Three years ago, I gave up eating meat. I became a 'Pescatarian', as it's so nicely called, when fish is your sole food intake from the animal kingdom. The more yoga I did, the more difficult it became to digest meat. Much more importantly, however, was the fact that I was becoming increasingly aware that I was breaking the first rule of yoga, Ahimsa, or non-violence, by eating animals. This coincided with many new scientific discoveries of the intelligence of animals, and how much they could experience fear, pain, and stress. I wrote a previous post about the incredible intelligence of whales (see my previous post of Whales R Us). But only eating fish turned into a different dilemma. The lack of fish in the ocean, and how over-fishing is changing the whole biosphere , the level of pollution in the fish, and then as the last straw, the pollution caused by the fish farming industry itself. So this fall I tried on a strictly Vegan diet, on which I felt fine with, I even thrived, until I realized that I was deficient in protein, of which I'm still suffering some consequences. And now, in a new article in the Science Section of the New York Times, the author outlines new scientific evidence that the plant kingdom is a lot more aware than what we've previously even could imagine. Maybe you could argue that the plant kingdom still has the lowest level of awareness, but it will nevertheless try to defend itself if it gets attacked, and it will fight for its life, any way that it can.
They only way I see I can navigate these morally tricky waters, and yet keep myself nourished, is by adopting the Native American way of eating, which is to use grace, and thank each animal that provided its life, and life-force to me so I could live, and see myself part of larger eco-system where everything is recycled eventually. I still maintain a strong plant-based diet, consisting of greens, nuts and fruits, since my body responds very positively to that type of food, and then eat limited amounts of animal protein, still primarily fish. The new insights won't solve my moral dilemma, but it provides me for yet another reason to view everything as sacred, and give thanks to everything I eat, even if it's 'only' a plant that gave its life to feed me.
I recently read an article in NYT, written by Daniel Bergner, called "Women Who Want To Want". The article outlines that more and more women are seeking out help because they don't feel any sexual desire, and the article discusses possible causes and solutions. Nothing new. But what caught my eye was this researcher, a woman who's teaching women to increase their libido through different techniques such as mindfulness, and yoga. She retells a story about when she was doing yoga one day, while telling herself like a mantra "I'm an especially sexual woman, capable of a high level of desire, a high level of response.", and it had a very powerful effect.
When I started practicing yoga ten years ago, it had a dramatic effect on my libido. After a few years of practice, I was suddenly horny like a teenage boy. I know many other women who've made similar discoveries. What I learned was that when I was OUT of my body, living out of my head, stressed, worrying about a gazillion things, my desire was more or less shut off. But as soon as I moved INTO my body, I discovered my senses, my sensuality, and then my desire knew no limits. Yet, it wasn't only my yoga practice. During the same time period, I allowed myself to live life on my own terms, for the first time in my life, which was definitely another powerful aphrodisiac.
I believe the author and the researchers over-complicate the 'enigma' of women and desire. We don't need a Viagra pill for women. What we need is to be more physical and sensual, living more in accordance of our inner desires and passions. And that would be good not only for women, but also for their partners and everyone around them. Because if our sexual energy is repressed, it means that our life-energy is repressed. And if we want to change the world, we need all the life-force we can get!
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