Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet. ~Albert Einstein
I chose to begin this post with a quote that is beloved for obvious reasons by Einstein. He was considered to be at the least... kind of a smart dude ; )
You would have thought that more humans would catch on after reading this. I didn't until I was ready.
The further down the road of Ahimsa I go (my magic word that translates to "NON VIOLENCE"), the further I am beginning receive the awareness of how long I had appeared to be asleep at the wheel. None of us can go back, we can only experience "NOW-NESS".
There is a lot of letting go in the waking up process. And it is all ok.
People have been so kind to me since I've began sharing my story in this blog. The experience has been filled with extraordinary beauty even when I find myself awash in the temporary waves of sadness and the perceived illusion of "alone-ness" which sometimes comes up as I begin to develop more and more compassion for myself and my predicament.
I breathe more into the light and remind myself that it is OK. All of it. All of it part of the exquisite path.
Each day as I participate more and more with the consumption of "ALIVE-NESS" and with each bite of LIVING food, I get to experience more and more LIGHT. The light of the food I am receiving is in direct alignment with the release of the lbs that are falling further and further away as I am quite literally "lightening my load". Metamorphosis, transformation and transmutation of the BREATH in deepening the being-ness of life. All part of the journey.
I am finding that not only am I waking up to the expanding experience of my senses, I am also receiving the greater skill of cultivating the "witness consciousness", meaning that I am getting greater "altitude" and perspective as to where I had been once so caught.
For the first time recently, I was able to share with my father who has been a vegetarian for longer than I have been alive, that my biggest "reveal" was seeing that my attachment was not only to the taste of the meat and fish, it was much larger than that...
My attachment was to the "BELIEF" of the "NEED" to eat animal protein/flesh in order to be ok in the world.... in order to be a complete human being.
As I've gotten to see this about myself, it sounds crazy... however, this formerly "real illusion" was deep inside my subconscious, and was a key piece of what was alive and lurking beneath the surface. I'm amazed in this now of how that deep seeded previous belief was, and I am beyond grateful that is currently completely dissolved.
Again, I had a belief that I actually needed to eat meat in order to be ok in the world. Perhaps even greater than letting go of the 20 lbs I dropped in May, was the letting go of this outrageously false belief. To re-cap a previous post, it doesn't matter what the logical true or falseness of what ever our beliefs happen to be... what is of the highest importance is that we ACTUALLY believe them!
When we change these beliefs (or have them "changed" for us via GRACE), our entire world instantly changes.
I was having lunch yesterday with my old friend Darin Olien, who is a master formulator, medicine man, and real life Adonis (you can see him working out with surf legend Laird Hamilton and my mentor and now athlete Rick Rubin in a previous post)... he hadn't seen me in over a year and I was sharing my recent experience of the birth of my transformation. We marveled at the power of belief and how dramatically my experience of life has changed in such a short amount of time. I felt like he was meeting "me" for the first time. He is now a beautiful component of my expanding wisdom council of health, healing and fitness (Darin is a being who is a true authority in this area).
A key strategy he shared with me was a skill that all of us can utilize no matter what level of the trip we are on. Darin said that one of the most important things we can do is to "check in with our body"... really get still and "LISTEN" to what our body is telling us. If we truly LISTEN, our bodies will actually inform us how it wants to exercise and what it actually wants to eat for true nourishment. Each of us arrived in this life with a living system of divine intelligence. It occurred to me in that moment of his insight that many of us are more fascinated with the functionality of the new Ipad than we are with our own walking universe of a miracle... our living body.
Our bodies have messages to tell us... if we'd only listen.
And clearly, now more than ever.... the writing is on the wall.
When I was a child, I don't remember ever hearing about Juvenile Diabetes. Now, it seems it is almost included in every new health report article as a rising epidemic.
I predict that in the next two decades we will see many millions (more than has ever come before in the past century) of people shifting to a sustainable full time plant based plan of eating. I see it happening for many reasons. The current system appears to be quite un-sustainable. I think you will see a dramatic improvement around the marketing of the plant based living food lifestyle and the reports of its numerous benefits to be shared in dramatically increased numbers.
You will see world famous championship athletes, actors, models, rockstars and even titans of business.... many more times than we currently have, come out and share their experience of giving up meat and animal products.
We are now experiencing the early stages of a renaissance.
Here is a link to a recent article in the Washington Post by best selling Author Eric Schlosser that really caught my attention (you can feel free to click on the link to read the entire article.... for your convenience I also included quotes of sections of the article that particularly captured my awareness:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
" - During the past 40 years, our food system has changed more than in the previous 40,000 years.
- During the past 40 years, the obesity rate among American preschoolers has doubled. Among children ages 6 to 11, it has tripled. Obesity has been linked to asthma, cancer, heart disease and diabetes, among other ailments. Two-thirds of American adults are obese or overweight, and economists from Cornell and Lehigh universities have estimated that obesity is now responsible for 17 percent of the nation’s annual medical costs, or roughly $168 billion.During the past 40 years, the obesity rate among American preschoolers has doubled. Among children ages 6 to 11, it has tripled. Obesity has been linked to asthma, cancer, heart disease and diabetes, among other ailments. Two-thirds of American adults are obese or overweight, and economists from Cornell and Lehigh universities have estimated that obesity is now responsible for 17 percent of the nation’s annual medical costs, or roughly $168 billion.
- Just last month, a study published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases found that nearly half of the beef, chicken, pork and turkey at supermarkets nationwide may be contaminated with antibiotic-resistant bacteria. About 80 percent of the antibiotics in the United States are currently given to livestock, simply to make the animals grow faster or to prevent them from becoming sick amid the terribly overcrowded conditions at factory farms. In addition to antibiotic-resistant germs, a wide variety of other pathogens are being spread by this centralized and industrialized system for producing meat.
- Children under age 4 are the most vulnerable to food-borne pathogens and to pesticide residues in food. According to a report by Georgetown University and the Pew Charitable Trusts, the annual cost of food-borne illness in the United States is about $152 billion. That figure does not include the cost of the roughly 20,000 annual deaths from antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
- The survival of the current food system depends upon widespread ignorance of how it really operates."
What is important is that we continue to welcome all who begin to make the shift with open arms and great support. I can share with you from my recent experience, the extraordinary kindness that has been showered upon me during this great time of change in my life, has made such a lasting impact. With each bite of life I am now experiencing, I am in a deep state of appreciation.
Here is a recent note I received from my beautiful friend and leader of Sacred Chant, Joey Lugassy:
"Here's my take on it. And you probably know this but I just want to acknowledge it and put it into words. When someone is overweight by a large degree there is so much work that needs to be done before there is a sizable difference. So much work that is unnoticed. So much work with no gratification! It can make it hard to proceed. I think this is why people give up. All this work and nothing to show for it! On the other hand when someone is say 20 pounds overweight any little diet or work out immediately shows and therefor the person has inspiration to continue. They can see it's really working. This part of your journey I feel is the biggest challenge. If you can just push yourself through this part the next part will be the easiest. Once you're at a certain spot (maybe you've never been there before) any work that you do will show itself. Your body will start toning. When you walk out of the gym you'll feel all buff. It will give you so much inspiration that your work is REALLY paying off. This part will be down hill. Just make it to that point and the rest will be so easy bro. You just have to go blind and trust for a bit. You can do it. It's in your grasp.. I can feel it. This will be in the past before you know it! You'll get the part in the movie that gets the girl. I love you!"
Every time I walk into the cafe of Euphoria Loves Rawvolution in the beautiful heart of Santa Monica's Main St, I feel that same loving support in every being I receive and in the healing living food I take in.
And it's ALL ok... even though "letting go" is sometimes "not all it's cracked up to be". Sometimes it feels "sad and lonely" on the Hero's Journey. However, the best part that I can share with you so far... is that it is WORTH IT.
I'm inspired to end this post once again with one of the greatest mantras I've ever heard. From John, Paul, George and Ringo to all of us....
"I'll get by with a little help from my friends".
See you soon on the path.
In Heart,
Shiva
