glennon doyle melton love€¦ · to live an awakened life, whether through personal development,...
TRANSCRIPT
MAGAZINEOCTOBER 2016
PARVATIMAGAZINE.COM
CANADIAN ASSOCIATION
OF PHYSICIANS FOR THE
ENVIRONMENT interview with the founder
bomba estéreo SOY YO
be fearlessly youWITNESSINGJAMES GREENGRASSMANAGING POLARITY
MARIANNE WILLIAMSONpart 2: from tears to triumph
GLENNON DOYLE MELTON
LOVEWARRIORTRACEABILITY&
TRUTHFULNESSIN THE FASHION INDUSTRY
CURE A HEADACHEon your meditation cushion
2
PARVATI.TVPARVATI.TV
A free, immediate and attainable global-warming solution, the Marine Arctic Peace Sanctuary keeps our planet cool.
Do it for the world. Do it for yourself.
DECLARE MAPS NOW
SIGN THE PETITIONSPARVATI.TV
A free, immediate and attainable global-warming solution, the Marine Arctic Peace Sanctuary keeps our planet cool.
Do it for the world. Do it for yourself.
DECLARE MAPS NOW
SIGN THE PETITIONSPARVATI.TV
ELECTR Y GELECTR Y G
PARVATI.TV
The perfect accompaniment to any yoga practice or the crown jewel in any ambient music playlist.
A unique form of yoga with chi-exercises, available in English, Chinese, Russian, German and Spanish.
About
Parvati Magazine is an online monthly maga-zine dedicated to awakened living. The name of the magazine is not about an individual per-son but a celebration of the goddess Parvati in Her incarnation as the awakened Earth.
Parvati Magazine is managed and written by volunteers who give their time and tal-ent to help build a regular source of infor-mation and inspiration for all who seek to live an awakened life, whether through personal development, spiritual practice, engaged activism or simply some fresh per-spectives on arts and current affairs.
Submissions of 400-650 words may be consid-ered for inclusion in Parvati Magazine if they are in keeping with the theme for a given month. Your article should be well-written and give clear and useful information that empowers the reader.
Columns with editorial openings include Well-ness, Fitness, Nutrition, Fashion, Books, Film, Music and Business.
For further information about editorial guidelines: [email protected]
Parvati Magazine is pleased to run advertise-ments for our contributors. Other potential advertisers should contact [email protected] for ad specification and pricing. Advertisement revenue at this time supports the ongoing work and quality of the magazine through stock photos, platform upgrades, hosting costs, etc.
A percentage of all proceeds is donated to the work of parvati.org to establish the Marine Arctic Peace Sanctuary.
EDITORS
WelcomeThe meditation practice known as witnessing provides pow-erful insights into the ways in which we are attached to our perceptions. Witnessing has provided lasting shifts in the way I think and perceive. It has helped me move from being attached to painful thoughts, to living with greater freedom and joy.
Witnessing is an essential part of any sincere meditator’s practice. It is at the heart of yoga and spiritual development. Witnessing is not the same as observing. Because witnessing is rooted in non-attachment, it flowers from the understand-ing that our senses are limited and do not contain the full picture of reality. Our perceptions are temporary, as they change with circumstance and are subject to our moods and whims. What and how we perceive is coloured by the ups and downs of our ego’s dramas.
Through witnessing practice, we meet the moment as it is, without any overlay of how we want it to be. This occurs when we move beyond our attachments to our perceptions, which happens only once we understand that they are not the whole truth. There is a substratum, a deeper unchanging truth, that runs beyond our senses.
In this month’s issue, on the theme of “Witnessing”, enjoy articles that help you engage with the moment as it is.
Enjoy!Parvati
Submissions: [email protected]: [email protected]: [email protected]
Parvati Magazine is your monthly source for awakened living. The name of the magazine is not about a person but a celebration of the goddess Parvati in Her incarnation as the awakened Earth.
PAM BRYANExecutive Director
PRANADA DEVI Managing Editor
ELLA ISAKOVYoga Editor
SHAWNA MACLEODFilm Editor
ERIC BENCHIMOLCommunity Editor
PARVATI DEVIFounder andEditor-in-Chief
DR. KAREN HOCommunity andWellness Editor
JOY ELKAYAMBeauty and Nutrition Editor
RISHI DEVAMusic Editor
RENIA PRUCHNICKIFashion Editor
In This Issue
8
LISTEN TO THE WISDOM OF NATUREWITHIN YOUParvati Devi
POSITIVE POSSIBILITIES
YOGA TEACHING WITHOUT PRESSUREAlice Toyonaga
YOGA
MEET THE MOMENT AS IT ISParvati Devi
MEDITATION
FROM TEARS TO TRIUMPHMarianne Williamson
WELLNESS
HEART RATE AWARENESSPatty Scott
FITNESS
KUBO AND THE TWO STRINGSReviewed by Amy Kellestine
FILM
NEW VIDEOS TO KNOWPranada Devi
MUSIC
ZUII ORGANICwith Danni Simpson
BEAUTY
TRACEABILITY AND TRUTHFULNESSAndrew Dale
FASHION
CANADIAN PHYSICIANS FOR THE ENVIRONMENTwith Dr. Warren Bell
COMMUNITY
10
12
14
16
24
26
28
30
32
YEM: YOGA AS ENERGY MEDICINE
LIFE WITHIN THE SACRED WHOLEParvati Devi
LOVE WARRIORReviewed by Pranada Devi
BOOKS
18
22
MANAGING POLARITYwith James Greengrass
BUSINESS
Cover Photo: Eric BenchimolWardrobe: Parvati Designs
Hair: Robin Barker
34
SPLIT PEA SOUPJoy Elkayam
NUTRITION 20
8
Recently I came to my morning meditation with a headache. By really listening to what my body was tell-ing me, I soon found myself letting go of the idea that my meditation practice had to look a certain way,
that is, sitting upright or kneeling on a cushion. As I listened to the intelligence within my body that is a part of the wisdom of Nature, my headache began to show me ways in which I was not in balance. I listened, without agenda, to a natural impulse that rose effortlessly within my being. Its agenda was to guide me into greater integration.
As I stayed present with what was here and now, without judgment, what arose was the impulse to uncross my legs and roll onto the floor. I let go of any distracting thoughts (such as “Can’t do that - that’s not medita-tion, it’s naptime!”) and proceeded to trust the unfolding. I lay on my back watching my breath, open arms, knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Soon the notion floated before my mind’s eye: “What if I could totally
relax, in this moment, now?” It felt like a divine invitation.
The quality of my breath effortlessly deepened. I began to feel my whole body soften like melting butter into the ground. I felt totally supported by the Earth. As my body released towards the floor, I could feel an equal energy move upward to carry me. I noticed that part of me wanted to keep the tension in my body, as though it were my identity. I lovingly acknowledged this thought and let it go, as though seeing a cloud pass through a clear sky. I continued to soften, and open to the possibility: “What if I could totally relax now?”
POSITIVE POSSIBILITIES LIVING
LISTEN TO THE WISDOM OF NATUREWithin You
What if you could totally relax in this moment, now?
9
While still very connected to the sensations within my body, I began to witness a pathway of information take shape through my tissue, electrical and nervous systems. My ego was getting out of the way, and giving my soul-voice/spirit/nature room to express itself through me. I could see how part of my mind would want to become engaged in what was happening, own it, take authorship – as though my ego could have authority over this moment. (That is such a funny thought!) I knew, more deeply, that none of that mat-tered. I continued to soften.
This unraveling process went on for some thirty minutes, bringing with it the unexpected, the graceful, the light and the profound. Waves of tears rolled down my cheeks, then my lips broadened into a smile, a giggle spilled out, then my jaw dropped into deep sighs… one moment after the next – fresh, new, unknown, perfect. I did not need to know what caused any of this. I did not need to know what it was, how it got there or where it would go. I did not need to have a story to it to narrate or understand what
was happening. I just opened in love, in trust, in possibility.
By the time this process had moved through, my headache had completely dissolved. It was clear that through this past half hour the backlogged informa-tion that was traffic jammed in my energy system and had be-come a headache, was somehow processed, digested and released. All I had to do was give it space to be and get out of the way.
Like an Earth-bound creature, I rolled slowly back up onto my cushion, sitting in the way I normally meditate. This time, no headache, still meeting the moment, just as it is.
To try a witnessing practice for yourself, please see my Medi-tation article in this month’s issue.
POSITIVE POSSIBILITIES LIVING
Known as the Positive Possibilities Lady, Parvati inspires magnificence through music, yoga, words and activism. An award-winning musician, Parvati brings joy and hope to top 40 radio with her celestial pop songs “I Am Light”, “Yoga in the Nightclub”, and “Shanti Om”. Founder of “YEM: Yoga as Energy Medicine” and author of “Confessions of a Former Yoga Junkie: A Revolutionary Life Makeover for the Sincere Spiritual Seeker”, Parvati has been featured on radio and television talk shows and news and wellness magazines globally. She is the founder of Parvati.org, a not-for profit-dedicated to realizing MAPS: The Marine Arctic Peace Sanctuary to help stop global warming. More information at parvati.tv; parvati.org.
10
YOGA
YOGA TEACHINGWithout Pressure
11
For a yoga teacher, there can be a certain pressure to
please all students coming to class, to have a daily practice that includes a series of arm bal-ancing postures and inversions done perfectly, and to be posi-tive, cheerful and full of light at all times. As a student, similar pressures can apply: wanting to perfect each posture, doing things faster, deeper, longer, bet-ter, leaving classes blissed out all the time, and always reaching for what’s next. Unfortunately, I can’t give you tips and tricks to help you achieve any of those things. But I will share with you how I let go of some of these pressures, pressures that we, in fact, put on ourselves, in order to find my current voice and truth on my yoga path.
I’ve been practicing yoga with an asana practice for eight years and have been teach-ing for three. In this time, my practice has evolved as I have evolved. I went from practic-ing strictly for the sweat and workout I was getting in the hot room, to practicing to keep me less injured in my sport. It then morphed into a prac-tice to ground me, to make me breathe deeper, then to a practice that cracked my heart
open. Through and after teacher training, it transformed into a practice of connecting with community, a practice of kind-ness, patience and compassion towards myself and others, and a practice of letting go.
But that practice of letting go took a while to take a firm hold, especially because Ego had its elbows out, wanting to be part of the action. For a while after I started teaching, I was hard on myself about needing to find the time daily to work on ad-vanced postures that I couldn’t do because I didn’t want to feel like a sham of a yoga teacher. I wanted so deeply for those taking my classes to like my classes, and I pushed aside dark or difficult moments I was ex-periencing when I would teach, because, you leave your baggage at the door, right? During this time, I neglected my meditation practice. I was on the search for something bigger. I taught what I thought people wanted, not what people needed. I sounded like myself but I wasn’t myself, and it was exhausting.
The shifts in my teaching hap-pened in my own yoga practice. My practice has evolved tremen-dously over the last few years
as I began focusing on what I need, not what I want or think I need. I found that the power and challenge of my practice was coming from simplicity. From really being present and mindful. From having an un-shakable trust of myself.
And so I translated that into how I taught as well. I let go of how I thought things were supposed to be and in turn, I got to me. My truth. As Ego stepped aside, it allowed me to see that I don’t have to charm other teachers or those who come to practice my classes with what I can do, or how I do it. I just have to have integ-rity. Be me. Be willing to learn constantly. And it is something that I want to impart on others when I teach – that being in their own practice, with their own potential, in their own bodies, instead of pushing and reaching, is what’s “perfect”.
YOGA
Alice Toyonaga (ChatterRunGirl) is a runner, triathlete and yoga instructor who excels in making yoga accessible for runners and other endurance athletes. Her classes and workshops, geared specifically to runners and triathletes, focus on intelligent sequencing and alignment built around breathwork, joint stability, joint mobility, and mental endurance. She has dedicated herself to bridging the gap between the road and the mat, keeping athletes in their runners for years to come.To stay up to date on Alice’s classes and athletes’ workshops, and her own journey as an athlete, visit chatterrungirl.com.
12
YEM: YOGA AS ENERGY MEDICINE
Breathe in. Feel the aliveness in that breath. Exhale and feel how, through your breath, you are vastly inter-connected to all of life. Through your breath, you quickly can feel profoundly interconnected with the
dance of life.
Every breath we take is in harmony with a breathing universe that pulses and flows just as our in and out breaths do. It is as if everything that is exists within one giant lung. The pumping of our hearts and the shifts in the tissue that makes up our bodies are in sync with the ebb and flow of ocean waves. The synapses in our brains that go off and on to create thoughts are like the sparkles in the stars that light up the night sky, or the auric field that shimmers to make a tree or a flower look so alive. We are literally one with everything that is.
Through my Hatha Yoga practice and teaching, I have come to know that any form of movement that arises from wanting is one that perpetuates or creates karma. Whether we push into a pose and reach for some elusive sense of externalized perfection, or move out of a pose feeling uneasy or even repulsed by what we felt in it, we are acting from an unyogic, that is, non-unified or divisive, state of mind. This will only generate suffering for ourselves and others. At its heart, Hatha Yoga is not an end in itself, but a powerful alchemical crucible in which we can witness the transformation of our consciousness from wanting to presence, from
LIFEWithin The Sacred Whole
13
brokenness to wholeness. Yoga poses are a meta-phoric training ground for the positions in which we find ourselves as we go about our lives.
Though the hare was able to do all sorts of fast and fancy footwork, ultimately it was the tortoise that won the race. A turtle moves with a quiet assurance along its path, without fight, without re-sistance, in humble surrender to what is. He is like the karma yogi that Krishna describes, seeing all that comes before him as an aspect of the divine.
Every action is part of a whole. There really is no starting and stopping or beginning and ending. We exist within one flowing continuum. We see our actions as finite, but everything we do affects a greater whole, beyond what we could ever con-ceive. Our place in this universe is perfect, precise, and interwoven into a fabric of existence that extends beyond our perception of a finite self.
This world is a reflection of the Divine. What we perceive, we experience as solid. Yet all that exists is dancing light energy in constant motion unre-stricted by form. We experience reality as a reflec-tion of our perceptions, what we want to see, until we learn to see through the grip of our ego into what is.
Beyond our ego is the dance of pure conscious-ness arising, which manifests all that is as a cosmic dance of which we are a part. We see ourselves as finite, but really we have no beginning or end.
May we meet each moment, as it is, with mindful presence and with a heart willing to humbly serve.
EXERCISE
I encourage you to take a moment of pause with the yoga practice we have explored together so far. String each pose together as one flow. Allow the breath to guide you from one physical position to the next, without pushing, without wanting to be other than where you are. Feel each inhale rise effortlessly out of the exhale. There is nothing that you have to do to make it so. Just as you are with-in an intelligent whole, the very force of life will move towards the inhale. There is nothing that you have to do in that process, other than witness. Feel the same in the exhale, how through it, you effortlessly release back to the sense of whole.
Notice any tendency to want to control your breath or movement. Allow your yoga poses to be guided by your breath awareness, so that action arises out of a deep sense of stillness and intercon-nection rather than wanting to be other than you are.
YEM: YOGA AS ENERGY MEDICINE
Known as the Positive Possibilities Lady, Parvati inspires magnificence through music, yoga, words and activism. An award-winning musician, Parvati brings joy and hope to top 40 radio with her celestial pop songs “I Am Light”, “Yoga in the Nightclub”, and “Shanti Om”. Founder of “YEM: Yoga as Energy Medicine” and author of “Confessions of a Former Yoga Junkie: A Revolutionary Life Makeover for the Sincere Spiritual Seeker”, Parvati has been featured on radio and television talk shows and news and wellness magazines globally. She is the founder of Parvati.org, a not-for profit-dedicated to realizing MAPS: The Marine Arctic Peace Sanctuary to help stop global warming. More information at parvati.tv; parvati.org.
MEDITATION
In order to not get entangled in things we like and dislike, we need to cultivate the skill of witnessing. This requires practice.
Witnessing is foreign to the way our mind usually works. The mind is driven by the ego, which can only exist in separateness. Our ego and mind thrive on resistance and againstness. We ha-bitually get so involved with what we think, that we fully believe our thoughts to be absolute. In essence, we are used to buying into the illusion that our thoughts are permanent.
Meeting this moment as it is, is not something most of us do. We overlay our thoughts onto everything. The mind is constantly in-
MEET THE MOMENT
AS IT IS
15
MEDITATION
terpreting information gathered through our senses and catego-rizing it to suit our version of reality. We then believe that what we perceive is fixed truth. This in turn motivates our be-haviour, which determines our experiences. Witnessing is dif-ferent than observing, because in observing, we tend to narrate to ourselves through our likes and dislikes, rather than being impartial to what we are observ-ing. At the heart of witnessing is a neutral impartiality that is spacious, relaxed and attentive.
Enlightened masters remind us that we are not the doers. The self we consider so permanent is just our ego tricking us into feeling separate and in control. When we witness, we see that in order to continue the illusion of being separate, our mind tends to pull at things we deem valu-able and push at things we wish to repel. In witnessing, we learn to neither push at, that is run from, nor pull at, that is, run towards, the point of our focus.
The next time you find yourself feeling uneasy in some way – headache, stressed, sad, de-pressed, anxious, angry – what-ever it may be:
did not. All the support you need is in place.
Give thanks to yourself and to nature for the opportunity to grow into deeper awareness and love.
EXERCISE
Find a quiet place where you feel safe to take a moment and tune in.
Give yourself room to trust what is right here, right now. Let yourself know that you are completely supported. Let go of any resistance to this moment, and see if you can welcome it exactly as it is, beyond your likes and dislikes.
Give room for whatever is caus-ing you distress to may make itself known to you, allowing it to rise from within your whole being, through your breath, through ease, through effortless being. Let it be part of this mo-ment, just as it is. No need to make it bigger or smaller than it is. No need to poke or push at it. Just let it be and listen with loving presence.
You don’t need to know what it was all about. If you do, fine. Honour it and make those changes. If you don’t, it does not matter. You have just been witness to a form of non-verbal communication. The universe heard you, even if your brain
Known as the Positive Possibilities Lady, Parvati inspires magnificence through music, yoga, words and activism. An award-winning musician, Parvati brings joy and hope to top 40 radio with her celestial pop songs “I Am Light”, “Yoga in the Nightclub”, and “Shanti Om”. Founder of “YEM: Yoga as Energy Medicine” and author of “Confessions of a Former Yoga Junkie: A Revolutionary Life Makeover for the Sincere Spiritual Seeker”, Parvati has been featured on radio and television talk shows and news and wellness magazines globally. She is the founder of Parvati.org, a not-for profit-dedicated to realizing MAPS: The Marine Arctic Peace Sanctuary to help stop global warming. More information at parvati.tv; parvati.org.
16
WELLNESS
MARIANNE WILLIAMSONPart Two: From Tears to Triumph
Parvati Magazine’s interview with Marianne Williamson about her book “From Tears to Triumph” continues from last month.
Parvati Magazine: You state that it is important to bear witness to another person’s suffering, that speaks to our heart as compassionate beings.
Marianne Williamson: Yes, one of the things I talk about in the book is that we should not want to desensi-tize ourselves to our own suffering. To the extent that I desensitize myself to my own suffering, I’m more apt to desensitize myself to your suffering. I have seen this in my life; I feel that suffering gives you x-ray vision into other people’s suffering. It’s like that line: “Whoever you meet, you can bet they are going through a great war.” Part of the problem of the modern psychotherapeutic model is that it does focus so much on individual suffering. I’m suffering because of my divorce. I’m suffering because of my breakup. Sometimes that keeps us from realizing that we are all suffering. Interconnectedness is simply a truth—at the level of spirit, there is only one of us. So whatever you’re doing to anyone, you’re doing it to yourself. Realizing that interconnectedness is not just a theory but actual fact, it really changes things because you become much more careful, not only about how compassion is an act of generosity towards self, and how withholding it is an attack on self.
17
WELLNESS
PMAG: Do you have any thoughts about Earth intercon-nection?
MW: Absolutely. A Course in Miracles says that you are like waves in the ocean, thinking you are separate from other waves. There is really no place where one wave starts and an-other stops. Because on the level of quantum reality, there’s no place where you stop and I start. Time and space themselves are part of the illusion, albeit a per-sistent one. If I think I am one wave, separate from all the other waves in the ocean, how could I not feel, at any given moment I might be completely over-whelmed by all the other waves? If you think of yourself as a wave that is part of the entire ocean, you’re not scared of the ocean. You feel like, how cool is this? When I move, it moves! It’s a completely different psy-chological and emotional orien-tation when you realize you’re one with everything. You also realize it is your responsibility to yourself to give love. A Course in Miracles says we become gener-ous out of self-interest.
PMAG: If we were better able to grasp this fact, it would
likely cause a radical shift in our society.
MW: It would revolutionize ev-erything. But if we do not—and this is the point—that we must, if we are to survive and sustain life on earth. Because, accord-ing to A Course in Miracles, that idea of our separateness is the problem of the world. We see all around us the manifestations of this error in our thinking, that led to insane behaviour on our part collectively and indi-vidually. The awakening to our oneness is the salvation of our world.
Love is etched in all our hearts, and that’s why enlightenment is not a learning, but rather an un-learning. Unlearning the thinking of the world. We’re all born with it, but then we are taught a mindset that works against us and against everyone. We begin to experience that gap between what life could be and what it all too often is. That is where our suffering comes from. And if we see our suffering as experiencing the heartbreak of that gap, allowing ourselves to experience it, we can see it as the beginning of our spiritual journey. The only question is
not whether we will get there as a human race, because we will. But what is completely up to us is how long it will take and how much suffering occurs in the meantime. We are living in an extraordinarily, critically impor-tant moment in history right now, where we are at a point of decision.
Marianne Williamson is an internationally acclaimed spiritual author and lecturer. Marianne has been a popular guest on television programs such as Oprah, Larry King Live, Good Morning America, Charlie Rose & Bill Maher. Seven of her twelve published books have been New York Times bestsellers. Four of these have been #1. The mega bestseller A Return to Love is considered a must-read of The New Spirituality. A paragraph from that book, beginning “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure…” is considered an anthem for a contemporary generation of seekers. More information at marianne.com.
18
FITNESS
As a long time runner and athlete, I thought I had awareness of my body. I knew that running a short distance in snow boots caused ankle pain, a lack of sleep caused heavy legs during a run, and a lack of
electrolytes caused a headache.
After a training cycle in 2014 left me fatigued, injured and far short of my running goals, I decided to try the Maffetone Method (MAF).
HEART RATE AWARENESSOn The Run
19
Patty Scott is an Agatsu-certified kettlebell instructor, mom and piano teacher based in Burlington, Ontario. She is an ultramarathoner, 9-time marathon and 20-time half marathon finisher and always strives to be fashionable at races in her signature running skirt and coordinating manicure. Her running adventures have been profiled on Runner’s World and MSNBC. She can be found online at runningskirtsandmanicures.blogspot.ca.
In addition to his health and fitness research, Dr. Maffetone is also an accomplished musician and composer. He recommends using music as relaxation therapy pre- and post-workout, as he believes the high-intensity music that many people prefer to listen to during exercising can have an adverse effect on the nervous system. This statement spoke to me, for as a pianist, I gave up listening to music while working out several years ago, preferring to be more aware of my surround-ings – to other participants during a race, and to the natural sounds around me during a training run.
Regardless of the outcome in my races, MAF has taught me that running is not always about the pursuit of fast times, and that tuning into your heart rate, your body and your environment can bring great satisfaction.
FITNESS
The idea behind MAF is that in endurance events lasting 2 or more hours, 99% of effort comes from the aerobic system, which in many athletes is poorly trained. When building the aerobic base by finding your maximum aerobic heart rate, deter-mined with the 180 Formula, there is less stress on the nervous system and eventually the athlete is able to go faster, but with a lower heart rate. It takes patience and dedication to stick with the slow running (and a bit of walking) long enough to see results.
Not surprisingly, the first few weeks with MAF were difficult. But by paying close attention to my heart rate, I learned how to lower my heart rate simply by avoiding shallow clavicular breathing and, surprisingly, by relaxing while running uphill and periodically unclenching my hands. But as the weeks went by, I started to see results from MAF. My first MAF test was at a 6:12/km pace, the 2nd at 6:07 pace and the 3rd at 5:57 pace.
I started running trails shortly before starting MAF training and that, too, was a struggle. Bat-tling hot and humid temperatures, the slower pace, swarms of mosquitoes and the constant fear of tripping almost made me go back to the roads permanently. It got easier with the slow pace and cooler weather to explore the natural beauty that exists just minutes from my home. I grew to love seeing the brilliant colours of autumn leaves, the pale winter sunlight sparkling on the frozen white wonderland, while listening to the soft sound of my breath and eyes on the winding path beneath my feet.
20
NUTRITION
SPLIT PEA SOUP
This recipe is from my mother, who makes delicious soups. She got this recipe from a friend and adapted it to her liking. I have always loved her soups, and this one in particular is perfect for fall. The great
thing about this soup is that it is very dense and filling, and can serve as a meal in itself.
21
NUTRITION
Ingredients 2 tbsp oil (suggest avocado or grapeseed)1 medium size onion, chopped1-3 cloves of garlic, minced (optional)2-3 carrots cut into 1cm cubes, approximately ½ cm in size2 stalks of celery cut into 1cm pieces1 sweet potato or ½ small winter squash, cut into 1cm pieces1/8 tsp black pepper or according to preference¼ tsp turmericpinch or ¼ tsp of cayenne pepper if you like it a bit spicy1 tbsp grated fresh ginger can also be added2 cups of split peas (green or a combination of green and yellow split peas)6-7 cups of water or vegetable stock (I use the yeast free vegetable flavour by Harvest Sun)Bay leafSmall piece of dried seaweed such as kelp (it assists in digestibility of the peas, plus adds iodine and iron to the meal)Salt to taste Directions Soak split peas overnight, and rinse before adding to soup.Brown the onion in oil in the bottom of your stock pot.When the onion starts to soften add the garlic, followed by the carrots and celery. Stir for a few minutes, until vegetables start to soften. At the time, add the black pepper, turmeric, cayenne pepper, and ginger if using.
Joy Elkayam is a kindergarten teacher, and the team lead for treaty outreach at Parvati.org. In her spare time, she likes to experiment with recipes and create meals and desserts without gluten, dairy and sugar.
Add the sweet potato or squash, stirring it all together for a few minutes.Stir in the split peas and add the water. Bring to a boil.At this time add the seaweed and bay leaf. Lower to a simmer.Simmer covered for about an hour – 1 ½ hours. The vegetables and peas should be quite softened by this time.Add salt to taste and more freshly ground pepper if desired. Remove the bay leaf. You can leave in the seaweed if you wish.Let the soup cool for a bit and then blend to pre-ferred consistency with an immersion (hand-held) blender, or in a regular blender. Enjoy!
22
BOOKS
LOVE WARRIORby Glennon Doyle Melton
Glennon Doyle Melton of “Carry On, Warrior” and “Momastery” fame has returned with a new best-seller: the devastatingly honest “Love Warrior”. Melton takes the reader into her experience of under-
standing from a young age that it was not safe to be herself or to be in her body. She narrates her descent into bulimia, impersonal sex and addiction, and how close she came to losing her family and herself before a crisis happened that changed all her plans: she got pregnant, and decided to keep the baby and get sober. Her boyfriend decided to step up and propose. They got married, and started a family.
But, as Melton discovered, the wedding isn’t the finish line. And there was a whole other series of lessons to learn about herself, about her husband, and about love before she could find the happiness she thought would be waiting on the other side of the wedding ring. Indeed, as their three children grew, Melton found
23
BOOKS
herself further and further away from her husband. The two were not able to understand each other’s emotional needs, let alone meet them. Finally, she found herself in crisis again, but this time, instead of being the anchor that helped her find a way to move forward, her mar-riage and family were the very things drawn into question: her husband had been repeatedly unfaithful to her.
“Love Warrior” is the story of doing the painful, overwhelm-ing work of showing up, mo-ment by moment, to find one’s truth in the midst of suffering, to gain understanding, and to deeply contemplate the nature of divine unconditional love when one feels so unloved. It tackles the questions of what it means to love and to be truly intimate. Both Melton and her husband commit and step up to being fully present for themselves and each other. Her husband literally turns his life around, courageously work-shopping his porn addiction in therapy, and serves their family selflessly. Melton finally finds the ability to be fully present in her body, to enjoy food and intimacy. As “Love Warrior”
ends, you get the sense that both she and her husband have travelled long and arduous journeys and finally come to a place of redemption for their marriage, a place where they can make a more healthy beginning together.
But the story doesn’t end there. After “Love Warrior” had already gone to print, after the publicity schedules had already been drawn up, Melton stunned her blog readers with the news that she and her husband were separating. With book sales on the line, with the apparent nar-rative of “Love Warrior” called into question, Melton might well have been tempted to keep the end of her marriage under wraps until the book had hit the market and the sales been racked up. But that would be turning her back on the com-mitment she had made to be honest with her readers. So, knowing the damage it could do to the book’s sales, knowing the deluge of judgment and criti-cism that would (and did) show up in the comments, she came forward anyway.
The end of “Love Warrior” sees Melton and her husband having
finally reached a healthy base-line from which a relationship could grow. But I’m reminded of W. Somerset Maugham’s quote, “We are not the same persons this year as last; nor are those we love. It is a happy chance if we, changing, con-tinue to love a changed person.” The kind of radical transforma-tion Melton has undergone can result in new-found incompat-ibility with the partner sought before the transformation, even if that partner has made quantum shifts too. Getting to a healthy baseline doesn’t necessarily mean you’re with the right person for going forward. And as Melton has put it, that doesn’t mean the marriage failed, so much as that, per-haps, its work is now complete. Ultimately, to be a warrior for love means to show up for what the moment contains, instead of remaining attached to an outcome. In any case, the end of Melton’s marriage is between her and her husband and their God. But it in no way under-mines the validity of the jour-ney of “Love Warrior.”
Pranada Devi is a communications professional living in Toronto, Canada. She is the Managing Editor of Parvati Magazine, and the Communications Manager for Kupid’s Play Records. In addition, she is the editor for Parvati’s forthcoming books “Confessions of a Former Yoga Junkie” and “Aonani and the Emissary of the Blue Star”.
24
FILM
KUBO
25
Kubo and the Two Strings is an animated mas-terpiece that is visually mesmerizing from
beginning to end. The most recent passion project of studio Laika (Coraline, ParaNorman, and The Boxtrolls), Kubo is a stop-motion animation (with computer generated enhancements) that truly dazzles.
In the words of director and CEO Travis Knight, “At its core, Kubo is a stop-motion samurai film.” And then it piles all sorts of layers on top of that. It is an ambitious project to say the least and I admire the studio for taking risks and telling a less conventional tale in such a beautiful format.
However, the plot itself was tricky for me to track. There was the main character (Kubo) who has a family guitar (with more than two strings to start). He has mysterious magical powers and can turn paper into intricate origami when he plays his gui-tar. He lives on his own on a mountain top with his mentally ill/magically senile mother. Kubo loves the stories his mother tells him when she is able, and is hungry to know about his father. Later he tells his mother’s incomplete stories in town for spare change to make ends meet. The towns-people always beg to hear the end of the story, but frustrated Kubo does not know yet; as he does not know himself.
He only has one eye because his grandfather, the moon king, stole the other one when he was a baby. One day, when he doesn’t get home before nightfall, his aunts (really freaky ghost aunts, by the way) come down from the heavens to try and capture Kubo and take his other good eye. Kubo’s mom fends off the aunts, dies, and sends Kubo
on a quest to track down his long-dead father’s sword, armour, and helmet, in order to defeat the moon king and his crazy aunts. Along his journey is where Kubo breaks the old guitar strings, which are like his connection to his family’s past, and starts making up his own stories. Add in a talk-ing monkey and samurai beetle that help Kubo on his adventures and provide some comic relief in between the action sequences… and you have yourself a stop-motion circus.
The film ends with an epic battle between Kubo and his moon-king grandfather. Kubo uses his guitar with two strings; one made of hair from his mom and the other made with hair from his dad and (spoiler alert) the moon-king loses and ends up as a human with no memory of his reign as an evil king. Instead of telling the grandfather the truth of the pain and terror he caused - the villag-ers rally around him and tell him all of the kind, empathetic and enviable traits he has, as well as all the good deeds he has done. As the moon-king, Kubo’s grandfather saw emotions and compas-sion as weak and punishable. Somehow Kubo intuitively knew that the connection to family and community, knowing your story and your truth, made you strong.
For all the plot twists and weak hero’s journey archetype the film did have, its message about the power of the stories we tell ourselves and how memories are the most powerful kind of magic, really resonated with me. We control our past and our future by the narratives we apply. How will you live your story? How will you tell it?
FILM
Amy Kellestine is an educator, engineer, Arati life coach and entrepreneur living in Edmonton, Alberta. She spends her free time camping, gardening, and volunteering for causes such as Cystic Fibrosis and nature conservation. She is a devoted mother, who is passionate about helping others and writing.
26
MUSIC
For this month’s issue of Parvati Magazine, our regular music columnist, Kupid’s Play Records CEO Rishi Deva, is away. In his absence, I scoped out some of the latest music videos to be released this fall to let you know a
few faves.
First off, Lolo’s “Shine”. A Tennessee native, Lolo tried New York City on for size, but found herself miserable and depressed. Her decision to return to Tennessee and pursue life and music on her own terms is chronicled in her latest album, “In Loving Memory of When I Gave A Shit”. Originally written as a letter to herself during a depressive low, the words of “Shine” are well placed in the mouths of a fiercely diverse and loving cast of characters, creating the effect of an intervention set to a catchy pi-ano ballad. If you haven’t heard of Lolo yet, think a more underground, vulnerable P!nk, with a velvety edge to the
voice and a sound that’s touched with the warmth of the Tennessee sun. Watch the video, soak in the message, and then get out there and shine.
Kolaj’s recent offering “Into You” is an intriguing fusion of K-Pop, featuring the breathy voice of Eric Nam, with Kolaj’s more tropical house vibe, and a saxophone lick that fits right in as though it happens every day. In the video, a heavy-banged adolescent goddess, subject of a young boy’s affection, sits in the stands at a junior high basketball game when her admirer (“Fresh Off The Boat”’s Ian Chen) takes the stage at halftime, dancing and singing his heart out to her. He’s adorably nerdy, complete with a little purple bowtie, but just when you’ve resigned your-
self to his rhythmic-gymnastics ribbon stylings, he pops a toque on his head and suddenly starts b-boying. Eric Nam is rumoured to be a crossover star in the making, with a strong following in South Korea and a number of North American collaborations to his credit this summer before this, his first official English video release. So far, he hasn’t broken out quite the way his compatriot PSY has, but there’s more to life (and Nam has way more heart) than Gangnam Style. I think the best is still to come for this sweet-voiced youngster.
NEW VIDEOSTO KNOW
27
Another collaboration that caught my eye was that of Duran Duran and Kiesza for their song “Last Night in the City”. Yes, Duran Du-ran is still at it. Their Mark Ronson-produced album Paper Gods issued last year cracked the top 10 on Bill-board and top 5 in three countries. Kiesza, whose musical stylings have often given the sense she was born 20 years too late, is easily in her el-ement among these 80s pop gods who still know how to throw down a scintillating, impressionistic new wave track to get you dancing. She rocks hard, literally toe to toe at one point with Simon Le Bon, on a stage filled with all the angular, flashing lights you remember from the 80s, in the high definition of the 2010s. If you’re a Generation X who’s for-gotten why Duran Duran dominat-ed the pop scene when you were a kid (or you’re a Millennial who nev-er knew), check out the chemistry they still bring, from Le Bon’s stage presence to Nick Rhodes’s sullenly opulent smoldering at the keyboard to the understated yet always well-
placed beats from Roger Taylor’s drumset.
But hands down my favorite video this month is the self-af-firming anthem “Soy Yo” from Colombian electro-cumbia band Bomba Estéreo. 11-year-old Sarai Isaura Gonzalez is a rev-elation as the star of this video, rocking baubled hair, over-sized glasses, overalls, recorder, ring pop, colorful crocs and a blinged-up bike. As she makes her way through the city, there’s never a second she isn’t totally confident in being her full self, regardless of what anyone may think. Vocalist Liliana Saumet lays down a patter-fast delivery, with richly rolled r’s, of the mes-sage (in Spanish), “Don’t worry if someone doesn’t approve of you. When they criticize you, you just say, I AM.” Gonzalez delivers a completely devastat-
MUSIC
ing side-eye to a pair of white girls who had started to snicker at her, fearlessly takes over a bas-ketball court until she decides she’s had enough fun, and stares down a cluster of young men dancing before breaking out her own unapologetic rhythms. The song has been out for a year or two, but the Torben Kjelstrop-directed video just dropped on September 7, to international media attention. Simon Meija, the founder and music producer of Bomba Estereo, told NPR, “We’re trying to empower peo-ple to feel that it doesn’t matter if you’re different or if you’re from one country or the other or you’re black or you’re white or you’re gay. What’s important is what’s inside of you, and you have to fight for that. I think the video brings this message along.”
Pranada Devi got a degree in music before realizing she was better at communications than at singing opera. Her art song translations are still in demand on the lieder.net database. She is the Managing Editor of Parvati Magazine, and the Communications Manager for Kupid’s Play Records. In addition, she is the editor for Parvati’s forthcoming books “Confessions of a Former Yoga Junkie” and “Aonani and the Emissary of the Blue Star”.
28
FASHION
TRACEABILITY AND TRUTHFULNESS
“It is almost impossible to do 100% eco friendly, they can prepare the documents [sic] to show it is
eco friendly but actually it is different story.”
I sat for years in soaring office towers, working 90-hour weeks, making decisions worth hundreds of millions of dollars involving high-powered personalities.
I’ve seen a lot.
But never an e-mail like the one our team at LeDaveed, a startup fashion house with an ini-tial focus on sustainably produced handbags, got in August, when we began a deep dive into the sourcing of fabrics and factories.
My colleague, Shira, who had previously worked at three prominent brands, including Marc Jacobs New York, was deep into her Chinese relation-ships. A trusted source, with numerous years of experience living and manufacturing in the region, dropped the bomb above.
Our jaws dropped. Here we were, a values-led company with an approach revolving around au-thenticity, being told that the best way to manu-facture to our liking in the country where most of the bags in the world are produced was quite simply to lie.
It’s impossible to paint an entire country with one brush. The much-loved Patagonia – widely viewed as a gold star in eco-conscious fashion – explicitly states that it identifies forward-thinking factories, including those in China, and works construc-tively with them to generate further change from within. We’re ourselves open to this possibility, though we have significant hesitation at this point, given all that we’ve learned, and it’ll take a lot to get us over the hump.
But the e-mail is emblematic of a larger conun-drum fashion brands trying to move away from toxic fast fashion encounter, not just in China – but also in India, Bangladesh, Vietnam, and yes, even when “going local” in North America: how do we live our values authentically, when the play-ing field isn’t level, and self-reporting by compa-nies on their environmental sustainability is still the norm?
We have coined a term to summarize this issue. We call it the “Two T Problem” – Traceability and Truthfulness.
Traceability means knowing where all materials come from, and understanding all of the compo-nents of your supply chain. That’s a problem for many companies, especially smaller brands with-out deep connections. Many fashion startups find
29
it impossible to identify production facilities of scale (though sites like Maker’s Row help). Addi-tionally, producers are often one-shop stops – they source materials in addition to doing manufactur-ing – so brands are a further step removed from the fields the cotton are grown in, given they often outsource the sourcing function.
Further, most factories do not have websites, and getting a call with the owner is a whole other layer of complexity, especially given the high minimum orders these facilities required and their busy pro-duction schedules, which cause startup brands to play nice with producers instead of holding them to account.
Truthfulness means being honest about where you stand. I’ve had countless well-meaning people ap-proach me and say things like “well, you could sell it as eco-friendly because you’re avoiding the most highly synthetic fabrics like PVC, which is what most bags are made of these days, even if your main material is still non-organic cotton or poly.” For us, this seems like too low of a bar.
What is the solution to the Two T Problem? There is no perfect one, but our advice is to use our main internal tool – we call it the “Can I go to sleep at night knowing” test.
On traceability, we recommend digging to a point where you can no longer get answers to your questions, and asking yourself whether where you stand is sufficient. We strongly believe that to be a values-driven company, we must avoid asking our-selves right away how we can sell something that’s imperfect from an environmental perspective (as every product is, even the best ones), but instead
FASHION
Andrew Dale is a finance executive who quit his executive level job to found LeDaveed, a sustainable fashion company, in 2016. He is an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the Fashion Zone incubator in Toronto, Canada. LeDaveed’s launch story is here: bit.ly/29FtiD9You can reach Andrew at [email protected].
first determining what we actually believe is right, and then selling based on that.
As I write this, Shira is in Montreal, working on our prototyping process. We’re doing our first sample using certified organic cotton we ordered from a reputable supplier in the US south. We asked where the fabric was made. It was made in India. That’s probably enough for most compa-nies. But we don’t think it really is. The next step for us? Finding out exactly who it was certified by, or the exact mill it was produced in, and getting comfortable with that. And down the road as a stretch goal, maybe even how that mill treats its wastewater.
At some point, we, and every other brand, includ-ing the largest global brands, will be in a place where certain questions cannot be answered. And then, we’ll be honest with people about what we learned, what shortcomings we had, and what we want to improve on as we move forward, and then asking “Can we go to sleep at night knowing what we know in this imperfect world?”
Could we go to sleep at night should we learn that our organic cotton is actually uncertified, or certified by a party which is too closely connected to the factory we are using? Or that workers drink from a river where toxic wastewater from a mill is dumped? We already have certain no fly zones. We are developing others.
And once we can go to sleep at night, our bags will be on the shelves.
30
BEAUTY
ZUII ORGANICThis month, Parvati Magazine spoke with
Danni Simpson from Zuii Organic, a com-pany that offers a full line of organic and natural beauty from down under.
Parvati Magazine: What was the inspiration behind starting Zuii Organic?
Danni Simpson: Company founder and Presi-dent Rose Beesey was the first to introduce a truly Certified Organic product line that was safe and beneficial for the skin. Enjoying the beauty of nature was always at the forefront of Rose’s mind, she based her belief around nature and natural remedies, she would spend hours in the garden culturing her roses and vegetables here is where her spark to create a truly Certified Organic range of Cosmetics was born. She saw the natural colour of the roses and flowers and wanted to transport the experience of the natural beauty and natural colours to the world of Cosmetics ensuring that there was no use of toxic chemicals or carcinogens to keep them as pure to nature and as perfect as they smelt in her garden every day.
PMAG: Zuii features a unique blend of Certified Organic Flora makeup. What are the benefits of using flowers?
DS: Zuii Organic uses a blend of floral ingredi-ents as the base to our products in our range. We take Rose, Jasmine and Chamomile flowers and crush them into a fine powder to create a unique and nourishing base to our powdered products. Rose is high in Vitamin C and renowned for its properties of treating scar tissue, acne, psoriasis, eczema, skin blemishes and hyperpigmentation. Jasmine encourages the repair of scar tissue and also contains soothing properties. Chamomile is known to be one of the oldest medicinal plants. It is calming, and has healing/ anti-inflammatory properties.
PMAG: Your makeup line also has a signature blend of essential oils. Tell us more about this.
DS: Our signature blend of essential oils creates the perfect synergy of Certified Organic ingredi-ents. Ingredients such as Geranium Flower Oil which cleanses, tones and normalises the secre-tion of sebum while Sweet Almond Oil restores
31
nature’s glow to the skin. With each ingredient boasting huge nourishing benefits to the skin and body, consumers will fall in love with the feeling of truly organic makeup on their skin.
PMAG: Describe some of your favourite makeup products that would be suitable for most custom-ers.
DS: Our key Certified Organic products would have to include our Foundation Primer which is an amazing base for any skintone, while our lipsticks are always a big hit to a makeup lover as they offer super nourishing ingredients.
BEAUTY
Since the young age of 14 Danni Simpson has worked in the cosmetic industry as a Makeup Artist. After years of training she began her role as Australian Sales & Marketing Manager for Zuii Organic. With extensive knowledge in every aspect of makeup, whether it be product ingredients to application she has a passion for teaching and sharing the benefits of Certified Organic Makeup. For more information, please visit www.zuiiorganic.com.
PMAG: Where can one purchase Zuii Organic makeup?
DS: Zuii Organic can be purchased online at www.zuiiorganic.com or in one of our amazing stockists located across over 40 countries world-wide. For full stockists details visit our website or the distributor in your area.
32
COMMUNITY
PHYSICIANS FOR THE
ENVIRONMENT
Parvati Magazine’s Dr. Karen Ho interviewed Dr. Warren Bell of Canadian Association of Physi-
cians for the Environment (CAPE), a group of over 4900 physicians and concerned citizens committed to a healthy and sustainable environment. As an organi-zation, CAPE brings its health expertise to environ-mental issues and is an important voice for environ-mental health in Canada.
Parvati Magazine: Please tell us why you founded CAPE?
Warren Bell: CAPE was founded about 20 years ago because I and two other colleagues felt that the medical profession needed to address environmen-tal issues, because they play such a big role in hu-man health. We felt that if we brought forward the health impacts of ecological degradation, it would
help motivate people to protect environmental values, as they realized that humans are wholly dependent on the ecosystem around them.
We also recognized that working as a group was more effective than simply working as individual practitioners or advocates. It’s fair to say that the late 20th and early 21st centuries is a time of group action, more than another age of heroic individuality.
PMAG: Do you feel that there is a sense of disconnect between personal health and societal health? That some decisions we make, seemingly not “health focused” may influence our health as a community?
33
WB: There often is indeed a disconnect between the way people focus on personal health and their awareness of the health of the broader community. One reason is the fact that much of the health care continuum is taken up by products or specific medical interventions. In the former, there is a steady stream of advertising telling citizens that purchasing a certain product is the best way to ensure their health. In the case of health related to society as a whole, the subject often involves interventions such as parks, walkways and bicycle paths, the planting of trees, and enhancing the availability of healthy and nutritious food. Because these don’t involve the sale of specific products, they are generally promoted in a much more un-derstated way.
This is particularly true in protecting the integrity of the natural ecosystem. For example, many peo-ple have no idea of the effect that large trees have on air quality, or their role in mitigating noise and artificial light pollution. They are not aware of the fact that walking in the woods actually improves the function of the immune system. Yet for many people, care of a park would seem to be unrelated to health outcomes (beyond simple enjoyment), whereas ingestion of a drug would be considered an important health-enhancing act.
PMAG: What have you learned from these years of being a vocal citizen?
WB: I first became involved in environmental issues in the late 1970s and later became involved in the antinuclear movement and reform within the medical profession. What I’ve learned from all this is that the satisfaction I have gained from offering an informed opinion about injustice, the
perils of violent conflict, the factors that influence health, the need to address conflict of interest, and the imperative to protect the integrity of our local and global ecosystems far exceeds the demands of time and energy, and at times the distinct pains associated with speaking out.
Someone once said “evil exists in the world be-cause good people look on and do nothing to stop it”. I find it deeply rewarding to try and be a good person who does not simply look on, but actively tries to make things better.
PMAG: Tell us how you think Canada is doing right now in terms of its environmental policies.
WB: Canada over the last several decades has distinguished itself by being vocal about environ-mental issues but short on concrete and positive action. This is particularly true of the Harper years. Fortunately, provinces, cities and smaller communities have taken up the cause of ecological advocacy. Progress has been made on a more local scale, despite this gross deficiency at the federal level.
The new Liberal government has so far taken steps to redress some of the enormous wrongs com-mitted by the Harper regime. But recently, with respect to such issues as Energy East, the Trans Mountain pipeline, fracking and LNG in British Columbia, and in particular its approval of the Site C dam, the resolve of the current government appears to be slackening. Meaningful action on climate change is still in abeyance. We are wait-ing to see what comes next, hoping that this time around things will truly be different.
COMMUNITY
R.Warren Bell, BA, MDCM, CCFP, FCFP(LM), is the Past Founding President of CAPE (Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment) and the Founding President of WA:TER (Wetland Alliance: The Ecological Response). He is the Rural Preceptor for University of British Columbia, and continues to practice medicine in Salmon Arm, British Columbia.For more information, please visit cape.ca.
34
BUSINESS
MANAGING POLARITY
The human brain defaults to seeing things in an “either/or” framework. Either that rustling in the under-brush is a threat or it is not. The person approaching me has hostile intent or they do not. This proposal
is beneficial or it is not. That framework also shapes the way we evaluate leadership.
Our culture tends to treat “leader” as synonymous with “problem solver”. An effective leader solves problems. An ineffective leader does not. This “black and white” view is intuitively satisfying (translation: it lines up with our brain’s default settings) but how true is it? If every “problem” can be solved with this “either/or” ap-proach then why are there so many apparently intractable “problems” in our work, our lives, our society?
Barry Johnson has produced some wonderful work on the concept of “polarities”. A problem is a situation that can be solved with a simple decision (e.g. do we meet for coffee at Starbucks or Tim Horton’s). A polar-ity is an ongoing tension between two interdependent things. An example is the “Saving/Spending” polarity, which exists in both personal and public finances. It is ongoing in that the question (to Save or to Spend) never goes away. Saving and Spending are interdependent in that both are necessary. The tension between the two could be summarized (albeit simplistically) as follows using Johnson’s methodology.
35
If this is seen as a problem rather than a polarity the advocate of Saving will focus on the positive side of Saving and emphasize the negative side of Spending. The advocate of Spending will do the opposite. (Sound familiar?)
Many difficulties are created when we treat polarities as problems and expect to be able to solve them “once and for all” with a “bold” or “brilliant” solution. Polarities cannot be “solved”, only managed effec-tively. A mentor of mine uses the analogy of driving down the road. The two “poles” of the po-larity (e.g. Saving or Spending) are the two ditches. Staying be-tween them is the art of Polarity Management which consists of making constant, subtle course
corrections, sometimes in the direction of one “pole” and sometimes in the direction of the other. Treating a polarity as a problem to be solved is akin to choosing which ditch to drive into and only creates a new set of “issues”.
Polarity Management is not natural. Our brains are hard-wired to see things in terms of problems that can be answered in a simple “yes” or “no”. This can lead us to what Johnson calls the “One Pole Myth”, the belief that if we focus exclu-sively on one end of the polarity we can minimize its negative consequences and totally avoid the negative effects of the other end. Intuitively satisfying and completely false. If one pole is overemphasized, then its
negative consequences begin to predominate. If this overem-phasis persists then the negative consequences of both poles begin to appear.
In our example, suppose our Saver insisted on never spend-ing money on vehicle mainte-nance. For two years things go well, “look at the money we are saving”. Then the engine seizes and the vehicle must be replaced immediately with lots of stress and anxiety and no ability to take advantage of a sale. (An equally unpleasant sce-nario could be envisioned if the Spender’s views were followed.)
As you progress in respon-sibility as an organizational leader, your “Inbox” is going to contain fewer problems to be solved and more polarities to be managed. How will you tell the difference? How will you man-age those polarities? How will you help others to see a polarity where they are accustomed to seeing a problem to manage?
BUSINESS
James Greengrass is a Certified Executive Coach (Royal Roads Univer-sity) and is a member of the International Coach Federation. He brings to Fortifico many years of experience in organizational leadership both as a senior officer in the Canadian Armed Forces and as an executive in the Alberta Public Service. A Practitioner and Mentor in the discipline of Active Engagement for Mindful Leadership, James is experienced in as-sisting individuals and groups to move to places of greater understanding and effectiveness. For more information on James, please visit Fortifico Leadership Support Services at fortifico.ca.
Saving (+)
- future security- no stress due to debt
Spending (+)
- seizing valuable opportunities - able to enjoy life
Saving (-)
- missing out on valuable opportunities- reduced satisfaction
Spending (-)
- risk of insolvency- stress and anxiety
36
OnWordThank you for reading the October 2016 edition of PARVATI MAGAZINE.
It is easy to confuse witnessing with being numbed out, indifferent or discon-nected. When we are in a state of witnessing, we are fully present and rest in a deeper substratum beyond our perceptions. When this happens, life turns from monochrome to technicolour. We feel more connected, more alive, more engaged with life, because we are no longer bound by our limited perceptions, that are col-oured by our ego. Even situations that once were painful for us become light and effervescent. Through witnessing comes tremendous spacious vitality. Witnessing feels rooted, vital and expansive. Like a new consciousness muscle, the more we practice witnessing, the more freedom we experience.
Start your witnessing practice today. Take a few minutes each morning and even-ing to come to a neutral place, where you can allow yourself just to be. This alone can take practice when you are habituated to doing and wanting life to go your way. But that habit creates tremendous strain, tension and unhappiness. Freedom and joy are found when you rest into the whole and flow in harmony with the rhythm of life.
Love yourself.Love others.Love our world.We are one Earth family. Parvati
Parvati Magazine is a trademark published monthly by Positive Possibilities Incorporated. All rights are reserved. Nothing in this magazine may be reproduced without prior
permission from the publisher. The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those
of the editors or the publishers.
Tweet us!
Parvati Devi @parvati_devi
Pranada Devi@pranada
Rishi Deva@KupidsPlay
Ella Isakov@yogini_ella
Renia Pruchnicki@truthbelts
Marianne Williamson@marwilliamson
Amy Kellestine@amykellestine
Lolo@lolomusic
Kolaj@kolajband
Duran Duran@duranduran
Kiesza@kiesza
Bomba Estéreo@bombaestereo
#parvatimag
GMB VITAMIN28-DAY MOVEMENT CHALLENGE
LONDON 2017