That said, you can continue to follow my and now many others' "Yoga Doses" and "Heard in Class" posts via LA YOGA Magazine's twitter (here) or facebook page (here). If you take a look around this blog (click here for some of my favorite posts), you can find ample resources related to bodywork and yoga, what it means and what it can mean to those of you who are curious or seeking a deeper source of healing than what you might have already tried.
When I started this blog over a year ago, I did so with the understanding that the words I heard and meditated on during my own yoga practice, if carefully considered for the meaning behind them, could make a meaningful and positive impact on my own life and by effect, on the lives of others. This understanding came from the yogic perspective that the words we use have real power in our own lives and the lives of others and that we are all connected, to ourselves, to each other, and to this world. To me, this has also come to mean that the more I practice yoga, the healthier, happier, more connected and better I become at handling challenges thrown my way. This, in turn, leads me to be better prepared to help others along the same journey. (After all, it's all the more challenging to do anything positive for someone else if we ourselves are in a negative physical, mental or emotional state.)
On a side note, the practice of bodywork has also made me come to understand the human body in a different and more connected way. There is just something profound about the body-mind connection that cannot be articulated with words and can only be experienced through our senses and feelings; bodywork is all about cultivating that sense of awareness and connection - to ourselves and to others.
Allow me to reiterate something I've said in previous posts: anyone can practice and benefit from the practice of bodywork, including yoga, regardless of age, shape, fitness level or even spiritual belief system. All it takes is commitment and work. (Ok, and also a healthy diet, since food is our fuel and the foundation for optimum health.)
Why body-work? I think it boils down to this:
I read an interview recently of famed astrophysicist and science communicatorNeil deGrasse Tyson. Someone asked him what was he most looking forward to in science in the next five to ten years, and one of his responses was for, "Physics [to be] recognized as the foundation of chemistry [and for] chemistry [to be] recognized as the foundation of biology." As a new student of the sciences and only because of my yoga practice, I now understand these words to mean that, basically, when carefully considered, everything comes down to movement and identifying, understanding, and one could even say, attempting to control (or at least work with) the forces that push and define us. By everything, I mean health. I mean healing. I mean happiness. I mean progress. I mean letting go. I mean the body. I mean the way the world and life works. I mean yoga. I mean science. I mean our politics. I mean everything. The answer? Body-work is a fundamental source of healing because it is based in movement, connection and work. Move, use and connect to your body. The body is the source, our connection to this world and the foundation and very vessel of our individual experience of life. As this 93-year old American Woman Yoga Mastersays,"Inside of me there is the creation of life and if I can awaken that inside of me, then, there is nothing that I cannot do." Here is yet another relevant artistic interpretation of the body, connected:
Curious to know where the introductory language from the above clip came from?
Then check out this video below. It's probably the best video you'll find on this blog:
Today is worldBlog Action Day, an annual event calling upon all bloggers to discuss one topic of global importance. The theme is always broad and bloggers have the privilege to write about any angle of the chosen topic as they see fit. Last year, the topic was WATER. (Click here to read the story I wrote for last year's Blog Action Day, “Ode to the Pila”, about my own challenges with water while serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Honduras.) This year, the topic is FOOD, and my contribution to the conversation can be found below.
Top 10 Things That Have Made Me Change My Ways With Food
My choices related to food (what to eat, what not to eat, what I think is healthy, what I think is not healthy, where and when to buy it, etc.) have changed significantly as I have gotten older, more informed, more aware and more interested in eating in a way that makes me feel good on a physical, as well as a philosophical, and dare I even say it, spiritual, level. (Yes, I believe our souls have tastebuds too.)
I have to take food seriously. I work in a physically demanding job (as a massage therapist) and in close contact with other people. This means that food serves as my fuel. As I have become more aware of my own body through bodywork, I recognize that what I eat directly corresponds to how I feel. If I want to feel good, be optimally energized, stay healthy, avoid illness, and in turn, be able to do my job and help others heal, I have to eat good-clean-healthy food. Therefore, I also choose to spend more money on food than on anything else besides my rent – exponentially so – and not without sacrifice.
My current food philosophy goes something like this:
- Eat (real) food.
- Mostly vegetables and fruits.
- Mostly organic.
- Local when possible/affordable.
- Limit seafood, most especially tuna.
- Steer away from the middle aisles in the grocery store. (These are the processed food aisles).
- Try to shop primarily at farmers markets and cooperatives.
- Drink a lot of water.
- Trust that the money I fork over is an investment in my long-term health and well-being, keeping me one foot further from a doctor or hospital.
- Trust that my food spending choices make a positive impact on a socio-economic and cultural level.
- Limit eating out.
- Try to “Walk the Talk” or rather, “Eat the Beet – Not the Meat”.
- Repent & Amend when Fail.
- Repeat. Three times a day.
Each and every one of these choices has come from somewhere: something I have learned, read, felt, seen, or experienced. I find each of these choices challenging because the heavily southern rooted and carnivorous preferences of my taste buds push me towards easier, faster, cheaper and tastier options. However, I attempt to live by the above code for the most part because I believe that these choices, in the long-run, will have a better effect on my body, my mind, my conscience, my health, the well-being of others, and the planet.
To be clear, I am not writing this to tell others to eat like me because for one, I am still figuring out what even works for me, and like I tried to imply, I’m not perfect; I still occasionally break the rules. I also know that what works for me might not be right for someone else. What I am writing this for is to put forward some of the sources or things that have most influenced me to change my own ways and my tastebuds – at all levels for the better. After all, inquiring minds want to know.
Top 10 Things That Have Made Me Change My Ways With Food
1. The Book - Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal by Eric Schlosser
I read this book many years ago and have never been able to look at fast food restaurants the same. In the very least, this book has made me pause to seriously weigh my options when facing the decision of whether to eat fast food.
In this book, investigative journalist Eric Scholsser exposes the untold stories behind the birth and rise of all-American fast food from the meat packing industry to risks of food-borne illness, labor standards, immigrant labor exploitation, and the aggressive, some might say dubious, marketing tactics by the leaders of the pack. The book is heavily researched, fact-based, educational, and easy to read because it is told in well-written, story format. You may recall that there is a movie by the same name, but all the book and the movie really share are the same title and perhaps a spirit that forces us to have to think a little bit more about our food choices. The book is far better than the movie. (There’s no comparison really.) And, unlike The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, which was so fear inducing that it brought about a revolution of the meat packing industry and its regulations in the early 1900’s, this book is scarily non-fiction and set in present-day America.
2. The Movie: Food Inc: How Industrial Food is Making us Sicker, Fatter, and Poorer – And What You Can Do About It
Food Inc - Official Trailer [HD]
This is the movie that should have been the movie version of Fast Food Nation. I found this movie to be gut-wrenching, eye-opening, and palette-changing. I found it hard to stomach some of the things happening in farms and corporations across the country when actual footage, images and well-informed interviews are put forward exposing the dark side of what it means to provide food for millions and billions of people. Luckily, the film seems well-rounded because I didn’t leave it feeling hopeless, but rather more informed and capable of making better decisions .
3. The Movies: The Cove and The End of the Line
The Cove - Official Trailer
The End of the Line - Official Trailer
I will be straight forward. I love eating seafood. I mean, I really. really. pero really. love eating seafood. You name it: sushi, tuna, salmon, lobster, crabs, calamari, shrimp. My mouth is watering just writing those words. If it comes from the sea, I love it so much I want to kill it and turn it into me. Wait, that doesn’t make any sense. The point is that we must destroy life to live but at least I can try to do so consciously.
In all seriousness, I used to love eating seafood. Since watching these two movies, it’s become difficult for me to justify pleasing my greedy palette. These movies make it painstakingly clear that our oceans and world fisheries are in severe danger due to over fishing, grotesque industrial fishing practices, water pollution, and sky-rocketing demand. From exposing ocean trawlers with nets that drag up every single bit of sea life for miles on end to the awful practice of shark finning (just now banned in California), this movie does a terrible job at making viewers feel at ease with the state of our seas. Images, facts, and the truth are laid bare about what is happening far from our sight and close to home. The biggest point I drew from these movies was realizing that if our oceans and fisheries go down, well then, we are all going down on the same boat. (We, as in, humanity.)
There is cause for alarm. Indeed, I think The End of the Line has made a bigger impact on my life than perhaps any other movie or documentary. Here is another disturbing clip showing reality TV Food Sargeant Gordon Ramsey exposing the trade of shark finning.
4. The Writings of Michael Pollan
I am a doubter. I, for one, find it challenging to know who or what to believe when every doctor, nutritionist, athletic coach, spiritual guide, book, magazine, and pseudo scientific or even scientific study offers contradictory guidance on what is good for us, what we should or should not eat, what nutrients, vitamins or energy content are contained in particular foods, etc., etc. Therefore, I was delighted when I found that Michael Pollan, critically acclaimed author and food historian, puts forward the extremely basic (and reassuring) idea that, “Eating doesn’t have to be so complicated.” For example, in “In Defense of Food,” his call to action is simple and evolution based: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” His messages come from a place of understanding that humans did not evolve eating things like twinkies, snickers bars or McDonald’s burgers. His books are thoroughly investigated and easy, fast, informative reads. I have not read all of his books, but every book, article, or essay that I have read written by him has made me pause, think twice about my food, and do something a little differently. Click here to visit his website and read about his books.
5. The Big Picture
They say a picture says a thousand words. My impression is that this picture actually screams those words instead.
South Africa Photographer Kevin Carter took this photo in famine stricken Sudan in1993. It won the Pulitzer Prize and a few months later, Kevin Carter took his own life, at 33 years old. It is not known what happened to the child in the photo, but it’s not so hard to guess. Even if this emaciated child survived, the developmental damage done to her body and brain was likely so severe that she could hardly be a well-functioning adult.
I stare for a long time at this photo, ignoring all the words written around it. My stomach turns. My body and my mind are physically affected. I feel repulsed and I feel guilt at living such a life of luxury and abundance while other human beings and children are starving to death, even stalked by creeping vultures.
I know there is a connection between that child and
my own choices.
As far as food goes, it makes me ask myself things like: Do I really have to eat the steak that alone needed anywhere from 2,000 – 13,000 gallons of water by some estimates and who knows how much land (for grazing and feed production) to be produced? Do I really have to contribute to the demand for products that come from halfway around the world, when I could eat something that was grown nearby, using a lot less energy and limited resources to be produced?
Right now, east Africa is facing its worst drought in 60 years. 30,000 children have died in three months and more than 12 million people are at risk of starvation. Click here for ideas onhow to helpand watch this video below from One.Org to see what Bono, Pat Buchanan, Clive Owen, and many other famous folks have to say about putting a F***ING end to famine.
"Drought is an act of nature. Famine is man made"
6. The Practice of Yoga
Yoga endlessly and effort-full-y transforms my life, my body, my mind, and my world - for the better. As a wannabe yogi, I am a follower of the words I hear in my practice because I know to my deepest sense that they frequently hold powerful and profound truths. But given that I actually do still do non-ideally yogic things like occasionally eat meat or struggle with staying present, at very best, I have years to go in my practice. Regardless, the practice of yoga also helps me become acutely aware of my body’s limits and needs, perhaps especially when it comes to food.
I have consulted the modern bible on yoga, "Light on Yoga", with a curiosity about yogic wisdom and guidance on what to do about food, and I will copy directly from the book below:
Besides purity of body, thought and word, pure food is also necessary. Apart from cleanliness in the preparation of food it is also necessary to observe purity in the means by which one procures it.
Food, the supporting yet consuming substance of all life, is regarded as a phase of Brahman. It should be eaten with the feeling that with each morsel one can gain strength to serve the Lord. Then food becomes pure. Whether or not to be a vegetarian is purely personal matter as each person is influenced by the tradition and habits of the country in which he was born and bred. But, in the course of time, the practitioner of yoga has to adopt a vegetarian diet, in order to attain one-pointed attention and spiritual evolution.
Food should be taken to promote health, strength, energy and life. It should be simple, nourishing, juicy and soothing. Avoid foods which are sour, bitter, salty, pungent, burning, stale, tasteless, heavy and unclean.
Character is moulded by the type of food we take and by how we eat it. Men are the only creatures that eat when not hungry and generally live to eat rather than eat to live. If we eat for flavours of the tongue, we over-eat and so suffer from digestive disorders which throws our systems out of gear. The yogi believes in harmony, so he eats for the sake of sustenance only. He does not eat too much or too little. He looks upon his body as the rest-house of the spirit and guards himself against over-indulgence.
I must admit that I still often eat for flavors of the tongue, and to be fair, I know living like this requires real sacrifice and discipline, in our day and age especially. (I mean really, how can any human – yogi or not – living in India avoid flavors of the tongue.) But still. The main thing that I draw from all of the above quoted text is that yogic script speaks of developing a deeper connection to one’s food, and all I can say to that is, R-E-S-P-E-C-T.
7. The People in My Life
They say that we should choose our friends wisely and I think they are right. I must include my friends on this list because I know that they have had a tremendous influence on my food choices. In observing my friends make culinary sacrifices, try new things, cook up amazing recipes, pass along interesting resources, books and movies, and make choices with strong will, I am inspired to do what I can as well. My vegan friend makes me stand in awe of her culinary prowess and self-control. My ayurvedic guru makes me realize that I can cook up healthy and hearty food like dal in a dash. My raw food experimenting friends make me crazy because I just cannot understand how they can do it. My vegetarian muscular friends make me feel empowered to reduce my meat consumption. My creative friends inspire me to cook things I never dreamed of cooking before at home. My completely opposite-from-me brother makes me grateful to recognize that I have no right to pass judgment about food. But, they all make me realize by their own sacrifices and choices that another truth is written in "Light On Yoga" when Iyengar says, “Actions mirror a man’s personality better than his words.” (Btw – happy birthday to my brother!)
8.The Body: My Body
Our body knows. The body can tell us when we have gone too far, when we need to do more, when we need to do less. Through the practice of bodywork, I have found it to be possible to connect on a deeper level to my health, my well-being, and even my own place in the world. If I decide to eat something that I know to be bad for me or unhealthy, my body gets me back later and I feel sick to my stomach. Granted, the body can also fool us into desiring foods that are unhealthy, but what I have learned is that the more closely I listen to what my body is actually asking for, the less often I choose to make the food choices that make me sick later.
9. The Mind: My Intuition
Another thing I have learned to appreciate through yoga is the emphasis on trusting our gut, that inner voice that has a sense of who we are, what is right, what is true, and who we want to become. If I have two heads of lettuce to choose between, one certified organic and the other non-organic, it’s pretty apparent to me that eating the organic version seems healthier and more natural. Of course, I have to assume that a lot of others are doing their part when it comes to the production and certification of organic products. But if one product was grown with fertilizers, chemicals and pesticides, then my gut tells me to stay away. Perhaps this comes from the knowledge that we did not evolve eating those things either so therefore I should use whatever means I have to avoid putting them in my body as well. For more on Organic Food and a listing of the Dirty Dozen foods that are most highly contaminated, click here.
10.The Truth (As We Know It)
At our most basic, physiologic level, science has taught me that what I eat literally determines how well my cells function, how fast my neurons synapse, how easily and strongly my muscles contract and how my genes, those little blueprints that hold the unyielding power to make or break us, are even expressed.
Turns out, we do have some serious influence over our future. Here is a very informative video explaining how the choices that we make, our lifestyle, our diet, and our environment change the way our genes can be turned on or off.
Updated:
And with that yoga dose, I'm taking a break from this blog. I figure I should explain why I will be away. I may eventually resume posting but, as taught in yoga, who knows what the future holds. Whatever it is can lie in waiting. I'll do my best to prepare for it in the meantime by continuing to practice yoga.
Each entry has been inspired by my own teachers and yoga practice. Sharing the words that I have heard or thought about during my own practice has given me what I feel is the opportunity to demonstrate that bodywork (including yoga and massage) impacts and helps more than just our own bodies.
The interconnectedness of the world, of our lives and of our very body and brain means that every action and inaction that we take creates ripples of immeasurable effects. That is perhaps no more obvious to me than through the simple act of taking care of oneself so that we are better prepared to take care of everything else in our lives. Another blogger I found states the message clearly in just the title of her own blog: It Starts With Me. Starting at the source, taking care of the body, helps enhance our mind, our health, our lives and by consequence, everything else we come in contact with.
If you can't already tell from the content on this blog, it is my belief that bodywork is a fundamental way to practice self-care, to heal through finding connection, to tend that which is the root and the core of health - our own body - and to cultivate peace within and by default with others. The practice can be as simple as taking a deep breath or as profound as providing a hopeful lens through which to view, to understand, and to connect to the world and to the human condition in all its beauty and suffering.
It is my hope that the content here will provide some insight into the role that yoga, massage and positive language can play in healing and balancing the body and mind (and even spirit, if that is the word to mean that which is a part of all of us but intangible.)
For a list of some of my favorite posts, click here. For one last link to an interesting science video that explains how our lifestyles and choices matter and how change can be created from within, click here.
"We work on ourselves, in order to help others, but we also help others, in order to work on ourselves."
~ Pema Chodron
blue like morning
Yo aquรญ vine a los lรญmites
En donde no hay que decir nada
Todo se aprende con tiempo y ocรฉano,
Y volvรญa la luna,
Sus lรญneas plateadas
Y cada vez se rompรญa la sombra
Con un golpe de ola
Y cada dรญa en el balcรณn del mar
Abre las alas, nace el fuego
Y todo sique azul como maรฑana.
~ Pablo Neruda, It Is Born
Below is my interpretation, which is different from the one most often quoted online because how can a poem (especially by Neruda) ever really be translated correctly anyways:
Eureka! I think I figured out one way to try to keep myself motivated to practice yoga by becoming aware of the first law of physics. The answer: just... keep... on... moving...
Via the clip below, the first law of physics is that, "Things like to keep on doing what they are already doing. If a thing is at rest, it wants to stay at rest. If it is moving, it wants to keep on moving. In other words, there is lots and lots of laziness in the universe. Physicists have a special word for laziness. It comes from Latin... INERTIA." Basically, the idea is that nothing will move [or stop] on its own accord, it must be forced to act or desist through pushing or pulling.
Technically speaking, we're also "things" of the universe. At least now I have a scientific reason to explain why it's so hard to start or stop anything. It's all Inertia's fault! (Ok, maybe not.)
So, where does the drive to keep practicing come from? Perhaps it is the routine. Perhaps it's the teacher. Perhaps it's the calming and pleasing environment of the studio. Perhaps it's the goal of attaining a new pose. Perhaps it's feeling a part of a community. Perhaps it's the feelings it evokes. (Personally, I think it's due to these reasons.) But, in any case, since we too are subject to the laws of physics, the inertia of moving the body at least sounds a lot healthier and more appealing than the alternative.
I hope knowing this will serve as strong enough of a force to kick me into gear the next time the idea of crawling into a small space behind a big, heavy rock in a dark and distant cave sounds more appealing. Inertia might keep me there forever and that's not really where I would prefer to "be", for long at least.
Around two years ago, I had the great fortune of turning on the radio to discover an interview on NPR's program "On Being" called Yoga: Meditation in Action. Krista Tippett, host of the weekly radio program dedicated to delving deep in to ideas related to faith, meaning, ethics and religion was interviewing one of the most outspoken and socially active master yoga teachers in the world today, Seane Corn.
At that point in time, I had only recently begun to connect to the meaning behind all of the words I had long been hearing expressed about the power of the practice. The interview gave me one of the deepest insights I have had yet into the world of yoga and the power it holds for healing transformation.
In this very healing interview, which can be downloaded here, these two insightful women explore the power of yoga, including its potential to be meditation in action, or body prayer. Seane Corn talks of "using the body as an expression of devotion, in that the way you place your hands, the way you place your foot back, everything is done as an offering; it becomes an active form of prayer, of meditation and of grace."
Regardless of one's religious or spiritual beliefs, it's hard to not feel blessed by the graceful movement she embodies in her own practice. In the clip below, she leaves viewers with the idea that the practice can be "used in a way that goes beyond the physical," and that the purpose of the practice is ultimately "to unite us, connect us, inspire us from a place that is very deep within." Her thoughts on using yoga as a way to work the shadow within are also worth listening to.
I mean that literally. There's no purpose in naming names but just so you understand where I am coming from, he is crรจme de la crรจme when it comes to yoga teachers. The real point is: He pushed me!
wtf!!!!!!!!@#!@#@!!@
(Ok, I'm really just kidding. I wasn't really pushed. I was playfully tapped. But! I got you to read this right? So.. keep reading because there is a purpose to this story and to the tap!)
There we all were, more than half-way through an already sweaty practice, following his instructions to stand on the left leg, bend our torsos 90 degrees to stare at the floor, shoot the right leg straight out behind us and outstretch both arms towards the front. This challenging pose makes you look and sometimes feel like superman flying through the sky except that you have to use one leg to hold all of your weight and remain balanced.
If you've never tried to stand in this pose, I suggest doing so. You will probably find that if you haven't practiced it before, it's hard to stay balanced for more than a couple seconds. It is called Warrior Three pose, and like all of the Warrior poses, you can understand why they are named as such since holding them can feel like you are going to war with your body.
Then, he said the words, "It's ok if you fall. You're supposed to fall so that you can learn how to get back up." Meanwhile, I was intensely concentrating to stay balanced, conscious of his words enough to be thinking about the message he was sharing and how true those words sounded to my partially receptive ears, but still quite focused on my own mission to feel at ONE with the Warrior.
I think I was beginning to feel good about being able to keep my balance and for feeling like I really embodied the full pose in its glorious and intentional state. Perhaps this was especially so since I became aware that he, guru of gurus, was walking near me. As he passed by, I had already started to focus even more intently so that I didn't let the movement or air shifting distract me from staying balanced. Wouldn't me holding the pose perfectly in front of him be a reflection for him that he was a good teacher? Or wouldn't it also be like yelling back, "Bring It On! I can hold your ehstinkeen pose!" (Yes, yoga can make you mad but the real purpose is to use it to work through it.)
He continued, "I hope you fall."
With that, and completely unexpectedly, since no one had ever done such a thing to me before in my practice, he tapped my leg and made me fall.
<insert !@#!@#@!#!@# emotion here>
Of course, it wasn't quite that dramatic. Really, it was just a playful tap. But remember, I was in full-on Warrior pose, already trying to breathe through a pounding heart-beat and full of adrenaline. He didn't really push me. He just playfully tapped my ankle but since I had been so focused and so knocked off of my target, I was shocked out of my pose. In the split second after the shock wore off, it actually made me laugh out loud.With his intentional tap to unbalance me, he gave me one of those beautiful doses of insight that come regularly with a committed practice, except this time, it was more like a whole bottle of insight.
I think my thoughts flowed as follows: What?! What's happening here?! I fell?! I'm on the ground?! Did he push me?! He did push me!! I can't believe he pushed me!!!!!!! Wait, why would he do that? What was he trying to tell me? Wait, what were those words he was saying, about how we have to learn to get back up? Was he trying to tell me that sometimes we fall of our own accord and sometimes we fall because others freaking (and intentionally) push us down?! Isn't the lesson still the same?! To get back up!! To go back to being a Warrior, stronger than before??!! DING DING DING DING DING. HA HA HA HA.
Of course, I am not suggesting that yoga teachers should go around pushing their students out of poses. I think part of the reason he even "chose" me was because I had also accidentally tapped him with my foot when I started to enter the pose to begin with and of course it was a playful exchange. I think his real intent, or at least what I gained from the experience, was the lesson that sometimes we do have to be pushed to realize something important. And, like he said, we must fall so that we can get back up and try again, stronger than before.
Today is world Blog Action Day, an annual event calling upon all bloggers to draw awareness to an important global issue. This year’s topic is the global crisis of WATER. In honor of this event, my post for today is a story based on my own experience and challenges with water in the developing world.
"Ode to the PILA"
I am lucky to have had the opportunity to live in a number of developing countries in Latin America. My longest assignment abroad was serving two years as a Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV) in the western rural highlands of Honduras. Going in, I told myself that one of the primary reasons I wanted to join the Peace Corps was so that I would have an experience to remind me of what was really important in life. I expected to get a good schooling into grass roots development, community values and traditions, and that is what I got. But I also discovered many things I had not expected, including learning to value water and to deeply appreciate the PILA (pronounced pe-la).
What is a PILA?
On the surface, the PILA is pretty basic: it’s a rectangular cement block with a cement sink on one side and it is used to store water. In reality, it is oh so much more than that. The PILA is used to wash everything from clothes, dishes, oneself, teeth, babies, and food to freshly slaughtered un-plucked chickens. It can easily be called the most important asset of one’s household in the developing world.
There are only two rules for the PILA: keep it clean and keep it full.
Nearly every single household in Central America, even those in the wealthiest of the wealthiest neighborhoods, have a PILA. Everyone needs to store water in a PILA because there is never a guarantee that you will get water out of the tap.
By “get water,” what I mean is that for an infinite number of reasons from local supply and demand issues to broken water systems, local rationing, weather and corrupt local leaders, you never know for certain if when you turn on the tap you will be blessed with free-flowing, thirst-quenching water or instead with the extremely loud spitting and gurgling sounds of empty pipes.
By “get water,” I also want to convey the idea that even though the United Nations declared access to clean water and sanitation a human right this past July (with many developed nations, including the USA, abstaining from the vote), water is far from a given.
The PILA serves as a daily reminder that water cannot be taken for granted. Here in the US, it’s really no wonder that we take water for granted. It pours freely (and relatively cleanly) from our faucets at any temperature we desire at any time of day. The only thing most of us have to do to get water is pay our bills and walk to one of a handful of spouts found in any house. But, in most of the developing world, water means WORK, as in hardcore manual labor, and it means EFFORT, as in I cannot take this for granted because I have to consciously think or worry about procuring it every. single. day.
My most vivid encounter and glaringly conscious awakening to the power of the PILA and water came in the middle of the night towards the beginning of my Peace Corps service. I had spent that evening eating pupusas de chicharrรณn (sort of like pork quesadillas but much tastier) and drinking warm sweetened milk straight from my land lord's cow. Yumeelicious! They both tasted like heaven! But, as much as I had thought my body and immune system had already adjusted to life in a developing country, my sense of taste (which is supposed to protect us from poison) and even my own sense of sight (I had witnessed the not-so-hygienic cow milking process) had deceived me. I'll never know if it was the cow or the pig that did it but I'll never forget either.
I became violently, pero violently, ill, so much so that there came a point during the night that I actually wondered if I would make it through to the next day. Too scared, stubborn, embarrassed or short-sighted to ask for help in the middle of the night since the closest (developing world rural) hospital was more than an hour away over a dirt road and I had only just arrived in site and I had no means of my own transportation and hitch hiking a ride out of town was hard enough during the day, and, and, and.. I decided to trust in the lessons learned over three months of intensive training and drilling by Peace Corps on how to protect oneself in exactly such a circumstance.
With my trusty book “Where There is No Doctor: A Village Health Care Handbook” at hand (designed to scare every PCV into thinking a mosquito bite is an outbreak of Rubella) and the Peace Corps issued briefcase full of rehydration salts and other meds, I resigned to nurse myself through the night until sunrise when I could seek shame-free help.
Things were going ok (not really) until about 1 am when I went for another trip to my own empty outdoor PILA. Upon turning on the faucet, I became eye openingly aware in my 104 fever induced stupor that @#$?@!# DIOS MIO: SE FUE EL AGUA - which can be literally translated in toOH MY !@!?@#! GOD: THE WATER LEFT. I think there is a reason the passivity of the Spanish language is so helpful for life in the developing world. Why place blame when circumstances are sometimes so unbearably desperate? I had turned on the faucet and all I got were loud grumblings screaming the titillating taunt, “I’m in here but you can’t have me!”
As you can see, I survived. A nearby full PILA came to the rescue because even though THE WATER LEFT that night, someone had long before thought of constructing a cement basin to store water and my neighbors already knew very well the value of a full PILA. Making a much longer story much shorter, the main message I want to convey from sharing this experience is the value of water and why having access to it means more than many of us are aware.
Over the remaining time in service, water and the PILA moved to the forefront of my thoughts and daily planning of activities. Whether I was laboring to wash my own clothes, shivering from taking ice cold bucket baths or showers, preplanning when to boil water to drink or to add hot water to the bucket baths, water issues had become a challenge and it was no longer something that could be taken for granted.
I came to understand first hand why water is an issue of women’s rights. When you wash clothes in most villages in Latin America, a task taken on mostly by women, you do not get to throw your laundry in the washer and walk away. You have to manually labor and lean for hours on end to scrub and wring out everything by hand at a PILA. How can women contribute as much to their communities if they have to spend half the day laboring over a wash bin and filling/cleaning PILAS?
I heard of cases of corruption, where local leaders had diverted water resources away from people most in need in order to protect their own farming interests. (On a side note, just to mention corruption and resources, for about six months, the LIGHT LEFT TOO. My town’s electricity would flicker at half volume or not at all in the evenings and rumor had it that it was because some nearby mayor, widely known to be an alcoholic, had bet and lost one of the region’s transformers in a poker game.)
Water safety is another issue entirely. PILA water is undrinkable and for cleaning purposes only. Water flowing out of the tap may have looked safe, but even some locals did not drink directly from the tap without boiling it first because it was not clean. In fact, the UN estimates that 2.6 billion people lack access to basic sanitation – that’s 40% of all of mankind. Let me assure you that the definition for “basic sanitation” is far below US standards, meaning many more than 40% cope with water sanitation and consequent diseases. A couple other Peace Corps friends of mine lived at the base of a mountain where the water flowing in their pipes had already passed through numerous villages on the way down from the source. Both of them suffered throughout their service with horrible medical problems, including Rubella.
When I listen to the stories of my friends that have lived in Africa, I realize that my experience in Honduras was akin to staying in a luxury hotel. Water standards in Honduras may have been sub-par compared to the US, but Africa’s water worries are beyond desperate. The most important point of all is considering that even though we do not face many of these issues (yet) in the US, these problems still deeply affect us on many levels.
It’s because of these concerns that CHANGE.ORG has organized world blogging action day to focus on water. There are actions we can all take that go beyond blogging. Here are a few other blog posts written in honor of this day with some ideas:
Interestingly enough, in Spanish, the word PILA has another meaning: BATTERY. I only realized this coincidence while writing this blog post. Perhaps it is not a coincidence at all and someone consciously chose to name a cement water storage tank after a battery because they are sort of the same thing. The PILA stores power.
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Here are a few other under published statistics related to water and the looming crisis:
Water as a Human Right: In July, the United Nations declared access to clean water and sanitation a human right. More Info »
Women: In Africa, women are predominantly responsible for collecting water. They walk over 40 BILLION hours each year carrying cisterns weighing up to 40 pounds to gather water for their community, which is usually still not safe to drink. More Info »
Children: Every week, nearly 38,000 children under the age of 5 die from unsafe drinking water and unhygienic living conditions. More Info »
Polluted Oceans: Not only is pollution bad for the environment, it’s also expensive! Death and disease caused by polluted coastal waters costs the global economy $12.8 billion a year. More Info »
Uninhabitable Rivers: Today, 40% of America’s rivers and 46% of America’s lakes are too polluted for fishing, swimming, or aquatic life. That’s not surprising considering the fact that 1.2 trillion gallons of untreated sewage, storm water, and industrial waste are discharged into US waters annually. More Info »
Food Footprint: Do you know the water footprint of your food? For example, 75 liters of water are required to make a glass of beer and 15,500 liters to make a kilogram of beef. More Info »
Water Wars: Many scholar, researchers and political analysts attribute the conflict in Darfur at least in part to lack of access to water. In fact, a report commissioned by the UN Development Program found that in the 21st century, water scarcity will become one of the leading causes of conflict in Africa. More Info »
Water & Poverty: A lack of water contributes to poverty, with parents and children too ill or too busy collecting water to go to school and work. Water poverty also undermines progress poor countries are making on health - with half of hospital beds taken by people suffering with diarrhoea and dysentery. More Info »
Technology Footprint: On an average day, 500 billion liters of water travel through US power plants to power all the technology that we use every day. For example, that shiny new iPhone in your pocket requires half a liter of water to charge. That may not seem like much, but with approximately 6.4 million active iPhones in the US, that’s 3.2 million liters to charge those alone. More Info »
Bottled Water: Even though people in the US have access to clean water from their taps, they drink an average of 200 bottles of water per person each year. Over 17 million barrels of oil are needed to manufacture those water bottles, 86 percent of which will never be recycled. More Info »
Farmers vs. Animals: As water becomes scarcer in Africa, farmers not only compete with each other but also with other animals, including elephants. Forced into close contact with farmers, elephants destroy crops and wreak havoc on agriculture, causing farmers in turn to resort to violence in order to protect their crops and water sources. More Info »
Fashion Footprint: That cotton t-shirt you’re wearing right now took 400 gallons of water to produce, and your jeans required an extra 1800 gallons. Not wearing cotton? The dyes and synthetic fibers used to make your clothes create waste that’s among the many contributors to water pollution. More Info »
As much as I prefer yoga to other forms of exercise, I still can not help but take a peek at the clock during some practices and think to myself, “If I had gone for a run instead, I’d be done by now.” Done to do what? Does it matter? Whatever it might be must be a lot more enjoyable than fighting with my body to stay calm and focused in tough poses, or at least already over by now.
For that matter, as much as I love yoga in general, I sometimes think I'd rather be doing anything else, even sleeping. When my thoughts start to head in that direction, another part of my brain kicks in and I remember that it’s actually because I am having those thoughts and having to deal with those thoughts that I need to be in downward dog pose in the first place.
That’s part of the reason why yoga is bootcamp for the brain. Not only do I have to push my body to its limits, this exercise is centered on forcing me to have to think at the same time, look within, confront and manage those feelings, act and look calm when I feel anything but, breathe deeply when I might prefer to get angry because of the challenge, avoid comparing myself to others, focus when all I want to do is let loose, be patient when I am ready to change the time on the clock myself, forgive myself for not being able to keep up and do all of this while someone else is telling me what to think about. Heck yeah!!! Where do I sign up?
Those sound like valuable life skills to have, right? Next step: taking those lessons off the mat and into the world. Turns out someone else already thought of that too. Check out OFF THE MAT INTO THE WORLD, an empowering non-profit organization dedicated to “using the power of yoga to inspire conscious, sustainable activism and ignite grassroots social change.” They help empower people through leadership trainings and community events and by organizing local and global service projects. It’s one example of how there can be more to yoga than just doing a body good. The heaviest grit of the practice is taking the training and lessons learned on the mat off the mat and into one's own life.
Some people ask me why I chose to become a bodyworker and to leave behind an established and promising career in another field. It was a big shift in direction for me. The thought of becoming a massage therapist never once crossed my mind until about two years ago. I always appreciated massage therapists but I was on an entirely different path; one on which I had already invested significant time and other resources.
My reasons for becoming a massage therapist are multi-layered but it came down to asking myself: what do I hold to be true, and how can I make a contribution to the world that I find meaningful, given that our time here is limited and unknown and regardless of spent resources. The answers I came up with were: I see bodywork as fundamental connection and for me, connection is about as meaningful as it gets.
The word connection can have multiple meanings, but in this case, I am referring to a connection to self and to mankind. Other than math, touch is our only other universal language. It gives us with the ability to relate, to communicate, to understand, to draw conclusions and ultimately, to connect. That sort of connection is vital for our health and well-being.
There are many reasons why massage is good for us, (which I will also write about later). My experiences thus far in the field of bodywork have proven to me over and over again that the power of touch yields tremendous healing benefit. Little in my field affects me as deeply as working on an elderly person. I see myself in an 85-year old woman that responds to circulatory work as if it were the best thing that's happened to her all year. I wonder what she has experienced in her life and how much touch means to her given how I understand it for myself.
The effects of a massage may seem temporary, but what isn’t? There is evidence that shows massage does create long-term positive biologic changes in the body. I see bodywork as progressive healing, one gift we can give to ourselves that does have an effect that can build in to something more with continued and committed practice. For that matter, that’s the connection I have to yoga as well, since I understand yoga to be a form of self-massage. Of course, in the case of yoga, rather than having a massage therapist do all the physical work, it falls on us to help ourselves.
At the end of the day, I come home from work feeling like I made a positive difference in someone else's life and that is a something that contributes to my own health and well-being. That is a motivating factor as well. Another reason may be: why not?
First and foremost: The use and practice of bodywork, including yoga, brings Meaning and Purpose to my life and to my experience of life. (Fight for it!)
Bodywork can help to heal the body, the mind and the spirit.
Bodywork helps to cultivate peace within and by default with others.
Bodywork creates a healthy body. A healthy body contributes to a healthy mind.
Yoga and bodywork help me be a more productive, tolerant and caring individual in the world, in my community and with my own loved ones.
Yoga is rooted in gratitude.
Yoga opens the door to insight and awareness. Don’t take my word for it. You gotta live it to believe it.
Yoga challenges. Challenge can be a source of growth.
A serious yoga practice requires commitment. Let's refer to Goethe:
“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now.”
Yoga teaches self-love. Self-love is the foundation for all love.
Yoga lets me go at my own pace, is not a competition and is non-judgmental. (Maybe I should move this further up the list.)
Yoga teaches breathwork. There is a fine line between many emotions and the crossing of that line can be mediated by taking a deep breath.
Yoga empowers. You can do a push-up. Or a headstand. Believe it. Empowerment is vital for our individual and collective well-being.
Yoga teaches the art of letting go by focusing on the only thing we certainly have: the present.
