IV: Purifying the Body, Mind, and Earth: Sustainable Energy Solutions for a Greener Future
Welcome to Module 4 on Purification. In this class we will learn about purifying our body temples, silence & meditation, and going full organic and mostly plant-based. As well as our favorite exercises to inspire growth and change. Ready? Let’s Dive in.
Affirmation: I am whole. I am in vibrant health. With each breath comes a new opportunity. I choose to make today a great day.
“The wound is the place where the light enters you.”
—Rumi
“Going inward. That’s the real work. The solutions are not outside of us. Get to know who you really are, because as you search for the hero within, you inevitably become one.”
—Emma Tiebens
“Destroy the idea that you have to be constantly working or grinding in order to be successful. Embrace the concept that rest, recovery, and reflection are essential parts of the progress toward a successful and ultimately happy life.”
—Dan Regan
There are many ways to continually purify our bodies, our physical vessels, throughout our day—and throughout our lifetimes. A few ways that have greatly impacted our life are:
Meditation
Fasting
Plant-Based Eating
Yoga or Movement
Time in Nature
Breathwork
These are the practices that help me keep our literal and metaphorical oxygen levels high, ready for any challenge we may face.
Meditation, Silence, & Presence
“Meditation came to me after I dismantled my former life. It was a key part of my healing journey and continues to be part of my daily routine. I wish that meditation were taught in every school to children, but I’m grateful to have found it as an adult. I came to meditation through my yoga practice, where I especially loved savasana (final resting pose) and the guided meditations that my teachers led.
After that, I started to meditate each morning for a few minutes, first using a guided meditation application, and then practicing longer meditations on my own. I realized that living in the present was the single greatest gift I could give myself.
When I live in the now, my life becomes a ceremony.” Jean Regenerate Your Reality Book
“Accept—then act. Whatever the present moment contains, accept it as if you had chosen it. Always work with it, not against it. Make it your friend and ally, not your enemy. This will miraculously transform your whole life.”
―Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment
Meditation (along with practicing silence) accelerates our awareness of the subtle layers of our being. At times, it can bring deeply buried issues to the forefront of our mind for resolution; at others, it can provide instant access to a state of pure bliss. The continued practice of meditation will calm your mental activity and allow you to become an observer in your own mind. As your meditation practice matures, that sense of inner serenity and balance makes its way into all corners of your life, and you will feel like the happy, steady person you are, inside and out. When we overcome the tyranny of our mind, we free ourselves from the limitations of our mental conditioning.
The mastery of meditation can only be achieved through practice. Luckily, more and more people seem to be jumping on board. According to a study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 14.2 percent of US adults surveyed in 2017 said they had practiced meditation at least once in the last year. Evidence suggests that meditation can help to improve anxiety levels 60 percent of the time; after meditating for six to nine months, almost two-thirds of those prone to anxiety managed to reduce their anxiety levels.
Gratitude
At least once a day,our family shares gratitude with those around us. We share gratitude before each meal in appreciation for the food that is our medicine and the center of our day. If you’re new to the practice of gratitude, you may like to start with a gratitude journal.
Meditation is a tool that we use every day. we now think of it as a routine, like brushing your teeth. It helps me slow down and set intentions before we start our day. With meditation, we set our entire day up with a clear mind and open heart. There are many forms of meditation—movement, yoga, singing, deep breathing, mindfulness—so you can absolutely find something that works for you. we highly recommend adopting some form of meditation as a daily practice. Practicing meditation can increase your attention span after only four days, and it can increase your productivity by 120 percent, so you’ll probably notice a difference very quickly.
“Mindfulness is a miracle by which we master and restore ourselves.”
—Thich Nhat Hanh
The Body Is a Temple
As an environmentalist and an animal lover, we choose to eat a variety of plant-based, whole, organic, regenerative foods grown in our garden or purchased from local farmers and markets. (we just dropped so many labels there, it was like a rap song!)our body and mind are happiest without meat or dairy. We have experimented on ourselves for over seven years, exploring different diet choices such as fully organic, partly regenerative, vegan, vegetarian, and raw.our body feels nourished. We prefer not to label ourselves by any specific diet; we trust our inner knowing to decide what our needs are in different cycles.
We all have intuitive knowledge about what makes us feel most vibrant and alive. It is so important to trust our intuition on what our body needs and also be conscious of our consumption at the same time. The documentary Forks Over Knives drastically influence our lifestyle and diet. It talks about The China Study, which found that people who consume fewer animal products—only eating meat as a condiment for their rice and vegetables—live longer and with fewer illnesses. In The China Study, Dr. T. Colin Campbell “details the connection between nutrition and heart disease, diabetes, and cancer.”
Plant-based diets are not just better for our bodies; they are better for our environment as well. For example, agriculture is responsible for 80–90 percent of US water consumption, and growing food crops for livestock is responsible for 56 percent of water consumption in the US.
According to scientific research, the land required to feed one person for one year is as follows:
Vegan: ⅙ acre
Vegetarian: 3x as much as a vegan
Meat Eater: 18x as much as a vegan