About Nothing beats the feel of cotton. That’s what the commercials say, but what they don’t
tell you is that the feel or conventional cotton uses 25% of the world’s insecticides. Not just the US, but the world. Regular cotton also uses 10% of the world’s pesticides. In fact, regular cotton starts using pesticides on the seeds. The little babies haven’t even had time to say their first words, or sprout a twig, before they are brought down by the man. The man carrying the chemicals. From seeds onwards, chemicals are a continuous part of the growing process. Organic cotton not only doesn’t use pesticides, but it uses a lot less water. How? Because organic cotton is a rotation crop. When crops are rotated the soil maintains its nutrients and is better able to hold water in. Regular cotton is usually the sole crop planted. Cotton depletes the soil, and leaves the soil incapable of holding water. Mass irrigation happens on regular cotton and uses 3,000 cubic meters more of water per acre to grow than organic cotton. Most organic cotton is rain-fed and not irrigated, so helps to save water in these times where over one third of the world’s population does not have clean drinking water. Aren’t we lucky to be such an abundant nation that we can use our water resources for golf courses? Don’t answer that. Not that we have anything against golf courses, but it might be smart to only have golf courses where they can sustain themselves without sucking up water we may one day need for simple things like drinking and bathing. Call us crazy. Water will always be around, right? I hope you all caught the sarcasm inherent in that sentence. Water is a precious commodity and organic cotton farmers recognize the importance of this and we are proud to be able to bring you products that feel good and do a little good for the world. Organic cotton does not compromise the look or feel of regular cotton. You can still wear your organic-cotton-t-shirts around the house, out on the town and you may walk a little taller knowing the secrets of how it was made. Another plus is that organic cotton farms keep lots of people employed. The weeds are hand picked to keep the ground happy, instead of dumping mass amounts of chemicals (some originally used in warfare as nerve agents) on the land, which can have the unfortunate effect of getting caught in the wind and poisoning workers, ground water and the animals that depend on the ground water. Think of 67 million birds per year falling to their deaths, dropping from the sky and landing at your feet, or keeling over because they have ingested toxic pesticides. In fact, most of the pesticides used on regular cotton have been labeled possible, likely or probably known human carcinogens. What that means is that they can cause all sorts of cancer, they are endocrine disrupters, can cause developmental disabilities in children. Need any other reasons to switch to organic? How about knowing that as many as 20,000 deaths per year are attributed to accidental pesticide poisoning. We’ve got a few more. Organic farmers maintain a balance between pests and natural predators through healthy soil and crop rotation, or using a variety of crops. They even plant “trap”crops to entice the bad insects away from the cotton. In this scenario, pesticides aren’t needed because nature, smart as she is, takes care of herself. Organic farmers also wait for seasonal freezes to defoliate the plants, or they use water management to stimulate defoliation. Conventional farmers use even more of those fun pesticides I was just telling you about. They use more than 200 different types of chemicals just to manufacture the cotton. One of the controversial issues in the US today is the use of GMO’s or Genetically Modified Organisms. Europe and Japan refuse US products with GMO’s or they have to be labeled clearly stating they contain GMO’s. Here in the United States, we have no such fun labeling systems, so you could be eating GMO’s and not even knowing it. Why should that be a concern? We don’t know. That’s the problem. We don’t know the long-term effects on humans. GMO’s could turn out to be another case like DDT. Other countries are more cautious about what they put in their bodies. In the US we don’t even have the choice because we don’t know what’s in what. Conventional cotton uses up to 70% GMO seeds. GMO’s were developed to be resistant to certain insects so less pesticides would be needed. The problem that developed is that secondary insect infestations have far surpassed the primary infestations that would have happened if they hadn’t tinkered with the seeds. Some growers say they use even more pesticides with GMO’s than they did without. In 2000, 84 million pounds of pesticides were sprayed on only 14.4 million acres of conventional cotton, making cotton one of the highest using pesticides productions in the US. By contrast, organic cotton is grown on soil that has been chemical free for at least three years. It’s time to be one of the cool kids like Patagonia who no longer use conventional cotton. Wal-Mart and Target of all places now carry organic cotton t-shirts. So does LL Bean. Besides, now you can buy everything from handkerchiefs to kimono’s in organic cotton. Right now, only 0.5% of the cotton market is organic. You have choices. The more organic cotton that’s bought, the more will be made. Maybe one day, we will eradicate regular cotton for good and the world will be a better place for you and me! This article is from ONNO, a t-shirt company in Boulder, Colorado. www.onnotextiles.com
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When your yoga teacher invites you to "set and intention" for
your practice at the beginning of class, it is for a good reason that extends beyond your yoga mat. Intentions can play an important role in your life, often when you are faced with difficulty. Whether you are struggling to find ease in a pose or dealing with emotional turmoil in daily life. Intentions are a force in nature; intentions are what create our reality. Intentions are what create the fulfillment of our dreams. Intentions are essentially the capacity to stay in touch with the core values that you wish to live by as you pursue your life's goals and engage with others. Being grounded in your intention literally changes what you perceive in a situation and how your mind interprets what you perceive: it also affects how you act on what you perceive. Knowing what is essential to you allows you to respond to life's ups and downs with a clear mind and an open heart. Your intentions also support you in making choices and decisions, help you endure anxiety, stress, and enable you to bear disappointment and difficulty with equanimity. Of course when difficulties arise, it's easy to get swept up in strong emotions and lose awareness of your intentions. So just like learning a new yoga pose it takes practice to develop awareness of your intentions. Below is an exercise that you can practice straight away, with very little effort or investment of time, that can immediately enhance your life. In order to get the most out of this exercise you must clearly visualize your intended outcome. It can be for energy, vitality, a clearer connection with a higher power, health, joy, love. Whatever the intention it does not matter, it can be for financial stability, abundance, creative expression. Pick an intention and bring it into your heart, let it grow thru meditation. And soon you will be inspired to make choices that will allow you to step out of dependency and helplessness and into a place of inner strength and power. Now, find a quiet place to sit or lay down where you will not be disturbed for the next few minutes... Take a moment to get comfortable and tune into your breath. Relax. When you have chosen the intention then put your intention in your heart and listen with your soul. Repeat quietly to yourself, what do I want? What do I want? What do I want? What do I want? Do not seek the answers to this question at this time, just ask the question. Ask and you shall receive. Live with this question. Move with this question, what do I want? And soon you will be moving into the answers, the answers will come to you as situations, as circumstances, events, relationships, insights, and imagination. Reflection... ~Now, ask yourself if you truly will make this a regular practice, a core attitude in your daily life and, if so, what it means to you. ~Engage in this practice each day. ~Throughout the day practice being mindful of your intention as you go about your various activities. ~Remind yourself throughout the day that you intend for all of your words and actions to arise from this intention. ~Notice when your attitude is one of judging yourself and consciously remind yourself of your intention. ~Be mindful of those times when you actually speak or act from this intention, and acknowledge to yourself that you have lived out your commitment. ~When others demand that you meet their expectations, respond from a place of inner strength and power that has been created by your intention. Tap into your most intuitive, intentional self. Love and Light, Namaste Who am I really? Am I really this person that goes about doing
what I do in each given day? I teach yoga, I make pottery, I hike, bike etc. But who am I really? I ask myself this question often. There is a longing inside of me to know this true Self that lives inside of me. When I say the true Self something inside of me expands with hope. At times I have felt that this true Self must be that person that I am underneath the walls, the veils that I have built up over time to protect myself. The true Self is much deeper than my identity. The true Self is much deeper than I. I will need to go into the deepest part of myself, to the core. Where I feel this burning inside of me that starts in my chest. There is a picture of Hanuman, where he is tearing open his chest with both hands to reveal what is inside. I feel he is saying show me your heart; open up to the real you that you long to be. Reveal your true Self. How do we come to this place where we are able to reveal who we really are and how do we reveal ourselves when we don't really know who we are? It’s funny really if you think about it, like we are chasing our tail going in circles chasing after what we want trying to become someone who we do not know. Truly we will not find this true Self if we are looking outside of ourselves. Anything outside of you will only add another layer that we will need to unpeel later when you really get serious about this Self-discovery. What if we stop adding layers and start uncovering who we really are. I know that that can definitely bring up some fear, it sure has for me. What if people don't like the real me? What if they think I'm weird? Gosh I feel so completely vulnerable when I let down the guard and let others in. I am so afraid that I will get rejected or cut down. If I am looking for others approval it's not really going to work. I need to look for my true Self knowing that what I will find is enough. The light that I will meet is the entire acceptance that I need. That light and I are one in the same and when I come into the light and be seen then I will know that in the light is love. This love will sustain me, hold me and in this love I am me, the true Self is revealed. Welcome home my love. Honey is effective in removing whiteheads! Having smooth skin on our face boosts our confidence and regular exfoliation helps maintain this goal. A face free from impurities show off a healthier glow. Whiteheads, as most of us know, are caused by hardened oils in the pores of the skin which appear in the form of tiny, white raised spots. So what can we do to remove them and maintain that baby smooth skin on our face? The answer is honey! Honey is a natural ingredient which has beneficial effects to the skin and it is perfect for removing whiteheads, too! Try mixing 1 teaspoon of honey with a few drops of water, apply it to your face gently massaging with circular motion. Leave on for 10 minutes, use warm water to remove and enjoy baby smooth skin. Dear Blessed Self,
This is my prayer for you... Dear Great Spirit: This is my friend, whom I love help them to live their life to the fullest. Promote them And cause them to excel above their expectations. Help them to shine in the darkest places where it is impossible to love. Protect them at all times. Lift them up when they need You the most, and let them know when they walk with you, they will always be safe. I love you! Namaste What is love? This is a question that I have been asking myself lately. As I ask around I hear things like, love is...unconditional, unity, friendship, respect, trust, patience. Love is love, right? But what I might call love you might not, this could cause some problems in our relationship. Your kids might not think it's love when you disicpline them, I wasn't crazy about that when I was a kid. Is love that feeling you get when you meet Mr/Mrs. right? All gushy and stuff! All of this sounds good but kind of surface level to me. I'd like to think that Love is bigger.
Some say that it was Love that created the Universe. Sri Neem Karoli Baba said that Jesus lost himself to love. Jesus said " love your neighbor as yourself". When I can see Love in all and see all in Love, then Love never leaves me and I never leave Love. And I, who in this oneness of Love, loves Love in whatever I see, wherever I may live, in truth, I live in Love. Kabir said "It is easy to bear the heat of fire and likewise it is possible to tread the edge of the sword. But to sustain an unchanging love is a most difficult business. Who ever or whatever creature comes to you, do not drive away but receive with due consideration. Give food to the hungry, water to the thirsty, and clothes to the naked...bear with others' reproach. Speak only gentle words. This is the way to happiness...the world maintains a wall-the wall of differentiation between oneself and others, between you and me. Lets destroy this wall with Love. I love you! When you are going through a difficult time, sometimes nothing you do to solve your problems seems to help. You struggle, but the changes don't seem to come. Can you stop struggling for a moment and recognize the goodness in the life you have right this moment? Try this centering practice for 3 to 5 minutes to open to the beauty of your life exactly as it is...
Sit comfortably. Take a very deep breath in and a very slow breath out. Sit up very straight. Notice that as your spine lengthens, your heart opens. Now breathe into the space of an open heart-feel into the space of and open heart. A heart that is empty, a heart that holds the whole world. Breathe into a heart that can hold the whole world. Feel into a heart that can hold the whole world. Breathe into the sweetness of this moment. Feel into the sweetness of this moment. Allow yourself to be whole- heartedly alive and well in the life you have, now. Rolf Gates Garrick and I were lucky enough to attend a Kirtan concert with Krishna Das this month. Wow! Chanting is so mysteriously powerful. It goes into those places where you have been hiding "stuff" and clears you out. I feel such an amazing spirit of love and peace when I am listening to any kind of chanting. One of my favorite chants is Hallelujah Shri Ram. Ram is the sound for your third Chakra, or energy center, located at your navel. This energy center represents your power, essentially your true Self, your Christ Self. That light that came into this world all bright and shiny, with a purpose and love. I would like to invite you to explore this 3rd Chakra. 3rd Chakra Meditation: Objective: Beginning to find awareness of your true Self Find somewhere to sit that is comfortabe: a chair in a quiet room or a quiet corner of a park on a park bench is fine. There is no need to sit in any special position. However, I like to sit up straight in a possition that I can relax my body. Close your eyes and be still. Breath naturally and be conscious of your breathing in your belly. By this I mean bring your awarness to your belly area and feel how the breath moves your belly around your belly button. Notice how the belly expands as you inhale and how your belly pulls in gently as you exhale. You can envision the color yellow with this breathing if it feels natural to you. It is usually good to set a special time of the day and to use a timer-or you can begin and end your meditation naturally. Five munutes is what I started with, and I increased the time as I felt comfortable. It doesn't interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for, and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart's longing. It doesn't interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dream, for the adventure of being alive. It doesn't interest me what planets are squaring your moon. I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life's betrayals, or have become shriveled and closed from fear of further pain. I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own,without moving to hide it or fade it or fix it. I want to know if you can be with joy ,mine or your own, If you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, be realistic, to remember the limitations of being human. It doesn’t interest me if the story you are telling me is true. I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself, if you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul. I want to know if you can be faithless and therefore be trustworthy. I want to know if you can see beauty even when it is not pretty every day, and if you can source your own life from its presence. I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine, And still stand on the edge of a lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, "Yes!" It doesn't interest me to know where you live or how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up after the night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done. It doesn't interest me who you are, how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me and not shrink back. It doesn't interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you from the inside when all else falls away. I want to know if you can be alone with yourself, and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments. By Oriah Mountain Dreamer We took a trip to the Moab desert this past weekend, looking for a little sunshine and solitude. As we headed out in our Volkswagen camper I found myself feeling a little unsettled and wondering why I felt this way. I mean we are heading out of town to do two of my favorite things, camp and mountain bike, so what the heck is wrong with me anyway. We had decided to go with the flow on this trip, no exact plans, nowhere to be at any certain time, just winging it. Mmmmm! Two hours of driving later, we are getting closer to where we think we might camp our first night, we pass up what seem to be a few nice camping spots but we don't stop...I'm starting to notice that it's getting to be that time of night when I just want to relax and be done with the work but for some reason I can't seem to get the words out and so we just keep driving. So of course I start to get upset with “you know who” (doesn't like to be seen on Facebook so we will keep it anonymous), and I’m like how come we didn't check out those spots back there? You know who just looks at me and shrugs and keeps driving, to where I do not know. But in the back of my head I keep hearing Onion Creek and I had been hearing this all week but I just want to park the van now and I am wrestling with this and getting more irritated as we drive. Finally we reach the Onion Creek turn off and start heading up, up, up...every camp spot on the lower road is full, "should we turn around" you know who say's, and check out the last road we passed or should we just keep going up, up, up the road? Well we decide on the up and finally find an open spot but we don't take it?!! And as you can imagine I am even more frustrated (nice word for angry) at this point and have decided that it's you know who's fault. I mean i just wanted to camp way back at that place we passed 30 minutes ago, why didn’t we camp there? So onward and upward we go hoping that the spot we camped at last year is still available and as you can expect it is full as well. So up, up, up we go, to where? To the very top of Onion Creek, where the cannon opens up to the most incredibly peaceful meadows surrounded by red rock and the La Sal mountains in the distance, to finally find a very private beautiful camping spot. Do I appreciate it? No, I’m tired and grumpy and now I’m hungry etc., etc., but this feeling of unsettledness is really what is going on inside of me. Where is it coming from? How can I be doing my two favorite things in an incredibly beautiful place with "you know who" and still feel unsettled? So this becomes the goal of my weekend, to figure out the source of my unsettledness. What it really boils down to is this...I wanted to camp back down the road but didn't say anything and that pissed me off and then I was mad because we had to go so far to find a spot and then there is dinner and who is going to cook it and I say to you know who, why am i here? Why do i feel so unsettled, life is not what I thought it would be in this moment? I don't like this life anymore. You know who say's this, "Life is what you make it". Phooey on that, is what I thought. And so after lots of talking, bike riding, eating, sleeping, I finally sit. You know to meditate and be still, hear God, find center. And I hear “you know who's” voice "Life is what you make it" and I realize in that moment that I have been expecting life to just happen the way I want it to, in fact I am waiting for it to happen. And then being upset because it isn't turning out like I thought it would. Have you ever felt this way? Are you with me at all? Life is what you make it...so make it what you want it to be. Hearing those words felt like a cool breeze on a hot day, like a long lost friend. I can create this life, I can decide to ask for something when I need it, I can create time in my day for play or rest, or whatever it is that I need, I can eat healthy food to nourish my body. I can choose to take responsibility for my choices because my choices create my life. I can say no, or yes.
So what is it that keeps me from doing these things? Is it fear, doubt, hesitation, feelings of "am i really worth it?” past conditioning? Do I really know what the "right" thing is in this moment? Well here's my enlightenment from the desert camp...I do know what i need, deep down inside but I am sometimes afraid to ask for it, or better yet to step into it. Why? Fear of the unknown, doubts in my ability to know, fear of "what will other's think?” thoughts of "who am I to have a gorgeous, talented, beautiful life"? Being comfortable with the old pattern's and ideas, caught in the fear of the unknown is no place to be .So I decided to open my heart to courage, or should I say “tear open my heart to courage”, because that's what it felt like. I made a list: things i need to step forward in, things that I really know I love and I gave myself permission to have that gorgeous, talented, beautiful life that I have been longing for. When we set the intention and step into it the whole Universe conspires to help us. That's huge, and it's true! Open your heart to courage and take a step toward love, I promise you will not be sorry you did it. Love. Love. Love. S. |
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Sivakami...My spiritual name is Sivakami, which means... one who desires transformation and one who transforms desires. I live in Rifle, Colorado where I teach yoga, create art and love life. I would love to hear your comments. Archives
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