Something Personal: Cooking Meditation

Tis the season for warming soups and hibernation for rejuvenation. In our climate, it gets colder this time of year, damp, deterioration and composting. While this is happening externally in the environment, I have found its a good time to look inward and do some self reflection. In Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom by Dr Christine Northrop, she discussed seasonal living and how aligning with the seasons in our daily processes helps balance and heal ourselves. I think this is good advice for all genders and helps bring our attention to the moment.

For myself, I have always found cooking to be one of my forms of moving meditation. It embodies flow, focus, sensing and timing, and since I have enjoyed it for so long it holds a great deal of comfort to me. One of my earliest childhood memories is of cooking on a wood burning stove with my mother, and making brownies from scratch by myself at the age of 4 years old. After becoming frustrated with the Easy Bake Oven, I demanded my mother read the 'real' recipe out loud so I could memorize it and cook in the stove vs the toy oven. I did not like all the little bags, waste and strange cooking times and doing it myself seemed much better and more real.

Why am I sharing this? 

Because being real is important, understanding our values and taking time to look inside and do what it is that has worked in the past to calm ourselves in a crazy world is essential to our health. Our health is essential because it translates into survival skills  and we can't help those we care about unless we are healthy ourselves. 

After running myself all over the place as the MC and coordinator of an art event on Thursday, be part of a business Master Mind all day Friday in Las Vegas, only to land and participate as a vendor in another event on Saturday ... I was sapped. I had very few hours of sleep and I needed recourse. So I began a day of quiet, cooking soups, writing, time with children and reading. I stayed away from the phone, the computer and said "No" or "In a Few Weeks" at least 5 times. Other ways to find moving meditation are through yoga, hiking in the cold and seeing everything that has created naturally in our world- not by humans. Almost everything can wait.... get clear on what the real emergencies are in your life... its a process that becomes a practice. 

Now for that Soup Recipe!

Three onions halved, and cut into six chunks, six leeks cleaned and thinly sliced, one butternut squash sliced in half then into 1 inch slices, one large chunk of ginger sliced, a sprig of fresh oregano and a 1/2 teaspoon of thyme. Fill pot with water to cover. Simmer on very low heat until squash is tender.
Once the squash is tender remove it and peel skin off. Use a strainer or slotted spoon to retrieve the large pieces of onion from the broth. Add the squash back in.

Get out your blender and add squash broth and leeks into blender and purée. Pour into second pot or a large bowl. Continue to do this until all ingredients are blended smoothly and transferred to one container. Placed back onto the stove and add sea salt, a dash of cayenne pepper, black pepper, cumin and coriander to taste. If you have a curry powder you like feel free to add that as well. Stir taste and add little by little. Do not make it to salty. In fact the less salt the better while it enhances flavor, you don't want it to dominate the flavor. Let me know if you have questions. Do not cook for a long period. Drink this broth over the course of 2 to 3 days. The leaks are naturally diuretic and cleansing as is the squash filled with nutrients.

For more ideas on finding balance during a season with less daylight, read this article on SAD.

Happy moving meditation. May your day be filled with peace in a season of chaos.