Does eating meat make us less intuitive?

Last month I went on a yoga retreat in tiny resort called Ollinyotl, Mexico. The place is amazing, surrounded by mountains that give off a constant vibe. We were in the middle of nowhere, with no internet and hardly any phone reception. 

I am on-again-off-again with yoga, and sadly, I sprained my neck a few days before the retreat so I missed most of the yoga sessions and spent time in nature instead. The teachers were super kind and added a restorative yoga class. 

Yoga Nidra was a nice surprise too: a guided meditation that puts us in a deep sleep. I'm sure I went somewhere else entirely! 

Ollinyotl means "Movement from the Heart" in the Nahuatl language.

The yoga-psychology part of the retreat was amazing. We learned tools to raise our physical vibration so that it is easier to connect with our spirit. The goal was to reach Sattvic mode (more on that later), so for example, we woke up at 6:30 AM for breathing exercises, followed a strictly vegetarian diet for three days, and skipped coffee and black tea. Skipping coffee was the hardest part for me. In 2016 I tried being a weekday vegetarian for 6 months and I'm thinking of going back. Not for intuitive reasons, but because it feels good and I like veggies.

Back to Square 1

Does eating meat make us less intuitive or spiritual? I'd be tempted to say NO. Less rational YES, because the farmed food industry has terrible consequences on the planet. If we are aware of the environmental damage, continuing to eat animal products is bonkers (See Here). 

This is the main reason why I attempted to become a weekday vegetarian. At the time I felt good physically, but I didn't think it had any effect on my intuitive readings. I said as much in my latest book, Chakra Healing & Magick, though in hindsight, I was able to write it in a very short time. Maybe the diet let the insights flow...  

Does it make us less spiritual? 

Part of me feels that we only eat factory-raised animals because we never see the way they are kept in the run-up to being killed. Once you've watched videos of cows hooked up to machines that milk them, it is easy to become disgusted and switch to almond milk or soy. But this is related to empathy and compassion, which are human traits. So no, I don't think skipping meat is spiritual - rather, it is an emotional response that is 100% human. 

With all this, I still eat meat and I love burgers, barbecue and some Lebanese dishes that would be impossible to eat sans meat. But a part of me wants to cut back for a million different reasons, and the easiest way to do it, I think, is to become mostly vegetarian so that when you do eat meat, it's free-range animals. The fact that you can have a steak or fish on weekends makes it easier to go without on weekdays. Below you'll find a clip from a Ted Talk that I like: Why I'm a weekday vegetarian, by Graham Hill.

And Some Exciting News! 

My Chakra Healing & Magick book is getting an update - the Kindle book will be offline for a few weeks. The revised paperback is already on Amazon. I made a few changes: rewriting my intro to the Solar Plexus Chakra to reflect the insights I have had in healing sessions lately, and swapping out one of the affirmations that I had included in the section on healing with mandalas and color. We also have a new grounding visualisation in Chapter 1 that will be easier to practice - with flashes of red, to activate the Root Chakra.

Those are the updates! For those of you who already have the paperback, I will post them on the blog soon. If you have the Kindle version you'll be able to download the updated file. 

Reiki hugs!


Regina 

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Regina Chouza is an energy healer, angel medium and the author of A Personal Guide to Self-Healing, Cancer & Love and Chakra Healing & Magick. Blogging at Diary of a Psychic Healer since 2010, her passion is bringing the qualities of love, joy and empowerment to healing pursuits. Read her books to heal yourself.  Find her on Instagram.com/reginachouza or on Facebook, as DiaryofaPsychicHealer

> Español: @AngelMedium33

Finding my Balance with Yoga

There's a new yoga studio around the block from where I live. Actually, it's been there for almost a year. The last time I went to yoga was in 2008. Bikram Yoga, the hot sauna-style yoga where everyone is very flexible but not relaxed. It's hard to keep your cool (pardon the pun) when you are trying not to faint. I went three times a week for three months and quit when my membership ran out. Since then I've been doing little yoga and lots of other things at the gym. This week I finally went back and OH MY GOSH - it was a crazy work out! I signed up for the easiest Hatha-Vinyasa class on the schedule and I could barely keep up. 

What is Hatha-Vinyasa Yoga? A blend of: 

Hatha refers to "a set of physical exercises (known as asanas or postures), and sequences of asanas, designed to align your skin, muscles, and bones." 

Vinyasa is a "a method of yoga in which movements form a flowing sequence in coordination with breath" ... kind of like dancing yoga.  

The class started out easy enough, bend this way, bend that way, take a deep breath. Then the downward dogs started and they merged into yogic push ups, another downward dog and a few leg lifts and leg twirls. I didn't know the names of the poses so I was two steps behind but loving it! By the end of  the class my legs were shaking and I couldn't walk (or even sleep) without wincing for two days. 

Beginners Hatha-Vinyasa 

If you're wondering, that's not me lol

I went back for a basic Hatha class yesterday. The poses were slower, deeper and more conducive to meditation. When we reached for the sky I imagined myself drawing the sun down with me. The tree pose was one of my favourites - where you stand on one leg, make a triangle with your other, and reach for the sky. It was easier to find my balance on the left leg. With the right I kept toppling over. At the end of the day I don't think it matters how well you "strike a pose" instead its about taking a deep breathe and keeping your calm. Life is just as likely to throw a curve ball and that balance comes from inside. 

Thank you for reading! 

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Reiki hugs, Regina