Vegan Vs. Vegetarian

There is a happy article today in the NY Times about Ms. Moskowitz, a punk rocker woman who lives in Brooklyn, is a vegan chef, and produces her own vegan cooking TV show “The Post Punk Kitchen” and has written several cookbooks. She fell in love with Julia Child and Martha Stewart and uses her inspiration to make delicious vegan goodies.

Vegetarianism is the philosophy of eating without harming any living thing. This means vegetarians don’t eat anything you have to kill – fish, animals, birds.

VEGANS will not eat or use anything from another living creature --- no milk, eggs, cheese, honey, silk, leather, wool ….. The reason being that chicken eggs are potentially a new life, and the laying chickens are mistreated, kept in cages with no regard for their comfort or safety. The same goes for dairy cows and goats, who suffer miserable lives, never see a blade of grass or sunshine.

Silk and honey are made by insects…. And in the harvesting of the silk or honey, many of the bees or worms are killed. And obviously, wool comes from a sheep and why would a sheep volunteer to have its wool shorn off by some farm hand ?

Here are links to the NYT article and Ms. Moskowitz’s web site (includes show schedule and recipes ) :

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/24/dining/24vega.html?8dpc

http://www.theppk.com/recipes/

The wonder of the internet is that I have this blog and sometimes I feel like I am just sitting here talking to myself -- but in reality, people are reading this all over the world !

People in France, Poland, Canada, India, Germany, Australia, California and Staten Island (and other places !) are logging onto to my site ! It is quite mind boggling sometimes.

Anyway, I want to welcome you all.

Leave a comment if you can. I love to hear from you!!

and do send a link to my blog to your friends --- let's see if we can build a yoga community in every country in the world.

Namaste.

Belly Dancing Class !!

Wednesdays at 8pm with Zahava at the Chopra Center on Broadway/54th Street
$15.00

Awesome stuff here and Zahava is extraordinarily talented. Really worth checking her out . She is a professionally trained ballet dancer, a yoga teacher and all round super talented (and tiny) !

Belly dancing makes you use your body in a whole different way -- you learn to isolate specific muscles, get a workout, loosen up the spine and hips and have loads of FUN !

Deepak Chopra's spa is beautiful. If you like, you can get an ayurvedic massage or a facial while you are there !


Chopra Center & Spa
1710 Broadway / 54th Street NYC
212 246-7600

"When you change the way you look at things, things change"

Well, Kristina and I were chatting on our way up to the ashram over the weekend and our conversation drifted over to how easy/difficult it is to change your head and how you perceive something is so important.

So I told her this story about how many years ago I was traveling through Oklahoma or somewhere and I had a tan and long hair. I stopped off at a small place because I wanted to buy a sandwich. I walked up to the counter and ordered, but from behind me I heard a man say "We dont serve squaws in here". I had never seen or met a "real Indian" so I was thrilled !

I turned around to see the squaw -- I was sure she was beautiful and had long hair and that she was going to be wearing all this great turquoise jewelry (ok, I guess I was expecting Cher) and I was hoping maybe she would invite me to check out her teepee..... but there was nobody there. I was a little confused. Where is this squaw?

Finally, it dawned on me that the man was referring to ME !! So here we are --- in this guy's head, I'm a squaw and undesireable. In my head, I'm looking for the beautiful Indian woman and excited to meet her. All of that negative energy and positive energy flying around over the same thing --- our perceptions were completely opposite to one another.

And none of it was true. There was no squaw there. But it was a clear demonstration of how the way you look at things makes so much of a difference.

Tricycle is a magazine full of thoughtful and well written articles about spirituality. It approaches things from a Bhuddhist standpoint, but in my opinion, it's all the same anyway.

I think it is well worth looking at. They also have weekly satsang with famous teachers by phone for a small fee -- they call it "Tele-Teachings". Pretty cool. I think you can join a forum to put forth questions to the speaker too.

But there really is much to delve into ... and their website has a lot of really interesting stuff to read too. I hope you check it out. The magazine is sold at Wholefoods and major bookstores.

http://www.tricycle.com/


Hey, feel free to leave a comment -- I love hearing from you

Kundalini Yoga

$10 per class -- First class FREE !

Chelsea Studios
151 W 26th Street (6-7th Ave)
212 306-0534

Visit the website for their schedule : www.dharmakaya.com

Yoga and Meditation Retreat Feb 9-11, 2007

Kristina, Rikard and I will be leading a yoga and meditation weekend retreat at Ananda Ashram in upstate NY !

Only 90 mins out of Manhattan, come with us for a weekend of Beauty, Bliss and Grace.

Kristina and Rikard are Anusara Yoga teachers and will be leading yoga classes, I will be leading Quiet Yoga guided meditation classes.

Friday night is Talent night at the ashram -- and Ananda has a long history of promoting artists, dancers and musicians -- so it should be a great time !

Saturday night is the fire ceremony (for purification and peace), meditation and kirtan (chanting) with Kamaniya, Tommy B and Kristina -- chanting opens the heart and it is fun, fun, fun !!!

The retreat includes accommodations, 3 meals a day (delicious vegetarian), yoga, meditation and ashram programs.

We'd love for you to attend ! Contact me and I'll give you all the particulars !

Namaste !

Advanced Yoga Practices: Easy Lessons for Ecstatic Living

This is a wonderful book that answers tons of questions about the practice of yoga and spiritual development.
The author prefers to remain anonymous and calls himself Yogani. The beauty about this writer is that he takes the mystery out of a lot of questions that arise when you are a serious yogi, giving answers in plain English, and dispensing with a lot of the evasiveness that I find a lot of teachers "specialize" in.

The book is so popular that there are AYP internet forums where yogis chat about their yoga experiences. You can also read parts of the book online.

http://www.aypsite.com/

It is such a extensive resource and we have the brilliant Yogani to thank for it.

The AYP book is a hefty volume, and is available in paperback at Amazon.com or at your local New Age-y bookstore. Yogani has also written some other books on meditation, Kundalini etc...

JAI Yogani !!

Flower Essences

I dont know if anyone is into using flower essences for healing and balancing your bioenergetic system, but if you are, I can recommend the Green Hope Farm in New Hampshire -- and if you can, ask for their catalogue... it's amazing !!

The folks at Green Hope Farm are full of information and present their work honestly and with spiritual purpose.

They even have healing essences for pets !


www.greenhopeessences.com

Book : The Way We Eat : Why our food choices matter By Peter Singer

Peter Singer is a Professor of Ethics at Princeton. He wrote an article in today's NYT about how people give to help others -- be it cash to charities or directly to a person in need, or how one might have to sacrifice a pair of good shoes to physically reach a person who is drowning in mud. How much is a life worth ? Is a life in the US worth more than a life in the poorest ghetto in Bangladesh ? He goes into motivation and a lot of other interesting thoughts on sharing ...

But he also wrote this book ..... and it deals with the ethics of our food industry. it is not a book about vegetarianism, it is a book that discusses how our food chain is affected by the economic profitability margins of the mega-conglomerate food companies -- from spinach to Thanksgiving turkeys -- how the food industry works hard to keep consumers ignorant about what really goes on and how they twist the wording on food labels and use legal loopholes to mislead consumers into believing that what they are buying is "organic" or "free range" -- when it is far from it.

He also discusses how huge retailers (McDonalds, Wal-Mart) control prices and force producers into less than desireable decisions. How the industry has applied factory processing principals to livestock -- regardless of the fact that they are living, sentient creatures.

Anyway, if you are interested in what you are eating, read this book .

Available at Amazon. com

Winter Solstice Meditation by Diksha

I love Diksha's meditation. She leads this meditation every Wed evening. I try to go as often as I can. and I LOVE her meditation den ! it is so small and cute and at the same time sooo exotic and spiritual. Wear comfortable, loose or stretchy clothes since you will be sitting for the meditation.

As a Fulbright scholar, Diksha spent quite a few years in India studying Eastern Music. She is a professional musician and teacher by day, and a yoga and meditation teacher the rest of the time! JAI Diksha!

Wednesday December 20, 7pm-9pm

the Meditation Den
415 West 44th Street NYC
(Please buzz #8 )

Evening's Program will include:
Sacred Mantras ,Chants and Affirmations
Special Guided Antar Nada Meditation
Musical Sharings
Refreshments

$15 suggested donation

Wayne Dyer's Guru, Siva Baba will be doing a New Year's Eve weekend of meditation, satsang and darshan on Long Island ! If you are feeling like treating yourself for the New Year, this could be it !

Guru Siva Baba comes to NYC quite frequently-- he actually lives in Ohio. I have been to a few of his meditations and talks. His "thing" is that he helps you work on improving your karma so that you can become rich --- and then it is your duty to find a way to help others with your wealth.

It worked for Wayne Dyer, right ?

The New Year's weekend is kind of expensive (for me) -- but keep your eye on his website because occasionally he has a meeting in a church and it is generally much more affordable.

Siva Baba has a PhD and has been a university professor in the Mid West for many years. He is educated and he speaks English very well.

You can check out his website and read about him.

http://www.sivababa.org/Events/calendar.asp

Kirtan/Sacred Music CDs from Shri Rama Publishing are dedicated to supporting homeless children in India.

The proceeds from your purchase goes to support 50 orphans, a medical center and Montisori style school.

I own the Murali Krishna CD and it is one of my favorites ! : ) (really !! - I listened to it last night before bedtime)

You'll recognize many of the mantras and it's easy to sing along ! Or it's great to just play as background music at home -- you'll find it does a marvelous job of relaxing your mind and raising the vibration in your home.

So, if you're looking for ideas for Christmas presents, why not give something that spreads cheer and peace to your friends and helps support an orphanage in India as well ! It's one of those multi layered actions-of-Grace things that snowballs and keeps on growing and helping....

Check out the website:
http://www.bookmasters.com/srirama/index.html

I hope some of you made it to the Chod healing ceremony this past weekend.

Hey, if any of you feel inclined, feel free to leave a comment ! I love hearing from you all !!

Cheap Yoga Classes :

Special promotion for yoga class at YogaWorks. 2 weeks of yoga for $25. Here's the link :http://www.yogaworks.com/newyork/promo.asp
I think that YogaWorks does vinyasa style yoga.

Some Like It HOT Yoga 206 East 63rd Street tel: 646 840-0108
Introductory Special : 1 unlimited yoga class for 7 days for $35.00
www.somelikeithotyoga.com
This studio only teaches "hot yoga", Bikram or Power Vinyasa. These are strenous yoga practices. Also, the hot yoga and Bikram are done in a room heated to about 100 degrees to make you sweat. This is not a recommended yoga style for you if you suffer from high blood pressure.

So take this opportunity to try out different styles of yoga. Even if you dont like it, it is an education and you will pick up some extra tips along the way. I am a firm believer in trying out everything, that way you learn what really works for you.

Tibetan Chod Healing Ceremony

Dungse Rigdzin Dorje Rinpoche

Sat Dec 9 and Sun Dec 10 2 sessions per day : 4pm -545PM & 545PM -730PM
598 Bway, NYC

$195 suggested donation. Pay what you can.

Bring blanket and pillow as you will be lying on the floor for the session. It is recommended that you attend both days (all 4 sessions) as the whole healing is done in 4 parts.

All you have to do is lie on the floor, and relax as the monks chant their healing chants over you. There will be a brief explanation before the sessions.

Contact: Moke Mokotoff 212 741 4443
www.zandokpalri.org

Anusara Yoga

Check out Kristina's website www.yogafly.com

Kristina Lanuza is my lovely, amazing friend and fellow yoga teacher.

Her website has amazing links and tons of great information ! Look for her teaching schedule (she teaches somewhere everyday !!! ) and try to participate in one of her classes. I've heard she breaks out in song in the middle of teaching !

And you may recognize her from Kirtan --- she has an angelic voice and she sings with Kamaniya and many other Kirtan artists. She even has her own CD !

Soooo much talent in one tiny package.

Namaste

Next time you take a shower think about this....

There are many ways to work Ahimsa (non-violence) into your life... it is just a matter of being aware and mindful of your everyday choices and allowing yourself to always be guided by compassion . It's a whole new way to think about what you do !!

One of the ways is to be aware of the cosmetics you use... the mega-corporations are famous for the cruel testing of their chemical preservative laden products on live animals. There are other cosmetic companies that purposely avoid that. Read the labels on your cosmetics, shampoos, bath soaps etc. to check for the "no animal testing" logo which is a little rabbit or a green paw print. An easy place to find these cosmetics is your local health food store.

In response to political pressure, some of the larger cosmetic companies make claims that they no longer use or have reduced animal testing. Do some research and see which companies are "Cruelty Free".

Here are a few companies to get you started:

Avon is supposedly the first of the major cosmetic companies that stopped animal testing to become "Cruelty Free".

The Body Shop was founded on the principle of having "Cruelty Free" cosmetics and skin care.

Philosophy cosmetics (available at Sephora) says it makes a point to only test their products on human beings.

Another hot and trendy company that refuses animal testing has a new boutique on 7th Avenue and 20th Street. It is called Malin+Goetz. Their special line of cosmetics and fragrances run the gamut from shampoo and conditioner to perfumed candles. It's modern, new, fresh and trendy. Just like us ! : )

Hari OM

Hi
If you want to extend your Thanksgiving celebrations get over to Sivananda Yoga on W. 24th St on Sunday. They are having a satsang followed by a Thanksgiving meal (veggie).
price : by donation .

Upcoming events :

Wed Dec 6 Satsang with Joan Suval at 7pm . by donation
Fri Dec 8 Kirtan with Kamaniya* at IYI at 8pm - $10 suggested donation

*FYI - This will be your last chance to chant with Kamaniya for a few months because she is taking off to work on recording her own CD !! Yes ! we have all been begging her to make a CD and now our wish is about to materialize. Cant wait !!

Sat Dec 16 OM Fiesta 7:30 pm Integral Yoga Institute $15 Per person suggested donation
This is a special event where a large group (you too) will chant a "rolling OM" . It is very powerful. I love it and I often wish I could do it in my own class but you need to have 25+ students to have it work. the more people who show up for this, the better it will be.

Special promotion for yoga class at YogaWorks. 2 weeks of yoga for $25. Here's the link :

http://www.yogaworks.com/newyork/promo.asp

Thanksgiving Recipe ....

Thanksgiving time is here already !!! I was sort of thinking about posting some recipes on my blog, but thought maybe that would be just toooo hokey .... but lo and behold, I was reading an article about Thanksgiving ( pointing out that due to the spike in homicides during the holiday season, knives and family ought not to mix) by the celebrity chef and author Anthony Bourdain and he gave out my favorite cranberry relish recipe in his own inimitable way.

So here it is, from the keyboard of Chef Anthony Bourdain :

"Some final suggestions: If you're tired of canned cranberry sauce and want to do better; simply throw a lot of raw, uncooked cranberries into a food processor — with a few chunks of unpeeled orange and a fistful of sugar. Chop the hell out of all of it and serve. Delicious cranberry relish. Even a chimp could make it."

There you go. It's easy and truly delicious. I often make it on a Friday night and eat it for breakfast on the weekends. Full of vitamin C. To be honest, if it's in the fridge, I snack on it all weekend.

Here are my culinary tips : make it the day before to allow the flavors and sugar to blend. Dont use too much sugar as the sweetness accelerates with time. Also, you could throw a chopped apple in the food processor too.

Oh, and Chef Bourdain forgot to mention -- wash everything before you throw it all in the food processor. But I guess you knew that.

Try this recipe out. I think you'll love it.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving !!

Fast Food Nation

Remember Ahimsa ?

This is the principle behind vegetarianism -- Ahimsa means "non-violence" or "do no harm".

I had sent around an email before explaining this but just to re-cap, "violence" translates to ANY harm done to another living thing --- if you break a branch off a tree, if you say nasty, cutting things to your friend, if you cheat someone in business, if you are disloyal to your spouse, if you take advantage of someone .... these things all do harm/violence to another. And clearly, killing an animal or a bug or a human is raw violence.

Anyway, here's the point : go see the movie "Fast Food Nation" this weekend .

Yogis promote vegetarianism as a healthful and peaceful way of life. If you are trying to follow a spiritual path, vegetarianism definately helps you along. I am not pushing you to be a vegetarian. It is totally up to you and you can still come to yoga class. But the fact is, that we in the Western world, do not relate to exactly what is on our fork because we are totally ignorant and disconnected as to how that food got on our plate (from spinach to porkchops).

So go see this movie at least for the educational value of learning something about the food industry. ( I dont think this is a movie for young children though). And keep in mind that yogis say that you are what you eat, and that you should respect your body by only eating food that is fresh, pure and healthful. (Satvic)

Let me know what you think.

OM