A recent USA Today article informs us that there are more kids than ever on drugs in this country. These drugs are not bought from illegal drug dealers. Rather, they are bought from legal drug dealers operating in your neighborhood.

Big Pharma has discovered kids are a new, and largely, untapped group to sell a lifetime of drugs to. If you think that selling drugs to our kids is 'off-limits', or 'immoral', think again.

Drugs for ADHD, Diabetes, Depression, Hypertension , High Cholesterol (yes, that's right, I said Hypertension and High Cholesterol which can now be diagnosed and treated in kids as young as 2 years of age!), etc...

There are now kids as young as 2 years of age being put on anti-psychotic drugs. They can barely even talk, yet somehow they are able to say enough to someone for them to be deemed 'psychotic'. That's right, if you don't like the way your kid is behaving as he/she goes through the 'terrible 2's', without too much effort you can find a doctor who will be willing to diagnose a psychosis which can only be "helped" through the use of what is likely to become a life long dependance upon anti-psychotic medication.

We have to spread the word that we will not allow our kids to become little more than a profit source for investors. We will not allow our kids to be used as guinea pigs. It is unacceptable to sell any drugs to our kids (or adults for that matter) unless we are 100% sure of the safety of these same drugs. As it stands now, the FDA approves a drug, we wait a couple of years until we see a litany of deaths or injuries result. We are then told that these drugs should not have been approved in the first place.

This is absolutely unacceptable!

Our kids need to be fed a healthy and balanced diet. They need to be taught to get out and play and be active. We have to monitor their internal and external environment to ensure there is balance. This is an area where I see far too many even well informed parents are lacking.

A healthy diet, adequate exercise, acid/alkaline balance, and spinal balance (more importantly the relationship of the spine to proper automonic nervous system function) are vital to a healthy internal environment. These are keys to keeping your kids off of drugs and allowing them to grow into healthy, vibrant adults.

We lay the seeds for how our kids will look at drugs in the future by how we teach them to view them as kids. We tell them drugs are bad, and they should stay off drugs, but all the while they see a medicine cabinet full of drugs that mom and dad regularly visit whenever they want to change the way they feel.

In discussions with young athletes who use, or used steroids, one of the common arguements from the steroid users was that they were constantly being told that steroids were bad, yet, they were drugs that were deemed safe enough to prescribe to non-athletes. This was often times seen as justification for the safety for using these drugs. "If my 63 year old overweight and sedentary grandmother can take them, than why would they not be safe for me?"  You see, our kids do not learn so much by what we say to them as much as they do by what they see us doing. What are they learning when they watch you?

Vitamin B is very important to the maintenance of our mental health.  Within our bodies, we have axons.  Axons are like the phone wires that connect neurons to one another.  Our neurons are constantly sending signals to other neurons, and this communication allows for the effective functioning of our nervous system.  This communication is particularly important to our memory and overall ability to think.  When this communication is impaired, we suffer memory loss, depression and feeling of fatigue.  Our nervous system simply cannot function properly as a whole.

One of the most enchanting state parks on the Central Coast is Montana de Oro.  The park is just south of Morro Bay.  In the northern area of the park, there are large sand pits, and in the southern area of the park, there are large picturesque cliffs.  Along the sandpits are soft sandy beaches great for sun bathing and hiking. 

The process of yoga is an ascent into the purity of the absolute perfection that is the essential state of all human beings. This goal requires the removal of our enveloping personal impurities, the stilling of our lower feelings and thoughts, and the establishment of a state of inner balance and harmony. All the methods of yoga are based on the perfection of our personalities and may help to create a new world order.

In the beginning of our work, the greatest problem we experience is our inherent restlessness of mind. Mind, by its very nature, is outgoing and unsteady. The highest state of meditation, however, requires a calm, serene, one-pointed mind, free from negative emotions and the distractions created by cravings, obsessions, and desires. To reach the subtler levels of consciousness and awareness, we need willpower, clarity of mind, and the ability to consciously direct the mind towards our goal. This is possible only when we turn away from preoccupation with external acquisition and seek to stop all inharmonious or negative mental processes. To achieve this, we do not need to give up our homes and society and retire to a monastery. Instead, we can achieve a state of peace, harmony, and contentment in our daily meditation, and thus, go on carrying out our life's duties and activities with the love and devotion that emerges from our meditative experience.

For those who want to follow the path of yoga towards peace and evolution, there are a few prerequisites. We need good health, a calm mind, sincerity, and a burning desire to rise above our human imperfections. Our health is maintained by a simple and well- regulated diet, adequate sleep, some physical exercise, and relaxation. Imbalance or excesses in food, exercise, sleep, or our personal relationships produce physical and emotional disruptions that disturb the practice of yoga and meditation.

If the aspects of our daily lives are well balanced, then certainly we can make progress in yoga in the modern world. Regardless of where we live or what we do, we can create a life conducive to yoga.