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

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