Life Is a Practice
Jun 27, 2023
After a long time I sit in front of a screen to write this blog.
I close my eyes and breathe deeply, making space in and around me.
Stopping the wheel of time and perceptible energies, positioning myself inside. In that monochrome space from which all the colours are generated, but which in itself is perceptible as black velvet - calm, dense, enveloping, motionless and yet fluid.
I open my eyes and start writing.
So many reflections, so many ideas and insights to share that I don't know which ones to choose.
And in fact I don't choose just one to tell you about, but I share the state of reception in which I am right now. In which we all are right now.
We are in an intense moment of cellular reorganization. Yesterday's shapes and structures dissolve (or should… some still persist due to natural electromagnetic resistance), a temporary disorganized dance before the new order, the new geometry, the new shape.
In nature (that is, in everything that surrounds us, constitutes, generates and reabsorbs), we notice these cycles without any exceptions. Galaxies, plants and bacteria all go through these phases of creation, chaos, destruction and re-creation. They don't run away. Alchemists describe it in the 7 steps of transformation alchemy. The vedas describe it as the dance between Brahma the creator, Vishnu the preserver and Shiva the destroyer of the entire Universe.
A few weeks ago I was invited to create a sensorial experience for a friends 44th Birthday at her gorgeous home in Ibiza treating 22 guests. Her one request was a tiramisu type dessert. Of course all my food that I serve for clients is vegan so I had to get creative. I came up with a divine vegan, sugar and gluten free "Tiramatchoo" cake. I used matcha to get the green and coconut to create the "whipped cream". And finally topped different states of raspberry.
In the kitchen to create a cake you start with ingredients such as flour, oil and eggs (banana if vegan, and brown rice flour if gluten free), which will all be mixed together and will lose their primitive state. Once the dough is made, there is no going back. But from here we are ready to create, allowing something new to be born. A new form. A different organization... the outcome is our cake.
And once you've eaten the cake, there's no turning back, and off you go for another round of the carousel. A new rotation. A new reorganization of shapes and atoms.
When I enter the space of culinary creation, I place myself at the disposal, meaning I become a channel of creativity which is the primary life-generating force that expresses itself through everything that is life. I literally place myself at the disposal of my intuition and I cannot tell you where it will land, but I do my best to facilitate the flow of the transformation, of the mutation, making sure I eliminate as much of my own resistances, disturbances or impediments to allow creativity to flow through me.
What allows me to get the most out of my creative sessions is creating an optimum space to allow the creativity to come in undistracted. Specifically, in the kitchen, for example, I make sure to keep the worktops clean, to use the most suitable tools, to observe what times are necessary and I don't beat the dough for longer than necessary. I don't cook too much or too little. When thinking about the order of the steps to follow, I rely on common sense and do not whip the cream to decorate the cake before having mixed the base. Everything is in its own divine time.
Right now, more than ever, I realize that I am approaching my life with the same principles that I have practiced in the kitchen for the past 16 years.
When I don't know how to approach a new phase, I open myself up to receive instructions from my intuition, to be guided one step at a time, entrusting as well as trusting myself.
I learned that the maturation, patience, fermentation and rest times are the most important "ingredients" in the kitchen and I´m finding this is the same with life. Without these "ingredients" the Focaccia is not fragrant, the kombucha is not fizzy and the yogurt isn´t sour. In short, I am alive, but living in black and white.
When I'm confused, at an impasse or at a standstill, the best thing to do is to tidy up and go back to basics. To ground myself and my energy. In short, to have a clean table with brilliant and aligned instruments.
I take a deep breath, drink a glass of intentional water, drop my shoulders and let the air out of my lungs with a liberating "ahhhhhh". The air that passes between the emptying of my lungs seems to massage the heart, which reopens and repolarizes itself again.
And when the dough is done and it´s safe to rise as it bakes in the oven, I cleaned up all the objects and spaces I used, lighting an incense and giving thanks.
Thank you and I am grateful to be alive. I was able to be part of another energetic transformation that unfolded before me. Simply to remind me that I, as this alchemical and culinary process, am in constant transformation and mutation being the watcher and channel at service.
I wish everyone a delightful and creative life practice. We can all find ourselves at the service of our own intuition, letting go and dissolving resistances. To join forces with the great alchemical transformation party where life and our planet are inviting us to co-create.
Sending many blessings,
Erika
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