Kathleen and Wade Update!
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Wade Mortenson
Sep 10, 2008, 6:25:56 PM9/10/08
to kathleen...@googlegroups.com
Nothing really worth having comes quickly and easily;
If it did, I doubt that we would ever grow.
-Eknath Easwaran
Courthouse in downtown Kansas City, MO! photo by- www.noahfoto.com
Dear Friends-
Wade and I are subbing this week at Maha on Wed and Friday, Sept 10th and 12th, at 4:15pm and Sat, Sept 13th, at 4pm. We will also be teaching our regular Saturday 5:45pm class this week at Maha as well: www.mahayoga.com.
Sat Sept 20th, will be our last Sat 5:45pm class at Maha, so we hope to see you soon! (It's looking like we will be moving to KC next month to run our yoga studio there, "Maya Yoga", so we will keep you updated.)
Our Mexico yoga retreat at the beautiful Haramara retreat center is quickly approaching, Sept 27th- Oct 4th! We would love you to join us in for one week of daily yoga, evening meditation, days filled with sun, spa, nature and relaxation:
$1495 for double occupancy for 7 nights and 3 daily vegetarian meals; airfare not included. Click here for registration form: http://www.mayayoga.com/Haramara_Registation.pdf
The LA YOGA HEALTH FESTIVAL with Global Mala, Sept 20th and 21st: Loyola Marymont: http://www.yogamonth.org.
In honor of the yoga philosophy principle, ahimsa (non-violence to self and all beings), I have recently written an article about the benefits of a vegan diet for your health, the animals and the environment.
This is a subject that is very dear to my heart, so I hope you will be open to what I have to say, because the animals mean the world to me and Wade!
LA's own farm animal rescue: www.animalacres.org-"Pigs are People too!"
VEGAN FOR
LIFE!
By Kathleen Kastner Mortenson
“If slaughterhouses had glass walls, we would all be
vegetarian.”
-Paul McCartney
I am grateful that on a soul level, I was born a
vegetarian. I loved and respected
animals as a young child, even though I was raised in a meat eating family in
the middle of Kansas! I remember
getting violently ill, after eating a bite of roast when I was 6 years old,
which lead me to stop eating beef and pork. Unfortunately for the chickens, I
continued to eat them until my late 20’s.
However my 21 year old cat, Samantha, helped me see the light: Samantha
was dying from kidney failure and I made the choice to end her suffering, by
having my vet put her out of her toxic misery. As I held her precious body in my arms, because I wanted my
face to be the last thing she saw before passing on from this life, to more
life, I watched as the Vet pricked her frail body with the needle and in an
instant I felt her soul leave her body.
In that defining moment, I felt in my heart the deepest connection to
all animal souls and that I had no right to be eating them, so I made the
conscious decision to stop eating all forms of meat once and for all.
I am a vegan first and foremost for the animals, for their
protection and safety, to help them live their lives free of pain and
suffering. I do not feel God put
them on the planet to live a life of confinement, fear, pain and being
slaughtered, so that people can get their protein fix for the day. There are many sources of plant based protein, such as nuts, beans, tofu, spinach, rice and even broccoli -yeah! Plus the human body doesn't need as much protein as the trendy protein diets would like us to think. These diets never mention the fact that a diet high in animal protein can greatly increase your cholesterol and increase your risk for other health problems, such as kidney stones, hardening of the arteries, and colon cancer.
When I shifted from being vegetarian to vegan, by eliminating dairy and eggs from my diet, my body began to heal itself of acne, allergies and asthma. I realized that changing my diet could dramatically improve my health and change my life for the better. Why my doctors never asked me about my diet, is beyond me.... Instead they gave me lots of prescriptions for these conditions, when all I really needed to do was change my diet, because I was allergic to dairy products and the hormones in them.
Going vegan is great for your health, the animals and the environment! If you can just start by having one vegan meal a day or week and slowly start retraining your taste buds, to the joys of a plant based diet, I trust in time you will begin to crave foods with more prana (life force) and not want as much meat, which has been stripped of all life force, in the inhumane rearing and slaughtering process.
If you aren't ready to go full veggie or vegan yet, one of the best things you can do for your health and to save a farm animal's life, is to eat a vegan diet at least one day a week. "Meatless Monday" is a national public health campaign in association within Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, to help Americans prevent heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and cancer, four of the leading causes of death in American: www.meatlessmonday.com. A diet high in animal protein, meat and dairy, increases the risk of certain types of cancer, as researched in the book,"The China Study." (Wade's favorite book right now, he can't put it down!")
TEN BILLION cows, pigs and chickens are slaughtered annually in the US alone, which is just devastating. No matter if animals are raised, organically, locally, or "free range," they still have the same fate.
Humans beings, especially yogis, know in their souls that animals feel pain and fear, just like we do, so please do not ignore this very important issue.
The next time you prepare a meal or go out to eat, ask your soul, not just
your body, what it would like to eat and really listen to the
answers….remember on a soul level we are ALL ONE.
Namaste’-the
divine in me, honors the divine within you and in all living beings.
“Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for
survival of life on earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet.”
-Albert Einstein
VEGAN RESOURCES:
“The China Study,” by T. Colin Cambell and Thomas M Cambell
II
“Diet for a New America,” John Robbins (Baskin-Robbins ice
cream heir)
“Quantum Health,” by Kathy Freston
"Farm Sanctuary": Changing Hearts and Minds About Animals and Food, by Gene Bauer, Founder of Farm Sanctuary
Thank you for your continued support of our animal friends and our yoga classes!
Yours in health and wellness.....
Love and Light,
Kathleen and Wade
End animal cruelty - GO VEGAN!
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