In this issue:
The ERSATZ ISSUE: Looking for the Perfect Yoga Mat, and Fake Snow????
A Winter’s Haiku
A Short List of Resources, Devices, Courses that Help Me - My Personal Recommendations (and there are more) If you want to be recommended, the email is at the bottom of the page
1 Creepy Article about the implications of Pfizer buying a Cancer Treatment Company (create a problem, sell the solution, buy the company that can ‘cure’ the problem you created). I probably should have kept this out, but it so illustrates what goes on in their timeline. Aren’t you glad that you’re not part of that timeline. I’m serious! Really….
In Search of The Perfect Yoga Mat
I haven’t done yoga in ages. I did my first asana at age 15-ish. My mother took a yoga class at the local Y when I was in high school. I saw her in an upside down pose. I was quite limber and easily got myself into position. When I went away to college in 1969, yoga was everywhere. Boulder, CO - LSD, Holy Man Jam, Choygam Trungpa Rinpoche, and Yoga. I could twist myself into any position, which had its benefits when I had to duck and shimmy to enter the Japanese Tea hut where Sensei Takeko was teaching me the Way of Tea Ceremony. What a great time - to live in the mountains in a chicken shack without water or electricity, and yet be in town within 20 minutes of sticking out my thumb to hitch a ride down Sunshine Canyon (the real name) to Pearl Street (before the mall).
Along the way I wound up making yoga a regular part of wherever I went, riding my bicycle many miles to my teacher’s home studio until she got a store front in town, where I worked the front desk until she was raped in the studio, and my purse was stolen. Just like most things in my life, I was all in for a few years, and then fell out. I don’t know what happened to my yoga mats when I fell out, but it seems like back then I wasn’t as concerned with a sustainable eco yoga mat as I was about 20 years ago, and after a cancer diagnosis.
I got my first truly sustainable mat (to join our eco-friendly couch, bed, organic cotton towels and clothing, etc.) from nakedmats - no longer in business. I don’t know what happened to the mat but I still have the carrying bag.
There were several other sustainable mats that provided me comfort,(like the Manduka EKO) that got lost in the savoy shuffle. Last night I decided I’m going to start doing yoga again - not the hot yoga I once loved, but gentle yoga where I hope I can find my happy baby somewhere over my very fluffy buddha belly. I searched these terms: sustainable eco yoga mat. and what I mostly got was ERSATZ.
That’s a word I heard my Romanian & Eastern European ancestors using a lot. Maybe about food? I don’t remember, but I knew it meant kinda fake - counterfeit, imitation, phony, sham, substitute synthetic.
So here’s the deal. BUYER BEWARE: Just like they are using euphemisms to hide synthetic shit, GMOs, and insects in our food…they do the same thing with EVERYTHING. And if you’re not lucky enough to be #stillHuman, you will soon become ersatz transhuman too. They want to ersatz the fook out of everything…including our spirits, but that ain’t gonna happen. . . so back at the ashram… I found a few genuine organic, eco (not what you think it means), sustainable yoga mats. But what’s eco and sustainable to ‘them’ is not sustainable to me.
Here’s the real truth (vs. the ersatz truth, if that’s even a thing)…
Yogis everywhere are becoming more conscious of their environmental footprint, as well as the harmful effects that toxins and chemicals have on their bodies.
There are so many yoga mats out there that claim to be green, eco-friendly, and safer. Still, they are not completely toxic-free, because they are made still with petroleum materials.
So check the ingredients in your mat. You’re breathing close to it, you’re lying on it, you’re having a love affair with your nose and body with it. So shouldn’t it be as authentically healthy as you? Om shanti??? Even GAIAM, come on Gaiam, get real!!!!
Conventional Yoga Mats
❌PVC Yoga Mat: the majority of the yoga mat on the market are made with PVC, polyvinyl chloride, or "vinyl" that is #3 plastic resin code. They are made from petroleum, they contain heavy metals, paraffin wax, plasticizers, phthalates. Vinyl chloride – the main ingredient in PVC – is a human carcinogen. PVC is not biodegradable. Exposure comes form inhalation and skin contact.
Greenwashing Yoga Mats
Even if they claim phthalate-free, lead-free, BPA-free, or 6P Free: Free of DEHP, DBP, BBP, DINP, DIDP, and DNOP phthalates, they could still contain PVC. Yoga mat brands should label their products with accurate, clear information about composition. "Environmentally friendly" claims should not be attached to PVC.
❌ PU Yoga Mat: PU leather, or polyurethane leather, is an artificial leather made of thermoplastic polymer
Brands: Gaiam yoga mats and Alo Yoga Mat
❌TPE Yoga Mat: This PVC-free alternative is greenwashing. Thermoplastic elastomers TPE is a blend of undisclosed synthetic materials that have not been proven safe: a mix of polymers, such as rubber and plastic. TPE is not biodegradable.
Brands: ThinkSport yoga mats
❌PER Yoga Mat: Made of PVC plus other unspecified additives.
Yoga mats labeled PER, Polymer Environmental Resin, were made of PVC (vinyl), a material that is harmful to our environment, particularly during production and disposal.
It can biodegrade, however, biodegradable plastics are also under the same category of plastics that break down into extremely small particles that aren't organic, but in fact small pieces of plastic.... Creating plastic that's impossible to clean up, polluting the soil and water.
The apparent manufacturer of PER, Lan Song Industrial LLC, makes a number of claims about the material.
Brands: Gaiam yoga mats
❌ Synthetic rubber: made of petroleum-based materials including 1,3-butadiene, a human carcinogen.
Read More - including options for better and best yoga mats from Pretty Girl Organic, https://www.prettyorganicgirl.com/yoga-mat.
My Choice: I’m looking at cork with real rubber (because I’m not allergic to latex) yoga mat. See you on the mat, where I hope I will do more than just savasana!
More Ersatz: FAKE SNOW
In the SHADOWS of WINTER - HAPPY SOLSTICE!
A WINTER’S HAIKU - Cartoons by Armida Lowe
Can you relate? WInter’s here. You’d hardly know it from walking in the West Marin Hills last weekend. And although we did see a beautiful white heron flying overhead (and close to us) it flew between us and the noon sun overhead in a very blue sky. That bright sun and warm light lasted just a few hours before our valley got cold and dark as the sun set over the hills.
What delights are coming your way this Winter Season? Whatever it is for you, may you find Peace in Moments, Regulation in your Nervous System, Love in your Heart. I am going to savor every second I get in a state of Awe, Play, Connection, Groundedness, Beauty, Gratitude, Nature. Thank you for shining your light as we enter the darkest day, the Winter Solstice, and slow down into the rhythms of Mother Earth.
Some of My Personal Recommendations of workshops, people, devices to help me make it through the winter (and the rest of my life)
Here are some programs and devices that help me slow down and connect. I do not get a kickback or anything if you join or purchase. If you have methods that are nurturing your spirit, please share in the Substack comments:
The 21 Day Journey to Calm Aliveness with Dr. Aimie Apigian, MD and Addiction & Trauma Healing Specialist and Kick-Ass Presenter of Trauma Healing. The next Journey begins in March. I am a Mentor in this program.
Christine Tulis, Angelic Singer, Composer, Harpist and Energy Worker, and more - subscribe to her mailing list to be notified of her events, buy her music, or book a session. Be prepared to be transported to another dimension!
Somagetics - Transpersonal Energy Healing (there’s another program called Somagetic with the “S” that looks juicy but it’s not the same.
Core Embodiment with Ajaya Sommers - I have taken Ajaya’s Core Embodiment training and work with her individually as well as in a group.
Leanne Venier’s REDjuvenator Red and Near Infrared Light with Quantum Codes (that sounds like a meaningless buzz word, but you can ask Leanne what she means by that). Leanne also has a Telegram group for natural pet health and rearing and a group that is down the wabbit hole. I read Ari Whitten’s Red Light Therapy book, and Mark Sloan’s book on Red Light Therapy and watched many videos and spoke to sellers of different kinds of systems. We did buy a pad system for our pets, although the REDjuvenator is good for pets too. After a 90 minute phone call with Leanne, and following her Telegram groups, I bought the REDjuvenator. About 5 other MFR friends who purchased one last week too.
Marin Holistic Health & Acupuncture in Fairfax offers MFR friend initial 20% off their already discounted price of just about any brand of supplements. Laurie & Dr. Angie are our close friends. Again, I get nothing by recommending their services. I have discounts at several online dispensaries and theirs is the least expensive of all. Please accept their invitation to use their dispensary to get just about ever brand of supplement you need at super discounted rates. Contact them and tell them you want the MFR discount.
Blessed by His Blood - Blood Bank for #stillHuman blood
Protocol Kills …Remember - If anyone you love or know and care about is admitted to a hospital, please contact https://www.protocolkills.com/
The MFR Website - For those who have been part of MFR for a few years, we still have a website where we list freedom-friendly services, commerce, classes, sessions, businesses, etc. You need to be an MFR member to access this list, and you need to be vetted by at least 3 active MFR members (or personally know one of the members well) to join the private group. I haven’t done much with the website since starting the substack, but if you’d like to update your listing, please send info to befree@marinfreedomrising.com.
Thank you and to you and yours as well. It somehow "feels" like a solstice today and tonight, time for some major changes, turning toward the light.
From another Substack I follow...about a CD Nose Spray!
https://open.substack.com/pub/robertyoho/p/snoot-spray-is-nose-magic?r=7mv4t&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post