Yogaya Institute

To all my Relations! For the Benefit of all Beings! For a Future to Be Possible! My vegan chef teacher Mark Reinfeld makes the best vegan food I've ever tasted. He's a food activist because he loves animals and prefers to leave them alone rather than slaughter them. He always shares Thanksgiving recipes as his dharma or "tithing" to the universe. In India there is a tradition of "touching the feet" of your teacher. I revere Mark for sharing the most delicious recipes so that nobody feels deprived without animal based protein. Mark shows us that plant based food is the cat's meow. Happy Thanksgiving beloved community!

I just watched a five minute sneak peek from an endocrinologist interviewed for this series and want to share this potentially life saving series with everyone. It debuts for free online, Aug 4. For "all our relations."

Salutations! My Tibetan teacher Anam Thubten observes Sojong which means a monthly reflection on our habits. In TIbet they follow the Lunar calendar and observe Sojong on the New Moon. In America with our solar calendar, Anam sends us Sojong letters in the middle of the month. This month that is nearly concurrent with the New Moon. This month's "call to Sojong" is especially auspicious during our quarantine. Here's his salubrious letter for mindful merriment: Dear Dharma frie...nds, The human mind is creative and ingenious. Within the limits of our understanding, it seems to be one of the most intelligent things in the universe. It can think, analyze, imagine and create. It is part of what makes us unique as a species. Yet, the human mind has a downside. It can get tangled up in itself and doesn’t always know how to undo its knots. Until awareness arises, mind tends to continuously turn the wheel of delusion: whole heartedly believing thoughts and opinions that run through it. This fact might sound shocking, but when we objectively observe the mind, we see that this is how most of us live everyday. Now and then it might be good to be shocked into seeing this underlying dark side of normality. The sun is shining everywhere, and trees are gentle radiating their textures as an act of nature’s generosity. Tiny, hard-working insects are very busy, but they aren’t stressed or overwhelmed by anxiety. During such an ordinary, and yet quietly beautiful day, if we walk outside and play with the soil - planting a tree, watering vegetables, creating a new trail - we might feel that our whole being is deeply at ease and joyous. We sense that nature has healed us. When we’re tuned into nature’s rhythm, many of our mental and emotional disturbances subside without the need to add extra techniques to make it happen. Our thinking mind is no longer running the show. In other words, we’re not so much in our heads. In such moments, our senses are in touch with nature, and we feel the incredible beauty of existence. Sometimes it’s dramatic, but often it’s very subtle. Anything that takes us away from the thinking mind helps us find a deep ease, regardless of where we are. Flowers blooming, beautiful gardens or double rainbows are not always necessary to help us feel such inner serenity. Whenever we remember to give attention to ordinary things, it can magically take us out of our heads. It can be as simple as a pause to notice sensations in the feet, the flavor of the very first sip of tea, the sound of soft music, or even the sound of a fan running. Whenever we engage our world with conscious attention, serenity is not far behind. It’s just waiting for us to recognize it. During this Sojong, let me invite all of you to take a look at how you have been living, and how much awareness has been part of your daily life. Let’s make a personal vow to practice this sacred attention as a doorway to inner peace. With palms joined, Anam Thubten

Celebrity vegan chef Mark Reinfeld taught me how to cook amazingly delicious vegan food through his 10 day Vegan Fusion workshops in both Portland and LA. I love that he shares his recipes so freely. I turned vegan in honor of my dad who fell to cancer. I read the China Study by T. Colin Campbell ("does animal protein cause cancer? T. Colin Campbell has the answer") and took Mark's chef schools and am now a vegangelist!

This newsletter on vitamin D from Grassroots Health includes a short video documenting how and why vitamin D is so important to fighting the Covid. During the summer months we can absorb ample vitamin D from being outside under the sun minimally clothed for 20 minutes. After that, cover up, wear sunscreen, but for 20 minutes it is medicine. I test my levels with Grassroots Health and am shocked to find my levels at 28 instead of the recommended 40-60. SInce I don't like taking vitamins I have to make a concentrated effort to gather more sunshine. Even tho I trust my "Whole Foods Plant Based" (WFPB) diet to be as healthy as possible to strengthen innate immunity, why not stack the deck in our favor by augmenting with the sunshine vitamin!

Urban Shaman Mama Donna on the origins of Friday the 13th: "Thirteen is the number of blood, fertility and lunar potency. 13 is the lucky number of the Great Goddess. Representing as it does, the number of revolutions the moon makes around the earth in a year, 13 was the number of regeneration for pre-Columbian Mexicans. In ancient Israel, 13 was a sanctified number. Thirteen items were decreed necessary for the tabernacle. At 13 years of age, a boy was (and still is) initia...ted into the adult Jewish community. In Wicca, the pagan Goddess tradition of Old Europe, communicants convene in covens of 13 participants. Thirteen was also auspicious for the Egyptians, who believed that life has 13 stages, the last of which is death - the transition to eternal life. Held holy in Her honor, Friday was observed as the day of Her special celebrations. Jews around the world still begin the observance of the Sabbath at sunset on Friday evenings when they invite in the Sabbath Bride. Friday is the Sabbath in the Islamic world. Friday is also sacred to Oshun, the Yoruba orisha of opulent sensuality and overwhelming femininity, and Frig the Norse Goddess of love and sex, of fertility and creativity. Her name became the Anglo-Saxon noun for love, and in the sixteenth century, frig came to mean "to copulate." Friday was associated with the early Mother Creation Goddesses for whom that day was named. In Anglo-Saxon, Scandinavian, Icelandic and Teutonic cultures she was called variously, Freya, Freia, Freyja, Fir, Frea and Frig. Friday is Frig's Day, Frigedaeg, in Old English, Fredag in Danish, Freitag in Dutch. In Mediterranean lands, She reigned as Venus. In Latin, Friday is the Day of Venus, Dies Veneris; Vendredi in French,Venerdi in Italian and Viernes in Spanish. Friday the 13th is ultimately the celebration of the lives and loves of Lady Luck. On this, Her doubly-dedicated day, let us consider what fortuitous coincidences constitute our fate. The lucky blend of just the right conditions, chemistries, elements and energies, which comprise our universe. The way it all works. The way we are. That we are at all. That, despite whatever major or minor matters we might think are unlucky, we have somehow managed to remain alive and aware. This Friday the 13th, let us stand in full consciousness of the miraculousness of existence and count our blessings. Knock on wood"

I just registered for this conference which I've attended live in San DIego but this year we will meet virtually. Looking forward to learning the latest from this contemplative studies think tank.

To those "huddled masses, yearning to breathe free" tis the heliotherapeutic season for us in this northern hemisphere..Here's a quote from the article: "Randomized controlled trials have found that vitamin D boosts global muscle strength, particularly in the quads, which are important for fall prevention, though vitamin D supplements have also been shown to improve balance. So, it may also be a neurological effect or even a cognitive effect. We’ve known for about 20 years t...hat older men and women who stop walking when a conversation starts are at particularly high risk of falling. Over a six-month timeframe, few who could walk and talk at the same time would go on to fall, but 80 percent of those who stopped walking when a conversation was initiated ended up falling, as you can see at 2:14 in my video. Other high-risk groups who should supplement with vitamin D include those who have already fallen once, are unsteady, or are on a variety of heart, brain, and blood pressure drugs that can increase fall risk. There’s also a test called Get-Up-and-Go, which anyone can do at home. Time how long it takes you to get up from an armchair, walk 10 feet, turn around, walk back, and sit down. If it takes you longer than ten seconds, you may be at high risk. So, how much vitamin D should you take? As you can see at 3:00 in my video, it seems we should take at least 700 to 1,000 units a day. The American Geriatric Society (AGS) recommends a total of 4,000 IU a day, though, based on the rationale that this should get about 90 percent of people up to the target vitamin D blood level of 75 nanomoles per liter. Although 1,000 IU should be enough for the majority of people, 51 percent, the AGS recommends 4,000 IU to capture 92 percent of the population. That way, you don’t have to routinely test levels, since 4,000 IU will get most people up to the target level and is considerably below the proposed upper tolerable intake of 10,000 IU/d."

The Occiptal Atlantean joint is why I became a craniosacral therapist after releasing my own right OA joint during an Intro to Craniosacral Therapy class. While reading the Craniosacral textbook sitting on my couch at home between classes, I was practicing the technique of the release of this joint on my right side which has always had a bump after some serious car wrecks over the years. While holding lateral traction for awhile, the joint started pulsing and suddenly there was this amazing sensation of fluid swishing down from the right lateral ventricle through the b rain stem. Silently awed, I twisted my head right and left and had never felt it move so smoothly. Erik Dalton shows an easy technique to release the joint. In cranio we hold the region for awhile. Hold the stretch gently for 90 seconds.

Hank Wesselman quoted a HAwaiian elder who told him that love evaporates fear and fear appears when love is absent. The Heartmath approach provides a praxis to that "heart based living." Here's a synopsis: "Heart-based living includes practicing the qualities of the heart, such as love, compassion, kindness, patience, forgiveness, cooperation and more of these similar qualities. Being heart-based does not require being religious or belonging to any particular spiritual path. ...It is an intelligent way of living that would reduce most of the stress, separation and greed which drives the major problems that keep us from getting along with each other. HeartMath founder Doc Childre explains: "Heart-based living refers to all intentions and actions that express qualities of the heart in daily life. These heart qualities can include acts of appreciating or caring for others, expressing kindness and compassion or giving back by volunteering with others to relieve suffering in humans or animals and to help the planet. These behavioral practices unfold the higher potentials of our true self."

If anyone is facing the fearsome diagnosis of cancer, this free conference is WELL worth your time. I listened to the first two interviews sent after i enrolled and read the free ebook about Vitamin C IV therapy. Learning about "integrative oncology" via "orthomolecuclar medicine" (nutrition-based) gives us all safer non toxic alternatives. For the benefit of all beings. To all our relations.

I've been following Riane Eislers work since discovering feminism back when my daughters were growing up. Her latest book, "Nurturing our HUmanity" was my winter read. She is a capable guide for us during this dark night of our collective soul. I'm in with her upcoming partnership summit online next Thurs.