Map of the Spring Sky

When we look into the sky on spring nights, we are looking away from the center of our galaxy, the Milky Way. We see fewer stars; they are far beyond our galaxy.

Love

BENEFITS OF MEDITATION

1. Enlightenment

2. Peace & Tranquility

3. Wisdom

4. Joy & Happiness

5. Love & Compassion

6. Stress Reduction & Good Health

7. Improved Brain Function

8. Discover Your Purpose & Gifts

Aligning your chakras

Image: The Seahorse of the Large Magellanic Cloud

The following text is from a flyer I picked up at my local yoga studio, Pure Prana, and from more information on the chakras you can click here for the website link.
In the ancient Hindu traditions which gave birth to the tantras, or vehicles of union, we find that light and sound are closely associated. Light is the base of the universe and sound is that which gives it shape, resulting in form. Hence the world comes into being via the Balinese Hindu goddess Tara - Saraswati who plays and sings the world into being using music and the Sanskrit language. She rides upon a white swan named homsa, which is the sound of the breath moving in and out of the body. In this creation myth we have the three upper charkras characterized; brow-sight-light, throat-voice-sound, heart-lungs-breath. It is through the use of visualization, sound, and prana that we can open and energize our chakras. Cleansing and aligning them ourselves in our own time and space. The chart below is designed to assist you in making each of the sounds with the proper chakra visualization:

You can locate gemstones and essential oils which will enhance your healing journey. As you work with the chakras it is important to understand that the goal is to access the relaxed state or union with the eternal, the present moment, the only place in time and space where this union is possible. It is also important to understand that the symbology of the chakras paint the universal essence of every human being on the planet. Opening yourself to the rainbow light of the goddess will bring you to a place of peace, well being, and compassion of all beings. Please have fun and recognize all living beings to have the same rainbow nature.

I love chakra charts and have been studying them for a few years. I would eventually like to compile a comprehensive chart including all of the different ones I've come across over the years.

More on Natural Foods

Eatwild.com is your source for safe, healthy, natural and nutritious grass-fed beef, lamb, goats, bison, poultry, pork, dairy and other wild edibles.

LocalHarvest.org The best organic food is what's grown closest to you. Use our website to find farmers' markets, family farms, and other sources of sustainably grown food in your area, where you can buy produce, grass-fed meats, and many other goodies.

From Earth911, 8 ways to green your spring. Including tips on spring cleaning, laundry, car care, rainwater preservation, gardening, and grilling.

Organic Produce

It's very important to me to buy organic, local produce, as much as possible. A great farmer's market is one of my favorite things in life. Via my daily World's Healthiest Foods email, with a reference to the Environmental Working Group (EWG):

If pesticides are present on the surfaces of your fruits and vegetables, you can definitely remove a substantial amount of those surface pesticides through careful washing and light scrubbing. However, you cannot remove all of them nor can you remove pesticides that have been incorporated into the fruits and vegetables while they were growing.

From field to field and from year to year, the amount of pesticides used on different fruit and vegetable crops can vary greatly. However, some environmental organizations, like the Environmental Working Group (EWG) headquartered in Washington, D.C., have sampled large groups of fruits and vegetables to determine which non-organic foods most consistently contain pesticide residues (and how many different residues they contain). To see more details about the EWG pesticide measurement process, you can visit the EWG website at: http://www.foodnews.org/fulldataset.php. The worst offenders in the group have sometimes been tagged with the name, "Dirty Dozen." Here are the EWG's pesticide results, where we highlight the "Dirty Dozen" and also point to the "Cleanest Dozen," those found to have the least amount of pesticide residues:

Ranking	The "Dirty Dozen"	The "Cleanest Dozen"
1.	Peaches	Onions
2.	Apples	Avocados
3.	Sweet Bell Peppers	Sweet Corn (frozen)
4.	Celery	Pineapples
5.	Nectarines	Sweet Peas (frozen)
6.	Cherries	Asparagus
7.	Lettuce	Kiwifruit
8.	Grapes (imported)	Bananas
9.	Pears	Ultra Pasteurization (UP)
10.		Cabbage
11.	Spinach	Broccoli
12.	Potatoes	Eggplant

Source: Environmental Working Group (2005). Shopper's Guide to Pesticides in Produce. Available online at: http://www.foodnews.org/methodology.php.

Homo evolutis

Just watched this TED talk by Juan Enriquez. Interesting stuff relating the economy to genetic engineering, which leads you to ponder the ethics of it all. I liked one quote he used,

"There will come a time when you believe everything is finished. that will be the beginning."

Thank you Dave for sharing this TED talk :)

After reading the most recent David Wolfe email, on the Acid/Alkalinity Balance in the body, I have learned now another concept to factor into diet. Helping to maintain your body's correct pH value (around 7.0, it varies for different organs) can be achieved through a balanced diet. I would recommend subscribing to the email list to learn more, but here are a few highlights from the article:

The body is constantly striving to stay in balance in multiple various ways. The body needs both acid-forming and alkaline-forming foods to maintain a proper balance. It's necessary to eat foods which complement each other for this purpose. The major determining factor in whether a food will be acid-forming or alkaline-forming is the mineral content of the food. Foods rich in alkaline-forming minerals like calcium, magnesium, silicon, iron, or the Ormus elements will create alkalinity in the body. Foods rich in acid forming minerals like phosphorous, chlorine, iodine, or nitrogen will create acidity in the body. Acid-forming foods include nuts, seeds (including grains), and most sweet fruits and sweet vegetables such as carrots and beets. Other foods fall into a more neutral range meaning they do not promote either acidity or alkalinity. This range includes food such as seaweeds, cucumbers, tomatoes, bell peppers, green apples, wild berries, okra, and most types of melons. On the other end of the spectrum we find that wild land-based foods, herbs, and vegetables are the best at creating alkalinity. You may enjoy having a meal of dehydrated crackers made from nuts and seeds and topped with an avocado. These choices alone make this an acid-forming meal. However, by sprinkling some kelp flakes on top of the avocado and including a green leafy salad with this dish, you've now complemented the acid forming foods with those that will promote alkalinity.

Listening to: Dave J's myspace playlist :)

Quote of the day:

And suddenly I saw the heavens unfastened and open,

planets

palpitating plantations,

shadow perforated,

riddled with arrows,

fire and flowers,

the winding night, the universe

And I, infinitesemal being,

drunk with the great starry void,

likeness, image of mystery,

I felt myself a pure part of the abyss,

i wheeled with the stars,

my heart broke free on the open sky.

-Pablo Neruda from Poetry

Vernal Equinox

Today marks the vernal equinox, at 6:44 am the Sun shone directly at the center band of our planet, the equator. Equinox means "equal night." The equinoxes occur at the points in Earth's annual orbit when the lengths of day and night are equal. Spring arrived in the northern hemisphere this morning, when the Sun crossed the celestial equator from south to north at the vernal equinox. Over the next three months, the Sun will travel farther north, bringing longer, warmer days north of the equator.

new energy- new wave of season - vernal equinox
confident and optimistic dynamic, its a beautiful day, and a beautiful time and season we're entering.

All the religions of the world, while they may differ in other respects, unitedly proclaim that nothing lives in this world but Truth.

While reading a small pamphlet about death given to my family, before my grandmother passed away, it mentioned that wordlessness and touch become more important and meaningful ways of communicating when a person is living the last few days or weeks of their life. I love communicating in that way and I enjoy the times where much more can be transmitted deeply through silence, touch, and without using words, rather than language.

Quotes of the day:

So the single most vital step on your journey toward enlightenment is this: learn to disidentify with your mind. Every time you create a gap in the stream of mind the light of your consciousness grows stronger.

Eckhart Tolle

Source: The Power of Now : A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment, Page: 21

The essence of the Way is detachment. And the goal of those who practice is freedom from appearances.

Bodhidharma (c. 440 AD - 528 AD)

Source: The Zen Teaching of Bodhidharma: A Bilingual Edition

December 12, 2012

Below is an interesting email I'd like to share from the Gaia Community. For me, I believe, or hope, that there will be a shift in the collective consciousness of all sentient beings for the better in 2012. A shift towards love, spiritual development, and enlightenment which will lead to so many positive changes in the world. I think everyone will take care of each other more. :)

1,375 days until...

... December 12, 2012. :)

It's a date with high expectations! The end of the Mayan calendar. A prophesized awakening of human consciousness. A cosmic solstice—as the sun, the Earth, and our galaxy's center come into alignment. Even NASA has put out warnings of unprecedented solar storms—with devasating consequences to our satellite systems and electrical grids.

It's hard to know who to listen to, or what to believe. Some say we need to prepare for the end times, and to brace ourselves for the collapse of our current systems. Some anticipate a collective shift in our relationship to the planet. And some are sure it's just another y2k.

What about you? How do you feel about The Mystery of 2012? Our partner this week, Sounds True, would welcome your thoughts. They've just launched a site devoted to the topic, and are inviting Gaia to come have a look. :)

You'll find free audio learning sessions (featuring a few 2012 experts), a series of intriguing podcasts (also available on iTunes), an expand a b l e 2012 widget with countdowns in three different calendars (this could be fun if you wanted to start using the Mayan Calendar on your checks...), videos, blog posts, articles, book exerpts, and events relating to the rapidly approaching date. And, of course, places to post your own comments and thoughts.

And what about me? What do I believe? I think I agree with this. (Mostly, though, I'm just excited to find out, and I'm honored to think that all of us, everyone reading, will be discovering what lies on the other side of the threshold together. Just 1,375 more days to go... )

To mysteries and predictions and possibilities and the unfathomable power of our collective conscious.

Carlos Castenada: The Path with Heart

Taken from Philospher's Notes, but I, like the author, have read this passage many many times and have always kept it in my heart and mind.

“Anything is one of a million paths. Therefore, a warrior must always keep in mind that a path is only a path; if he feels that he should not follow it, he must not stay with it under any conditions. His decision to keep on that path or to leave it must be free of fear or ambition. He must look at every path closely and deliberately. There is a question that a warrior has to ask, mandatorily: ‘Does this path have a heart?’” ~ Carlos Castaneda from The Wheel of Time

I’ve read this passage dozens and dozens of times. I can vividly remember reading it out loud 5+ years ago to a mentor of mine who was recruiting me to run his new venture. I was trying to explain to him that, although the opportunity was fantastic, it just didn’t feel right. (I literally woke up in the middle of the night before our meeting and threw up.) I thought this passage captured the intention of my decision well so I (literally! :) read it out loud to him. Too funny.

So, how about you? Got any big things on your mind? Any big decisions?!? Ask yourself this simple question: Does this path have a heart?

From Zen Habits, Passion and Purpose in life, a short article. I highly recommend giving this one a read. "Sometimes, the best way to find a purpose in life is to go out there and take action, even if we don’t know what we are doing!"
"Once momentum begins, sometimes the difficulty comes in stopping!"

Another Zen Habits post, Move Beyond the Limits That Are Holding You Back, another excellent read for the day. "What all of these limits really come down to is the difference between surviving and living. Going through the motions instead of moving through life deliberately."

Conscious Corner

I thought this looked like fun for those who reside in MD!

Quote of the day:
"you can still be who you wish you is
it aint happen yet
and thats what intuition is" - kanye :)

Day and night

Do not go after the past,
Nor lose yourself in the future.
For the past no longer exists,
And the future is not yet here.
By looking deeply at things just as they are,
In this moment, here and now,
The seeker lives calmly and freely.
You should be attentive today,
For waiting until tomorrow is too late.
Death can come and take us by surprise--
How can we deny it?
The one who knows
How to live attentively

Night and day

Is the one who knows
The best way to be independent.
-Bhaddekaratta Sutra

This post is dedicated to my late grandmother, who was one of the greatest women to have ever lived.

Love

PRANAYAMA IS DERIVED fron two Sanskrit words - prana (life) and ayama (control). Pranayama is therefore life control and not "breath control." The broadest meaning of the word prana is force of energy. In this sense, the universe is filled with prana; all creation is a manifestation of force, a play of force. Everything that was, is, or shall be, is nothing but the different modes of expression of the universal force. The universal prana is thus the Para-Prakiti (pure Nature), immanent energy or force which is derived from the infinite Spirit, and which permeates and sustains the universe.

Paramahansa Yogananda (1893 - 1952)

Source: God Talks with Arjuna: The Bhagavad Gita, Page: Volume 1, 497

Tuesday

arXiv is an e-print service in the fields of physics, mathematics, non-linear science, computer science, quantitative biology and statistics. The contents of arXiv conform to Cornell University academic standards. arXiv is owned, operated and funded by Cornell University, a private not-for-profit educational institution. arXiv is also partially funded by the National Science Foundation.

An article about quantum physicists in finance, "quants". -thanks Marcus

A slideshow about plastic bags, great info, you will never forget your reusable shopping bag again!

Another article on plastic bags.

This is hilarious!! The reactions are priceless: Breakfast at Sulimays. -thank you Bloom!!

Enzymes

An excerpt from the "Beauty Through Mineralization" email course, by David Wolfe.

Much discussion has been given to the topic of enzymes in the last decade due to the increasing popularity of raw and living food nutrition and the important role that enzymes play in our bodies. Enzymes can be considered the most unique aspect of living raw food. The enzymes we find in our food are catalysts allowing not only for the proper digestion of the food itself, but also for the proper metabolic functioning of each of our cells. In seeking optimal health, the amount of enzymes we have in our reserves directly correlates to our vitality.

Most people new to eating natural raw foods soon learn that the enzymes present in our food will be destroyed when our foods are heated over certain critical temperatures (between 120-170 degrees Fahrenheit). When food is cooked, and does not have enzymes of its own, the body must pull from its enzyme reserves in order to aid in the digestive process. When our enzymes are being called on in this capacity, they are not able to perform their roles in metabolism.

Each cell in the body has 4,000+ different types of enzymes lying dormant and just waiting to be activated. To become active, both major and minor minerals are required in the process. Most people never fully activate all of their enzymes because they lack the minerals required to do so.

Our goal then becomes ensuring that every single cell has the minerals and nutrients required to activate the enzymes within it. When we are able to do this, we can increase the electromagnetic charge of our cells. Each cell can become like a super-charged enzyme factory. At the cellular level, this is the picture of health with each cell resonating and capable of transmuting whatever nutrients are needed using catalytic enzymes at that moment.

Sunday

"Narrative Magazine is the leading online publisher of first-rank fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. A nonprofit organization, Narrative is dedicated to advancing the literary arts in the digital age by supporting the finest writing talent and encouraging readership around the world and across generations. Our online library of new literature by celebrated authors and by the best new and emerging writers is available for free."

Potomac Bead Company 1104 King St.

Eco Justice Cafe Come make friends and conspire with justice and eco activists. 4200 Conn. Ave.

Vino

Click here for a guide to half-price wine nights in Washington, as well as links to the best Wine Bars in the district and the best vineyards in MD and VA!

Wiki of the day: Wheatgrass

Know what you want

I recently picked up a brochure for the "Achieve Perfect Health" Chopra Center Ayurvedic Lifestyle Program. I think I'd like to be an Ayurvedic practitioner.

This is something I'm currently working on. Figuring out for myself, what my personal legend is. And really you just have to sit down and do it.

[Roark to Keating in Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead:] “If you want my advice, Peter,” he said at last, “you’ve made a mistake already. By asking me. By asking anyone. Never ask people. Not about your work. Don’t you know what you want? How can you stand it, not to know?”

Well, that sums it up, eh?

Are you looking to everyone outside yourself for hints on who you are/what you should do/how you should do it? That’s a great way to live as a second-hander. Not so good if you want to be happy. :)

As Campbell says: “You enter the forest at the darkest point, where there is no path. Where there is a way or a path, it is someone else’s path. You are not on your own path. If you follow someone else’s way, you are not going to realize your potential.”

Where there is a path, it’s not yours. Someone else’s advice on the path you should take is not yours. Trust yourself.

[Emerson seems appropriate here: “Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string. Accept the place the divine providence has found for you, the society of your contemporaries, the connection of events. Great men have always done so, and confided themselves childlike to the genius of their age, betraying their perception that the absolutely trustworthy was seated at their heart, working through their hands, predominating in all their being. And we are now men, and must accept in the highest mind the same transcendent destiny; and not minors and invalids in a protected corner, not cowards fleeing before a revolution, but guides, redeemers, and benefactors, obeying the Almighty effort, and advancing on Chaos and the Dark.”]

Quotes of the day:

"A turning point is coming closer every day; you have to be prepared for it. Sannyas has to become a herald for a new world, the first ray of the dawn." Osho

As long as there is a 'you' doing or not-doing, thinking or not-thinking, 'meditating' or 'not-meditating' you are no closer to home than the day you were born. "The Tenth Man" by Wei Wu Wei...

Book of the day: Yoga Sutras of Patanjali by Sri Swami Satchidananda

Movie of the day: Healing the Luminous Body: the Way of the Shaman

Periodical of the day: Frank 151

This Prevention supplement seems pretty good, recommended by David

Ayurveda

A teacher I came across in San Francisco, Pratichi Mathur. I love her writings on her website, the Bio, Mission, and Ayurveda tabs are very inspiring and insightful. Here's a link to a picture of her in the SF Gate newspaper, offering water to the sun as part of her morning purifying practice outside her Mountain View home.

Pranayama

Rewiring the Brain: Inside the New Science of Neuroengineering via wired -thanks David

One of my friends, Nicolle, recently returned from a stay at Plum Village, a lovely monastery in France led by spiritual teacher Thich Nhat Hanh. The Mindfulness Practice Center of Fairfax teaches mindfulness in the tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh. The link to their website includes a schedule and directions to the center.

Saturn At Opposition: On March 8, Saturn is directly opposite the Sun and can be seen from sunset to sunrise. It is also at its closest point to Earth for the year. Saturn begins to exit the morning sky around March 8. Beginning around March 8, Saturn can be seen in the evening sky until late summer.

Go Green America Expo! March 28-29, 2009 at the Montgomery County Agricultural Center in Gaithersburg, MD. "A tradeshow focused on the sustainablility movement: promoting an environmentally responsible lifestyle for consumers and businesses throughout the country. It is our mission to showcase the services, products, technology, information, and educational resources available today which will enable us to create positive change."

Via Slate, The Green Lantern. "Illuminating answers to environmental questions." -thanks Travis

Official Website for the National Cherry Blossom Festival, March 28 - April 12, 2009

Raymond Kurzweil is an inventor and futurist. He has been a pioneer in the fields of optical character recognition (OCR), text-to-speech synthesis, speech recognition technology, and electronic keyboard instruments. He is the author of several books on health, artificial intelligence (AI), transhumanism, the technological singularity, and futurism. -thanks Trent

Wiki links of the day:
Pranayama (yogic breathing)
Holotropic Breathwork (psychotheraputic form of breathing)

Quote of the day (via Philosopher's Notes):
If anything is worth doing, do it with all your heart.” ~ Buddha from The Dhammapada

That makes it pretty simple.

If it’s worth doing (very important distinction) do it with all your heart (equally important distinction).

Decide what’s worth doing. (Seriously. Are you doin’ stuff that you shouldn’t even be doing? Because that’s the stuff you tend to do half-ass. Best solution? Stop doing it—either immediately or make a plan to stop doing it…)

Once you’ve decided to do it, give all your heart to it.

(Pretty, please.)

Mathematics

An excerpt from "Is God A Mathematician?" via the March Scientific American issue:

"The unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics creates many intriguing puzzles: Does mathematics have an existence that is entirely independent of the human mind? In other words, are we mereley discovering mathematical verities, just as astronomers discover previously unkown galaxies? Or, is mathematics nothing but a human invention? If mathematics indeed exists in some abstract fairyland, what is the relation between this mystical world and physical reality? How does the human brain, with its known limitations, gain access to such an immutable world, outside of space and time? On the other hand, if mathematics is merely a human invention and it has no existence outside our minds, how can we explain the fact that the invention of so many mathematical truths miraculously anticipated questions about the cosmos and human life not even posed until many centuries later?"