Niomi is an aspiring artist and yogi. She has been practicing yoga for the last 7 years. And plans on participating in a 3 month long, Yoga Teacher Training next year in Thailand. She looks forward to practicing teaching yoga this summer, & preparing gourmet raw meals, at the Live Food Retreats she will be facilitating.
When Niomi was 4 yrs old she lived at the Salt Spring Island Yoga Center, and says her inspiration to live in community and to study yogic philosophy and asanas came from her experience there. Niomi says she remembers Baba Hari Das, the founder & guru of Mnt. Madonna & Salt Spring Island Yoga Centers, fondly. "He is such a wise and compassionate man." She remembers after leaving the Salt Spring Center, writing Babaji a letter asking in her wobbly young printing for a Sanskrit name. He replied giving her the name Sucheta, which she later found out means “At one with divine consciousness.” She smiles recalling how often she sang in large groups, with Babaji, while she lived at the Yoga Center, and believes her joy of singing satsang also sprung from that time.
Niomi has been a Raw Foodist for the last 2 years, since she moved to Ashinah and is currently in the process of writing 'Ahsinah's Raw Recipes', which will be a mixture of delectable live recipes, inspiring poetry and beautiful photos. She has been facilitating Raw Food Retreats with Rysiek for the last year, and continues to inspire participants with her joyous presense, and exquisite raw recipes.
The Live Food Transition
Prior to deciding to give Raw Vegan Food a try, she was an organic meat eater and enjoyed organic dairy also. After about a month eating just live food, she remembers getting very sick. “ I couldn’t sleep, my intestines were tossing and turning, and moans escaped my lips.” She was advised to do an enema to clean out her colon. She reluctantly did 3 and immediately felt better. She later learned that what had occurred was, the Raw Food, full of digestive enzymes, had loosened some putrid intestinal plaque and her intestinal walls now had clean space to absorb nutrients from her food, but the plaque was still there and so it started to re-absorb, making her feel ill. As the transition to Raw Food continued, she lost weight and could do the asanas she remembered had been easy for her when she was a child.
I am now so convinced that the Raw Food diet is the optimum diet for the human body that I want to share this discovery with everyone who is open to it. In fact we like to call the Raw Food Die-it, the Raw Food Live-it, instead. As my inspiration for life grows, my body strengthens and I have more love to share with those I meet. Live Food is one of the best choices one can make for their body, as the body affects the mind and spirit also. I hope we will meet sometime, perhaps over lunch in the gardens of Ashinah…how does Zucchini Pesto Pasta sound? …We now call it Zughetti .
With Love,
Niomi Lehnna
