Some Book Recs!!

  Books are great guides to help us along in our journey. I used to feel a little embarrassment finding myself in the, 'SELF-HELP' section of the bookstore/library usually written in large bold letters like there's something desperately wrong with me, and I'm searching for answers to cure my ailments. When really... I was just looking for a little insight, or a nugget...

Like the time I opened up a book (I think this was written by the Dalai Lama) that said to make common happenstances a sign to become present, For example, every time you come to a stop light that is a sign to check in, smile to yourself, acknowledge your current state of being. I especially like that it puts something that might otherwise be negatively connoted into a positive light. 

These books have been really impactful for me, and also for the people whom I've recommended them to and actually to the do diligence  to read them:

'When Things Fall Apart' - Pema Chodron

This will give you a complete once over. I can't really say it's a pleasant read. On the contrary it really makes you look at all your sh**. That being said it's perfect for when things are falling apart (which it is for a lot of people right now) because it helps you to own your place in the disaster, and to sit with it, and feel it, and become intimate with what you may otherwise try to brush aside. If you can get through this book, and do the work it requests you to, I honor, and admire you, and thank you!

Next we have 'Spiritual Bypassing' By Robert Augustus Masters, PHD

Here Dr. Robert Masters outlines a very important element of things as we embark down a spiritual, or religious path. If we fall outside of authenticity, and lean on our knowledge of words like, 'energy', or 'magical', to feign a spiritual presence then we are completely missing the point, and that can often aid in other people feeling intimidated, more reserved, or even upset all because a lack of ability to be real with yourself got in the way. It's also useful to read to recognize the how and why of this. It ties in slightly also to the concept of (and another book called) Spiritual Materialism. Using our garments, jewelry, language, and even activity like yoga to 'SHOW' people how spiritual we are. This is so prominent in our culture today as spirituality gains traction in our communities. BE REAL PEOPLE! Authenticity is all of our best friends, and quite literally can make some for life IF you can be real with yourself. 

Next on our list is, 'King, Warrior, Magician, Lover'. By Robert Moore, and Douglas Gillette.

Here we have an incredible read on the archetypes of man. What separates a man from a boy? Why, how? The book breaks down the 4 highest (Title) archetypes, into lower, or less mature archetypes, and how boys get stuck in their pursuit to achieve becoming a true man. It also speaks on how men are not given a right of passage anymore like they used to so we are getting more and more boys, with fewer and fewer men! This is not only a read for men, but also for women to observe what male energy looks like, and how it works, and ultimately how to pick a winner in romantic, and friendly endeavors. The charts depicted in this book also do a great job of visually mapping what progression into manhood look like.

Anyone who's interested in Jung, archetypes, true manliness/mature nature, and how to achieve being your best, this book will offer a TON of tools for you.

Finally, and this one throws a curve but is soon friggin' awesome... If you like anatomy, or are drawn to why/how the body moves, or even if you're curious why your pelvis hurts when you've had a knee injury, please check out, 'Anatomy Trains' by Thomas W. Myers.

Anatomy Trains goes in depth with the body and how fascia (connective tissue) is all connected together. He literally outlines, and dissects the body into different lines of fascia that connect from the feet to the head. The body can actually aid in injury, or lack of mobility by just one area being off. Just because an area 'feels' good doesn't always mean that it is based on this cool thing called, 'referred pain' where an area feels pain based on another area that is ACTUALLY in pain. This and soon much more. There are some awesome aspects to this book that are brilliantly comprised and presented to give you a true lesson in anatomy.

Okay! That's it for today. Love and light to all my readers!

Here we have an incredible read on the archetypes of man. What separates a man from a boy? Why, how? The book breaks down the 4 highest (Title) archetypes, into lower, or less mature archetypes, and how boys get stuck in their pursuit to achieve becoming a true man. It also speaks on how men are not given a right of passage anymore like they used to so we are getting more and more boys, with fewer and fewer men! This is not only a read for men, but also for women to observe what male energy looks like, and how it works, and ultimately how to pick a winner in romantic, and friendly endeavors. The charts depicted in this book also do a great job of visually mapping what progression into manhood look like.

Anyone who's interested in Jung, archetypes, true manliness/mature nature, and how to achieve being your best, this book will offer a TON of tools for you.

So magic isn't real... right?

People all over the world have a slight obsession with things that exist beyond our mundane experience. I always like to put people at ease around the topic by explaining simply that, "Magic is just science that has yet to be explained." We have so many examples of things that don't yet make sense by science, and yet they exist clearly as a truth. How, for examples do aboriginal tribes in Australia telepathically communicate with each other about where to find water? Why do so many people have the experience of seeing a ghost/spirit? How do Tai Chi masters use so little physical exertion while completely obliterating their opponent, or Qi-Gong masters able to start things aflame with their qi? Similarly bodyworkers, and healers all over the world need just a hand on, glance at, conversation with, or even just tune into their clients and they can help them recover from all sorts of physical, emotional, and spiritual stagnations, and barriers.

Sure call it magic, but in todays world that won't get us very far in explaining it to people who need something more solid than that. I was speaking to a friend about this who thinks that our nervous system has far reaching tendrils and can feel a lot more than just our inner aspects. 'Messages in Water' by Dr. Emoto show his research on how a water molecule looks completely different based on words, or prayers said over the water. All contorted if negative words are said over it, and beautifully crystalline with positive words... WE are comprised of so much water that our thoughts really must have a big sway over our emotions, and even physical bodies. 

After returning from a qi-gong retreat I co-hosted with my friend Eli (www.qiwitheli.com) who has studied with people who can start things on fire with their qi (it's true! Take it or leave it.), I went to my acupuncturist who felt a noticeable increase in my qi-reserve which is exactly what this retreat was focused on. 

Finally, as a bodyworker I see patterns of how emotion, and trauma is stored in the body. I can see a whole spectrum of things based on how someone simply gestures toward someone else, and then see if that's having a negative impact on the person and help them move those things through their bodies so they can develop a healthier relationship with 'Self'. I believe that although this is somewhat it is also relatively teachable as are all of these things, and more that I haven't mentioned.

Magic is just the realms in which we haven't yet gained scientific proof of, and maybe never will. There are things that we cannot explain, and maybe through enough silence, and stillness in meditation we can know these things for ourselves, but ultimately does it really matter?! If we can use these abilities to help out one another who cares if there's proof? We are helping each other heal in this sometimes very challenging world. 

What is comes down to is our own ability to connect with certain things. If crystals are something you know how to connect with DO it. If you are super attuned to knowing where other peoples' things are, or what they're thinking, chances are you have a gift, use it! I think first, and foremost that if you know how to teach these things, then you have something very special to offer the world, I for one want to teach what I know, and would LOVE others to come forth and help me light the path to people seeing the magic within themselves.

What's your experience of this?

Lean Into It

Pema Chodron really says it best. In reading, and rereading, When Things Fall Apart, when it comes to our darkness, shadow, fear, regret, resentment or whatever/however you wanna call it, LEANING INTO IT is the trick. It doesn't feel pretty, it's not an ecstatic moment of glory, or excitement, but it IS enlightening. 

To know our darkness intimately allows us the chance to be more comfortable with the chaos of life. It's inevitable that we all have it at some point or other. By understanding our chaotic nature, and giving ourselves the opportunity to fall into the difficulty, fully without hesitancy creates the dynamic of permission, curiosity, and a kind of familiarity as challenging things present themselves to us. If we are familiar with these feelings then they don't barrel us over like a 10 foot wave. Instead it kinda just knocks us off our surf board, leash still attached to the ankle, and we get up kind of bummed we missed the wave, but ready to catch the next. If we just hang out in the two foot wave section of the ocean all the time the we'll never know the glory of free riding the bigger stuff. Depth will cease to grow within us. (I just spent all day at the beach yesterday.)

I think that if we stop to grow, and learn from our difficulties that's a sort of death. But through deeper self-evaluation, and diving into our deeper, murky parts we can continually engage with life. An equally present part of life, change. In essence it's a path of least resistance, which may sound counter-intuitive, but by going into the hard stuff, it loosens tension on the chains. The more we avoid, and shove our challenges away (and deep into ourselves) the more tension literally and figuratively we create.

So my offering to you, is to take some time to meditate on all the stuff that doesn't feel good. Stay with it a while. Know it like a friend, so next time it comes knocking on your door you don't quickly shut the door and escape out your back window! Stay with it, ask the pain questions like where do you come from? Why do you feel this way? What parts of my life are you serving/not serving? Etc. I can assure you the next time similar challenges present themselves to you, it'll be a little bit easier, and you'll come up out of the water with a little less fear of death.

It's Written All Over You

The amazing thing about the body is that it shows us everything that's going on with the inside, on the outside. That's to say that if you are working with sadness, or depression, anxiety, overworking, power struggles, WHATEVER it might be... it can all be seen by careful observation, and correct use of the senses, including the 6th sense which I believe we've all got (some more aware of it than others).

Yes, even using smell can tell a lot about what the person is working with... have you ever smelled your armpits when you've been stressed? It's usually more pungent, and has a recognizable sharpness to it. I've had clients who are not smokers who emanate a cigarette smell while working on them. Most of them are either around a lot of smokers, or had parents who were heavy/indoor smokers, and their bodies are literally detoxing from deeply stored toxins that were somehow held onto somatically.

Through observation/sight you can tell by gesture, posture, gait, expression how the person 'walks' through life. For example with shoulders rolled forward there is an inward aspect, or introversion, and depending on how that looks it may be sadness, depression, inability to open the heart, or a sense of intentionally closing off/guarding from the world around them. Posturally speaking sometimes it is just the posture that over time creates a sense of being, other times it is the sense of being that creates the posture. Either way the more we can focus on caring for our bodies by exercising and eating correctly, the better off we are internally as well. This (in a different way) has been proven over and over by science. 

Obviously as a bodyworker my job is to cess out what's going on through touch. However, there's more than just if a muscle is loose, or tight. What's the reaction to touching a sensitive area? How does a person respond to sustained deep pressure? How/when does fear, anxiety, distrust kick in and how willing is the person to work with that? There is so much to check for with just the physical aspect that it's hard to go into the depths of what can be felt just by placing that hand gently on the body. It's not necessarily an intuition either. Over time, and with enough practice, and awareness you can begin to recognize patterns, the beautiful, and broad spectrum of each individual, and the way everyone carries things differently. It's really quite remarkable. 

Listening to a person carries so much opportunity for understanding their being. Notice if there's a shake in the voice, notice tonality, pace, where they are speaking from (throat, chest, roof of mouth, nose), etc. This is all more information to tell a persons state, and what they're working with.

Now taste (like 6th senses) is kind of a hard one to fully explain. We don't normally taste our clients (although I think I'd make a scrumptious snack :) ) . However, every now and then when working on someone I begin to get a metallic, sweet, bitter, dry sort of taste/flavor/feeling in my mouth, sometimes it even happens where I begin to cough or burp because of more subtle things my somatic body is picking up. Again, I don't think this is some crazy, weird, hippie psychic thing. It's just another form of somatic communication that we (as well as many animals) possess in order to be able to look out after one another. 

If you or someone you know is interested in learning more about this, or wants to have a session for assessment feel free to contact me, or sign up for a workshop coming soon!