The power of yoga and meditation

We have an epidemic of people trying to run away from themselves.

We numb ourselves with excess food, stuff, drugs and shallow media input.

We attempt to break away from draining relationships, jobs, places, etc, only to find that perhaps the outer world may have changed, but our inner feelings have remained the same.

What exactly are we running from?

Committing yourself to a teacher who inspires you, may assist in developing your inner power.

Likewise, learning to hold feelings that appear negative to you without acting upon them, also develops inner strength.

If you can't stand meditation.  This is a powerful indicator that you are an escapist.  Trying to avoid your inner demons at all costs.  Likewise, you may try to drown yourself in positive thinking and attempt to be in perfect situations at all times.  This may lead to irrational decisions, divorces, quitting of jobs, compulsive buying, self abuse/abuse to others etc.

The strongest people are the people who can actually be with their suffering without trying to change it.
The more we can hold ourselves in states of vulnerability and fear, the more we can see life for what it really is.

Yoga is another form of sharpening the mind's ability to hold discomfort.  Staying in poses or kriyas when there is strong discomfort builds inner fire.

All of these lessons can be applied to life.

Achieving goals and dreams requires staying with discomfort sometimes for long periods of time.  Learning to live with compassion for all beings, requires us to learn their sufferings, and learn the ways in which we cause sufferings.  This of course is hugely uncomfortable and many of us feel that we do not have the strength to see or hear or be with suffering in any capacity of the word.

But how else can we learn to live more in tune with our surroundings if we cannot endure the act of simply being?  Being in the midst of discomfort.  Being in the midst of discomfort from others.

We cannot escape life, thinking that we can avoid discomfort at all costs, only drives our souls to misery. It's in the ability to sit with our misery that awakens a deeper sense of belonging and peace.  It doesn't come immediately.  This takes practice.  Dedicated practice, but it will come.

May all beings be at peace in their souls.  

Follow your dreams.

It's really too easy to double guess the path that you have so chosen as your life.

I look at my resume, and it amazes me.  But my resume isn't my life.  My life isn't always full of totally amazing adventures, okay maybe it is.  But it's too easy to begin to see those adventures, as normal.  We often allocate adventure with exotic lands and new people and totally new things happening all of the time.  Maybe it's what media feeds us, maybe it's our own ideologies about life.  But maybe the biggest adventure is actually what we may perceive as the most dull or even normal, maybe even just stressful.  Who says a 9-5 job cannot be an adventure?  No day is exactly alike the previous.

I have been seeking that inner spark which for some reason I completely had lost site of. 

Where your current life is, has less to do with your current idea of what you ought to be doing, it has everything to do with where you want to end up in the future.  

What is your biggest dream?  Could your biggest dream be accomplished if you continue to live life as you are in this moment for the next 10 years?  Are you doing something today that is difficult and challenging and you aren't quite sure if you can make it through, but do you see it as defining you for your future intentions for your life?  It seems to me, that in this generation we have grown so accustomed to instant gratification.  Which unfortunately doesn't quite create lasting happiness.  Real joy and real beauty comes from sweat and perseverance.  Sure maybe one day these things after much much practice will be easier to attain, but in the beginning it may not always be easy.  And that's okay!  In fact, it's the way it ought to be.  

I watched this video, and somehow everything clicked.  I suddenly realized, I am exactly where I need to be.  It currently may not seem easy, but I will push through.  I will work hard.  I will figure this all out.  And I will be better because of it.  I am in completely unchartered territory, but I won't let the unknown define who I am.  And I won't turn back.  I always imagined adventures as being jungles and mountains.  But in the age of enlightenment, adventures can really only be inner journeys (even if sometimes they ARE disguised as outer journeys of jungles and tigers).  They are journeys of mind and spirit and that may have nothing to do with the outdoors.  The outdoors have defined who I am my entire life.  And it continues to do so today.  However, now is the time that I learn to explore what is in my heart and how whatever I find I can bravely share with the world.  We have a lot of work to do on planet earth, we have a thousand broken things that need fixing.  I think we have what it takes though.  I think we can do it.

In this video, she talks about the '20's, granted the 20s are important and they should be seized, but in no way should this deter those in their 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s++ in not going in the direction of their dreams.  I say wherever you are in life, start now.  Start going down the path that you want to see yourself on in the coming years.  Age is an illusion.  Don't worry about magically 'being' who you want to be now, take tiny steps everyday that take you closer to the goal.  Start small.   

Check out this talk, for tiny habits.  

And for just an incredible talk on living your dreams.  

Seeds

I had the idea of starting a seed company.  It's been on my mind on and off for the past several years. With global warming becoming more of an issue in several places, and perhaps global warming is a benefit in some areas.  Enabling plant growth where it would have been otherwise impossible.

Global climate change today, is much different from the changes in our climate in the past.  In the past the change occurred slowly over thousands of years.  Today, the temperature is changing so rapidly, that it is difficult to know how adaptable the species of earth will be.

In my area there are many trees which are dying due to the change in temperatures along with change in precipitation times and quantity.  An article is here: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130211135005.htm

How can we prepare ourselves before it is too late.

With everything we know about climate and regions, we should be able to work out something in an attempt to brace ourselves for more biological die offs.

If we were equipped however, in planting seeds and introducing species, we may be able to help shift biota from southern regions to northern.  For the species located on the equator, we will just have to wait and see if the rich biodiversity will be able to buffer the warmer temperatures.  Perhaps a re-wilding of indigenous species in places that have already been totally bulldozed or excavated, this perhaps is the best attempt to keep temperatures along the equator more reasonable.

But these equatorial plant species, are so vital, they have adapted themselves to lots of water and lots of warmth.  We have so many species of plants on planet earth, what if for every region, every town, we could get people together under one blanket organization or NGO in the task of collecting seeds.

It could be a network of people working to track temperature changes as well as seed exchanges.  Giving seeds out from communities to other communities whose temperatures will be matching theirs over the months or years.

This is a great talk about re-wilding, which triggered these thoughts within me.  Developing an organization of seed savers from all over the globe working with climate experts needs to happen!

http://www.ted.com/talks/george_monbiot_for_more_wonder_rewild_the_world.html

If you are interested, let's start a conversation about it.  Let's do it.

The start to a new year.

2014

To be honest, with all of the global catastrophes and with the whole 2012 mayan calendar bit,  I wasn't really expecting for things to be functioning much after 2012.  But I guess these predictions can't really be trusted and our perceptions of the world don't necessarily make the world different from the way it is.

I am officially a matriculated graduate student, as of this month.  I have started my new classes, which are all very interesting so far, they are classes in organic agriculture as well as plant nutrient bioavailability.

I am enjoying them, I feel like I am learning quite a bit.  I also have the task of starting my research proposal soon.

My project will most likely be comparing in field soil test kits with laboratory soil tests.  Basically this kind of research will aid farmers/conservationists with soil dilemmas who may not have access to soil labs or means to send soils to one.

I feel good about learning more about this, and it does seem that this will be useful for me to know about once I am done with school and seeking to volunteer or do whatever I end up doing upon graduation.

The downside to all of this, it's difficult to get over the feeling of not doing anything at this moment.  Not living fully in this moment.

Like if it were up to me right now, I would want to be in an eco-community and just live, be in nature, working hard.

Unfortunately it doesn't seem that being in an eco-village and being at a university really go hand in hand. Maybe they do.. in my situation they don't really.

I currently live in an apartment in a city or town.. whatever it should be called, somewhat isolated from nature and wildlife.  Most of what I do these days involves work sitting down at a computer.

I keep telling myself, this will only be for a couple of years.  And then I will be able to serve that much more once I am through.

I find myself questioning this assumption all of the time.  Is it true?  Do I really have the focus required to read scientific journal after scientific journal?  Is it really going to benefit society that I live like this for the next two years?

On the other hand, the ideas of pulling out, and going and living with the land, I also worry about.  It could possibly be the biggest regret I will always have.  If I don't do this school thing now, I don't think it will ever happen.  Look how far I have come, I can't turn away now.

Maybe all of these thoughts come up so frequently because this is all so new to me.  All of it.  I have never had to write a proposal before, it's intimidating.

I have never had to structure my time so efficiently before.  It can be very stressful.

I can't help but to think though, that this is the exact training that I need.

Perhaps all of this is disguised by some degree by some university.  But actually it's a training in dealing with the mind.  It's training me to deal with negativity, and forming it into a manner that I must use in order to succeed.  Perhaps its showing me a different way to view life, instead of seeing everything as so black and white, teaching me the grey areas.

Perhaps it's teaching me how to be self-disciplined and cautious of just any kind of idea.

Perhaps most importantly it's teaching me confidence and how to be comfortable in my own skin.

It's possible that the program isn't teaching me all of this stuff.  It's also possible that I would be learning all of this stuff even without a program.  But I have to remind myself, that before I started on this journey to go back to school, I had similar feelings, I had feelings that I needed to be better, I needed to learn more, I needed to push myself.

And now that I am here, it's like I'm idealizing that other state of being.  But actually our real lesson in life, is to be happy and grateful for where ever we are.  Be at peace with it.  Be equally at peace with staying where you are, as well as going someplace else if needed.

Oh life lessons.  I am perpetually learning.  

Animal Communication

I saw such a beautiful documentary today on animal communication I have to share it here.

http://www.cultureunplugged.com/documentary/watch-online/play/11936/The-Animal-Communicator


It sparked such an interest in me to learn more I found a few other gems online…


a really creative way to connect animals and people through the use of the internet, this idea is still in the making, but I do find it fascinating.

http://interspecies-internet.org/


A parrot who is as capable if not more to learn concepts of that of a 5 year old.  I just find it utterly amazing that animals despite having totally different sound equipment then humans are able to speak in our language enough that there is communication -- especially among species like birds and apes.  These animals that were studied were also completely picked at random.  If a random human were asked to join a flock of flamingos and figure out 100 words of their language and be able to replicate the sound.. it might be totally hopeless.  Who knows maybe not.  But it is so so impressive that this bird was able to figure out how to communicate to this degree.  It's possible that perhaps our intelligence is severely impaired to that of these other creatures.

http://video.pbs.org/video/1778560467/

Interesting elephant article.  I am just so intrigued by this field !

http://www.corelight.org/sacred-activism/elephant-prayer-circle/animal-communication-interview/

Russell Brand is right on!

Even though I personally vote, I 100% agree that some kind of revolution is in order.  

Don't stop at vegan...

It's easy to look at the figures for global meat consumption and dairy and other animal products and just be absolutely alarmed with the amount of meat we eat in the western world.  Okay stats on meat and animal product consumption is one thing, but what about when looking at the amount of CO2 emissions, methane as well as all of those forests and jungles... pristine habitats we destroy on a regular basis, to feed and provide for these animals....

Animal production is devastating to our world.

I'm not going to go into gory detail.  You can find so many brilliant articles online about these issues.. in fact the UN has a whole series of documents related to the consumption of animals foods and the destroying affect that it has on our ecosystems.. not to mention our internal ecosystems.. which actually does not thrive on animal products... but that too is a whole different story that I don't feel like getting into the details.

Anyway, what I am saying is... after becoming vegan.. sometimes it can seem like.. okay I've done my bit.. I'm saving the world in my own way.. and that's that.. the story is over.

Sorry to disappoint you (or really just myself), but the world needs our active participation at this moment.  Actually to be more precise our soul does.  I can't help but believe that whatever is good for my soul, or her soul or his soul or your soul.... must be the same right.  Isn't it just love.

Hang in there with me.

I know I'm getting rather philosophical, but the point is coming.

But this coin is two sided.. even though, all we need is love.. most of us, don't know how to let it in.  Most of us don't even really know what it means.  We make movies about it and write songs about it all the time.. we like to confess our love to places and people elaborately all the time.  But the kind of love mostly portrayed in our media, is some kind of obsessive, lustful and craving kind of love.  It's not real.

We try to fill our hollowness with media input... material input... foods that numb our senses... actually ironically so that we can feel closer to this love... although.. in reality it's just pushing us further away from what it really means.

The more we can embrace our own hollowness, our own not knowingness.. the more the universe will fill the holes with its divinity.

And the more we see that it's not just about me.. or mine.. but actually about ours.

It's about every creeping crawling living thing on planet earth.  We are all learning.. we are all learning to love.

Yet many of us have these subconscious blocks on ourselves.. that unless we are such and such (kind, educated... compassionate.. smart.. witty.. ) a person.. we wont be able to love ourselves.. if we don't have... such and such  (mercedes, ipad... whatever) a thing.

But actually in reality.. on a deeper level.. we are only scraping the surface.. it's like when you are dreaming and you are trying to run but you can't move... Not until you realize it's dream.. do you have complete control... and you have the ability to wake up.

You know you are missing something, but you can't figure out what!

It's the connection to nature, to the unknown, to the mystery.

The moment that it becomes something of value in your life.. is the moment you will feel and experience love. real love for the first time.

Whatever you think you are doing at this moment that is supposedly your 'bit' of goodness to the world.  Turn it up all the way.

Dive deep into your passions to serve the world full heartedly.

This is the connection to love we've all been waiting for.  Get out of your comfort zone, and keep growing, keep moving, keep pushing yourself.