Planet Yoga second such company to fold in two months
Tanna Chong and Amy Nip
SCMP May 15, 2010
A yoga chain with three outlets and 13,000 members closed suddenly yesterday – the second such closure in two months – owing customers tens of thousands of dollars in prepaid fees.
For many customers, Planet Yoga’s closure was a double blow after they had joined it at a discounted rate following the closure of Yoga Yoga International in March.
Notices posted outside seven-year-old Planet Yoga’s branch in Central yesterday said it had folded because it was short of cash.
It said banks had withheld revenue of more than HK$5 million since September last year, and there was no timetable for the release of the cash, so it had gone into liquidation.
An industry leader predicted that at least two other yoga chains, of about eight remaining, would close this year because of stagnant demand and fierce price competition.
Yim Yuk-yip, who said she lost more than HK$10,000 when Yoga Yoga closed and more with the latest closure, said she wouldn’t join another yoga school. “If you suffered a loss twice, would you want it a third time?” she said. Another woman, who said she had been a member of Yoga Yoga and Planet Yoga, lost HK$10,000 and HK$12,000 respectively in the two closures.
Other customers complained that they had been lured into renewing contracts before they were due through what they said were unscrupulous sales methods.
One said she was asked to sign a second contract five months after the first. “The staff withheld my membership card after I attended a class,” she said. “Then they pestered me from 7pm to almost midnight, until I paid for the second contract.”
But when she looked into the contract details she found it included an extra pre-payment which staff had not mentioned.
“I went to the centre the next day and asked to cancel my purchase but they refused,” she said. She paid more than HK$30,000.
Another woman who said she had signed a two-year contract two months ago, said there had been no warning of the closure.
“I said [to a consultant] that I was worried about sudden closure of the school. But he assured me that the centre had just renewed its tenancy,” she said. She had paid HK$60,000 but had attended only three classes.
Democrat lawmaker Lee Wing-tat said he had been approached by 60 members for assistance and had laid fraud complaints with police for a further seven.
A spokeswoman for the provisional liquidator said refund terms would not be available until the first creditor meeting on May 31. Asked if every member would get back their deposits, she said: “The situation is special and it depends on different cases.”
The Consumer Council received more than 100 inquiries about Planet Yoga yesterday, council chief executive Connie Lau Yin-hing said.
The number of complaints about yoga centres had increased from 188 in 2009 to 199 in the first five months this year, including 12 about Planet Yoga, she said. “When the company closes down, the chance for a student to get a refund is very slim or none at all,” she said. Nevertheless, members could try contacting the liquidator.
Those who had prepaid using credit cards should file a written request to card companies to stop the transactions. Copies of credit card bills and contracts should be included for reference. Consumers should avoid prepayments and opt for companies which offered monthly payments, she said.
Fong Fai, president of the Yoga Association of Hong Kong, said the market had been difficult for two years and predicted two more centres would close this year.
“There was a growing demand after Sars but it has decreased since late 2007. The number of service providers kept going up so malicious price competition emerged,” he said.
Yoga schools relied on one-off payments of new members but new recruitment at some centres had been halved, he said.
The Trade Description Ordinance, which regulates the sale of products, does not cover services.
An evaluation of consumer protection laws was near completion, a Commerce and Economic Development Bureau spokeswoman said. The department was addressing the issue of unscrupulous sales practices, including companies which accept prepayment with no ability or intention of offering services.
Thirty-three Planet Yoga employees sought help from the Labour Department yesterday.
“The world you desired can be won, it exists, it is real, it is possible, it is yours. But to win it requires total dedication and a total break with the world of your past, with the doctrine that man is a sacrificial animal who exists for the pleasure of others. Fight for the value of your person. Fight for the virtue of your pride. Fight for the essence, which is man, for his sovereign rational mind. Fight with the radiant certainty and the absolute rectitude of knowing that yours is the morality of life and yours is the battle for any achievement, any value, any grandeur, any goodness, any joy that has ever existed on this earth.”
~ Ayn Rand’s last public speech (New Orleans Nov 1981)
“If you go to Japan and visit Eiheiji monastery, just before you enter you will see a small bridge called Hanshaku-kyo, which means ‘half-dipper bridge’. Whenever Dogen-zenji dipped water from the river, he used only half a dipper, returning the rest to the river again, without throwing it away. That is why we call the bridge Hanshaku-kyo, ‘half-dipper bridge’. It may be difficult to understand why Dogen returned half of the water he dipped to the river. When we feel the beauty of the river, we intuitively do it in Dogen’s way. It is in our nature to do so. But if your true nature is covered by ideas of economy or efficiency, Dogen’s way makes no sense.
“Our desires are not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in the slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”
That is no country for old men. The young
In one another’s arms, birds in the trees
Those dying generations – at their song,
The salmon-falls, the mackerel-crowded seas,
Fish, flesh, or fowl, commend all summer long
Whatever is begotten, born, and dies.
Caught in that sensual music all neglect
Monuments of unaging intellect.
~ “Sailing to Byzantium”, William Butler Yeats, 1928
“You give little when you give of your possessions.
It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.
For what are your possessions but things you keep and guard for fear you may need them tomorrow?
And tomorrow, what shall tomorrow bring to the overprudent dog burying bones in the trackless sand as he follows the pilgrims to the holy city?
And what is fear of need but need itself?
Is not dread of thirst when your well is full, the thirst that is unquenchable?
There are those who give little of the much which they have- and they give it for recognition and their hidden desire makes their gifts unwholesome.
And there are those who have little and give it all.
These are the believers in life and the bounty of life, and their coffer is never empty.
There are those who give with joy, and joy is their reward.
And there are those who give with pain, and pain is their baptism.
And there are those who give and know not pain in giving, nor do they seek joy, nor give with mindfulness of virtue;
They give as in yonder valley the myrtle breathes its fragrance into space.
Through the hands of such as these God speaks, and from behind their eyes He smiles upon earth.”
When all things and phenomena exist as Buddhist teachings, then there are delusion and realization, practice and experience, life and death, buddhas and ordinary people. When millions of things and phenomena are all separate from ourselves, there are no delusion and no enlightenment, no buddhas and no ordinary people, no life and no death. Buddhism is originally transcendent over abundance and scarcity, and so [in reality] there is life and death, there is delusion and realization, there are people and buddhas. Though all this may be true, flowers fall even if we love them, and weeds grow even if we hate them, and that is all.
Driving ourselves to practice and experience millions of things and phenomena is delusion. When millions of things and phenomena actively practice and experience ourselves, that is realization. Those who totally realize delusion are buddhas. Those who are totally deluded about realization are ordinary people. There are people who attain further realization on the basis of realization. There are people who increase their delusion in the midst of delusion. When buddhas are really buddhas, they do not need to recognize themselves as buddhas. Nevertheless, they experience the state of buddha, and they go on experiencing the state of buddha.
Even if we use our whole body and mind to look at forms, and even if we use our whole body and mind to listen to sounds, perceiving them directly, [our human perception] can never be like the reflection of an image in a mirror, or like the water and the moon. When we affirm one side, we are blind to the other side.
To learn Buddhism is to learn ourselves. To learn ourselves is to forget ourselves. To forget ourselves is to be experienced by millions of things and phenomena. To be experienced by millions of things and phenomena is to let our own body and mind, and the body and mind of the external world, fall away. [Then] we can forget the [mental] trace of realization, and show the [real] signs of forgotten realization continually, moment by moment. When a person first seeks the Dharma, he is far removed from the borders of Dharma. But as soon as the Dharma is authentically transmitted to the person himself, he is a human being in his own true place.
When a man is sailing along in a boat and he moves his eyes to the shore, he misapprehends that the shore is moving. But if he keeps his eyes on the boat, he can recognize that it is the boat that is moving forward. [Similarly,] when we observe millions of things and phenomena with a disturbed body and mind, we mistakenly think that our own mind or our own spirit may be permanent. But if we familiarize ourselves with our actual conduct and come back to this concrete place, it becomes clear that the millions of things and phenomena are different from ourselves.
Firewood becomes ash; it can never go back to being firewood. Nevertheless, we should not take the view that ash is its future and firewood is its past. We should recognize that firewood occupies its place in the Universe as firewood, and it has its past moment and its future moment. And although we can say that it has its past and its future, the past moment and the future moment are cut off. Ash exists in its place in the Universe as ash, and it has its past moment and its future moment. Just as firewood can never again be firewood after becoming ash, human beings cannot live again after their death. So it is a rule in Buddhism not to say that life turns into death. This is why we speak of “no appearance.” And it is Buddhist teaching as established in the preaching of Gautama Buddha that death does not turn into life. This is why we speak of “no disappearance.” Life is an instantaneous situation, and death is also an instantaneous situation. It is the same, for example, with winter and spring. We do not think that winter becomes spring, and we do not say that spring becomes summer.
A person getting realization is like the moon reflected in water: the moon does not get wet, and the water is not broken. Though the light [of the moon] is wide and great, it can be reflected in a foot or an inch of water. The whole moon and the whole sky can be reflected in a dew-drop on a blade of grass or in a single drop of rain. Realization does not reshape a man, just as the moon does not pierce the water. A man does not hinder realization, just as a dew-drop does not hinder the sky and moon. The depth [of realization] may be the same as the concrete height [of the moon]. [To understand] its duration, we should examine large and small bodies of water, and notice the different widths of the sky and moon [when reflected in water].
When the Dharma has not completely filled our body and mind, we feel that the Dharma is abundantly present in us. When the Dharma fills our body and mind, we feel as if something is missing. For example, sailing out into the ocean, beyond sight of the mountains, when we look around in the four directions, [the ocean] appears only to be round; it does not appear to have any other form at all. Nevertheless, the great ocean is not round and it is not square, and there are so many other characteristics of the ocean that they could never be counted. [To fishes] it is like a palace and [to gods in heaven] it is like a necklace of pearls. But as far as our human eyes can see, it only appears to be round. The same applies to everything in the world. The secular world and the Buddhist world include a great many situations, but we can view them and understand them only as far as our eyes of Buddhist study allow. So if we want to know the way things naturally are, we should remember that the oceans and mountains have innumerably many characteristics besides the appearance of squareness or roundness, and we should remember that there are [other] worlds in [all] four directions. This applies not only to the periphery; we should remember that the same applies to this place here and now, and to a single drop of water.
When fish swim in water, though they keep swimming, there is no end to the water. When birds fly in the sky, though they keep flying, there is no end to the sky. At the same time, fish and birds have never left the water or the sky. The more [water or sky] they use, the more useful it is; the less [water or sky] they need, the less useful it is. Acting like this, each one realizes its limitations at every moment and each one somersaults [in complete freedom] at every place; but if a bird leaves the sky it will die at once, and if a fish leaves the water it will die at once. So we can conclude that water is life and the sky is life; at the same time, birds are life, and fish are life; it may be that life is birds and life is fish. There may be other expressions that go even further. The existence of practice and experience, the existence of their age itself and life itself can also be [explained] like this.
However, a bird or fish that tried to understand the water or the sky completely, before swimming or flying, could never find its way or find its place in the water or the sky. But when we find this place here and now, it naturally follows that our actual behavior realizes the Universe. And when we find a concrete way here and now, it naturally follows that our actual behavior realizes the Universe. This way and this place exist as reality because they are not great or small, because they are not related to ourselves or to the external world, and because they do not exist already and they do appear in the present.
Similarly, if someone is practicing and experiencing Buddhism, when he receives one teaching, he just realizes that one teaching, and when he meets one [opportunity to] act, he just performs that one action. This is the state in which the place exists and the way is realized, and this is why we cannot clearly recognize where [the place and the way] are—because such recognition and the perfect realization of Buddhism appear together and are experienced together. Do not think that what you have attained will inevitably enter your own consciousness and be recognized by your intellect. The experience of the ultimate state is realized at once, but a mystical something does not always manifest itself. Realization is not always definite.
Master Ho-tetsu of Mt. Mayoku was using a fan. At that time, a monk came in and asked him, “[It is said that] the nature of air is to be ever-present, and there is no place that air cannot reach. Why then does the Master use a fan?”
The Master said, “You only know [the abstract idea] that the nature of air is to be ever-present, but you have not understood the fact that there is no place the air cannot reach.”
The monk said, “What is the meaning of the principle ‘There is no place the air cannot reach’?” At this, the Master just [carried on] using the fan. The monk prostrated himself. The real experience of Buddhism, the vivid behavior of the Buddhist tradition, is like this. Someone who says that because [the air] is ever-present we need not use a fan, or that even when we do not use [a fan] we can still feel the air, does not know ever-presence, and does not know the nature of air. Because the nature of air is to be ever-present, the behavior of Buddhists makes the Earth manifest itself as gold, and ripens the Milky Way into delicious cheese.
“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle.”
The Gāyatrī Mantra is a highly revered mantra, based on a Vedic Sanskrit verse from a hymn of the Rigveda (3.62.10), attributed to the rishi Viśvāmitra. The mantra is named for its vedic gāyatrī metre. As the verse invokes the deva Savitr, it is also called Sāvitrī. Its recitation is traditionally preceded by oṃ and the formula bhūr bhuvaḥ svaḥ, known as the mahāvyāhṛti (“great utterance”).
The Gayatri Mantra is repeated and cited very widely in vedic literature, and praised in several well-known classical Hindu texts such as Manusmṛti, Harivamsa, and the Bhagavad Gita. The mantra is an important part of the upanayanam ceremony for young males in Hinduism, and has long been recited by Brahmin males as part of their daily rituals. Modern Hindu reform movements spread the practice of the mantra to include women and all castes and its use is now very widespread.
Gayatri Mantra
Om Bhur Bhuvah Svaha
Tat Savitur Varenyam
Bhargo Devasya Dhimahi
Dhiyo Yo Nah Prachodayat
Translation
Om: Para Brahman
Bhur: The Physical plane
Bhuvah: The Astral plane
Svaha: The Celestial plane
Tat: Ultimate Reality
Savitur: The Source of All
Varenyam: Fit to be worshiped
Bhargo: The Spiritual effulgence
Devasya: Divine Reality
Dhimahi: We meditate
Dhiyo: Intellect
Yo: Which
Nah: Our
Prachodayat: Enlighten
General Translation
We meditate upon the spiritual effulgence of that adorable supreme divine reality
Who is the source of the physical, the astral and the heavenly spheres of existence.
May that supreme divine being enlighten our intellect, so that we may realise the supreme truth.
Make more time for doing the things you love by simplifying your life. By Helena Echlin
Judy Davis never buys anything new if she can help it. A 58-year-old freelance marketing consultant who lives in Red Bluff, California, she favors thrift store clothing and secondhand furniture. Instead of buying gifts, she gives plants from her garden or bags she has sewn from cut-up vintage gowns. Judy is part of a Bay Area group called the Compact. The Compacters have vowed not to buy anything new for a year except bare essentials: food, medicine, cleaning products, and underwear (although not, of course, lingerie from Paris). Although few people take frugality quite as seriously as the Compacters do, more and more of us are voluntarily cutting back on buying and consumption. Many individuals choosing this lifestyle happen to be yogis. The seminal work of yoga philosophy, Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra, frowns on materialism, and some yogis find that their asana practice alone helps them be happier with less.
The pursuit of the simple life is nothing new, of course. From Quakers to Transcendentalists, America has always had its share of those who associate simplicity with spiritual growth. Back-to-the-land hippies of the ’60s and ’70s found simplicity appealing for more secular reasons, such as ecological sustainability. But those who practice pared-down living today are not necessarily spiritual ascetics or off-the-grid granola types. Most are ordinary people modifying their everyday behavior-trying to be conscious about what they eat, drive, and buy.
In the past 15 years, “voluntary simplicity,” as it is called, has gained thousands of converts. Many books on the subject have been published, such as Janet Luhrs’s The Simple Living Guide, Cecile Andrews’s Circle of Simplicity: Return to the Good Life, and Linda Breen Pierce’s Choosing Simplicity: Real People Finding Peace and Fulfillment in a Complex World. Dozens of websites have sprung up, and nonprofits like Seeds of Simplicity and Simple Living America champion the cause. When the Compacters publicized their manifesto in January 2006, their Yahoo group swelled from about 50 in February to 1,225 in July, with members across America.
Most spiritual traditions encourage simple living, and yoga is no exception. In the Yoga Sutra, Patanjali laid out the yamas (moral restraints) and niyamas (observances), a set of 10 principles that are crucial to one’s progress along the yogic path. One of the yamas is aparigraha, often translated as “greedlessness.” But it means more than just taking only what you need, explains David Frawley, founder and director of the American Institute of Vedic Studies and author of Yoga and the Sacred Fire. Aparigraha also means “not having a lot of unnecessary things around yourself and not hankering after what other people have,” Frawley says. In other words, aparigraha also means keeping only what you need and wanting only what you need.
Aparigraha leads naturally to one of the niyamas: santosha, or “contentment,” being satisfied with the resources at hand and not desiring more. Ultimately, Frawley says, “Yoga is about transcending the desire for external things, which is the cause of suffering, and finding peace and happiness within.”
The desire for external wealth causes unhappiness on both a practical level and a spiritual one. In order to afford things, you have to work long hours, leaving you less time for what truly sustains you, whether that’s yoga and meditation, a hobby, or time with your kids. An expensive lifestyle also limits your choice of career, forcing you to take a high-paying job that may not be fulfilling. It’s hard to transcend the desire for external things when we see hundreds of ads implying that happiness lies in a new iPod, laptop, or car. But despite those commercial messages, acquisition doesn’t equal happiness. Many yogis find that if they transcend their material cravings, they can lead more satisfying, albeit more modest, lives.
Les Leventhal was once trapped in the joyless cycle of overwork and overconsumption. He held an investment banking job, toiling long hours with lots of travel, which kept him away from his partner and friends. But his lavish salary allowed him to buy vacations in Hawaii, dinners in trendy restaurants, expensive jackets, and pair after pair of Kenneth Cole shoes. In the past, Leventhal had kicked drug and alcohol addictions, but now he realized he’d simply replaced them with a new addiction: shopping. Yet the high he got from retail therapy never lasted. “Each time I bought something, I expected to feel better, but the emptiness inside was still there. Then I’d buy something else. “
As Leventhal’s experience shows, materialism can be a form of self-violence, cutting you off from what makes you happy. It thus violates the yama of ahimsa, or nonviolence, as well as aparigraha. Materialism also hurts others, since overconsumption leads to taking an unfair share of the world’s resources, exploiting developing nations for cheap labor, and destroying the environment. Darren Main, a yoga teacher and the author of Yoga and the Path of the Urban Mystic, says, “We understand the obvious part of ahimsa—not killing…But we need to look at more subtle stuff. Driving a gas-guzzling car drives the U.S. to war—but because this is a step removed, we tend to be unconscious of it.”
Leventhal’s unhappiness drove him to quit his job last year. Reflecting on what truly satisfied him, he realized that every time he left a yoga class, he was filled with lightness and happiness. “I got a rush from yoga, exactly the rush I was looking to get from drugs and alcohol but never quite could,” he says. Pursuing teacher training meant radically scaling back. Leventhal stopped shopping for clothes and very rarely eats out. He donated most of his Kenneth Cole shoes to charity, and these days he wears clogs, flip-flops, or tennis shoes. The sacrifice has been worth it because he’s gained time to immerse himself in interests he loves.
Many of us fail to make the connection between everyday shopping and what members of the Compact call “the negative global impact of U.S. consumer culture.” Darcy Lyon, a 36-year-old yoga teacher in Berkeley, California, leads a simple life (although she’s not a Compacter). She bicycles or takes public transport, wears the same clothes for years, and takes her own bags to the grocery store. She decided to cut down on her consumption six years ago after trekking along Nepal’s Annapurna circuit. Tourists had the option to bring a water filter and purify their own water, but instead many bought water en route, using 50 to 70 bottles each. “I saw piles of hundreds of thousands of plastic water bottles that visiting Westerners had discarded, ” Lyon recalls. “The piles are just left there, since the Nepalis have no means to recycle them.” The destructiveness of this lifestyle was vividly driven home.
Focus on the Positive
Most people on a spiritual path eventually recognize that happiness can’t be bought. To find the peace we truly seek, it’s necessary to stop mindlessly acquiring possessions—and embrace simplicity. How, exactly, do you do that? The first step is to figure out why you want to simplify. Bruce Elkin, the author of Simplicity and Success and a life coach who helps clients simplify, distinguishes between “reactive” and “purposeful” simplicity. “If you clean out clutter to declutter, it’s a temporary fix,” he says. “But if you clean out the clutter to make a meditation space or a reading area, then you have a clear purpose. The clutter doesn’t return.
Andrews compares simplifying to dieting. Self-denial will backfire. “Don’t say to yourself, ‘I’m not going to have this or that.’ Instead of focusing on what you’re denying yourself, focus on what’s really healthy or, in this case, on whatever gives you true satisfaction. “
Leventhal is focused on what he has gained: time to volunteer for community service and time with his partner and dogs. Davis doesn’t miss shopping either. She’s too busy concentrating on her essentials: “writing, reading, dreaming, socializing, music, dance, sunshine, exercise, cooking.” She also makes movies in her spare time. And Lyon doesn ‘t pine for a nice car or fashionable clothes, because her modest lifestyle allows her to pursue her passions: teaching yoga and working toward an M.A. in psychology.
Allow Yourself Luxuries
Those who embrace voluntary simplicity sometimes take it to extremes. Some members of the Compact, for example, restrict their consumption so much that they make their own deodorant from baking soda and water. Some even refuse to buy toilet paper; in an email exchange on the Compact’s Yahoo group, one member advises using squares cut from cotton T-shirts and laundering them weekly.
But voluntary simplicity doesn’t require you to make a fetish of frugality. In fact, if you take that attitude, you set yourself up for a relapse. Instead, the keyword is moderation. You can have toilet paper (thankfully). You can even go shopping. Living simply means selecting what luxuries truly matter to you, rather than giving up frills altogether. “For example,” Luhrs says, “I like clothes. Looking my best makes me feel good. But I try to shop like the French. I buy fewer things that I really, really love. “
The list of “essential luxuries” is different for each individual. Lyon splurges on massages, flowers, and dry-cleaning her precious cashmere sweaters. Leventhal cut back on treating friends to dinner but plans to buy a hybrid car. Main treasures his iPod. But he has given up vacations abroad and having a place of his own (he shares a rented apartment). Main says that simplicity is a little more complicated than it was in Patanjali’s time: “Yoga was developed for people living very simple lives. Most people practicing yoga today are not drawn to or willing to live that lifestyle.” Instead, people must decide how far they are willing to go what they can give up and what they truly want.
Practice Conscious Buying
Train yourself to reflect before you buy something. Why do you want it? Do you really need it, or are you trying to escape negative emotions? Yoga can help you do without retail therapy, Main says: “The word asana means ‘sit’ … Yoga teaches us to sit with uncomfortable physical sensations, to breathe and relax into them. So when a negative emotion arises, instead of trying to bury it under a new pair of shoes or an iPod or whatever, let it bubble to the surface, look at it, and let it go.” Davis says her yoga practice of 14 years helps her stick to the Compact. “Yoga makes you deal with what’s really going on inside, instead of medicating it through shopping.”
Luhrs says she loves clothes but not as much as she loves the freedom of being debt free. In order to avoid running up credit card bills, she asks herself five questions before buying anything: “Do I have the cash to pay for it? Do I have room in my closet for this outfit? Do I want another outfit? Do I want to care for more clothes? Will I really wear this item a lot? ” You can run through a similar checklist of questions whenever you’re considering buying something new. If it’s an item for the home, Luhrs suggests, “Ask yourself if your eyes need one more thing to look at, or would they rather rest in open space?”
Of course, after reflection, you may decide that you genuinely need something. Before you buy it new, consider alternatives. Can you mend yours? Can you borrow it? Can you buy it used? The obvious places to look for secondhand stuff are thrift stores, garage sales, and secondhand furniture stores. But you can also try craigslist or Freecycle, a network of local groups whose members give each other unwanted items. In San Francisco, Compacters use Building REsources for salvaged architectural material like windows and doorknobs, and SCRAP (Scroungers’ Center for Reusable Art Parts) for low-cost fabric and art supplies. You may be able to find similar resources in your area.
Be Creative
Simplicity requires creativity. Some Compacters make their own nontoxic household cleaning products from baking soda and vinegar. And a homemade gift or card is often more meaningful than one that is store bought. Lyon has found a creative way to spread Christmas cheer without putting herself out of pocket. Each year, she sells simple candles to her friends for them to give as gifts. There’s nothing special about the candles, except that each one has a label explaining that for every candle she sells, Lyon gives a homeless person a gift-wrapped sweater or pair of gloves she strives to knit herself.
And Davis says living simply has taught her to be creative with junk. For example, when she saw an almost-new wheelchair poking out from a Dumpster, she rescued it and turned it into a wheeled dolly for her cameraman to perch on while shooting one of her movies.
Get Support and Stick with It
Living simply is not easy. Elkin says the pressure to conform is the biggest cause of relapse. It can be embarrassing to have a smaller house than your peers or drive an old banger or wear secondhand clothes. When your friends invite you to dinner, it can be hard to insist on preparing food at home instead. Leventhal says that initially, when friends invited him to expensive restaurants, he felt shame at having to say, “I can ‘t afford it.”
When challenges arise, a like-minded community can offer support, Davis says: “It helps that I can go online every day and read emails and share ideas on how to save money and help the environment. ” Andrews recommends starting a “simplicity circle,” whose members can share ideas. She launched the first one in Seattle; now they exist across the country.
Living moderately often requires extra time and energy. Lyon says, “I get tired bicycling home from teaching class at 9 at night and then making my own food from scratch. “But, she says, the effort is worth it. In addition to the obvious benefits, like having time for what matters to her, living moderately gives her something else: “The more I simplify and do my practice, the more I find strength and certainty within.”
The good news is that voluntary simplicity grows easier over time. Leventhal no longer feels the impulse to shop for shoes. As you do more of what matters to you, you will gain a deep satisfaction that renders buying and consumption less interesting. Luhrs says that with the clutter and distraction cleared away, she has a deeper appreciation for the pleasures that remain. “I taste my food more. I inhale the scent of lilac or I luxuriate in the way a shower feels. That gives my life depth, so I don’t have to fill myself up with overconsumption or buying entertainment. “Saying no to the things you don’t need—practicing aparigraha—means that you recognize the abundance at hand. Paradoxically, once you truly embrace simplicity, you end up with richness.
Helena Echlin is the author of Gone, a novel published in 2002 by Secker (Random House). She recently completed a second novel, Pink Pill.
Prevent computer vision syndrome with these seven simple eye-saving tips.
By Anna Soref
Yoga Journal
You’ve been sitting in front of your computer for two hours trying to ignore your stinging, dry eyes and get through your work. You can’t quit now….If only your eyes would stop burning.
Tired eyes and blurry vision are but two symptoms of what is now recognized as a broader problem called computer vision syndrome, or CVS. As computer use continues to rise, so do cases of CVS. A recent study showed that nearly 90 percent of employees who work with computers for more than three hours a day suffer from some form of eye trouble.
CVS has a host of causes, from improper lighting, screen glare, and an ill-adapted workspace, to poor posture and glasses or contact lenses with incorrect prescriptions, according to Kent M. Daum, O.D., Ph.D., of the School of Optometry of the University of Alabama, Birmingham. Infrequent blinking is another culprit. We blink to keep the eyes lubricated, explains Daum. When staring at a computer screen, we blink less, so the eyes become dry. And the more we concentrate, the less we blink, so casually surfing the Web may be easier on the eyes than focused work, he says. Also, deficiencies of vitamin A may cause severe eye dryness, so be sure to get enough.
While CVS has not yet been shown to damage vision, there is no need to put up with its uncomfortable symptoms. Proper workspace ergonomics, frequent breaks from the computer, and eye drops are easy solutions that work. (When choosing eye drops, stay away from those containing phenylephrine or other whitening agents that can worsen symptoms over time.)
Dimming the lights in the workspace can also reduce eye fatigue. “The eye adjusts to the relatively dim computer screen. If you have a brightly lit office, whenever you look away from the screen, your eyes have to adjust to that brighter light, which can lead to eye fatigue,” Daum explains.
In addition, Judith Lasater, Ph.D., author of Relax and Renew: Restful Yoga for Stressful Times (Rodmell, 1995), recommends adjusting the computer so that the eyes rest at the level just below the tips of the ears; this will put the head in a more relaxed, comfortable position. She also says to pull your shoulder blades down, “like tucking in a shirt,” for a long back and open chest.To release overall tension (which she feels contributes to eye distress), Lasater suggests a version of Savasana (Corpse Pose) tailored for the eyes. Lie down in Savasana with a stack of several books lying nearby on the floor by the top of your head. Place either a five-pound bag of rice or some sandbags halfway on the books and halfway on your forehead. Relax for 15 minutes. This will help the muscles in the head to loosen and relax.
How to be useful in wartime: practical patriotism
The Times, 1914
We are receiving a constant stream of letters containing suggestions for personal conduct or useful action in the national emergency. We publish a selection below.
They vary, no doubt, in value. But they all reflect the intense interest and desire to help which animates the whole population, and they will, we hope, encourage the spirit of duty, unselfishness, restraint, and consideration for others which it behoves us all to cherish to the utmost.
First and foremost, keep your heads. Be calm. Go about your ordinary business quietly and soberly. Do not indulge in excitement or foolish demonstrations.
Secondly, think of others more than you are wont to do. Think of your duty to your neighbour. Think of the common weal.
Try to contribute your share by doing your duty in your own place and your own sphere. Be abstemious and economical. Avoid waste.
Do not store goods and create an artificial scarcity to the hurt of others. Remember that it is an act of mean and selfish cowardice.
Do not hoard gold. Let it circulate. Try to make things easier, not more difficult.
Remember those who are worse off than yourself. Pay punctually what you owe, especially to your poorest creditors, such as washerwomen and charwomen.
If you are an employer think of your employed. Give them work and wages as long as you can, and work short time rather than close down.
If you are employed remember the difficulties of your employer. Instead of dwelling on your own privations think of the infinitely worse state of those who live at the seat of war and are not only thrown out of work but deprived of all they possess.
Do what you can to cheer and encourage our soldiers. Gladly help any organization for their comfort and welfare. Explain to the young and the ignorant what war is, and why we have been forced to wage it.
The science, which teaches arts and handicrafts
Is merely science for the gaining of a living;
But the science which teaches deliverance from worldly existence,
Is not that the true science?
~ Nagarjuna in the Prajñadanda (The Staff of Wisdom)
In Hinduism, Avatar or Avatāra (Devanagari अवतार, Sanskrit for “descent” [viz., from heaven to earth]) refers to a deliberate descent of a deity from heaven to earth, and is mostly translated into English as “incarnation”, but more accurately as “appearance” or “manifestation”.
The term is most often associated with Vishnu, though it has also come to be associated with other deities. Varying lists of avatars of Vishnu appear in Hindu scriptures, including the ten (Daśāvatāra) of the Garuda Purana and the twenty-two avatars in the Bhagavata Purana, though the latter adds that the incarnations of Vishnu are innumerable. The avatars of Vishnu are a primary component of Vaishnavism. An early reference to avatar, and to avatar doctrine, is in the Bhagavad Gita.
In a 2007 interview with Time magazine, director James Cameron was asked about the meaning of the term “Avatar“, to which he replied, “It’s an incarnation of one of the Hindu gods taking a flesh form.” On the specific reason for the choice of blue as the Avatar’s skin color, Cameron said “I just like blue. It’s a good color … plus, there’s a connection to the Hindu deities, which I like conceptually.
The king of Orchard Road Legendary property tycoon was Singapore’s richest man
MR SIMON Cheong remembers the day he was discussing the vagaries of the property market with real estate tycoon Ng Teng Fong a couple of decades ago.
‘I was a young banker then, and we were sitting in his office debating supply and demand. Mr Ng then said to me, ‘You sit there arguing with me but just look at my showroom. It is packed,” recalled the chief executive of property developer SC Global.
‘As a young banker, I was analysing things to death but he cut out all the jargon. He could see through noise and spot trends, true hallmarks of a real entrepreneur.’
Mr Cheong, 51, who is president of the Real Estate Developers Association of Singapore (Redas), added: ‘In land tender, he was a world leader. As a property player, he was world class. By any standard, he was clearly an icon.’
Indeed, Mr Ng – who died yesterday aged 82 after suffering a brain haemorrhage late last month – was one of the most astute property men Singapore has seen.
Ranked by Forbes for the last three years as the country’s richest man, with an estimated fortune of US$8 billion (S$11.3 billion), he founded Far East Organization, Singapore’s largest private property developer.
Survived by his wife, two sons and six daughters, Mr Ng did not have much formal education, and was comfortable speaking mainly Hokkien and Mandarin.
That did not stop him from being nicknamed the King of Orchard Road, for his properties that sprouted one after the other in the shopping strip from the 1970s.
The oldest, Far East Shopping Centre, was followed by Lucky Plaza, Far East Plaza, Pacific Plaza. The newest, Orchard Central, opened just last year.
His hotels included the Orchard Parade Hotel as well as the Fullerton Hotel, which turned the old General Post Office into a grand new landmark on the Singapore River.
With subsidiary Sino Group, Mr Ng also became the largest overseas Chinese investor in the Hong Kong property market.
In all, his property empire spanned more than 1,000 hotels, malls and condominiums here and in Hong Kong.
Elder son Robert is in charge of his Hong Kong operations, while younger son Philip oversees Singapore.
In the mid 1990s, the late tycoon moved in to buy Yeo Hiap Seng, a household name for soft drinks and canned food, when the founding Yeo family became mired in factional squabbles.
Yeo Hiap Seng deputy chairman S. Chandra Das said Mr Ng belonged ‘to the pioneer group of Singapore businessmen who didn’t become rich overnight’.
‘He became a tycoon because of his foresight and vision,’ he said.
Mr Ng was born in a small village in Putian, in China’s Fujian province. The eldest of 11 children, he came to Singapore with his family when he was six. He had little formal education, and at an early age was helping at his father’s soya sauce factory and even worked as a bicycle repairman for a while.
Although the family hoped that he would take over the business, the young Ng dreamt of building and selling houses.
By 1962, he had saved enough money to develop a small housing estate behind Serangoon Gardens – 72 single-storey terrace houses which he sold at $20,000 apiece.
He never looked back.
Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew has held him up as a role model for entrepreneurs.
‘Ng Teng Fong never went to university (but) I think he has a pretty powerful computer up there when figures are concerned,’ said Mr Lee in 1996.
GK Goh Holdings chairman Goh Geok Khim remembers Mr Ng as someone ‘who spent a lot of time just looking at properties in Singapore’.
‘He lived, breathed and dreamt property. Architects who expected to go for dinner after showing him plans…ha ha…no such thing. He would go over everything with them with a fine tooth comb,’ he said.
Tycoon Kwek Leng Beng, executive chairman of the Hong Leong Group, said he used to be active with Mr Ng in Redas in the 1980s.
‘He was a man who worked extremely hard, day and night,’ he said in a statement. ‘We used to study the property market together at his office while we were dealing with property matters.
‘More often than not, we would find that we were still deep in discussion long after the official Redas meetings were over and everyone else had left.’
In fact, Mr Ng was so passionate about his business that he not only worked 18 hours a day, but also reportedly would take a penlight along when he went to the occasional movie with his wife so that he could do his planning and calculations in the dark.
Fellow hotel and property developer Ong Beng Seng said that although Mr Ng lacked formal education, he made up for it with business acumen and gut feel.
‘He was a legend in property and real estate development and left behind a great legacy.’
Mr Cheong agreed. ‘He went into the Hong Kong property market in a big way in the 1970s when even Hong Kong players dared not.
‘They thought he was crazy. Today, just look at what he owns in Tsim Sha Tsui,’ he said referring to Sino Group’s string of properties in one of Hong Kong’s busiest tourist belts.
Mr Ng was a tycoon who guarded his privacy jealously, and never liked to have his picture taken. As he told The Straits Times in 1981: ‘I’m an ordinary working man. And I often take my $2 mee from the Newton hawker centre after work.
‘If my picture appears in the papers, people will know who I am. I am rich and someone may kidnap me.
‘If someone kidnaps me and I’m killed, all my companies will collapse. And what will happen to my family? I have my worries.’
He had a penchant for racehorses and Rolls-Royces, but he rarely granted interviews. When he did speak to reporters, he delivered piquant quotes.
In a 1996 interview with Apple Daily, the Hong Kong Chinese-language newspaper, he was asked to explain his unerring property picks.
His response: ‘If you want to be in the property business, it is not possible to invest in every region.
‘You open the map. If you can’t see the place (because it’s too small) but only the name, that’s the place to invest in…Singapore and Hong Kong are the best examples.’
On an earlier occasion, in 1984, he said he was not a risk-taker, but ‘a long-term entrepreneur’.
He said he did not believe in developing projects only when the property market was buoyant and laying off people when it was down.
‘It is like saying Singapore Airlines will fly to Hong Kong only when the weather is good, and won’t fly when the weather is bad,’ he said.
His son Philip gave an insight into his father in a speech at the Global Leadership Congress two years ago.
‘My father is a mentor, but a tough one. As you know the term, tough love,’ he said.
‘When I was younger, he’d always tell me, ‘I have to tell you, even if it hurts because only I can tell you. When you’re at the position you’re in, everybody’s going to say nice things to you.”
Client: Louis Vuitton Title: A Journey Agency: Ogilvy, Paris Creative: Christian Reuilly Agency Producer: Laure Bayle
Production Company: Quad Productions, Paris Director: Bruno Aveillan Producer: Martin Coulais DP: Philippe Lesourd Cameraman: Bruno Aveillan
Post-Production: WIZZ Paris Post-Producer: Manuel Beard Editor: Fred Olszak Flame Artist: Bruno Maillard Special Effects/Processes: WIZZ, Paris Music: Gustavo-Santaolalla
“Invisible” is a song by English electronic music group Tilt, composed of Mick Park and Nic Britton, which reached the UK top 20 charts when it was released in 1999. The song was co-written by Dominique Atkins, who also provided the vocals.
Listen to my voice You won’t see me You won’t see me with your eyes Listen to my voice You will feel me deep inside You will feel me deep inside
And I’m feeling invisible You won’t see me anywhere And I’m feeling invisible When you need me I’ll be there
I’m everywhere But you cannot see Open your heart Meet me in your dreams (Meet me in your dreams, dreams, dreams, dreams…)
And I’m feeling invisible You won’t see me anywhere And I’m feeling invisible When you need me I’ll be there
And I’m feeling invisible You won’t see me anywhere And I’m feeling invisible When you need me I’ll be there
Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury
Signifying nothing.
Friday
Collect keys- done
Visit new home to tailor furniture location – decide which furniture to stay in old home- done
Clean new home and remove debris- done
Do laundry- done
Saturday
Change Locks- done
Visit and clean new home, register Octopuses – done
Locate handover manuals and documents
Decide what to hand carry and pack into rimowa
Decide what clothes and items to give to charity
Pack Home – Kitchen, Bookshelves, Tea, Records and CDs, Clothes, Toilets
Indicate what items are fragile, and label each box as to where it should be placed in the new house
Dismantle TV and Hifi and Computer
Dismantle Fish Tank
Sunday
Make a final inspection of the house checking for any left items
Move in the morning
Set up Fish Tank
Set up Computer
Set up TV and Hifi
Set up boxes
Hang clothes in wardrobes
Visit drycleaners
Enjoy
