Macrobiotics and Me

Macrobiotics and Me.

Everyone has a story and this is mine.  You may be asking, "What's a nice girl like you doing in a place like this?" I was a middle class mom living in a suburb of Washington D.C. with  my four intelligent, beautiful children and my husband of 32 years. I was an organizational tutor for many years who helped clients get through school and turn their lives around.   I had never bucked the system before.  I followed my doctors, teachers and parents advice to the letter.  I was a " good" girl who crossed all my T's and dotted all my I's my entire life.  I was a vegetarian who loved her pizza and ice cream.  I thought I was healthy even though I was up to 175 pounds and aching all over.  

It was in this mindset, in 2009,  that I noticed an ad in Vegetarian Times promising a vegetarian cruise leaving from Florida, complete with interesting classes and exciting ports of call.  Best of all, there was food I could eat!  I begged everyone I knew to go with me.  They all had a reason why they could not attend.  I was terrified to go alone, but something inside of me told me this was an important crossroads in my life.  With anxiety in my heart, I packed and got myself on a plane to the rest of my life.  Standing in line, I exclaimed to the heavyset man in front of me, " This is so exciting.  we are going on a health cruise!"  He looked at me in shock.  You see, he was on the other part of the cruise, where people could indulge in all the goodies a cruise offers.  I thought the whole cruise was part of the program!  Imagine my surprise, on the food line, the first lunch, when, expecting to see pizza and and other cheese laden  savories, I spied seaweed, miso soup, and other strange oddities I had never before seen or heard of!  I defiantly snuck up to the soft serve ice cream the first night.  After all, no one was going to tell me what I could and could not eat!  

By the third day, I was hooked on macrobiotics.  Everything made crystal clear sense to me.  It was like I had come home to a place I felt secure and my mind lit up like a light bulb as I heard the teachers describe yin and yang, order of the universe and chewing.  I returned home and my family did not know what hit them!  I cleared the cupboards, brought home strange ingredients they had never heard of and began cooking on Japanese burners, sometimes 6 hours a day.

Next I went to Asheville, North Carolina where a warm and knowledgable group of macrobiotic "oldies" welcomed me to Lino and Jane Stanchich's retreat in the mountains.  I met people trying to recover  from cancer and other ills there.  One man was chewing each bite 400 times as he was quite ill.  We did do in each morning and learned about poop from Lino.  I never  laughed so hard.  The meals Jane prepared hooked me on macrobiotic cooking and I wanted to create them too.  I left there with even more resolve to make this life work for me.

I enrolled in Denny Waxman's one year class in Philadelphia.  While there I forged bonds with several students who were on the same journey as I was.  I honed my cooking skills, even though I hated every minute of making pressed salad over and over again with Susan.  Each month I couldn't wait to hear what we would learn next.  The seeds of this blog were born there.  In my excitement,   I offered  to create a newsletter for Denny complete with profiles of students, recipes, macro travel ideas, book and movie reviews.   He was not interested, but after starting macro travel friends on facebook and this blog, I see that over one thousand other people are.   Unfortunately other untenable experiences  in that class ended with me resigning and feeling quite disappointed  in macrobiotics.  It felt like my balloon had burst.  Thankfully, I met other teachers who encouraged me, like Warren and Verne and Melanie, and my unbridled enthusiasm for macrobiotics grew once again.

Through all these times I felt there was a sense of connection that was missing in the macrobiotic world.  I attended Summer Conference my first year and realized, just as when I went on the cruise and they couldn't hook me up with other Marylanders to make my journey easier, there was no way to be connected to others in your home state.  I put up bulletin boards listing every state with columns for name, address and contact info.  By the second day, it filled up with eager newbies and seasoned macros wanting to form pot luck groups and meet others on their own macrobiotic paths.  I was not allowed to post a board this year to the disappointment of attendees who approached me about it.  The site Macro Travel Friends on Facebook now has over 800 friends who list travel info, places to stay, counsellor events and I have connected several healing chefs with cancer patients through this venue.  Through my cooking business I hope to improve people's lives with good wholesome macrobiotic food.

My own potluck group has grown from three of us, in the beginning,  to eighteen this past Saturday night.  We each told about our macro journey this last pot luck.  People were so encouraged by my story that I decided to share it here.  That cruise was my life changing event.  I ended up losing fifty five pounds, clearing my mind, improving my health, and meeting so many wonderful people around the world.  

Macrobiotics shakes your life up.  It makes you look at your life differently.  It isn't always an easy journey, but one well worth it.  

"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth.

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear:

Though as for that the passing there,

Had worn them really about the same.

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

OH, I kept the first one for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

Robert Frost

Making Friends in This Crazy Modern World

I wonder whether there are many people in our society sitting home alone.  Is it easier to avoid connections with others and just stay by yourself?  I hear of many new acquaintances and long time friends who find it too tedious to get dressed up, put on makeup and go out for the evening with others and struggle to find things to talk about.  It is less work to sit in front of the computer or television and to have virtual friends, they tell me.  In the old days, families lived in the same neighborhood or even building.  Children grew up with aunts, uncles and grandparents close by.  If a parent was not available the kids had many others to call upon for homework help or a shoulder to cry on. The movie, Avalon, by Barry Levinson is an excellent example of this.  Neighbors talked over the fence and helped each other out.  My parents had a group of friends they saw every Saturday night for cards or dinner and they even dressed up for these occasions.  Now, it seems, people drive into their garages and are not seen again til they leave for work the next day.  Families may get together for holidays, but seldom see their relatives otherwise, if at all.

Are all the meet up groups taking the worry out of picking up the phone and inviting someone over?  All you have to do is rsvp and show up once a month.  Does this social invention help people to make friends?  Recently we discussed this in my Spiritual Friends group which meets twice a month.  We all get along well when there is a topic as a focus, but what is everyone doing the rest of the month.  The leader, a friendly laid back guy named Charlie, suggested that he only wanted to have one meeting a month, after having taken the lead for 3 years.  What would happen to the group?  Would anyone pick up the slack?  Of course, since I can not stand indecision, I stepped in.  I asked them what they enjoyed doing.  We brainstormed several ideas and then I got my calendar out and pinned them down to dates.  Some suggestions were a visit to Butterfly World and a walk in some gardens, a festival, a holiday party, a Halloween hayride event, and a joint Thanksgiving dinner.  They were all interested, but no one wanted to take the first step to plan it.  I urged different people to take charge of just one event.  They reluctantly agreed, but were very hesitant to offer their homes.  Reasons given were, "My home is too small.", or "My home hasn't been cleaned since 9/11."  As soon as I got home, I sent Evites for each event to hit while the iron was hot, so to speak.  So now we all have some events to look forward to.  It wasn't that they had full dance cards.  It wasn't that they did not like each other.  Are people just resigned to being at home alone until someone else takes the initiative?  Who knows if they will even get out of their cocoons and show up!

I think Facebook and social media has enhanced some of these behaviors.  Why go out and see friends in the flesh when you can have 837 online friends.  Unfortunately these "friends" can not feed your cat when you are out of town or provide a real shoulder for you to cry on.  Is securing a "like" on a facebook comment replacing a hug from an actual friend who brings you miso soup when you are sick?  Online you can dress in your pjs or not at all and converse for hours with people all over the world.  There are benefits to this expanse of opportunities to connect that way.  You can usually find someone available any time of the day or night, for instance.  But, does this replace in person socializing?  How is the fabric of society being affected by these computers and phones that pop up everywhere from the restaurant table or for a private bathroom event.  Even when people do get together the ever present "device of choice" creates an atmosphere where it is uncommon for someone to be in the moment, only conversing with the one person in front of them!  Are we afraid we will miss that all important piece of news or event that can not wait until we are finished giving our full attention to the person we are with?  I, too, am guilty of not being in the moment at times.  Social media is addicting.  It takes a conscious effort to decide to banish it for a particular time frame, like celebrating Shabbat, or to cut it off at a decent hour in the evening.

How many of you grapple with these issues of wanting to connect on a more personal level and having trouble setting limits with yourself and others around the computer and phone?  Does it compromise your sleep, your desire and ability to make meaningful relationships?  Is it like this in other countries?  I know I have 100 readers in Russia.  What is it like there with regard to creating friendships and social media addiction?    Just wondering.... Feel free to comment below and we can get a conversation going...online, of course!

No Way, You Can Not Be 50! (2013 Kushi Summer Conference)

No Way, You Can Not Be 50!

The tattooed guy on the boardwalk in Atlantic City who makes his living guessing people's ages has nothing on our macrobiotic friends.  Time and again at this Macrobiotic Conference, I have been shocked to find out that the beautiful, interesting woman with whom I have been sharing a table at lunch or dinner, and doesn't look a day over 25, is actually 41.  Those adorable, fantastic dancers  at our social on the last night who move with abandon and have the flexibility of a teenager are actually 80 or more!  Macrobiotic people just get younger and younger, living their lives with vim and vigor.  Take a look at Michio Kushi, as he speaks so eloquently and walks with a jaunty step at 87, or Maggie Cottrell, cutting up the dance floor at 85, and you will know they are doing something right.  My intention is to be as spry as they are when I reach 80, in 50 years or so.

This year,  it feels like there is a smaller crowd here.  The benefits of a manageable group are shorter waiting times in the food line and more personalized attention from the teachers who seem more relaxed and more approachable than usual.  I can only imagine what the Holistic Holiday at Sea in March will be like this coming year.

They are expecting 1800 participants.  We vegans will take over half the ship!  While I am thrilled that so many more are embracing this way of life, I am worried that the quality of the cruise, long lines at meals, standing room only classes, etc., will suffer.  I hope the powers that be are taking this into account so that the cruise veterans will not be turned off and take their vacation dollars elsewhere.  Many have confided in me that they are not returning this coming year due to long waits in the dining room and problems with the quality of the food.  The beauty of the Kushi Summer Conference is that all the classes are macrobiotic related and all the fantastic food and people are macrobiotic.  One would hope that the cruise remembers its roots and continues to invite macrobiotic speakers ( bring back that hilarious Verne Varona, the informative Bill Spear and some cooking teachers who don't use sugar) and doesn't dilute the macrobiotic experience.  I love the cruise and want to recommend it to everyone I know, but I really yearn for the simple days of the Costa Fortuna.

Today I have the wonderful treat of a private session with Ed Esko on 9 Star Ki.  For those of you who are not in the know, 9 Star Ki is a revealing form of astrology that originated in Japan.  Three numbers,  determined by your birth date and year and other methods, reveal a wealth of information about your personality, relationships and future.  Ed is Mr. Nine Star Ki so it was very enlightening to get to sit down with him.  I gathered insight about how to deal with my challenging children, my relationship and decisions in the coming months.  Lots of food for thought.  Other private sessions at the conference include shiatsu  massage, macrobiotic counseling, energy healing and hypnosis.

I learned some interesting facts this weekend.  Bill Spear shared with us that the Inuits, in Alaska, dig out the whale's belly, and before eating the meat, gather the fermented seaweed there and consume it.  Fermented  foods are important to the survival of all cultures and the ancients ones were aware of this.  He also told us that the food pyramid was created by the food and dairy industry and based on the Irish immigrants who lived in Boston in the 1930s.  These people did not have the foods that  we have now and lived a very different life than we do so the chart's relevance to current day Americans is questionable.  I love hearing his story about the Javanese woman who asked him if we Americans " eat before we eat", referring to appetizers, and then asking if we " eat after we eat", referring to dessert.  I finally understand that when asked if something is yin and yang I need to think, "In relationship to what?"  I am more savvy now about many things thanks to these wonderful teachers who have dedicated themselves to explaining macrobiotics and spreading its amazing message for over 40 years.

Tonight is party time for all of us.  After studying hard, we macros know how to boogie.  Participants of all ages get out on the dance floor and strut their stuff.    I see women from twenty to eighty five move with abandon and more energy than I have witnessed in one room since last year's conference!  It is a joy to watch an experienced ballroom teacher guide one woman after another in the most graceful dances.  Others are in their own world,  just feeling the beat of the music, and making up their own magical movements.  I feel fortunate to be a part of this group, who know how to enjoy themselves.
Kudos to Cathy and John Russo who orchestrate this lovely experience for us year after year.

Tomorrow we all head home.  We feel filled up with the spirit of macrobiotics.  We are renewed in our resolve to make our practice  better and to share our newfound knowledge with others.  Friendships have been refreshed and formed anew.  Contacts have been made and ideas have been shared.  As we head out to the real world, where we are looked upon as oddballs,  we know in our hearts that our kindred spirits from the conference join us in our commitment to one peaceful world.

Schmoozing at the 2013 Kushi Summer Conference

The Kushi Summer Conference is being held at the Dolci Center in Basking Ridge, New Jersey.  People come from all over the world to hear renowned speakers on macrobiotics share their knowledge with us.  This year's presenters include Michio Kushi, Verne Varona, Tom Monte, Ed Esko, Bill Spear, Warren Kramer, Melanie Waxman, Denny Waxman and many others.  It is difficult to juggle the full schedule of classes to be able to hear all my favorites.  Fortunately most of the lectures are taped and you can buy the CDs to listen to at home.  There are also classes each morning in yoga, Tai Chi, Do-In, Qigong, and Meditation.  In the coming days Christina Pirello, Patricio Garcia De Paredes, Melanie Waxman and Deco Nakajima will be sharing their cooking expertise with us.

It is pouring cats and dogs when we arrive and gather with many old friends to receive our room assignments.  This upscale hotel is a lovely venue for the Conference, with large cushy rooms and spacious meeting areas.  KO and I head straight to the Kushi Store on the second floor to drop off the Macro Travel Friends t shirts, selling for a very reasonable twelve dollars this year, a real steal!  My friend Kelly, a nutritionist in Maryland, has written an excellent book called Cure Your Child With Food and we have put them on sale at the store as well.  The well stocked store is a macrobiotic's dream as its tables are brimming with snowy agar, large sacks of grains, juice sweetened cookies, books by our favorite authors, useful kitchen utensils and healthy seaweed.  I buy a new cookbook by Bettina Zumdick, a teacher at the Kushi Institute, and promise myself to return tomorrow to peruse the goodies.

My favorite part of the Conference is reconnecting with friends I have not seen since last year.  We greet each other warmly with hugs and kisses and compare notes from the last twelve months.  Today , while waiting for a lecture to begin, I met a new friend from New Jersey and he shared his wealth of  information regarding New Jersey shore vegan and macrobiotic friendly restaurants.  I'm looking forward to a trip there to try them out.  Everyone is very friendly and you never know if you will sit down with a person who cured their cancer, diabetes, heart problems or eczema with  macrobiotics.  The stories are motivating and help to reinforce the reasons I am following this path.

The food is already outstanding.  Tonight's dinner is divided into a healing diet and the regular macrobiotic fare.  On the menu is the creamiest roasted garlic polenta I have ever tasted, Red Lentil Loaf with Mushroom Gravy, steamed kale and many salad options. The brocoli soup is accompanied by sourdough croutons.  For dessert, they offer a lemon poppy seed cupcake.  We enjoy our food while having a lively conversation with a couple from Maryland who share their experiences taking cooking classes in Becket at the Kushi Institute.

After dinner there is a lecture with Tom Monte entitled Creating Peace- In Your Life, In Your Most Cherished Relationships, Community and World.  The standing room only crowd is treated to a heartfelt dialogue on the importance of dealing with our anger and sadness before we can reach the stages of compassion, love and fulfillment.  You can hear a pin drop in the room as we intently absorb Tom's crucial life lessons. He counsels, "If you are waiting for someone else to change then that is making your own happiness dependent on the other changing."  The other person can not prevent us from having happiness any more and we need to pay attention to the tender victim in ourselves, face our anger and not let it fester into disease.  There are many interesting lessons in Tom's wise words.

The evening ends with Michio Kushi, at eighty seven years young, welcoming us to the conference.  Next Jessica Porter entertains us with her usual brand of humor while introducing the speakers for the weekend.  It is always a treat to hear her come up with an anecdote about every presenter and put a funny spin on it.

Exhausted and excited we return to the room for some well needed sleep.  Can't wait to see what they are serving for breakfast tomorrow and best of all, I don't have to cook for myself!

 

More tomorrow on Day Two.