To live our practice in every way is to bring the awareness of unity into the simplest and most mundane as well as the most challenging areas of our lives. This section is dedicated to providing practical means to apply our yoga in the external world in order to reduce distractions and support our inner alignment with Self.
Go Organic… Or not?
It is always great to vote with your dollars and choose organic any time you can, but in a pinch there is some produce you can by that isn’t organic and still maintain low pesticide levels… In fact, you can lower your pesticide consumption up to 90% just by avoiding the produce “dirty dozen.”
The “Dirty Dozen” lists produce you may NEVER want to buy if you are concerned about high pesticide levels on the food you eat. Remember also that very few studies have been done on how different types and classes of pesticides interact when they are consumed together.
DO NOT BUY THESE UNLESS ORGANIC:
EXPOSES YOU TO AN AVERAGE OF 15 PESTICIDES/FUNGICIDES (high to low)
Peaches, apples, bell peppers, celery, nectarines, strawberries, cherries, pears, imported grapes, potatoes, spinach, lettuce, milk, eggs.
BUY THESE IN A PINCH IF ORGANIC NOT AVAILABLE:
EXPOSURE TO AN AVERAGE OF LESS THAN TWO PESTICIDES
Onions, avacados, sweet corn, pineapples, mangos, sweet peas, asparagus, kiwi, bananas, cabbage, broccoli, eggplant, papaya
BONUS TIP: A cotton t-shirt requires about 1/3 pound of pesticides and chemical fertilizers to create. Go organic there too for the sake of your groundwater!
Sources: Natural Awakenings and Sweat Magazine, Environmental Working Group, scientific studies
Put Your Mailbox on a Diet!
Do you feel like your mailbox is doubling as a recycle bin? Are you tired of having your mailbox stuffed with newspaper advertisement inserts twice a week?
Getting off these lists is easy! Just visit the following website or call the following numbers and ask to be removed… Within 2-3 weeks your mailbox will be breathing free and easy and you’ll be saving 3 lbs of paper a year along with all the chlorine-based ink that prints on the pages. Share the info with a friend and save a forest!
Mail-order catalogs: to cancel anonymously (this works) go to https://www.catalogchoice.org/
ADVO (Shopwise Pennysaver): 1 888 241 6760 or 1.888.876.ADVO (2386) (I did this and it works!)
AZ Republic (Buyer’s Edge): 602.444.8066 (I did this and it works!)
Put your Mind on a Diet – eliminate distracting junk faxes and phone solicitations!
Pollution comes in many forms… distractions can help create much internal toxcicty and lack of focus. Unwanted phone calls, faxes or emails cause wasted time and intrusion in moments that add up to significant chunks of time. Help to put your mind ona diet!
Junk mail, faxes and phone calls:
http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/complaints.html – junk faxes, calls from solicitors when you are on do not call list
https://www.donotcall.gov/default.aspx – Government do not call list OR 888.382.1222 (I did this and it works!)
http://www.junkbusters.com/ – spam, junk mail, junk faxes, phone lists
http://www.abacusalliance.com/About%5FAbacus/Policies/ – mail order co. database opt-out
http://www.dmaconsumers.org/ – remove name from Direct Marketing list
http://www.dmaconsumers.org/cgi/offmailinglist – remove name from mailing lists, direct marketing assn.
Saucha and your credit
Saucha is the Niyama of cleanliness which usually refers to keeping one’s body and surroundings clean, thereby improving health and purifying the mind. One way that clutter builds up in the modern world is through the accumulation of junk mail, credit offers, solicitations and electronic distractions. Below are some very practical and valuable resources and steps to take cultivated from trusted sources includingthe Bottom Line newsletter (I have used some of these on my own) to help reduce mental and electronic clutter in your life.
Tired of all those credit card offers in the mail? Are they clogging up your mailbox and killing enough trees to support a small ecosystem just to tell you that you can buy whatever you want or transfer a boatload at 0% interest for 1 full year (just don’t charge anything else on that card until you pay off your initial debt — your initial balance must first be paid off before your payments can touch your new purchase, which means the 11.95 you spent or lunch may end up being $20 or more)? To remove name from credit reporting agency lists for firm offers of credit, credit cards etc., call toll free:
1.888.567.8688 (I did this and it works!)
Here are some additional tools you can use to practice purity and cleanliness:
Privacy Rights: online Directory listings to opt-out: http://www.privacyrights.org/ar/infobrokers.htm
Your Credit:
https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp – free creit report as provided by law (I did this and it works!)
http://www.dmaconsumers.org/consumers/whattodowhenidstolen.html – identity stolen? Use this as a resource.