Helping others through Micro Loans

This is really cool. I read about it today in the NYTimes.

Think you can spare $25 or so to lend to someone so they can start a business?

Kiva is an organization that organizes small business loans to people in very poor areas in the world -- and they are using the internet to do it !! And when I say small loan, I mean tiny -- as little as $500 can be enough to start a business. These small loans help these people grow their businesses so they can take care of their families, and it encourages entrepreneurship and independance.

So if there is a baker in Somalia who needs $75 to buy a new oven, Kiva puts his story up on their website and anyone can contribute to raising the $75 for him. You dont have to put up the whole $75 -- you can lend as little as $25. When the money is raised, the money is sent to a local organizer and then given directly to the baker. No fees,no interest, no middleman. You get your $25 loan back in about a year, at which time you can choose to keep your money or re-invest in another business.

Go read about it at their website : http://www.kiva.org/about

I love this stuff.

If you like what you read about on this blog, please introduce your friends to my blog !
Yogis take over the world !!

New Hatha Yoga class

Thurs 3/29 7pm - 8.30pm $10.00
Location : 477-Broadway (between Broome and Grand Streets) 4th floor / Soho area
cell is 718-926-0704 (Dawn)

I think this is a monthly thing for me --- I am helping Dawn try to get this class up and running for Thurs nights == maybe different teachers will rotate each week which is cool and it is only $10 per class -- and part of that is donated to Leukemia research. This class was actually started by Dawn as a Yoga Project because she wants to make yoga affordable and available to everybody. So if you are a starving artist, or you're unemployed, just talk to us since we really want you to attend.

The class is in Soho, the space is huge and I get to teach by candlelight --- what could be better?

Please bring your own mats -- I dont think they have very many there. and bring a tee shirt to wear during yoga nidra.

So please come downtown this Thurs evening ! Class will be open level and it will be a really good thing. Hope to see you there .

Thanks so much.
Lee

Hands on Healing

Feeling like a little healing energy?

Stop by the Johrei Fellowship on Lexington and 26th Street for a 20 minute healing session. They are mostly open 6-8pm but call them to check their schedule. Closed Monday. By Donation

Johrei Fellowship - NY Center
116 Lexington Ave, 2nd Fl (Above La Petite Auberge Restaurant)
212 684-0009

Remember ahimsa ? "Do no harm" or "non-violence" as a philosophy of life and the basis of a vegetarian lifestyle ?

Well, here is a reprint of an article in today's NY Times, and it talks about how live stock is treated by the food industry. It happens to be about pigs, but it applies to chickens, cows, goats and any other living creature that is unlucky enough to be bred for consumption.

Vegans refuse to eat or use anything that comes from an animal (no wool, no dairy products) for the very reasons that you will see put forth in this article.


Jonathon Rosen / New York Times 3/15/07

WITH some fanfare, the world’s largest pork producer, Smithfield Foods, recently announced that it intended to phase out certain cages for its breeding females. Called gestation crates, the cages virtually immobilize pigs during their pregnancies in metal stalls so narrow they are unable to turn around.

Numerous studies have documented crated sows exhibiting behavior characteristic of humans with severe depression and mental illness. Getting rid of gestation crates (already on their way out in the European Union) is welcome and long overdue, but more action is needed to end inhumane conditions at America’s hog farms.

Of the 60 million pigs in the United States, over 95 percent are continuously confined in metal buildings, including the almost five million sows in crates. In such setups, feed is automatically delivered to animals who are forced to urinate and defecate where they eat and sleep. Their waste festers in large pits a few feet below their hooves. Intense ammonia and hydrogen sulfide fumes from these pits fill pigs’ lungs and sensitive nostrils. No straw is provided to the animals because that would gum up the works (as it would if you tossed straw into your toilet).

In my work as an environmental lawyer, I’ve toured a dozen hog confinement operations and seen hundreds from the outside. My task was to evaluate their polluting potential, which was considerable. But what haunted me was the miserable creatures inside.

They were crowded into pens and cages, never allowed outdoors, and never even provided a soft place to lie down. Their tails had been cut off without anesthetic. Regardless of how well the operations are managed, the pigs subsist in inherently hostile settings. (Disclosure: my husband founded a network of farms that raise pigs using traditional, non-confinement methods.)
The stress, crowding and contamination inside confinement buildings foster disease, especially respiratory illnesses. In addition to toxic fumes, bacteria, yeast and molds have been recorded in swine buildings at a level more than 1,000 times higher than in normal air. To prevent disease outbreaks (and to stimulate faster growth), the hog industry adds more than 10 million pounds of antibiotics to its feed, the Union of Concerned Scientists estimates. This mountain of drugs — a staggering three times more than all antibiotics used to treat human illnesses — is a grim yardstick of the wretchedness of these facilities.

There are other reasons that merely phasing out gestation crates does not go nearly far enough. Keeping animals in such barren environments is a serious deprivation. Pigs in nature are active, curious creatures that typically spend 10 hours a day foraging, rooting and roaming.
Veterinarians consider pigs as smart as dogs. Imagine keeping a dog in a tight cage or crowded pen day after day with absolutely nothing to chew on, play with or otherwise occupy its mind. Americans would universally denounce that as inhumane. Extreme boredom is considered the main reason pigs in confinement are prone to biting one another’s tails and engaging in other aggressive behavior.

Finally, even if the gestation crate is abandoned, pork producers will still keep a sow in a narrow metal cage once she gives birth to her piglets. This slightly larger cage, called a farrowing crate, severely restricts a sow’s movements and makes normal interactions between mother and piglets impossible.

Because confinement buildings are far from cities and lack windows, all of this is shielded from public view. But such treatment of pigs contrasts sharply with what people say they want for farm animals. Surveys consistently find that Americans believe all animals, including those raised for food, deserve humane treatment. A 2004 survey by Ohio State University found that 81 percent of respondents felt that the well-being of livestock is as important as that of pets.
Such sentiment was behind the widely supported Humane Slaughter Act of 1958, which sought to improve treatment of cattle and hogs at slaughterhouses. But it’s clear that Americans expect more — they want animals to be humanely treated throughout their lives, not just at slaughter. To ensure this, Congress should ban gestation crates altogether and mandate that animal anti-cruelty laws be applied to farm animals.

As a cattle rancher, I am comfortable raising animals for human consumption, but they should not be made to suffer. Because we ask the ultimate sacrifice of these creatures, it is incumbent on us to ensure that they have decent lives. Let us view the elimination of gestation crates as just a small first step in the right direction.

Nicolette Hahn Niman, a lawyer and cattle rancher, is writing a book about the meat industry.

Ever sent off an email and instantly regretted it ?
Ever accidentally clicked on the wrong name (like your ex-boy/girl friend) in your address book and didnt realize it until after you sent the email ? YIKES !!

Well, I just found out this very useful bit of info from NY Magazine :

What to do: As long as the message hasn’t been opened, you can retrieve it !!
PC Outlook users can go into the Sent Items folder, open the offending e-mail, and select “Recall This Message” from the Actions pull-down. Just remember: He could see the recall alert, which might pique his curiosity further.


If this actually works, you can thank me later ! : )

Fasting and Detoxification Workshop

Here's a workshop to learn about the benefits of fasting and fasting methods, using water, juices and specific foods and herbs to detoxify your system.

The workshop is led by Manu Dawson, manager of the IYI Natural Apothocary -- and he is awesome !! Really, he is a fountain of information on all things regarding your health !

When : Sat March 17 1.15PM - 3.15PM

Where : Integral Yoga Institute - 227 W 13th St NYC

Price: $24.00

Satsang with Joan Suval

First Wednesday of the Month at 7.30PM -- By Donation

at THE ARCH SPACE, located at:
66 West 39th Street
between 5th and 6th Avenue - closer to 6th Ave. - 3rd floor
Tel. 212-924-0718

Jivamukti Yoga

has a 4 week beginner course -- 4 classes for $50 ! (drop in class is $19)

Their new yoga center is by Union Square. And while you're there, check out the vegetarian/vegan cafe they have there -- the lentil soup is delicious !

Downtown Center: 841 Broadway, 2nd Floor , New York , NY 10003
Phone: (212) 353-0214

Chakra Meditation with Diksha

Every Wednesday evening, Diksha leads a sound (chant) meditation which I LOVE !

The Meditation Den
415 West 44th Street NYC (Please buzz #8 ) $15.00 by donation
212-581-5200

www.yogavanimission.org

The sound of chanting is very healing and vibrational and opens up your chakras. Diksha leads you through each chakra with their specific "bija" (seed) sounds , clearing and opening your chakras and nadi system. It is a fabulous practice.

Diksha is a professional musician and teacher. So she is very attuned to the finer points of sound. She also studied music with Indian musicians and Masters for several years in India.

Diksha also made her own meditation CD to lead you through the chakras and you can use it at home to supplement your practice. I own this CD and I think it is really, really good. Definately worth having.

Aparigraha -"non-hoarding" or "non-attachment"

One of the laws of yoga is Aparigraha. Most people describe this as non-hoarding or being non-materialistic and they throw out all their stuff. But it is easy to lean on the superficial behavior of being possession-less ( you can even get your ego involved in this -- I have less stuff than you do... etc ) , it is the intention behind it that is important.

The point of the law is to be non attached to "stuff" -- relinquishing the idea that something outside of you will make you happy -- that car, that dress, that relationship. Which cant happen because things change, the car will rust, the dress will go out of fashion, the relationship will morph into something else.

So, nobody is saying you cant have nice stuff, it's just that you have to observe your attachment to it. Giving up the idea that you "own" something is another thing --- that if you can just hold onto something for long enough it is truly yours and you have it under control.

Now go beyond material things -- what else do you think you "own" (control) ? your relationship? your kids ? your job or status? your good looks? your time ? your beliefs?

Can you let go of these things ? Can they let go of you ?

Aparigraha or non-attachment can maybe be better defined as non-clinging. Loss is inevitable because nothing stays the same. It is resistance to change that causes pain. Clinging onto something sure doesnt help. Clinging onto that tattered, old pair of jeans, clinging onto old relationships.... I'm not saying this is easy. People dont like change -- especially if the change is perceived as a loss.

Spring Cleaning time is coming soon... start thinking about what old stuff you can clear out of your life and your closets.

I dont have so much to report today --- I really just wanted to post this photo of the ashram deer... they are sooooo satvic !

Photo kindly provided by the lovely Biljana again.

We are all back from our weekend yoga retreat at Ananda Ashram..... we had a wonderful time and I am soooo grateful to all our students who came and participated with us. Yoga is such an internal process that we are all lucky to have had the opportunity to practice together surrounded by the beauty and power of Mother Nature. During yoga class with Rikard and Kristina, I positioned myself by the window so I could watch the squirrels running around the branches of the big fir tree during our asanas ! (and Kristina thought I was listening to her)

I would love to hear from our students to hear how they felt after having spent the weekend with us. Send me an email !

As you can see from the photo, the lake at the ashram was quite frozen -- some people

were brave enough to go walking on the ice!! : 0 Not me !!!

A huge thank you to Biljana who was kind enough to send me lots of photos of the ashram !

Hari OM

I saw this article today on the internet MSN Health and Fitness :

"Yoga: Not Just an Exercise

Yoga can help you beat depression.
By PsychologyToday.com

In 1990, Jenny Smith was 41 years old. That year, her mental illness became so severe that she could barely walk or speak. After days of feeling wonderful one moment and hallucinating that spiders and bugs were crawling on her skin the next, she landed in the hospital for the second time that year.

Smith is a victim of bipolar disorder, a possibly hereditary illness characterized by oscillating feelings of elation and utter depression. And though she had tried 11 different medications for relief, some in combination, nothing seemed to work. Upon leaving the hospital, Smith was told that she could expect to be in and out of psychiatric hospitals for the rest of her life. Soon after her release, Smith decided to learn hatha yoga, which incorporates specific postures, meditation and pranayamas, deep abdominal breathing techniques that relax the body. As she practiced daily, Smith noticed that her panic attacks—a symptom of panic disorder, a disease that approximately 20% of bipolar disorder sufferers also contend with—were subsiding. She has since become a certified hatha yoga instructor, and with the help of only Paxil, an antidepressant that she'd taken before without effect, Smith's pattern of severe mood swings seems to have ended. She even taught her 11-year-old daughter—who had experienced panic attacks since age 7—the simple breathing technique of inhaling to the count of four and exhaling to the count of eight; as a result, her daughter's panic attacks subsided.

Key to reaping hatha yoga's mental benefits is reducing stress and anxiety. To that end, Jon Cabot-Zinn, Ph.D., of the University of Massachusetts, developed the Stress Reduction and Relaxation Program (SRRP), a system that emphasizes mindfulness, a meditation technique where practitioners observe their own mental process. SRRP has been the focus of several scientific studies in the last 20 years, and has been shown to significantly reduce anxiety and depression, and thus alleviate mental illness.

To date, the most persuasive evidence of the benefits of hatha yoga, and in particular pranayama, stems from research conducted by the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuroscience in India. New studies have shown a high success rate—up to 73%—for treating depression with sudharshan kriya, a pranayama technique taught in the U.S. as "The Healing Breath Technique." It involves breathing naturally through the nose, mouth closed, in three distinct rhythms.

According to Stephen Cope, MSW, LICSW, a psychotherapist and author of Yoga and the Quest for the True Self (Bantam, 1999), hatha yoga's postures improve mood by moving energy through places in the body where feelings of grief or anger are stored. "Hatha yoga is an accessible form of learning self-soothing," he says. "These blocked feelings can be released very quickly, [creating a] regular, systemic experience of well-being." Yoga students may also benefit from their relationship with the yoga instructor, Cope said, which can provide a "container" or a safe place for investigating, expressing and resolving emotional issues. The instructor's encouraging and accepting words may also help students defeat self-limiting notions.
Not all mental health practitioners are convinced of yoga's healing powers, but many agree it can be helpful when combined with more traditional treatments. Zindel Segal, Ph.D., a University of Toronto psychiatry professor, recently studied SRRP when used in conjunction with cognitive therapy. He asked 145 people who were at risk for depression to undergo cognitive therapy either alone or with the SRRP. Segal found that after eight weeks of treatment, those participants who received both types of therapy were much less likely to relapse into depression. "This means that people can learn about their emotions not just by writing down their thoughts, which is what cognitive therapy is all about, but also by paying attention to the way their emotions are expressed in their bodies," he says. "Both approaches allow people to observe their experience without judgment, an important first step in stepping out of depression."

While yoga's therapeutic capabilities are still under scientific scrutiny, Smith isn't waiting for more proof. Having lost her grandmother to depression—she was one of many bipolar sufferers who take their own life due to the disease—Smith is determined not to let the disorder get the best of her. Since 1994, she has practiced and taught hatha yoga to depression sufferers—passing on what she believes has literally saved her life. "

I like knowing about people who come up with wonderful ideas of how to re-distribute wealth. It's not a matter of stealing from the rich to feed the poor, its a matter of re-channeling money and ideas to help set people up on their feet.

There is an article in FORTUNE magazine now about Mohammad Yunus, Nobel Peace Prize Winner, who is talking to major international companies about changing their traditional notions about performance and revenue -- what if a company could report on their financial statements how many lives were saved or improved by their product ? What if investors could make their decisions to buy stock based not just on yield and growth, but on the "social capital" of a company ? a social dividend for shareholders?

Danone is building a yoghurt factory in Bangladesh (at Mr. Yunus' suggestion). This provides local construction jobs, yoghurt making jobs, sales jobs, dairy cow sales, delivery service jobs.... etc etc... the idea is that it will eventually be a sustainable business run by the local people and that Danone will eventually see the return of its initial investment -- so it actually wont cost Danone anything in the end. This one small factory will provide income for 1600 people.

In addition, the yoghurt is fortified to fight malnutrition in children.

Well, we are back from our yoga weekend retreat (and we had a great time !!) and today, Valentine's Day has coincided with New York's first real snow fall this winter ! It's a snow-mixed-with-hail kind of precipitation, and quite painful when it hits you in the face. So we are all slushing around in our boots, trying to stay upright and navigating the puddles and the flower delivery guys.

I walked by a sidewalk florist I like on 8th Avenue and he has a multitude of dressy bouquets on display -- and all the flowers have a special sprinkling of sparkly snow on them. It looks soooo nice on a grey day!

Happy Valentine's Day !!!

Hey, feel free to leave comments -- I love hearing from you. Or if there is anything in particular you have a question about....

Tree Greetings

A new idea for gift buying ...

This is kind of like an e-card for birthdays etc.... you pay them $9 or $10 and a tree of your choice gets planted somewhere to support the ecosystem. Thinking Green here.

www.treegreetings.com

The Spiritual Cinema Circle

All you have to do is subscribe to this and they will send you DVDs of movies with a spiritual bent. They make it easy for you to find movies you might not have known about that open your heart.

www.spiritualcinemacircle.com


There is also another verison of the same idea but for books :

www.transformationalbookcircle.com

Yoga Retreat Feb 9-11

I am co-hosting a weekend yoga retreat with Kristina and Rikard (both Anusara Yoga teachers) at the beautiful Ananda Ashram in the Catskills. Beginner Yogis are welcome.

The ashram is easily accessible by Shortline bus (from Port Authority) from Manhattan -- just a 60 minute bus ride and then 10 minutes by taxi.

We start the weekend on Friday evening with introductions at 7pm, followed by the ashram's Open Talent Show.

Saturday, we begin with my Quiet Yoga Guided Meditation in the Lake House with beautiful view of the lake , breakfast, and then Yoga Yoga Yoga with Kristina and Rikard. After lunch, more deep yoga meditation and then yoga class. Come evening, we will participate with the ashram programs of Kirtan (chanting), Fire Ceremony and satsang -- it will be loads of FUN !

Sunday, more Anusara yoga and deep meditation - guiding you with your breath, energizing your chakras and opening you up to the beauty of your own life energy. After lunch, you are free to take a walk around the lake, take a leisurely hike through the woods or go shopping at the little gift shop.

The prices include your accommodation for Friday and Saturday nights, all your (vegetarian) meals, yoga classes, meditation classes, the Talent Show and all the regular ashram programs.

Semi Private room (2 beds) $325 per person
Dorm room (6 beds maximum) $300 per person

**Bring a friend and get $50 discount per person **

If you want to pay by credit card, go to Kristina's website and you can pay via PayPal.
www.yogafly.com. You can contact me via her website too -- or leave a comment here.

So, all you international yogis and yoginis from Milano, London, Berlin, Madrid, Paris, Washington DC, Caracas etc etc who read my blog -- YOU are all invited to come too !! Get over here ! It's SO easy ! Come transform yourselves with us -- and bring a friend !

OM

Welcome to my blog !!

I am so thrilled that yogis from all over the world are reading my blog !! : )
It is so mind boggling what the internet can do. International yogis interested in what's happening in New York City.

Italy, Spain, France and the United Arab Emirates checked in today !!

-- not forgetting to mention Virginia, New York, California .... etc..

So please pass my blogsite info onto your friends -- I love having you all.

OM Shanti

I was wandering around Soho and the Bowery a couple of weekends ago. There are lots of new luxury condos going up . The neighborhood is definately cleaning up -- not so sure I like this homogenization of Manhattan.

Anyway, there are some interesting boutiques and bars popping up. One of them is The Bowery Poetry Club at 308 Bowery (2nd Street). You can go there and relax, have a sandwich / salad /coffee in the afternoon or go in the evening and have a glass of wine and listen to the new poets of New York. They have lots of events and an open mic night, so try it out ! Go pretend you are in the 1950's and you're hanging out with beatniks.

They also have some connection with a film editing space -- where you can take classes in film editing or rent space/equipment and edit your own film. Just thought it would be useful info for all you budding film makers out there.