READ: New year’s Eco-Lutions by Carolyn Scott-Hamilton
January 9, 2012 by Carolyn
Filed under •-Feature, Green Living, Health & Well-being, Sustainability
Yep, we’ve made another trip around the sun. The new year is upon us filled with brand new opportunities and chances. Let’s do our best to make it an even greener one with these simple tips!
1) Go Veg (or at least try to Decrease Your Meat& Animal Product Consumption) – While not everyone is ready to become 100% vegetarian, there is little doubt that eating less meat is one of the fastest ways to reduce your carbon footprint. Pick one or two days a week where you will only cook vegetarian/vegan food. Find a good vegetarian/vegan food cooking book to learn the best recipes, and you’re set!
2) Seasonal Shopping – While it can be tempting to eat strawberries in winter, when they have been imported from halfway across the planet or grown in energy-hungry greenhouses, they’re hardly sustainable. Do some research into what is naturally grown in your area in the season, and prefer these. This way, you’ll also rediscover the pleasure of meals changing with the seasons!
3) Pedal Your Way Through the Year - People who re-start cycling to work and/ or the supermarket often say that it’s lovely to rediscover their neighborhood that way. In fact, unless you live in a very mountainous area, this could be the most relaxing resolution you take!
4) Bus it, Train it or Carpool it - Granted, in the middle of the mountains or when there is half metre of snow outside your door, cycling sounds less appealing. If that’s the case where you live, start using public transport to go to work and the supermarket. If public transport connections are poor in your area, then it’s time to wake up the local campaigner in you and ask for it – make 2011 the year when your community stood up for sustainability.
5) Green Your Abode - By now, I assume most of you have switched to CFL lightbulbs – so it’s time to take home efficiency to the next level. Check your house for heat loss (there are companies specialized in this if you don’t feel expert enough) and make it your DIY project in 2011 to fix them. If you haven’t yet, lower the thermostat during the night. The ideal temperature to sleep is around 16 degrees Celsius. If that’s too cold for you, do it in steps – half a degree less each month. You might realize you even sleep better – and you will see it on your heating bill!
6) Toss Out The Toxins – This might take a while in research, so plan to do it over the whole year. From beauty products to clothes detergent and computer parts, we have become used to toxic products in our daily lives. Time to stop it. When buying new products, check what they are made of, and pick the one that will have the least toxic residues.
7) Take Care of What You Already Have – New cellphone? Must absolutely have the latest iPad? How about the newly released gaming console? Our consumption of electronics is reaching records. Make a break, and promise not to buy new electronics this year, unless the one you already have breaks down (and when it does, ensure it is recycled properly!).
Recycling 2.0 - You probably have two different bins in your kitchen, sorting your waste to have it recycled. It doesn’t end here though. In 2011, try to reduce the amount picked up by the garbage truck. If you have a garden, start your own compost. When you’re at the supermarket, prefer products that are not over packaged (you know the one: plastics wrapped in plastic, itself wrapped in cardboard…). If there are to many of these items in your local supermarket, time to start campaigning! Write to the store manager and express your concerns – and convince your neighbors to do so as well.
9) Make More Outdoor Time - Learn to enjoy nature again. Make a habit of taking a weekly walk outside. We have become so used to live in our houses and in our cars, many people have no idea what nature looks like anymore.
10) Convince (at least) 3 friends to Go Green With You – Why three? Because almost everyone knows three people they can influence. If those three convince three more people next year and so on, we will grow a movement capable of protecting our planet – and the resolutions above will become a no brainer for everyone.
11) … What is your green resolution for 2012? Tell us in comments below!
Contact Me 
Carolyn Scott-Hamilton celebrated her 10 years as a vegan as well as an entrepreneur in 2009. After college, Carolyn moved to Los Angeles from Miami in 1998. Shortly after arriving and becoming vegan, she studied holistic nutrition as well as dabbled in the culinary arts before she opened Ineventions, originally a pr & event firm, it is now a full film, TV and web production branch under the umbrella of her original business. With the access and addition of the new business arm, Carolyn was able to start realizing her dream of traveling and eating all over the world and so the Healthy Voyager was born in 2005. Carolyn is an avid traveler but she found it quite difficult to find vegan friendly restaurants abroad. She tired of having to pack her own foods or eat bread, fries and junky foods when she was away. After realizing she could find and/or manipulate any menu to create a meal that satisfied her as well as her dining partners, she created the Healthy Voyager to show people that your dietary restrictions should not ruin you or your travel mates’ trip, be it business or pleasure. She knew that many people must endure the same problems no matter what their diet may be from medical or ethical reasons to just wanting to keep slim. She started her blog to document every city and place she dined as a resource for the finickiest of travelers. She also realized it was a great resource for those who were traveling with others who did not share their special needs as her posts offered suggestions to restaurants that shared options for all types of foodies ; ) As of 2006, she and her husband, of opposing gastronomic tastes, have traveled and dined healthily and harmoniously while documenting it all on film for the Healthy Voyager Web Series and growing the Healthy Voyager brand. Carolyn is the executive producer, creator, host and writer of The Healthy Voyager web series & radio show, site, blog, brand and social network. To connect with the Healthy Voyager, you may email her at Carolyn@healthyvoyager.com .
Read more from VividLife.me bloggers:
Healthy Soups and Supers in San Diego by Carolyn Scott-Hamilton
Whether you are doing a tour of California for a little r and r or frequently travel San Diego for ComicCon, the southernmost metropolis of California, is a great place to visit. Beachy, relaxed and beautiful, healthy food is easy to find in this bayside border town. From my first San Diego postmany years ago until now, lots of great stuff has popped up so I’ve decided to go back and check out some of the new places in and around town.
Happy People Healthy Food by Adrienne Kelly-Durys
Can healthy food make you happy? Or, can happy people make the foods we eat healthier?When I think about these questions in relation to the upcoming holiday season,it seems obvious that eating steamed veggies over brown rice, although healthy, wouldn’t be as festive as a big holiday dinner with all the fixings. But what if that same big holiday dinner, with all the potatoes and gravy, when prepared with love and positive intention could be just as nourishing?
LISTEN: Yoga Activist Seane Corn: Off the Matt and Into the World
December 12, 2011 by Going Out of Your Mind with Ed and Deb Shapiro
Filed under •-Feature, •-VividLife Radio Shows, Going Out of Your Mind with Ed & Deb Shapiro, Meditation, Sustainability, Yoga, Yoga
Listen in as Spiritual Teachers and hosts of Going Out of Your Mind on VividLife Radio, Ed and Deb Shapiro welcome Seane Corn, Yoga Activist and founder of Off the Matt to discuss Yoga activism and her involvement with Occupy Wallstreet. Seane Corn is an internationally celebrated Yoga Teacher known for her impassioned activism, unique self -expression and inspirational style
Seane Corn is an internationally known vinyasa flow yoga teacher and spiritual activist. Featured in magazines, commercials, advertisements, and named the National Yoga Ambassador for YouthAIDS in 2005, Seane Corn now utilizes her national platform to bring awareness to the HIV/AIDS crisis. She has spent time in India, Cambodia, and Africa, working with prostitutes and street children, teaching yoga, providing support for child labor, and educating people about HIV/AIDS prevention. She is creator of the yoga program at Children of the Night, a California-based shelter that houses and educates adolescent prostitutes.
In 2007, she cofounded, with Hala Khouri and Suzanne Sterling, Off the Mat, Into the World®, which trains leaders of activism. She is also cofounded the Seva Challenge Humanitarian Tours, encouraging yoga teachers to get involved in fundraising and awareness efforts across the globe.
Corn’s work continues to evolve and is deeply influenced by many spiritual traditions. Her commitment to make spirituality accessible and inspiring to all is reflected by her own willingness to deepen her personal understanding of the mysteries and her desire to share all that she discovers along the way.
Seane Corn has released three vinyasa yoga DVDs: Vinyasa Flow Yoga: Uniting Movement and Breath; Vinyasa Flow Yoga: The Body and Beyond; and Yoga From the Heart; as well as an audiobook, Detox Flow Yoga.
What Others are Saying About Seane Corn
“Seane Corn is one of the most exceptionally gifted yoga instructors in America….She is a gracious and gentle person whose commitment to her work and to helping others is a blessing to all who know her.”-Caroline Myss, best-selling author of Anatomy of the Spirit
“Seane is a phenomenal, poised, funny, worthy teacher of yoga and spirituality.”-Ashley Judd, actor and Global Ambassador for YouthAIDs
“Seane is superbly poised in her soul.” -SARK, best-selling author of Succulent Wild Women
VividLife Radio on demand episodes:
Ed & Deb Shapiro: How Meditation Can Transform You and the World
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READ: Frequencies that are Now Embracing the Earth by Tony Samara
December 2, 2011 by Tony Samara
Filed under •-Feature, Enlightenment, Health & Well-being, Holistic Living, Insights, Love, Meditation, Meditation, Nature, Purpose, Reflection, Spiritual teachers, Spirituality, Sustainability, Yoga, Yoga
I feel more than ever that humanity has the possibility to realise the potential state of Wholeness, or Completeness, that is incrementally achieved by those who choose to heighten their thoughts or whose mind, words and deeds are authentically harmonious and serene so as to be in touch with deep wisdom.
It is surely the goal of physical existence to achieve this full state of wholeness and it can be partially experienced during ones progress to its full achievement.
It is a state where ignorance and superstition are superseded by an awareness of frequencies that speak beyond such limitations to the innate intelligence that is present beyond the lower man made frequencies that have kept humanity in the dark for so long.
I believe that this expansion of light is now perceived on many levels around the world and has a real consequence that becomes clearer day by day!
There is no dualism of good or bad or even that today is better than yesterday but rather a growing awareness that brings us closer to what it really means to be human in this very moment!
I believe that there is no evil in nature. Hurricanes, earthquakes, volcanoes and sicknesses, which humans believe to be nature’s wrath or a manifestation of lower forms of vibration or punishment for man’s misdeeds, are for me ethically neutral. That is they are neither good, nor bad in themselves. They are either the products of chance, the existence of which is necessary to allow freedom of choice, or they are a function of an aspect of the universal laws of nature, necessary to uphold creation.
For me all is totally good in essence, thus all creation is good and is functioning as it was designed to and, as our mind expands beyond dualistic and judgmental thoughts, we slowly come closer to this natural wisdom inherent in the universe.
Negativity is the product of humanities wrongful choices and it is easily eliminated by choices that bypass such inherited fallacies that limit our higher perceptions. Today it may seem that these fallacies and negative human traits abound only because as we all let go of what has limited humanity for so long, we let go of so many of these collective destructive aspects that the Hindus refer to as the Kali or that I refer to as ignorance.
On the surface it may seem to many scientists, environmentalists, economists and artists around the globe that indeed we are in an era where what we know is being destroyed by the turbulence that we are facing. I would say it is more like the Phoenix is rising from the ashes of such destructive forces and their obsolete paradigms.
I would strongly emphasise that the Phoenix within or the birth of awareness can be acquired and refined within each one of us no matter what the circumstances we face may be. It comes more easily to those who choose to reflect and meditate with a bright, clear and unbiased mind and hold close to heart the real core values of life.
The aware mind is capable of logical and precise thinking with clarity of thought that is free from preconceptions, and is thereby able to perceive this higher frequency that resonates in all aspects of life rather than being a far removed philosophical or esoteric concept. However, it is important to note that logic and rationality of thought are not the only requisites of what it means to be human in a more complete sense.
A wise human being has a mind that tempers rationality with benevolence. It is the mind that having perceived the innate goodness of life becomes benevolent and more light; thinks for and of the highest and most noble aspects of life and is committed to it.
As this essence indwells in human beings, it can easily be acquired by a clear choice to think, speak and act in accordance with the higher frequencies inherent in such actions. So in actuality it is one of the principal means for achieving the goal, and at the same time part and parcel of that same goal.
This goal, the Lighter existence, made more accessible by such frequencies as are present today, becomes more powerful as our focus moves towards the light rather than remain in the shadows of the mind. I have no doubt that humanities natural inclination is moving towards such higher frequencies that may well only become more clear with hindsight.
As the Phoenix flies higher towards the realms of light we will have the clarity it takes to be creative in a more conscious and wise way with our hearts wise enough to feel the new freedom that helps create a life-affirming paradigm!
CLICK VividLife.me for more inspiration for living your ultimate life!!!
Tony Samara, author of ‘Shaman’s Wisdom,’ ‘From the Heart,’ ‘Different Yet the Same,’ and ‘Deeper than Words’ was born in England, grew up in Egypt and also in Norway where he discovered the “Zen Buddhist philosophy”. This discovery eventually led him to the “Mount Baldy Zen Center in California, USA” where he learned the spiritual teachings of “Kyozan Joshu Sasaki.” He had curiosity to explore further the essence of spirituality and thus went to live and learn with shamanic communities around the globe including a period of time spent with some highly influential shamans in the Amazon River region and the Andes Mountains. Now people from all over the world visit Tony Samara to take spiritual guidance and experience being in his presence. http://www.tonysamara.org/
READ: Halloween: A Sweet Opportunity to Fight Hunger
October 31, 2011 by Mache Seibel MD
Filed under •-Feature, Health & Well-being, Sustainability
In the United States, October 31st is a night of costumes and candy. Houses decorate for Halloween, households purchase bags of candy, and neighborhoods across America will be flooded with 41 million trick-or-treaters between ages 5 and 14 according to the US Census Bureau. Costumed children will joyously fill their coiffeurs with “Halloween gold.” Of course I’m talking about candy and at the center of the Halloween excitement is about $6.86 billion worth of purchased decorations, costumes and candy according to a 2011 survey by the National Retail Federation. The same survey estimates that the average American family spends $72.31 on these items and according to MSN Money, about 7 of 10 families will participate.
Many kids will come home with literally pounds of candy, and many parents will donate some of it to lesser fortunate people so they can have a sweet Halloween experience. In doing so, most people may not be thinking about the fact that many if not all the recipients might be at risk for tooth decay (a common cause of school absenteeism), obesity and food insecurity. It’s one of those times where trying to do something good isn’t a good idea, especially since 1 in 6 Americans are food insecure.
It’s important that we have fun holidays and Halloween is a great escape. But we may still be able to accomplish that by focusing some of our attention on creativity and community. I would like to suggest we rethink Halloween. Imagine what could happen if every American family currently spending $72.31 for Halloween spent, for example, 10% less on Halloween, and used the other 10% ($7.23) as a direct gift to Feeding America or their local food banks, or purchased cans of tuna, beans and other nutritious foods and gave those instead. We could make a $686 million dollar dent in food insecurity in the United States every year without costing anyone a single penny more – and turn Halloween into a sweet opportunity to fight hunger.
Click here and GET A FREE DOWNLOAD of the song HEALTHY HALLOWEEN.
Come celebrate Oneness with Global Luminaries
October 24, 2011 by VividLife Editorial
Filed under •-Feature, Classes and Workshops, Earth, Events, Oneness In Action, Peace, Sustainability
Dear Friends,
We’re delighted to invite you to Global Oneness Day, a free virtual event on October 24th with more than 30 luminaries such as Neale Donald Walsch, Barbara Marx Hubbard, Kenny Loggins, don Miguel Ruiz, Gangaji and Lynne McTaggart.
We’re aiming to spread a wave of oneness around the world. Click here for all the details:
https://shiftnetwork.infusionsoft.com/go/gos11371/vividme
If you have ever felt alone – and who hasn’t? – Global Oneness Day is your opportunity to recognize and experience the truth that we truly are all one!
You ARE part of the global community. You ARE a member of the human family… and the larger than human family that includes everything.
When you join us for Global Oneness Day, you will get a deep experience of connection, community and the peace that comes from feeling your true nature.
Plus, when you register for the Global Oneness Summit you’ll have the opportunity to add your signature to the Global Oneness Day Declaration. Our goal is to send at least 100,000 signatures to the UN on October 24th!
There were thousands of participants in last year’s Global Oneness Day and hundreds of comments. Linda from the US wrote:
“It was a beautiful way to officially begin our day. I cried many times during the call. What an assembly of loving souls gathered to salute and join hearts in honor of this special occasion today.”
Please join me, and tens of thousands of people all over the world, to celebrate the oneness of life and help us spread the spirit of oneness far and wide.
Register here:https://shiftnetwork.infusionsoft.com/go/gos11371/vividme
Yours in oneness,
VividLife.me
P.S. You really are NOT alone. And when you participate in Global Oneness Day you will see and feel the extent of YOUR Global Family.
Come join us:https://shiftnetwork.infusionsoft.com/go/gos11371/vividme
P.P.S. On Global Oneness Day, you’ll receive inspiration from the following leaders:
Ambassador Anwarul K. Chowdhury, Andrew Harvey, Anna-Mari Pieterse, Barbara Fields, Barbara Marx Hubbard, Barbara Nussbaum, Barnet Bain, Bruce Lipton, PhD, Ciro Gabriel Avruj, Claudia Christine Pieper, Daniel Gutierrez, Dee Meyer, Don Miguel Ruiz, Dr. Dumisani Magadlela, Dr. Johann Broodryk, Dr. Mathole Motshekga, Duane Elgin, Elisabet Sahtouris, Emmanuel Itier, Federico Mayor Zaragoza, Francine Corbeil, Gangaji, James Twyman, Kenny Loggins, Lynne McTaggart, Maha Elgenaidi, Maria Elena Ferrer, Marla Maples, Nancy Roof, Nannette Rogers Kennedy, Neale Donald Walsch, Rabbi Michael Lerner, Rev. Canon Charles P. Gibbs, Rev. Deborah Moldow, Sequoyah Trueblood, Shalini Ajoodha, Shyla Nelson, Stephen Dinan, Stephen Simon, Steve Farrell.
