This Gives Me Goosebumps!

I love this kid! OMG! It so truly warms my heart and gives me so much hope as the generations coming up are totally understanding the craziness that is "frankenfood". This video brings together two things that I truly love: the sustainable agriculture movement and the TEDx conferences. When together there is a 'viral' ability to spread the good news that there are MANY people out there, young and old, that understand how many many many of the 'issues' we face in our world: climate change, fossil fuel reliance, the economy; are connected to the fact that we have too many over-chemicalized, under nutrient-rich foods circulating in our food chain. While many of the wealthier nations are stuffing themselves silly with these 'foods' that come in shiny wrappers, others are starving due to soils that cannot grow foods and unstable governments and environments that limit the ability to establish a sustainable growing system.

OK-as I step off my soapbox, I encourage you to WATCH THIS!!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7Id9caYw-Y

Om Om

PS-I totally am aware of the possible 'brainwashing' people might see here. But Birke IS 11 and not 7 and that is totally a big difference. I choose to simply stick with the message :)

Where is the FOOD?

I can appreciate that I may have been spoiled in the past when it came to choices for eating. I lived in Providence for a year where there were 3 Whole Foods in one small city. I had a stint as a local foods buyer in Maine where I could order whatever produce and specialty items I wanted and talk to the farmer who grew it. I spent 7 months living on an ashram where we ate 100% organic vegetarian meals. Much of our produce came from our own gardens and I participated in a lot of the cooking. I knew what was going into our meals. And most recently, I spent 3 months living in Boulder, Colorado. Now if anyone doesn't know about Boulder let me sum it up in a few choice words: healthy, organic, sunshine, smiles, athletic, yogic. I could seriously walk into every 3rd restaurant and find gluten-free beer on tap, organic salads made with goat cheese from a farm 5 miles away, and grass-fed beef burgers (if I had wanted them). And if I had a sniffle-I had over dozen herbalist apothecaries to choose from. It was a health-nuts dream come true. But it's NOT reality. For the special few who can afford to live in a town like Boulder and then also afford the price tag of those healthy menu items, reality it might be. But for most, that world it is simply out of reach.

This reality has come crashing down on me as I have returned to the area where I grew up-greater Philadelphia. Within the 30 mile radius of the densely populated suburban region where I am currently residing, there are 2 Whole Foods markets, and maybe 4-5 small 'natural' grocery stores. This may seem like a decent amount but I can tell you-it's not. I find myself needing to go between 3-4 different stores to get all of the different items I am used to be able to find in one store. Decent eggs from this store, flax oil from that one. The same box of cereal at one store might cost $3.59 and at another $5.99. When you start to notice this it's hard to justify buying the more expensive 'version', hence furthering the need to traverse between multiple shopping locations. And let me clarify that it's not just that I need to have 'organic' foods. It's that I need to have food, as opposed to 'food-like products' AKA chemicals. My body is very sensitive to artificial preservatives and additives and I notice right away when I start to eat packaged foods that the headaches creep in, my anxiety goes up, and my attention span dissipates.

I recalled the last time I was in the area going into a certain grocery store. It is a large chain and they had a nice little organic section where I could find some of the items I am used to buying. Today I waltzed in after a stop at the bank thinking I would pick up a few tasties for the weekend-some Gouda and organic apples. Maybe some spinach and pecans, some organic goat cheese (I was hungry). Imagine my shock when one of the stock boys told me that along with the recent 'renovation' of the store they got rid of the organic section!!!!!!!!!!!! He said I would have to look amongst the other inner-aisle goods (see the Food Politics site or read The Omnivores Dilemma for more on that) to find their organic counterparts. This proved tough. Over in produce 4 organic apples cost $4.99! And they were on a Styrofoam plate covered in plastic wrap!?!?! Does anyone else see how backwards this is? I was in grocery store hell. I couldn't find a darn thing to eat in an entire store dedicated to food. Or wait...is that what they are dedicated to? NO. The truth is they are dedicated to money and to providing whatever it is that fills their pockets. (Read Marion Nestle's amazing book What to Eat).

I left the store with a jar of almond butter (they didn't have organic-even if I could afford it at around $15/jar), rice cakes (no organic option), a box of Corn Chex (only gluten-free cereal I could find) and a bag of frozen sweet potato fries. Since tomorrow is Saturday I can get my produce from a farmer's market. (But what about in November?!) Some good that comes of all of this is my further burning desire to open my own natural food store and apothecary!

To-Do/To-Be

I wake up each morning with a list running through my mind of what needs to be accomplished in the day. I want to pay attention to this thinking and to accomplish all of the presenting tasks but then I say, "ssshhhh! Can't I just be for a moment?" This was one of my biggest obstacles during my time at the ashram. Given that we practiced meditation for at least an hour a day, one quickly got an idea of what sort of thoughts tend to swirl around, incessantly taunting the owner of the mind to 'do something' rather than 'just sitting there'. For me, this came in the form of ideas. I would plan what to write in an email, entire chapters of books I wanted to write, names of companies I wanted to start...grrreat! Why is it that when we are trying so hard to 'just be' that we (or I) can't stop thinking about what to 'do'? Well this is likely the biggest obstacle in yoga, in life. If one definition of yoga is the cessation of thought waves, then the mind that is constantly planning is quite the opposite.

This morning was no different. Sit quiet, the list starts. "Write a blog about this, email that person, run to the bank, pick up those forms." And then I think, "wait...here I am rattling off a list and I can't even write it down. So does this mean I will forget everything that is coming to me right now? Or can I trust that it's all 'in there' and that those reminders will come back into play once I'm not trying to sit and meditate or do my yoga asanas?" This can all make for a very short meditation or asana practice if the mind believes those tasks are more important that sitting quietly and stretching out.

I am figuring out that a sure sign of progress along the spiritual path is when one can brush off the 'To-Do' and replace with 'Just-Be' when appropriate. This certainly takes planning, organization, and faith that what needs to be done...will be done.

A strong mind knows To-Be is just as important as To-Do!

Om tat sat.

The Maine Point

Happy Sunday! Just a little photo blog to share some of the beauty I am so blessed to witness on each journey to the coast of Maine. It's a rather 'simple' life in these parts of Maine. Simple in the measure that the people who live here do their work-whether lobstering, gardening, teaching, painting or rearing babies-with a humble nature and a quiet pride. You can sense there is nowhere else they would rather be. It is said that things get pretty quiet these ways in the winter, as compared to the bustling summer months I have witnessed. I hope to find that out this winter as I plan a trip to experience that quiet & stillness.

I imagine that I may like to live in Maine one day. My instinct says the stillness will permeate through me and hopefully fill me with quiet content rather than a feeling of loneliness. I find it is a fine line between the two ...but when the soul is strong, when one has deciphered between what is truly important and what is 'noise' in this world, the soul can be soothed by the piercing quiet as well as the movement of city life. For it is not WHERE we are...it is HOW we are. And here, we enjoy the magnificence of creation. In Maine, God certainly put some of the best work at play!

Queen Without a Crown

When the mind is so busy

The heart cannot see

Clearly into the world

In which it must be

Intuitions too quiet

True voice stifled down

The heart cannot grasp

It's Earth Kingdom crown

Righteously ours

For we are all kings

Forgetting our nature

Distracted by things

Today could be IT

This moment right NOW

The choice can be made

We forget to be proud

We can tell the mind "hush

Don't worry today

We're safe and we're loved

In every which way"

Here is victory

Heart over mind

Truth runs through

Inner light shines

Om shanti.