April 2007
Volume 6/Number 3
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Alternative Glitches for Alternative Fuels: What happens to food prices when corn crops are re-directed to fuel production? By MARIE BLACK In a rare show of vision, the Bush administration’s Farm Bill 2007 allots $2 billion for renewable energy such as biofuels. This could help slow climate change and global warming. But the deal has a catch. Read article...

Winds of Change: Power Credits Drive Renewable Wind Development. By FELICIA M. TOMASKO Renewable sources of energy, including wind and solar, currently represent less than 1% of the national average power use in the U.S. This pie chart is shifting. Wind power is the green energy source currently experiencing the greatest explosion of growth in research, development and building infrastructure. Consumers and businesses are fueling overall interest, driving the implementation of local, state and federal tax credits and incentives. Read article...

Dumbing Down the Food Supply: Where Less does not mean More. By FELICIA M. TOMASKO Deciding what to eat offers a uniquely modern predicament. When we step into a supermarket, or its large-chain health food store equivalent, the experience is marked by what initially seems to be a dizzying array of choices. We traverse rows upon rows of colorfully stacked breakfast cereal boxes, entire aisles devoted to soup cans, crackers of every ilk and a rainbow-hued splash of fresh fruits and vegetables shipped from around the world. Read article...

Raw Milk: Or, how I learned to put aside my silly youth and learned to love the real thing. By SAM SLOVICK “There’s no money in health. Walk up and down the food aisle, most of the food is dead. It’s sterile. A lot of people are sick because they eat processed food. Once you pasteurize or homogenize milk, it changes the structure of the protein. Eighty percent of the calcium is not available to your body. Your body doesn’t recognize it. They can say it’s in there, it’s on the label, but it’s not in a form that your body recognizes. So an old woman drinks milk and doesn’t understand why she gets osteoporosis. She can’t absorb the calcium.” -Kay Craig, Grassway Farms Read article...

Off the Mat, Up to the Table: Experiencing Jewish Yoga. By RABBI HEATHER ALTMAN Passing food, chattering, singing, laughing and perhaps even arguing may not be quite the image of contemplative tranquility that one imagines for spiritual practice. Yet spiritual growth occurs in the midst of community just as in the solitude on our yoga mats. Read article...

Ayurveda Q&A: By DR. JAY APTE Ayurveda has been practiced in the U.S. only about 25 years, yet it is the 5000 year old Indian system of medicine and yoga's sister science. Readers are invited to submit questions for "Ayurveda Q & A" to ayurveda@layogamagazine.comom Q: I am a 33-year old woman who is pregnant with her first baby. I am in my fourth month, at the beginning of my second trimester. My doctor has suggested that I take prenatal vitamins. I have trouble taking pills and only remember to take them intermittently. Are there any Ayurvedic substitutes for these pills? And what can I do with food and nutrition to make sure that I am healthy throughout the pregnancy? Read article...

Press Play

Uncharted Waters: Whose antidepressants, antibiotics or contraceptives might we be drinking?
By BRETT LEIGH DICKS

The multitude of personal care items and prescription drugs has Americans opening the medicine cabinet on a daily basis. All these chemicals have to ultimately end up somewhere and, no matter whether these substances have been used or not, they typically land in the same place, our wastewater system.

The pharmaceuticals that have fought the battle in our bodies and have been flushed from our systems, or the shampoos that have nourished our hair follicles and then washed away, and our unused drugs and lotions are all meeting the same fate with the surplus being dumped down the toilet.

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Sitting Down With: Filmmaker Paula Fouce
By JULIE DEIFE

(Image from film By Many Names)

Documentary filmmaker Paula Fouce first traveled to Nepal and India when she was 19 to study and live. In the 1970s she worked as a travel agent for spiritual tours, further immersing herself in the cultures of India, Tibet and Nepal. She met yogis and learned about the many religions of the region, including Hinduism, Islam, Sikhism and Jainism. Always very close to the Buddhist school, Fouce was initiated by the prior Karmapa in 1976. These experiences, both professional and personal, laid the foundation for the subjects of her films. Fouce, through her company Paradise Filmworks, produced and directed Origins of Yoga and Naked in Ashes. Her new film, By Many Names, now screening in film festivals and set for an early fall release, is a documentary about religious intolerance in which the Dalai Lama plays an important role, religious tolerance being a priority subject for His Holiness.

Julie: Your journey into understanding how religions can co-exist peacefully began when you were an exchange student in Nepal. Would you talk about that?

Paula: The Nepalese family I lived with had two mothers, one Hindu and one Buddhist. So the family was both Hindu and Buddhist and they worshipped in the temples of both faiths, which had a strong influence on me.

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Teacher Profile: Home Simply Yoga
By LORI DENMAN

The First Green Yoga Studio of Los Angeles.

When practicing yoga, we think of our body as a temple. This sacred attitude should extend into our practice space. While this space isn’t always reflective of the respect with which we treat our bodies, rest assured. A green studio revolution is coming.

Welcome to Home Simply Yoga, the first “green” studio in Los Angeles. The studio opened its doors one year ago and houses organic and recycled environmental design and products. This Santa Monica venue is a leader in integrating yoga studio development with an eco-friendly environment.

The owners, Gary and Melissa Margolin, created a studio that mirrors yogic ideals of strengthening the body, calming the mind and building the spirit. They wanted a studio with a personal face, avoiding corporate identity and focusing on sustainability. A place called home.

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