Solar Eclipse & Symbiosis

This Sunday, May 20, 2012, you have the unique opportunity to watch an annular solar eclipse -- "The Ring of Fire." It's best viewable in the West and Southwest of the United States since it peaks around 6:30pm PST. If you live in these regions, so as not to damage your eyes, be sure to wear proper safety glasses. Sunglasses are not enough protection. Check out this Web site for more information on proper safety filters.

Because Nevada is in a key position to view such an amazing spectacle of nature, Symbiosis Gathering -- a festival of music, art, yoga, transformational learning, sustainable living, etc. -- is at Pyramid Lake this year celebrating the solar eclipse. Check out the video above to learn more about Symbiosis.

Free Jewelry Tutorials: Wire Wrapped Rings

Copper Wire Wrapped Amethyst Ring, Beth Hemmila

Sometimes you want to wear that perfect little stone that matches your mood or outfit on your finger, but maybe you don't have the time, tools, or skill set to make it into a ring. One alternative is to take that favorite gemstone and use it as the centerpiece for a wire wrapped ring.

A easy and free jewelry making tutorial for wire wrapped rings similar to the one above is featured at Lytha Studios. To add more pizazz to your wire wrapped ring, check out Emily Jane's store for inspiration.

If you don't have a stone but you just want to make a simple wire wrapped ring here are a couple free tutorials:

Rosette Wire Wrapped Ring from McFarland Designs

Adjustable Wire Wrapped Rings from Making Jewelry Now by Rena Klingenberg

Wire Knot Ring on Handmadeology

Rena Klingenberg also features a super cute Wire Wrapped Button Ring Tutorial. For a extremely colorful and funky button ring tutorial check out Take Your Vitamin C.

Over at CraftIdeas.info there is a nifty beaded ring tutorial using seed beads. It's simple enough so kids can make this ring. I bet it would be fun to make a bunch in different colored patterns and trade with friends over the summer! I'm going to try this one next.

This last link isn't a wire wrapped ring, but I thought it was such a cool design maybe it will inspire you to go to the next level. It's a free tutorial on a dual balled ring, where the stone is set between two rings that have been soldered together. This requires some beginning metalsmithing techniques, but it looks like a good first project. You can find the free tutorial for the dual balled ring over at the Jewelry Artist's Network.

Have fun this summer flaunting beads on your fingers!

Calling all Mothers

Happy Mother's Day!

A special thank you to all the women who have mothered me
over the years and helped me grow :)

The Enlightening Mat: The Power to Choose

choices

I was reading something called The Bounce Back Book by Karen Salmansohn and stumbled across something the author learned while healing from a traumatic experience. Apparently researchers have discovered that the number-one factor determining your well-being is the power to make choices about your life, activities, and habits -- autonomy. Here's a quote from a study done at the University of Michigan:

Having a strong sense of controlling one's life is a more dependable predictor of positive feelings of well-being than any other objective conditions of life.

I'm going to make a wild guess and assume that this study grew out of our unique cultural upbringing and perspective on life in the United States for in Eastern thought it seems to me that suffering is eased by letting go of control. Though I suppose letting go of control is a choice in itself :)

Nevertheless, here in the West maybe what we are seeking is to create a balance between doing -- making choices about the next moment -- and being where we just let things come and go with mindfulness.

In the model of Nonviolent Communication, choice is a huge universal need. After practicing self-empathy and empathy for others based on Marshall Rosenberg's book over the last seven years, I've noticed that choice often recurs as an underlying need over and over again during conflicts or difficult moments in my life. Choice appears to be a baseline need in our survival instincts.

Back in 2008, when I was particularly discouraged about my life, things started to improve once I identified my most undernourished needs and actively made choices to fulfill them. Chapter 8 in my book Lemonade Mantras, called "Make Personal Requests" grew out of this experience. This chapter is so simple yet powerful for it asks you to identify a unmet need such as "to contribute" and then make choices to meet this need through concrete actions. You always have the power to make choices, but when you're focused on something outside of your control sometimes you don't even realize choices exist.

For instance, perhaps you believe that when you go for a job interview other people have complete control over your future, including your desire to contribute and have purpose. Maybe. But on the other hand, you have another huge chunk of your life that you could cultivate actions that truly fulfill your need to contribute and have purpose. Instead of letting the almighty job machine get you down, you might turn to volunteering, starting your own business, or tutoring kids to fulfill your need to contribute and have purpose. If you nurture the part of your life where you do have choices then it's possible the other part won't have as much power over your self-esteem and your thinking.

Does your life feel out of your control? Are you chained to your kid's schedule? Do have an unpredictable boss? Are you recovering from a physical assault? Are you interviewing for a new job? Do you have an illness or injury that is affecting your life?

Instead of focusing on the things that feel out of your control, try increasing the choices you make about your life that you can control. Choices that you have the power to put into action, meaning they don't make demands of anyone else but yourself. One easy illustration of making personal choices is deciding to take care of your body through some kind of physical activity. For me, choosing to go to a Bikram yoga class is incredibly empowering. I make the choice to get out of bed and go to class. Then throughout the class, when I'm faced with feeling tired or sick, I experience the power of choosing to get into a posture. I choose. I choose to do triangle pose even though I want to sit down instead. Being conscious of the choice I am making is an experience of my true power.

Maybe your choices are already in place, but you need to take ownership of them. For instance, perhaps you choose to take care of your kids by getting up and packing their lunches before school. By being mindful of this conscious choice and that you are fulfilling your need "to nurture" you take ownership of the experience and re-frame it. You are no longer feeling out of control in a family that has excessive demands on your energy rather you are empowering yourself to make a choice to fulfill a cherished need to nurture others.

Another important concept is re-directing your energy to choose for yourself. Sometimes we avoid our own opportunity of empowerment by distracting ourselves in the game of trying to choose for others so we feel more happy and comfortable. Working with kids, it was enticing to make choices for my students as a way to empower myself, but that's not real power. When you see yourself getting overly involved in the choices people make about their lives, try stepping back and asking what choices am I avoiding in my own life that could empower me?

Lastly, one of the deepest ways I've ever come in contact with changing my thinking was to find my power to choose within the most difficult of circumstances. Maybe it's hard to see what choices you have during a mugging, rape, car crash, cancer, military assault, hurricane, imprisonment, etc. In each of these circumstances there are choices to be made, claimed, and honored. Sometimes your choice is not to choose and that in itself can be a valuable experience. Embracing the choices we make during the worst of moments is coming in contact with your true power.

If you look at your life and aren't sure if you are making choices that are empowering, then try making three choices today. Create projects and meet your deadlines. Make appointments and keep them. Join a class that has concrete objectives and show up. Find, claim, and celebrate your freedom to choose.

The Enlightening Mat is a blog series exploring moments of awareness that come to Beth Hemmila while practicing Bikram Yoga.

To shop for yoga charms that celebrate the different poses click here to view this blog post Sterling Silver Charms for Bikram Yoga Postures. 

Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail

 

A good friend asked me if I wanted to read Wild a book about a young woman who hiked the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) solo back in 1995. Wow, my friend had no idea how much I needed to read this book. It was incredibly timely and spoke to me on so many levels. It was hard to put down and difficult at times not to tear up along the way. 

In Wild, Cheryl Strayed covers a smattering of everything from the untimely death of her mother and break up of her family when she's only 22 to an absent father, infidelity, drugs, and divorce. She doesn't keep any thought hidden and gives the reader an opportunity to connect with and embrace the humanness of her raw pain.

When Cheryl Strayed hits the PCT she's seemingly damaged from the inside out. However, through her journey, mostly alone but sometimes in the company of strangers, Cheryl Strayed grows a sense of her own power, grieves the loss of family, learns to trust in the kindness of others, and challenges herself to accept life just as it is.

If you've ever enjoyed the book or seen the movie Into the Wild, then you'll want to check out Cheryl Strayed's story to see what happens when a woman goes into the wilderness to claim herself.

Here is one of my favorite passages from Wild:

It took me years to take my place among the ten thousand things again. To be the woman my mother raised. To remember how she said honey and picture her particular gaze. I would suffer. I would suffer. I would want things to be different than they were. The wanting was a wilderness and I had to find my own way out of the woods. It took me four years, seven months, and three days to do it. I didn't know where I was going until I got there.

It was a place called the Bridge of the Gods.

Raw Food Recipe: Curried Cucumber Salad

curried cucumber salad

Sometimes in the summer I'll eat a cold soup like gazpacho, but more often then not I'd rather chew on a salad instead. Nevertheless, a lot of raw food cookbooks include cold soups to add variety to your diet and perhaps offer a new texture or dining experience.

To not miss out on the flavors that these soups offer, I've been changing cold soup recipes into salads. Here's an example of one of my favorite cold soup recipes that I adapted and transformed into a salad.

Have you tried this before? What's your favorite cold soup that could become a salad instead?


Raw Food Recipe: Curried Cucumber Salad
Serves: 1 or 2

1 cucumber peeled and sliced (approx. 2 cups)
2 radishes sliced
2 tablespoons cilantro chopped

Dressing:
1/8 cup olive oil
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon Tamari
1 clove garlic minced
1/4 teaspoon curry powder
1/2 teaspoon agave nectar or honey

1. Add sliced vegetables to a bowl and toss.
2. Mix all dressing ingredients in separate bowl. Adjust seasonings to taste.
3. Drizzle dressing on top of the salad, toss, and serve.

This salad was inspired and adapted from the recipe "Curried Cucumber Soup" found in 1 Stock, 100 Soups: Take 1 Basic Recipe and Make 100 Kinds of Soup by Linda Doeser. 

Free Jewelry Making Tutorial: Friendship Bracelets

friendship bracelets

One of the first pieces of jewelry I ever made was a friendship bracelet. Nothing can compare to that feeling of elation of making something so intricately colorful and then seeing your best friend wear it until it disintegrated into nothing. It was my initial glimpse into the notion that jewelry can be a connection point for two souls.

Teaching kids how to make friendship bracelets is a super fun activity and something you can share in together. They're also a simple way to add texture and color to a group of bangles on your own wrist.

Here's an easy to follow tutorial on Honestly WTF for a chevron friendship bracelet. Erica also has tutorials for a macrame bracelet and a neat wrapped bracelet using leather, ball chain, and linen cord.

To learn how to make a foam core loom for your friendship bracelets, head on over to Quirky Momma Kids Activity Blog. 

Anything you ever wanted to know about making friendship bracelets can be found at Friendship-bracelets.net.

friendship bracelets

Lastly for more bracelet tutorials using multiple mediums such as silk, leather cord, and beads check out the videos on Make Bracelets by clicking here.

The Enlightening Mat: Making Yourself Available

lake tahoe sunset

Last week during Sangha (meditation group), we watched Brene Brown's TED talk on vulnerability. If you haven't watched it yet, check it out by clicking here. By now I've seen it a couple times; however, upon hearing it a third time I noticed something new that I had missed.

In the TED talk on vulnerability, Brene Brown mentions that "wholehearted people" have the courage to live with their imperfections.
 
Brene Brown's comment stimulated a lot of questions, for I believed I was on the trail of learning to accept my imperfections. Nevertheless, knowing my background where trying to be perfect was normal, I started to have a sinking feeling that perhaps I haven't truly embraced imperfection so much as I have practiced a new twist on perfection where rebooting, wiping the slate clean, shaking my etch-a-sketch life is the acceptable method for dealing with bumps in the road.

This notion was slowly seeping into my head upon leaving a spiritual retreat over the last weekend where a leader posed a question about healing. She asked, "We will we ever heal, change, and transform enough to be in a place where we can actually get on with things? Would we better off healing what we can, and then just let stuff be so we can move forward with things that we are called to do?"

These thoughts were confusing me, so I mentioned what was running through my head at Sangha and was given some valuable insight by fellow practitioner. He suggested that perhaps I need to heal to some extent so I can get past "me, me, me, me, me, me so as to make myself available."

****

Available. What does available mean? Available for what? I thought I knew what available meant a year or two ago, but lately looking at my life and behavior I'm starting to feel like I may have taken myself off the roster for availability.

What if you don't want to be available? What are the things we do to not make ourselves available? (e.g., illness, financial distress, bad relationships, addiction, busy-ness, etc.) What are we are afraid of being available for? What if we're afraid that being available would require too much of us? Would we risk failure? Would we not receive the support we need? Will we look stupid? Will we get hurt because of it?

I'm still wandering around, letting myself come to a new understanding of what being available truly means, but in the meantime I'm embracing this concept from the Dalai Lama.

If you can, help others; if you cannot do that, then at least do not harm them.

Dalai Lama

This makes sense to me. In fact, since I've personally benched myself from being available it might mean I'm not completely equipped to help others in the best possible way. In fact, on certain matters if I tried to help right now, I may not contribute to the well being of others and do more harm then good.

It's possible I am still healing and am not ready to be available. Correction...I know I'm in the midst of a big me, me, me, heal fest and know my availability is out to lunch.

What's the process? How can we gradually open up to being fully available again? Fully available to our calling or purpose? I'm pretty sure for me it's going to Bikram yoga as much as I can and doing the Lemonade Mantras process. Both avenues strengthen self-empathy, which allow me to slowly grow into a wider circle of empathy for others.  My gut tells me this will lead me to being open again.

What about you? Are you ready to be available? And if so, what for? What might you do to make yourself available?

The Enlightening Mat is a blog series exploring moments of awareness that come to Beth Hemmila while practicing Bikram Yoga.

To shop for yoga charms that celebrate the different poses click here to view this blog post Sterling Silver Charms for Bikram Yoga Postures. 

New Movie Teaser: Samsara

Samsara Teaser from Magidson Films on Vimeo.

From the filmmakers of Baraka comes a new photographic exploration called Samsara. I happened to take the movie Baraka out of the library several years ago and watched it a couple times it was so visually powerful. Many of the images I saw I can still recall in my head. It looks like Samsara will be just the same.

Samsara is a sanskrit word that means "continuous flow" and refers to the endless cycle of birth, life, death, and rebirth. The film is an exploration of our relationship to the eternal cycle of humanity.

Look for Samsara in theaters August 2012.

Raw Food Recipe: Chocolate Cherry Gingerbread Cookies

chocolate cherry gingerbread raw food cookie

I'm no longer a dessert junkie, but I do miss my sweets. Especially chocolate! Making raw food desserts was my way of dealing with this craving for sugar, and from my experiments I found that they're actually pretty delicious.

When I feel particularly inspired, I'll browse through one of my old cookbooks and try transforming cookies or other baked goods into a raw food dessert. Many times the outcome is something extremely satisfying and energy boosting. One bite of these cookies and you'll realize that you have all the fixin's to make your own twist on a PowerBar.

Raw Food Recipe: Chocolate Cherry Gingerbread Cookies
Servings: Approximately 12 small cookies

1/2 cup raw walnuts
1/2 cup raw almonds
2 medjool dates pitted and chopped
2 tablespoons coconut oil
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons carob powder
1 1/2 - 2 teaspoons fresh ginger  (not powdered)
Pinch of salt
2 teaspoons amber agave nectar or honey
2 tablespoons dried cherries (or cranberries)

1. In a food processor, mix the walnuts and almonds to a flour-like consistency.
2. Add chopped dates, coconut oil, and then mix.
3. Add cinnamon, carob powder, fresh ginger, salt, and then mix. Periodically use a spatula to scrape down the sides of the food processor to make sure the spices are mixed throughout.
4. Add the agave nectar and blend until it looks like cookie dough. 
5. Add the dried cherries and pulse until they are slightly chopped and distributed evenly throughout the dough.
6. Refrigerate the cookie dough until firm and then roll into balls.
7. Roll balls in chopped walnuts for a final garnish.

I found inspiration for this raw food dessert from the Chocolate Gingerbread recipe found in Family Living Classics: Our Favorite Cookies. This is an example of taking a traditional recipe and adapting it to the raw food diet.

Free Jewelry Making Tutorial: Ear Wires

Beth Hemmila (Hint Jewelry): sterling silver rabbit charm earrings

When I design earrings I usually make very simple homemade French ear wires out of sterling silver like the one's pictured above. It's so much more fun then using store bought ear wires. Mainly I chose this particular French ear wire design because it's comfortable and understated. Also, when I was selling earrings in Hint Jewelry's shop I was confident that I could make matching sets so as to create consistency. I still love my little homemade ear wire jig that I describe how to make in this previous blog post.

However, there are so many awesome ear wire designs out there that I thought I'd share a few free tutorials I found that might inspire you to try some new ideas.

Deryn Mentock from Something Sublime shares this wonderful free ear wire tutorial that uses bailing pliers to get that big round curve that makes her designs so luscious. She also shares some tips about how to smooth out those nasty metal snags that could injure your ear.

Vicki Potter from Orion Designs has a free ear wire tutorial that I like because she has a little decorative loop on the back. You'll have to check it out to see what I mean; however, that tiny bit adds a distinctive elegance to her design.

Anastassia Designs has a really cool almond shaped ear wire tutorial on her blog. These are so modern and stylish. You also have to see the almond shaped earrings in her shop that she has pounded flat for more inspiration.

Here's a video tutorial by Beading on a Budget that is interesting for it shows how to make two simple hoop ear wires at the same time so they match. Special tools that she uses are a mandrel and a dremel for removing burrs.

The last video tutorial is by Lisa Lovelies which is a simple French ear wire, but she has some great tips on customizing them to make your earrings look professional.

The Enlightening Mat: Building Awareness

Awareness...

Okay so it's not an incredibly scintillating topic, but honestly building awareness could be the most crucial step you make towards cultivating inner peace. Building your awareness muscle is so essential that I wonder if that's why many people choose to avoid it. It's like carrot juice that you say you should be drinking, but sadly it's not in your shopping cart because coke seemed like a whole lot more fun. Awareness is so boring that it feels both difficult and easily avoidable all at the same time.

Taking a serious chunk of your life and using it to practice awareness requires energy and mental, physical, and spiritual discipline, and let's face it, in an on-the-go world, who has the time to dedicate to something so mundane as awareness?

Nevertheless, amazing artists, musicians, dancers, athletes, chefs, etc., all build their talents on top of awareness -- looking deeply and closely at things so as to notice what's happening and choose a response. However, you don't have to be trying for greatness to reap the benefits of building awareness. In fact, practicing awareness is a method for being less on auto pilot and more in the driver's seat of your own life.

One way I practice awareness, is going to Bikram yoga where I challenge myself to stay focused on my mind and body connection. I slip hundreds of times each class, but I also return equally as much to hearing my breath, noticing what my body feels, and listening to the dialogue of the teacher instead of the silly thoughts running through my head. A practice of awareness is first about paying close attention to yourself, confronting your language, beliefs, and behavior and when you've got this sorted out then learning to observe and react more objectively to the people and events in your life.

Awareness can change how you see and relate to others. Awareness can also help you eat healthier and choose behaviors and thoughts that contribute to your well-being. Awareness can become your foundation for all your actions.

The first half of my book Lemonade Mantras is focused primarily on building a solid practice of awareness through your thoughts, body sensations, feelings, and needs. After having worked the Lemonade Mantras process for several years, I now have a strong sense of what I am needing and how best to make it happen. I've finally gotten in tune with my body during stressful situations so as to come up with a multitude of actions instead falling prey to my normal reflex reaction. When someone says something that rubs me the wrong way, I finally have the skill set to step back and observe first what's going on inside of me and then empathetically guess what might be happening for the other person. Awareness can expand time and often leads to deeper more profound connections for you are taking great care to tune into yourself, others, and the moment.

If you reflect back on life experiences that provided the greatest clarity and connection, I'm guessing it was because you used awareness like a stethoscope on your heart and the hearts of others. However, don't kid yourself, awareness is a skill that requires practice just like going out for a run. You don't necessarily have to sign up for a class or read a book, but it helps to set your intentions and find time in your day completely dedicated to building awareness.

The Enlightening Mat is a blog series exploring moments of awareness that come to Beth Hemmila while practicing Bikram Yoga.

To shop for yoga charms that celebrate the different poses click here to view this blog post Sterling Silver Charms for Bikram Yoga Postures. 

Dragon Guru Necklace

Dragon Guru, Beth Hemmila (Hint Jewelry): sterling silver year of the dragon charm necklace

Never laugh at live dragons.

- J.R.R. Tolkien

At the beginning of the year, I launched my 2012 Year of the Dragon charm and then it promptly sold out. I didn't realize he was going to be so popular so I only got a handful of dragon charms made.

It took some time, but this dragon pendant is back in my shop. To celebrate his arrival for spring, I designed this necklace with a mixture of metals, chain, gems, and patina.

Dragon Guru, Beth Hemmila (Hint Jewelry): sterling silver year of the dragon charm necklace

I really like wearing this dragon necklace for it's both simple and complex all at the same time. It's also fairly long so the dragon rests beneath my heart. Sort of blowing fire up from below!!

Dairy Free Ice Cream: Coconut Bliss

coconut bliss ice cream

Here's a peak at one of my favorite dessert indulgences -- Coconut Bliss ice cream. If you haven't tried it and you love coconut milk then you definitely need to see if your local health food store or Whole Foods is carrying this ice cream. It's HEAVENLY!!

I started buying Coconut Bliss ice cream because I wasn't eating dairy and didn't care for soy based products. Here's what the back of the label has to to say about Coconut Bliss:

It started with a simple idea: a totally satisfying ice cream without the health and ecological impacts of dairy, soy, and sugar -- an ice cream we could fully enjoy and feel great afterwards.

What makes Coconut Bliss special? The synergy between two amazing foods: coconut milk and agave syrup. Imported directly from a family-owned farm in Thailand, our naturally creamy coconut milk is cholesterol-free and rich with lauric acid and MCTs. Our agave syrup is a natural low glycemic sweetener that is gentle on your body.

It's soy free, gluten free, vegan, and with a low glycemic index. What more could you want? The texture is amazingly smooth and creamy. It also comes in a variety of flavors: vanilla, dark chocolate, cherry amaretto, mint, pineapple coconut, etc.

Next time you have that late night urge to indulge a little ice cream, I hope you'll get your bliss on!