Unfiltered Awakening

  In one of our most recent recipe posts, Alexis mentioned a side dish of fried plantains with her black bean and sweet potato tacos. Yucca is also a great Latin side dish. It is a starchy root vegetable and its proper name is Cassava. It's a vegetable that is eaten very commonly in many Latin American, Hispanic, and Caribbean cultures. Yucca root can be purchased from many traditional grocery stores, depending on your geographic region. If you are not in the southwest or southeast, you may have to hop into your local Hispanic or Caribbean markets. They can also be referred to as Bodegas.  Here is a link on how to cook and serve  yucca . You can also buy them premade and frozen. Alexis recommends the Goya brand, similar to premade plantains and tostones in her   Yummy black bean and sweet potato tacos recipe .  If you are pressed for time and can find them premade, they are super delicious and cook within 10 minutes. Here is another brand, found at  wa...

  While studying the Sacral Chakra, much of the research I was finding online kept leading me to awareness of just how connected the Sacral Chakra is to the Root Chakra. If a person's Root Chakra is blocked or out of balance, guess what? Not a huge surprise, but your Sacral Chakra will be out of balance as well. The Root and Sacral even share or overlap certain organs or muscles in the body, including the pelvic floor, the bladder, the sciatic nerve (located in the lower back), and some of our sexual organs. Many teachers and healers even believe that if the Root Chakra is blocked, you must begin there for healing before you can begin to balance any of your other Chakra systems. Once we learn just what the Root Chakra is, it will definitely make sense to you why this is the case. What is the Root Chakra? So just what is the Root Chakra? It is our first Chakra and is located at the base of the spine, the pelvic floor, and our first three vertebrae.  It also includes your feet a...

  Being diagnosed with Pelvic Floor Dysfunction, you experience a range of emotions, from relief that your pain has a label, to sometimes despair, as your doctors advise you of your chronic condition that you must manage for the rest of your life. Yes, you will have periods of normalcy (sometimes long stretches of no symptoms), but the introduction of chronic stress, a life trauma, or medical condition to the pelvic region of your body can produce a flare. What brings me comfort is knowing I have lots of different treatment options and a team of medical professionals that are dedicated to my health. Taking advantage of all that western medicine has to offer is so important for many conditions that we as humans suffer from. Believe me, I would never be one to dismiss all of the ground breaking medical breakthroughs that science has discovered. All of those traditional methods to assist me with my chronic pain are in my tool kit and I use them daily. But I have always been a science ...

  As some of you may know, motherhood got in the way of my best laid plans for work today, but I really wanted to get this recipe out for all of you! So I am going to make this blog post short and sweet. That's fitting because the recipe is basically those 2 things: short (3 ingredients and super fast to make) and sweet (umm, hello, who doesn't like a little dessert in their life?) Another bonus is that even though they are healthy (not to mention vegan and gluten free), they are really delicious! I will also give you some topping suggestions to give them a little more flavor and presentation. Fall is my favorite season! One of things I love most about it is baking. I love the smell of nutmeg, cinnamon, and especially pumpkin pie spice. Pumpkin Pie is one of my favorite Thanksgiving recipes. In case you didn't know, I am a bit of a planner. That type A personality in me realizes that before I know it, one of my favorite holidays for baking is going to be right around the co...

  Oh, the dreaded annual IEP meeting. For any of you that may have a child with special needs, you know how those 3 little letters can create anxiety, panic, and dread. Raising children who are deemed to have special needs or "non-typical" can be such a gut wrenching experience. At the same time, as a parent, you often marvel at just how far your children can come and the leaps bounds they can achieve considering the hand they were dealt. And when it is time for your yearly IEP meeting, those mixed emotions started flooding out of you. You find yourself wishing this wasn't your situation. And for as dearly and passionately that you love and accept your baby, there's that small part of you that wishes they were a typically developing child.  Many different types of students in K-12 education have an IEP, which stands for an Individual Education Plan. My son has Autism and a speech impairment, but there are many other reasons why a child may be identified as having spec...

 Oh how I LOVE tacos! And when I say I love tacos, I mean this would be last meal on my death bed kind of love. I used to be able to say that my little tummy would consume any style of taco, but with my new dietary restrictions to manage my chronic pain ( Anti-Inflammatory Diet ), I have had to make some changes. I have also moved towards a  plant based lifestyle . Luckily for me, I can still enjoy a variety of delicious taco recipes that are vegan friendly, gluten free, and anti-inflammatory friendly. One of the best of these is this recipe for black bean and sweet potato tacos! This recipe was found on, you guessed it,  Pinterest , and the full recipe can be found by  clicking here . Honestly, making tacos, in my opinion, is pretty self explanatory so all of the exact instructions aren't needed. That's why I posted the link to where I discovered it. For instance, at my house we just threw the black beans in the pot and cooked them, but the original author of the re...

Self forgiveness was one of the hardest yet most freeing things I ever learned to do! Why is it easier to forgive others but so difficult to forgive ourselves? I have worked very hard to be more forgiving of myself and my past actions that I later considered “mistakes.”    What is Self Forgiveness? To self forgive means to separate who you are from the mistakes you have made. You accept what is done and behaviors or choices you have made, without dwelling or ruminating on it for long periods of time. It becomes easier to forgive others when you learn to forgive yourself. The thing is, we need to understand that we do what we think is the best in that moment with what we have. Why are we being so hard on ourselves for that? It’s ok to look back as long as you learn from your past actions, just do not crucify yourself over what you should have done differently.  Forgive yourself if you need to, learn from your past and move forward loving yourself for whom you have become. ...

Does anyone else out there absolutely love hummus like me, but have no idea how to make it? Sure there are a ton of brands and a variety of flavors in most grocery stores, but little did I realize just how delicious and easy it is to make homemade hummus. After my first attempt at this recipe, I will never buy store bought again, and I bet you won't either! I love hummus with pita or crackers, and I also use it as a dip for veggies. You can also have it in place of guacamole or queso when you are munching on tortilla chips. But there are many other ways to enjoy it.   Click here for 14 ways to enjoy hummus! What is hummus? In the case that you are not familiar with hummus, it is a tasty spread or dip and was originally made in the Middle East. Hummus ingredients include ground chickpeas,  tahini , olive oil, lemon, and garlic. As I mentioned before, this recipe is sooo easy to make and I will never buy store bought again! I found this recipe on Pinterest and you can visit...