no. four

the heart TOOLBOX

 
 

A toolbox for

LOVE // BALANCE // INTIMACY // SELF LOVE // RECEIVING // SELF ACCEPTANCE // FORGIVENESS // SERVICE // COMPASSION // SOCIAL IDENTITY

 

Working with no. 4 support

I invite you to utilize this course in whatever way serves you to get the most value. I would listen to the audios a couple of times and read through all of the content to begin and see what jumps out at you. Maybe you know exactly what you want to dive into or you visit a piece of it everyday working your way through. Another option is grabbing a tool or a few and work with them for 30 days noticing what shifts or doesn’t and then experiment with a new one.

If you’d like to inject some whimsy + have some daily guidance. Here is a 30 Days to a more balanced HEART Deck. You can print the pages and cut them into cards; fold them and put them in a bowl, and then draw a card each day to offer you a focus.

 
“Our hearts magnetic field is 5000 times stronger than the brains. It can be measured several feet from the body and has its own 6th sense. ”

No. 4

Anatomy associated with The Heart: heart, lungs, thymus gland, circulatory system, cardiac plexus, blood, ribs, breast, diaphragm, shoulders, arms, armpits, hands, lymphatic system.
Related functions: electromagnetic field, blood pressure + immunity.

Element: Air

SOME THEMES ASSOCIATED WITH THE HEART:

  • the balance point; it mediates between body and spirit, between the earthly and spiritual chakras, between the masculine and the feminine

  • emotional in nature

  • embodies the lesson of living from love, kindness and compassion

  • our emotional response to our own thoughts, ideas and attitudes

  • the stories we tell about ourselves

  • being empathetic

  • being able to truly love oneself and others

  • altruism

  • good immunity

  • inner peace and equanimity

  • forming healthy relationships

  • our ability to be groundless

DEFICIENCY:: not enough vital energy in this area from energy leaking. The energy may flow in but there are poor boundaries and energy can’t be contained like a sink without a plug. It’s important here to create a boundary to contain the energy. Deficiency may lead to feelings of isolation. It can lead one to withdrawing, building resentment rather than being open to forgiveness, hyper-criticism, narcissism, fear of intimacy, feeling unlovable and lacking self love. It can also lead to jealousy, bitterness, anger, rage and an attachment to our pain.

EXCESS: too much energy flowing in, the sink is overflowing. This is not about too much love but unhealthy ways of using love to suit ones own needs. This can result in codependency, desperation, obsessiveness, possessiveness, putting too much energy on another person, over the top care taking or meddling in other peoples affairs, general lack of healthy boundaries. People with excess energy here can need constant reassurance and validation. All the energy is pushing out and very little is coming in eventually leading to deficiency at the core.

_____________

  • In the past it was believed that most disease in the body came from the earthly chakras but it’s now knowns that much dis-ease stems from toxic emotional stress levels. Healing often begins with the healing and repair of emotional energy.

  • Note that one can experience elements of deficiency and excess at the same time.

BALANCE:

  • the ability to trust and a let go, to embrace groundlessness

  • healthy detachment from people and outcomes, don’t take things personally

  • releasing the need to know why or understand why something happened

  • seeing, hunting for the beauty and wonder in life

  • a focus on gratitude rather than lack

  • a healthy discernment when it comes to love, attracting the right kind

  • an ability to set boundaries, to say no

  • a patience with and trust of the process of life

  • equanimity

  • emotional intelligence

  • the ability to feel joy

  • acting from love and compassion

  • healthy relationship with self love

  • compassionate towards others

“In order to develop love - universal love, cosmic love, whatever you would like to call it - one must accept the whole situation of life as it is, both the light and the dark, the good and the bad. ”
— Chogyam Trungpa
 

toolbox


JOURNAl prompts

  • Are you carrying any fears around giving or receiving love? Around intimacy?

  • Do you have a healthy relationship with self love?

  • Do you have energetic autonomy and healthy boundaries? Is there a balance between giving and receiving?

  • Do you have any unprocessed grief which may be creating stagnancy in any area of your life?

  • Is there anyone you need to forgive? Yourself?

  • Are there any limiting beliefs or shadows to be cleared around love?

  • What lights you up, what brings you joy?


Healing

 

food

Artwork: Unknown

Artwork: Unknown

The First Mess
Spanokopita

recipes

GLOWING GREEN SMOOTHIE

Ingredients

  • 1½ cup (360 ml) water

  • 12 ounces (340 g) organic romaine lettuce, chopped

  • ½ bunch organic spinach

  • 4 stalks organic celery, diced

  • 1 organic apple, seeded, cored, quartered

  • 1 organic pear, seeded, quartered

  • 1 organic banana, peeled, halved

  • ½ organic lemon, peeled, seeded

  • ⅓ bunch organic cilantro, with stems (optional)

  • ⅓ bunch organic parsley, with stems (optional)

Directions

  1. Place water, romaine, spinach, celery, and optional ingredients, if using, into the Vitamix container in the order listed and secure lid.

  2. Select Variable 1.

  3. Turn machine on and slowly increase speed to Variable 8.

  4. Blend for 30 seconds or until smooth. Stop machine and remove lid.

  5. Add apple, pear, banana and lemon to the Vitamix container in the order listed and secure lid.

  6. Select Variable 1.

  7. Turn machine on and slowly increase to the highest speed.

  8. Blend for 30 seconds or until desired consistency is reached.

spanokopita w/ fresh herbs + wild greens

Yield: 8 servings

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups chopped onion, leeks, scallions, or a combination
2 pounds greens, chopped into bite-size pieces
Salt
4 eggs, beaten
2 cups cottage cheese or ricotta cheese
1{1/2} cups crumbled feta cheese (about {1/2} pound)
1 head garlic, cloves peeled and chopped
{1/2} cup chopped fresh basil
{1/2} cup chopped fresh parsley
2 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano
Freshly ground black pepper
{3/4} cup (1{1/2} sticks) butter, melted
1 (1-pound) package frozen phyllo dough, defrosted
Ground paprika, dried chives, dill seeds, or fennel seeds (optional)

  1. Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C).

  2. Warm the oil in a large soup pot over medium heat. Add the onion and sauté until translucent, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the greens in several layers, salting lightly as you go. I use a large soup pot because 2 pounds of greens is a lot, and it usually fills the whole pot. Put the lid on and cook over medium-low heat, stirring every 2 to 3 minutes, until the greens have cooked down to about one-quarter of their original volume. Put the greens in a colander to drain and set aside to cool. I like to set the colander over a pan and collect the drippings; they are flavorful and nutritious and can be used like broth in your cooking.

  3. Combine the eggs with the cottage cheese, feta, garlic, basil, parsley, and oregano, and season generously with pepper. Once the greens have drained and cooled, stir them into the mixture.

  4. With a pastry brush, grease the inside of a 9- by 13-inch baking dish with some of the melted butter. Lay a sheet of phyllo dough in the dish so that only half of it covers the bottom of the pan, with the extra hanging over one of the long ends of the pan. Brush the half of the sheet that’s in the pan with melted butter. Lay another sheet on top, again with only half the sheet covering the bottom of the pan, setting it exactly on top of the first sheet, and brush with butter. Continue this process until you have laid out and buttered 8 sheets, then repeat with another 8 sheets, only with the extra spilling out over the opposite side of the pan.

  5. Add the filling, spreading it out evenly to the edges of the pan. Fold the pieces of phyllo dough over the top, alternating between sides, brushing each layer with butter. Layer any remaining phyllo dough on top, folding each piece to fit the pan and brushing with butter between each layer. Continue layering the phyllo dough until you run out of space in the pan, phyllo dough, or butter! Dust the top with paprika, dried chives, and dill or fennel seeds, if desired.

  6. Bake for 45 minutes, or until the filling is bubbling and the top is golden brown. Cut into pieces and serve hot (although it is also yummy cold).

Green Substitutions. For this dish I like to combine wild greens like dandelion, nettle, galinsoga, lamb’s-quarters, and sorrel with cultivated greens like spinach, Swiss chard, kale, and tatsoi, but you can use whatever you have available. If you do not have fresh herbs, you can substitute 1 tablespoon each of dried basil, parsley, and oregano for the fresh herbs.

CITRUS BRUSSELS SPROUTS SLAW W/ CRISPY RICE PAPER “BACON” BITS & ALMOND “PARM”

Serves: 4-6


NOTES: The dressing and “parm” amounts both make extra because having salad dressing around and maybe a little plant-based cheesy goodness in the fridge is always a good thing. You could easily mix this salad up with other hearty greens like kale, collards, or mustards.Rice Paper “Bacon” Bits:1 teaspoon smoked paprika½ teaspoon garlic powder½ teaspoon nutritional yeastground black pepper1 tablespoon gluten-free tamari soy sauce or coconut aminos1 tablespoon maple syrup1 tablespoon heat-tolerant oil (I like avocado)4 rice paper wrapsAlmond “Parm”:1 cup sliced almonds3 tablespoons nutritional yeast1 teaspoon lemon zest½ teaspoon light misosea salt and ground black pepper, to tasteDressing:¼ cup fresh lemon juice (from roughly 1 lemon)¼ cup fresh orange juice (from roughly 1 small orange)2 teaspoons maple syrup½ teaspoon dijon mustard1 clove of garlic, finely grated with a Microplanesea salt and ground black pepper, to taste½ cup oil of choice (I like avocado or grapeseed here)Salad:1 lb/454 grams brussels sprouts4 green onions

Preheat the oven to 400 F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment.

In a small bowl, whisk together the smoked paprika, garlic powder, nutritional yeast, pepper, tamari, maple syrup, and oil. Set aside.

Layer 2 of the dry rice paper wraps on top of each other. Keeping them lined up, cut the papers into quarters. You should have 4 double decker quarter pieces. Repeat with the remaining rice paper wraps.

Run the double layer pieces under running water until just-pliable and sticking together, then place moistened quarter pieces onto the prepared baking sheet, leaving space between all pieces. Brush each quarter piece with the smoked paprika mixture. Very gently flip all pieces over, and brush the other side.

Slide the baking sheet into the oven and bake rice paper bacon until crisp, about 11-13 minutes. Let bacon cool completely before chopping into “bits.”

For the almond parm, in the bowl of a food processor, combine the sliced almonds, nutritional yeast, lemon zest, miso, salt, and pepper. Run the motor on high until you have a crumbly, unified mixture that tastes slightly salty and quite savoury. Set aside.

For the dressing, in a sealable jar, combine the lemon juice, orange juice, maple syrup, dijon mustard, garlic, salt, pepper, and oil. Close the lid tightly on the jar and shake vigorously until combined. Set aside.

Using a mandoline slicer, or the shredding disc on your food processor, shred the brussels sprouts and transfer to a serving bowl. Slice the green onions and transfer those to the bowl as well.

Pour about ⅓ cup of dressing onto the brussels sprouts and green onions, season with salt and pepper, and sprinkle about ¼ cup of the almond parm on top. Toss to combine. Top the brussels sprouts slaw with the “bacon” bits and extra parm. Serve immediately.

*Extra dressing and “parm” can be stored in sealed containers in the refrigerator for up to a week.

“Heart center means warmth, compassion, passion, kindness, hatred; everything which is wonderful and everything which is rotten on the planet, they all come from the heart center. If you set your heart onto something, your head will give in; that’s why it is the most powerful center and extremely dangerous.

You have to find your own root, the very source of your passion, the very source of your compassion, if you want to find yourself. Therefore the heart center is very important.”
— Yogi Bhajan

Resource

green heart energy


Ego eradicator

This is a great 1-3 minutes/day meditation or when you feel you need it. It is for when you want to stop playing small, for moving through obstacles and clearing limitations.

Sit in a comfortable seat and then raise the arms out and up to a 60 degree angle, palms facing forward. Keep your elbows straight and your shoulders softened from your ears. Tuck the chin slightly to create space in the back of the cervical spine. Curl your fingertips in toward the base of the finger pads and thumbs stretch toward each other.

Close your eyes and begin breath of fire.

To finish, big inhale as you bring the arms together, touching the tips of the thumbs and extending the fingers up to the sky. Exhale the arms down.

Find a guided video here.

practice Gratitude

Begin every morning thinking about what your’e grateful for and set your intentions for the day. Think about how you want to be of service, what you want to offer the world, even just energetically.

Write down 3 things every night that you’re grateful for. Make them unique. Hunt for the small stuff.

Practice gratitude around your meals.

Grow some wee greens

Learn about growing Sprouts here.

Microgreens are another great choice.

Practice

Products

healy

If you have my favorite tool for deonditioning + vibrational alignment here are some programs super supportive to your Heart:

  • Coherence: Mind, Heart, Spirit balance. You can also run coherence with your clear vision in mind for synchronicity support and getting in heart coherence with your desired future self.

  • Heart Chakra

  • Heart Meridian

  • The Self Love expert program.

  • Care which feels like a warm energy hug.

affirm

I am more than enough.

I am worthy of love.

I am worthy of what I desire and I am ready to receive.

From my teacher David Elliot: “I am willing for things to be much easier and more magical than I can imagine”

One of my favorite affirmations for the heart is from Gabby Bernstein: “I choose love instead”

I am open, I accept, I connect, I love.

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Stonehenge

The Heart Chakra of the Earth

Did you know the Earth has Chakras? My travels through Joshua Tree and Sedona put me in touch with the energetic vortexes that live there and I've always found them to be quite powerful.

Many of these places were designed using sacred geometry. These powerful locations are also connected to eachother through ley lines, invisible lines which intertwine to create an infinity symbol. Similar to our own electromagnetic field, these veins create a grid of energy throughout the planet. Not only that, but many believe they connect us to other planets and constellations creating a greater web of cosmic consciousness. As in working with the energetics of our own aura, many ancient civilizations knew the power of working with these sacred places to connect to greater levels of well being and higher levels of consciousness.