Feeling like you don't have enough time?

This statistic will blow you away. Americans watch an unbelievable amount of television. Next time you reach for the remote, think about this... The average American watches 1,672 hours of TV a year. That is about 70 days worth of TV. Or about 10 weeks. What could you do with 10 more weeks this year?

I know... I know... It probably isn't you. Right? Well, I bet you don't even realize how much you are watching.

GET INTO ACTION:
Put a piece of paper by the remote and track how much time you are watching. You may be surprised what you discover... After a week or two, ask yourself what you could have accomplished with that time. read more...

Roll Down Your Window and Ask

I was getting off the 10 freeway yesterday when I pulled up next to a car. It wasn't your average car. There were 3 bikes on top and signs pasted all over it. One sign said, "Ride for World Health." I glanced inside the car and saw 3 people with hat head/hair. You know how hair looks when it has been mushed in a helmed for a while. I was intrigued. What were they doing? So, I rolled down my window and asked.

"What are you up to?" They yelled something about riding across the country to support world health. They just got to LA from San Diego. I looked up and noticed that the light was green, as they turned the opposite direction.

My intrigue got the best of me this morning as I fired up my computer. I went to google and quickly found their website. CLICK HERE to go over and see what they are up to.

Here is a brief description from their site:

About R4WH

Ride for World Health is dedicated to creating a dialogue on the state of healthcare in communities across the world. By bringing together activists from across the country, we hope to inspire other medical professionals, volunteers, and communities-at-large to stand up as a unified voice for the millions who suffer at home and abroad.

The R4WH 3,700-mile ride takes place during April and May, traversing the country from San Diego to Washington D.C. Our 2008 Beneficiary is Doctors without Borders.

OUR MISSION

The mission of R4WH is to address global health disparities by focusing on education, advocacy, and fundraising which are addressed by utilizing a national cycling event as a vehicle for change. Each year, our Coast-to-Coast Lecture Series initiates meaningful dialogue throughout communities along our 3,700 mile journey. Through our efforts, we raise significant funds to support a non-profit organization with goals consistent with our vision, and empower our audience to become informed and active global citizens.

While education is fundamental to our efforts; education alone is insufficient to generate the change we hope to see in the world. Donor money drives global health efforts. This year, we are proud to have Doctors Without Borders as our beneficiary.

Ride for World Health is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.

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On Earth Day: Yogis can clear your clutter, not the forests

Stop Your Junk Mail with 41pounds.org and Let the Earth Keep the Trees.

This year, celebrate Earth Day by clearing your home of junk mail with the 41pounds.org service. In one quick step, you’ll simply your home life, help the planet and support the Green Yoga Association. 41pounds.org stops postal junk mail and unwanted catalogs. This keeps more trees

in the forest doing what they do best: providing oxygen for us to breathe and absorbing carbon to cool the planet. And, when you sign up for the service, 41pounds.org will donate $15 (more than 1/3 the fee) to the Green Yoga Association (or another organization you choose). The Green Yoga Association aims to raise $10,000 this year through this program.

“The celebration of Earth Day reminds each of us that we can make small changes that improve our daily lives AND improve the health of the planet,” says 41pounds.org co-founder Sander DeVries. “We founded 41pounds.org as a nonprofit service to stop the deluge of junk mail and catalogs, and to provide a simple, meaningful way for people to reduce our impact on the environment.”

With 41pounds.org, you can reduce household clutter and reduce global warming:
The average adult spends 70 hours a year dealing with junk mail.
The world’s temperate forests absorb 2 billion tons of carbon annually to help keep the planet cool and healthy.
More than 100 million trees are destroyed each year to create junk mail.
Junk mail produces more greenhouse gas emissions than 2.8 million cars.
Junk mail wastes 28 billion gallons of water annually.
Named for the amount of junk mail the average American receives every year, 41pounds.org donates more than 1/3 of your fee to the environmental or community organization you choose. These partners include StopGlobalWarming.org, Trees for the Future, Carbonfund.org, Habitat for Humanity chapters, Sierra Business Council, Center for a New American Dream and others.

“The Green Yoga Association is dedicated to environmental actions that support the well-being of the planet and contribute to a more peaceful consciousness,” said Gillian Kapteyn Comstock, a founding member and council member of the Green Yoga Association. “By collaborating with 41pounds.org, we can reduce the consumption of natural resources generated by junk mail and also free our minds from this daily distraction. The mental and financial energy released allows us to strengthen such initiatives as the Green Studios Programs and Teacher Leadership Trainings. Synergistic partnerships amplify our power to care for Earth and community.”

41pounds.org stops household junk mail by contacting dozens of direct mail companies to remove everyone in your household from marketing lists. The service covers everyone in your household for five years and costs $41 – only $8.20 per year. Three brothers -- Sander DeVries, Tim Pfannes and Shane Pfannes -- started 41pounds.org in 2006 as a community service.

To sign up or learn more, go to www.41pounds.org

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Bring Clean Water to Ethiopia - Dink 1 Give 10

For every liter of Volvic bottled water you purchase between April 1st and August 31st, Volvic will make a donation to enable UNICEF to provide at least 10 liters of clean, safe drinkable water to children in Ethiopia. Your participation will help supply clean drinking water to 25,000 people! Over 2/3 of the households in Ethiopia do not have access to safe water and the water supply and sanitation coverage in the Benishangul-Gumuz region in Ethiopia is one of the lowest in the country.

Next time you are standing in front of the shelf buying some water, please remember the difference you could make by purchasing Volvic.

Learn more by going to www.drink1give10.com

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Need an Attitude Lift?

I just got this awesome text from my good friend "G." Well to tell you the truth...

He isn't really my good friend, but he sure does act supper cool. (Sometimes way cooler than my friends.) He takes a minute each day to send me an inspiring text message. They come at random times each day... usually catching me at the perfect moment for an attitude lift. Here is the text I got today:

Today imagine ONLY U really exist in the WORLD. Everyone else simply a reflection of u-a part of u. Move/talk/play as if in front of a mirror. See who/what shows up;-)
My Daily G

To get your own Daily G, click here and tell him I sent you.

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The Guru of Personal Productivity David Allen

David Allen has been dubbed "The Guru of Personal Productivity" by Fast Company magazine. His complete system manages every single little possible action in your life. Part of the premise is "Mind like water." Until your head is empty of all that stuff you have to-do, you can't actually have original, creative, inspiring thought. Get freedom from your to-do's in a system your brain will finally trust (so it doesn't feel compelled to continue to wake you up in the middle of the night to remind you about some action you can't even do anything about). He spoke at Google and they were cool enough to share the video with all of us on YouTube. Click "read more" below to see the video. Watch and enjoy your new found freedom from the mundane to-do's of your life.

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Take the Coffee Cup Challenge

By some estimates, Americans drink more than 100 billion cups of coffee every year. Of these, a staggering 14.4 billion are bought in disposable paper cups. Placed end-to-end, these cups would wrap around Earth 55 times and weigh around 900 million pounds.

Here is a fact about paper cups I didn't even know. If you don't know, it will blow you away also.

Are you ready? Paper coffee cups are NOT recyclable. That is right. They go right into the landfill. The thin lining that makes a paper cup waterproof also keeps it from being recycled. Yes, that is 900 million pounds of coffee cups filling our landfills.

What can you do?

It is really simple. Stop using disposable cups.

You can also join our Yogi Times team at CarbonRally.com where we will be tracking the difference we are making. CLICK HERE and click on the "Join this team" link in the left hand menu bar. Accept the "De-cup Your Decaf" challenge. 180 people have already reduced CO2 emissions by 131 lbs in the first week of this challenge.

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Playing Beautiful Music Throughout Your Life

The guitar is my most favorite instrument in the world! After playing for 28 years it is no wonder why I am so biased. In my speaking programs, I love to use the guitar as a metaphor for our lives. Think about it. The strings of the guitar are the different aspects and facets of our

lives. The strumming and plucking represent the action we take in the world. The sound the guitar makes are the results we produce in the world. If our strings are not in tune, it doesn’t matter how great of guitarist you are, you are only going to produce mediocre results.

Most of us go through life almost exclusively playing the work string. I did this for many years and got really good at it. The money was great but all of the other aspects of my life were failing. Ultimately, I walked away from my multi-million dollar business so I could learn to play the other strings in my life and create a life of harmony and balance. I realized that if we are going to truly live an extraordinary life, we are going to need to play all of the strings. So how do we tune ourselves up for true success?

Listen to your life: Become an observer of your life and listen to where you are out of tune. Take note where you are feeling stressed or not satisfied in your life. Ask yourself what aspect of your life you are struggling with? Those issues are life’s way of telling you what string you need to tune.

Once you discover your trouble spot, think about how you would like that aspect to be, get in touch with how you would feel if it were that way, and finally identify an action step that you can take immediately to change it. Life will do the rest.

Remember that even the best guitarist in the world tune their strings constantly and so should you! Listen to your music and life and take action today to tune yourself up. By doing so you will be well on your way to playing beautiful music throughout your life.

By Mark Romero

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What would you ask a Zen Master?

I am honored to have the opportunity to sit with an amazing Zen Master and interview him for Yogi Times. As I prepared, I want to know your thoughts.

What would you ask the highest ranking Zen Master outside of Japan?

Click on Comment below and let me know. I interview him on Tuesday, February, 12th.

Click on "read more" below if you want to learn more about Genpo and his revolutionary ideas. I got interested in Genpo when I heard his claim that he could facilitate a person achieving a non-dual state of consciousness in three hours when most Zen students take about five years using traditional methods. He calls it "Big Mind."

Genpo Roshi Dennis Genpo Merzel Roshi is a revolutionary in the tradition of the old Zen Masters who so embodied Buddhist teaching that they were able to revitalize and transform it for their own day and age. Genpo Roshi is working to transmit the essence of the Buddha's teachings in a way that is readily accessible to Westerners and relevant to our everyday life.

Genpo (who is an American) is considered by many to be the highest ranking Zen master outside of Japan because he is a student of Maezumi Roshi (a very famous teacher and Zen master), he is a direct decendent of the highly respected Soto Zen lineage, and for years he has been the head of the largest Zen lineage in the world outside of Japan (though he just resigned from that a few months ago).

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Jan/Feb Special Edition - First Time Ever

Our Special Edition entitled The Year of the Yogi, highlights how the presence of yoga in our everyday lives can help yield life-changing results. We have compiled the contents of this issue with the intention to...

help you take your dreams and goals for the new year from mind to manifestation. From your relationships, to your health, to your spending habits, this month’s issue provides the tools you need to attain lasting change in your life—it is a special edition of Yogi Times that you will never really put down.

On behalf of the entire staff of Yogi Times, we extend our gratitude for helping us spread health and happiness throughout our vibrant community and we wish you inspiration and an abundance of joy this new year.

Namaste,






Sophie Parienti, Editor In Chief
Lisa Johns, Managing Editor

read more...

PAY WHAT YOU WISH SUBSCRIPTION CAMPAIGN

Check out what we are doing in order to grow YT and sustain the dream of inspiring everyone into a healthier and more sustainable lifestyle.

Yogi Times is launching THE PAY WHAT YOU WISH SUBSCRIPTION CAMPAIGN. This exciting campaign brings a copy of Yogi Times delivered right to your door each month and in the spirit of donation at a price that you determine. With this campaign we are creating a strong intention for our vision of Yogi Times and the desire to grow our company in a way that embraces the very principles we have held true to for the last six years in our pages.
By offering a subscription to Yogi Times at value that the community determines, we are placing our trust in our valued readers, partners and friends to support our vision. This is your opportunity to rise to an occasion and support the outreach of conscious media, yoga and the shifting of consciousness across our country.

Here are some ways to support THE PAY WHAT YOU WISH CAMPAIGN and join us in strengthening the Yogi Times dream.

1. Forward this mailer to your list of students, teachers and other partners of our community. (should you need it resized to your standard, contact Jessica at graphics@yogitimes.com)
2. Place THE PAY WHAT YOU WISH CAMPAIGN icon on your website - icon is attached to this email - (should you need it resized to your standard, contact Jessica at graphics@yogitimes.com)
3. Link to our subscription page on your website and your Enews: https://subscriptions.yogitimes.com/store/one_page_form.html
4. Subscribe to Yogi Times and PAY WHAT YOU WISH!
5. Spread the word...

When you act on any or all of these measures, please feel free to keep us in the loop. We welcome your feedback and love staying connected to you.
We are so very grateful for your rich and real response to our outreach.

Namaste,

Sophie and Jc

Yogi Times Lifestyle Media Group Inc. Yogi Times Magazine | Los Angeles |San Francisco Yogi Times BUSINESS

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The Yogi At Home {Natural Inspiration}

Living in San Francisco, I am always inspired by the beauty of nature. Whether looking in awe at how the fog slowly creeps across the Bay, watching sea gulls fly overhead in a cool breeze, or just looking to the mountains in the far-off distance, natural elements inspire me each and every day. They can also be inspirational in your home decor. Here are a few things that can bring the beauty of the outdoors into your abode:

1. I love this porcelain Owl Lamp. Absolutely beautiful and with just a little bit of whimsy.

2. These hand blown Sea Urchin Vases are reminiscent of warm days by the sea.

3. A Driftwood Vase pays homage to wood's inspirational form.

4. This Dove Coral Pillow will bring the beauty of coral into your home without harming any reefs.

I hope you will find as much inspiration in these finds as I do, and bring a little nature home. read more...

The Yogi At Home {Sanctuary}

{Image from White Webb}

Happy New Year to all of you! It is a new year and a time for new beginnings. For many of us we take this time to think about the future; we try to steer away from the mistakes of the past; and will make impossible resolutions like starting an all grapefruit diet in hopes of losing the weight gained from holiday delights.

With an entirely new year in front of us, it is also an important time for deep, inner reflection. For many of us, we will reflect inward during yoga class, at our place of spiritual worship, even at work (depending on what you do), but this year I invite you to focus on home as a sanctuary for deep reflection. I am the first to admit that I am guilty of using the yoga studio as my only place for inner reflection. I will go to class, really get to the core of my being, and by the time I have made the evening commute home I am completely flustered and have lost the sense of peace I once had.

This year it is my resolution to make home the inner sanctuary I seek. Whether by creating an alter for meditation, creating a small space for morning and evening asanas, or simply removing distractions like TV from the bedroom, I am ready to make my home the place where I can find and maintain a sense of peace.


{Image from White Webb}

This year I invite you to make your home a sanctuary. And please, share with other Yogi Times Blog readers what you are doing to bring a bit of peace home this new year. read more...