Ana Forrest Yoga Teacher, Healer, Founder of Forrest Yoga

Ana Forrest says it was a challenge she received from a girl at school when she was just fourteen that led her to try yoga – an event she has since come to describe as “a moment of magical intervention.” In the ensuing years, she’s overcome a number of personal adversities, including drug and alcohol addictions, to found a system of yoga that honors the individual spirit of each practitioner.

My struggle with my addictions had become a dance between life and death. I began to explore spirituality, especially Native American traditions. I’ve embarked on a number of vision quests in the search for who I am and what I’m doing here. I had a vision that was very powerful and clear – the message I received was to ‘mend the hoop of the people,’ but I didn’t know what I was supposed to do with it. I came to realize that people give themselves a high quality of attention when they focus on meditation, yoga, and breath[ing]. If I can help them connect to their spirit and develop the tools to listen and feel what their spirit dictates, then they [can develop]the necessary tools to keep themselves from being dictated by the fears of others and to connect with the world in a very positive way.

We are so inundated with awful news, it’s easy to sink into a state of apathetic despair. It’s important for spiritual people to get off the mountain and walk through the world in a balanced and sacred way. I had a different vision once, watching myself walk down the street, arguing with people in my head. Part of me lifted out and just observed; I saw a psychic smog emitting from myself. I realized I was contributing to the filth in the world. This was a huge step for me – I may not know what to do about all the things out there that are wrong, but I can be responsible for the energy I put out each day. So the skill I can give people is to help teach them not to contribute to the hate. I can help balance and bring healing to the planet by mending the hoop of the people.

Stephen Simon Producer, Founder of the Spiritual Cinema Circle

The Spiritual Cinema Circle, a subscription-based, home delivery DVD service that distributes feature films, short films, and documentaries with positive messages, was founded in February of 2004 by veteran film producer Stephen Simon (What Dreams May Come, Somewhere in Time, The Electric Horseman, etc.) and friend Gay Hendricks. Simon’s career had made him aware of the media’s powerful influence on our culture. As a result, he’s chosen to focus on the positive, using film as a way to explore how we can impact the world around us in a constructive, life-affirming way.

When I was four, my father died. Within several months, I was aware of a presence I called “the man in my wall,” a presence nearby who comforted me. This experience stayed with me, and that kind of spirituality has always fascinated me. Mainstream media is geared to the negative. People are looking for challenging yet uplifting, dramatic yet empowering, comedic yet substantial entertainment. I’d like to focus on having a pathway for spiritual entertainment.While there is a strong entertainment value to these films, there is a spiritual center beneath them, delivering powerful, emotional, and uplifting experiences. We’ve begun a process that will make this kind of entertainment available to the tens of millions of people who are desperate and hungry for it.

People have to give up the claim of having an exclusive franchise on God. Beliefs create behaviors, and if you think you have an exclusive franchise, you will behave that way. How many have died as a result of that kind of belief? If we can respect each other’s definition and give up this exclusive franchise, the world would change overnight.

Perry Odak President & Chief Executive Officer, Wild Oats Markets, Inc.

Perry Odak joined Wild Oats Markets in March 2001 as president and CEO, after serving as CEO and president of Ben & Jerry’s Homemade. Odak was credited with repositioning the company and leading the transition of Ben & Jerry’s successful merger with global consumer product giant Unilever, while maintaining the Vermont-based ice cream maker’s unique social mission and community values. His thirty-year career has included senior leadership roles at a variety of publicly traded and privately held consumer products and retail companies.

At Wild Oats Markets, we believe in [selling]food and products the way nature intended, without all the additives and preservatives. We’ve developed the toughest product standards in the industry to reflect this belief. We provide the reassurance to our customers that they can shop at Wild Oats with confidence – without having to worry about reading the labels, because we’ve done it for them. I also believe that our extensive support for organics, fair trade products, earth-friendly packaging, and other on-going initiatives helps to reduce our negative impact on the environment and to protect our planet for generations to come.

We believe that our biggest competitive threat is a lack of awareness of the benefits of natural and organic foods, as well as the issues that surround these products. While more and more people are becoming aware of the health and environmental benefits surrounding organic products, we continue to strive to provide information to our customers and potential customers regarding the benefits of organic foods and of living a sustainable lifestyle. Our core customers are concerned with genetic engineering in our food supply and we provide them with several choices to avoid this in our stores.

Peter Lamas Founder of Lamas Beauty International & Beautywalk.com

Peter Lamas has parlayed a long, successful career as a leading makeup and celebrity beauty artist into a line of anti-aging personal care products. His custom cosmeceutical system blends science with nature, utilizing pure, natural ingredients that act to restore, protect, repair, and defend skin with soy, vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and natural botanicals.

I’ve been in the beauty business for over thirty-five years, and have witnessed firsthand the destruction chemically laden products can inflict on skin and hair. People deserve better than this. They deserve products that provide them with the results they want, without compromising their health. My personal and business ethics are such that I could only create products that are healthy. I really care about the people who use my skin and hair care lines. I like to go to sleep at night knowing that I’m actually helping, not hurting people.

I think our planet would be much healthier if we would try to go back to nature as much as possible. Mother Nature knows what she’s doing – if we use the natural ingredients that she’s so kindly provided, we’ll all be better off. Chemicals hurt us and the planet, and they’re so unnecessary. If we can achieve the results we want for our skin and hair in a more natural way, wouldn’t that make us all happier and healthier in the long run?

September/October 2004

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