INTUITIVE TEACHERS

"Nature Does Not Hurry, Yet All Is Accomplished," Tao Te Ching

Stone   Wood
Earth    Forest

Shell
Ocean

Creature
Teacher

Sky: Unlimited


NATURE'S PAINTBRUSH!



In God's wilderness lies the hope of the world-the fresh, unblighted, unredeemed wilderness, John Muir



http://imaginehealing.info/  Joel P. Bowman, Ph.D., and Rev. Debra Basham, CHTP.  Healing is already here!  See another photo of our Tom cat, lower right Imagine Healing Pets.

http://dbasham.blogspot.com/  Debra Basham's new post, A Small Piece of the Beginning on The Yellow Brick Road, Your Path to Heart and Health.

Crane Teaches Patience

dahlis.roy@gmail.com  Purchase paintings and prints, inquire to receive Free illustrated E-Book, Silver Butterfly, Create A Vision.  Awaken your Creative Spirit.


Photos:  A Tomcat in a Pear Tree, by Paul 
Petrified Wood, Ocean Shell and January Moonset by Dahlis Roy
Yellow Headed Night Heron, photo, courtesy of Debra Basham

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!

Celebrate Year of the Dragon!

What does the dragon mean?  In some countries the dragon is a symbol of fear and destruction.  Dragons appear in myths and legends of our times.  Creatures of the Sea rise up from oceans and even teach people on Earth lessons or "become" human or half human. 


My first drawings were dragons, drawn with red crayons.  Cave artists hinted at dragons or snake-like totems.  Rock carvings may suggest dinosaur shapes.  Where do these come from?  Some dragons have wings and rest on clouds, why?  Rob suggests ancient builders excavating a site may have dug up huge bones.  Artists constructed dragon shapes based on the bone formations. 


*In her book, Sage-ing While Age-ing, Shirley MacLaine speaks of the dragon's Chinese meaning as a rise in consciousness, evolving and unfolding into new ways of wholeness, thought, and action.  Shirley thinks it is no coincidence that 2012 is "The Year of the Dragon."

How can Tai Chi and Qigong practice help?  Can you feel a new rise in qi ("Chee" energy) for your body, mind, and spirit as you practice?  Can Tai Chi promote flexibility as the bamboo bends in the wind?  Tai Chi nurtures centering by going within.  What are new skills we are all learning?  What would you like to experience and accomplish in 2012 and beyond?  Can I (should I) tame the dragon?  Is the dragon within?



"Oh What do I know of the dragon?  It comes on wind and clouds. "
Tao te Ching


Welcome to the Year of the Dragon!


** Creatrix Impigratis!


*  http://www.shirleymaclaine.com/  Shirley MacLaine is a noted actress, author, and mystic.  Sage-ing While Age-ing, I'm Over All That, Going Within, Out on a Limb books and more.

**  http://www.taichi-qigong.net/   Creative Energy!  Colin and Mitzi Orr teach Yang Long Form Tai Chi and Qigong (Shibashi-18 Form Tai Chi Qigong) in Gorleston by the Sea, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, U.K.

http://www.taichiforhealthinstitute.org/  Dr. Paul Lam in Sydney, Australia, promotes Tai Chi for Health worldwide.

http://www.ymaa.com/  Dr. Yang, Jwing-ming helps us to understand Tai Chi as an inner art, for health and martial practice.

http://www.bridgetochina.org/  nonprofit educational organization providing Chinese language education and cultural enrichment programs for children and residents in St. Joseph (SW) Michigan USA.

http://www.cookingchanneltv.com/  Ching-He Huang brings Chinese Food Made Easy, fresh, fun, healthful

dahlis.roy@gmail.com  Request free E-book, Silver Butterfly, Create A Vision.  Purchase paintings and prints.


Photo Dragon courtesy Bridge to China, St. Joseph, Michigan USA

FOR THE LOVE OF CHOCOLATE

Caramel Pecan Cheesecake at Papa Vino's Italian Kitchen

Chocolate delights all ages.  Feel good nourishment lifts mood and enhances social fun and sharing. 

*Unsweetened dark chocolate (baking chocolate with zero sugar grams) is beneficial for encouraging cardiovascular health.  One half square of melted unsweetened dark chocolate is a treat I enjoy.  Eaten plain with a fork, the chocolate may taste somewhat like coffee.  Sometimes I like to drizzle warm melted chocolate over buckwheat cakes with pecans, almonds, or walnuts.  Unsweetened chocolate can partner with cottage cheese, plain yogurt, or mozzarella cheese cubes.  Unsweetened cocoa powder can be mixed into plain no fat Greek yogurt.  Unsweetened chocolate may be an acquired taste.  I quite like it!

When I was a child, I ate candy by the pound!  No wonder my dad called me "the candy kid!"  In those days, boxed chocolates including chocolate creams of various flavors, were made with pure cane sugar.  Candies were also richer in cream and butter.  

During holidays, my parents and I traveled to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to enjoy the festive store fronts in the downtown area.  The song Silver Bells' lyrics described everything as music floated through the air, piped out into the streets.  Yes, we had snow too, a living Christmas Card.  I wore my favorite blue coat with a faux fur rimmed hood collar.  I imagined I was a wolf cub!

**Best of all were the trips to the giant Gimbels and Hornes downtown  stores. The Anaclair was a chocolate wonder at Gimbels!  This large chunky chocolate event featured either milk or dark chocolate melded with toasted fresh pecans covering a burst of creamy white filling.  These were my ultimate favorite.  I also loved the "break up" fresh milk chocolate from the candy case.  The creamy melt in your mouth goodness was like a trip to Switzerland! 



Chocolate Creations from the Chocolate Cafe


And then there is cheesecake!  My favorites are made with blends of cream cheese, sour cream, and/or ricotta cheese and not too sweet.  The parade of New York style plain cheesecakes, perhaps drizzled with dark chocolate and/or carmel sauce, turtle cheesecakes, and milk or dark chocolate cheesecakes bring sweet memories, nourishment for body and soul! 

***Painting with Chocolate
Recently I saw a program about melting dark baking or semi-sweet chocolate and painting a chocolate layer over traced or free hand designs onto waxed paper.  Someone made a horse!  You could do leaves or other motifs.  You use an "artist's spatula" (a clean palette knife) to sculpt your creations.  Later, when hardened, you peeled the designs carefully off the paper and use them to decorate tops of cakes.  I like the chocolate horse best!



No Flour Chocolate Cake at Sandra Kay's Bakery and Cafe



Related Post:  Tonal Vision (The Power of Music in Your Life, Jan 2011). I am enjoying the Vienna Boys' Choir while I write.

Local Suggestions:
http://www.qdi.com/papavinos/locations.htm    Carmel Pecan Cheesecake at Papa Vino's Italian Kitchen, St. Joseph, (SW) MI USA, various locations for Italian favorites in relaxed settings.

http://www.southbendchocolate.com/  South Bend, (Northern) Indiana company includes the Chocolate Cafe in St. Joseph, Michigan.  Scenic walk to Lake Michigan is like a bit of Europe. 

http://www.chocolategarden.com/  Coloma, (SW) MI, award winning hand made creamy chocolate truffles with various fillings.  Tina Buck Owner, shipping is available.

www.sandrakaysbakery.com  Stevensville, (SW) MI Cafe and Bakery in a Countryside Setting, take out, custom orders.

The Flour Shop, Stevensville, (SW) MI, Cheesecake Balls hand dipped in dark chocolate, baked goods, custom orders.  The Flour Shop is on Facebook.

More
*  www.kraftbrands.com/bakerschocolate  Since 1780, Bakers chocolate is a favorite.  Check out Baker's Heritage (La Belle, oldest logo in USA registered 122 years ago) and chocolate recipe selections.  My favorite recipe is truffles.

 http://www.mercola.com/  Dr. Joseph Mercola, discusses benefits of dark chocolate Sept 21, 2011, articles, free newsletter, blog and more.

**  www.wikipedia.org//wiki/Gimbels  History of Gimbels (1887-1987) started by a Bavarian Immigrant and home of Anaclairs candy.  Photo of Pittsburgh, PA "Flagship Store." 

***  http://www.pbs.org/  Julia Child The French Chef

http://www.cookingchanneltv.com/
http://www.foodnetwork.com/

http://giadadelaurentiis.com/  Giada De Laurentiis, Giada at Home and Everyday Italian, TV series, traditional and modern Italian dishes.  Giada At Home, #1 NY Times Bestseller and other books by Giada, a student of Le Cordon Bleu.


dahlis.roy@gmail.com  purchase original paintings and prints, request free E-book, Silver Butterfly, Create A Vision.
     

Photos:  Caramel Pecan Cheesecake at Papa Vino's, No Flour Chocolate Cake at Sandra Kay's by Dahlis Roy, and Chocolate Creations from the Chocolate Cafe by Emilie

UNPLUGGED~LETTING GO AGAIN

It's the  New Year.  We were unplugged due to computer repair for a few days over the holidays.  I hear myself tell myself, "Let It Go...."

I hear silence.

*I flashed back to a guided imagery, a Master Cheetah's lesson of letting go. I questioned, "Why is it so hard to let go of wonderful events like our computer friends and many more 'things' we love?"  Even for a few days?

I experience stillness

I remembered Dr. Paul Lam spoke in an online newsletter:  "Why do I need a houseful of things when I can travel the world with one suitcase?  Material possessions are way down on my list of priorities while happiness, health, and harmony, family, friends, and co-workers rank highest."



My Heart Smiles.

"Play It By Heart...."



Related Post:  See Spots Run, (The Lesson of Letting Go, Mar 2011)


http://www.taichiforhealthinstitute.org/  Paul Lam, M.D., is a family practice physician in Sydney, Australia. He travels the world to promote Tai Chi and Qigong exercises for better health and stress relief.  DVDs Tai Chi for Health programs, music, articles, free online newsletter and more.

http://imaginehealing.info/
http://dbasham.blogspot.com/  Yellow Brick Road:  Your Path to Heart and Health, Debra Basham, CHTP, NLP, HTt, RMT
http://www.scs-matters.com/ Joel P. Bowman, Ph.D., and Debra Basham, Subtle Communication Systems

dahlis.roy@gmail.com purchase prints and paintings, request free E-book Silver Butterfly, Create A Vision.


Cloud Shadows, photo by Dahlis Roy, this experiment was shot at night while filming some outdoor blue and red holiday lights, "surprise!"

THE NEWEST YEAR

*  "Let us continue to work together to bring more happiness and harmony to ourselves and to the world,"  Paul Lam, M.D.


Rewind
**  Years ago in a story called Tai Chi Adventure, I had a section called The Newest Year, the year I learned at home and in class to practice (and much later teach) Tai Chi.   As re-read the words today, I flashed back to "Every winter morning, my son Rob explained correct Tai Chi breathing and showed me some simple warm up exercises called Qigong ('Chee-gong') I was in such poor shape even the warm ups made me sore and tired.  Gradually I felt better with stronger physical energy.  Rob added a second daily practice in the late afternoon, some Yang Style Tai Chi his teacher, Jiong Gu, practiced."

"Mom, You're not leaving the house without practicing Tai Chi!"

After daily Tai Chi practice, I wrote out random thoughts on scraps of paper and shredded most, a clearing.  Sometimes I kept notes to develop later.  **That's how a book, Silver Butterfly, and later this blog, Out of the Blue, were born." 

Daily Tai Chi exercise gives me ongoing strength and health plus creative concentration and relaxation for exciting projects and opens windows for ever new opportunities.

Fast-Forward
Colors and lights are shifting in mysterious plays of hues and shades.  Intuition is becoming more accessible.  Sensitivity and empathy spring up like flowers pushing shoots through snow.

Recently my friend, Debra, and I experienced a play of rainbow orbs in my living room.  The slanted winter sun shown brilliantly through frosted glass prisms in the front door.  I thought of reaching for a camera to capture the globes of light, but silent intuition spoke, "Leave it alone and just watch." 

One orb was particularly unusual as it flickered and danced across a Spirituality and Health magazine Debra brought.  The globe of colored light looked three dimensional rather than a flat prism.  In my imagination, I could hold it in my hands.  The globe vibrated and swirled, radiating  rainbow prisms with pink bands.  Then textured Earth tones appeared, a grounding presence.  The orb seem to rotate and move, like our planet.  Our heart centers opened while witnessing this transient play of light.  If Debra and I had been somewhere else, at that exact time, we would have missed participating in our "divine appointment." 


"God's Perfect Timing" 



HAPPY NEWEST YEAR!  Love, Dahlis



Related Posts:  Tonal Vision (the power of music, Jan 2011), Color (Y)our World (living color visualization, Feb 2011), Universe Shadows of Cranes (steps to achieve your goal by Dr. Paul Lam, Mar 2011), Picture Perfect (our moving slide shows, Mar 2011), Painting the Earth (painted memories create a big picture, May 2011), and Colors of God (Dec 2011)



*  http://www.taichiforhealthinstitute.org/  Paul Lam, M.D. is a family practice physician in Sydney, Australia.  Tai Chi for Health programs world wide, workshops, articles, Forum, DVDs music, free newsletter and more  

http://www.taichi18.com/  Master Wing Cheung, 18 Form Taiji Qigong, free DVD download, easy to follow as an exercise by itself or a warm up for Tai Chi.  18 Form (Shi Ba Shi) was co-created by Masters He, Weiqi (Yang Style Tai Chi) and Lin, Hou Sheng (Qigong) in 1982 in Beijing.

Debra Basham's, new blog, Yellow Brick Road:  Your Path to Heart and Health
http://imaginehealing.info/  Joel P. Bowman, Ph.D and Rev Debra Basham, CHTP, NLP, HTt, RMT
http://surgicalsupport.info/
http://www.scs-matters.com/ Subtle Communication Systems

**  dahlis.roy@gmail.com  Request free PDF E-book Silver Butterfly, Create A Vision.  Inquire original paintings and customs prints.


2012, contributed photo
Colored Lights Through Frosted Glass, photo by Dahlis Roy