Vision Magazine - Catalyst for Conscious Living

The Vegan Vixens Vision Magazine

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Feature Stories

The Beginning of a Movement

chickens Think back to the last time you were cramped in a middle seat on an airplane. You are uncomfortable and you fidget throughout the flight because the passengers next to you are much too close for comfort. Now imagine your plane is landing early so it is forced to sit twenty extra minutes on the tarmac waiting for the gate to open. You are sweating and have been crowded for hours. You are hot, sticky and your body aches; all you can think about is how badly you want to get up and stretch your legs.

The Vegan Vixens

Making the Vegan Lifestyle SEXY

When pop divas are falling off their pedestals for performing atrocious acts, and movie stars who little girls are idolizing are not much better than beautiful trash, it’s hard to tell your children that there’s someone in Hollywood they can look up to. But what if there were a group of women who aren’t just promoting animals’ rights, but also were vegan? What if that same group advocated rescuing pit bulls from being abused at dogfights? What if they were also anti-fur and pro-environment?

Astrology May 2008

Taurus Taurus: World (2 of Cups)
4/20-5/21: A relationship will yield some interesting prospects that could change the course of your life, be it a proposal, a marriage, a baby, a rewarding partnership, or perhaps a reconciliation that allows great healing and forgiveness. It could also be a profound connection with something that generates a new sense of purpose and direction: art, nature, spirituality, or a humanitarian endeavor. Your perception of life will be affected by everything around you; make it a point to honor what is most sacred and release the rest.

Visionary Artist

Wendy Vaughan

Viewpoint

Taking A Second Look At Our Watery World

And Commentary on Fatal Shark Attack Off Southern California Coast

“I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting station, through which God speaks to us every hour, if we would only tune in.”

- George Washington Carver

I am continuously amazed at how much information we, as a global community, are provided in this modern era. We are seemingly turned on, tuned in and hard-wired to the events unfolding around us at all times. Through the Internet and 24-hour cable news channels, we are fed everything from last weekend’s box office grosses to the weather in Southeast China. Yet, as technologically advanced as we’ve become in dispensing media and information, our mother ocean’s cries for help continue to go unheard.

Reviews

Urban Tails: The Hidden Life of Alley Cats

Urban Tails: The Hidden Life of Alley Cats
by John Knox and Sara Neely / New World Library / $19.95

I’m not normally what you would call a “cat person,” but I do love great photography. And because of this, I was immediately drawn to Urban Tails: The Hidden Life of Alley Cats by John Knox and Sara Neely, which photo-documents the lives of a colony of feral cats outside of a work building in Atlanta.

To Bee or Not to Bee

To Bee or Not to Bee
by John Penberthy / Sterling Publishing / $17.95

Ever since I was a child, I’ve enjoyed simple, sweet stories that have deep and meaningful messages. Because of this, I was delighted when I picked up To Bee or Not to Bee by John Penberthy, which tells the story of a worker bee who is caught up in the mindless routine of a bee’s life. Soon he begins to question why he does what he does. This little bee begins to wonder if there’s not more to life than just foraging, building the hive, and storing honey.

Mind States

Eating Free Range
Balancing Bio-Individuality and Humane Sustainability

Free Range Reflecting back on a trip to Puerto Rico, I am still intrigued by the variety of beliefs surrounding meat or animal product consumption. I remember touring my friend’s family farm, where I learned first-hand about the traditional “pasture to plate” process. Being a vegetarian, I was at least comforted by the fact that the animals lived a “happy” life despite their destiny. When one of my hosts offered me a piece of fresh beef at dinner, it was quite an interesting conversation to explain my non-meat eating ways without seeming disrespectful. I could tell he had trouble understanding the concept that meat simply did not work well with my body.

Giving Love And Life

Orphanage Gives Baby Elephants Another Chance at Life

Elephants may very well be the most beloved of African mammals. Sadly, their populations have been reduced by nearly 50 percent due to the ivory trade, hunting, poaching, and human encroachment on their natural habitats. As a result, much of Africa no longer sees their massive statures or hears their trumpeting sounds as they walk silently over the land.

Living Arts

Back to Nature
Raw food diets for dogs

Raw food diets for dogs Lucy has spent all but three days of her life eating a diet of mostly raw meat. “I feed it to her for the simple fact that she enjoys it so much more; it’s way more natural and she digs it,” Lucy’s dad, Jesse Harkous said. “She’s growing constantly. She was the runt, and she’s bigger than all of her brothers and sisters.”

Anxious?
How about your dog?

dog Dogs are truly marvelous creatures. They are our closest animal companions: they live with us, travel with us, sleep with us, and some even eat with us. They’re no longer simply “man’s best friend” —they have become part of the family, too. But are our busy lifestyles toxic to our canine companions? According to psychoacoustic specialist, Josh Leeds, 1 in 7 dogs suffer from some form of anxiety due to all the chaotic noise with which we surround ourselves.

LifeQuake™

Ask the LifeQuake™ Doctor
Dr. Toni Galardi

Ask the LifeQuake™ Doctor Dr. Toni Galardi

I am twenty-two years old. I have been suffering from Anorexia Nervosa for seven years. For a long time I hid it from my parents. I wore baggy clothes. I pretended to eat by pushing the food around on my plate. It got so bad that I had to drop out of college because I couldn’t concentrate. I have been to therapists but it hasn’t helped. My parents are upset with me and are very worried. In a weird way, I don’t see the problem. Audrey Hepburn was rail thin in the 1950s, and no one thought there was anything wrong with her! I do eat enough. I am not hospital material, believe me. I am just very thin. Is it really so bad to be thin?

Human Rights

Nuts for Squirrels
A Love Affair

Squirrels I have it bad. I am over the moon, infatuated, even a tad obsessed. I understood how serious this crush was one evening as I waited for my daughter outside her yoga class. There I was, squatting in the dark, sifting through mud, illuminated by the feeble beam of a flashlight, searching for acorns. I had spent the previous autumn day rattling tree branches and hunting walnuts in earth-colored piles of leaves.

Holistic Products

Blue Dog Bakery Delivers

Blue Dog Bakery The greatness and morality of a nation can be determined by the way it treats its animals. -- Mahatma Gandhi

Although I love my dog, she is a little bit of a snorker and if I didn’t watch it she would eat everything in sight. A Tijuana rescue dog, she was starving when found and subsequently she is a bit food-obsessed. Thank goodness for non-meat based treats for her. All the ones I seem to find are filled with fat and calories. Thanks, Blue Dog Bakery for making a healthy dog treat for GiGi. She loves your Peanut Butter treats the best.

West Paw Design®

West Paw Design I know that West Paw is a conscious and conscientious manufacturer with great products that are eco-friendly but can you also say cute? There are so many great products it is fun just to peruse the website. And you can learn a plethora of interesting environmental facts as well.

Planet Dog’s Zip Leash Comes in Colors!

Planet Dog’s Zip Leash Planet Dog is not only hip – they are socially conscious. Over the past several years, they have evolved into an award-winning, socially responsible, values-based design house. The fire in their belly is to concept, innovate and develop premium products “made for dogs, by dog lovers” all while being fully dedicated to satisfying both human and animal.

Holistic Living

A Foot In The Right Direction
Vegetarian Shoes and Bags Allow for Animal Friendly Fashion

Vegetarian Shoes and Bags I love shoes and purses, plain and simple. I’m the kind of gal who will go hungry because I’ve bought a pair of shoes that I couldn’t live without. Ever since I’ve begun working at Vision Magazine, I’ve tried to live a greener lifestyle. For the first time in my life, I’m reading labels, buying organic and paying attention to what I use. I’m thinking about what has to happen in order to choose and purchase the products that I use on a day-to-day basis.

Holistic Pet Care
Learn to Truly Care For Your pets by working with a Practitioner

Holistic Pet Care

I probably notice more details than most people do when I encounter a dog. I may notice the slight stiffness in the back, the purple tongue, the hesitation in the eyes when I approach to say “hi,” as well as the vibrant energy of an animal in the full bloom of health. Even though animals cannot tell us in words how they are feeling, there are so many subtle signs that they use to indicate what they want to tell us. Our pets are exposed to the same stresses of modern life as we are, and holistic therapies can help them cope.

Correcting the physical and emotional health of animals

emotional health of animals If you have a pet, be it a dog, a cat, or a horse, you know it has thoughts and feelings. You might also be aware that when human beings become stressed, the immune system is weakened and the “chi” flow is reduced. The same is true for pets. But stress reactions are always and only the end result of interpreting the world in a limiting manner (such as fear).

Greek to Me

Greek to Me Life, Art, and a Strategic Pause

Since the dawn of time, man has confronted Life’s Big Questions, hereinafter referred to as LBQs. In prehistoric times, one of those LBQs was whether you were a saber-tooth tiger person or a fan of the woolly mammoth. That question evolved into the modern day cat-versus-dog-person issue. Personally, I am neither. In fact, growing up, my favorite LBQ was “What do I want to be when I grow up?”

Southern California

Bridging the Communication Gap with our Animal Friends

by Brigitte Noel

Most dogs respond well to conventional obedience training. Others experience all sorts of challenges which often stem from miscommunication. As an intuitive animal behaviorist, my goal is to understand the dog’s perspective, as well as the human’s perspective. The person’s perception and the animal companion’s viewpoint about identical circumstances can be different.

Culture

Buggin’
Why grubbing on grubs might not be so bad

They’re creepy and crawly; they’re slimy and grimy—or at least that’s what we think. Insects are the most underappreciated and misunderstood animals in the world, when in fact they have played a crucial role in human interaction, medicine and nutrition for tens of thousands of years.