PRESS

Interviews

Khalsa Childcare Starting them our right

By Amar Fuller

Article featured in the Hippocrates Magazine, Healing our World volume #39,  issue #1

Growing up in New York City didn’t prevent me from connecting to Mother Earth, plant life and nutritious foods. When we were five years old my friends and I picked the weeds that grew in between the cracks of the sidewalk and prepared them in a loving and nurturing way for our dolls. We gathered the flowers in one bowl, chopped the stems into another and mixed water with the roots.

In my early creative play and in my artwork, I could see at that young age what my later life would be like. In kindergarten I drew and painted pictures of my home. There were gardens all around and lots of children inside. Over time these early visions have manifested into my current reality.

Now at age fifty-three, I am the director and owner of Khalsa Childcare in Leverett, Massachusetts which provides day care for children ages two to five. “Khalsa” means “pure one.”

Khalsa Childcare has a spiritual foundation. Like the nature of life and the children that we serve, our children’s center is always evolving and growing. We are a blending of the experiences, influences and inspiration that I have been blessed to receive throughout my life. From the spiritual path we learn to maintain a healthy and clean body, mind and soul by taking care of ourselves through yoga, meditation, proper eating and positive thinking. From the Waldorf system of education, based on the teachings of Rudolf Steiner, we learn to flow with the breath of life, inhaling and exhaling with the coming and going of its many tides. From Hippocrates Health Institute, we learn that living foods promote optimum health and inspire us to nurture our planet. 

I first met Drs. Brian Clement and Ann Wigmore in the 1970’s at Hippocrates Health Institute in Boston. I was so deeply inspired by their teachings that I adopted the living foods lifestyle and brought it home to my family. Each day at Khalsa Childcare we produce a vast array of sprouts, fresh green drinks, sauerkraut and dehydrated foods. It takes organization and cooperation, and each person plays a role. My husband is the main grocery buyer. To supplement produce from our own organic garden, we buy cases of organic produce from local organic farms and orchards.

My two assistants make wheatgrass juice, green drinks and a giant salad, and I make the dressings, snacks and lunches. The children love to help.  They soak and sprout the seeds, and then plant them in the soil on sprouting trays. They pound the cabbage in the bucket for sauerkraut and even hull the buckwheat and sunflower greens for our salads. It’s fun to work to lively, rhythmic music! One of the most precious moments of our day is when the children gather around the table, mouths wide open and heads lifted high to receive their gentle eyedropper squirt of wheatgrass juice.

Parents often ask for recipes for dishes we prepare. We are finishing two projects which celebrate our dining rituals – a CD compilation of our favorite songs and blessings, and a recipe book – Amar’s Live Food Recipes – featuring illustrations by the children and our “Very Berry Birthday Layer Cake.” So yummy!

At Khalsa’s parent conferences we address the child’s personal and social development and discuss diet in relation to behavior and health. We have a lending library of books, audiocassette tapes and DVD’s and we provide group and one-to-one food preparation instruction. Our newsletter features a regular recipe corner and health tips geared toward the living foods lifestyle.

In addition to responsible self-care, we also promote responsibility in caring for our group and our planet. Each day when a child comes through our door he or she becomes part of a larger family. Throughout the day we encourage an awareness of this family and an excellence in our interactions within it, from our speaking and eating, to our recreation. We strive to empower the children to take responsibility within the group in a graceful and confident way. They learn to speak, to listen and to work together. In all of our activities we talk about carefulness and appreciation for our earth through the materials we use and the ways in which we use them. As recycling keeps our rivers and streams unpolluted and the animal and plant life alive, eating living foods keeps our blood streams clean and continually oxygenated, helping us to feel and look our best.

At Khalsa Childcare, we are always open to insights, support and information to further our mission. The definition of success as Ralph Waldo Emerson expresses it rings true in our hearts: “To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition: to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.” At Khalsa Childcare it is indeed our very joyous mission to succeed…one healthy child at a time.

Thrive or Survive

By Amar Fuller

Article featured in The New Beet magazine Fall 2019 issue

"Fast food and processed food are destroying humankind and are destructive to the world" – Dr. Joel Fuhrman

We each have the choice, throughout our day, to either thrive or survive. What choices do you make? The ones that makes your life rich, or the ones that make the pharmaceutical companies rich?

I believe we all yearn to thrive in our lives: in our relationships, in our work and abundance, and most importantly, in our health.

When it comes to diet and nutrition, to me survival equals death. All diseases such as cancer, diabetes, heart disease, obesity etc. are the beginning of a slow death. When we cope and fall prey to drugs, animal foods, processed foods, dairy, smoking, alcohol, fast food, processed food, sugar, too much stress, not enough exercise, lack of loving and supportive human connection, we suffer in our lives.

So we must learn to thrive, as survival is not enough.

Thriving, on the other hand, is saying yes to life. It means consciously choosing what you eat, who you connect with, how you live your life,

how you are being mindful of Mother Earth, getting enough quality sleep, utilizing visualization meditation, practicing yoga, going out in nature, putting into effect daily stress relieving activities aligns you with a radiant life force. I urge you to choose to thrive, because therein lives a life of great connection, great nutrition and peace. It is the point where you start taking 100% responsibility for yourself.

When facing challenging times, how do you overcome and get back to being the creator of your life? What does it really take to start thriving? None of us individually can thrive on our own. We need clean air, diversity of species, we need each other and every one of us to be respected for who we are.

There is no thriving on the backs of others.

If this resonates for you, I invite you to join me for some lifestyle intervention. I will be hosting a 4-week workshop series this October, where you will learn hands on techniques and strategies to boost your immune and yourself to a higher level and quality of life. We will focus specifically on how to prepare for the winter, so that we don’t just survive it, but create pathways to thriving during colder weather.

How to Live a Courageous Life with No Regrets

By Mishel Herrara

Article featured in the Hippocrates Magazine, Healing our world, Recovery Issue 2019