Health Care Reform From The Inside

"With the truth in their thoughts they brought to birth a new dawn."--Rig Veda

One day we wake up and realize that every problem that we ever had has a very simple solution.....we stop waiting for someone else to do something for us and we start to act on our own behalf. We save ourselves, heal ourselves, we become the one that we were waiting for, and we become examples of success on all levels for others. Your example is the greatest inspiration for all those connected to your life.

The teachings of yoga are teachings about independence or "dependence inward". We decide to unplug from a system that causes disconnection from our body, from our thoughts, from the real heart of the matter. We act for wellness and wholeness. We treat cause instead of effect. We protect the health of others instead of profiting from their ills.

One of the most basic, intimate levels of health is the foods that you ingest. What you eat directly becomes your body and your health. When you are healthy you are free to enjoy life and your mind is relaxed and happy. Regardless of what's going on in politics, this should be your inspiration.

Here are some ideas that can contribute to the positive direction of your physical health from Michael Pollen author of the "Omnivore's Dilemma":
1. Eat food--not highly processes concoctions designed by food scientists.
2. Don"t eat anything your great grandmother wouldn't recognize as food...i.e. gogurt portable yogurt tubes
3. Avoid food products containing ingredients that no ordinary human would keep in the pantry-chemical additives pose a proven hazard to your health
4. Avoid food products that contain high-fructose corn syrup
5. Avoid foods that have some form of sugar(or sweetner) listed among the top three ingrdients
6. Avoid food products that contain more than 5 ingredients
7. avoid food products containing ingredients that a 3rd grader cannot pronounce
8.Avoid food products that make health claims--for a product to carry health claims it must have a package which means it's processed. The healthiest food-fresh produce- doesn't come with packages.
9.Avoid food products with the wordoid "lite" or terms "low-fat" or "non-fat" in their names-since the low fat campaign began in the late 1970's. americans actually have been eating 500 additional calories per day, mostly from the addes sugar in these products.
10. Avoid foods that are pretending to be something they are not--i.e. imitation butter-margarine
11. Avoid foods you see advertised on T.V.
12. shop the peripheries of the supermarket and stay out of the middle
13. Eat only foods that will eventually rot--whole foods are alive and therefore should eventually die
14. Eat food made from ingredients that you can picture in their raw state or growing in nature.
15. Get out of the supermarket whenever you can-- there's no high fructose corn-syrup at the farmer's market.
16. Buy your snacks at farmer's markets--dried fruits and nuts rather than chips and sweets
17. Eat only foods that have been cooked by humans rather than corporations--corporations cook with to much salt, fat, and sugar as well as preservatives.
18. Don't ingest foods maade in places where everyone is required to wear a surgical cap.
19. If it came from a plant, eat it, if it was made in a plant, don't
20. It's not food if it arrived through the window of your car.
21. It's not food if it's called by the same name in every language (Big Mac, cheetos, pringles)
22. Eat mostly plants especially leaves--scores of studies demonstrated that diets rich in vegetables and fruits reduce the risk of dying from all western diseases--you'll also be consuming fewer calories
23. Treat treats as special occasion food
24. Eating what stands on one leg(plants) is better than eating what stands on 2 legs(fowl) which is better than eating what stands on 4 legs (cows, pigs, and mammals)
25. Eat your colors--a healthy plate of food will feature several different colors.
26. Drink the spinach water --save it for soups ans sauces, it's rich in vitamins
27. Eat animals that have themselves eaten well.
28 If you have space, buy a freezer
29. Eat like an omnivore
30 Eat well grown food from healthy soil
31 Eat wild foods when you can--i.e wild blueberries
32. Don't overlook the oily little fishes--"A land with lots of herring can get along with few doctors"--Dutch proverb
33 Eat some foods that have been predigested by bacteria or fungi--yogurt,sauerkraut, kimchi, sourdough bread--they are rich in B12 which aids in digestive and immune systems
34. Sweeten and salt your food yourself
35 Eat sweet foods as you find them in nature
36Don't eat breakfast cereals that change the color of the milk
37 "The whiter the bread the sooner you'll be dead."
38 Favor the kinds of oils and grains that have traditionally been stone-ground.
39. Cook junk food yourself----wash, peel, cut and fry potatoes for french fries...same for chips, cakes,pies...when you prepare them yourself , you won't be eating them everyday
40 Be the kind of person who exercises
41 Eat more like the French, or the Japanese, or The Itailians, or the Greeks---pay attention to the combinations of food in traditional culture.
42. Regard nontraditional foods with skepticism--approach new creations with caution
43 Have a glass of wine with dinner
44 Eat less
45 Stop eating befire you're full
46 Eat when hungry not when you are bored
47 Don't let your eyes be bigger than your stomach--most of us allow external and visual to cue how much we eat.
48 Eat slowly
49 spend as much time enjoying the meal as it took to prepare it
50 Buy smaller plates and glasses
51 Serve a proper portion and don't go back for seconds
52. "Breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, dinner lke a pauper."
53 Eat meals
54 Don't get your fuel from the same place your car does.
55 limit snacks to unprocesses plant foods
56 eat at your table
57. Try not to eat alone---eating alone tends to lead to over eating or eating convenience foods
58 Treat treats as treats
59 Leave something on your plate
60 Plant a vegetable garden if you have space.
61 Cook
62 break the rules once in a while "All things in Moderation".


That's the list. It is often difficult to change our behaviors though. Act as if your life depends upon it. Ill health destroys the enjoyment of living and can destroy your livelihood and your relationships. The lives of your loved ones will be effected...if you can't choose health for yourself, then do it for those who you love.

Why Things Fall Apart......

Why do things fall apart???? I'm sure you wondered why. Why did Wall Street collapse?? Why did you lose your job??? Why did your boyfriend leave you? What's really going on....

And the good stuff.....where does that come from??

Everything comes from your karma!!!! How you treated people/things in the past. And, very importantly, how you see yourself....remember this "How you see yourself" thing.

Let's say the quickest way to enlightenment is seeing how everything is enlightening us. Everything that happens is a teaching just for you. ... the people are there for you, not to cause you frustration but to help you sort things out. You would treat them differently then.....that would change your outcome.

What I learned from interacting with the Yoga culture of India is that they view everything: person, plant, or thing....as God. When they go anywhere, they never go empty handed. They always go bearing gifts as a offering to the person they are meeting because it is so precious to be blessed with the presence of God. Feel blessed with the presence of those who are in your life, who write you emails, buy the milk, make your bed, call for theatre tickets, and make sure you get places on time. It's the little places where things really exist....not the showy places. What you don't appreciate dries up pretty fast because they are such small delicate things. Never think "This person is not the one! They are not good enough, I have to go out and find someone better!" Always think "What a huge blessing it is to have this individual as part of my life....Everyday is such a treasure!"
It may sound schmalzty......but Greed and dissatisfacation are the things that do us in. Never being satisfied and always wanting more are the answers to the above questions I asked. That's what's up on Wall Street.

Why do good people suffer then???? It is because of how they see themselves.....remember karma records how the mind thinks. Their karma has lead them to think as victims or not worthy and that's another form of stinginess. The best antidote is meditation because meditation burns the seeds of negative karma. All that really means is that you let go of common conscouiousness of the masses. Common thought patterns are that of complaining, lying, cheating, vulgarity, mean spiritedness, aggression , etc.......just visit a bar on any given sunday(hahaha)..

I hope you understand that you are doing everything.....you are the seer of everything. You are the subject and the object simultaneously. What you do to others, you do to yourself. When you criticize, you do it to yourself. When you praise, you praise yourself. When you see the blessed nature of another, you see it yourself.......with the karmic recorder. It's the cosmic mind that sees itself think.

Tell someone how much they mean to you......don't hold back, really sock it to 'em! Things will really come together for you my friend.....