April 2007 Archives

Calling spiritually-inclined parents and members of mixed faith households: You'll be interested in an article I just wrote for Beliefnet's "Spiritual Parenting Week" package. They called it "A Christian Mom Makes a Bar Mitzvah," and it's about how I have raised my sons in my husband's faith. Here's the beginning of the piece:

It's a thing good I've had thirteen years to prepare for what's coming: I will be the beaming Christian mommy of a bar mitzvah boy this May 26th.

While my teen-to-be is memorizing his Torah portion, I'm gathering bar mitzvah tips from any Jewish mom I can stop on the street. I've been to only two bar mitzvahs in my life, so I don't have much experience.

Still, I have set some goals: I want the bar mitzvah ceremony to be memorable, meaningful, imbued with gratitude and love. I want the whole day to be authentically ours, as well as in keeping with what millions of Jews have done before us. I want to bring myself, as a supportive non-Jewish parent, to the table...or to the Torah, proud of my son and his Jewish heritage. I want to show that Jewish-Christian intermarriage won't complete what Hitler started, and that, at our house at least, faith breeds faith, and love is all that matters.

Read the rest here.

Out of last month's Virginia Tech shootings comes the call for "pure bliss consciousness," or more precisely, the teaching of a meditation method that can help young people believe in themselves, and stand up for non-violence.

Filmmaker David Lynch planned a very compelling press conference today, and aired it on the web, to discuss his campaign to help end school violence by teaching one million young people Transcendental Meditation (TM), a method of calming the mind through mantra repetition. Lynch's successful foundation has already provided nearly $5 million to support in-school Transcendental Meditation programs for thousands of students in public and private schools in the United States and around the world.

In the press release, Lynch and British folk singer Donovan Leitch spoke about how they themselves have conquered their own anger, and connected to the peace of their inner worlds through two 10-minute TM sessions a day. Quantum physicist John Hagelin (of "What the Bleep Do We Know?!", and "The Secret") also spoke about the change in the brain's basic chemistry under stress and after meditating.

Since we were just discussing this last week, it is interesting to note that their release says the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has granted more than $24 million to study the benefits of TM for reducing high levels of stress and anxiety, improving brain functioning, and promoting cardiovascular health. Other published research shows that regular meditation can "reduce depression, drug and alcohol abuse, and hypertension—while improving academic performance, creativity, intelligence, and ADD."

The conversation of meditation's benefits will no doubt continue when Lynch, Hagelin, and Donovan explore their anti-violence plan in detail during a national student weekend at Maharishi University of Management (a TM school) in Fairfield, Iowa, May 25 to 28. Students from throughout the United States are invited to attend, so check out this link to learn more.

The New York Times magazine published an amusing exchange between interviewer Deborah Solomon and Def Jam Records co-founder Russell Simmons yesterday that points to the general public's confusion about the difference between meditation and relaxation (just doing something pleasurable).

When Solomon says in the interview that Simmons' book "Do You! 12 Laws to Access the Power in You to Achieve Happiness and Success" advocates old-fashioned American values and hard work, Simmons corrects her: "The book doesn’t say just work hard. It says meditate. That’s the most important thing in the book. I go to yoga every day. I meditate every morning. Do you meditate?"

Solomon says, "I prefer reading in bed. That for me is meditation."

"No, it's not. It's noise," Simmons snaps back. "It’s the opposite. To be awake is to be fully present, no noise, just you and God. Most of us only have seconds of full consciousness."

Simmons is right. Soothing activities aren't meditation, and are often quite different from focusing on the breath, and calming the chatter. I notice more and more people saying that they meditate when they're driving (oh-oh...look out!), or exercising. Do you see the distinction between focused concentration, relaxing or soothing yourself, and meditating? We should definitely keep talking about this.

I always think that sleeping is in a way a "small death." Hence every night we face a "small death;" all these small deaths train us for the "big death," and we thereby gain knowledge of how to die.

--excerpted from a teaching on sleep by the Venerable Gedun Tharchin, a Lharampa Geshe from Ganden Monastic University, reprinted from the Buddhist perioidical Snow Lion. Gedun Tharchin advocates sleeping on the right side with your right hand directly under your face. Unfortunately, I don't do this. I sleep on my back. How do you sleep, and do you see the death connection? Seems like we're more connected to, and engaged by, the sleep-death similarities as kids.

This morning I popped a free-range chicken from the food co-op into a 350-degree oven thinking I'd serve it to my kids tonight for dinner. I just salted it, threw a clean apple inside it to keep it moist, and sprinkled chopped carrots around the bottom of its iron fry pan.

When the bird was cooked, it smelled so good that I thought, "Hmmm...maybe I'll have just a little bit for lunch." I'd already revived an aging bunch of kale by chopping off the last two-inches of stem and letting it drink like cut flowers in a wide glass of water. So I chopped all that up, sautéed it for two minutes in some sesame oil, added Bragg's liquid protein concentrate and lemon juice. Voila, with chicken, a meal. At noon. That I cooked for myself.

I don't give myself this gift very often. Do you? I think we all struggle to cook for ourselves, to feel deserving of our own little feast (with folded napkin to boot). We instead put our talents into cooking for company, right? But to sit down and serve yourself a balanced meal of your own making is a great pick-me-up. It feels like a prayer in action. Try it, if you haven't done so in awhile. You'll be happy.

What other nurturing habits like this are you cultivating?

If you are orally fixated or someone who likes to fidget and chew at your desk, you are in luck! I have discovered the pleasures of chewing real licorice sticks. Sweet, hard, good for the teeth and filled with subtle...

Andrew Sullivan has a good blog post about how gay men might lift masculinity out of its macho template. He quotes The Agonist's managing editor Ian Welsh who separates male behavior into the "good" and the "toxic." Are the men...

Thanks to Mackenzie Sala's wedding blog "Something Old, Something New" for alerting us to the existence of these exceedingly sweet wedding cake toppers made by artist Ann Wood. Even if you're not getting married, you'll find "Something Old, Something New"...

The Association for Global New Thought has a wonderful website that alerts those with a multi-faith (all-one) mindset to worthy world peace initiatives. Have a look. Click on "Leaders" to read about the group's co-founder Michael Bernard Beckwith, director of...

Annie Berthold-Bond, the "Green Heloise," includes great tips for keeping your closets moth free in her most recent newsletter (which you can sign up for here). Here's how to make your own non-toxic, moth repelling sachets: INGREDIENTS2 ounces each of...

There's a movement afoot to get the Bible taught as literature in more grade schools and high schools. Sounds like an idea that will really inflame a lot of people, but this study by William Jeynes (a non-resident scholar at...

A new healthy snack bar called "Soy Joy" is trying to humorously capitalize upon the idea that anything affiliated with yoga might sell by calling itself "yoga for your mouth." Soy Joy's website additionally features an endorsement from a fit-looking...

I was reading Valerie Reiss's interview with spiritual teacher and medical intuitive Caroline Myss this morning, and I got caught up in what Myss says is today's most common source of spiritual discontent. She said of her students: People say...

I flew down to South Carolina over the weekend to help care for my 93-year-old dad. He's had two terrible falls in recent weeks, seriously bruising the whole left side of his body, especially the upper arm and elbow. Thankfully,...

They're saying green is the "new black." Vogue magazine has a whole section on green clothing, fashions, and shopping totes this month. At $15, this is the only affordable shopping bag the editors mentioned, but it appears to have sold...

After years of confusing the five-pointed star in a circle with Satanic symbolism, the Veterans Administration has finally spoken, and will now allow the Wiccan pentacle to be engraved on the tomb stones of deceased Pagan veterans. Here's a blog...

I love it that she stretched out on her back every morning and rolled her legs up over her head. And I am awed by the fact she looked at herself in the mirror every day and said aloud, "I...

The New York Times had an article in its "Escapes" section about Sacred Harp Singing Conventions--more proof that people are looking for more than just a tan when they vacation. The Times describes Sacred Harp, or sharp-note music as "Gregorian...

The Duke Society for Spirituality, Theology and Health has recently launched this website that includes links to many research papers on the connections between religious beliefs, spiritual practice and your good health. In addition to learning more about how prayer...

Some of us may have been called "idiotic" or "stupid" as kids. We know how that feels. It doesn't feel good. So when actor Alec Baldwin's April 11th voice message to his eleven-year-old daughter Ireland was leaked today, we all...

"Television is a chewing gum for the eyes," architect Frank Lloyd Wright once sneered. I suspect he didn't watch very much, and he got a lot accomplished in his 92 years. "Turn Off Your Television" week begins Monday, April 23rd....

If your computer can play this remarkable video of a dance by the Chinese Disabled People's Performing Art Troupe, I do recommend it. Apparently, every dancer here is both deaf and mute, no doubt making it much more difficult to...

In Soto Zen meditation, teachers sometimes strike the student's shoulders with a Keisaku "awakening stick." What looks like a "paddling" always comes at the request of the student, who may be sleepy or stiff from sitting so long. But the...

Gore was introduced to the New York Sheraton stage last Friday night in the most beautiful way by Bobby McFerrin who slowly built an engaging a cappella melody out of Gore's name. Then the crowd of 1700 environmentally-conscious transformational psychology...

Sorry about the slim posts yesterday. My DSL high-speed Internet connection blew down in Sunday's storm. It's probably not good that our telephone cables run down a wire fence between two Brooklyn backyards. Strange how connections that seem solid one...

Incredible coverage here outlining five ways to celebrate "Earth Week." If you've been concerned about the environment but perplexed about what you can do to restore it, this marvelous package of articles will help....

Here's an online prayer circle where you can post your thoughts and prayers about the Virginia Tech tragedy....

Words cannot express the heartache we all feel as we watch news reports of student deaths on the campus of Virginia Tech today. Here are some prayers I've found that seem appropriate.Blessed are you, Source of LifeWho helps us to...

When it's midnight and you're in your jammies, curling up with the NYTimes mag's story on "The Greening of Geopolitics," you really hate to hear your husband shout "The basement is flooding!" But so he did. These are soggy times....

Oh God, I was already a cell phone-phobe. Now this. Some experts are wondering if cell phone signals are confusing the honey bees' inner directives that help them find their way back to their hives--and killing them in droves....

Happy birthday to me April 17th. And happy birthday to Jesus, who as you must know, was not born on December 25th. Biblical scholars and historians of religion have always suspected that Christ might have been born in the Spring,...

By Valerie Reiss, filling in for Amy.Oddly enough, this week Deirdre Imus, wife to embattled shock jock Don Imus, came out with a book, "Green This! Volume 1: Greening Your Cleaning", about how to clean you home with fewer toxins....

By Valerie Reiss, filling in for Amy.I just logged on to Amazon and saw a little box that said "Valerie's Plog: 66 Posts." Of course my first question was, "What's a plog?" So I clicked.Apparently, a plog is this: "Your...

By Valerie Reiss, filling in for Amy.The wonderful author Kurt Vonnegut died yesterday at age 84.Though I've buried many of the details of his amazing books deep into my adolescent psyche where they first bloomed (or rather, exploded), I know...

By Valerie Reiss, filling in for Amy.Hi. I thought I'd take a moment and poll those of you reading about what you'd like from this blog. Technologically, it's hard for us to tell which posts "work" and which fall flat....

By Valerie Reiss, filling in for Amy.Hi. So last night I went for my annual CAT scan to make sure that I still don't have cancer again. I know Amy's written about her fantasy of how hospitals should be--soothing music,...

By Valerie Reiss, filling in for Amy.Earth Day is upon us, Earthlings, and it seems like there is so much more happening now that in years past. I'm seeing a truly incredible upwelling of support, outrage, and determination to turn...

By Valerie Reiss, filling in for Amy.I don't know about you, but when I read about all the impending ecological doom, I feel pretty helpless. My heart clenches into a little fist of "No" so I don't have to think...

By Valerie Reiss, filling in for Amy.I have two friends on a juice and salad fast this week, Organic Avenue's touted five-day L.O.V.E. fast, based in New York City. You get small "meals" delivered all week. I thought their little...

By Valerie Reiss, filling in for Amy.Are you or someone you love suffering from cubicle-itis? That is, are they or you spending most waking hours in a little box o' gray? I know, most people imagine the offices here to...

By Valerie Reiss, filling in for Amy.Have you ever had the unfortunate experience of seeing (and hearing) a bird crash into a window?While on a silent Buddhist retreat, Jim Kullander, Omega Institute's editor-in-chief, saw two sparrows crash into his cabin's...

By Valerie Reiss, filling in for Amy.Hi, so I'm bragging and sharing: Dr. Andrew Weil's website just reprinted my B'net essay on my deep ambivalence about "The Secret."As I was checking out my story there (the sight of my name...

By Valerie Reiss, covering for Amy. I've been wanting to share my fascination/disgust/happiness at the growing number of giant food companies coming out with organic versions of their products. The first shock was the box of Organic Oreos I saw...

By Valerie Reiss, covering for Amy.You may or may not be familiar with the song ragingly popular about a year ago, "My Humps," by the Black Eyed Peas, featuring Fergie. It's catchy, but about as irritating as someone chewing on...

By Valerie Reiss, covering for Amy.Found this lovely little reminder on Treehugger today, it's the Want vs. Need Glass, cleverly designed to overflow at the first drop over need. It's a statement on water consumption.Here's what Trendhunter had to say:...

Here's a fascinating project and website: Fire the Grid. It is the creation of a woman, who with her young son, nearly drowned in a lake in 2002. In the midst of her near-death experience, she heard voices that told...

Corporations are getting into blogging big-time with hopes of warming up their products, and cultivating more personal relationships with consumers. Tide detergent has a message board, with opportunities for readers to log on and write about their laundry experiences. Who'd...

I'll be off next week to relax a bit and then go to the Omega "Being Fearless" conference here in New York, where both Al Gore and Jane Goodall will give keynotes! Have a wonderfully healthy week. Take good care...

I went to the most moving and beautiful Taize evening prayer service in Brooklyn last night at the Park Slope United Methodist Church. After 45 minutes of silence, prayer, and chant, I left the sanctuary infused with God's spirit, prepared...

There's a hilarious article about the popularity of green tea on Slate right now, written by editor Jacob Weisberg. I can't quite tell if he's really a new convert to the wonder beverage. I kind of doubt it. One thing's...

Hey guys, here is some fantastic "spiritual" couture I'm putting it up, not to arouse your desire, but to affirm that this is a fashion direction you'll be seeing more. The Asian-influenced silk-paneled jackets are really gorgeous, but here's the...

Spoke to a friend this morning who moaned, "I'm not eating carbs these days.""Oh!" said I, "I'm off wheat, dairy, and sugar!"When I say I'm off sugar, I mean refined sugar, honey, maple syrup, and all artificial sweeteners (which I've...

"Queen of Green" Debra Lynn Dadd has posted an article about dyeing Easter eggs with onion skins, cranberry juice, beet skins, red cabbage, wine, and turmeric....

Los Angeles knitter and photographer Lisa Ann Auerbach has lived by the motto "Stop making scarves. Start making trouble" since 2005 when she made her first pair of Iraq War body count mittens. The American body count number knitted into...

Do you have this Tallis Scholars CD of Gregorio Allegri's "Miserere"? If not, have a listen to the excerpts on Amazon.com, and consider adding it to your sacred music collection. And read the Amazon.com reviews online where early music authorities,...

As I was researching Allegri's "Miserere," I found this list of Daniel Graser's favorite pieces of sacred music on Amazon.com. Handel, Bruckner, Faure, Mahler, Brahams, Beethovan, Berlioz: Graser is a modern-day saxophonist who seems to know what he's talking about....

How does the month of April affect you? Julia Bondi writes this in a recent Mooncircles.com essay on the "Intuitive Message for the Libra Full Moon:""Celebrations of spring, resurrection, and spiritual survival are natural to this season. Aries ushers in...

Don't miss this interview with "Traveling Mercies" author Anne Lamott, where she opens wide the definition of what a resurrection is....

Here's another piece from the "Times" too irresistible to pass up for mention: this one is about people trying facial yoga to relax face and neck muscles and perhaps offset wrinkles. "People want a healthy alternative to looking good without...

Here's another fun egg project. This one involves blowing the contents of the egg out of its shell through a tiny hole (something older kids will think is cool when they've outgrown the thrills of egg dying). Then the hollow...