allison keli – Page 7 – Swellness Vibes

Swell as He|| Homemade Granola — For Real

I just scoured other blogs of mine to see if I had ever made a granola-recipe post — and as it turns out, I have. However, I can see there are some differences between what I did before, and what I did *just today*, and I assure you, today’s recipe is FAR. MORE. SWELL.

I can’t say it’s the healthiest, but it has to be healthier than the ones in the grocery store. Right?

INGREDIENTS

4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1.5 cups of nuts, seeds, etc.
2/3 to 3/4 cups of dried fruit
1/2 cup melted coconut oil
1/2 cup maple syrup
a smattering of spices: nutmeg, allspice, cinnamon, etc.
some salt
topping of cacao nibs

INSTRUCTIONS

Crank that oven up to 350 degrees Fahrenheit!
Take a large cookie sheet (not a flat one) and line it with silicone.
Grab a bowl and combine oats, nuts, seeds, dried fruit, salt and spices.
- I layered it first before mixing it; first oats, the nuts and seeds, then the fruit, and then the spices and salt. I used allspice, cinnamon, cloves, orange zest and nutmeg on top of dried Montmorency cherries, blueberries, golden raisins, sunflower seeds and unsalted peanuts. I scooped the mixture up, around, down and beyond with a rice spatula to combine the dry ingredients.
Pour in oil, vanilla and maple syrup. Using the spatula, continue to mix it up! Make sure the oats are all covered with wetness and spices.
Take the oat mixture and spread it across the cookie sheet. Smooth it over with your spatula, trying to make it an even, thinnish layer. (About 1/4 thick.)
Place it in the oven, set your timer for 11 minutes. Take the mixture out, and mix it up and around and down and over on the cookie sheet. Please don’t burn yourself. Place it back in the oven for 10 minutes. Take the mixture out again, mix it up again, and then place it back inside the oven for another 11 minutes.
Remove it from the oven. If you’re adding cacao nibs, let it cool for about a minute or so before taking the nibs all across the layer, pressing them gently into the mixture with your spatula. It should not melt.
Let it cool completely before storing it. It should have pieces that break off in clumps, and a bunch of looser pieces. I used glass storage for my mixture and will *only* put it in my fridge if I feel like it’s losing some of its freshness. Otherwise, I’ll keep it tightly secured on my counter until the entire amount is eaten! The next time I make this mixture, I will be freezing some for future use.

You can also use coconut flakes, other types of nuts, chocolate, pepitas — choose your own adventure, every single time.

This granola is great for a snack, for mixing with yogurt, or for whatever you need it for.

Happy Munching!

I Tried QHHT, and This is How it Went

Let me preface this post with three words to describe me: heavily discerning skeptic. Or perhaps a healthy, discerning skeptic. I’m not quick to trust things just because of how amazing something sounds. I try things; if it works, fantastic. If it doesn’t, I didn’t lose anything but time. Maybe some money.

I’m in the woowoo field because it’s an external way for me to share my internal world. I guess. It’s not that far of a leap from who I was growing up, to who I am now. I was always intrigued by things I couldn’t fully understand, or things I couldn’t fully experience. ‘Daydreaming’ was a healthy part of my reality.

I grew up around people who believed in God, but didn’t believe in the other things they couldn’t see. So with a healthy, discerning eye, I began to explore all things God and beyond. First was through a relationship with nature; then academically in college (which I highly recommend); and then the rest came through real-world experience.

Over the years, I’ve had a lot of weird shit happen to me. I don’t let them define me, or rule me. They’re fun little antidotes for my memoir. (HA.HA.HA. Can’t wait, can you?)

I got hypnotized over ten years ago, because a fellow woowoo person had just studied how to do it. This was my introduction into being hypnotized. I didn’t really have anything I wanted to correct or fix; I just wanted to try it out, and help out a friend who needed to practice. It was fun, and weird, and to this day, I still haven’t listened to the recording of that experience.

But since I had Quantum Healing Hypnosis Technique (QHHT) performed on me (just yesterday!), I’ve found the old CD that session was recorded on, and I’m going to try to upload it to listen to it. What I remember from my original hypnosis was feeling this childlike happiness, but also being all alone and in the dark. Not scared, not sad, just alone.

I enjoyed it so much, however, that when I was attending massage school, I was hoping I could follow it with a hypnosis class to learn how to do it myself. (Alas, that did not happen.)

Fast forward ten years or so later, and my sister-in-law tells me about this hypnotherapy she was going to try out. And afterwards, she had had such an amazing experience, she wanted to share it with others by training to do it herself.

How was it different from the traditional (non-clinical) hypnotherapy I’d already had? Well, I still haven’t listened to my old recording, so this is going off of memory here, and my memory isn’t always that stellar. Both therapies relax you, both put you in a state of where your ego-mind takes a step back and allows another part of you to take over. It’s not scary; you’re fully in control, and you’re even more in control if you relax enough to witness what you “see” and “feel”.

From meditation and all of the inner work I’ve done (and the fact that I’m a fairly visual person, I suppose), this was not hard for me to tap into. The hardest part for me was to describe what it was that I was seeing when I was seeing things. Or it was hard to answer a question when there just wasn’t anything there, or there were emotions present, but it was hard to describe. I felt like language was my hurdle, not the process itself.

First, there’s an interview process between practitioner and client. After the interview, I was lead into relaxation (basically through a guided meditation). I was then asked to jump onto a cloud. (I had a little too much fun jumping on this cloud!) The cloud then, purportedly, took me back through time to another life. I saw the cracked dry earth, described my surroundings and shoes (archway on the left, ox in front of me with a cart). I was then moved forward in ‘time’ and asked to experience happy moments. I described what I saw. Then I was asked to visit the end of that particular person’s life.

After that, she brought me back to myself, and then asked questions about my current life. If there were answers, I gave them. From there, she asked permission for my higher self to do a body scan and then heal the problems I had.

Basically, that was it.

The difference between this session and my previous one–at least from what I remember–is that the previous one wasn’t as long as the QHHT one. Before, I didn’t deliberately tap into a “past life” to glean information from. It seems like that was the process for this experience. Previously I don’t remember asking questions about my current situation, and I definitely don’t remember asking for my higher self to heal a physical problem in my body.

So, if you have time (and money, I think it’s costly) and have an interest in past lives–do the QHHT. If you just want to experience hypnosis, find a regular ol’ hypnotist. From my understanding, there are many, many different types to choose from. Whichever one works best for you, I say, throw caution to the wind and just try it.

I don’t claim that what I saw was an actual past life. I don’t know. I have no proof. I don’t know why I saw what I saw. I know I saw the things I saw, and I know I felt real emotions in my real body when I was experiencing things that I saw in my mind’s eye.

I did in fact get some emotional and mental clarification. The biggest take home for me was assimilation. My logical mind doesn’t really care if I’m assimilating past lives, current life, planetary bullshit, holographic energies, whatever. My job is to assimilate all that I am and know, so that I can be of better service. Through providing bodywork, writing, talking, parenting, whatever. For myself, and for others.

I asked Siri to define assimilation for me. She showed me this:

assimilation — noun. 1. the process of taking in and fully understanding information or ideas. 2. the absorption and digestion of food or nutrients by the body or any biological system.
New Oxford American Dictionary

I have digestive issues. Boom.

There were other things, but one of the more notable moments happened to be funny. My “higher self” was having a good time at this point. I’ve had issues with my right foot. It’s off and on. It hurts, and walking/running makes it worse. It came on again late last fall, and it’s still bugging me now.

What did my higher self say about it?

It’s a running joke.

Wow. Double entendre for the astral plane/spirit world. WOW. 🤪🤪🤪

Form & Flow: Final Thoughts

(Round One)

Before I ramble on about how much I loved this training, I’d like to do some housekeeping as well. Firstly, as I stated on my Instagram account, I’m going to be taking at least a month hiatus from penning on this blog. I need to work on some other writing/editing/designs that I’m doing (and maybe a podcast?!?). No worries, however, as I’ll be scheming about new ideas to share on the blog in the future. And who knows, I may throw in a couple of random posts along the way, or finally convince some others to write their own posts! (Hint, Hint!)

I’m calling this post “round one” for a very specific reason–I definitely plan on taking these classes/instructional sessions again. I may not be able to do most of the harder poses Grant has been working us towards (I am neither flexible nor adventurous), but I’m starting to think that maybe I am actually moving towards being able to do my own version of some of these advanced poses! For the first time, I’m feeling a difference in my body and how it’s holding itself. I can now logically understand why my body has started to open up during each Kula-style class. It’s starting to click, this goal my body is apparently attempting to achieve.

What I’ve achieved is strength, mindset, and a certain knowingness/understanding of the physiological makeup of my body through experience. I can feel things I couldn’t before. A path has been created not only in my brain, but also in my body. I can see where continuous practice of Kula-style classes would forever alter my home yoga practice. All of those photos that people post with their ‘before and after’ of crazy shapes? Your own “perfect” version really does exist somewhere within the confines of your own experience. It may not look like others’ forms, but it will look different than when you first started, so long as you really focus on changing your form through function.

Form follows function; function follows form. That’s Bodywork 101.

How awesome is that? This simple knowing that I can get stronger and more efficient is amazing. This knowing that at some point I’ll just FEEL a previously unachievable milestone without trying to DO it (whatever asana it might be in the moment I’m working on).

What a nice reminder that, at any age, you truly can learn something new.

This training has also offered insight into teaching yoga. While I may never take my personal and professional training to do face-to-face sessions with people, my goal is to produce some videos online for someone to follow. Not because I think I have amazing insight or skillset (I certainly don’t–my body isn’t a pretzel body, never has been), but because if I could just help one person find the courage within themselves to stop for 20 or 30 minutes a day to breathe through movement, then it’s worth it to expose myself online. It’s not about me. It’s about anyone else.

A Spring session is in the works! It will be short, an unfurling of a seed beginning to sprout during this season of waking up. I’ll be sure to share a quick post about the class once I’ve posted it.

If you *ever* have a chance to take a class with Schuyler Grant, you simply must. Either through the Commune website, or in person, you will not be disappointed. Her style, her charm, her aura–it’s all very inviting and encouraging. It was a wonderful 5 weeks that I’m grateful I was able to experience.

Form & Flow: Week 2

I did Wheel! I did Wheel! Okay, I did a forearm wheel, but I don’t think I’ve remotely done any pose like this since I was a child. It wasn’t easy to do, and I wasn’t able to comfortably push myself up to the heavens, but I still was strong enough to even try it. And terribly nervous about coming out of it, of course, but hey, nervous, that’s me.

This week’s training by Communiversity has been fun to feel in my body. I don’t know how else to explain it. We did a ton of stretching and isolating various muscles and bony movement. As a licensed massage therapist, I couldn’t help but relate this physiology to my bodywork practice. Every stretch, every wrapping of a yoga belt, I thought how I needed to share these stretches and methods with my clients.

Simple pec stretch against the wall? Sure.

How about the amazing hip opening class of where I felt so at ease with my opened center, I could literally feel a creative energy flow through me? (Nothing specific, as it were. Just a general feeling of comfort in that area that I’m not used to feeling.)

Or how about the simple suggestion of first moving with the left side of your body when practicing? I think that suggestion is brilliant and I will definitely incorporate it.

Most people are right-handed, right, and therefore right-sided strong. The right side of the body speaks to masculinity, and as we build up our right sides of our body by over and misuse, the left sides of our bodies tend to go unnoticed. (Especially me–I am so right-side dominant, it’s ridiculous.)

You can do many things to strengthen the divine feminine within yourself, and one of these ways is through focusing on your left-side body. The side your start on in class is typically the side that you spend the most time focusing on as you feel into your body. This is set up so that by the time you get to your second side, you don’t need as much instruction. Ergo, the first side you use gets more love!

What a great trick to honor that part of your body and therefore mind.

I also learned that this is the first course Commune has offered like this, so I think it’s pretty cool that I’ve gotten into this from the ground up! There are many people who have joined the training with me, and the community of where we all interact with one another is also enlightening and supportive.

Week 3 includes pranayama, so I’m excited to see where it breathes some life into me. Heh heh, see what I did there?

Form & Flow

Maybe it’s the endorphins from having an actual decent run; maybe it’s the fact that my husband is thinking my changed breathing while running is a positive thing (and I’m likening it to all of my pranayama practice — maybe I’m less hyperventilate-y now); or maybe I just love Schuyler Grant’s wisdom.

I had planned to create posts about my personal experiences exploring chakras, but because I’ve become immersed in Schuyler Grant’s Form & Flow yoga training, I’m going to be spending time exploring the training instead.

I’ve just completed week one and it was ahhh-mazing. I love her style. With the focusing on alignment, it’s creating strength within–and get this–optimism, for once–in each pose. We did Sun Salutation A & B this week, as well as the Moon Salutation. For good measure, the end of the week ended up breathing to a certain tempo within music as we flowed in asanas…

The training is five weeks long, and the beauty of it is that when it’s over, you still have access to go back and revisit the training, which I have no doubt that I will do.