“We took your art, your hard drive…motorcycle, California is on fire!”, the message was cut off. Michael my roommate is telling me what he is saving of my stuff, his tone of voice excited, as the area where we live in is being evacuated.
I am in Boulder hearing about the raging fires through media and friends. Visualizing the power, beauty and destruction of this great force through info I read on a digital screen.
Thousand of acres are burnt, homes gone, people working hard to try and keep it tamed. Helicopters, engines, human force and water team up. Fire, as part of nature does not seem to like to be told what to do, especially if the wind is on its side. It’s a cycle of nature, yet it feels different when it hits the area where one lives.
Esalen is now closed for visitors, and the road to it is blocked. Within this roadblock, Spirit Garden is hosting an art show of mine, which is still up (or maybe not?). Photos from Cuba with wooden frames and the (e)motion series printed on canvas, all yummy food for the fire.
Some weeks ago I was sitting with Jeremy, my friend at Esalen and we were talking about loosing all our possessions and how that would feel. I was visualizing a fire, and seeing that nothing is left. As real and good as my visual powers are, it is still very different than the real threat, of knowing that this could be it.
It’s a good reminder that things are exactly what they are - things. No more no less.
My heart goes to all those that are suffering in Big Sur, that are breathing the smoky air and helping calm down the fire. Blessings.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Cadavers, Meditation, Anatomy and the Body
Sitting still, following the breath, the grass grows by itself. The stream outside flows softly, fish swimming with no direction. Art ideas flow to my mind, scrolls, bodies, and life stories, Lucian Freud, Francis Bacon, Buddha, my breath.
In and out it goes, softening the mind, softening the gaze, eyes open looking at nothing, gravity below, my sense of perception fades away, no eye or ear, no cushion no back no knee. Some time later the bell rings, and people get up to walk. I am back to my senses, filled with energy, clear, I find myself still sitting, another hour goes by timelessly, another bell rings, instructions for another type of meditation, I can’t hear, just watch softly, like a quiet, slow silent movie, I drop again, feeling myself dissolve, where do I go?
Last weekend was an intensive meditation weekend at Marpa house, a beautiful residential Shambala center. This followed some meditation classes we had at the huge and well-kept Shambala center in Boulder.
Is there a soul to this body? Are we just flesh and bones?
As we arrived to studio 50 in a commercial area outside Boulder, the smell of formaldehyde was in the air. The room, or big warehouse space rather, was very clean, high ceilings, and some black boards. In the far end I could spot two large metal tables with a top that looked like a shiny silver coffin.
Tod, the anatomy specialist gives us a long intro in preparation for the experience. We then put on white coats and gloves, almost like we were a bunch of doctors about to enter the surgery room.
We roll over the metal tables and some other tables that have blue or yellow plastic bags to the center of the room. These could easily be identified as containing bodies.
We start with Frank, then we look at William, the bodies have names, after death names. The bodies are real, but lying lifeless, somewhat dissected, there is something less human about them. The “life”, the energy is missing. Someone said the soul is missing. This body, 80 years old when it stopped functioning on its own, before it donated itself to science, was alive, moving, digesting, seeing, thinking, where is the thinker now? What happened to the memories? Are they stored in the non-functioning hard drive called brain? Were the feelings a matter of the sense organs only? What was the force that kept it going, and where is that force now?
Muscles, tendons, and bones, each cadaver is dissected to different layers. Digestive system comes out, I hold the pancreas, stretch the small (but long) intestine, hold a brain split in two, move the jaw as I look at the gold sitting on the teeth, touch the ribs and observe the pelvis.
The first moment at the cadaver lab, reminds me of identifying my dad at the morgue in the hospital in Be’er Sheva Israel, but there he was still in one piece. Back then I still had memories to tag to the freshly dead body. Sounds and touch I could still feel through my mind.
Then I let this memory go. The bodies in front of me, with all their history, are now just bodies. History behind they can almost seem like animal parts that I recognized at a hustling kitchen or a whole foods store.
Richard Freeman, our Yoga Guru (teacher) bends the bones of the leg to place them in Padmasana, the lotus sitting position, and a crack sounds, the meniscus was torn. Ouch, good thing there is no one to feel the pain anymore.
It’s another reminder that this body is not really ours. I remember walking into the super sanitized room where Eran, my dear friend was laying, Cancer swimming in his blood, tubes in his veins, and a look in his eyes so different than a few months earlier when we were traveling in the north east of the US.
Eran’s body was so different, was it still him? A week later Eran’s body stopped functioning. Where did Eran go? Did he stop functioning? Was there an essence, a “Purusha”, an ever-prevailing energy that slipped out of the tired body and kept going, formless. This body of ours, changes so easily all the time. So many of its functions happen without consulting with us. The breath flows in and out, the heart beats and we don’t need to think of it. At times our body weakens, and we feel sick. If this is our body, how can it be doing things we don’t want it to?
If we loose an organ or an arm, is it still our body? We can take another organ away, and another, at what point does it cease to be our body? We sure are the caretakers of this body, this functioning machine that hosts our sense organs, our brain and all the tools to function in this material world, but is this all we are?
Looking at my fingers as they type away, I smile with gratitude.
In and out it goes, softening the mind, softening the gaze, eyes open looking at nothing, gravity below, my sense of perception fades away, no eye or ear, no cushion no back no knee. Some time later the bell rings, and people get up to walk. I am back to my senses, filled with energy, clear, I find myself still sitting, another hour goes by timelessly, another bell rings, instructions for another type of meditation, I can’t hear, just watch softly, like a quiet, slow silent movie, I drop again, feeling myself dissolve, where do I go?
Last weekend was an intensive meditation weekend at Marpa house, a beautiful residential Shambala center. This followed some meditation classes we had at the huge and well-kept Shambala center in Boulder.
Is there a soul to this body? Are we just flesh and bones?
As we arrived to studio 50 in a commercial area outside Boulder, the smell of formaldehyde was in the air. The room, or big warehouse space rather, was very clean, high ceilings, and some black boards. In the far end I could spot two large metal tables with a top that looked like a shiny silver coffin.
Tod, the anatomy specialist gives us a long intro in preparation for the experience. We then put on white coats and gloves, almost like we were a bunch of doctors about to enter the surgery room.
We roll over the metal tables and some other tables that have blue or yellow plastic bags to the center of the room. These could easily be identified as containing bodies.
We start with Frank, then we look at William, the bodies have names, after death names. The bodies are real, but lying lifeless, somewhat dissected, there is something less human about them. The “life”, the energy is missing. Someone said the soul is missing. This body, 80 years old when it stopped functioning on its own, before it donated itself to science, was alive, moving, digesting, seeing, thinking, where is the thinker now? What happened to the memories? Are they stored in the non-functioning hard drive called brain? Were the feelings a matter of the sense organs only? What was the force that kept it going, and where is that force now?
Muscles, tendons, and bones, each cadaver is dissected to different layers. Digestive system comes out, I hold the pancreas, stretch the small (but long) intestine, hold a brain split in two, move the jaw as I look at the gold sitting on the teeth, touch the ribs and observe the pelvis.
The first moment at the cadaver lab, reminds me of identifying my dad at the morgue in the hospital in Be’er Sheva Israel, but there he was still in one piece. Back then I still had memories to tag to the freshly dead body. Sounds and touch I could still feel through my mind.
Then I let this memory go. The bodies in front of me, with all their history, are now just bodies. History behind they can almost seem like animal parts that I recognized at a hustling kitchen or a whole foods store.
Richard Freeman, our Yoga Guru (teacher) bends the bones of the leg to place them in Padmasana, the lotus sitting position, and a crack sounds, the meniscus was torn. Ouch, good thing there is no one to feel the pain anymore.
It’s another reminder that this body is not really ours. I remember walking into the super sanitized room where Eran, my dear friend was laying, Cancer swimming in his blood, tubes in his veins, and a look in his eyes so different than a few months earlier when we were traveling in the north east of the US.
Eran’s body was so different, was it still him? A week later Eran’s body stopped functioning. Where did Eran go? Did he stop functioning? Was there an essence, a “Purusha”, an ever-prevailing energy that slipped out of the tired body and kept going, formless. This body of ours, changes so easily all the time. So many of its functions happen without consulting with us. The breath flows in and out, the heart beats and we don’t need to think of it. At times our body weakens, and we feel sick. If this is our body, how can it be doing things we don’t want it to?
If we loose an organ or an arm, is it still our body? We can take another organ away, and another, at what point does it cease to be our body? We sure are the caretakers of this body, this functioning machine that hosts our sense organs, our brain and all the tools to function in this material world, but is this all we are?
Looking at my fingers as they type away, I smile with gratitude.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Yoga with Richard Freeman
June 8th, Sunday morning, my birthday, sitting at the Yoga Workshop, Richards’s shala (practice room). The simple room, one large space is full of new faces sitting on Yoga mats awaiting the beginning of this month long teacher intensive.
Mary, Richard’s wife, gives a briefing on this coming month and before we know it Richard walks in. The room fills with a feeling of something great that just happened. Richard enters, great and simple, starts without too much talking.
Our mornings, which consist of some Asana (poses) practice, learning about alignment, adjustments, breathe and gaze, are followed by chanting and philosophy.
In the afternoons I take a Mysore style class, optional to the program.
The group is very international. Students from Greater China, Japan, Europe, NY, CA, Mexico, Canada and locals from boulder all unified with a set sequence of poses practiced daily around the globe. (The Ashtanga sequence)
Richard, calmly sits on his cushion, with clear eyes, guides us through the
Sanskrit pronunciation. Richard seems to have child like qualities, of love and excitement toward the little details.
Yesterday afternoon we walked over to the Shamabhala center to practice meditation.
I manage to walk everywhere here, such a wonderful feeling. Just take Pearl Street down one direction, and you hit a beautiful promenade, of downtown Boulder. The other direction will take you to a big shopping area including Whole Foods and the Mac store.
Walking along perfect sidewalks with green patches, brooks follow aside or cross under, and the Flat Irons, the famous Boulder Mountains rise up with pride, and together with the dramatic sky, frame the small population of Boulder (100,000 or so). A population that seems healthy and active for the most part. A very outdoorsy feeling, a college town, a town of yoga, massage, Rolfing, meditation and centers and Universities of alternative lifestyles.
I continue my tradition of constant summer that has been flowing through my life for over a year now. Here, the sun shines most of the time. Occasional winds or some threat of rain appear, but in general, it’s dry and beautiful, and my tan is still chocolaty or olive skin (is it really olive? Where does that come from?).
Happy to be here, to keep on studying and living life to it’s fullest. New ideas for workshops arise, and I hope to present them soon.
Mary, Richard’s wife, gives a briefing on this coming month and before we know it Richard walks in. The room fills with a feeling of something great that just happened. Richard enters, great and simple, starts without too much talking.
Our mornings, which consist of some Asana (poses) practice, learning about alignment, adjustments, breathe and gaze, are followed by chanting and philosophy.
In the afternoons I take a Mysore style class, optional to the program.
The group is very international. Students from Greater China, Japan, Europe, NY, CA, Mexico, Canada and locals from boulder all unified with a set sequence of poses practiced daily around the globe. (The Ashtanga sequence)
Richard, calmly sits on his cushion, with clear eyes, guides us through the
Sanskrit pronunciation. Richard seems to have child like qualities, of love and excitement toward the little details.
Yesterday afternoon we walked over to the Shamabhala center to practice meditation.
I manage to walk everywhere here, such a wonderful feeling. Just take Pearl Street down one direction, and you hit a beautiful promenade, of downtown Boulder. The other direction will take you to a big shopping area including Whole Foods and the Mac store.
Walking along perfect sidewalks with green patches, brooks follow aside or cross under, and the Flat Irons, the famous Boulder Mountains rise up with pride, and together with the dramatic sky, frame the small population of Boulder (100,000 or so). A population that seems healthy and active for the most part. A very outdoorsy feeling, a college town, a town of yoga, massage, Rolfing, meditation and centers and Universities of alternative lifestyles.
I continue my tradition of constant summer that has been flowing through my life for over a year now. Here, the sun shines most of the time. Occasional winds or some threat of rain appear, but in general, it’s dry and beautiful, and my tan is still chocolaty or olive skin (is it really olive? Where does that come from?).
Happy to be here, to keep on studying and living life to it’s fullest. New ideas for workshops arise, and I hope to present them soon.
Experiencing God
After talking about God, and how we connect from an existential place, I felt the need to share a bit of what my meditation world looks like.
I was first introduced to some active meditations at Osho’s Ashram in 1992.
The idea was that westerners have a hard time sitting still, and so as a first step of the meditation, we can learn how to be present with the movement we are doing, and then sitting and lying down in stillness becomes easier.
Other systems offer concentration techniques to train the mind into finding centeredness. A candle flame, a vision, a word or sound that repeats within the mind (mantra), or the breath are some points of attention to keep the mind from wandering.
After practicing in different ways, I found that the breath worked best for me. I have it with me always, and do not need the use of the mind or senses in order to be with it. At first my Zen teacher told me to count inhales and exhales up to ten. Start by inhaling – one, exhaling – two, inhaling – three, till I reach ten. If I loose my count, I just return to one.
After some time and practice, when this became comfortable, I was told to count each inhale and exhale as one, inhale and exhale two…This still uses the mind but helps it stay in one place.
Eventually letting go of the counting all together, and just dropping the awareness to the belly. Eyes opened, looking down towards the floor with a soft gaze. Sitting with a straight and relaxed spine, not doing anything.
Sitting still, and just observing, the mind, the eyes, the ears, all drop on their own, the separation of me and things I see and hear disappears, I, as I know it disappears, and a new state of consciousness is there.
Since sitting was never easy for me, doing nothing, a great task for me, I have learned to practice preparations for this in the functioning life.
My first practice was when I used to sit on my balcony in Tel Aviv while being an art student. A very big tree lived right in front of it, and I found myself many times sitting and watching it. Just looking at it. The feeling of no boundaries would arise, the tree would appear more dimensional than before, and time lost its meaning.
This first step in this kind of being is the art of non-labeling. Once I would recognize what I was doing, it was lost. The moment I thought,” the leaves are big”, or “this is awesome” it was gone. I’ve created a separation between the tree and me. It is only through the state of complete surrender, of Just Being, that this happens.
There used to be posters that looked like some unknown messy drawing. When one could stare at it, without focusing, without the mind and without trying to see anything, an amazing 3 dimensional image would appear. I find this to be somewhat similar in the way of letting go.
There is an intention involved, but there is no trying. The harder I try the further away I get, the more separation I create.
Who is trying? Who is there when no effort is involved?
Sitting still doing nothing the river flows on its own, the waves come and go and the earth spins.
Can we let go of controlling, of being in charge; can we just be an awareness, acceptance, leaving no footprint behind? Then we achieve it all. We have all that we could ever need.
I was first introduced to some active meditations at Osho’s Ashram in 1992.
The idea was that westerners have a hard time sitting still, and so as a first step of the meditation, we can learn how to be present with the movement we are doing, and then sitting and lying down in stillness becomes easier.
Other systems offer concentration techniques to train the mind into finding centeredness. A candle flame, a vision, a word or sound that repeats within the mind (mantra), or the breath are some points of attention to keep the mind from wandering.
After practicing in different ways, I found that the breath worked best for me. I have it with me always, and do not need the use of the mind or senses in order to be with it. At first my Zen teacher told me to count inhales and exhales up to ten. Start by inhaling – one, exhaling – two, inhaling – three, till I reach ten. If I loose my count, I just return to one.
After some time and practice, when this became comfortable, I was told to count each inhale and exhale as one, inhale and exhale two…This still uses the mind but helps it stay in one place.
Eventually letting go of the counting all together, and just dropping the awareness to the belly. Eyes opened, looking down towards the floor with a soft gaze. Sitting with a straight and relaxed spine, not doing anything.
Sitting still, and just observing, the mind, the eyes, the ears, all drop on their own, the separation of me and things I see and hear disappears, I, as I know it disappears, and a new state of consciousness is there.
Since sitting was never easy for me, doing nothing, a great task for me, I have learned to practice preparations for this in the functioning life.
My first practice was when I used to sit on my balcony in Tel Aviv while being an art student. A very big tree lived right in front of it, and I found myself many times sitting and watching it. Just looking at it. The feeling of no boundaries would arise, the tree would appear more dimensional than before, and time lost its meaning.
This first step in this kind of being is the art of non-labeling. Once I would recognize what I was doing, it was lost. The moment I thought,” the leaves are big”, or “this is awesome” it was gone. I’ve created a separation between the tree and me. It is only through the state of complete surrender, of Just Being, that this happens.
There used to be posters that looked like some unknown messy drawing. When one could stare at it, without focusing, without the mind and without trying to see anything, an amazing 3 dimensional image would appear. I find this to be somewhat similar in the way of letting go.
There is an intention involved, but there is no trying. The harder I try the further away I get, the more separation I create.
Who is trying? Who is there when no effort is involved?
Sitting still doing nothing the river flows on its own, the waves come and go and the earth spins.
Can we let go of controlling, of being in charge; can we just be an awareness, acceptance, leaving no footprint behind? Then we achieve it all. We have all that we could ever need.
God, why should I trust you?
A friend wrote to me:
“I've been acting like there's no god and it's my job to fix everything and be in charge of everything and worry about everything and I know the next step is to take a leap of faith and trust in something bigger than myself so that I can give up all that futile control and actually feel alive. I feel like in choosing to trust in a higher power, I'm about to jump out of a plane and just hope that my parachute will open, but right now I don't really believe that it will. I've been living this story of if I don't hold everything together, I will die, but I see now that what's happening is that if I DO try to hold everything together, I will die. Because I've been clinging to everything pretty tightly and I feel pretty dead.
So that's the ugly spiritual dead zone I've stumbled into. I guess I am telling you this because sometimes I tell you things and I feel like I'm talking into a very clear lake and my problems just dissolve in you and then they don't seem so sharp and painful anymore. And also, I'd really love for you to help me understand what God even is or why I should trust something that I don't know about.“
God, spirit, matter.
How can one know God? What is God? Shall we ask, who is God?
We all agree there is matter. Even energy is pretty much a consensus these days.
Many have asked and wondered, could it be that we are only this? Only this body we see and feel, is the world only what we know from our sense organs?
Science will agree that beyond the senses there is energy. Energy is formless and moves in all direction.
Most spiritual systems, and religious streams, have agreed that there is something beyond matter. This something can be called God, this something might be more abstract than we can comprehend with our mind.
When we manage to know who we are beyond the mind, to go beyond our senses (including the mind), “realize” and know the true self, we discover a boundless source, we dissolve and merge with a field that is beyond time and space, an energy, God.
Does something happen when we discover God? Can we ask God for help?
Discovering God is discovering the true nature of things. It is seeing clear beyond the fog of the mind.
When seeing clearly, we find that we are not limited to the worries of the moment, that our being is more than the body we live in, that we are more than our profession or our relationships. Knowing that physically we all break down to cells that break down to energy, which flows throughout everything and everywhere, lets us understand (at least through the mind) that there is a connection, a part of “sameness” between us all (Some might call this the quantum field).
So how do we discover this GOD? This God is within us, it is part of us, and it is beyond us. Trusting oneself and the flow of energy that keeps moving into harmony by creating balance. Letting trust be part of us is not actively done. It happens when fear drops, when we no longer hold on to our perceptions, we can find liberation, a formless form of bliss.
I remember a Tibetan Meditation of “letting go”. Sitting down, closing the eyes, I visualize giving away all that I own; first physical things like clothes, furniture, car, house and yes, laptop. It took me some time to really be able to see all my life’s work on my computer disappear and be ok with it. Then, I started giving away my legs, arms, eyes (ouch), head, brain and mind. This took a while too. It did not happen in one sit.
What is left? What is it that exists in and beyond this matter? What is this force that is left. Who is the Witness?
Consciousness. What is this consciousness? Well, sit down and find out for yourself.
This is not a God that I ask forgiveness from. Not a God I worship, nor a God I fear.
This is a true power that is part of me, part of you, part of this floor I sit on, of the flower outside my window, and the moon reflecting on the ocean surface.
Knowing that we are this power, and that this power works here and now, from us and to us, we can be in a place of surrender with Power. No need to control anything or to force anything.
Intention is important, surrendering and allowing life take its course is important too.
I have an idea of what I want to do next, but I am accepting life as it comes, even if it does not meet my ideas of how I thought things might turn out.
Traditionally knowing God, or realizing oneself, ones true nature, is done by learning how to let the mind be still, be at rest when there is no need for it to work. It’s like learning how to let the legs be still when not walking.
In most eastern cultures, sitting with a straight spine, concentrating on one point is the first step. This is to train the mind to not wonder, to concentrate. Later we learn how to let go of the concentrating mind as well, as we drop into existence, into just being.
Holding on leads us nowhere. To live life fully we must embrace death as part of it, to understand that on a physical level we are dying every moment, and regenerating at the same time. If we realize who we are beyond this body, we can live life fully within this body, we can celebrate every moment of our existence, laugh and love fully and know that the power (God) is within each and every one of us.
“I've been acting like there's no god and it's my job to fix everything and be in charge of everything and worry about everything and I know the next step is to take a leap of faith and trust in something bigger than myself so that I can give up all that futile control and actually feel alive. I feel like in choosing to trust in a higher power, I'm about to jump out of a plane and just hope that my parachute will open, but right now I don't really believe that it will. I've been living this story of if I don't hold everything together, I will die, but I see now that what's happening is that if I DO try to hold everything together, I will die. Because I've been clinging to everything pretty tightly and I feel pretty dead.
So that's the ugly spiritual dead zone I've stumbled into. I guess I am telling you this because sometimes I tell you things and I feel like I'm talking into a very clear lake and my problems just dissolve in you and then they don't seem so sharp and painful anymore. And also, I'd really love for you to help me understand what God even is or why I should trust something that I don't know about.“
God, spirit, matter.
How can one know God? What is God? Shall we ask, who is God?
We all agree there is matter. Even energy is pretty much a consensus these days.
Many have asked and wondered, could it be that we are only this? Only this body we see and feel, is the world only what we know from our sense organs?
Science will agree that beyond the senses there is energy. Energy is formless and moves in all direction.
Most spiritual systems, and religious streams, have agreed that there is something beyond matter. This something can be called God, this something might be more abstract than we can comprehend with our mind.
When we manage to know who we are beyond the mind, to go beyond our senses (including the mind), “realize” and know the true self, we discover a boundless source, we dissolve and merge with a field that is beyond time and space, an energy, God.
Does something happen when we discover God? Can we ask God for help?
Discovering God is discovering the true nature of things. It is seeing clear beyond the fog of the mind.
When seeing clearly, we find that we are not limited to the worries of the moment, that our being is more than the body we live in, that we are more than our profession or our relationships. Knowing that physically we all break down to cells that break down to energy, which flows throughout everything and everywhere, lets us understand (at least through the mind) that there is a connection, a part of “sameness” between us all (Some might call this the quantum field).
So how do we discover this GOD? This God is within us, it is part of us, and it is beyond us. Trusting oneself and the flow of energy that keeps moving into harmony by creating balance. Letting trust be part of us is not actively done. It happens when fear drops, when we no longer hold on to our perceptions, we can find liberation, a formless form of bliss.
I remember a Tibetan Meditation of “letting go”. Sitting down, closing the eyes, I visualize giving away all that I own; first physical things like clothes, furniture, car, house and yes, laptop. It took me some time to really be able to see all my life’s work on my computer disappear and be ok with it. Then, I started giving away my legs, arms, eyes (ouch), head, brain and mind. This took a while too. It did not happen in one sit.
What is left? What is it that exists in and beyond this matter? What is this force that is left. Who is the Witness?
Consciousness. What is this consciousness? Well, sit down and find out for yourself.
This is not a God that I ask forgiveness from. Not a God I worship, nor a God I fear.
This is a true power that is part of me, part of you, part of this floor I sit on, of the flower outside my window, and the moon reflecting on the ocean surface.
Knowing that we are this power, and that this power works here and now, from us and to us, we can be in a place of surrender with Power. No need to control anything or to force anything.
Intention is important, surrendering and allowing life take its course is important too.
I have an idea of what I want to do next, but I am accepting life as it comes, even if it does not meet my ideas of how I thought things might turn out.
Traditionally knowing God, or realizing oneself, ones true nature, is done by learning how to let the mind be still, be at rest when there is no need for it to work. It’s like learning how to let the legs be still when not walking.
In most eastern cultures, sitting with a straight spine, concentrating on one point is the first step. This is to train the mind to not wonder, to concentrate. Later we learn how to let go of the concentrating mind as well, as we drop into existence, into just being.
Holding on leads us nowhere. To live life fully we must embrace death as part of it, to understand that on a physical level we are dying every moment, and regenerating at the same time. If we realize who we are beyond this body, we can live life fully within this body, we can celebrate every moment of our existence, laugh and love fully and know that the power (God) is within each and every one of us.
Monday, June 2, 2008
Lets talk food...
(As asked by Jen, with my reply below )
Are you a must be organic guy? Do you have anything you don't eat?
Likes…dislikes etc. Favorite food… favorite dessert…favorite
drink…
I am a man of no rules.
I try to eat mostly organic, local, sustainable and from small farms.
I eat mostly vegan, some fish and goat cheese.
If dairy, would rather it be raw, but if you made cheesecake for desert, I would surely have a small piece.
Water is my main drink with some herbal tea, or juice at times.
Just finished a week of raw food including lots of fresh vegetable juice, yum!
I like most things healthy, chocolate, nuts, sushi, live food, kale, cherries and the whole rainbow of fruits and vegetables.
Like to have some crunch in my meal, prefer "clean food" like Japanese, but enjoy Indian and Mexican too. Mediterranean food is close to my heart as it reminds me of home. I make a fabulous tahini dip.
My body does not seem to digest legumes, so on occasion I eat chicken as well.
In summery - A flexeterian
;)
Are you a must be organic guy? Do you have anything you don't eat?
Likes…dislikes etc. Favorite food… favorite dessert…favorite
drink…
I am a man of no rules.
I try to eat mostly organic, local, sustainable and from small farms.
I eat mostly vegan, some fish and goat cheese.
If dairy, would rather it be raw, but if you made cheesecake for desert, I would surely have a small piece.
Water is my main drink with some herbal tea, or juice at times.
Just finished a week of raw food including lots of fresh vegetable juice, yum!
I like most things healthy, chocolate, nuts, sushi, live food, kale, cherries and the whole rainbow of fruits and vegetables.
Like to have some crunch in my meal, prefer "clean food" like Japanese, but enjoy Indian and Mexican too. Mediterranean food is close to my heart as it reminds me of home. I make a fabulous tahini dip.
My body does not seem to digest legumes, so on occasion I eat chicken as well.
In summery - A flexeterian
;)
Esalen, America and the religion of non-religion
A weekend with Michael Murphy and Jeff Kripalu
A few impressions from this workshop, skipping many topics, no accuracy guaranteed and I haven’t read Kripalu’s book yet…but some history, some more understanding about Esalen and its people.
Michael Murphy invited Dick Price to go down to Esalen with him in th early 60's. The place, owned by Michael’s family had different people living there, from evangelists to weekend gay community. Things were not super great between these groups, and Michael’s grandma gave them the authority to take over.
In the early years, it was mostly intellectuals like Maslow and other prominent scholars that came by and started teaching. Around 1967 came the experimental period, a time where things were taken to extremes, from drugs to sexuality. Workshops where people experimented if they can pee in their pans, or a group of men playing nude volleyball are just two examples.
The Beatles came by with their Indian Guru and played music on the front lawn, Henry Miller came by every weekend…
Different teachers and leaders were invited, but if their teachings seemed over the top, Esalen did not invite them back. There was great openness to everything, but also a responsible mind to monitor things.
Both Michael Murphy and Dick Price (the two founders of Esalen) were anti cults. Price was also seeing the Guru problem in his eyes. Watching out for the Mystics that are power driven.
If it were not for those liberal times that followed the tense times of the 50’s Esalen could not have developed to where it is today. It is a process of experimenting and learning, where different modalities are tried. This also includes most of the best professors that America has had to offer.
Fritz Pearls was a big part of Esalen. He started his Gestalt work here and taught for some years.
Fritz was also the one who brought Ida Rolf to Esalen, where she would develop Rolfing, a unique tissue work practiced worldwide.
About the people that come to Esalen (from the home page of the Esalen website)
“They come for the intellectual freedom to consider systems of thought and feeling that lie beyond the current constraints of mainstream academia. They come to discover ancient wisdom in the motion of the body, poetry in the pulsing of the blood. They come to rediscover the miracle of self-aware consciousness. At best, they come away inspired by the precision of a desire to learn and keep on learning through all of life, and beyond.”
“I was very influenced by Sri Aurobindo. I was meditating 8 hours a day” Michael was telling us.
In Sri Aurobindo's view, Man, at present, lives mostly in his surface mind, life and body. “There is an inner being within which pushes him to a constant pursuit of a greater beauty, harmony, power and knowledge. He has to awake to the greater possibilities of this inner being and purify and orientate by its drive towards the Truth the rest of the nature. There can follow afterwards an opening upward to the several ranges of consciousness between the ordinary human mind and the Supramental Truth-Consciousness and their power brought down into the mind life and body. This will enable the full power of the Truth-Consciousness to work in the nature.” http://www.infobuddhism.com/infobuddhism/institute%20for%20wholistic%20education/design/teaching.htm
Esalen is concerned with the spirit, but very much observes the body in its functioning. The Esalen massage is a huge attraction these days. Somatic work has developed here, and now very much a big part of Esalen.
Holistic health was first coined here at Esalen and then brought to legislation.
Human Potential is the main focus of Esalen. A very broad concept allowing for a great deal of teachings in many diverse individual ways. An emphasis is made on both social and personal transformation. (Esalen was very much a part of Yeltzin’s first visit to the US which had a great deal with Russia’s social and political change)
The techniques to actualize the human potential exist in everyone equally, and Esalen has always been an open place to host all races and genders.
It’s important to be in the present and take baby steps, yet we need to see the big picture. Have the grand idea in mind, Murphy kept telling us.
This workshop was fantastic both because of its leaders as well as the people attending’ professors, MD’s, health care people, owner of organic carrots business…and myself.
A few impressions from this workshop, skipping many topics, no accuracy guaranteed and I haven’t read Kripalu’s book yet…but some history, some more understanding about Esalen and its people.
Michael Murphy invited Dick Price to go down to Esalen with him in th early 60's. The place, owned by Michael’s family had different people living there, from evangelists to weekend gay community. Things were not super great between these groups, and Michael’s grandma gave them the authority to take over.
In the early years, it was mostly intellectuals like Maslow and other prominent scholars that came by and started teaching. Around 1967 came the experimental period, a time where things were taken to extremes, from drugs to sexuality. Workshops where people experimented if they can pee in their pans, or a group of men playing nude volleyball are just two examples.
The Beatles came by with their Indian Guru and played music on the front lawn, Henry Miller came by every weekend…
Different teachers and leaders were invited, but if their teachings seemed over the top, Esalen did not invite them back. There was great openness to everything, but also a responsible mind to monitor things.
Both Michael Murphy and Dick Price (the two founders of Esalen) were anti cults. Price was also seeing the Guru problem in his eyes. Watching out for the Mystics that are power driven.
If it were not for those liberal times that followed the tense times of the 50’s Esalen could not have developed to where it is today. It is a process of experimenting and learning, where different modalities are tried. This also includes most of the best professors that America has had to offer.
Fritz Pearls was a big part of Esalen. He started his Gestalt work here and taught for some years.
Fritz was also the one who brought Ida Rolf to Esalen, where she would develop Rolfing, a unique tissue work practiced worldwide.
About the people that come to Esalen (from the home page of the Esalen website)
“They come for the intellectual freedom to consider systems of thought and feeling that lie beyond the current constraints of mainstream academia. They come to discover ancient wisdom in the motion of the body, poetry in the pulsing of the blood. They come to rediscover the miracle of self-aware consciousness. At best, they come away inspired by the precision of a desire to learn and keep on learning through all of life, and beyond.”
“I was very influenced by Sri Aurobindo. I was meditating 8 hours a day” Michael was telling us.
In Sri Aurobindo's view, Man, at present, lives mostly in his surface mind, life and body. “There is an inner being within which pushes him to a constant pursuit of a greater beauty, harmony, power and knowledge. He has to awake to the greater possibilities of this inner being and purify and orientate by its drive towards the Truth the rest of the nature. There can follow afterwards an opening upward to the several ranges of consciousness between the ordinary human mind and the Supramental Truth-Consciousness and their power brought down into the mind life and body. This will enable the full power of the Truth-Consciousness to work in the nature.” http://www.infobuddhism.com/infobuddhism/institute%20for%20wholistic%20education/design/teaching.htm
Esalen is concerned with the spirit, but very much observes the body in its functioning. The Esalen massage is a huge attraction these days. Somatic work has developed here, and now very much a big part of Esalen.
Holistic health was first coined here at Esalen and then brought to legislation.
Human Potential is the main focus of Esalen. A very broad concept allowing for a great deal of teachings in many diverse individual ways. An emphasis is made on both social and personal transformation. (Esalen was very much a part of Yeltzin’s first visit to the US which had a great deal with Russia’s social and political change)
The techniques to actualize the human potential exist in everyone equally, and Esalen has always been an open place to host all races and genders.
It’s important to be in the present and take baby steps, yet we need to see the big picture. Have the grand idea in mind, Murphy kept telling us.
This workshop was fantastic both because of its leaders as well as the people attending’ professors, MD’s, health care people, owner of organic carrots business…and myself.
Life before Life and quantum physics
This Wednesday’s eve program at Esalen was talking about life after death with Michael Murphy and friends.
What I remember from it is more about life before life.
Researches have interviewed young children that had memories of previous lives. These description (very accurate at times) lead to a search to find if the description matches a specific being that has died. It was truly amazing to hear about the details that match, including scars that had “passed” on.
It seemed though that most memories were related to a person that had died young or not a natural death. This could lead to either thought; that reincarnation does not happen always, or that these certain instances are more likely to stay vivid in the child remembering.
There are around 2600 case studies done, and now Esalen is supporting further research.
I can understand existence beyond our brain, beyond this body, a total connectedness, a primal energy force, yet to realize that a separate consciousness can keep its cycle of life after life for whatever reason that maybe, is indeed of great curiosity to me.
Does it even matter? What can we learn from this? Is there such a thing as an old soul?
Does a soul really free itself, or is it just a realization of a different state of consciousness?
Last weekend, I was participating in a workshop titled “Do we need spirituality in the age of science?” Atoms are constructed of two elementary particles known today, the electrons and the quarks. But what lies behind this?
Mani Bhaumik, the person who invented eye laser surgery, was sharing with us scientific research leading towards the idea that the 4 main energies known today (including gravity, electromagnetism, strong nuclear force and the week force) connect at extreme high temperatures.
This idea leads to the concept of a quantum field; an energy field that is connected to all, this field exists beyond time and space. Quantum physics describes the subatomic world as one that cannot be depicted in diagrams -- particles are not dots in space, but are more like "dancing points of energy."
Can you understand? My Zen master would ask.
To truly understand, I feel that it is necessary to go beyond the mind, to actually experience this and own it.
Time to sit on the meditation cushion…
What I remember from it is more about life before life.
Researches have interviewed young children that had memories of previous lives. These description (very accurate at times) lead to a search to find if the description matches a specific being that has died. It was truly amazing to hear about the details that match, including scars that had “passed” on.
It seemed though that most memories were related to a person that had died young or not a natural death. This could lead to either thought; that reincarnation does not happen always, or that these certain instances are more likely to stay vivid in the child remembering.
There are around 2600 case studies done, and now Esalen is supporting further research.
I can understand existence beyond our brain, beyond this body, a total connectedness, a primal energy force, yet to realize that a separate consciousness can keep its cycle of life after life for whatever reason that maybe, is indeed of great curiosity to me.
Does it even matter? What can we learn from this? Is there such a thing as an old soul?
Does a soul really free itself, or is it just a realization of a different state of consciousness?
Last weekend, I was participating in a workshop titled “Do we need spirituality in the age of science?” Atoms are constructed of two elementary particles known today, the electrons and the quarks. But what lies behind this?
Mani Bhaumik, the person who invented eye laser surgery, was sharing with us scientific research leading towards the idea that the 4 main energies known today (including gravity, electromagnetism, strong nuclear force and the week force) connect at extreme high temperatures.
This idea leads to the concept of a quantum field; an energy field that is connected to all, this field exists beyond time and space. Quantum physics describes the subatomic world as one that cannot be depicted in diagrams -- particles are not dots in space, but are more like "dancing points of energy."
Can you understand? My Zen master would ask.
To truly understand, I feel that it is necessary to go beyond the mind, to actually experience this and own it.
Time to sit on the meditation cushion…
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