Who’s Chaya?
I’m Chaya!
Chaya Ryvka if you want to be proper, I have a few different names but it boils down to me. The essence shining through this vessel discovering with further depth and clarity my way home, to express the essential foundation of all existence through this fleshy body and sparkling spirit.
Since a young age my interest have been in the arena of creativity and healing. Dancing, singing, massaging, smiling and giving big hugs was always synonymous with Thais (my legal given name, Chaya is my given Hebrew name). In pre-school, I decided to give the kindergarten teacher a shoulder rub one day. She loved it so much that she said “if you come and give me a 5 minute shoulder rub before nap time, you can have your nap with the big kids”. Well, that was very attractive to me and for the next year she got her shoulders rubbed and I got to take my nap with the “big” kids! Throughout my entire childhood my Mother would rub my back and I loved it so much I would always do the same for her. At about the age of eight my Step-Mother, Darlyne (who was a hypnotherapist, healer, teacher, and mystic journey woman) had a session with some Reiki Masters who asked for my assistance and guided me in the hands on healing method of Reiki. Noticing a gift Darlyne would teach me how to feel the energy around flowers, crystals, humans, together with my Father and sister we would practice on each other and when my sister and I would come for my visits we continually discovered new methods of healing from hands to words, to Chi Gong and on.
I grew up with so much love and nurturing support, my Mother was the best cook I knew. Before I could walk or talk I remember my Mom taking some of her vegetarian homemade goodness and grinding it in a baby grinder for me to eat. I remember breast feeding until I could drink out of my own sippy cup and I have no recollection of a separation with my Mother, always feeling close and supported through the love she gave me, the songs she sang me and the food she nourished us with.
Later down the road those years of joy and brightness dimmed a bit, don’t get me wrong I still experienced joy but it was darkened through a number of life scenarios that played out to help me get to where I am now.
Basically, beginning with people in my life telling me I couldn’t eat certain things because I would be fat, but my sister could because she was thin, started a struggle with eating disorders which continued with me for years and years. They heightened with some relocations and peaked in high school when I was 15 and weighed in at 275 lbs.
You can read more on that in the section “A Herstory in Brief”.
I survived, I lost 100lbs. in 8th grade and had some personal revolutions and continued on the path of health, vitality and well being until present.
To this day I have a love for adventure, creative expression, and the breath of life exploding in natures song. My travels have brought me to Africa, Greece, Europe, and Israel most recently where I deeply connected to the path of spiritual Israel. You will notice hints of that throughout my blog. The focus I hold in life is to be in complete integrity with each moment. I’m not there yet but it is a constant goal, to call out to the essence of my being with every breath and every action, quieting my mind and inner noise to hear the soft voice guiding me with that eternal wisdom.
Joy floods my body when I have the chance to help guide someone back to their own center, when I can be a vessel of wisdom, inspiration and empowerment, passing the keys of vitality through brilliant gifts revealed from creation every moment of every day and night. Joy is infused in every cell of my being when I am the recipient of such wisdom, guidance and inspiration. Mystic Israel is my soul and I hear the words of truth, in regards to our bodies health and well being expressed so eloquently and precisely through the words of the leaders in the raw food movement. I am here to learn and to share. To play my role in performing the works of creation. And providing this body/instrument that which it needs to thrive as the vessel we are all created to be.
On a more physical plane:
I am a Living Foods Chef & Educator. Recently relocated to Eugene, Oregon from Northern California where I assisted Elaina Love, (A master raw food chef, and pioneer in the raw foods movement) with classes, retreat, the opening of her raw restaurant in San Mateo “Cafe Soulstice” and I ran her Lving Foods website www.PureJoyPlanet.com for 2 years. I was also a Raw Pastry Chef for the now famous “Cafe Gratitude”. Eugene is openning new doors of possibility, there is much on the horizon for personal and communal growth. I offer services including:
- Group Live Food Prep Classes.
- Private Live Food Prep Classes.
- Personal Chef services.
- Private Consultations.
- Catering.
- Specialty Gourmet Desserts.
- Weekly Meal Pick Ups.
My website is currently under construction www.thelivingvision.com. I look forward to seeing you there in the near future. Blessings, Love and Guidance, Chaya
