T. Krisphnamacharya & Nalamdana – Packing my Bags

I am looking forward to my third trip to Chenai (Maddras) this January where I will be lucky enough to visit T.K.V. Desikachar’s school of Yoga named after and in honor of his father T. Krishnamacharya. The Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram was named to honor Krishnamacharya’s lifelong study of the human spirit and Yoga. Mandiram means Manda (darkness) and ram (fire)… the school is the fire that dispelled the darkness…

In preparation for my trip I am reading Health, Healing and Beyond Yoga and the Living Tradition of T. Krishnamacyarya by his son T.K.V. Kesikachar with R.H. Cravens. It is whetting my appetite for what I belive will be a truly fruitful trip to visit my dear friends and to reinvigorate the work I am doing with Nalamdana.

If anyone is not yet initiated into the work of Nalamdana and wants to support them please feel free to shoot me off an email and I will connect you. This is my 8th Year as Vice President of the Friends of Nalamdana Board of Trustees (US) and every year I see the impact of their work and how they are able to impact thousands and thousands of people with an annual budget covering EVERYTHING with only $50,000. This is something that makes me feel as if my money is well spent! Providing life-saving health messages through talented and creative dedicated people who I happen to know personally and respect greatly!

Nalamdana’s Mission
Nalamdana is a non-profit organization that uses creative, innovative and entertaining behavior change methods with community participation, to enable people to make better-informed decisions about their health and their families.

About Nalamdana
Nalamdana’s vision is to create positive social change through communication, for a healthier and better educated society. We believe access to complete and correct information is a basic right for all communities irrespective of social, economic or educational status. Our mission is to use creative, innovative, participatory behaviour change communication to enable target audiences to make better informed decisions about their health and for their families.

Initially, Nalamdana addressed a wide variety of health topics ranging from alcoholism, cancer prevention and suicide prevention to clean water and personal health and hygiene. Starting in 2000, after seven years of working closely with communities, Nalamdana zeroed in on HIV AIDS prevention and Maternal and Child Health as the two areas most critically in need of knowledge intervention. The belief that the message-embedded-in-entertainment method has extraordinary retention and recall. Using response-driven participatory methods – the communication media reflects the changing nature and knowledge level of audiences. The micro beliefs – for instance, sexual taboos and attitudes, misconceptions about pregnancy and so on – of the community are be woven into the script and successfully addressed.

If you are based in the US, tax deductible donations may be made through FRIENDS OF NALAMDANA. Friends of Nalamdana is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization, whose purpose is to support the work of Nalamdana.
Please mail your checks to: (made payable to Friends of Nalamdana)
Friends of Nalamdana c/o B. Weinstein 207 West 98th Street NY, NY 10025

Coney Island Celebrated! (For You, Frannie, You Are Missed)

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Natural Wonders

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Best of New York!

“Describes how to find and explore some of the greener parts of the concrete jungle.” — The Record

Leslie Day is a biology and life science teacher at The Elisabeth Morrow School. She developed the City Naturalists Summer Institute with the Central Park Conservancy and is the author of Field Guide to the Natural World of New York City, also published by Johns Hopkins. Trudy Smoke (my aunt) is a professor of English at Hunter College, City University of New York, and a talented writer, photographer, and [amazing] illustrator.

Not only is this guide beautiful, from the paper chosen to make the illustrations pop off the page, to the photographs, and the great maps (my uncle contributed) … and of course, it is also beautifully written (Leslie!).

I have ordering multiple copies now for the holidays! I think everyone in New York needs a copy — we forget how beautiful and diverse our Big Apple really is.

Delicious Colors of the Season

Halloween Merriment to All.

The Triumph of New-Age Medicine – The Atlantic (Integrative Medicine)

What do you think? Isn’t the term New Age a potential turn-off for integrative medicine? Certainly non-descriptive and sounds almost too flakey to be health related. However, integrative medicine is KEY and this is an interesting article. Please feel free to send feedback.

The Triumph of New-Age Medicine
MEDICINE HAS LONG DECRIED ACUPUNCTURE, HOMEOPATHY, AND THE LIKE AS DANGEROUS NONSENSE THAT PREYS ON THE GULLIBLE. AGAIN AND AGAIN, CAREFULLY CONTROLLED STUDIES HAVE SHOWN ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE TO WORK NO BETTER THAN A PLACEBO. BUT NOW MANY DOCTORS ADMIT THAT ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE OFTEN SEEMS TO DO A BETTER JOB OF MAKING PATIENTS WELL, AND AT A MUCH LOWER COST, THAN MAINSTREAM CARE—AND THEY’RE TRYING TO LEARN FROM IT.

By David H. Freedman
IMAGE CREDIT: STEPHEN WEBSTER

I MEET BRIAN BERMAN, a physician of gentle and upbeat demeanor, outside the stately Greek columns that form the facade of one of the nation’s oldest medical-lecture halls, at the edge of the University of Maryland Medical Center in downtown Baltimore. The research center that Berman directs sits next door, in a much smaller, plainer, but still venerable-looking two-story brick building. A staff of 33 works there, including several physician-researchers and practitioner-researchers, funded in part by $35 million in grants over the past 14 years from the National Institutes of Health, which has named the clinic a Research Center of Excellence. In addition to conducting research, the center provides medical care. Indeed, some patients wait as long as two months to begin treatment there—referrals from physicians all across the medical center have grown beyond the staff’s capacity. “That’s a big change,” says Berman, laughing. “We used to have trouble getting any physicians here to take us seriously.”

Also see:

The Center for Integrative Medicine, Berman’s clinic, is focused on alternative medicine, sometimes known as “complementary” or “holistic” medicine. There’s no official list of what alternative medicine actually comprises, but treatments falling under the umbrella typically include acupuncture, homeopathy (the administration of a glass of water supposedly containing the undetectable remnants of various semi-toxic substances), chiropractic, herbal medicine, Reiki (“laying on of hands,” or “energy therapy”), meditation (now often called “mindfulness”), massage, aromatherapy, hypnosis, Ayurveda (a traditional medical practice originating in India), and several other treatments not normally prescribed by mainstream doctors. The term integrative medicine refers to the conjunction of these practices with mainstream medical care.

read full article here:

The Triumph of New-Age Medicine – The Atlantic.

Chemistry + Conversion Video

Who Would have THUNK it? I love chemistry. My new favorite textbook… General, Organic, and Biological Chemistry (Structures of Life).

It is hard for me to truly absorb the way life works or does not work sometimes so I have stopped trying to figure it out and am now focusing on figuring this out instead which may be just as complicated! Watch this video – try to follow along, work the problem and please me know how you do.

Why am I working pre-algebra problems? Not because I have suddenly discovered a deep longing for the math I was missing my whole life but for a more pragmatic reason…
Now in school (again) working toward fulfilling my pre-reqs for to be admitted to school to become an occupational therapist… which is the allopathic path and parallel to between the work I do in being a Yoga Therapist. I am excited and scared and having completed ONE week of Chemistry am truly thrilled to have this opportunity. The first EXAM is Monday so while you are all enjoying the sunshine this weekend think of me studying away.

Calling all volunteer tutors!

Insult of the Day

These glorious insults are from an era before the English language got boiled down to 4- letter words. (I am not the author of this it came from an email not attributed to anyone specific.)

“He had delusions of adequacy.” – Walter Kerr
“He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire.” – Winston Churchill
“I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure.” Clarence Darrow
“He has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the dictionary.” – William Faulkner (about Ernest Hemingway).
“Thank you for sending me a copy of your book; I’ll waste no time reading it.” – Moses Hadas
“I didn’t attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it.” – Mark Twain
“He has no enemies, but is intensely disliked by his friends..” – Oscar Wilde
“I am enclosing two tickets to the first night of my new play; bring a friend…. if you have one.” – George Bernard Shaw to Winston Churchill
“Cannot possibly attend first night, will attend second… if there is one.” – Winston Churchill, in response.
“I feel so miserable without you; it’s almost like having you here.” – Stephen Bishop
“He is a self-made man and worships his creator.” – John Bright
“I’ve just learned about his illness. Let’s hope it’s nothing trivial..” – Irvin S. Cobb
“He is not only dull himself; he is the cause of dullness in others.” – Samuel Johnson
“He is simply a shiver looking for a spine to run up.” – Paul Keating
“In order to avoid being called a flirt, she always yielded easily.” – Charles, Count Talleyrand
“He loves nature in spite of what it did to him.” – Forrest Tucker
“Why do you sit there looking like an envelope without any address on it?” – Mark Twain
“His mother should have thrown him away and kept the stork.” – Mae West
“Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go.” – Oscar Wilde
“He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lamp-posts… for support rather than illumination.” – Andrew Lang (1844-1912)
“He has Van Gogh’s ear for music.” – Billy Wilder
“I’ve had a perfectly wonderful evening. But this wasn’t it.” –
Groucho Marx

WaterAid Video Hip Hip Poo Poo

Came across this while researching a water project and think its worth a viewing. While a minute too long the humor is good and this is well done (no pun intended on the well….)

Wind Energy Ad wins Cannes Award

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Epuron Wind from Christos on Vimeo.

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Worth watching!