INDIA: The Land Of Ahimsa [Official Documentary]

My goal this year is to be more intentional, and specifically how I show up in terms of the environment, animal rights, as well as my own personal health outcomes. As I was writing a draft post on that intention, I also happened to see a couple of whole food plant based lifestyle films or videos on youtube. One ties in nicely to my yoga mindset around ahimsa, a documentary called INDIA: The Land of Ahimsa

I briefly touch on Ahimsa in my "yamas" blog post, but it basically means non-harming, non-violence. It is a fundamental aspect of not only yoga but all of the Indian philosophically based religions and philosophies. The fact that the tile has a question mark on suggests that India may not be the land of Ahimsa...check it out.

Why I Am Returning My Pixel Phone and Watch and Buying Apple

Apple products just work.

Google products do not.

Let me explain. I am a user of Google Workspace, or G Suite as it was known for while and a couple other names I think. I am also a Fitbit user and use it to track steps, heart rate, sleep score. In fact I'm a premium account on Fitbit. I log into Fitbit with my Google Workspace account and no problems.

As and aside, I also have a Macbook Pro and and I pad, and I still have my iPhone 13 from work.

How To Win The Civil War

While I am still reading People Centered Economy as I mentioned in this post, I have also started reading "How To Win The Civil War" by Steve Phillips. Steve was my best friend until the first couple of years of Elementary School and then a move to a different city began to separate us. We went to rival high schools and I'm pretty sure he went to a presitigous west coast school. Stanford I think it was called. Of course of our Dartmoor Road friendship, he got the brains (and the looks, and the atthleticism (marathoner), dammit). Anyway, I am headed to the west coast to visit my son in Seattle and I'm going to stop by and see my sister in Livermore CA. I'll be flying into to San Fransisco where Steve lives, or nearby anyway. So the plan is to see him while I'm there if just over a coffee.

I didn't want to show up not having read either of his books, the other one being "Brown is the New White" which I believes lays out the numbers for the democratic party leaning more into POC than centrist, white, part of the machine democrats. I have a signed copy, my Mom got it for me, but I haven't read it yet. So when I bought How to Win The Civil War I decided I had to have at least started prior to seeing Steve and asking him to sign it.

PCE - People Centered Economy

I have just started reading "The People Centered Economy" by David Nordfors & Vint Cerf, Vint being considered one of the founding fathers of the internet. It was recommended to me by a friend of mine at Hyland as we have continued conversations on mulitple topics.

I can already tell you that it both excites me and annoys me all at the same time.

In short what appeals to me is the idea of putting people first. What is going to bother me is this idea that we need AI to implement it and that it does not address the unbridled capitalism that currently reigns in the U.S. Over time I'll explain these concerns and othersbut first just suspend disbelief and learn is my goal. Here is what they say on page 26 of the book:

Reflections - Turning 59

I recently had a birthday. To celebrate I managed to get myself laid off a week ago so that I am currently on a "paid sabbatical". For the last 15 years, I have worked at Hyland Software which has been a fantastic experience. It was great working at a very succussful company with even better people. Hyland, like many other companies is struggling to find center after being very successful during the pandemic, has been struggling (relatively speaking, mind you) since then and the current economic downturn (inflation-driven really) is making it harder not for just Hyland but for a lot of tech companies. Layoffs are happening across the industry.

There are other theories as to the real purpose of the layoff. However, this post is not to talk about Hyland or its layoffs but rather what does mean for me as I enter the next year. What do I want to do next, do I really want go jump right back into the rat race or do I want to change my life completely by leaving the "tech" industry and doing something else. I know for a fact, that yoga teaching will not pay the bills for me. But what does "pay the bills" look like moving forward, do I really need to stay on the path I'm on, or do we make serious lifestyle changes so that our footprint and therefore cost of living are reduced? One post cannot address and I am certain that over time that whatever I think today will change, shift, morph to something different. That change is one of three things we are certain of - death, taxed, and change. Everything changes, every minute, every second.

Mastering Diabetes: What I have learned - Part 1

As I read Mastering Diabetes (MD) by Cyrus Khambatta and Robby Barbaro and watching their Mastering Diabetes channel on YouTube I've been learning more and more about diabetes. I think the first thing I learned is that there isn't just type 1 or type 2. There is Pre-Diabetes, Type 1, Type 1.5, Type 2 and Gestational diabetes. Each of these require different approaches to the treatment plan.

Mastering Diabetes

On November 1st I was diagnosed with Diabetes. Which is disappointing in general but particularly for me as back in 2014 I went full on whole food plant based largely because I was obese and pre-diabetic. I was able to drop my weight from 192 to 137 at my lightest but generally around 145 - 150. All my biometrics came back to what is considered normal parameters - Total Cholesterol under 0, LDL under 100, cholesterol ratio around 4.1. Glucose under 100 or a touch over upon occasion.

Well fast forward in time and injuries, changes at work(generally for the positive but disruptive to my schedule), and then the pandemic knocked me out of my patterns. Particularly with the pandemic I became more sedentary and I "pampered" myself with vegan food. I want to emphasize I did not go back to eating the Standard American Diet (SAD) but just loosed up to eat vegan. I also ate more and some of those bad lifestyle patterns came back to roost - sitting in front of the boob tube after work for a couple of hours.

Free Yoga as in Free Speech not as in Free Beer

My friend and fellow yogi, Evan, posted on the Cultivate Yoga Instagram account the following about the offerings we have at the Cultivate Yoga Space, our yoga studio:

At Cultivate, FREE YOGA does not only apply in the financial realm and how we have chosen to share our offerings to the community within a gift-based model. FREE YOGA also means that the yoga we offer is free from the constraints of western practices and eastern philosophies. FREE YOGA means we recognize that a true yoga practice is eternally evolving, perpetually in motion and is unique to each and every one of our students. FREE YOGA means that we recognize every student who chooses to practice with us is on their own journey and it is our most sacred duty to create space that will allow for that journey to flow freely with space for infinite exploration. FREE YOGA means that every one of our teachers holds the freedom to completely be themselves and show up how they need to on any given day for themselves and our students. FREE YOGA means that each class we offer is unique, each student we serve is unique and each teacher who serves with us is unique - and when all of these elements align in their authenticity, an infinite FREEDOM occurs. This is FREE YOGA. Click on the link in our bio to learn more about our gift-based model.