Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

On The Shadow: A Short Lesson in Transpersonal Development

16
Aug
2010

The process of conscious development has been discussed to various degrees for a very long time. But, it is still held within very mystical terms.

Talk of the process is filled with misinformation because there may only be a small handful of people in the world who have actually experienced the process. So many teachers and gurus who proclaim to be all knowing with regards to such subjects often find themselves embroiled in controversy at some point.

Many gurus have been brought down over the years and one of the biggest reasons is sexual infidelity or sexual abuse of their students.

I suppose it is a natural thing for a student to develop feelings for a very strong teacher that go beyond the student/teacher boundaries. And, because they are the student, I suppose it maybe shouldn’t be expected that they can easily see beyond those feelings and rationally understand them and put them away.

But, for an enlightened guru, wouldn’t you expect more of them?

But, we find this almost everywhere these days and not just in spiritual circles. We see it in industry, politics, our medical establishment.

And there is one common theme. The undue control of the Shadow.

What is the Shadow?

The shadow is a collection of all the things within ourselves that are hidden from our conscious awareness. They tend to make us feel uncomfortable when they come up or are acted out, so we push them deep down in our awareness and rather than acknowledging and dealing with them, we hide them from ourselves.

These can be, anger, sex addiction, food addiction, mistrust, need for power over others etc. All of these attributes are looked down upon in the realms of society and so we are naturally led to feeling uncomfortable whenever we are forced to deal with them.

So we don’t.

We repress them. And because of this, these things become shadows. And, what is the nature of a shadow? It is something that follows us continuously.

These things not only follow us, but they become outwardly active in their own way because now they are apart of our fundamental subconcious mind.

If it is understood that the universe is, in many ways, a reflection of what exists in the deeper parts of our awareness, then can it not be understood that if we carry these hidden shadows…that the world will inevitably begin to confront us with them in our daily lives?

Repressed sexuality turns a man into a rapist. Repressed need to control turns someone into a sociopath. Repress anger becomes random flare ups that result in job losses or ruined relationships. The consequences are many.

And, what happens is, because these things are shadows and are by nature unseen by us consciously, they become cycles of continuously negative circumstances that we feel we have no control over.

By remaining hidden, the powers of the shadow to influence and control us become immense.

And, we, out of fear, continue on hopelessly, never looking at the deeper reasons for our shortcomings.

One of the most ironic things of all of this is that, what we consider traditional spiritual practices, do not actually help us to uncover the shadow. The fallen guru is a perfect example of this. These are people who are expert meditators and are considered to be enlightened by many.

But, they still become embroiled in controversy.

Meditation, on its own, really does a lot to develop the mind. But, it is an easy way to skip shadow work. Meditation is by its nature a very inactive practice, in that, it doesn’t bring us face to face with those inner demons.

Shadow work, has to be active. We have to be willing to go through our everyday experience and actively deal with these negative situations as they arise. This is the best way I have found to deal with those inner shadow aspects.

Meditation enhances the witness. But, once the witness is developed, those witnessing abilities need to be turned toward your outer existence.

An example that I can take from my own life is my shadow of repressed anger. For one reason or another, I have grown up with a strong tendency toward anger. And, for years, that anger would flare up at the slightest provocation and always got me into situations that would have been better avoided.

I began my spiritual practice at maybe the age of 18 or so and for years I was continuously plagued with the anger that was always right behind me. Even though I tried continuously to rid myself of it, it remained and I never understood why.

One day, after years of seeing this cycle repeated, I came to the realization that it was not the fault of anything external.

I was holding onto this anger with a vice grip. And, it would explode everytime I felt this anger come up. What I began doing was actively being with this anger in times that I would become angry. And rather than letting it explode onto the person who pushed my button, I would allow it to flow through me as energy and without reaction.

And, this lead to the transmutation of it.

All emotions are energy and can be used for a range of purposes. One of the most important things we can do is learn to actively be with whatever emotion it is that we are trying to repress so that we can actively seek to transmute our lower energies (anger, sexuality, control) into a higher framework.

We are in a time now, where the shadows are arising within each of us and it is time that we acknowledge them and be with them actively.

Allow the energy to come in and flow through you. Transmute these energies into energies of abundance of love and you will find that they no longer control you.

Realize that it is ok to be angry, it is ok to want sex, it is ok to want to control your world. Realize that these are all the effects of our having evolved through time.

Back then, we had to want sex so that we could procreate, we had a need to control our circumstances so that we could survive, this is what it was all about.

Now, it is time to acknowledge these base desires. These base desires represent our inner need to survive.

But, now its time to acknowledge our need to globally unite and thrive.

Peace, Love, Light!

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Crossfit: A Large Step Toward Integral Fitness

13
Aug
2010

In a previous article, as well as in a chapter in the manual I recently put together, I mentioned the importance of looking at fitness in an integral way.

To be integral, in a very simple description, means that you tend to look at all aspects that contribute to a single driving force. A typical view of what exercise is used for is to grow muscle and create a stronger physical body.

And, methods for doing so, tend to be limited in their scope due to this view. The tendency toward lifting weights in a bodybuilder style of training, while it does do the job of making muscles bigger, really doesn’t contribute to much else.

Also, due to the extremely limited focus of this style of training in its nature, neglects many aspects of the body that are very very important.

To take an integral view at developing a fitness program should mean that you include mechanisms that strengthen the mind (shen) the energetic body (chi) as well as the physical body (jing). But, also, within the context of your training, it is necessary to understand how the range of exercises you employ affect all of the many parts of the body that are normally neglected.

I think its becoming more well known that a typical bodybuilder, while having large and robust muscles, is not in actuality very strong.

Bodybuilding, as it is advertised, neglects so many components of the body structure. The posterior chain, which generally consists of all the muscles of the back and spine that extend from the top of the neck to the bottom of the tailbone, is one of the most important aspects of the body to consider.

Exercises like, squats, olympic lifts, deadlifts, push ups, dips, glute ham sit ups…truly go a very long way toward developing this part of the body.

The inherent limitation of singular muscle focused bodybuilding exercises misses this point entirely.

Another very important aspect, which has garnered very widespread attention these days, is the core. But, while some consider the core to only be the abdominal portion of the body, the truth is that the core truly extends from the top of the abs to the top of the knees.

While I do give credit to many fitness instructors giving due credence to the necessity of developing the core, I still find that many go about it in a very inefficient and limited way.

Having a strong posterior chain and core just makes life easier to live. It helps strengthen what tends to be the weakest parts of the body. Just a small thing like lower back pain, is so widespread and is harming so many and could so easily and efficiently be developed with a well proportioned exercise regimen.

So, the reasons that I have chosen crossfit as my main training style are many. But, the fact that it is one of the only truly integral training philosophies around stands at the top.

Crossfit, develops the entire body by employing exercises that tend to develop the body in a combined fashion.

Crossfit employs, bodyweight exercises, olympic lifting, power lifting, sprinting, kettlebell work, and simple gymnastics to train the body and to bring it to its full potential.

Not only are the exercises themselves integrally focused, but the structure of the workouts are as well. By combining circuit training and interval training with aspects of the Russian conjugate method, crossfit creates a style of training that is always extremely efficient and effective.

And, because each workout changes day to day, you never plateau. So, the development is continuous.

The best part is, the workouts take almost no time at all.

Peace, Love, Life!

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The Way of the Masculine, Finding Your Purpose

11
Aug
2010

So, I am a big believer in the existence of opposing polarities. It’s not that things exist separately but that the world is divided into opposing forces which exist interdependently with one another.

The feminine and masculine tend to reside at opposing ends of the spectrum. The feminine shines, she excites, she intoxicates, she inspires. The masculine drives, controls, creates functionality, stabilizes and moves things forward.

We think of them as separate in our religiously inspired dualistic minds. But, each are here to balance the other. They are both equally necessary and the world is best when both are working in equal measure.

Much of what we see in the world today, its structure, its technology, its thought processes, would not be here if it were not for the overwhelming influence of the masculine force and its drive to create and improve everything it sees and touches.

The masculine is never truly comfortable unless it is building something, improving, moving in the direction of a goal. The feminine in most cases would much prefer play over work. She encourages us to go out and dance the night way, or to release our tension in a fit of blissful ecstasy.

The feminine is content to simply shine her light in radiance while the masculine is not content unless it is following that light in the direction of its own purpose. Men are creators, pursuers of those things that are to bring freedom, contentment, and stability to our lives.

But, in so many ways, men are no longer men. The masculine need to move has not been acted upon by many of our fathers, husbands, sons, significant others.

As men we are no longer living with purpose. And, we ignore the feminine when it calls us to something higher. We want to experience the feminine but we do not want to bring ourselves to a point where we are deserving of the gifts she wishes to give.

We are no longer worthy. We are angry, depressed, and lifeless.

This truly is my opinion. It is understandable because in a lot of ways, the masculine as an overall experience has been beaten down by over protective mothers and controlling wives.

And, over the millenia, it has become too far driven by the ego. By a need to exploit and control.

With the coming shift in cosmic consciousness, I think we are coming to a balance between what the masculine and feminine offer. This is so important because it is only when the many opposing forces work together that the world can truly come to its fruition.

It is an exciting time to be alive. To see what is being created in the caverns of cosmic consciousness is really intensely exciting. But, we have to get our act together. As men, we have to rediscover what makes us men. We have to find our purpose. We have to reclaim responsibility for our lives and those of our companions.

We have to stop wallowing in the pain of rejection, fear, emotional tension, and bondage. We have to stop begging our women to love us and begin showing them why we deserve their love.

If you are having problems in your relationship to your woman it is because you have let her down in some way. You have lost site of your purpose.

Our lovers are constantly testing us, prodding us, to see where we are, if we are conscious, awake and listening. They want to know that we are ready to protect them. They want to know that we are capable of providing them the strength that they require to feel safe in the world.

The measure of a man is his ability to remain calm and undisturbed in the face of the obstacles that the world throws his way.

The purpose of the feminine is to inspire us toward an understanding and a pursuing of our ultimate purpose. But, not before she tests us to make sure we are awake.

I say, stop reacting to the emotional displays your woman throws at you. Stop trying to help her through her problems with your logic. Begin, loving her truly. Love your woman from the deepest parts of yourself and you will find that that is the only thing she truly needs.

Be the space within which your woman can shine. You have to provide her that space. Her energy just is. It is here. She draws us in and offers us so much.

But unless we remain steadfast and single pointed on our purpose we will never be worthy of her gifts.

Peace, Love, Light!

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The Effects of Stress and Ways to Cope

09
Aug
2010

We come upon this idea quite often in life, don’t we? I don’t think it is really understood fully why stress is so detrimental. We are told, anecdotally, by our parents, psychologists, doctors and friends that we need to avoid stress. But, do we have a grasp as to why stress hurts us? Is it really only psychological? Or are there other things at work here?

Well, today I wanted to try to clear up the topic a little bit for you. Perhaps I can even give you a few ways that will help you learn to deal with stress in a more productive way.

Alright, so, what is stress? It is something we feel most in our mind. And, yes it can have disasterous effects on this area of our body. Stress completely clouds our thinking and our ability to react positively to life.

Yet, sadly, for the majority of us, life is pretty much a journey from one stressful situation to another.

Daily, we are bombarded by hundreds if not thousands of advertisements hitting us up for our money. We turn on the television only to be forced to witness violence, anger, aggression, jealousy, hate in the scenarios unfolding in the shows we watch.

And, do not even get me started on the trash given to us as news.

We go to work, only to encounter one stressful situation after another, and then to have our boss tell us how we are not living up to the companies’ expectations. And we do it all for a paycheck that typically provides us with just enough to get by until the next one shows up.

Now, is this not an accurate depiction of the way the majority of the world population lives? Perhaps, things are changing, but these types of changes take a while to take hold. And, yes, all this stress does nothing but age us faster and bring us a life of physical pain and disease.

Well, why is that?

There is something called, “fight or flight” that we were all probably taught about in school. Don’t you remember? In biology class? It was something that happened in our bodies that gave us the ability to either fight like the dickens or run like we have never run before, when we came upon a bear or a lion as we were evolving in the days of our primitive ancestors.

It is a response mechanism that actually made us stronger. We could literally run faster or fight harder.

That is the stress response. It is an inherited survival mechanism. It is how our bodies react to a feeling of fear regardless of whether that fear is real or imagined.

Fear is generated in the mind or brain from an outside stimulus, a T-Rex perhaps. And, then our bodies begin to generate a cascade of hormones, cortisol and adrenalin just to name a few. These hormones trigger our blood vessels to constrict or tighten so that our hearts have to pump faster and we have to breath harder in order to get blood through the body.

Do you not normally begin to breath heavier during a run or sprint or some other type of physical exersion? Well, that is because oxygen buffers the lactic acid that is generated as a result of that physical stimulation.

Lactic acid is the substance that creates the intense burn that forces you to stop working out when you overexert yourself. And, the oxygen we take in as a result of breathing heavier helps to keep that burn at bay for just a little bit longer.

But, this is what made the “fight or flight” response so useful. We were almost automatically able to exert ourselves much longer and harder than is normally possible.

But there is something else to consider.

Every healing mechanism in your body is shut down in response to this survival stimulus. Digestion is inhibited. Proper brain function is deactivated. Cells cannot be repaired and regenerated when we are in this state. Waste cannot be removed from the body.

Any mechanism of repair and growth is turned off.

Why? Well, because all of the body’s energy is directed toward helping us survive in that moment! And, if we were still living on the planes of the Serengeti, hunting lions for food and fighting bears for our own survival, this really would be a GREAT thing!

Fast forward to now. Our boss yells at us for an hour about why he is thinking about firing us or we fight with our spouse on the phone about why we are at the office too much or we sit and stare at an ever increasing stack of bills wondering how we are ever going to get them paid.

This is how we live. Every time we turn on the television we are subject to a stress response. Every time we are made to think of situations like 9-11 or some murder that just happened or we watch in suspense as some hurricane or other natural disaster washes over a city and wait as the results of the destructive force are laid out for us.

This is how we live. We LIVE everyday…every moment…in a state of fight or flight!

Until we change this, nothing about our current world will change. But, we first have to change it in ourselves by, in as many ways as we can, deactivating stress’ hold on our lives.

Now, what are some practical ways that we can use to change and improve the way we deal with stress?

Well, exercise is one great thing. Exercise is a stress in itself in fact. But, it is a CONTROLLED stress. And it is temporary. The kind of exercise that I do, Crossfit, is an amazing way to generate a controlled stress response in the body.

But, as our bodies build up these stress hormones during exercise, we USE them and then our bodies discard them. They do not just sit there in our bodies wasting away our tissues. In typical daily life, we sit in a stressful situation creating these hormones, but we are not preparing to fight our bosses! We are not literally running away from our spouses!

These hormones are destructive for every part of your body.

So, an exercise program, helps us to learn to cope with the stress response by creating a controlled response in the body. Beyond the idea of increasing your level of fitness, this is really one reason to love it and to do it on a regular basis.

Another way of deeply enhancing our way of responding to and coping with stress is to meditate using a program like The Holosync Solution.

I have used it to deal with some of the most stressful periods of my life. And, I am now on the third level of the program. What it has done for me is immense and it can be for you.

Holosync, using binaural beat technology, creates a stress response in the brain that is similar to that of exercise. And, over time, it aids your brain in being able to generate better hemisphere coherence. Your waves become deeper and less confused. Your brain learns to develop higher amounts of healing hormones also.

And, as the carrier frequency of the soundtracks deepen as you progress through the program, you become able to deal with higher and higher levels of stress.

The program is amazing and the support material is outstanding.

I hope that you all try it and let me know what you think of it.

So, give it a shot. You have nothing to lose.

Peace, Love, Light!

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Technological Advancement and the Chaotic Nature of Health and Healing

06
Aug
2010

Some may say that the institutions of science have been pretty detrimental in many ways. When we look back and consider the types of things that science has enabled (the atom bomb, depleted uranium, radiation from microwaves, cell phones, computers) it most certainly seems that the path of greater technology is the inevitable path towards destruction.

What I believe we are going through, is a point of crisis. And, what I mean by that is that we are at the threshold of a very new and unknown realm of life and living. The first brave steps are being taken into a new reality

So many things have changed as a result of the advancements of technology and it has happened so quickly that humanity has scarcely had a chance to catch up.

Humanity, in many ways, has not fully acclimated to many of the changes brought about by the level of advancement that we have achieved. One large drawback of our current stage is that, while we have fully arrived at the level of technology necessary to not only stop the damage we are doing to the planet but to also do the work to replenish it, the people of our world are hardly at a point in their own awareness that is high enough to even notice.

The world, at current, is being driven by folks who are interested in nothing more than control. And, they are advancing things along only in the direction of achieving higher levels of control for the masses. And these masses are allowing themselves to be drugged up just enough to allow this to happen.

Without a true, demonstrable, and widespread advancement in consciousness, true change cannot come.

An unaware society may for the moment be driven by something higher, but once the sought after goal is achieved, we tend to fall into complacency. And, technology, for the past 100 years, has been pushed in a single direction that supports this extreme level of complacency.

While on the surface, things are breaking down at the seams, but something deeper shows us that these are simply growing pains that will eventually subside.

Chaos theory basically states that as new energy begins to enter into an existing system, the system begins to break down. That break down lasts until the existing system begins acclimating to this new level of energy. The system then reorganizes itself arriving at a higher state of capacity.

It’s like when you were learning that seemingly impossible algebra problem when you were a kid. It seemed so hard. You might have spent a good while just trying to understand it with a deep confusion beginning to set in. And then, at last it came…the aha! moment. Suddenly, it just made sense.

The learning process is akin to the existing system coming across some new source of energy. The confusion is akin to the breakdown of the system. And, the aha is akin to the system re-adjusting and adapting to the energy and arriving at a higher level of capacity.

All of life seems to be like this when you get down to it. Even working out results in small tears in the muscles…a breakdown of the tissue. But, when those muscle tissues are at rest, they repair themselves and grow larger in order to prepare themselves for the next time they are confronted by a high level of exertion.

This relates in so many ways to what we are dealing with in the world. In the past 50 years we have discovered so much and we are now adapting to living in a world that is very techno focused. But, we are tinkering. We are tinkering with these new toys. After all, it has only been 50 years. This is a very short time.

In the past decade, what is beginning to show is the beginnings of technology having an impact on advancing consciousness. So, a newly conscious body of beings is arising. I attribute much of my learning to my connection to technology.

I wasn’t able to afford college (nor were there any schools offering degrees in what I ever really cared to study) so I made the internet and books the source of my education and I discovered a whole new world.

This is happening in many parts of the world and its growing and spreading and completely reshaping the fabric of societies and cultures everywhere.

Technology, computers, cell phones, television….all of these things are neither good nor bad. It is in how they are used that the difference is made.

The concept of Hacking the Body Mind was originally created out of a desire to find a way to bring together the technological and the organic. To find a way to uncover technologies that would be able to contribute to the advancement of human consciousness.

In this search, I discovered many things and then created the Hacking the Body Mind protocol. In many ways, I believe we are at a threshold in history. We have technology in one hand, and then we have what was always here.

They are both here now. The question is what are we going to do with them?

For most of us, running off to a cave to become immortal yogis may not necessarily be a possibility. And, then, allowing technology to take over our lives isn’t that great of an option either.
Maybe there is a way toward a balance between the two.

Healers can use computers to analyze the energetic field of a person. Anxiety, depression, and other mental disorders can be dealt with through the use of biofeedback software, cranial electrical stimulation, light and sound, and binaural beats.

Food can be grown using some of the greatest advancements in soil nutrition available. Something as simple as using dilute ocean water and ormus extracts is possible now and has only come available as a result the power of the internet and the speed of communication.

Viruses can be diminished greatly by using zappers and electronic frequencies.

Superfoods are now widely researched and available through the power of the internet.

Deeper understandings of how the body reacts to exercise have led to the creation of programs like Crossfit.

We can look at this from many angles but they all lead to a central point. Technology is advancing in such a way that it is enabling a new balance to be found. It is the nature of the universe to continue to express its need to become more and more organized.

Humanity is becoming increasingly self aware and is searching for something. Technology is making available the knowledge that humanity is searching for.

Perhaps, sometime soon, a new balance can be achieved through this culmination. This is a very exciting time to be alive. I can’t wait to see where it all goes.

Peace, Love, Life!

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Life, the Universe, and the Influence of the Feminine

04
Aug
2010

At this juncture in our earths history, as we move into the age of Aquarius, I believe it is necessary that the concept of the feminine be given a larger part of our attention.

It certainly has mine.

Divine, empowered, impassioned, creative and spirited feminine is quite the antithesis to the masculine frequency of control, manipulation, single pointed focus, logic, power and freedom that has had us all locked into the cycle of chaos that we see in the world today.

The interplay of feminine and masculine has to be looked at both on a macrocosmic as well as a microcosmic scale, if we are to truly understand ourselves and the direction in which we are headed as a collective.

Everyone living today has both a masculine and feminine side. These dual energies do not exist exclusively but interdependently. And, just as light cannot exist without darkness, masculine cannot exist without feminine.

In all actuality, it is simple to understand how these energies relate to one another. The feminine exists within art, music, culture, sexuality, creation, and love in all facets. The masculine exists as a force, a mechanism that drives the world forward. The two questions are, “How do these two energies relate to one another?” and, “What is the purpose in understanding this?”

It is actually rather simple. The masculine drive for freedom is fueled by the inspiration of the feminine. At his base, a man’s true nature is to drive the world around him forward. He seeks to improve all of that which he sees before him so that one day he can achieve freedom. This is easily depicted in the manifestation of our current male sexual practices. A man will thrust until his orgasmic energies build up to a point of climax and then release.

But, the feminine is quite different in that she represents the continuous universal and energetic flow. The true nature of the universe is to flow continuously which reveals the error within the masculine journey towards release and freedom. In this, another truth is revealed in that the nature of the cosmos and of creation itself is in large part directed by feminine forces. And, this is why we must all take it upon ourselves to bring her back into our conscious awareness.

The world has been assaulted by a religious and political hierarchy that exulted the masculine while disparaging the feminine (i.e. the Garden of Eden creation myth). And, we can clearly see the negative impact this has had. The feminine has not truly gone anywhere. But, she has been looked down upon for her emotional embodiment and convicted for things that we do not fully comprehend.

When you open your eyes to what is really going on, it is quite beautiful to see the interplay. And, it is my belief that we must all embrace not only the feminine energies but the balance of both sides. As we move into a new cosmic cycle, we must find a way to see both sides of ourselves and embrace this without judgment. A man is not just a man and a woman is not just a woman.

On the level of the physical, yes this is the case, but on the level of the etheric, we are one. And as the story unfolds, we will see that what is at the base of all of our struggles is an inability to find oneness within ourselves and a balance between all forces in nature, in ourselves, and in the universe.

I can not claim to understand the feminine in even the most miniscule of ways, but I will admit that I am utterly fascinated by it. By its power to inspire, to shine its light in a myriad of ways, and to intoxicate and enliven our sense of being and of purpose. Without the feminine, the masculine would be useless and life would not exist. For within the feminine exists the singular light of inspiration and creation.

After thousands of years of feminine suppression, I feel that it is time to bring her back in. We have destroyed the planet and, with it, ourselves. We have raped mother earth and have disavowed our divine conscious connection to it. We need her, now more than ever, to reclaim her place in all universal aspects, and to contribute to the creation of a more balanced nature within us all.

Man without art, life, spirituality, and love is nothing but a heartless slave for the corporate industrial machine. Woman, without her own essence, becomes a shell of what she could be. The divine feminine, has to be rediscovered, understood, relished, and appreciated for what it truly is. We must find a balance between the masculine need for freedom and the feminine need for creative expression.

Intuitively, I feel we are on that path. Cosmic energies are aligning. This is what is coming. At least that is what I feel. And, for the sake of our planet and everyone on it, I hope that I am right.

Peace, Love, Light!

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The World I Wish to See

02
Aug
2010

Sometimes, I have to say, I sit back and think about what it is I really would like to see come about from all the efforts that so many put forth to help the world become healthier, more vibrant, more open, more aware, more awake….

There are so many ways that we can go at this point because the truth is that we are moving into a very new era.

Ken Wilber says we are moving into the era of the individual, that we are all beginning to find that divinity within. We are to a point where we are, kind of by default, awakening to our own potential. We are starting to wake up to the truth of a new world where we can live interdependently with abundant levels of love, compassion, generosity, and gratitude.

For me, I have always simply gravitated toward wanting to understand how to listen to that deep intuition, to wanting to feel healthier, to wanting to understand the purpose for all this.

I think on a whole, those internal learnings are starting to manifest. More people than ever are becoming mindful of what they eat and how they live.

A big thing that I am seeing is that folks are really trying very hard to find the meaning within their lives. We are, as a collective, moving out of simply wanting to make money for the sake of making money, and we are moving into finding ways to spend our time that are helpful and meaningful.

So many are asking,” What is the point of all this? Where is the meaning in my life?”

These are scary times, no one can deny this. The chaos of the world’s political and economic systems cannot be denied by anyone.

But, are there reasons for this?

In the universe, there is no action that doesn’t have a subsequent reaction. Things always seem to have a purpose, even if that purpose is not clear to us at the time.

One of the most difficult periods in recent world history was the Tsunami in 2004. Many people did not survive and there was lots of devastation.

I will not try to downplay this.

But, something that did not make the news was that the next year, many villages that were located in the areas of coastline affected by the Tsunami experienced some of their greatest rice harvests in years.
The reason for this is clearly due to the many tons of minerals that were re-deposited into the soils that were used to grow the rice. Something that we all should be aware of is that in many areas of the world the soil is depleted of the nutrients it requires to properly sustain food growth.

Though the Tsunami had some extremely destructive effects, it also had some startlingly positive effects.

This is universal intelligence in action.

Some may ask why the universe would choose to destroy so many innocent people. This is a question no one would be able to answer.

What is clear is that there perhaps was a reason for the disaster. Perhaps the universe sensed the oncoming nutrient depletion that would eventually result in significantly lower food crops and mass starvation and created the tidal wave to remedy this.

Oftentimes it is necessary to find positives in even the toughest of situations.

One thing I know is that my search for health, my search for understanding and higher awareness was far from easy. But, if these are the inevitable rewards, I am willing to go through the fire.

In the world I wish to see, the most important thing will be that people are awake to their inner divinity, to their inner power, to their all-oneness. We need to all feel true self appreciation so that we can learn to appreciate everyone and everything else.

I suppose there isn’t much that has to change in the way things are run. People can still be accountants, engineers and such. But, perhaps, in the near future those accountants, engineers, doctors, nurses, psychiatrists, salespeople….will know that the highest good must be achieved for all who take part so that some measure of peace can be sustained.

What is wealth, when all the world is suffering?

Maybe in schools, there will be made a place for teaching kids how to achieve a conscious life. Maybe there can be meditation breaks in kindergarten rather than naps.

In the world I wish to see, kids will be taught from the earliest age, to achieve the balance of a healthy life and a productive life. They will be shown that there is value in everything the earth provides us. They will be shown how to love….to really really love….just for the sake of loving.

Perhaps then we will begin to see the kind of world we all want.

Peace, Love, Life!

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The Power of Living Simply

30
Jul
2010

In the past few years, I think the point has been made that the lives we have created around us are just way too complicated.

Our current economic crisis proves that what we have created is a situation where our priorities are really just out of order.

We spend too much money, waste too much time, we stimulate ourselves into oblivion, and then take energy pills, red bull, and espresso shots to keep ourselves going. Something needs to change in this scenario.

And, the economic crisis has made this clear.

We need to reprioritize our lives. We need to figure out what is most important. I don’t want to tell you that it’s not OK to seek things in life that bring you pleasure. But, we need to grow out of the instant gratification model of over consumption and waste and acknowledge our responsibility to ourselves, our loved ones, and the world around us.

The point is that finding ways to simplify our lives is what’s most important. We need to kind of break the fabric down and rebuild.

I find this to be a pretty common sentiment among those that I talk to. On a whole, we are beginning to realize this. And, if there is any lesson that we can take out of the financial crisis, this is it.

We spend too much, we seek external pleasure that lasts but a moment, and never look at those things that will bring us true internal and lasting feelings of bliss. For a long time, I was no different.

In many ways, I have come to believe that life is simply about growth and learning. As human beings, the ultimate search is for the divine presence within us. The problem is that monetary gain, obtaining physical possessions, the ecstasy of orgasm, the heightened sense awareness created by hallucinogenic drugs….even lying blissed out in front of the television…has come to represent and take the place of the search for that inner divinity.

What is needed is to stop, center ourselves, and realize that the God presence is within us all.

We need to clear our lives of the clutter, clear our bodies of toxins, uplift ourselves in oneness, as well as in our relationships.

I seek pleasure in simplifying and focusing the goals of my life. There is great power in focusing our attention.

I seek to exalt myself through yoga, meditation, exercise, raw foods, good friends, and a focused engagement with life.

What else do we really need?

You don’t have to do what I do. But, some of the lessons you might learn from taking a look at my offerings may reveal some lessons that spark something in you.

And, if you want to learn a very simple approach to health, look no further than the Hacking the Body Mind Protocol which is outlined in the e-book for sale at my website.

It explains all of the things I have learned about over the years that contribute to lasting health andmvitality, and that will help you become clear on where you are headed in your life.

Take a look at what it has to offer.

For so many, as we begin to re establish changes in our lives, the realization hits that health must become a priority. We start to realize that without health, the big house, the Ferrari in the driveway, and that gorgeous yacht just doesn’t mean much.

Then, it becomes an uphill battle toward actually figuring out what information is good and what is not.

The point of the Hacking the Body Mind protocol was to break it all down to a very simple approach so that anyone could achieve wonderful results without all the technical back and forth.

Cheers to you and your new approach to living.

Peace, Love, Life!

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Yoga and Energy Work as the Foundation of True Strength Development

28
Jul
2010

So, I just finished my daily practice. I had a rest day from my workout so I basically did a couple qigong forms, some sexual cultivation work ( haha tisk tisk) and then finished off with an hour of yoga.

As is typical, I get pretty inspired as I start to notice the progress I am making in my practices because I start connecting the dots as to what aspects are doing what and it helps me to round things out.

As my practice has developed over the years I have indeed made some interesting realizations. And, I still do.

I wanted to go into one of them today. And, that is the role that a deep yogic and energetic cultivation practice can play in the development of foundational strength.

I have always been more of a health adventurer rather than a purist. In fact, I kind of hate the idea of doing only one thing because there are so many benefits to be taken from so many different types of practices and in many ways they all overlap.

Not only do they overlap, but, according to Ken Wilber’s integral model (which is what I look at when I truly want to understand the nature of holistic development), doing a range of practices (or spiritually cross training) actually enhances the effects that you take from each of the practices individually and creates an exponential growth curve.

I will go over that more deeply in a future blog post.

Today I just wanted to talk about what I believe yoga and energy cultivation methods bring to the table when being used as a support for a weightlifting or fitness regimen.

We all know what yoga is by now, I think. So, I will not go over that too much. Energy work though, can be a little confusing as it isn’t so well understood and it does encompass a vast quantity of practices developed over many thousands of years.

In my interpretation of energy work, I am basically using it as a generic term that refers to still or moving meditation (tai chi, qi gong etc.) and different types of sexual cultivation practices (tantra, Taoist sexual kung fu…). And, at its core, there is always some type of deep breath awareness that serves as its base and enables us to direct the flow of energy within our body (pranayama in yoga, Zen breathing etc.)

Now, over the years, and more so even recently, I am coming to the realization that, energy work sits on top of everything else as what effects us most deeply in the pursuit of strength development.
The reason for this is that as energy is released, cultivated, and allowed to flow more freely, it begins to provide a level of buoyancy. It really does make one feel lighter. What I mean to say is that it provides a deeper support to all other levels of matter manifestation, including what we see as the physical.

The Taoists have spent many millennia developing one of the most comprehensive approaches to development of any other culture and they maintain the perspective that developing the subtle body is of utmost importance. That is certainly not to say that they did not believe developing the physical body was important….because it absolutely is and has so many benefits that can NOT be understated.

But the Taoists believed that a well muscled person was only as strong as his or her internal body and organ system. Qi gong, although having a deep impact on the flow of energy, also develops the different organs. In their system of anatomy, the Chinese mapped out the many channels, meridians, and corresponding points that exist all over the body. Each one of these roughly corresponds to particular organs within the body….kidneys, liver, heart, lungs, spleen etc.

What lies within each pathway is what is known as chi (or qi, ki, energy, life force, or prana). And illness (physical, mental, or emotional) is created as a result of energy being blocked at a certain channel, meridian, or point. And, if the energy is flowing unimpeded than all of the body’s organs are strong and that in turn strengthens the body’s capacity for muscular development.

After all, it’s really the organs that feed the body its nutrients which allow muscles to develop properly. And, also as the organs and body centers are strengthened, than you will find that you can tend to go harder in your workout, you recover faster, and you don’t get injured nearly as often.

Yoga, at its base, is energy work as well and it actually gives you a range of benefits that are similar. What gives yoga its effect on energy is the concentration on the breath. Breathing deeply and with awareness is what enables someone to cultivate and move the energy. And, so that is why it forms the basis of all moving and still meditative practices.

But, the reason I wanted to go over it here, was due to its effect on strengthening those parts of the physical body that really cannot be developed through a standard weight training regimen.

Yoga, trains the body in a way that stimulates energetic production and awareness, it nourishes all the organs by creating a combined contraction and expansion within each of them, as you work into your folds, twists, and bends, it trains a deeper awareness of your nervous system, brain and spine, and it also strengthens the bones, all of the joints, and all of the muscles as it forces you to move in and out of positions that you would normally never move into.

I think this, to me, is the most compelling reason to undertake a yoga practice.

Yoga, though, goes so much deeper than that. It is much deeper than I can cover in a single blog post. It is so far removed from its current portrayal in the commercial world that it’s kind of ridiculous. But, there are many benefits that can be gained as a result of regular practice.

In so many ways and for so many reasons, yoga and energetic practice can enhance your approach to fitness.

Over the years, I have noticed a dramatic shift in the way I train, focusing less on lifting weights (a typical crossfit styled workout while being very tough and extremely effective lasts about 10-15 minutes) and really expanding my focus on energetic cultivation.

I have to say my yoga practice has gone in and out over the years as I have tried different cultivation means, but I always go back to it as a staple because it is so effective and multifaceted.

I would say out of a typical day of practice, I will spend between 3-5 hours doing different things. Out of that time, a fraction of it is spent working out with weights and focusing on the physical body. The vast majority is spent doing qigong, meditating, and doing yoga.

And that is how it seems to work best. Because I very very rarely if ever get injured and I haven’t gotten sick in a very long while (I used to be sick all the time in my younger days).

Thank you guys so much.

Peace, Love, Light!

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The Benefits of Fasting

26
Jul
2010

Fasting does so many things for us that it is hard to pin down a specific reason for why we should all do it. Fasting is most often linked to food but there are a great many ways to fast and a great many things to fast from.

This world is geared toward over consumption. We over consume food, television, and information. Sometimes creating a temporary space between you and something that you may otherwise think is extremely pleasurable is a good thing.

It often proves to be the case that when we do take that break from something we love, we find that the pleasure is greater once we bring it back into our daily life.

You should always remember that it is the space between the notes that make music what it is.

The moments apart from something that we love makes the moments we have with it just that much more special.

I suppose I am digressing a little bit. Fasting is important for many reasons. What I have found is that fasting shows us directly the hierarchy of needs that exists within our human structure.

In the Russian medicinal system, a weekly complete fast (no food or liquids) is advocated. Logic would tell you that the only thing you would really be craving by the end of it is food. That is what our tendency is. But, the real truth is that we so rarely go without and so we really wouldn’t know.

I did this sort of a fast on a regular basis for a long time and the only thing I would crave at the end of it was water. Now, this seemed funny to me the first time I experienced it. What I realized was that there was a specific hierarchy of requirements.

First requirement is air. We need to breathe. Breath is life and we can only go a few moments without it.

Water is next, and then food, and then sex. And, typically the need for sex will not typically arise unless the other needs are satisfied.

Beyond any other reason, fasting is a good way to really get an honest look at what it is we actually need and why.

It creates a deep sense of discipline. It revives your sensory acuity. It creates a sharper mind and a stronger body. This has been my experience.

It gives you a deeper understanding of the need to entertain the feeling of emptiness and to be able to learn from it.

Fasting rejuvenates all systems. It enables the body to burn up the stuck toxins and unnecessary fat cells as fuel. A complete fast goes one further, allowing the bacteria to be starved out.

Jesus fasted for 40 days and 40 nights in the bible. In many holy texts, the concepts of fasting and prayer occur together quite often because they are intrinsically linked.

To connect with your higher source, it is important to first flush out the system of toxic matter. A clean body can better allow the light to move through it, which is kind of how I believe we connect with God consciousness. This is not a proven fact but science will eventually catch up.

The point is just to try it, even for very short periods of time. Just fast. Fast from something whether it is television, news, information, food…anything.

If you do try a nutritional fast, go at it slowly. It’s always good to begin slowly and build up. Start with fruit fasts, and then switch to juices along with green powders, then to water and/or complete fasting.

Do this over a period of months so you can build up your capacities.

If you follow the nutritional suggestions I outline in the Hacking the Body Mind protocol, you will soon find that the process of fasting becomes much much simpler because you will be building up the body’s nutritional stores to an amazingly high extent.

If you want a great book on fasting, try this one by Paul and Patricia Bragg.

Thanks for reading.

Peace, Love, Light!

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