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Happy 2019!

Dear Friends and fellow Qigong/Yoga Practitioners,
Have amazing adventures in this next year!

Hello from Denver. I have to say that the past 2 years have gone both fast and way too slow all at the same time. Now, my last 8 months is about acceptance: Being here and planning for the future all at the same time. Much needed Qigong daily! Remember to breathe I say!

As I look out of the window I see white snow! Its new since last night and it has put a quiet on this hugely populated and sprawling city. The calm is welcome.

Current news about Qigong/Yoga is that I am teaching nearly 8 classes a week in the Denver Parks & Rec system and I love it! The people are diverse, each class has a different group of people, and I get to carry on gathering new Qi with every passing day.

I plucked a fortune cookie with this note in it and it completely describes the many years of my life on the road now.

There is a part of my teaching, being a sage-traveling doctor that appeals to me, bringing medicine as the ancient ancestors used to by foot and horseback to the villages and communities. And yet there is an equal driving part of me that has been longing for a home, a new place, with friends and community, a place that needs me!
If Luck will have it, a grant I have applied for with the American Philosophical Society, will come through and I will join the Acupuncture Relief Project in Nepal in August after I take my board exams. And if not, then I will be on my way to a new home.

Until then, you can find me in Denver teaching (google calendar of classes), taking classes at the Colorado School of Traditional Chinese Medicine (cstcm.edu), teaching anthropology at the University of Denver, and climbing in Golden at Earthtreks through the summer of 2019.

Future plans will be to set up a small clinic where I teach Qigong healing and practice Traditional Chinese Medicine, as well as continue teaching Earth and Environmental Science and Anthropology.

Recent Events:
Just traveled 2,000 miles to Bisbee, Az and into the Sonora desert. Returned to visit with friends and students left behind in Fall 2016 when I moved to Denver. And brought with me a workshop on Blood and Qi, and lots of acupuncture wisdom. I left just in time as they got the snow first just after Christmas. Photo below is from the San Pedro River, where we have found Clovis points, wooly mammoth bones, migratory hummingbirds and so much beauty.
I walked across the border into Sonora Mexico at Naco, to meet with Doctor Gladys about the needs of the small town of Naco and if there may be a need for an acupuncturist in a clinic there. She told me that most of the people she is seeing have asthma and upper respiratory stuff (pollution and dryness), as well as typical pain. Not much different from Denver. Women and children need alot of care. There will be opportunity in the future to develop some clinic help there which I am looking forward to.

AND......Also 3 months ago on Sept. 26, 2018, my grandson Jude Matias Istre was born in Fort Collins, Co. I get to see him as often as can be. Love, Love Love!

For my Qigong friends, and anyone interested in the basis of the medicine I practice, these 3 videos below are great support information to get you started and give you more background on the history of the practice and its wonderful medicine benefits for everyone.

The Physiology of Tai Chi and Qi Gong

Qigong Documentary

A Journey into Tai Chi: An Ancient Martial Art unfolding into modern day "Medicine in Motion"

WINTER

Water (k’an)

Colors: black (yang) and dark blue (yin)
Earthly branches and months: Boar (Nov.), Rat (Dec), Ox (Jan.)
Planet: Mercury
Direction: North
Climate: Cold
Season: Winter
Taste: Salty
Emotion: Fear (blocked) Will Power (flowing)
Body Organs: Kidneys (Yin) and Bladder ( Yang)

Water is the most feminine of the five elements and therefore is considered very yin.
In Taoist cosmology, femininity is not considered weak. On the contrary, water is the
most powerful element for it can move around any obstacle in its path without losing
its essential nature. Water can, in time, dissolve the hardest mountains.

At the end of November, winter begins, the vapor of heat turns to liquid and freezes.
Considering that we as humans are the same nature as the earth and cosmos, we too
are 70% water, in all tissues, in cells, and we are the same strength as elemental water,
that changes with the seasons, can be fluid or congealed, that can be fluid or stuck.
Therefor in the winter we drink warm fluids, we exercise, we warm our bodies with warmth,
clothes, shelter, heat. The foods we eat should nourish the kidneys since it is the peak
time for these organs. Since the kidneys surround both sides of Mingmen gate, the essence
of who we are, we go deep into the yin during the winter, but we must practice keeping the
warmth of the essence of Mingmen warm. Qigong and mindful practices will help do this.

The foods we eat reflect the climate and colors of our environment during winter. Black radishes,
black beans, fish of the sea that are salty nourish yin and the kidneys. Winter is the time to
conserve and store energy. Warm foods to strengthen the Yang, Qi and Xue are called for.

Foods for Winter:
Seaweed
Miso
Tamari
Lamb, Chicken, Turkey
Salmon
walnuts
chestnuts
black sesame seeds
Oats
Quinoa
Parsnips
Cherries
Winter Squash

WINTER SOUP:
Winter Soup: to reduce fat gain in the winter, eating warm veggie soup for dinner by 7pm and fasting for 12 hours will help keep you healthy and conserve Yin. Here is one of my recipes (No Dairy, No Grain, No Added Sugar):
Everything is organic.....
Soup Made for 1 person for 3 days: Includes Turkey bone broth 8oz., Chicken, Sweet potatoes, Green beans, Black Radish, Turnip, Collards, Mushrooms w/ ginger root. 100gr=3.5 oz of each.Totals: 465 kCal/3 = ~150kCal Daily Serving: 155kCal (5 gr Fat, 11.5 gr Protein, 14.6 gr Carbs, 3.6 gr Fiber, 4 gr Natural Sugar)
Pepper, no salt, turmeric and a little basil.

If anyone is interested in setting up workshops and classes, I do travel and look forward to seeing what we can create together. Please email me at info@blackcoyotemedicine.org