The Earth is what gives us the experience of being human. It gives us the possibility of entering the physical plane; it gives us nutrition and the opportunity for our soul to grow through our experiences here. In addition to having contact with our body, our aura and our heart, it’s important for us to have contact with the Earth. Many people seeking a spiritual path tend to disregard the physical aspect of life and set the energetic part on a pedestal. They forget that we’ve all chosen to be incarnated on the Earth right now, so it is of vital importance to be in contact with it through grounding ourselves. Grounding, or getting in contact with Mother Earth, is the next domain we are entering on the spiritual web.
The grounding exercises – the spiritual tools – we share with you in this chapter are innovative and revolutionary. They are techniques of the new era. We all want to keep up to date with everything, and it is important to be up to date with this. In modern times, we have all distanced ourselves from nature. We live in big cities, where tower blocks and asphalt dominate the scene. In Norway, most of us are lucky enough to live relatively close to the countryside, but in many parts of the world we have to travel a long way to get out into the countryside. There are some benefits to modern life, of course. Life was a challenge when our ancestors had to break their backs toiling. Still, they were in daily contact with nature, their animals and the cycle of the year. Since the Industrial Revolution, we have developed more efficient techniques, but replaced a lot of the close proximity to animals and other people with machines. Instead of getting together for a chat, we communicate with our friends and colleagues by means of text messages, e-mail, Facebook and the like. When we do go to the countryside, we immerse ourselves in activities like snowboarding, river rafting or racing boats and distance ourselves from simple contact with the Earth. If ever we do encounter peace and quiet, it feels strange, even boring. We get restless and busy ourselves with even more activities.
Our quest for efficiency has also affected our relationship to nature. When we are out hiking, we have to reach the highest mountaintop in order to get the best experience possible in one day.
An action-filled day out in nature can be inspiring, and it is important to play, but it is also important to be able to experience nature on its own terms, and to experience that perspective. Many people seek the peace and simplicity of nature, and a quiet walk in the woods can be one of the best things in life. It is vital to have a balance, so we can have action-filled experiences if we wish, but also wind down and take the time to get in touch with nature and the Earth – and with ourselves along the way.
We humans are a part of nature in the same way as animals, trees and oceans. By listening to our heart, we also open up to communication with the Earth. Having open communication with the Earth from our heart is what we call grounding. When we have this dialogue, it makes us secure and creates an inner presence in our body and a connection with the Earth. Physically, the centre of the Earth consists of molten lava, yet through our double senses we can meet another core – the heart of the Earth – via meditation.
Environmental consciousness is growing worldwide. We buy organic food, we reduce carbon dioxide emissions to the best of our ability, we work out, we eat healthy food, we participate in the global warming debate, we use water-saving showerheads and low-energy light bulbs. All this is good. But in addition, there is a different and more profound way to go.
Just as we’ve learned to disregard the signals from our body, so we’ve also ignored our natural communication with the Earth. This is why we so often aren’t grounded. Indications of little or no grounding include vulnerability, fear, stress, mood swings and restlessly moving from project to project (or from one house to another). To put it simply, we can stand less and less when we aren’t present in our body and have lost our connection to the Earth.
If we’re on a boat and there’s a storm, we’ll stand with our legs apart to weather the big waves. When we’re grounded, the same thing happens: we stand steady, whatever storm may blow up. We grow strong. We get a presence in life that feels safe. We face whatever life offers. When we’re secure, we’re less vulnerable. So we can say that grounding gives us protection.
We have a mountain lodge and being there grounds me. Before I became aware of how important it was to be grounded, I often felt that I had to go to the mountains. Since then, I’ve realized that when I feel like that, I’m searching for grounding – for the lodge with no electricity and no water laid on. It is peaceful there. It is back to basics: fetching water, chopping wood and baking bread. Things we take for granted at home are things we have to work for in the lodge. I feel inner richness when the evening comes on and we have water and firewood stored inside. Being in touch with nature grounds me, and allows me to find myself. I have nothing to hide behind – I have to encounter my true self.
Of course we don’t need to be in the mountains to ground ourselves. But it’s easier to do so when we’re in a place where we can focus on ourselves with few distractions. Once we understand how it feels to be grounded, we can establish that contact anywhere – in the city or in the country, running for the bus or at work.
Grounding enables us to be fully present in our body. It helps us to enter the present moment. It is as valuable as spiritual growth. Without it, spiritual growth can only take place on the energetic level – that is to say, outside the body – and not in physical reality.
Anne had a difficult childhood. She was often lonely and felt misunderstood by her parents and the people around her. She didn’t feel seen and was left on her own a lot. As a child, she couldn’t break with her parents. That’s why she got angry with the Earth instead. Feeling she wanted to disappear, she began to long for ‘home’, wherever that was. The result was that she became ungrounded and left her own body. It was only when she was disconnected from the Earth that she believed she could tackle the world around her. But by grounding herself again, she learned to live her life from a new perspective: present in her body and in life.
How do we ground ourselves and get in touch with the Earth again? First, it is important to change the view that spiritual development is more important than daily activities. The way we see it, they are equal.
In the book Divine Magic by Doreen Virtue, there are descriptions of laws several thousand years old which were also outlined in The Kybalion, a book of Hermetic philosophy published in 1908. These are laws that the universe is said to follow. One example is the law of attraction, which The Kybalion calls the law of cause and effect, and another is the law of correspondence: ‘As above, so below; as below, so above.’ According to this law, everything happening in the higher spheres is also happening in the lower spheres, and what is happening in the lower spheres is also happening in the higher spheres. This means that the same energy and spiritual growth found in the higher spheres is found in the lower spheres, that is to say, on the physical level. The same light, the same greatness, exists both above and below. Just as we are overwhelmed by the greatness of the universe, so we are overwhelmed by the complexity of the cellular level – yes, even the atomic level. Infinity exists both in macrocosm and microcosm.
Remember that everything is energy, even the physical world, and therefore everything is of equal value. If we glorify spiritual experiences, that is to say, everything beyond our usual experience, and feel that it is only through these experiences that we are alive, we miss out on the spiritual growth we can have in everyday life. Secondly, we can bring spiritual reality into everyday life. How about picking up the children from the nursery or school while totally present? Or having a meal and feeling how the food affects your body? How about going for a hike, feeling how the wind affects you? What the trees give you? How the earth feels against your feet? How about going for a hike out of gratitude for the world around you? Maybe nature will even communicate with you.
MÄRTHA:
A couple of years ago, I was in South Africa on a retreat to get in deeper touch with myself and the Earth. The leader of the course told us that elands – deer the size of cows and normally very shy – always approached the house after a healing session.
One afternoon when we were doing healing, I was wondering if these animals would appear. Unfortunately, there wasn’t an eland in sight. ‘That’s just typical,’ I muttered to myself, walking back to the house where I was staying feeling quite sorry for myself. ‘They always show up when others do healings.’ I was wrapped in my own thoughts when suddenly I heard a twig snap to the left. Startled, I was ready to fight a lion or whatever was about to pounce at me from the bush. But nothing came charging at me. Instead an eland was standing there, only a few metres away from me, not the least frightened. We stood there for a long time, looking at each other.
Traditional grounding extends from the root chakra down to the centre of the Earth. However, a lot of people are discovering these days that this form of grounding no longer serves them the same way, the reason being the shift in energy and our new energy structures. The three- and one-chakra systems don’t have an active root chakra and therefore can’t ground from it successfully. So, grounding for these new times no longer runs from the root chakra, but from the heart.
The heart is the key to contacting everything; it is also the only chakra present in all three chakra systems. People who have been meditating a lot and grounding from their root chakra find this new technique revolutionary. Even if you aren’t experienced in meditation, you’ll find this exercise is easy. Anybody can do it because it is natural for the body to do so. Also, by using this new grounding technique and through similar energy work, we can shift from a seven-chakra system to a three-chakra system and from a three-chakra system to a one-chakra system. What in former days might have taken a whole lifetime to achieve spiritually is easily within our reach today. That is what the new times are doing to us. They are shifting our energies so we can perceive everything around us energetically as well as physically. We are coming back to being who we truly are, in contact with the All.
Grounding from the heart is like having a communication pillar from our heart to the heart of the Earth. Through this pillar we can let go of everything we no longer need and everything that isn’t ours: old memories, other people’s ways of seeing our life, old thought patterns we no longer wish to follow. We can let all of this go down into the Earth. The Earth is like a big revitalizer. The heart of the Earth transforms so-called negative energies into something new and life-giving. Just as the Earth breaks down waste on the surface and transforms it into soil where new plants can grow, so it breaks down our waste energies and turns them into something new in which we can grow, such as love, security and support in life.
Sit down on a chair, close your eyes and take a few deep breaths.
Let your aura click into place at arm’s length from your body.
Become aware of where you are present in your body.
Put one of your palms, or both, on your heart and focus on your heartbeat.
Ask if there is anything your heart would like to tell you right now.
Wait for the answer.
Breathe out any resistance, other people and feelings you encounter, and inhale more of yourself and your energy.
Focus on your heart again and feel your heartbeat against your palm.
Send a heartbeat to the heart of the Earth. Let it travel through your stomach and pelvis, down to the floor, through the floor, through the other floors if any, all the way through the ground, through the layers in the soil and right into the heart of the Earth, the centre of the Earth. Breathe out the old visions of the core of the Earth as a red-hot sphere. Allow yourself to have a unique encounter with the heart of the Earth, just as you had a unique encounter with the source of your heart.
Find the Spiritual Password to the heart of the Earth: see the heart of the Earth, or feel the heart of the Earth, or experience it as a tone, a colour or in some other unique way.
Focus on your heart again. Let a new heartbeat go completely into the heart of the Earth without following it down.
Be consciously present in your heart and start being aware of the response from the Earth in your heart. It may be a heartbeat that comes back, or a sensation of warmth, coldness, a tone, a feeling or a colour. You might just know that the communication is established. Receive the Spiritual Password with acceptance and love for yourself.
Sit for a while, with each heartbeat continuing to be an exchange of energy and communication to and from the heart of the Earth. This exchange of energies will create your communication with the Earth, your own grounding channel. Feel how it affects your heart when your energy and the Earth’s energy merge there.
The heart of the Earth is a revitalizer. It transforms what we want to discard into life-giving energy. Ask your heart if there is anything it wants to let go of right now.
Let what you want to discard light up as a colour, sound as a tone, appear as an image, come to mind as an incident or be expressed in another way.
Take it into your heart in the same natural way as you drop a stone to the ground. Now let it go and let it continue down through the grounding channel.
Breathe out at the same time as you let go, and then breathe in more of yourself and your energy.
Let go of the feelings, resistance, tones, colours – yes, everything you have encountered during meditation – and send them down into the grounding channel.
Thank yourself for the steps you’ve taken, and thank your heart, your body and the Earth for the communication.
When you have finished, you may open your eyes.
Remember that no matter what you experienced, it is information to you about yourself. There is no right or wrong. You don’t have to think Did I do it the right way this time?, because you did. Maybe you didn’t experience anything, or maybe you didn’t manage to completely reach the heart of the Earth, or maybe you had a great experience. No matter what, your experience says something about your relationship to grounding right now. It might change the next time you try. If you only covered part of the way to the centre of the Earth, you can do this meditation several times, until you finally reach the very heart of the Earth.
Humans differ so much that it’s hard to generalize about the things that provide grounding. Riding and spending time at stables can ground people who like horses. But for people who are really scared of horses, just the thought of a horse may lead to a panic attack. Some people become grounded through climbing high mountains, while others are afraid of heights. Everybody, however, has a good chance of becoming grounded through relaxing, being out in nature and eating healthy food regularly.
ELISABETH:
I’ve seen how being out in nature affects my four children. At home there are many distractions in the form of television, computers and leisure activities. That is why it is pure magic to me to see what happens to the children when we go to our mountain lodge. There, away from these distractions, simply through being out in the countryside they come into contact with their body in a completely different way. It shows in their games, in how they are able to connect in new ways in spite of the age difference. They radiate a quite different harmony in themselves.
It is important to become aware of what grounds you. Is there a special place? Is there something special you can do? Communicate with your heart about this.
Sit on a chair, close your eyes and take a few deep breaths.
Let your aura click into place at arm’s length from your body.
Become aware of where you are in your body right now.
Take some deep breaths, breathing out any resistance and breathing in yourself and your energy.
Place one of your palms, or both, on your heart. Ask your heart if there is anything it wants to tell you this very moment.
Wait for the answer and receive it, no matter what emerges.
Send a heartbeat down to the heart of the Earth and wait for the answer.
Be open to the answer, regardless of how it comes to you.
Focus on your heart and send another heartbeat to the heart of the Earth. Wait for the answer from the Earth. It may be an image, a tone, a feeling, or an idea. Accept it.
Every time you send a heartbeat to the heart of the Earth, there will be an answer.
Let your awareness remain in your heart and feel how it affects your heart to let these two energies mingle there – your own energy and the energy of the Earth.
Ask your heart if there is anything special you can do to become well grounded.
Be present in yourself and let whatever emerges be the answer.
Ask if there is a special place that gives you good grounding.
Let everything you have experienced go down the grounding channel. Let go of it.
Thank your heart for the information, and thank yourself for the steps you’ve taken.
When you have finished, you may open your eyes.
If you wish, you can do this meditation every now and then. What grounds you today can differ from what you’ll need in a month’s time. It is therefore good to take a reality check from time to time. If the same answer emerges, you’ll know that you’re on the right track and you can thank yourself for giving your body the best possibility of becoming grounded. If something new turns up, you can be grateful for the sensitivity to perceive it. No matter what, the answer will be positive and a gift for yourself.
In certain areas in life, we live on other people’s energies. Growing up, it’s impossible to avoid being affected by the people around us. Let’s say you’re a child who loves climbing trees. Your mother, on the other hand, may be afraid you’ll fall and hurt yourself. She may wring her hands and cry, ‘Careful! You might fall and break your leg. It’s dangerous to climb like that! This is killing me! I daren’t look!’ In the end you too might get scared of climbing trees. Every time you do it, you may hear your mother’s words or see her with your inner sight. You may experience this consciously or unconsciously. The result may be that you stop climbing trees and even become afraid of climbing altogether. You didn’t start out being afraid, but you learned to be that way and to limit your physical exploration. It isn’t really your fear, it’s your mother’s, but you’ve absorbed it and now you’re letting it limit your choices in life.
This often happens with things we don’t believe we possess ourselves or that we don’t believe we’re allowed to do. It is also the case with grounding. As a child, if you find that your mother gives you security and support you don’t believe you yourself possess, then you might start being grounded through her. You may also be grounded through your family’s grounding.
Tom was an artist. In addition, he was heir to a company. So, he studied the subjects required in order to contribute to the company, then worked for the company for a couple of years and put his art on hold.
Everything seemed fine on the surface – he had a wife, children, a house, a car and enough money – but his frustration grew. He felt that he was compromising on too many levels. The work was both stressful and hectic. Still, the thought of leaving the family business was frightening. He was afraid of not fulfilling other people’s hopes for him, afraid of disappointing people at the company, afraid that he would be seen as selfish. These fears prevented him from taking the plunge.
Only when he resigned and resumed painting did his life fall into place.
This man was grounded through his family business, not through his own frequency. Even though his life seemed fine, it wasn’t right for him. It wasn’t until he cut off his family’s grounding and had his own back that he could develop in his own life.
The opposite can happen too: if we support others, their grounding channel will go through ours. Some people even demand this. If your father, for example, claims (even unconsciously) that everything safe and good in your life – the food on the table, the house you live in, and so on – is there thanks to him and he regards the space around you – your space – as his, then you might give up the ownership of your grounding and let your father have it instead. Often we don’t notice that somebody has invaded in this way, maybe because it happened when we were a child. But we may have a subtle feeling that something isn’t right.
Balder’s mother grounded herself through him. Her entire identity went through him, especially her grief, which was always deeper and more important than her son’s joy, at least in her own eyes. The result was that Balder, often quite unconsciously, lived his life according to his mother’s wishes.
Finally, by using meditation to ground himself, not his mother, Balder regained authority over his life. His mother, on the other hand, felt very lonely, since all the support, i.e. grounding, she had had before was gone.
Perhaps it seems strange that you can ground other people or be grounded through somebody else. If so, don’t just go by what we say – do the next meditation and see what happens. During this meditation, it is vital that you are open to and accept any people you meet. Encounter them with acceptance and neutrality as regards yourself. Here again we will use tones to let go.
Sit on a chair, close your eyes and take a few deep breaths.
Let your aura click into place at arm’s length from your body.
Become aware of where you are present in your body.
Put one palm, or both, on your heart. Feel your heartbeat in your body.
Ask your heart if there is anything it wants to tell you right now.
Send a heartbeat down to the heart of the Earth and wait for the answer. Establish an energy exchange.
Send a new heartbeat down to the heart of the Earth. Let it pass through your body, down to the floor, through the floor, and so on. Stop if you encounter anybody or any form of resistance on your way.
Every time a person or form of resistance turns up:
Find a tone for the frequency that this person (or resistance) is stuck on. Sing it out. There is no point in doing it half-heartedly.
Find a tone that releases that person, or dissolves that resistance, and sing it at the top of your voice.
Finally, find a tone for your own frequency in this area. Sing it out loud and clear and focus on what happens within.
Go to the next person or next resistance you encounter and repeat the tones until you have reached the heart of the Earth.
Let all you have experienced go down your grounding channel. Let go of it all.
Thank yourself for the steps you have taken. Thank your heart, your body and the Earth for the communication.
When you have finished, you may open your eyes.
Did you meet anyone in your grounding channel? Did you meet several people? Did you get to the heart of the Earth? It may be that someone you encountered wouldn’t leave immediately. It doesn’t matter if you feel they are still there, as you can do this meditation as often as you like. Finally they will let go and you will establish your own contact with the heart of the Earth.
Were you surprised by whom you met? From time to time, it’s possible to believe that we’re having problems with a certain person when we’re really having problems with somebody else.
What if it was a special person who was stuck in your grounding channel in several places, perhaps your mother? You might have felt that you didn’t want to let go of her, that it was wrong to force her to leave you. Maybe you thought that she’d always been there for you, so what right did you have to let her go?
The important thing in such a situation is to be aware that everybody has their own power. Everybody has the possibility of using this power. Whether you use it or not is completely your own choice. It is the same with the person you wish to remove. If you choose to let them go, do it with happiness and love for yourself and for them. Then the transitions will be smoother. If your mother, for example, doesn’t quite accept that you’re removing her from your grounding, she might get angry at you, without knowing why, or feel lonely, as in the story of Balder. It can be likened to getting heat from somebody else’s fireplace. When your mother gets home, it will be very cold there. Perhaps she has even forgotten how to make her own fire.
Removing a person from your grounding is a powerful process and people around you might react to it. Be patient with them. Let them have their reaction. The fact that they have to start being grounded in themselves could lead to the very development they have tried to avoid. It could be difficult for them to have to shoulder the responsibility.
The reasons behind people’s reactions can be complex. Sometimes it’s a great relief to them that you’ve removed them. Your relations can improve. Suddenly you can meet as equals, and perhaps with a different perspective. Or they might not react at all. Again, there’s no right or wrong here – it’s your experience that counts.
Now that you own your grounding, the next step is to be conscious of it in your everyday life. It is great to be able to meditate and ground yourself in that way, but if you’re only grounded then and at no other time in your life, you won’t fully benefit from it. So, whenever you’re stressed or feel insecure, irritated or indecisive, check your grounding. Do the simple exercise of letting your heart communicate with the heart of the Earth (the Grounding Meditation). In this way, you’ll regain contact with the heart of the Earth, and your body and soul will automatically reconnect. You can also repeat any of the grounding exercises until you know you’re grounded. Then you can start creating your life from a secure position.
As well as having chakras, energy wheels, along our spine, we also have them on other places in our body, including our feet. Earth energy isn’t only absorbed through our grounding channel, it is also absorbed through these chakras. They are placed right under the foot and can be experienced as energy gates. Just as we can pull and push our aura, so we can also open and close our chakras. All our chakras can be opened and closed through will power. If we imagine that our foot chakras are open, they are. This may sound too simple, but it really is easy and natural. We may know that our foot chakras are open by feeling warmth, prickling, or something similar right under our feet, or we may just know that they’re open.
As well as grounding ourselves through meditation, we can also do so by walking in woods and fields. The following exercise offers you a chance to get grounded – through your feet.
Go for a walk in a place you find beautiful – perhaps in a forest, in a park, by a lake or on a mountain.
Take a few deep breaths and become aware of where you are present in your body.
Are you only present in the upper part of your body? Are you present in your stomach? Or are you in touch with your legs?
Open your foot chakras by imagining that they are open. Feel the energy flow through your feet from the Earth.
Notice how your heel meets the ground. Do you put it down firmly or softly? What meets the ground first – your heel or another part of your foot?
Consider how the ground feels against your foot. Is it hard and cold or soft and welcoming, or something completely different?
As you walk, get in touch with your heart. Is there anything it wants to tell you?
Let a heartbeat go down to the heart of the Earth. Send another heartbeat down and wait for the response from the Earth. It might be an image, a tone, a feeling or an idea. Accept it.
Ask as many questions as you need. Every time you send a heartbeat down to the Earth, you will get an answer.
Feel how it affects your heart when you let your own energy and the Earth energy embrace there.
When the communication is established, focus on your legs again. How are they feeling right now?
Let energy flow from the Earth up through your feet. Make sure that your foot chakras are open by feeling warm or prickling sensations, or something similar, under your sole.
Every time you put down your foot, send resistance and anything else you want to get rid of, such as anger, grief, bitterness, judgement, of yourself or others, down to the Earth. Concentrate on letting it go through the grounding channel from your heart and your foot chakras.
Keep on walking for a while and send any resistance down through your heart and feet. Remember to breathe it out too.
When you feel that you’ve released everything, you can begin to receive new Earth energy every time you put your foot on the ground. Keep on walking for a while, receiving energy through your feet. Let it flow all the way up to your heart and merge with yours.
Then start releasing resistance when you put your right foot on the ground and receiving energy every time you put your left foot on the ground.
Keep on walking like this for a while, releasing with your right foot and receiving with your left foot.
Focus on what is going on in your body and remember to breathe.
When you feel that you have been walking in this way long enough, change sides. Receive energy with your right foot and release it away through your left foot.
Sense what is happening in your body this way round.
When you think you’ve been walking like this for long enough, let your body fall into its natural rhythm, receiving and releasing without trying to control it. Take in your surroundings and align your breathing to your natural pace.
Enjoy your walk!
In warm climates or when the weather permits, it may be a good idea to do this exercise barefoot. Your contact with the Earth will be even better, clearer and stronger when you do so. It is good to seek contact with the Earth. It is also great fun to walk consciously because there is a deeper dimension to it. Scents may become stronger, colours brighter, sounds louder, as though unconsciously all your senses are waking from slumber.
Through grounding, you basically make deeper contact with yourself. When you make this contact, you open up to the possibility of being in closer touch with your own truth. By being in close touch with your own truth, you can make loving decisions about your own life and when meeting others. In other words, when you are grounded, in whatever way works for you, you have the security to create your own life, not the life others would like you to lead.
Only you know what grounds you best. Whatever it is, it’s enriching to find an activity that strengthens that connection. In this way, you can do your everyday chores and at the same time keep in conscious touch with yourself. We are both parents and like cooking. It grounds us. We find cooking some food types more grounding than others, especially lentils, beans and root vegetables, and would like to share some of our favourite recipes with you.
As already mentioned, everything has its own frequency. In the case of food, this frequency can be disturbed by the use of pesticides and packaging, and the way the food is harvested. This is why it’s important to try to get hold of organic food, since it is closest to its original frequency. We can meditate as much as we like to raise our vibrational level, but if we keep eating unhealthy, spoiled, genetically modified food, our body won’t be able to maintain that level for long. There’s no need to be fanatical about food, however. Simply ask your heart what to eat or what your body wants right now and act upon it. You’ll notice that you don’t have to prevent yourself from eating unhealthy food; you simply won’t crave it in the same way anymore. Communicate with your body and your heart, and do a ‘healthy food search’ for what you would like.
You might enjoy trying some of our recipes for heavenly grounding food.
50g/1¾ oz active yeast
1.3 litres/3 pints lukewarm water
1kg/2lb 4oz spelt flour, sifted
200g/7oz wholegrain spelt flour
2 tbsp unrefined sea salt
100g/3½ oz oat flakes
100g/ 3½ oz wheat bran
3 tbsp sunflower seeds
3 tbsp sesame seeds
3 tbsp linseeds
You may also add dried stinging nettles, nuts, psyllium, quinoa flour, soy flour, grated carrots, lentils, various sprouts, beans or other ingredients. There are infinite combinations.
Have you ever experienced bread dough bubbling while rising? Well, now you have the chance. The secret is to dissolve the yeast in water with your hands before you’ve touched the other ingredients. Pour the lukewarm water into a mixing bowl. Add the yeast and separate it with your hands till it is completely dissolved.
Add the dry ingredients and mix with a wooden spoon.
When the dough has the consistency of a mud pie, set it aside to rise. Let it rise for about 45 minutes, or until it has doubled in size.
Transfer the dough into two big loaf pans and place on the lowest rack in a cold oven. Bake at 180°C/350°F for 50 minutes. Alternatively, let the dough rise a second time for 45 minutes and then bake in a pre-heated oven at 200°C/400°F for 35–40 minutes.
Enjoy. Bon appétit!
300g/10½ oz dry green lentils
1.3 litres/3 pints water
2 vegetable stock cubes
2 onions, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 tbsp ground cumin
4 tbsp soy sauce
salt and pepper
400ml/14fl oz can coconut milk
Put the lentils in the water with the vegetable stock cubes and bring to the boil.
Add the onions, garlic, cumin, soy sauce and pepper. Boil for about 20 minutes.
Add the coconut milk and simmer for about 10 minutes. Season to taste.
May be served with thin crispbread or rice. Boil the rice in its own saucepan and mix with the soup. (If it is boiled in the soup, you will have stewed lentils instead.)
Enjoy in the company of good friends.
10 sun-dried tomatoes
1kg/2lb 4oz brown rice, preferably basmati, boiled
500g/1lb 2oz black-eyed beans, boiled (from a can/carton or dried and boiled in advance)
4 tbsp butter-fried chanterelle mushrooms
2 tbsp pumpkin seeds
3 sprigs fresh coriander (cilantro)
zest of 2 lemons
zest of 1 lime
200–300g/7–10½ oz mungo bean sprouts
For the dressing:
2–3 cloves garlic
100ml/3½ fl oz good olive oil
juice of 1 lemon
juice of 1 lime
unrefined sea salt and freshly milled black pepper to taste
Prepare the sun-dried tomatoes by putting them in a bowl and pouring 100–200ml/3–7fl oz boiling water over them. Leave to draw while you prepare the other ingredients.
Mix the rice, beans, mushrooms, pumpkin seeds, coriander, lemon and lime zest and mungo bean sprouts in a bowl.
Prepare the dressing:
Crush the garlic in a pestle and mortar together with some flakes of unrefined salt. Slowly add the oil while stirring, then add the lemon and lime juice, salt and pepper.
Drain the tomatoes and dry them with kitchen paper. Chop them finely and fold them into the dressing.
Pour the dressing over the rice mixture and stir well.
Serve as a main course with crusty bread, or as a side dish.
A little magic tip: whenever you have rice for dinner, make sure to make a double portion so you have plenty of leftovers for making a scrumptious and grounding fast-food dinner the following night.
Enjoy!
Growing sprouts is incredibly easy, fun and quite magical.
Take the beans, peas, lentils or seeds you wish to sprout and soak them in a glass jar overnight. Use a big jar, as they swell.
Pour out the water and rinse. Cover the top of the jar with a piece of cloth and secure it with an elastic band. Put the whole thing upside down at an angle in a bowl and leave in a dark place at room temperature, for instance in a cupboard.
Rinse the sprouts in cold water once a day. They are ready to eat when they have started sprouting. How long this takes varies quite a lot, depending on what beans and seeds you are sprouting. If you don’t eat them at once, they can be left in the fridge for a couple of days.
Sprouts are one of the most potent foods you can have and can be served with everything. Use your wonderful imagination.
500g/1lb dried lima beans, soaked for at least 12 hours
cold water for cooking
1 tbsp of unrefined Atlantic sea salt
2 big sprigs fresh rosemary
150ml/5fl oz good-quality virgin olive oil
This is our favourite recipe.
Rinse the beans thoroughly under cold running water and transfer to a thick-bottomed saucepan. Add cold water to cover by a couple of centimetres (an inch).
Bring to the boil and when the water is foaming, add about 200ml/7fl oz cold water. Remove foam with a draining spoon or spoon.
Add salt, rosemary and olive oil. Simmer until beans are tender but not mushy.
Remove the saucepan from the heat and leave it to stand, preferably for a couple of hours, with the lid on.
After a good long rest, the beans will have absorbed both the flavour and fat from the salt, rosemary and olive oil, and you will understand why they are called both butter beans and angel children.
For a tasty variation, replace the lima beans with small white beans that have been soaked for at least two hours. Follow the recipe above and finally purée the beans. Delicious!