KAJAMA.COM NEWSLETTER

June 21 through June 27, 2021

The planets will be playing musical chairs with abandon, as we experience an astrological event almost every day this week! The official season of Summer (Winter in the southern hemisphere) will begin on Monday as the Sun moves into Cancer. Mercury will resume forward motion on Tuesday, setting the tone for a new cycle and focus for the next three months. We've also got a full Moon in Capricorn on the agenda for Thursday. This full Moon in particular will bring out our need for security and stability, inspiring us to find new ways to release those unnecessary expenditures to set a more financially grounded budget for the future. Neptune turns retrograde on Friday and will spend the next five months shifting our perceptions of reality and revealing how to bring an out of reach dream into reality before the end of 2021. And if that wasn't enough planetary action for the week, Venus will move into the sign of Leo on Sunday, encouraging us to express ourselves more freely as it dances through this dramatic fire sign for the next three and a half weeks!

An Excerpt from Reclaiming Wellness by Jovanka Ciares

Wellness is for everyone: young and old, sick and healthy, rich and poor, and all races and ethnicities. Wellness also includes everything, or all aspects of our lives, and the ultimate goal is to achieve positive, sustainable, long-lasting changes. Wellness is not a single thing we do, it doesn’t happen all at once, and our wellness practices should increase happiness, not feel like a chore.

Ideally, wellness is how we unlock and access the full potential lying within. This isn’t about following lifestyle rules to a T, but rather understanding our choices and owning them. We will certainly encounter roadblocks during this process, and that’s to be expected! Pursuing wellness with an “all-or-nothing” attitude is a nonstop ticket to frustration and failure. Instead, if we accept ourselves, and trust the natural process, things will slowly fall into place. Wellness is about creating balance and strengthening the connection between our physical, mental, and spiritual selves. As a result, what we do to achieve wellness will vary depending on what needs more attention at any particular time. For instance, if our spiritual life is strong but our physical activity isn’t, then we might find balance by focusing more on our physical self, while continuing to strengthen all the other parts that make us who we are.

In the big picture, wellness is about being at peace in and with the world. We are each an integral part of the whole that we call the universe. The energy that emanates from each of us, as well as from plants and animals, is interconnected. Our daily choices touch millions of lives, whether we realize it or not. Being aware of this interconnectedness fosters a holistic awareness of our place in the world and helps us make positive, conscious choices every day in our lives.

Health in the United States Today
The United States is the wealthiest nation in the world, and it knows how to spend! Americans spend more on healthcare per person than any other country, yet the nation consistently ranks lowest in comparative healthcare outcomes. I’ve often wondered why we worry so much about terrorism and natural disasters when the standard American diet is what we should fear the most:

In the United States, approximately 33 percent of adults are overweight, another 38 percent are obese, and 8 percent are extremely obese.
Heart disease, stroke, and cancer — diseases affected by diet and lifestyle — account for over 
50 percent of all deaths in the United States each year.
Nearly half (47 percent) of American adults have high blood pressure, a precursor of heart disease.
About 38 percent of Americans have high cholesterol, a major cause of heart attack and stroke.
About 80 percent of heart disease–related deaths can be prevented with diet and lifestyle choices.
In America, 50 million people have at least one autoimmune disorder that reduces their quality of life.
The United States has one of the lowest life expectancies in the industrialized world.

Reclaiming Wellness: Own Your History, Own Your Health
Some of today’s most popular wellness practices can trace their history to parts of the world and cultures historically populated by people of color. Every society has pursued wellness, and as a woman of color living in the United States, one of my goals is to share this multicultural history and to encourage all people, but especially people of color, to embrace the knowledge and wisdom of their particular ancestry and heritage. To me, owning your history is a part of owning your health and creating your own
personal wellness journey. Yoga, for example, is now a very popular and widespread wellness practice, yet it’s one of the world’s oldest physical disciplines, having been developed in northern India over five thousand years ago.

Meanwhile, the use of plants as medicine — that is, herbalism and the use of modern supplements — has been part of every culture and every ethnic group since the beginning of time. In South America, shamans have been helping people heal using medicinal plants since precolonial times. Similarly, most ancient cultures developed their own plant-based diets to foster good health, diets that emphasized mostly local plants, grains, nuts, and seeds, while consuming expensive animal flesh only in small amounts and on special occasions.

Today, the wellness community invites people to incorporate ingredients from all cultures into their daily diets, sometimes touting them as “superfoods.” Yet I believe that learning the history of these foods and their health benefits can excite you to embrace them. In in-person workshops, I include popular herbal blends and ingredients with medicinal properties, making sure to explain the places these amazing ingredients come from, honoring the land and the people who carried their knowledge from generation to generation. If the workshop is about stress management, for example, I often incorporate adaptogenic botanicals indigenous to every corner of the world to emphasize how almost every culture has had amazing products and practices that we can still use today: maca from the Andes Mountains in South America, ashwagandha from the dry regions of India and Africa, and aloe vera from the Arabian Peninsula. This inclusivity is a powerful educational tool. It reminds us that these foods are part of our shared human legacy, our DNA, whatever our personal background or culture.

I want every single person to know that their culture has played a role in the wellness practices that have become popular in the West. These practices are truly amazing at helping us restore and maintain health, and using them is part of how we honor the legacy of those who came before us.

Jovanka Ciares is the author of Reclaiming Wellness and several other titles. A certified wellness expert, integrative herbalist, nutrition educator, and coach, she offers lectures and workshops in Spanish and English. Visit her online at jovankaciares.com.

Printed with permission from New World Library.

I recently dated someone I liked a great deal but had to break up with him due to the high level of anxiety I got from the relationship. (He kept blowing me off by not calling me back and things like that.) We weren't together long. Most of the time I am fine with my decision, but there are moments when I am suddenly hit hard with a feeling of utter sadness and regret. I have to stop and consciously work through those overpowering emotions. My brother mentioned to me that it's possible I'm being affected by his thoughts and feelings. Since the breakup, I have been consciously sending love and forgiveness back to him. I often think that maybe on some other plane somewhere, we are happy together, which makes me feel better. I'm wondering if maybe these sudden waves of emotion are not really mine, but are feelings of his that I am picking up on. If so, what do I do to move on?

S.

Susyn:

A relationship can remain unbalanced for only so long before the person doing all the giving has to move on. When we give too much, we send the other person our energy and power. While they thrive on this, if we do not receive the same in return, we begin to feel anxious, fearful, lost and drained.

I applaud your decision to remove yourself from a relationship that was obviously unhealthy for you. As it is never easy to let go of someone we once hoped would prove to be a long-term partner, your feelings are understandable. Keep in mind that you are not grieving the loss of this person in particular, but the loss of a dream. While he may have had many qualities you want in a mate, it's also possible that you projected attributes onto him that were not really there.

You mention that you have been sending him thoughts of love and forgiveness. This may be one of the things that keeps you tied to him emotionally and energetically. Whether these sudden thoughts and feelings are originating from him or not, the best thing you can do is to put closure to the relationship and prepare to move forward.

His energy could be holding you back from finding a better relationship. The mind is very powerful; his could be surrounding you with something like a force field that keeps new admirers away. Again, it does not matter if the thoughts are originating from him or from you; the important thing is that they are inhibiting your ability to move on.

It is not easy to control or altogether stop thoughts of a past love. One method I recommend is called corralling, in which you start to construct specific boundaries around your thoughts and emotions. This is like a mental diet, for it involves creating discipline and structure in order to change your habits of thought.

Throughout the day, each time a thought or feeling about your ex arises, stop and tell yourself, I will not think about this now. I will think about it at 9 p.m. Do this throughout the day. At 9 p.m., give yourself 15 minutes to think about him exclusively. When the time is up, return your focus to the moment. If you miss your time, you must wait until the next day at 9 p.m. to think about him. Do this for a few days and you'll see that you are thinking about him less and less.

If the obsessive thoughts continue, you may also want to use my Freezing Ritual to counteract this endless loop of feelings. This will not harm your ex but it will enable you to free yourself from this pattern. The complete ritual is available at my Kajama profile.

*****

Oceania:

I don't think you are picking up on your ex-boyfriend's emotions; I think he triggered unresolved feelings from your childhood! You now have an opportunity to work through them - that's the gift of this brief relationship.

As your brother sounds supportive, you might discuss your parents and early family life with him. Together, you can share memories and determine who this ex-boyfriend reminds you of! From your description, he was inconsistent, unreliable, and left you feeling insecure. Does that remind you of anyone?

You mentioned some overpowering emotions. We usually don't experience that level of intensity in an adult relationship unless it reopens past wounds. As children, we are trapped in our families - there's no leaving. If we can't express feelings or be heard, emotions get pushed down inside us and held there under pressure. Remember when you pushed a Jack-in-the-box back down and slammed the lid shut? When we meet someone in adulthood who reminds us of childhood, it's as if they turned the crank on the Jack-in-the-box; the lid springs open and intense feelings pop out!

We THINK the person who pushed our buttons is responsible for our flood of emotion, but those feelings were packed down inside us long ago. We leave childhood carrying an overflowing suitcase - one we had to sit on top of in order to zip shut.

This baggage is powerful. Until we unpack and sort through it, we tend to avoid any situation that reminds us of what's inside OR repeatedly choose situations that remind us of what's inside in an attempt to work through old business indirectly. Either way, the suitcase is controlling us.

One of our jobs in adulthood is to open the suitcase and honor what we find. We need to view the contents realistically and objectively. Once that lid is open, we stop over-reacting. Unless our safety is at risk, adult emotions tend to be relatively mild because we always have the choice to exit a situation.

After separating your ex from whichever parent he most reminds you of, take a fresh look at what happened in this relationship. Did you stay and suffer too long, leave at just the right time, or give up too soon? Only in the last case would it be worth reaching out to him.

You say you liked him a great deal and when you envisioned being with him on another plane, you felt happy. If you can separate your past from your present, you will be better prepared to enjoy relationship success with him or with someone better suited to you.

Astrea:

Many times in life we hear, "You will always have what you NEED, but not necessarily what you WANT." Your spirit must have needed to experience the feeling of leaving your human body, and the suggestion in the next chapter of Sylvia Brown's book was all it took to get you there.

Even though you hadn't read it yet, your SOUL recognized the title of that chapter as something it had been seeking, and your soul, knowing that you had that reference to read after your experience, got with it and out you went!

While I don't usually recommend her books, Sylvia Brown has a wide reaching and powerful effect on lots of people. A Gemini like you would be able to relate easily to her writing and put it to good use. Synchronicity - you gotta love it!

I like your description of "getting caught." That's exactly what it feels like, isn't it? One minute you're free and hovering above the room, and the next minute, ZAP! back down into your corporeal form you go!

As a little kid, I loved that "feeling of return." With practice, most of the time we can control that event, but sometimes, when our physical ears hear a distracting noise or something else occurs to knock us back into reality, back we go. With practice you will be able to control your return better.

I find it interesting that you were visiting your mother-in-law and not someone in your own genetic family. Evidently, you and your husband got married for reasons that are even deeper than love. His family's interest in "psychic stuff" will nurture your children in such matters and help them to grow into their own abilities.

You'll never have to be concerned that when your daughter visits them, she'll be discouraged from exploring her own psychic life and power. My parents encouraged me to develop my psychic senses in a time when it wasn't nice to even discuss such things in public. Heck, it's STILL not considered a great topic at the dinner table in some families!

Your kids will get to talk about it ALL and ask questions and read and study. This is going to give them such an edge in life! Talk with your husband about how you want to present this to your kiddos, so that you are united in your approach and ready to tell them their experiences are all natural and okay.

A word or two of warning: Geminis often have difficulty staying grounded in REAL LIFE. Don't get so strung out on your ASTRAL life that you neglect what you're doing here on Earth.

You are at the beginning of a long journey to learn where your power really lies. Try to be patient with this process and take your time.