Links presented without comment

Biomimicry

A priori

Paul Stamets: TED Talks

Video posted by SKoss

Emika, my current favorite song

Reb Anderson

San Francisco Zen Center

Telepathic TV

rejuvenation and abundance

Chant HAR for Abundance

HAR is the creative aspect of Infinity. Simply chanting HAR, repetitively and rhythmically stimulates personal power and abundance. When chanting HAR, use your tongue and mouth to maximize the sacred sound vibration and power. Let each letter aspect have it's proper sound.

H comes as breath from the back of the throat

A sounds more like "uh"

R softly rolls off the tip of the tongue to hit the roof of the mouth

Practice for 3-11 minutes, letting your breath flow naturally and pay attention to abundance showering into your life. If this Spring has you needing clearing first, try this variation. HAR HARAY HARI WAHE GURU (har, ha-ray, ha-ree, wah-hay, gu-ru) This is a shakti mantra plus a bhakti mantra. It's an expression of the three qualities of the word HAR, the Creative Infinity: seed, flow and completion, unto the Infinite. This mantra can bring you through any block in life.

picture and mantra via the excellent pure prana email newsletter, my favorite yoga studio in alexandria :)

Wikipedia of the day: Limbic system

A fresh start

The Oldest Trees on the Planet. Love ancient wisdom.

What do modern philosophers, people who think for a living, believe? via IntelligentLife.com

Sherwood Design Engineers: I really like some of the projects they've worked on, especially Catalina Island and the Santa Lucia Preserve.

Wikipedia of the day: Information Architecture

Peace is your nature. Do not disturb it.

Went to Charlottesville this weekend, had so much fun :)

Currently reading The Joy of Pi :)

Wiki of the day: Nirvikalpa. Click the link for more definitions, here is one:

In Hinduism, when used as a technical term in Raja Yoga, the phrase nirvikalpa samādhi refers to a particular type of samādhi that Heinrich Zimmer distinguises from other states as follows:

Nirvikalpa samādhi, on the other hand, absorption without self-consciousness, is a mergence of the mental activity (cittavṛtti) in the Self, to such a degree, or in such a way, that the distinction (vikalpa) of knower, act of knowing, and object known becomes dissolved — as waves vanish in water, and as foam vanishes into the sea.^[3] The difference to the other samadhis is that there is no return from this samadhi into lower states of consciousness. Therefore this is the only true final Enlightenment.

Harvest Moon

The Full Moon closest to the fall equinox (this weekend) rises soon after sunset on several consecutive evenings. During this period, the time between successive moonrises is relatively short. Traditionally, this bright moonlinght allowed farmers additional time after sunset to bring in their crops, hence the term Harvest Moon. The reason for the shorter-than-usual rising time between successive moonrises around the time of the Harvest and Hunter's Moon is that the ecliptic — the plane of Earth's orbit around the sun — makes a narrow angle with respect to the horizon in the evening in autumn.

JupiterMoon These two celestial bodies appear together in the evening and at sunset today and tomorrow.

MercuryJoinsMarsVenusMornings From about September 28 to October 23, Mercury can be seen in the morning sky.

PegasusSquare The fall sky is anchored by the large Square of Pegasus. Four bright stars make up the corners. On one side are two sets of diagonal stars; one set points to Markab, the other to Scheat. The other two stars making up Pegasus are Alpheratz and Algenib.

Meet two new quantum particles: Spinons and holons

Listening to: Mishka presents Keep Watch volume X

Wiki of the day: Doula

A breathing exercise via the pure prana newsletter:

August has arrived and so has the sweltering summer heat indicative of the DC metro area. This month when you start to feel overheated, take a few moments to breathe and practice Sitali Pranayama.

How it Works

Sit in a comfortable seated position with a straight spine. Curl your tongue and push it slightly past the lips. Inhale deeply through the tongue and mouth. Exhale through the nose. To begin, continue for 10 breaths and work your way up to 5 minutes. Close your eyes, relax, and sit and breathe for a few moments. Repeat this cycle for two more rounds. If you can't curl your tongue, try Sitkari, which is similiar, except that the tongue is flat and the tip is pressed against the two front teeth.

Why it's good for you

Sitali helps to cool the digestive fire as well as the firery pitta dosha. It's a great way to get through hot flashes or triple digit summer day.

Hypnagogia + Fire the Grid : : Be Present

Image via Astronomy pic of the day: Few auroras show this level of detail. Above, a standard digital camera captured a particularly active and colorful auroral corona that occurred last week above Alberta, Canada. With a shape reminiscent of a flower, the spectacular aurora had an unusually high degree of detail. The vivid green and purple auroral colors are caused by high atmospheric oxygen and hydrogen reacting to a burst of incoming electrons. Many photogenic auroras have been triggered from a solar wind stream that recently passed the Earth. The auroras were unexpected because the initiating Sun has been unusually quiet of late.

Aquarids: The Aquarid meteor shower is expected to peak tonight, the Moon's brightness may interfere with observation.

via wikipedia:
Hypnagogia (Greek ὕπνος, húpnos "sleep" + the root found in ἄγω, ágō "to lead away, conduct, convey", ἀγωγεύς, agōgeús "conveyor", ἀγωγή, agōgḗ "abduction, transport, leading away" etc.), often misspelled hypnogaia or hypnogogia, is a term coined by Alfred Maury for the transitional state between wakefulness and sleep.

Seasonal Eating: Organic Blackberries
This week is the peak of blackberry season in our region. Don't miss out on sweet, juicy, luscious organic black berries bursting with ripeness!

"Let the beauty you seek be what you do." -Rumi

Fire the Grid: Tonight at 6:19 pm EST. I've posted a short summary paragraph from the website below, but for more detailed information just click on the "Fire the Grid" link.

To summarize, what we will do on July 28, 2009 at 19:19 Rio di Janeiro time — 18:19 (6:19 PM) in your time zone — is unite as one, sharing our purest intention to create a new world. As each of us as individuals see the earth in its true potential, collectively we will begin to create a world with untold possibilities. Hold that intention for an hour. During that time, the energy stored in the crystal beds under Brazil will be released and we will allow that energy to pass through us on its way back to Source.

The energy of Fire the Grid is ready to go back home. Please join us on July 28, 2009 at 19:19 Rio di Janeiro time — 18:19 (6:19 PM) in your time zone — for Fire the Grid II as we choose consciously to be present and accountable in the energetic creation of a new world.

Namaste

Aphelion: On July 3 at 9:00 pm EST, Earth reaches its most distant orbital point from the Sun for this year: 94.5 million miles (152.1 million km). Earth is 3.1 million miles (5 million km) farther from the Sun at aphelion than when it is at its closest point (perihelion), in January.

The Ancient Code (click to watch the trailer) a movie that was just released about 2012, also references sacred geometry. Here's a quote from the movie:
On a misty morning take a walk outside and into nature. You will have revealed to you a clue to the code of the ancients, for you will suddenly find millions upon millions of beautiful mathematical structures that you did not see before. Your eyes have been opened.

How to Start on the Path:
Don't be overwhelmed by the number of teachers and teachings. Just start by doing a little bit of something, even five minutes of meditation, but do it every day.... Once you put one foot in front of another, the dharma path has a way of leading you where you need to go.

Dean Sluyter, Cinema Nirvana

Open yourself to yourself:

When you don't punish or condemn yourself, when you relax more and appreciate your body and mind, you begin to contact the fundamental notion of basic goodness in yourself. So it is extremely important to be willing to open yourself to yourself. Developing tenderness toward yourself allows you to see both your problems and your potential accurately. You don't feel that you have to ignore your problems or exaggerate your potential. That kind of gentleness toward yourself and appreciation of yourself is very necessary. It provides the ground for helping yourself and others.

Chögyam Trungpa, The Sanity We Are Born With

Plant seeds of Compassion...karma originates in the Mind

A picture I took of the sky last Fall.

Earth Ball Friday Night in DC! Click here for more info

The number 108 is significant in yoga: it represents the number of beads on the mala and it was considered the number of wholeness by Vedic mathematicians. There are 108 Upanishads, 108 sacred sites throughout India, and 108 marma points or sacred points on the body.

I got so much inspiration from watching this video on self-reflection (even if it is kind of cheesy). I was sitting in front of my computer answering the questions enthusiastically in my mind...I'm going to watch it every morning for inspiration! (maybe) haha :) -thanks Katherine

Pratima Ayurvedic Skin Care and for those other pittas out there... a link to a site with some info for pacifying the pitta constitution.

Wiki of the day: Edgar Cayce and Ervin László

On June 21 at 12:45 est the Sun will be directly above the Tropic of Cancer. When the Sun reaches the Tropic of Cancer (its farthest point north), it is directly overhead at noon.

Radiant

Alyson Shotz Radiant, 2007 Aluminum laminated with acrylic with a dichroic film
variable; 49 panels, each 96 x 1 x 1 in., 8 ft. x 45 ft. x 14 in. overall
My favorite ever in the Hirshhorn collection (not currently on view).

Terrence McKenna theorized/wrote a Timewave equation, based on the I Ching and entheogenic experiences, in which great periods of novelty in the equation coincide with major events in the Earth's history. The end of the timewave equation, where it goes to infinity, matches that of the Mayan calendar, in which the end will occur at the winter solstice in 2012. There are many speculations of what will happen at this time, including the end of the world, and a great shift in human consciousness. You can find lots more resources and books on the web about 2012, including on the site http://deoxy.org/. Here is the wikipedia link:
Novelty Theory and 2012

Currently listening to talks from the last day of the EFT summit, Using EFT to determine your life values.
And, yesterday I watched Kymatica which I will definitely watch again soon and write more about. Highly recommended. -thanks Katherine

Quote of the day: "Millions of hours have passed, even more stars have fallen" -thanks Lia

Quotes

Quotes I have written and collected in my daily planner, the Ecological Calendar, so far this year..

"When you try it doesn't look good, but when you don't try, it's perfect"

"The force is already setting things up, if you need to do something it will tell you, wait in uncertainty until the choice becomes clear." (Calm-perfect, or urgency? Still seeking this balance..in effortless effort..)

"A lot of it is unnecessary, be realistic, no assumptions, no pretending, a person of truth."

"Meditate daily on how I will change the world."

"Smile and laugh more."

"Inner confidence and strength
Don't worry
Don't fight the forces, use them
Spiritually resonate
Interconnectedness of all things
Keep it simple
Discipline and self control"

Above quotes from one of my spiritual advisors.

"Stay straight on the path."

"Love, compassion, and kindness are the anchors of all life."

"Spiritually resonate."

"Love your soul."

"We are all one, not only with beings on this earth, but all planets and galaxies." - Alan Watts

"Calm down. You will find your way."

"We are in the flow of it...we are in the flow of time"

"The things you love you will be destined to hate and the things you hate you may love." -idea originally from The Garden, by Michael Roach

"What is doing, thinking, motion, action, awareness, movement, connection, soul, spirituality? Acceptance of the state of complete and utter confusion or the state of empty mind, knowldgeless leads to all knowledge. Is there a possible balance between the two extremes. Am I completely lost, or not lost at all? When you look at reality realistically, you see the truth, and there is nothing else. Everything else is just manifestations of the truth that somehow are here and this is it, this is what life is, or is it. How could it be different? Present moment awareness." -me

"The passageway into the world of shamans opens up after the warrior has learned to shut off his/her internal dialogue."

"Stress happens when your mind resists what is..the only problem in your life is your mind's resistance to it as it unfolds."

"Remaining detached from the outcome creates enough space for a solution to inherently unfold."

"Where your talents and the needs of the world cross, therein lies your vocation." Aristotle

"In a controversy the instant we feel anger we have already ceased striving for the truth, and have begun striving for ourselves." Buddha

"Your fantasies can show you places you don't normally go, and they can also lead you to the right path for your future."

"Real justice is for God to help us through his grace to rectify that which truly wronged us. And what is that? Our estrangement from our divine nature. At that point, when we have returned to our divine nature, justice will be experienced and function not as commonly understood but as total, absolute, and unconditional divine love."

"The art of being wise is knowing what to overlook."

"You can't be everything you want to be before your time."

"Every teacher tells us how important it is to control your mind. Something powerful happens when we lock our minds on an idea."

"When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it." Coelho

"Let it go. Quit trying to live with your past and explaining every action you take. BE YOU. Fully. In this moment."

"What is it you want. WHY do you want that? What deep reason compels you to strive for it? Get clear. Very clear." Nietzsche

Man's mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions. - Oliver Wendell Holmes

"Follow the calmness, by means of meditation, we can teach our minds to be calm and balanced."

Word of the day:

velleity \veh-LEE-uh-tee; vuh-\, noun:

1. The lowest degree of desire; imperfect or incomplete volition.
2. A slight wish or inclination.

Book of the day: Interpretation of Dreams, Freud (link to read online)

Wiki of the day: Dancing Mania and Ergot -thanks Issamu

A new, safe water bottle

Here's a safe water bottle alternative that does NOT contain Bisphenol_A (BPA).

It's beautifully designed, durable and dishwasher safe. Click here

National Sustainable Design Expo P3: "The Fifth Annual National Sustainable Design Expo is scheduled to be held April 18-20, 2009 on the National Mall in Washington, DC. We will have over 40 P3 teams and over 40 non-profit and government exhibitors demonstrating their sustainable designs for alternative energy sources, agricultural applications, green chemistry, green buildings, sustainable water use, and many more sustainable technologies."

Wiki-of-the-day: Rapini

Quote of the day:
"We think that success is only measured by your money
But money never lasts
In fact its only last on the list of impactful things we can ask for" - Wale, the Perfect Plan

The Virtue of Surrender

My meditation group on Tuesday was extremely enlightening, focusing on the virtue of surrender, to the universal force, in which you trust that everything that is happening is exactly what is supposed to be happening. Its such a great feeling to surrender to this force, so that your desires are perfectly aligned with it.

A great article from the Earth Policy Institute, on Planting Trees and Managing Soils to Sequester Carbon.

Things going on around DC:

Ice Skating in the Sculpture Garden (although maybe not this weekend, its supposed to be gorgeous!)
Earth Sangha fieldwork on Sunday at Canterbury Woods Park in Farifax from 10am-1pm
Meditation at Mindful Hands, 211 King St. Sunday morning at 10 am with Palyul Changchub Dargyeling.
The Bellydance Superstars are coming to DC on March 3rd.
Heart Art at the Torpedo Factory in Old Town Alexandria on February 12th, from 6-9 pm will feature live music, open studios and galleries, and refreshments. A bonus: The first 300 guests will be given a flower. This is a part of their monthly second Thursday art nights.
DC Wine&Food Festival, February 14-15th.
Washington DC Winter Restaurant Week, February 16th-22nd.

The National Capital Astronomers is a non-profit, membership supported, volunteer run, public service corporation dedicated to advancing space technology, astronomy, and related sciences through information, participation, and inspiration, via research, lectures and presentations, publications, expeditions, tours, public interpretation, and education.

Random thought: I would like to hike the Appalachian Trail one day, and also to pick coriander seeds.
Currently researching/looking into the health benefits of cod liver oil.

My friend Marcus got a research paper published: Nicotine pre-exposure does not potentiate the locomotor or rewarding effects of Δ-9-tetrahydrocannabinol in rats.

Saw this DJ at the Phillips Collection last night, thought his tunes were excellent: Adrian Loving.

Wiki link-of-the-day: Synchronicity

Quote of the day: "Sit down, shut up and ask yourself, "What's true?" until you know." - Jed McKenna

Pumpkin Spice

Fall is my favorite season. I took this picture hiking last weekend in the Shennandoah national park. :)

A link to the Environmental Working Group. "At EWG, our team of scientists, engineers, policy experts, lawyers and computer programmers pores over government data, legal documents, scientific studies and our own laboratory tests to expose threats to your health and the environment, and to find solutions. Our research brings to light unsettling facts that you have a right to know."

The Alexandria-Arlington Extra from the Washington Post

The Washingtonian Website..I like searching for restaurants and spas on this site

TED Ideas Worth Spreading. Inspired talks by the world's greatest thinkers and doers. I posted this earlier but I think its worth repeating!

I want one of these. A link to the page for Kyu Che, an architect/artist based in San Francisco. His architectural research involves high tech portable capsule habitats that explore the relationship between man and nature from an eastern philosophical point of view while utilizing 21st century technologies to create bionic systems that are ecologically harmonious.

Express Night Out from the Washington Post. I love looking for cool events and stuff to do!

Wiki link of the day: Luke Vibert. Luke Vibert is a British recording artist and producer known for his work in many subgenres of electronica. -thanks Bloom

Wiki link of the day 2: Damien Hirst is an English artist and the most prominent of the group that has been dubbed "Young British Artists" (or YBAs).

I thought this was funny: Homeless Polar Bears converge on Washington DC

Blogging God Steve Pavlina Interview, by the author of one of my other favorite blogs, Zen Habits! I was excited about this :)

A superfood I hadn't heard about previously, Mesquite Powder. The website, Live Superfoods, seems like a good resource to learn more about superfoods as well.

Our organic mesquite is a nutritious powder with a sweet, nutty flavor, suitable for use in baking or as a seasoning on food and in drinks. The powder is ground from the seed pods of the mesquite plant, also known as algorroba (Prosopis juliflora), a leguminous plant found in arid areas around the world, including parts of South America and the southwestern U.S. In desert areas of the Americas, mesquite seed pods have long been used as a food source by the indigenous peoples, who traditionally ground them into a powder to be used as a flour or processed into a sweetener, a sweet beverage, or a fermented alcoholic drink. Mesquite is also highly effective in balancing blood sugar. Because its sugar is in the form of fructose, which does not require insulin for metabolism, mesquite helps maintain a constant blood sugar level for a sustained period of time.

Forecast Earth Videos from the Weather Channel. "News, science and debate advancing sustainable life on a changing planet.
This particular video details how one citizen was able to actually cause his power meter to run backwards and put power back ON the grid. He produces more energy that his family uses. This is exactly what the article I read in Ode magazine this summer (see the "Power Shift" post) was talking about as the future of energy use in the country. This is a very exciting video, and there are tons more good ones on this site, as well as other information about sustainability. Here's the link to the Forecast Earth main page.

Daily Links

These are some sites I like to check everyday, if I have enough time. Note that some of them I have already posted on previous blog entries.

My iGoogle page complete with National Parks picture of the day, Meditation quotes by Osho, Buddhist Thought of the Day, Ansel Adams Nature Photo of the Day, Nietzsche quotes, Aristotle Quote of the Day, National Geographic Photo of the Day, the current moon phase, and the weather.

My myGaia page with Horoscope and Feng Shui tip

The Wikipedia Main Page

Astronomy Picture of the Day from NASA

News on NPR and BBC

Treehugger "the leading media outlet dedicated to driving sustainability mainstream."

Stardate online...a daily stargazing tip

Weather Underground a great weather site including astronomy info

Zen Habits simple productivity

Think Arete concentrated wisdom for the busy self actualizer

Scientific American the magazine's website

SciCentral A collection of top science stories

Various Links I have come across recently

DC Urban Hikers Group from Yahoo - thanks Jenny

Sadhana on wiki

Does time run backward in other universes? from SciAm

Becoming a LEED accredited professional from Treehugger

Portal to the mythical Mayan underworld - thanks Dave J

Lake Eden Arts Festival in NC

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Brain Food: How healthy eating makes you smarter - from Treehugger

Quote of the Day: All that you give to others you are giving to yourself.

Hustlin'

Sunscreen info from the Environmental Working Group

Soulful Relationships by Steve Pavlina, I like this point that he makes:

Everyone you meet in your life — even total strangers — is already intimately connected to you. The idea that we are all separate and distinct beings is nothing but an illusion. We are all parts of a larger whole, like individual cells in a body.

Gridskipper Washington DC: is a blog about travel and leisure, written especially for urban dwellers who appreciate the need to get off the grid from time to time.

A Midsummer Guide To Berry Picking in DMV

Wiki-of-the-day, the Golden Ratio

Oceolot kitten image-thank you Marcus