I was raised in a Conservative Jewish household. I spent many years studying Hebrew and going to Sunday School, attending a synagogue, celebrating only Jewish holidays. Yet I secretly loved Christmas: the decorations, the tree, the beautiful carols and the celebration of the birth of a little baby in a manger.
When I graduated from college and moved to San Francisco I started celebrating Christmas. I loved being able to decorate a tree and feel a part of this holiday away from my family's confused and disapproving eyes. My love for Christmas continues to this day.
This year it finally dawned on my just why I love Christmas so much - aside from the tree and the beautiful songs and lights. I love Christmas because it is the only holiday I am aware of that celebrates the natural birth of a baby. Christmas celebrates the birth of the little baby Jesus and his loving mother Mary. Mary has become a symbol of all that is good and selfless and pure about motherhood. And Jesus is the little innocent babe who is wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger. Perfect.
Perfect for me whose prefessional career has been devoted to the health and well being of mothers and babies. Christmas in its purest form is a holiday made for me, the original Baby Nut!
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Thursday, December 06, 2007
A Bird Does Not Sing Because It Has An Answer
A bird does not sing because it has an answer. It sings because it has a song. (Chinese Proverb) There is no "If - Then". There are no conditions to the singing. Cage a bird and - though saddened by the loss of its freedom to take wing - it will still sing.
This applies to humans as well. I heard on NPR about a Jewish man and woman who found love in a concentration camp during WWII. Miraculously they both survived and were able to marry after the war. While everything around them was bleak and full of depravity and despair, they found a way to sing their song of love.
In Yiddish it is called a nigun, a melody, a tune, a song we are forever trying to remember, to recapture and to sing. In the journey to recapture my nigun, I discovered Kirtan, or sacred chant. I play the harmonium and sing chants in Sanskrit and other languages. The words are songs glorifying the divine. The words repeat themselves over and over and the effect is mesmerizing, heart opening. Shivaya Nama Om, Shivaya Nama Ha. By naming and honoring aspects of the divine, I am also honoring my own divinity, my own sacredness.
A baby in the womb first hears its mother's song. The baby is nourished by the cord connecting her to her mother, and she is also soothed and carried by the song she is surrounded by as she floats and grows. Perhaps it is the emergence of the baby's own song that pulls them from the womb. Gradually her own song takes the place of her mother's. Where will that song take her? What bits of melody will inform her life as she grows?
When we are little babies I believe we hear our own song loud and clear. It is so much a part of us that we do not need to sing it aloud, though some of us may try. As we grow older the needs and expectations of others may soon drown out the sound of our own song, our nigun: so many voices clamoring for our attention; so many outer enticements pulling us away from our center. Still the song keeps on singing deep within, high and low, soft and loud, fast and slow. At night before sleep we can almost hear it. In our dreams we catch snatches of the melody.
As our life unfolds we will look for answers. Why? Why is life so hard? So cruel? So unfair? So short? So long? What does it all mean? Why am I here?
Life's longing for itself is the only answer needed. The only condition to the living of life is this: sing your song, your nigun. Only you can sing your uniquely You song. Only you can hear the melody, the words, the rhythm. Only you know when it is soft or loud, high or low, fast or slow. To hear it and to sing it and to live it, you must listen within, to your inmost place, where the nigun of your life goes on.
This applies to humans as well. I heard on NPR about a Jewish man and woman who found love in a concentration camp during WWII. Miraculously they both survived and were able to marry after the war. While everything around them was bleak and full of depravity and despair, they found a way to sing their song of love.
In Yiddish it is called a nigun, a melody, a tune, a song we are forever trying to remember, to recapture and to sing. In the journey to recapture my nigun, I discovered Kirtan, or sacred chant. I play the harmonium and sing chants in Sanskrit and other languages. The words are songs glorifying the divine. The words repeat themselves over and over and the effect is mesmerizing, heart opening. Shivaya Nama Om, Shivaya Nama Ha. By naming and honoring aspects of the divine, I am also honoring my own divinity, my own sacredness.
A baby in the womb first hears its mother's song. The baby is nourished by the cord connecting her to her mother, and she is also soothed and carried by the song she is surrounded by as she floats and grows. Perhaps it is the emergence of the baby's own song that pulls them from the womb. Gradually her own song takes the place of her mother's. Where will that song take her? What bits of melody will inform her life as she grows?
When we are little babies I believe we hear our own song loud and clear. It is so much a part of us that we do not need to sing it aloud, though some of us may try. As we grow older the needs and expectations of others may soon drown out the sound of our own song, our nigun: so many voices clamoring for our attention; so many outer enticements pulling us away from our center. Still the song keeps on singing deep within, high and low, soft and loud, fast and slow. At night before sleep we can almost hear it. In our dreams we catch snatches of the melody.
As our life unfolds we will look for answers. Why? Why is life so hard? So cruel? So unfair? So short? So long? What does it all mean? Why am I here?
Life's longing for itself is the only answer needed. The only condition to the living of life is this: sing your song, your nigun. Only you can sing your uniquely You song. Only you can hear the melody, the words, the rhythm. Only you know when it is soft or loud, high or low, fast or slow. To hear it and to sing it and to live it, you must listen within, to your inmost place, where the nigun of your life goes on.
Monday, November 19, 2007
For Thanksgiving - Simple Gifts
'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free,
'Tis the gift to come down where we want to be,
And when we find ourselves in the place just right,
'Twill be in the valley of love and delight.
When true simplicity is gain'd
To bow and to bend we shan't be asham'd,
To turn, turn will be our delight
'Till by turning, turning we come round right.
Shaker hymn.
Happy Thanksgiving to One and All.
'Tis the gift to come down where we want to be,
And when we find ourselves in the place just right,
'Twill be in the valley of love and delight.
When true simplicity is gain'd
To bow and to bend we shan't be asham'd,
To turn, turn will be our delight
'Till by turning, turning we come round right.
Shaker hymn.
Happy Thanksgiving to One and All.
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
Babynut Turns 4! Organic Products Website Is Good for Babies and Good for the Planet.
The web-based business, www.babynut.com, will celebrate its fourth birthday on November 6, 2007. Owner and manager of Babynut, Saralee Sky, said, “I started out wanting to offer natural products to support mothers and babies. Now I realize that natural products support the health of our planet as well.”
Ms Sky went on to say, “90 million acres are devoted to the production of cotton worldwide, consuming 25% of all pesticides used on our planet. I now understand that supporting mother and babies is not enough. I must also protect and honor Mother Earth by offering products whose production does not add to pollution or global warming. I also try and investigate how all of my product offerings are manufactured, making sure that workers are treated fairly and paid a living wage.”
Based in Bellingham, Washington, Babynut does business solely on the World Wide Web. Babynut’s mission is to provide natural, organic and alternative products, and support for pregnant and adopting families, babies and toddlers. The site is unique because of its inclusive nature, broad natural product offerings, and articles about natural parenting and about the use of natural, alternative and organic products.
Products for sale include: organic maternity and nursing clothes, organic baby and toddler clothes, books on pregnancy, natural childbirth and parenting, children’s books and music, organic and wooden toys, organic gift baskets, baby carriers, natural body products, homeopathic remedies, flower essences and astrology charts.
Also for sale on the site are Topsy Turvy dolls made with herbs and the Nutpod organic baby sleeping bag, both designed by Ms Sky. Northwest Washington products are showcased whenever possible, including Jody Bergsma prints and cards, Tom Hunter music CD’s, Tree Frog Farm flower essences, Hippie Healing Company organic body products and Shorthand Press organic baby clothes.
For more information about the site, go to: http://www.babynut.com/ or call 866-671-3679.
Ms Sky went on to say, “90 million acres are devoted to the production of cotton worldwide, consuming 25% of all pesticides used on our planet. I now understand that supporting mother and babies is not enough. I must also protect and honor Mother Earth by offering products whose production does not add to pollution or global warming. I also try and investigate how all of my product offerings are manufactured, making sure that workers are treated fairly and paid a living wage.”
Based in Bellingham, Washington, Babynut does business solely on the World Wide Web. Babynut’s mission is to provide natural, organic and alternative products, and support for pregnant and adopting families, babies and toddlers. The site is unique because of its inclusive nature, broad natural product offerings, and articles about natural parenting and about the use of natural, alternative and organic products.
Products for sale include: organic maternity and nursing clothes, organic baby and toddler clothes, books on pregnancy, natural childbirth and parenting, children’s books and music, organic and wooden toys, organic gift baskets, baby carriers, natural body products, homeopathic remedies, flower essences and astrology charts.
Also for sale on the site are Topsy Turvy dolls made with herbs and the Nutpod organic baby sleeping bag, both designed by Ms Sky. Northwest Washington products are showcased whenever possible, including Jody Bergsma prints and cards, Tom Hunter music CD’s, Tree Frog Farm flower essences, Hippie Healing Company organic body products and Shorthand Press organic baby clothes.
For more information about the site, go to: http://www.babynut.com/ or call 866-671-3679.
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