Explore meditation. Beginning on Thursday, March 30 at 7 p.m., Pastor John Griffin-Atil will offer a free weekly meditation course at the Imperial Beach United Methodist Church at 455 Palm Avenue. The course is open to everyone and will include reflection on Richard Rohrs book entitled The Naked Now: Seeing as the Mystics See and thirty minutes of silent contemplative prayer. Those participating are encouraged to purchase the book.

Meditation is a mindfulness practice that has been around for thousands of years. Forms of meditation exist in nearly every religious tradition, including Christianity. It is known by various names, such as prayer or contemplation. Meditation techniques are simple and can be learned in a few minutes or hours, but they take a lifetime of practice to master.

First and foremost, meditation is a practice of self-emptying. At its most basic, meditation is letting go - of our habitual thoughts, preferences, judgments, and feelings. It teaches one to live in an undefended way. Little by little one lets go of the need to prove one right or superior. It can be discovered that one is not so different from others. The individual taps into the immense, God-given source of compassion and kindness. Meditation retrains the mind and heart to know true humility and love.

This meditation experience is led by Griffin-Atil who is the pastor of the Imperial Beach United Methodist Church, an ordained clergy for 27 years who spent four years exploring the practices of Zen Buddhists and Quaker spiritualities of silence.

For more information, contact the church office at 619-424-5181 or ibumc@att.net. While reservations are not required, it would be helpful to notify the church that you plan to attend.

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Meditation Course Offered At IBUMC - Eagle & Times

One in four people experiences mental health problems every year in the UK with depression and anxiety being the most common, according tomind.org.uk.

This year the World Health Organisation's global campaign in focused on tackling depression, encouraging people to talk about it and seek help.

As well as seeking medical help, there are some more holistic approaches you can take. Meditation and mindfulness arebelieved to relax and calm the brain and tackle the sources of stress and other sources of mental health problems.

According to mentalhealth.org.uk, those whove undertaken mindfulness have shown increased activity in the area of the brain associated with positive emotions.

Here are the best places in London where you can try to find your zen.

This is your 45-minute getaway from the buzz of the city. You'll leave this guided energy boosting meditation class feeling refreshed and brighter, ready to take on the afternoon back in the office.

Class:11, 17 The Mall, Ealing Broadway,W5 2PJ, tribecastudios.co.uk/studio

No need to worry if you have never done meditation before because this course will teach you the technique. Explore how to relax, practise positive thinking and find your inner peace. It will also guide you to harnessing your thoughts and emotions and recharging your energy tanks.

Class: free, Inner Space, 36 Shorts Gardens,WC2H 9AB, innerspace.org.uk

Through the two main practices at the centre, Mindfulness of Breathing and Metta Bhavana, a meditation to develop loving and kindness, youll learn to focus on developing calmness and positive emotion.Classes are held Monday through Wednesday and Saturday.

Classes: free, 51 Roman Road,E2 0HU,lbc.org.uk/events/meditation/meditation-classes

During this 30-minute meditation class youll learn how to be present in the moment and just to switch off for a small portion of your day. The instructor shows you breathing techniques, guiding you to connect body and mind in deep relaxation.

Membership: 140 per month, Hereford House, 64 North Row,W1K 7DA, virginactive.co.uk

Gong bath is an ancient sound-healing practice to ease your modern problems. The 90-minute workshop takes you through different meditating techniques first then once you lie down, the unique sounds of the musical instrument will do the rest. The tones of the gong can lead to altered state of consciousness and guide you into deep relaxation.

Class: 20, 14 Collent Street, The Basement, The Ceramic Works, London E9 6SG, therefinerye9.com

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5 best places to practise meditation in London - Evening Standard

We find ourselves in a unique time in history, where time-saving technology is encroaching on our ability to relate to each other and ourselves. We spend more time engaging in stimulation and entertainment and less time integrating emotional experience.

The result?

Chronic, low-level stress and a nagging sense of disconnection.

Enter meditation.

Meditation is a tool for us to down-regulate our nervous systems. This, in turn, allows us to turn toward what we value. By engaging in meditation and sharing the practice with others, we have an opportunity to provide tools for health and happiness to a wide range of individuals, including ourselves.

Teacher training

Learn more about meditation and how to share this powerful tool with others at the upcoming Beginning Meditation Teacher Training, held at the Vail Vitality Center starting in June. The training, which is open to yoga teachers and meditation practitioners, will take place over the course of four weekends; it will be held one weekend a month, June through September.

This course will explain meditation along traditional lines, offering teachings that are accessible to all. By taking a close look at the various types of meditation, we will gain insight into the benefits of different techniques, and when they might be appropriate for an individual. Learn about common difficulties encountered during practice, as well as traditional methods to overcome these difficulties. With this knowledge, you will not only improve your own practice, but also learn how to guide others effectively.

The training is a great opportunity for yoga instructors who want to feel confident leading a meditation at the end of a yoga class, or for regular meditation practitioners to get a better understanding of their own practice and possibly begin to guide others.

We will explore mindfulness meditation and heart practices, and begin an inquiry into the practice of concentration and opening to insight. While the practices will be based on Buddhist meditation traditions primarily those of Theravadin Buddhism it will also include context for practices in other traditions. Rather than a religious-based training, the training will have a secular approach, for broad application in modern culture.

It is a common belief that meditation is simply forcing the mind to be quiet; with this attitude the practice appears difficult, and many people are afraid to begin, or quit after trying a couple of times. Learn how to overcome this resistance and employ a powerful tool that will reduce stress, increase self-awareness and happiness, and improve your emotional and physical health.

For more information, visit http://www.vailvitalitycenter.com.

Karen Anderson is the yoga director at the Vail Vitality Center. She has attended 10 month-long silent meditation retreats in Asia and the U.S. Her training in meditation is primarily in the Indo-Tibetan tradition. She is empowered and certified to teach meditation by Noah Levine in the lineage of Jack Kornfield and the Thai forest tradition.

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Beginning Meditation Teacher Training begins mid June at Vail Vitality Center - Vail Daily News

Meditation Reduces Cortisol Blunting in Colorectal Cancer - Cancer ... Cancer Therapy Advisor Mindfulness meditation practice conducted by patients with CRC at the beginning of chemotherapy infusion decreased cortisol blunting. and more »

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Meditation Reduces Cortisol Blunting in Colorectal Cancer - Cancer ... - Cancer Therapy Advisor

The gentle force behind a proposed Redding Tai Chi Meditation Garden near the Sundial Bridge is seeking online votes for a monthlong grant competition that starts April 12.

Acupuncturist Michel Czehatowski and members of Redding Tai Chi have partnered with the Shasta County Arts Council and Turtle Bay Exploration Park to create a tai chi park near the Sundial Bridge.

A Redding Tai Chi Meditation Garden project video has been submitted to the A Community Thrives (ACT) grant competition, which runs from 8:59 a.m. PST April 12 to 8:59 a.m. PST May 12. You can vote once daily by viewing the submission at this link.

A News Caf caught up with Michel, who runs Redding Acupuncture Health Care on Hartnell Avenue, to find out more about the garden project and what he hopes it will bring to the community.

Hi, Michel, and welcome to A News Caf. For those who dont know you, could you tell us briefly about yourself and your connection to Redding?

After attending and graduating from the San Francisco College of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine in 1984, we moved to Redding and I opened my first acupuncture practice that November. My daughter was 5 months old at the time; my son was born in Redding a couple years later. I consider Redding my home and enjoy living here very much.

Photos courtesy Michel Czehatowski / Foreground, Michel Czehatowski teaches tai chi.

I started learning tai chi in the mid-1970s and taught briefly in the early 80s and 90s. With a growing family and business, teaching tai chi was not a priority, but I always continued to practice on my own. A few years ago I started a class at Old City Hall and I also now teach through the Shasta College Community Education program. There are a lot of people in Redding interested in learning tai chi. When I offer a new class at either location, it always fills up quickly. I enjoy teaching and sharing my knowledge of tai chi and Oriental culture with my students.

We are glad youre herethank you for what you offer the community. A meditation garden seems like a natural fit for the Sundial Bridge. Could you walk us through how this concept originated and how its location was chosen?

My tai chi students and I practice tai chi outdoors in the McConnell Arboretum on the second Saturday of each month. Its beautiful and peaceful there, and we really enjoy it.

Tai chi in the McConnell Arboretum on a cold January morning.

Last summer I came across a news article about the David Chen Memorial Tai Chi Court in Rockville, Maryland. After David passed away, his tai chi students built an amazingly beautiful court for tai chi practice in his memory. I shared the article with my students, and we all thought how wonderful it would be to have one like that here in Redding. Because the arboretum is so beautiful and centrally located, our first thought was to build it inside the arboretum.

Yes, the arboretum is a lovely spot. Where did you take the meditation garden idea from there?

After deciding to go forward, we approached Debra Lucero of the Shasta County Arts Council. She liked the concept and offered to help. She introduced our project to several people, including Kim Niemer, Reddings director of community services. Kim liked the idea also and after we expressed our desire to build in the McConnell Arboretum, she contacted Mike Warren, president and CEO of Turtle Bay Exploration Park. That led to a meeting with Mike and some of his staff members. Mike suggested a place at the northwest end of the Sundial Bridge.

The spot couldnt be better. Theres a great view of the Sundial Bridge, the river, and easy public access. Its a perfect location to enjoy the outdoors. This spot will utilize an area that previously was a staging area for construction of the Sundial Bridge. Because of the construction fill it is not easy to grow plants there, so creating a use for it that does not require more intensive watering works well.

Left to right, architects Terry Topolski and Ryan Russell, with Michel Czehatowski, look at the project plans at the site location.

That does sounds like an ideal location and use of landscape. What excites you most about this project?

Im passionate about this project for several reasons. One, of course, is because I think tai chi is an exercise that could benefit a lot of people. Second, it will provide an area for seniors (and others) to practice low-impact meditative exercises and hopefully influence more to consider taking up those practices.

Another reason is that there are only two existing tai chi courts in the USA one in Houston and one in Maryland. Ours will be the third in the country and the only tai chi court on the West Coast. With our central location we are sure to draw a lot of interest to Turtle Bay and the city of Redding.

Thats really interesting that it would be only the third tai chi court in the country. Would you give a basic description of what tai chi is and how it relates to yoga or other martial arts?

Tai chi is a low-impact, meditative exercise that originated in China. Because it is rejuvenating in nature, it is very popular with middle-aged and senior citizens. With most exercises you will peak at a certain point and eventually you will have to stop, but with tai chi you actually improve with age. It is quite common for people to actively practice tai chi into their 80s and beyond.

Tai chi increases flexibility and balance. It reduces stress. The movements are very slow, which encourage deep breathing and relaxation. Some people describe it as a standing form of yoga or standing meditation. Thats why we use the word meditation in the name of our project.

Tai chi is different from other martial arts in that we dont emphasize the martial aspects. Truthfully, anyone can learn to fight in a few months. But to develop your inner self takes a meditative practice. Practicing tai chi can help tame the emotions and make you feel more harmonious in your environment.

What will the meditation garden look like?

The Tai Chi Meditation Garden will be about 50 feet in diameter or roughly 1,800 square feet and will be made of flagstone. By itself it will be a work of art functional art since we have a purpose for it. The design is that of the tai chi diagram which Americans commonly call the yin yang symbol. The tai chi diagram is where the exercise tai chi gets its name. The outer circle of the symbol represents the oneness of all things and the inner fish-shaped design represents the duality or opposites in all things, such as night and day, hot and cold, heavy and light, hard and soft, left and right.

An artists rendering of the proposed Redding Tai Chi Meditation Garden.

How do you envision people actually utilizing the space on a given day? Will you teach classes out there? Can people do different activities on it at the same time?

I think people who practice tai chi will be there mostly in the early mornings or evenings. I plan to offer free instruction on Saturday mornings. This park is for everyone so we expect people who practice other low-impact exercises such yoga, dance, or breathing exercises like Qigong to also use it, and theres no reason why this all cant happen at once. There will be plenty of room. People can also sit on the benches and relax.

That sounds delightful. How much will it cost to build the garden? In addition to the ACT grant competition, how else are you seeking to raise funds?

We need $100,000 to build the park, and we must have those funds on hand before we are allowed to start construction. We believe that we have a good project for the ACT grant competition, but in order to be considered we need to be ranked in the top ten most popular videos in our category of Wellness. Thats why getting the word out and having people vote for the project is so important.

However, we are looking at other grants and we also accept donations. The Shasta County Arts Council is our fiscal sponsor so donations are tax-deductible. You can make a donation online with your credit card or paypal through their website.

Besides the people already mentioned, are there others working with you on this project?

First and foremost, the Wuwei Tai Chi Club in Rockville, Md., inspired us for the project. They have been sharing their experience in building their Tai Chi Court and most importantly they allowed us to use their architectural plans as a guideline for our project. We are very indebted to them for their help.

Besides our dedicated Redding Tai Chi students we have partnered with the Shasta County Arts Council. It was through the efforts of Debra Lucero and her awesome staff that we were able to make a top-notch video for the competition. Turtle Bay Exploration Parks Lisa Endicott, who is their horicultural manager, will be designing the landscaping around the project. We also have two fine architects, Ryan Russell of Russell Studio and Terry Topolski, modifying our plans for the site. Former Redding resident Hannah Grgich of Hook and Ladder Design has been donating her graphic arts skill. She has designed our project logo, artist rendering of the project, and created animations for our video.

The project logo is composed of the tai chi symbol (yin yang symbol) and the Sundial Bridge. Theres also a turtle in it for Turtle Bay (not everyone sees the turtle at first).

Is there anything else youd like to say about the project, or the upcoming grant competition?

This project will benefit the community on a lot of levels, and I believe it is a win-win for everybody. It provides a public area to increase health awareness and promote exercise, it creates a new feature to benefit Turtle Bay Exploration Park, and we hope it will increase tourism in our area. My goal is to have the park built when the Turtle Bay Sheraton Hotel opens.

This is a nationwide competition so you dont have to live in Redding to vote on it. If you like this project, encourage your family and friends to vote also. Winning the grant would make all the difference in the world in making this happen and wed love to have you be a part of our success.

Thank you, Michel.

You can view the Shasta County Arts Council video about the projecthere.

The top 10 voted submissions in the ACT grant competition will be reviewed by a panel of judges, who will award $50,000 or $100,000 each to their top three picks. Voting starts Wednesday here.

Follow project updates on Facebook search for Redding Tai Chi Meditation Garden Project.

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Redding Tai Chi Meditation Garden Project Seeks Online Votes for Grant - A News Cafe

MENLO PARK, Calif., April 11, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- At a time when the World Health Organization announces that depression tops the list of ill health conditions, the Abide mobile app built by Carpenters Code reports that their guided Christian meditation platform is helping 4 million users in 210 countries alleviate their depression, anxiety and day-to-day worries. For more than a year, the fast growing mobile app has been ranked in the Top 10 by iTunes for the search term "depression." Abide users report that the guided meditations help them calm down wherever they are, regardless of the time they may have.

The first step The World Health Organization recommends for recovery of depression is to speak to someone they trust. Meditation, a long held Christian tradition to connect with God, is making a big comeback through the Abide mobile application. Abide reaches millions daily through their partners, the YouVersion Bible app and Christian radio station KLOVE, and tracks more than 15,000 new downloads per month for the past two years.

"Christian meditation is one of the best ways to fight depression, the world's leading illness, which often can go untreated," said Neil Ahlsten, co-founder of Carpenters Code. "Our guided meditation app is designed to meet the often very private needs of people in the midst of very busy lives. Our users report that Abide helps them find pockets of time to connect with God for peace and stability in their lives."

Stats for Abide - Christian Guided Meditation

Stats for Depression - World Health Organization

Social Links

About Abide

Abide, built by Carpenters Code in Silicon Valley, is the leading digital platform for Christian meditation reaching 4 million users in 210 countries. The daily guided meditations, led by members of the Abide team and prominent guest leaders, offer a range of topics and guides based upon Scripture and proven meditational practices. Available for free or $29.99 a year with premium content through iTunes or Google Play.

Media Contact Stephanie Xavier 154459@email4pr.com 415-602-4035

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/four-million-turn-to-guided-christian-meditation-app-for-relief-of-depression-anxiety-and-spiritual-health-300437896.html

SOURCE Carpenters Code

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Four Million Turn to Guided Christian Meditation App for Relief of Depression, Anxiety and - PR Newswire (press release)

Eunice Mesick-Local Columnist

You may say I dont have time to exercise. Or you may say I dont want to exercise. Take a look at some of the benefits of exercise.

Hi, this is Eunice from Diet Center.

Research has shown that even a little weight loss resulting from exercise can result in significant health benefits such as lowering blood pressure and better blood sugar control. The loss could be such a small amount that you dont have to see any significant physical changes. Researchers are also looking at how the small loss helps reduce the risk of chronic diseases.

What researchers are finding is that a modest loss in weight from exercise comes from fat lost under the skin, as well as loss of intra-abdominal fat. One study, in which participants lost a modest average of 3 pounds after joining an exercise program, showed that the participants lost 7 percent of their intra-abdominal fat. This amount of fat loss around the bodys internal organs is what can significantly benefit a persons health.

So try not to become discouraged if you have started an exercise program and the weight is not coming off as quickly as you thought that it would. You can be losing a good amount of body fat while improving your health.

Please dont forget that muscle tissue is actually denser than fat tissue. Therefore, a mass of muscle takes up less volume than a mass of fat that is equal in weight. If you are exercising to lose weight, you may find yourself losing inches without losing any weight. In fact, you may even gain a little from losing fat because youre gaining muscle. Its hard to not be disappointed when the scale doesnt move, and youve been dedicated to an exercise routine.

This is why its important to not just rely on the scale as a measurement of your success. Instead, think about your energy levels and how they may have increased. Think if you have seen numbers like your blood pressure and your blood sugar coming down. Examine how your clothes are fitting you. Has the waist band become looser? Are your pants not as tight around your thighs as they once were? Losing inches is a good sign of progress.

Just because the pounds arent dropping, doesnt necessarily mean youre not burning body fat especially when you are exercising! So try not to lose motivation when you are losing inches, but not pounds. You are probably losing fat and getting fit. Remember, the key to long-term success is a good diet along with exercise, and Diet Center can help you with that.

Thank you for reading Diet Centers exercise tip of the week.

If you are struggling with weight loss please contact Diet Center today at 928-753-5066 or stop by 1848 Hope Ave.

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Diet Center's Excercise Tip of the Week: Big Benefits - Kdminer

The centenary of Mahatma Gandhis Sabarmati Ashram in Gujarat was celebrated at the Nehru Centre here on Monday, with the screening of a documentary depicting its founding and construction.

Titled Sabarmati Ashram: The Home of Gandhis Experiments with Truth, the documentary by London-based journalist Vijay Rana depicted to a discerning audience how Gandhi set it up on a 36-acre wasteland on the banks of the Sabarmati river, among other details.

The area was then full of snakes, but Gandhi insisted that none of them were to be killed.

It was at the ashram that many of his revolutionary ideas were conceived, such as economic liberation through spinning wheel and khadi, fight against untouchability, boycott of foreign goods, non-cooperation, peaceful civil disobedience and defying the Salt Law.

While celebrating 100 years of Gandhis Sabarmati Ashram, this documentary is an attempt, in this age of social media when attention span is increasingly fractured, to retell Gandhis story with some interesting visual elements to the Internet generation, Rana said.

The film included an eyewitness account of the April 1930 Salt March by one of his disciples, Sumangal Prakash, who was one of the 78 ashram residents Gandhi had selected as his co-marchers.

AS Rajan, minister in the Indian high commission, said the documentary reflected the values of non-violence, peace, love and harmony that Gandhi espoused, while CB Patel, veteran editor and publisher of Gujarat Samachar and the Asian Voice published from London, remembered his first visit to the Ashram in 1949 as a 12-year-old.

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London documentary recalls 100 years of Sabarmati Ashram - Hindustan Times

The storied Beatles Ashram awaits beyond a long and winding road across the Ganges River in Rishikesh, the Himalayan town where The Beatles lived in 1968 and composed their curious chapter of renunciation.

Nearly five decades later, the ashram is derelict yet still alive, a peaceful yet eerie abandoned ghost village that the Rajaji Tiger Reserve is now slowly consuming like endless desires eating away humans and demigods of fame and fortune as The Beatles were circa 1967.

John Lennon (left) and George Harrison leave Londons Heathrow Airport for India on February 15, 1968. Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr joined them later.

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The iconic British band met Transcendental Meditation founder Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in London in 1967, and their India odyssey followed. And worldwide media attention followed them.

I followed The Beatles to Rishikesh with my photographer colleague Raghu Rai, Saeed Naqui reported in Indian newspaper The Statesman. Almost every newspaper in the world had sent their senior reporters. Not to much avail, though. The ashram was out of bounds for the media.

We walked on til I spotted the Maharishi under a tree with The Beatles. I promptly sneaked Raghu Rai in and he took a shot with the aid of his zoom lens. The Statesman had its scoop.

The Beatles and their wives at Rishikesh in March 1968. The group includes Ringo Starr, Maureen Starkey, Jane Asher, Paul McCartney, George Harrison (1943-2001), Patti Boyd, Cynthia Lennon, John Lennon (1940-1980), Beatles roadie Mal Evans, Jenny Boyd, Prudence Farrow and Beach Boy Mike Love.

Four days before my visit to the ashram this month, the Fab Fours The Longand Winding Road was playing on the opposite bank of the Ganges at the 1960s-themed Dilmar Cafe, better known as The Beatles Cafe.

Lights in the Himalayan dusk turned the Ganges into a river of gold, as the Lennon-McCartney lyrics rang appropriately in this ancient town full of seekers of the true way:

The long and winding road, that leads, to your door Will never disappear, Ive seen that road before It always leads me here, lead me to your door . Why leave me standing here, let me know the way.

The Beatles Cafe menu carries The Statesman article on The Beatles initial days in Rishikesh, and their search for the way.

[John] Lennon was the reclusive one, Naqui reported, and [Ringo] Starr was the friendliest. Paul [McCartney] would come and lie down in the Maharishis secretary Suresh Babus cabin and leaf through the copies of the Junior Statesman [the popular Statesman youth magazine of the 1960s].

Artwork at the assembly hall dubbed the Beatles Cathedral. Nearly two generations of Beatles fans have left their mark on the Beatles Ashram.

Gaping windows, piles of dead leaves in rooms, graffiti on still-sturdy walls are all that are left of the modest bungalows that housed some of the worlds most popular stars.

Igloo-like concrete meditation huts facing the Ganges, a wooden shelf in a ruined room that may have held Paul McCartneys books, a bench in a courtyard where John Lennon might have played his guitar, doors of dwellings left still open like residents had popped out for quick chat and never came back.

Archival British news footage of The Beatles in Rishikesh, in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand, northern India.

The Beatles came here to renounce worldly pleasures, and search for the richer treasure of inner peace and contentment. Then reality hit them that this was not the way.

The person most skeptical of the Maharishi, Transcendental Meditation and what The Beatles were up to, was Ringo Starr, the Beatles drummer, said the Statesman reporter. Within a day of his arrival, he told me with considerable amusement, Its like a Butlin oliday camp [Billy Butlins budget holiday camps were popular across England]. Starr left for London shortly after.

The Beatles composed about30 songs here (featured on Abbey Road and the White Album), so thisobviously was no serious meditation center.

Beatles memories live on with wild elephants, tigers, monkeys and public art, as the ashram is now part of Rajaji National Park.

Starr had compared Maharishis enterprise to a holiday camp after seeing idlers in ashram robes. Even the Buddha admitted householders straight away into the order of monks, but instituted a three-month trial for ashram dwellers, to see if they could fit into the hard-working discipline needed in his meditation centers.

Given that idling and irrationality did not get them success, The Beatles could not accept that aBand-Aid solution of mantras, or chanting a word, could deal withall of their personal and cosmic problems.

Graffiti on a white wall near the entrance to the Beatles Ashram declared:You cannot escape your demons, you can only slay them.

As I have experienced over the past 24 years, slaying these inner demons needs penetrating depths of the mind, where they are created and multiply as harmful thought patterns.No miracles orgurus can liberate. I often heard Burmese-born Vipassana principal teacher Sayagyi U Goenka (1924-2013) say: Never fall into the clutches of a guru; be self-dependent. The guide shows the way, and the student strives hard to walk on it.

The Beatles with actress Jane Asher, Maureen Starkey and Pattie Boyd in Rishikesh celebrating George Harrisons 25th birthday on February 25, 1968.

The Beatles Rishikesh saga ultimately became a failed quest for the way.

Like realistic people grounded in common sense, they became uncomfortable with the Jai Gurudev cult around the Maharishi, and they found no way to slay inner demons in dungeons of the mind.

John Lennons wry take on The One Word, The Mantra. His Happy Rishikesh Song ends with a painful Something is wrong, something is wrong.

The disillusioned Beatles left first Ringo Starr, then McCartney a month later, and two weeksafterward Lennon and Harrison. They left behind ghosts of their Himalayan saga, of those here going away without finding the way.

Amid people doing quality work and selfless service, I see such spiritually exploited and exploiters continuing to haunt Rishikesh: victims of marketers of mantras, commercial yoga firms, ritualistic practices, and dangerous delusions of the kind that corrupted a fully Enlightened Super Scientists suffering-ending universal practice into a sectarian distortion called Buddhism (Why the Buddha was not a Buddhist).

The Beatles suffered from bad timing, arriving in India a year too earlyandmissing the path that in 1969, from Mumbai, began flowing again like the Ganges of Dhamma (laws of nature) in the land of its origin.

This timeless path looks for the person when the time ripens, through someone informing that there exists such a way, this practice of experiential wisdomshared entirely free of cost. I wish I had done this sooner, is a common feedback I have heard.

So theres time for you yet, Paul and Ringo, to see ifthis is the wayfor which you took the long and winding Himalayan road.

Raja Murthy is an independent journalist based in Mumbai contributing to Asia Times since 2003, The Statesman since 1990, and formerly for Times of India, Economic Times, Elle, Wisden.com etc. He shuttles between Mumbai and the Himalayas.

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The Beatles haunt a Himalayan 'Long and Winding Road' - Asia Times

Go vegan

Would you like to have a healthier lifestyle, help prevent animal suffering and do something to save the environment?

A vegan (total vegetarian) diet can help you achieve all of the above.

Todays factory-farmed animals are crowded so closely together they cannibalize and self-mutilate due to intense stress. They are de-horned, de-beaked, tail-docked and castrated without anesthesia. These farm animals are deprived of sunlight, fresh air and all aspects of a normal life. The inspection process at the slaughterhouse is so fast that farm animals are frequently treated inhumanely.

The production of animal products is very detrimental to the environment. Tons of manure generated by billions of livestock often foul the nations waterways, causing water pollution and the death of many forms of aquatic life. So many parts of the United States experience drought conditions; the raising of livestock and marketing the finished product uses a lions share of precious water, exacerbating the problem.

A vegan diet protects against cancer, and because it contains zero cholesterol will not cause heart disease, high blood pressure or diabetes. It has been proven that the consumption of animal products can cause these detrimental conditions.

A vegan diet, one that contains a wide variety of plant-based foods, contains all the essential nutrients a human body needs, except vitamin B-12, which is easily supplemented daily. It has been proven that vegans have the strongest bones.

For a free packet of vegan recipes and nutrition information, call 224-1361.

BARBARA BONSIGNORE

Concord

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Letter: Go vegan - Concord Monitor - Concord Monitor