Multi-Orgasmic Multi-Tasking

Tips from the Urban Rogue-ini!

Have you ever wondered how to fit everything in to your busy schedule? Exercise, laundry, correspondences, eating well . . . it seems like time is somehow moving more quickly and we've got make the most of what we've got. Especially as the sunshine diminishes, it feels like we are running out of that most precious of resources . . . time!

I've got some fun tips for making the most of what little you've got.

Take your To Do list and notice if there is any way you can combine something mundane with something that will expand your mind and bring pleasure to your body.

Example: It may seem like a lot of extra time to walk to the store for groceries, but if you add up the time you'd normally take to get in some exercise, maybe walking is actually time-efficient. I like to get in 45minutes to an hour of walking each day, and when I walk to the store, I'm saving myself the extra time it would have taken to drive there (as well as the gas . . . another incredibly precious resource). So, I'm accomplishing 2 tasks together . Well, actually more than two: I've also lessened my stress levels because I've avoided traffic and the headache of looking for parking, and I've had time to just be by myself, process the stresses of the day and let them go. I like to practice walking on curbs to improve my balance, and this also works important muscles that don't get worked out any other way. On the way home from the store, I can use my bags as weights so that my arms get a nice work out. When I get home, instead of feeling worn out from the shopping, I'm feeling renewed, revitalized, and like I've accomplished taking care of myself, saving gas, and in the long run, saving time as well.

There's nothing worth more than peace of mind and a sense of well-being. If you can add in there getting some exercise, getting your shopping done, and conserving precious resources for the planet, well, it's almost orgasmic.

The Sacred Container: continued

Whether it's your body, bedroom or workspace, the containers we create have a huge impact on how we function.

On a practical level, your space should fit your flow. If you have too much clutter, it's hard to be mindful of what to focus on.

Notice how you flow through your space. Is it graceful and zen-like? Or does it take a lot of effort? If it isn't offering a seamless flow, then look at where the traffic jams are, and see how you can re-work them to not only fit your movement through that space, but to be beautiful as well.

There is very little we can lay claim to as our own. Everything we rely on to live is a gift from the earth, and our only way of honoring and repaying that gift is to make beauty from what we take. Notice opportunities to make more beauty in your surroundings, with words, music, a good thorough cleaning, fresh flowers, cleaning out that clutter, and making your space a living altar that honors you and everyone who visits your space.

For the body, this is tending to your nails (a good home manicure and pedicure could bring new life to your love life (claws and dirty nails in the bed are NOT seductive).
Your hair (I cut my own, but I do keep it healthy and trimmed). Your skin (exfoliate with a natural sponge or gentle scrubber and then keep it fed with healthy moisturizers. Harsh, perfumed stuff is like sugar in a gas tank. It gums up the works, and your skin is the largest organ you have. It reflects health, and disease).

Ritual: When I get into the shower, I like to give thanks for the hot water that runs so easily into the bath. I consciously think about washing away the old stuff (energy, skin cells, everything that no longer serves me), and then when I dry off and moisturize, I do a little reiki (you don't need to be attuned in reiki to do this), and bless my body as I apply my skin nutrients. I send loving messages to myself. Especially the parts I judge. I give it a good loving rub, ask it to be alive and awake and take in my love and appreciation. Personally, I've found that this has helped me to get rid of both my feelings about "inadequacy" and has helped to improve the physical beauty of those parts. Try it. It can't hurt.

Sprouting and the Sacred Container

Sprouting & The Sacred Container

I hope you all are sprouting! There are so many yummy things to sprout: seeds, ideas, relationships . . . and I am always open to new ideas on what to sprout next. I've been supercharged by lentils and fenugreek lately.

Tip: (A beautiful tea-mistress at my favorite tea house, Om Shan Tea gave me this great tip) Eating sprouted fenugreek gives your body a really yummy scent of maple syrup. I tried it, and found it to be delightful for myself and others. I also decided to drink the water the sprouts had been soaking in, and this intensified the sweet maply aroma. Sweeeeeet!

The Sacred Container:

Clearing out the old is a great first step. Going through your space, whatever or wherever it may be: body, mind, bedroom, office, car . . . and getting rid of the trash (mental trash is the worst!), paying attention to what can be recycled or reused for something else. Consider passing on beautiful treasures that no longer hold their story or charge for you anymore. And return that which you have borrowed.

Some good ways to air & clear things out:
*Deep breathwork/pranayama
*Opening up windows and letting air (especially ocean air) in
*Sage or Palo Santo smudge
*Bells, gongs, chimes, rattles, and dynamic, joyful singing
*Insight meditation

It is really surprising sometimes, how much psychic noise old charged items (mental even more than physical), and items that no longer even hold their charge, can build up. The items no longer invigorate us, yet they gather, even piling up, and eventually there isn't really much room for anything new. It can become exhausting and monotonous trying to listen to it all, all the time.

So, taking the time to look at what's around you and letting go of as much as possible can do a LOT to free up energy and attention. Then you can put those resources into the beautiful way you will create and fill this new container.

More to come . . .

Sexual Bliss Through Good Housekeeping

One day, as I cleaned my bathroom, letting the water gush over my scrub brush, I was struck by the thought of my grandmother, who, not so very long ago, carried in the buckets of water used to clean her home. I fell into that world for a moment, and felt the great effort of carrying each bucket of water from a nearby well into the home. I thought how mindfully, how carefully, how conservatively I would have used that precious water. I realized how much I would appreciate the water, and, most certainly, all of the other basic elements and resources around me. None of them, except the air and sun came easily, and I realized how much things have changed over the past few generations. In just a few lifetimes, that is hardly a sneeze in the Earth’s time logbooks, we have moved into a lifestyle (at least in this country) of running water in the home, and all kinds of other conveniences created to make our lives easier. The big question here is . . . has it really made lives more enjoyable?

“Hey! I thought this was about sexual bliss! What the hell is all this hippy dippy shit about?”

I know, it seems a bit like a bait and switch, but I promise, it’s not. Just give me a second to explain and I promise we’ll get to the sexual bliss part.

One can determine the happiness he or she is experiencing, perhaps, by how grateful one is. If someone gives me a card for my birthday, I feel some warmth in my heart and am grateful. If someone makes me dinner and gives me a massage, I feel even deeper gratitude, and the joy of the experience increases as well. So, it is not a far leap to guess that gratitude can be a good measurement for happiness. And now the next questions is . . . how grateful are we, really, as individuals and as a society for what we have? How often do we really give thanks for what we have? Running water, heated running water, refrigeration, electricity and the resources to play music and watch movies, quick, electronic communication, light, heat, and the list can go on ad infinitum. How much appreciation do we experience for what we have?

My water is cheap, and runs, seemingly, endlessly, so it’s easy to not really appreciate it, and, therefore, being able to have water becomes, not a sacred experience, but a mundane one. Is that really a blessing?

Once upon a time, again, not so long ago in the grand scheme of things, water was considered sacred by all of our ancestors at one point or another. Offerings were made, prayers, blessings, before even entering into a body of water. The ocean was considered our Great Mother. Today we have poisoned Her time and time again with oil spills, sewage, toxic run-off from commercial fertilizers brought from tainted streams and rivers. Our Great Mother, who does genuinely give us life (try going without water for a week . . . doesn’t work so well), is continually abused and mistreated by her children.

Sacred experiences bring us into the expansive and blissful altered state of the endless moment: full presence. In my continual experience, Sacred moments, as well as happiness, can be easily identified by the presence of gratitude. Prayers give thanks for that which has been received, and invocations are ecstatic openings to the benediction of the Divine, which seems to, invariably, invoke deep feelings of gratitude (and humility, but that is a whole different chapter!).

So, as I was saying, gratitude can really open the heart to deep states of joy. Ecstatic openings bring the body, mind, and spirit into a state of bliss. So, we now arrive at the sexual bliss aspect of this book (see, I told you we’d get here). Making as many moments as sacred as possible, doesn’t mean being serious and religious, goodness no! It really is simply being aware of what we do. Mindful is a good word for it. Even if that includes laughing hysterically at something completely foolish, or being more aware of all the delights that await you in the bedroom. It all lends itself to the experience of deep(er) sexual bliss.

How does the housekeeping fit into all of this, you may be asking (some of you already get my point, I’m certain). Well, first of all, I’m not just talking about literal housekeeping. I am referring to how we take care of our living spaces, yes, AND our bodies, and our relationships.

By taking the time to tend to ones home (and that can mean your 23 foot school bus, your trailier home, your backpack full of tent, sleeping bag and other essentials, your emotional home, your physical home known as the body, your social home known as community & other relationships, or the big home we call Earth), keeping it clean and the items within it cared for, one can experience more bliss.

"So, what is this blog going to be about?"

It's going to have great tips for making your life more blissful. From really healthy and easy-to-make recipes, to suggestions for spicing up your love life, to making what we do and what we have more meaningful to the rest of the network we live within.

Stay tuned for the downloads! And feel free to add in your own thoughts and ideas!