You may know, and if you don’t – you surely have a hunch, that emotions play a super important role for us, determining the quality of our day to day lives. Unfortunately, many of us do not know how to work with our emotions, we are afraid of them, we shy away from them or… Continue reading Repressed emotions, yoga, and essential oils: your roadmap to total wellbeing
During the springtime, we all delight in the intoxicating aroma of flowers, and for a good reason. Chemically, the flower plant family is dominated by esters. Esters are the most common functional group in aromatherapy with their pleasing and somewhat sweet fragrance. They are sedative, antispasmodic, and calming to the central nervous system (Lavabre, 1990. pp… Continue reading April Showers Bring May Flowers
As I head over to the basement with candles, crystals, and oils in my arms, my husband follows me with an exasperated gaze. I haven’t always been “weird” like this. I used to be a “normal” woman: concerned with shopping, cooking, and work. But as I deepened my relationship to spirituality and nature (my yoga… Continue reading Out with the old, in with the new: The New Moon intention setting ritual.
Joyful, elated, sad, grateful, angry, disgusted… we experience thousands of emotions on a daily basis. It is hard to argue that the nature of our predominant emotions governs the quality of our lives. We hear so much about cultivating gratitude, the positive thinking movement is sweeping the world, but are things really that simple? Forcing… Continue reading Emotions, feelings, and other unfortunate things
“Well, that will be failing.” – grumbled my PE teacher into my red, sweaty face. Doing only 20 crunches when the state norm for high school girls required 50 was certainly not up to par. But what can you expect from THAT girl: the nerd who gets straight A’s in math, physics, geography, and languages,… Continue reading The many bends of my path to yoga Part I: The Climb
Before sharing this piece with you I wanted to issue a fair warning: unlike many other articles I write, this one is not based on research or scholarly material. This is more of an opinion piece and therefore is certainly more open to interpretation and discussion. Before I ever came to the US in… Continue reading Ukraine: Time Capsule, It Is Not
Migration is a process that has been familiar to humans from the dawn of their existence: we have always been migratory species moving from place to place in search of shelter, food, and other resources, as well as to avoid danger. This is why sociologist Rystad said, “…mankind’s entire history has been a history of… Continue reading “What this country needs is more Ukrainians”: The history of Ukrainian immigration to the US
While having children is admittedly one of the biggest blessings in life, there are also many challenges associated with raising a healthy, happy child (and staying sane in the process). You love your kids, but there are days when everything seems to be going wrong. Neither the parents nor the children are getting any sleep;… Continue reading Natural baby happy baby: Using all-natural essential oils for complete child care
Throughout my journey towards more healthful and natural living, I have paid quite a bit of attention to nutrition. I have done enough reading and researching to know that fresh, whole, unprocessed foods were good for my digestion, my weight, my skin, my mood, and even for better hormone regulation which is so important considering… Continue reading Healthy People Happy Planet: Double benefit of a CSA Subscription
There are many disadvantages to moving around a lot. Believe me, I would know. I moved from Ukraine to the US at the age of 21, left behind all friends and family and all of my social support. I moved to North Carolina to do my Master’s and had to start all over. After two… Continue reading Czech This Out: A Small Piece of Eastern Europe in the Middle of Texas
