Although eating conventionally grown fruits and vegetables is better than skipping fruits and vegetables altogether, it is important to minimize your exposure to the pesticides contained in conventionally grown foods as much as possible for good health. Pesticides pose various health dangers and have been linked to nervous system toxicity, cancer, hormone system effects, and skin, eye and lung irritation. Conventional farming methods are also damaging to our environment and local economies. By consuming organic fruits and vegetables, you improve your health and support more sustainable farming practices.

 How to Obtain Organic Produce

 There are several ways to obtain organic produce. You can of course continue shopping at your  grocery store or go

“When we support organic farming, our dollar supports a cause that is sustainable, healthy, and loving.”

 to Whole Foods and purchase organic foods there, but perhaps the price tags scare you away. The Environmental Working Group has created a guide that currently lists 49 items ranked from least contaminated to most contaminated. Simply by eating the least contaminated conventional produce and avoiding the twelve most contaminated fruits and vegetables or replacing them with the organic option, you can lower your pesticide consumption by nearly 80% and hopefully keep your grocery bill in check.  The twelve most contaminated conventionally grown items to be avoided from most to least contaminated are: 

• Celery
• Peaches
• Strawberries
• Apples
• Blueberries (Domestic)
• Nectarines
• Sweet bell peppers
• Spinach
• Cherries
• Kale/collard greens
• Potatoes
• Grapes (Imported)

 You can access the full list here: http://www.foodnews.org/fulllist.php.

 Another option is to grow some of your own produce. If you’ve got the space and enjoy gardening, this could be a good way to go. However, it will require some research and materials and an upfront cost to get started. Of course, you’d be saving quite a bit over the long run as a packet of seeds costs about two dollars and will yield more than the one pound you’ll get at the store for the same price.

 A co-operative, on the other hand, leaves the farming to others while you sit back and enjoy abundant amounts of organic produce. A co-operative is a community effort that supplies local and organic produce at wholesale prices. Rawfully Organic Co-op, a non-profit, is one such example. Rawfully Organic Co-op “[supports] a raw food lifestyle, our local farmers, and our local economy!” By purchasing either a half-share ($47) or a full-share ($87) on their website, you receive a huge enough amount to last you and your household at least a week, depending on your consumption and size of household.

 Another co-op in Houston is Central City Co-op. This co-op offers a variety in sizes of produce shares  that are less expensive than Rawfully Organic; however, membership is required (there are different levels of membership, some costing more than others, and you can also volunteer in exchange for membership). I recommend asking around and doing some research on the co-ops in your area.

Conclusion

 Yes, please skip the chocolate sprinkle donut and extra-butter microwave popcorn (I don’t care if it’s whole grain) for the conventional apple if you need to, but hopefully you can start introducing more and more organic foods into your diet using the methods discussed above.

As stated by Rawfully Organic Co-op, “When we support organic farming, our dollar supports a cause that is sustainable, healthy, and loving.” Go organic and achieve good health while being kind to the environment.

- Roma Singh

Sources:

http://www.foodnews.org/

http://rawfullyorganic.com/index.php

http://www.centralcityco-op.com/

India is not only on the other side of the world, 11.5 hours ahead of Houston, but a world apart in history, culture, language(s), politics, spirits. It is one of those trips where every moment is an experience. It is finding life lived so intensely that is almost incomprehensible to my eyes. I do not pretend to understand the culture in a few days, or even grasp the pulse of the country. I can simple understand what all these experiences do to my mind and heart.

India can be at first glance a city of opposite extremes. The cities overflow with incredible amounts of people negotiating small spaces, traffic, roads, time, resources, communication, relationships with each other. It is at the same time a place of over acts of peacefulness, of pockets of spirituality. Riding on rickshaw, among the constant concert of honking (Honk OK Please!), the motorcycles, cars, pedestrians, and water buffalo (if not elephants) all struggle for the same piece of road. The rickshaw driver, a college educated man, who drives this tricycle for someone else for 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, raises his hand out the side and lets the bus pass him in a complete act of peaceful reconciliation, a spontaneous act of ahimsa. And so it is on the streets, where every few blocks, many times on the same block, the scent of incense attracts your attention to a devotional corner, small mandir, where you will find a deity being looked after and revered by anyone who walks by.

And so it is, that in every step, we find life, spiritual life, as the background of all activities, names, businesses, marriages, and the desire to live intensely, in community, with all religions, with all peoples, with the understanding that live is there and will be there…we just need to open our eyes to live it, and live it intensely.

This time we are celebrating our dear yogini friend, Evalyn. She and her company have been featured in the front page of the Houston Business Journal (read entire article). Our dear Evalyn’s sacrifice and effort in her company and capacity to motivate her staff has paid off. She has been nominated for the third year in one of the fastest growing businesses in Houston. This year she and her company are within the 81 fastest growing companies in Houston for 2010.

We do have the responsibility to live in compassion of each other. We seldom stop and think how the pain, the suffering of one is the suffering of all.  Even more rare is the ocassion when we think about the happiness of one is the happiness of all. This is truly how we feel about Evalyn. She is such a special individual who shows that capacity and focus in the depth but softness of her yoga practice. Evalyn brings so much love and sincerity to her yoga practice that is inspiring to all of us!

We do celebrate Evalyn successes as they are also ours!

Congratulations Evalyn!

There is no secret that economic times are affecting us all, and the yoga world is no exception. When encounter with this challenges in the almost 2 decades of existence in Houston, the yoga center has always found its way. However, the circumstances are not less magical every time. There have been many incredible people that believe in us and what we do.  Our members have reacted in some incredible ways, in all different expresions of support.

There have been immediate reactions of people providing their payments on our automatic paypal account. Many of you, regardless of the frequency of attendance, have decided to pay their monthly fee. Others, knowing that our rent increased, immediately offered to add on to their monthly fee the difference to cover the increase. Furthermore, one dear friend of the center offered to place the electric bill of the center in her credit card, thus alleviating the burden of this bill.

And it is not all monetarily. Many volunteer to input data in our database, bring water bottles as a donation. Others choose to bring votive candles and incense. There are members that offer their time and effort to recycle. Of course, I have to mention the ones that come to vacuum and clean the center so it is neat and organized in time for class. Most just come and are practice what they learn, to undertand that the happiness of one is the happiness of all. 

It is the loving actions of our members that makes this place so incredibly special. It is truly not about one person, or one or two people, it is all of us that makes this place a solace for the soul. It is the energy of the individuals and desire to open their hearts that makes our center so unique. It is you, that makes the difference in everyone’s lives.

The Devanand Yoga Center could not exist if we did not have that special spiritual energy that unites us. It is through us that we make it manifest.

Namaste!

So, we thought we would add some delicious vegan soup to your repertoire. We present to you, our infamous zucchini soup.

Zucchini Soup

2 medium size organic zucchinis

¼ cup of Virgin Olive oil

2-3 cups of water

Pinch of rosemary

Pinch of pepper

Pinch of Cayenne Pepper

1 tablespoon of aminos (salt replacement)

1 pinch of hing (garlic replacement)

¼ cup of pine nuts (optional, or other nuts)

Directions: Bring enough water to cover the zucchini to boil. Add the rosemary, black pepper, aminos. Place the zucchini in the water until it changes color (darker green) and become lightly cooked. Let it cool for 5 minutes until ready to be blended. Place it on the blender with cayenne pepper and hing.  Add the cold olive oil. Blend until smooth. As a touch of taste you may broil or lightly heat the pine nuts to add flavor and texture as you serve.

April Bui, Director

Our Yoga Center has always found profound interest in supporting and maintaining a sense of community.  We recently have encountered a beautiful non-profit organization that provides acupuncture for our community, and they do it in a loving way.  We asked them to introduce themselves to our yoga community.  Here is what they shared with us.  Alternatives to support our health is what we want to encourage.

Greetings! St. Teresa Acupuncture Wellness Clinic is a nonprofit organization founded with the purpose for providing alternative healthcare to the public that is safe & natural, effective, and affordable for all people and all income levels. Our clinic is a grassroots response to the rising costs of healthcare, the challenging economy that undermines so many people’s livelihood, and to the public’s growing need and demand for alternative medicine (specifically Traditional Chinese Medicine) which currently is not covered by governmental agencies or most insurance companies. We recognized a real basic need in our community for a workable system of healthcare for everyone. Thus, our vision of a compassionate and equitable healthcare service was conceived to fulfill the medical needs of all people from all socioeconomic strata and from all walks of life.

Our clinic offers comprehensive Chinese Medicine treatment including pain management, chronic fatigue, stress/anxiety, smoking cessation, addiction, sleep disorders, headaches/migraines, hypertension, allergies, asthma, arthritis, fibromyalgia, HIV/AIDS/oncology support, immune disorders, gastrointestinal disorders, neurological disorders, muscular disorders, respiratory disorders, women’s health, men’s health, and mental health.

St. Teresa is a nonprofit and nondenominational organization that is operated and supported by voluntary donations only. Treatment is offered equally to all patients and no person will be denied service due to one’s inability to donate or pay. If you have further inquiries about our services, please feel free to contact April – (713) 922-3474.

Expect to find Sabrina lovingly attending her garden, her pets, practicing yoga, and cooking wonderful food!

The Garden. It’s been a love and hate relationship. It has tested my patience, my need to control, as well as my expectations on how things will turn out. The Garden is a challenge, yet it keeps seducing me back because of its whispered promise of better things yet to come. 

I come from a line of female gardeners: my grandmother and my mother. Talk about green thumbs! They made it look so easy. I’ve had to work harder. I came into gardening out of spiritual necessity for I was in a place in my life that was thirsty for a  spiritual connection.  The traditional church home was not my answer so Nature,  dressed in all its finery, extended an invitation to me into its welcoming home. There, I learned I could restore and deepen my senses and therefore my spirit. 

Early on, I discovered that one of my favorite activities in the garden was the weeding process because weeding offered me instant gratification. Wow, I thought, I can make this chaotic space look quiet and serene so quickly and besides it so appealed to that side of my personality that found comfort in order! As my expertise in weeding grew, I realized that I was meditating. I came to look forward to my weeding dates because I discovered I was onto something. Gardeners define weeds as plants that are just unwanted because they are in the wrong place. They tend to leach out energy and therefore hinder the normal growth of nearby plants that were intentionally placed there by the gardener! And so, the more I weeded, the more I recognized that the weeds in my mind where just like the weeds in my garden:  misplaced and in need of attention. 

So without expectations of how things will work out, I finish in my garden of weeding by composting the weeds and my worries as well. A feeling of contentment fills me because I’ve just cultivated my garden within and feel so ever grateful for Nature’s sincere invitation in her most welcoming of homes, the Garden.

After 150 Years of Industrialization, Climate Change is Inevitable

By Larry West, About.com

The “greenhouse effect” often gets a bad rap because of its association with global warming, but the truth is we couldn’t live without it.

What Causes the Greenhouse Effect?
Life on earth depends on energy from the sun. About 30 percent of the sunlight that beams toward Earth is deflected by the outer atmosphere and scattered back into space. The rest reaches the planet’s surface and is reflected upward again as a type of slow-moving energy called infrared radiation.

As it rises, infrared radiation is absorbed by “greenhouse gases” such as water vapor, carbon dioxide, ozone and methane, which slows its escape from the atmosphere.

Although greenhouse gases make up only about 1 percent of the Earth’s atmosphere, they regulate our climate by trapping heat and holding it in a kind of warm-air blanket that surrounds the planet.

This phenomenon is what scientists call the “greenhouse effect.” Without it, scientists estimate that the average temperature on Earth would be colder by approximately 30 degrees Celsius (54 degrees Fahrenheit), far too cold to sustain our current ecosystem.

How Do Humans Contribute to the Greenhouse Effect?
While the greenhouse effect is an essential environmental prerequisite for life on Earth, there really can be too much of a good thing.

The problems begin when human activities distort and accelerate the natural process by creating more greenhouse gases in the atmosphere than are necessary to warm the planet to an ideal temperature.

• Burning natural gas, coal and oil —including gasoline for automobile engines—raises the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
• Some farming practices and land-use changes increase the levels of methane and nitrous oxide.
• Many factories produce long-lasting industrial gases that do not occur naturally, yet contribute significantly to the enhanced greenhouse effect and “global warming” that is currently under way.
• Deforestation also contributes to global warming. Trees use carbon dioxide and give off oxygen in its place, which helps to create the optimal balance of gases in the atmosphere. As more forests are logged for timber or cut down to make way for farming, however, there are fewer trees to perform this critical function.
• Population growth is another factor in global warming, because as more people use fossil fuels for heat, transportation and manufacturing the level of greenhouse gases continues to increase. As more farming occurs to feed millions of new people, more greenhouse gases enter the atmosphere.

Ultimately, more greenhouse gases means more infrared radiation trapped and held, which gradually increases the temperature of the Earth’s surface and the air in the lower atmosphere.

The Average Global Temperature is Increasing Quickly
Today, the increase in the Earth’s temperature is increasing with unprecedented speed. To understand just how quickly global warming is accelerating, consider this:During the entire 20th century, the average global temperature increased by about 0.6 degrees Celsius (slightly more than 1 degree Fahrenheit).
Using computer climate models, scientists estimate that by the year 2100 the average global temperature will increase by 1.4 degrees to 5.8 degrees Celsius (approximately 2.5 degrees to 10.5 degrees Fahrenheit).