Yoga workshop

This weekend I participated in a Presence Intensive Yoga Workshop by Maya. In one weekend I did more yoga than I had previously done in my entire life. The focus was on being present, being right here and right now. Experiencing what happens right now. It sounds easy enough, but oh it was not. I am apparently one of those people who can multitask my thinking: have several trails of thought going on inside my head simultaneously. If you do that, you are not very present. I had to work hard both on the physical aspects of the yoga postures as well as on the mental bits, but I enjoyed it and I will definitely continue. This workshop was also timed well as I have just begun mindfulness training, which is also about being present here and now. And since I have not been very consistent in my mindfulness practise (so many other things get prioritized), this yoga workshop was a good step on the way.

Suicide seeds

Yes, that heading made me stop and take notice. It was a pamphlet about Terminator Technology (another scary word) which is the generic modification of plant to make them produce sterile seeds. That means that farmers cannot collect and save seeds from one year to another, but must buy new seeds every year, which of course will benefit multinational agribusiness companies. That does not seem to me a good way of ending world poverty.

As I read more about this technology on the internet I found out that it is not yet field-tested or commercialized, but tests are being done in the US. There is a big push from Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the US to allow field-testing of these seeds. In March, the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) upheld its moratorium on GURTs (Genetic Use Restriction Technologies – Terminator technology is a GURT). The moratorium means that products incorporating GURT should not be approved for field test or commercial use until socio-economic or scientific assessments have demonstrated that GURTs pose no harm to people or to the environment. You can read more about Terminator Technology on the Canadian site Ban Terminator.

The pamphlet made me read more about GM technology and I found out that it is only a few crops that are genetically modified: corn, cotton, soya beans and rape. The complication is that these crops are used in animal feed, which means that the meat you buy and eat is not guaranteed to be free from GM technology. The US is the largest producer of GM crops (50% of the worldwide production), followed by Argentina, Brazil, Canada and China. In Sweden there is not (yet) any commercial production of GM crops. The Swedish site GMOfri has some good information on how to shop for non-GM food. I will certainly pay more attention when I shop for groceries from now on, and try to avoid GM foods as much as possible.

Help build schools in Africa

In Sub-Saharan Africa alone, approximately 45 million children do not go to school. This means that almost every second child grows up without an education. That can easily lead to a life of poverty and discrimination.

It is super easy to help fund this campaign. UNICEF Sweden has created a FUN fund-raising site where you buy bricks by putting them onto the school building. You can see how your brick(s) help build a school! One brick costs SEK 150 and it takes 200 bricks to build a school.

Here are the links for the UNICEF sites in Canada and in Sweden. Both local organizations are raising funds for schools in Malawi.

Schools for Africa is a joint international campaign founded by Nelson Mandela Foundation, UNICEF and Hamburg Society for the Promotion of Democracy and International Law.

Films

You don’t always have to watch big blockbuster movies, there are smaller films that are well worth watching. Lately I have seen the following films and I found them truly heart-warming/soul-warming or just plain funny or surprising.

Kinky Boots
Directed by: Jill Jan Jarrold
A British movie from the same team that made Calender Girls.
Set in Northampton, it is about a manufacturer of sensible men’s shoes who needs to save his factory from bankruptcy and finds a niche market in kinky boots …. Funny, warm, and entertaining.

Millions
Directed by: Danny Boyle
A fantastical tale of two British boys and the large sack of cash literally dropped onto them from the sky …. Different (like when the younger brother interacts with saints), heart-warming and charming.

Romance & Cigarettes
Directed by: John Turturro
It is a musical (!) which surprised as I do not remember any singing from the previews. But it works in a quirky way, and Kate Winslet is priceless as the foul-mouthed seductress. A dancing and singing Christopher Walken is a must-see too.

To the man I love

It is early morning and the sun is shining
through the blinds in the bedroom window.
I am awake but it is not yet time to get up.

Slowly I turn over and face you next to me in bed.
You are asleep, maybe you are dreaming?

Your eyelids are closed, hiding your blue eyes.
Blue eyes I easily and often loose myself in.

Your body is resting right here next to mine.
And I am here:
Happy. Content. In love.

(July 2006)

Turn OFF the autopilot

Today I started to practise Mindfulness. It is about being attentive with purpose, in the present moment, and without judging what happens. It is about living your life with the autopilot in OFF mode. To act consciously in your daily life instead of just reacting like you always have done (in autopilot mode). It is NOT easy, but I believe it can be done.

I bought a Swedish programme called “Här & Nu” (Here & Now), with a CD, a booklet and a workbook. It is a ten week programme. This week’s practise includes listening to the CD for 20 minutes (topic is Body awareness), to practise being aware and present in a daily activity (such as brushing your teeth) and to eat a fruit. Today I ate a clementine and I really focused on being present: I smelled it (before and after peeling it), I looked at it, I felt it, I tasted it and I listed to myself chewing it.

To read more about Mindfulness, pick up books by Jon Kabat-Zinn or for those who read Swedish, log on to this Mindfulness website.