Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Permiable Membranes

My Superhero Sister Finn in a moment of Nevilling

Hello and thank you for Permeable Membranes! (a lovely title from the lovely poetic Carrie, thank you lovely!)

Yes, I was able to permeate the membrane of US border control, which has become much stiffer and is suffering from hardened tissues much more than ever before. Perhaps they all need a little MSM?

When I did arrive in Seattle, WA, I was given only five days to be here, being told that if the US let everyone like me into their country there would be no one left in Canada or Mexico. Wow, talk about self esteem! The US seems very confident that everyone wants to live here, and what is funny at this point is that it is much easier for me to become a resident than it is for me to visit. No, they don't like visiting "aliens" as they call me. I am David's "alien resident" South of the Canadian border right now.

So, we had a few days to explore the city of Seattle before we could meet with our new angel of an attorney who is not only smart, tall, blond, beautiful and quick working, but she is also pregnant! Yes, she had the ultrasound photo of the little light being right on her desk as we discussed the fine points of borders. I took it as a good sign.

Seattle is beautiful, the fifth largest port town in the US, buildings, houses, shops, markets, parks, and Space Needles all gather round the harbor and watch the boats of all shapes and sizes. We had a sunny day for our zipping trip up the Space Needle and had the most fun watching the sail boats twirl and heel around on Lake Union. I love being up high and feel the peace of "Big Mind" settle in my mind when everything is laid out so expansively before my eyes. A city can make some sense from up there.

David sees Seattle from the Space Needle

And now, after 9 days of waiting, gathering paperwork, and not knowing, we are on our way to Patagonia! I gleaned a whole new understanding of Angela's story when I was turned away at the border, and I now send her loads of visa angels and vision melting borders the world over. Who knows though, I think it would have been fun to travel to NZ with she and Matt, waiting out for permeable membranes together :) In this case, I would like to thank my superhero sister Finn (and everyone else who did so) for "nevilling" us across the border. (If you are not yet familiar with the verb "neville" please check out The Power of Awareness by Neville Goddard. This book is pre-Secret, and 100 times more potent. As David was reading it he exclaimed "This thing needs to be bound in solid gold!")

Right now we are in Roseburg, Oregon and David is talking with clients all morning, and then we go out for a sleigh ride in Pegasus, heading south. Last night it was snowing so hard it was hard to see the road, and so we choose the closest town to sleep in, hence Roseburg. Today it is still snowy out and our truck-horse Pegasus will fly very slowly and solidly through the beauty of it all. The first ride I ever had in that truck was in the snow, a very magical sleigh ride indeed.

We are thinking more and more about the Global Juice Feast as the time draws nearer. I am so stoked to Juice Feast I feel I am smoking with anticipation! (clean, sweet, kind of like a cedar sauna steam smoke, not really black smoky smoke) Right now I am getting my Juicy kicks from reading all the amazing blogs out there right now. It is truly a gift to witness every ones journey as they juice up their lives. Some of my favorite bits and pieces from recent posts to inspire you all:

I am flying today. Having a love affair with greens - oh, the exquisiteness of cilantro! Little sprouties - how you fill me with adoration for your vibrant forms! I am falling in love all over again with the world, with juice, with myself, with my sweetie. I can barely sleep for the amour that floods through me....
I love how easy juice is feeling. Menu planning is so simple - you just open the fridge and say, who first?

I feel so much better this morning! Like I have crested a pre-dawn hill to discover the sunrise has lit my perspective of the horizon. A pervading sense of calm and nourishment is gently sparking under the surface of my akin - it is in my blood. Day 28! 4 weeks. I really do feel as though I have peaked one of the foothills in the mountainous terrain of juice feasting. I love that the extensive nature of this feast really gives you time to observe how different kinds of juices affect the body. I am learning viscerally, and not just intellectually, how important greens are to well-being and functionality. And the difference that even a couple Tbs of added sugars (raw honey) makes - a very potent and useful energy source, for which I am grateful, and also a quickly addictive substance, that requires conscious and conservative administration for optimal experience. Many, many thanks to all the simultaneous feasters - I have learned so much from all of your experimenting, trials, and successes, which has helped me self-adjust more efficiently. I can see myself in your experiences, and your honest sharing has been invaluable to the process of a fuller self-recognition.

From Carrie at Radical Living Laboratory

Despite not getting a lot of sleep (I don't know why, I stayed up late watching TV LOL), I got up at 4am and made my juices, skin brushed, contrast showered, got pretty and ran out the door. On my way to work I realized... that in my pre-JF days, I would have been utterly knackered; zombie-like, groggy, bitchy and ready to stab anyone that stood between me and a venti soy latte........ This is how much energy you have while juice feasting! It's unreal! And I just thought I wasn't a morning person!

Psoriasis
: I honestly am gobsmacked. I never imagined I would see improvement this fast. There are spots on my arms that have completely healed; the skin is completely normal except for a deeper coloration that outlines where the psoriasis spots used to be. Inside the outline, the coloration is a bit more pink. It looks a bit 'cheetah-like', but there is no scaling, flaking, cracking or bleeding. My chest is healing differently. It is healing more evenly; the whole area is turning a very light pink; very different from the angry reddish coloration normally associated with psoriasis. There is no more cracking, scaling...and very minimal flaking. Some areas are healing nicely and I can see new skin forming. My legs are healing much in the same way...except for my right leg: The right leg has been a guinea pig for my own little 'psoriasis formula'. It is healing so nicely; no dark outlines, no flaking, scaling or cracking. It's nice, smooth skin with no dark outlines. The new skin is very light pink... but smooth to the touch. :) What did I do? I applied a mix of coconut oil + msm. I've done done two applications and the change is dramatic! I'm going to keep using this leg as a 'test' for a little longer before I decide to use this formula on the rest of my body. But so far, this is very promising! :)

From Ben at a Juicy Conspiracy

Wow!
Two months of juice! Amazing! I feel simply amazing! Who knew?

From Terrilyn at Inspiration Life

Have you ever Juice Feasted before? No, I have not. I have always been a regular faster and enjoy the process and the cleansing as well as the healing my body goes thru both physically and mentally. I had been invited into the Juice Feasting community by David & Katrina Rain and I have not looked back for the past 55 days. Juice Feasting is much easier than any fast that I have done. It is quite enjoyable and I feel great.

From Melissa at Love Raw Life

Today was quite a day. Jill and I were hanging around this morning, drinking juice (what else?) and checking out some of our favorite blogs (I think we were actually on Carrie's Radical Living site) when all of a sudden I blurted out "I have to do something different with my life!" I'm a social worker and have been working with low-income, mentally-ill clients, doing psychotherapy. I've only been at my current job for six months and I assumed I would be there a couple years. In many ways, within the context of "the system" as it is here in North Carolina (we're in the mountains in Asheville) the place I work is great...for instance, they've let me make mindfulness practices a central focus of my work. However, the problem is, you guessed it, the system. At times I feel like a low-level drug pusher for the psycho-pharmaceutical industry (all of my clients are ingesting one kind of medication or another and I'm supposed to make sure they're "compliant") and at others like a bureaucratic bean-counter, begging the government to give us more funds. Anyway, I decided to resign and direct my energies into living my life in the way that really resonates with my beliefs and aspirations. Jill was, as always, totally supportive. And I did it. My last day will be March 1st. I'm not sure what I'm going to wind up doing, but I know I can't work for a system that is so out of whack. Ultimately, as far as doing "therapy" sort of work goes, I would like to do something that incorporates enlightened nutritional thinking, as well as mindfulness/meditation techniques, exercise, etc...basically an integral approach. It seems like such common sense...but in today's world this is considered "outside the box" or "radical". The reason I'm posting about this is that I'm certain doing this feast has prodded me to take this plunge into the unknown. The sickness of the system is so clear to me now, so viscerally repugnant, that I just can't go on. It feels like I'm condoning it with my very participation. It seems doing something so unequivocally healthy as juice feasting can sharpen these sorts of distinctions. Anyway, there you have it. One other thing...it really does feel as if this is getting easier by the day at this point. Food cravings have gone way down and neither of us imagines stopping any time soon. This is turning out to be a wonderfully transformative experience.

From Jack at Jack and Jill's JuiceFeast

WOW! So, are YOU going to join us for the Global Juice Feast in March? Remember that you can join us for what ever amount of time you feel is right for you. Join us for a week, a month, one day a week, or just start adding in a quart of green juice to your day.

Love to you all,

Katrina Rain

Monday, January 21, 2008

Ocean and Mountains


Vancouver, B.C.
Hello!

Here David and I sit, on the 27th floor of a beautiful glass building by the sea, over looking the city of Vancouver with the snow capped mountains in the distance. It is amazing up here, I feel like a queen in a sci-fi story looking down on boats coming in and out of the harbor, seeing the sun reflected off neighboring buildings, and seeing the cars from way high up like a bird. But really my aunt Kitty and cousin Cecily who live up here are the Queens, and my Uncle Mike the King. I am the happy guest. We are staying with my Oma (that is Dutch for Grandmother) but she doesn't have Internet access, so here we are to do our work for the day.

We are here trying to figure out how to get me (the Canadian) across the border, as I was denied access yesterday. There seems to be a lot for us to learn about paperwork, and about a cross-border marriage, but we are staying positive and have high hopes that things will shift over the next few days. Seems that getting across the border as a woman who is married to an American is more difficult than we thought! It all seems a bit surreal to us still that we are not on our way back to our little, sunny palace in Arizona, but it is a good lesson in staying in the moment and remaining positive! I am visioning with all my might that I will be in Patagonia, Arizona to begin my 92 Day Juice Feast, and well before that too. Hip hip hooray!

My uncle just came in to point out the big fat moon rising above the mountains on one side of us, while the setting sun is casting its orange rays to reflect off all the buildings on the other side of us. Exquisite!

I just have to make a quick comment about all the Juice Feasting blog stars out there, and say WOW! We love you all, and thank you all for the wonderful service you are doing by sharing your experiences. I don't have time today to make a complete list of them, but please be sure to check out Melissa's Blog for a nice long list of fellow Juice Feasters, or for Juice Feasting inspiration!

Hope you are all well in Juice Land,

With Blessing and Love,

Katrina and David

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Wheatgrass


Hello to you all,

How is everyone doing with their juice?

I have never been one to drink loads of wheat grass juice, even though I know about all the benefits and wonders of doing so. I have just never been able to palette it all that well. (Accept for the wheat grass juice at Hippocrates Health Institute, the sweetest grass juice I've ever had!)

BUT there is a wonderful alchemical solution.

Yesterday my sister Hezi brought over a tray of home grown wheat grass, grown by her man Zev (for all of you living in the Victoria area, Hezi will be opening up an amazing cafe, soon to be announced, that will serve all things raw and super and juicy)... and so we juiced it up with carrots, parsley, apples, and ginger. Here is the alchemical, magical, YUM! You get all the benefit of wheat grass juice without the face puckering flavor.

It was so good that I made another batch this morning.

Give it a try! Here is what we used:

1/2 tray of wheat grass
4 large carrots
2 apples
1/4 bunch of parsley

Happiness to you,

Katrina and David

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Hello Hello!

Katrina and David on the B.C. Ferry to Salt Spring Island
Hezi and Zev on the same ferry.
White Swans visiting Salt Spring Island.
Zev, David, and Katrina at the beach.
Zev, Elsa the dog, David, and Katrina at the beach.

Hezi, Elsa, David and Katrina at the beach on one of the only sunny days of our entire trip!
Elsa, Katrina, David (behind the tree branch), Sunny (the black dog), and ocean.

Hello Everyone!


I finally have a minute to sit down and say hello. Days have been FULL of visiting, chilly walks along the deep blue sea shore, visiting, warm chai tea with Brazil nut mylk, visiting, writing, visiting, sitting around the fire telling stories, and of course visiting. It has been wonderful to be around my brilliant, vibrant, fantastic, kookie, loopy, cuddly, loving, laughing, shining FAMILY again.

Right now we are in Victoria, on the West Coast of B.C., staying with my Dad and his lady Constanze, and my bright spark of a sister Finn, who is all of 9 years old going on 109.
We have spent time on Saltspring Island at my mom's house, here in Victoria at my sister Heather's house, and up in the town of Courtenay. We have been bed hopping (not quite couch surfing), and our backpacks are starting to get quite messy!

David's parents even came for a visit, all the way from Houston, to meet their new family in-law. Everyone enjoyed each other very much, the Hobbit Family (David's) and the Elf Family (mine). (David and I would be a Hobbit and an Elf respectively if we were part of Tolkien's world) I do have quite a large family, with two brothers and two sisters, and their boyfriends and girlfriends (soon I hope we will all start to have babies!) a Dad and his Girlfriend, a Mom and her Husband, an Oma, and a Nan, and that is just my immediate family! I love being part of a big family, I feel so blessed. Oh ya, and now I have a husband and a mother and father in-law!


The weather? Oh, I had forgotten how cold and gray it is in these parts at this time of year after a year in Arizona. I told David "It isn't that cold, it is like the Hawaii of Canada!" Ha, well, the Hawaii of Canada feels quite cold right now, and the skies are quite gray. BUT, I love it here anyhow. Trees dripping with green, saturated with life, the ocean, oh the ocean, blue blue blue! I have always been able to feel my body respond to the ocean, me being about 70% water, the water in my cells gets high on a happy vibration when around the massive mother ocean.

Today David, Finnerty, and I spent the afternoon down by the sea, first playing Frisbee and then climbing around on the beach rocks, watching the birds and the boats. It was the first sunny day we've had since our arrival, so we gratefully soaked it all up.

Juice Feasting has had a very warm welcome on Vancouver Island, and David has given 3 talks to very excited audiences. Last night he gave an impromptu 3 hour talk in a friend's living room, a friend who had attended a previous talk and loved it so much that he simply had to have David come and talk to his friends about Juice Feasting too! That was lovely, and turned into a friendly visit with new friends, many of whom are planning on joining us on the Global Juice Feast in March!

So, we are planning on heading out of Victoria this coming Friday to spend some time in Vancouver with my Oma, my mom who will also be visiting my Oma, my brother Joe, and cousin Clara, and then begin our drive down to Patagonia on Sunday. I PROMISE that once we arrive back in AZ that I will not be such a lax blogger, but really, I am giving my self a blog free zone before the Global Juice Feast when we plan on blogging for you beauties EVERY DAY, so I hope you plan on joining us then!

I hope you are all happy and well, and that your 2008 is a happy continuation of your blessed and beautiful lives.

May the sun shine in your hearts!


Love!


Katrina and David Rain

And just for fun, here is a photo of Katrina, David, Pa Dennis, and Ma Jean
And one of Ma Rineke and Katrina, visiting, visiting, visiting!