through direct communication from our ancestors be that in written form or whatever but also handed down to us in memory.

Jody's Sit-spot

As a small child, with four brothers and living in the countryside in Devon we were always running around in the fields and woods playing games such as Fox and Hounds. This consisted of one of us being the fox and hunted by all the others. As a fox if I couldn’t out run my brothers and other kids from the village or other young friends, it was important to know how to hide. Using the foliage in the woods to hide was not enough to conceal me – being very still, quiet and calm enabled me to be very close to the hunters without being seen, even though they were sometimes close enough to touch me.

At times like this I was aware that having to slow down and control my breathing and slow my heart rate down after running some distance would help me ‘disappear’. It was quite exhilarating to out fox the hunters and I would laugh inwardly at my stealth! I used the same methods subconsciously as an adult when I wanted to avoid contact with a man on horseback one day whilst out walking in the woods with my dog Zuma (a large and protective Rhodesian Ridgeback). This man was inclined to be flirtatious and forward when I met him on previous occasions in the woods. Although I did not feel threatened by him – especially with a seven and half stone African lion dog at my side – I was not in the mood on that day for his words or the way he would look at me.

I heard his horse first and glancing back up the track I realised he would see me soon, so I decided to climb up a slope with Zuma into the trees where, although to the side of the track, I was still in full view if he had looked up in my direction. I selected a spot quickly, sat down and Zuma automatically sat glued to my side in his especially loyal way. It was important to get him to feel calm and not have the need to growl, stand or show his hackles – which, as a very loyal hound, in tune with his owner, he would have sensed that I was not comfortable with the presence of the approaching person. So, I decided to make myself very small, calm quiet and still as the man on his horse approached. I put just the tip of my finger on the top of Zuma’s head with the lightest pressure – without giving it any analysis of what was required to convey the message of – “be still and do not move” without speaking to him he understood perfectly.

We were in full view had the man or horse looked our way, I now know that our quiet energy enabled us to watch horse and rider pass closely by without being seen, and without attracting attention. We were somehow, very close and visible but yet invisible. We sat for a while watching them continued up the track away from us and then moved from the position which had helped conceal us.

I went back to the same spot with Geoffrey after five years and after a bit of searching we found the same spot again. Geoffrey took on the position of a man on a horse on the track, and was able to see how the moment had occurred and that me and Zuma would have been clearly visible from our spot had we given out the right signals. What I refer to as being small, calm and quiet and transferring this to my dog Zuma is described in different words by other people, such as the absence of concentric rings during a sit spot. Whatever you call it, the impact is very significant and is something from which to learn and may be a useful skill when we become aware of how to use it.

I think back on this moment and the game of fox and hounds and realise that these moments in nature and in childhood could be something from which people can learn given increasing awareness of nature and an awareness of themselves.

Hi, How are things?

Here is a brief transcript from a phone conversation I recently had with someone who had attended my sessions in rehab, we are talking about 'Meet a Tree'.

*** *** ***

Geoffrey: Hi. How are things?

Friend: Hi Geoffrey, Things are really good thanks! I miss my tree though!

Geoffrey: That’s true for everyone. I take it you are not going to a tree then?

Friend: I thought people might find me quite weird blindfolding myself in the local park and going on a wander. So I have yet to do it!

Geoffrey: You do not need to blindfold yourself. Also I find that when people call me weird I tend to thank them, because it means you are unique you are not conforming to how they see their world.

Friend: So how do I find my tree if I am not blindfolded? I thought the whole point was that you were spiritually drawn to it and not to find it by looking with your eyes?

Geoffrey: Well the idea with the blindfold is to show you that you can connect on a deeper level; you can still be drawn by your feelings when you connect with your heart. The blindfold helps me to show you how powerful you really are, by taking your thoughts that tell you what to do everyday and to help you see them manifest into the physical world and from your experience help you to see that by connecting with your feelings in nature often comes that spiritual awakening if you like.

Friend: Oh right. Man I miss those sessions we used to do, but I guess the idea is that I can do that anywhere, whenever.

Geoffrey: Yes that is true, it is up to you if you want to move with it, I am powerless over your outcome, you can connect to your spirit and the spirit of the tree anywhere you choose.

Friend: I may just try and do that this Sunday then!

Geoffrey: Sweet, you will be surprised at how well you do, remember it is about being in the heart and trusting. Do you remember how it affected you back then?

Friend: Yeah, it was weird but pretty amazing.

Geoffrey: Yes it is amazing, what was amazing about it for you?

Friend: I don’t know. I was ignoring all the logic and just letting go like it wasn't me, by trying to remember that I went a certain way actually didn't help, just connecting.

Geoffrey: Yep you got it.

Friend: And you just knew there's something cool about it, being 'beyond all logical thought' and just trusting and feeling I quite like that I guess.

Geoffrey: Nice

I am the net result of all my ancestors that went before me...

This is something I talk about to people who attend my courses in particular the Natural Awareness and Nature Awareness courses. I believe that we have contained within our DNA all the knowledge and experiences that our ancestors had and when we need to tap into this we can, thus allowing us to do things we never thought possible.

Sometimes when I need to call on them, I physically turn around to face my ancestors and in my mind I can see them standing there, in all their glory. I then realise that I AM the net result of all who went before me, and with this comes a great responsibility, which I try to live up, sometimes TRY is the operative word.

This puts me in a very powerful place, knowing that I am not alone, that I am supported by a higher power; it gives me the confidence to step out of my box, out of my comfort zone. It allows me to embrace the things that I would not normally dare to embrace. I do believe we are never given anything we cannot deal with, whatever your belief system, if you hold by that statement alone then you are in a very powerful place. Just having that awareness changes things.

The choice is do I embrace it?

Sometimes I imagine being out of my comfort zone as a brick wall. I can walk through it, around it, under it even over it or I can simply walk away from it, but I know that the wall will still be there. However, when I walk through it and I come out the other side I often find myself wondering what all the fuss was about, thinking to myself that was not so bad, it is of course buying into the FEAR of the unknown that stops us moving forward.

And at times when needed my ancestors give me the courage to step into the unknown and boy what a colourful journey it can be in more ways than one…