Last month, I walked through the Taipei airport waiting to board the last leg of my journey to Bali; I came across an art gallery dedicated to the Year of the Tiger. The exhibit was called, "Year of Abundance + The Renewal of the Earth."
It became so obvious to me what I was to write about this month after landing from 3 weeks teaching and surfing in Bali last month…The Earth.
The month of May is when the northern hemisphere is fertile for Spring rebirth and the southern hemisphere is preparing for the abundant harvest of Autumn…and it all starts where? With the Earth.
During my recent travels I have connected with so many our global tribes to hear of stories of jobs lost, month-long battles with chest infections of new viral strains, separations from long-term relationships, and even a student in his 30's who found he had cancer, that if metastasized, he only has 4 weeks to live!
I’ve been lucky to have viewed the Tribeca Film Festival screening of The Western Front documentary that offers a very painful reality of so many Iraqi refugees who lost their homes in this ins
ane war and heard a woman say from her temporary home in Jordan…”we have lost our country, but you (Americans), you have lost your picture.” Our picture!That really hurt. Because the truth can hurt.
As a country it seems that too many of us are so consumed by our own survival, comforts of home, health, jobs, income, sense of little self that we forget about each other, our communities, smiling at strangers, picking up bits of garbage or straws or plastics on the sidewalk or beaches or lakes….and we forget about our own views not just for each other but for all beings on the planet. “We have forgotten our picture,” she said…but I don’t think so. I won’t surrender to that thought. There are too many of us out there…Americans, and human beings who won’t let that continue.
So whether it’s suffering from allergies, bronchitis, or more extreme life situations of losing your country as a refugee of war, all of these, no matter how slight or extreme, rock our foundation, our Muladhara chakra, our root chakra which represents our foundation, security, family relationships, job, income, and health. It's element is the Earth.
I was lucky to get sick last month, I got bronchitis the week before I boarded the plane for a 28 hour journey from NYC to Bali. Sounds strange right? Okay, I sure don't wish bronchitis on "my worst enemy" but the up side of it, is that I stayed home the Saturday before I boarded the plane, in my girlfriend's apartment in NYC and watched Earth, the documentary on YouTube. (Okay, so Earth has been out for a while, but this nomadic yogini does not get too many moments to sit at home (wherever that is) and just watch anything past 20 minutes in stillness with a good wireless connection.) But I was lucky that weekend. The bronchitis forced me to be still and I was drawn to EARTH.
After viewing Earth, I believe so strongly, more than ever, that we cannot wait any longer to empower + remind ourselves with this information and then to take immediate action to heal our planet, our Mother, ourSelves. If she is a direct reflection of what is happening to us all, her children, our human race, then let’s keep moving onward and upward! If the volcano eruption in Iceland, the earthquake in California, the oil spill off the coast of Louisiana…all these rumblings of our planet are cries for help from our planet….or even if it’s just the planet doing it’s stretching…we sure are all waking up! Now let’s stay awake and respond!
Just as we always desire our mother's stroking of our hair or her vegetable soup to nurture and heal us when we are sick….now it's our turn to help heal OUR MOTHER. She has given so much abundance to us…it's time we give back. And generously.
How can you help?
Focus your energy on what you DO want to happen.
”Where awareness goes, energy flows.”
• Speak with empowering words. Instead of focusing energy and words on what you don’t want to happen, choose to focus on what you DO want to happen. So instead of saying, "our planet is sick,” instead say "Our Planet is Healing." That positive vibration will get us started. Think + speak healing. Energy will move towards healing (vs. sickness).
• The world spends 12 more times on military expenditures than on aid to developing countries. So, Contact your legislatures. Get involved with politics. You voted them in? or did you vote? And in countries like China, where you cannot vote (yet)…Pray. Read about what is going on in the world so you can have a historical frame of reference from which to make a change. I like the NYTimes international daily | International Tribune and also of course bbc.com. All this read on my Kindle. (save paper right?)
Consume less.
• 20% of the world's population consumes 80% of its resources.
• 1 human in 6 lives in precarious unhealthy, overpopulated environment without access to daily necessities such as water, sanitation, electricity.
• There may be at least 200 million climate refugees by 2050.
Become a vegetarian…at least once a week.
That includes no fish.
Support your local farmers. Especially organic farmers.
• The more a country develops, the more meat it's inhabitants consume.
• Over 50% of grain traded around the world is used for animal feed or biofuels.
• Three quarters of fishing grounds are exhausted, depleted or in dangerous decline
• Megalopolises are growing at a rapidly unsustainable rate! New arrivals are mostly farmers forced off the land for economic or demographic reasons, or because of diminishing resources. This is a radically new type of urban growth, driven by the urge to survive rather than to prosper.
“Our Earth relies on a balance, in which every being has a role to play and exists only through the existence of another being.”
“A subtle, fragile harmony that is easily shattered.”
“Humanity has no more than 10 years to reverse the trend and avoid crossing into this territory”
“Life on Earth as we have never known it. We have created phenomena we cannot control.”
“It’s up to us to write what happens next.”
Don't wait until you get sick to watch Earth, the documentary.
It's about 1hour 40 minutes. And it's free.
Empower yourself.
Empower the Healing of the Planet, our Mother Earth.
Now is the Time.
