One of my astrological mandates for 2012 is to surround myself with physical beauty.
In that light, I am sharing this video.
Watch and surrender to grace.
The earth has disappeared beneath my feet,
Illusion fled from all my ecstasy.Now like a radiant sky creature
God keeps opening.God keeps opening
Inside of Me.
Hafiz
Valentine’s Day brings out my sentimentality. This is from Marc and Angel Hack Life, Practical Tips for Productive Living.
I love this story.
Today, at a jazz club in San Francisco I saw a man and woman enjoying a drink together. The woman was a dwarf and the man must have been 6 feet tall. Later in the evening they went out onto the dance floor. The man got down on his knees so they could slow dance together. They danced the rest of the night.
There are many, many more. Okay, some are cheesy, but I hope you find some you like. Love does make the world go ’round, you know.
Happy Valentine’s Day, dear readers.
I’m reflagging this post from Ben Howard’s One Time, One Meeting blog about the practice of Zen. Read Markus Koch’s comment below about learning yoga and changing his attitude.
If you have ever played a competitive sport, you have probably been exhorted to give 100 percent. Or, as the sports cliché would have it, “110 percent.” And the attitude embodied in that exhortation extends well beyond the arena of athletics. Whether the field of activity be business or law, selling cars or playing tennis, giving 100 percent of one’s effort and energy is widely regarded as a virtue, if not a moral imperative.
In the present American workplace, those fortunate enough to be employed might have little choice but to give 110—or 150—percent, day in and day out, to their jobs and sponsoring institutions. But for the conduct of everyday life, a wiser guideline may be found in the ancient Chinese practice of Tai Chi. At once a martial art and a contemplative discipline, Tai Chi is rooted in the Taoist tradition. And a cardinal principle of Tai Chi…
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Occupy Austin’s encampment at City Hall has been evicted. Occupy Wall Street has a dwindling number of protesters due to the season in NYC. It seems that the movement is fizzling.
Or not. Maybe it’s simply regrouping to come back in another form. The issues certainly haven’t gone away.
I notice a little more attention being paid to the vocabulary of political candidates, especially one poignant observation that the two-word phrase missing from any Republican candidate’s speechifying are these two words: middle class.
Why isn’t more of this political season devoted to which candidates support/oppose Citizens United and campaign finance reform? Because if they don’t vocally oppose them, they are comfortable lining their pockets with corporate money and being part of the corruption that has overtaken our government.
The Occupy movement got lots of criticism for being unfocused, for not having good sound bites. If you’re still wondering what it was/is about, I came across this article summarizing the 10 clearest demands of the movement.
Number one? Too much money in politics.
If there was a specific piece of government action that was most derided (directly or indirectly) by OWS protestors, it was Citizens United v. FEC. For a bunch of highly-educated justices, the Citizens United decision was staggering in its boneheadedness. Long story short, the court ruled that corporations have the same free-speech rights as individuals, and basically turned on the biggest spigot of private money into politics in recent memory. Oh, and it also expanded the definition of Corporate Personhood to absurd new heights.
Unsurprisingly, people weren’t too happy about the fact that no matter how much they canvassed, voted, donated to political campaigns or argued on the internet, they can never match the millions that private companies can muster. Bought politicians were unwanted before Citizens United, but afterwards it seemed blatant — like they weren’t even bothering to pretend anymore. Many OWS protestors took to the streets because they feel like we are now living in a country with two classes of people: those without money and those who matter to politicians. It’s so absurd because, as one anonymous commenter put it: “I’ll believe a corporation is a person when one is executed in Texas.”
If the 70% of the people who for years have believed that government is headed in the wrong direction could focus together and elect/support policymakers to overturn Citizens United and enact campaign finance reform, well, we the people will have taken our country back.
Is that not what you really want — government of the people, by the people, for the people? I do.
How do we get this done? It is daunting, but I cannot say it’s impossible. And I’m open to ideas.
Here’s one thing you can do: You can support, campaign, and vote for candidates who support these two policies, who make them their top priority, who can stand in the face of opposition, corruption, and greed. They’re out there. I know it.
We can make “where their campaign money comes from” a litmus test for candidates. Here’s an organization working on showing where the money really comes from.
I wonder how unbought candidates can gain a toehold in the media and get their message across to voters. Wealthy interests will of course fund their opponents, who can buy ad time and image consultants and speech writers.
Facebook, Twitter, and door-to-door campaigning, maybe?
For this “revolution” to happen, it’s gonna have to be mostly grass-roots, which Occupy showed us could be done. The concept and phrase “the 99%” is not going away, and it has made a difference.
It’s just gonna take even more of a revolution in people’s minds, hearts, and resolve to make these changes.
Supporting a truly free press is important. This table ranks nations on democracy, free press, and corruption. The U.S. is still better off than most nations, and that needs to be said. But we are less democratic, free, and uncorrupt than we like to think.
Where do you want it to go from here?
A friend asked what you call a government that caters to corporate interests. I looked it up on Wikipedia (political systems): it’s mostly plutocracy (rule by wealth — corporate interests, Koch Bros.), and I see elements of oligarchy (rule by the few — who buy politicians) and theocracy (rule by “God” or “his” representatives — Christian right) influencing it.
There are some elements of fascism (rule by a leader) in the way people’s civil rights have been taken away in the name of counter-terrorism. And there is also some technocracy/plutocracy (rule by wealthy experts) in the way that Wall Street provides the government’s economic experts and directs economic policy.
So there you have it: we live in a pluto-oliga-theo-fasci-technocracy.
If you’re wondering where your politics lie on the spectrum, go to The Political Compass. (Thanks, my friend, for telling me about this.) You answer the questions to view a chart showing where your politics lie on the left-right, authoritarian-libertarian axes.
I’m a far left libertarian in my politics, more than radical than Gandhi or any candidate or party shown. This doesn’t surprise me, because I came of age in terms of political awareness and involvement in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
I was told back then that the FBI had a file on me for protesting Vietnam. In high school. In Stillwater, Oklahoma.
Remembering that, my eyes are rolling. I’m coming out of the closet about that. And I ain’t done yet.
Did you know that some people never ask questions?
Some people are very talented at telling stories and anecdotes.
Some people are fabulous at flirting, raising it to an art form and practicing it on everyone they meet.
There are those who crack really funny one-liners and hilarious nonsequiturs.
Some are good with groups. Some prefer long, one-on-one conversations.
Some talk compulsively. Some experience silence with another as a kind of communion.
And sometimes there are holes in conversations, gaps in communication styles.
Sometimes anecdotes seem random, disconnected from what came before, and I find myself wondering (usually later) where the other person might have been going with that or what brought it up in the first place.
Sometimes I’ve put words in others’ mouths instead of letting them tell it their way.
And interestingly, sometimes when I am getting to know someone, a part of them that I’ve never met before will enter the conversation. It can be startling to me, while the part is so ingrained in them they’re not even aware of it.
I find communication — and people — fascinating.
I don’t read minds. I do what I call fake mind reading, trying to understand other people’s motivations, hidden emotions, directions, and so on. Yep, I make up stories about people and why they are the way they are. I’m working on letting go of that desire. It’s not that easy, I tell you! I am addicted to “understanding”.
To refresh myself and share with you, I’m consulting one of my favorite books on the Enneagram, The Enneagram of Liberation: From Fixation to Freedom, by Eli Jaxon-Bear. (Eli is Gangaji’s husband, if you didn’t know, and an expert on Enneagram as a spiritual growth tool.)
Below I’ve provided a brief description of each Enneagram type’s talking style. You may recognize yourself, or more likely, someone you know well will come to mind. Those who know you well may be able to tell you what your most characteristic communication style is.
Please keep in mind that these are generalizations! Twos do not give advice all the time!
Ones’ talking style is preaching, lecturing, sermonizing.
Two: Giving advice.
Three: Propaganda, selling, “the bottom line”.
Four: Lamentation, gossip, responsive to others’ moods.
Five: Systematic discussions (like this blog post! ha ha! ; ) ), investigations, silence.
Six: Setting limits, needing to know the rules, questioning authority.
Seven: Telling stories, charming others, improvisation.
Eight: Laying trips, challenging, pushing buttons.
Nine: Telling a saga or long story, putting listeners into trance.
If you are interested in using the Enneagram as a tool for personal growth, I recommend getting a copy of this book.
Somewhere between Facebook, Twitter, and web surfing, I came across this article and slideshow about an exhibit of Buddhist art in Hong Kong.
The show juxtaposes ancient and modern Buddhist art, drawing on the Rockefeller collection of Asian art and works by modern artists.
Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, is probably the single most influential individual on the face of this earth in terms of the number of lives touched and awakened toward peace.
Like Jesus, so much has been attributed to the Buddha and projected onto him that the actual man might be nonplussed if he could come back and see the religion he founded now.
(I think of spiritual masters like the Buddha and Jesus as having so much equanimity that the word horrified wouldn’t apply to them. That’s my projection.)
Many people, including me, have Buddhist art in their homes. That serene face, the eyes half or completely closed in introspection, sends an energy into a room of peacefulness, equanimity, compassion, and presence, and reminds me that those treasures lie within.
From the Asia Society’s website:
Transforming Minds: Buddhism in Art showcases Buddhist works from the world-renowned Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller 3rd Collection of Asian Art along with contemporary works by leading Asian and Asian American artists that draw inspiration from one of the world’s great religions.
I love it when science deepens our understanding of something people know from experience to be true. The latest such finding to catch my eye is in my own field, massage therapy. People love massage and not all that much is actually known about how it affects the body’s systems or its long-term benefits.
Canadian scientists studied what actually happens at the cellular level when someone who has vigorously exercised gets a massage. Here’s an article explaining the study, and here’s the abstract for the research findings.
In short, massage applied to muscles after vigorous exercise reduces inflammation and promotes growth of energy-producing units (mitochondria) in muscle cells.
“The potential benefits of massage could be useful to a broad spectrum of individuals including the elderly, those suffering from musculoskeletal injuries and patients with chronic inflammatory disease,” said Tarnopolsky. “This study provides evidence that manipulative therapies, such as massage, may be justifiable in medical practice.”
The researchers also busted the myth that massage reduces lactic acid, which builds up in cells during exercise and has been thought to contribute to muscle pain. Massage had no effect on lactic acid build-up.
Here’s something to look forward to:
One future research direction will be to examine the long-term effect of massage after a workout.
For most of my life, I have been afraid of making mistakes. Even the “MBTI Prayers” mentions my type as being perfectionistic:
INFJ: Lord, please help me not to be so perfectionistic! (Did I spell that correctly?)
Yes, I am a good speller, and I am also a fear-based Enneagram type, a Five, somewhat evolved but still a Five.
Fear! Fear! Fear! Boo!
I can poke fun at myself now, but used to, I couldn’t. I was a good child, didn’t make waves, did well in school, was serious and well-behaved, was friendly and funny with my peers — but was isolated, not close to anyone emotionally. I had a lot of fears and doubts and no one to talk to. My fears and doubts kept me from talking to anyone! I feared they wouldn’t understand me and would ridicule me, and I doubted anyone could do or say anything helpful to me. So I didn’t reach out very far. Adolescence was particularly lonely. I was afraid of making mistakes.
My fear of making mistakes meant being tense before I even started something!
Wow. When I think about that now, I can see how I made myself miserable. I robbed myself of the joy of failing, trying again, and doing better. I didn’t understand the learning curve.
By the way, here’s a great video about the learning curve. Watch this baby learn about her body and what she can do, and notice how complex rolling over is, and how she learns to do it:
I’m not sure exactly when this happened, but I recently realized some Very Important truths in life that changed my mind about making mistakes:
When you make a mistake, well, there are all kinds of opportunities to develop yourself and grow as a human being:
There’s still a part of me that doesn’t want to make mistakes, because there’s pain involved. I don’t want to cause anyone pain or suffering. But I can’t let that paralyze me. Intent counts, and it’s more complex than that. This is where the Serenity Prayer comes in:
Mistakes are perhaps the best education available for the heart and the mind when it comes to gaining skill with life. They teach you how to be heart-full and mind-full.
With the attitude that mistakes are inevitable and there for me to learn from, and the recognition that I have learned from them and will continue learning from them, life feels more playful, free, promising, and joyful. I’m moving in the direction of Big Mind and Big Heart. And how much better can it get than that?
This article, 12 Things Happy People Do Differently, lists things you can start doing today to experience more happiness in your life.
Besides the usual suspects like gratitude, optimism, and forgiveness, some tips were unexpected, like this one:
Avoid over-thinking and social comparison. – Comparing yourself to someone else can be poisonous. If we’re somehow ‘better’ than the person that we’re comparing ourselves to, it gives us an unhealthy sense of superiority. Our ego inflates – KABOOM – our inner Kanye West comes out! If we’re ‘worse’ than the person that we’re comparing ourselves to, we usually discredit the hard work that we’ve done and dismiss all the progress that we’ve made. What I’ve found is that the majority of the time this type of social comparison doesn’t stem from a healthy place. If you feel called to compare yourself to something, compare yourself to an earlier version of yourself.
I also liked what it said about how just watching kindness in action increases serotonin in those witnessing it as well as in the person performing the kind act. By being kind, not only do you feel better, it’s contagious!
Nurture social relationships. – The happiest people on the planet are the ones who have deep, meaningful relationships. Did you know studies show that people’s mortality rates are DOUBLED when they’re lonely? WHOA! There’s a warm fuzzy feeling that comes from having an active circle of good friends who you can share your experiences with. We feel connected and a part of something more meaningful than our lonesome existence.
Thanks to friend Shelley Seale for posting this link on Twitter.
I realized today after carefully counting that I’ve touched 100 naked people in the last 7 months. That probably makes you wonder if I’m a sex worker.
I’m not. I’ve been a student of massage therapy since June 2011, and I’ve worked on my fellow students and teachers, many of my friends and family, and clients at the student clinic.
I’ve worked on many of these people several times. When I complete just 10 more massages in the intern clinic, I’ll have completed the requirements for graduation and will have given about 150 massages.
Every person I’ve touched has gotten my full attention, presence, and skill. Even that one person who happened to be my fourth recipient in one day, when it crossed my mind that I felt tired and cranky — I pulled myself out of that mindset, got a second wind, and gave them my best.
A naked and vulnerable human on the table in front of me is a divine gift with whom I hold a sacred contract to give my best.
Every person I’ve massaged has contributed immensely to the intelligence in my hands, heart, instincts, and awareness.
Most people are fairly silent when receiving massage, their attention on their bodies or breath or my hands, I presume, or perhaps their grocery list. I don’t read minds, so I don’t really know.
Silence helps me work.
Some people stay mentally alert and present the entire time. Some sink quickly or slowly into a state of deep relaxation, that state of no effort where the body is being breathed, the mind is loose and free, and imagery bubbles up out of darkness. Some fall asleep. Their snoring tells me.
Sometimes I go into a trance with you, and those are the best massages.
I watch and listen to you breathing. I feel your pulses. I see your scars — the ones on your skin and the emotional ones like the chronically rounded shoulders, that one tight hip, the rigidity in your torso. Sometimes your bodies tell me stories, of weight gained or lost, an old injury with a long recovery, a recent injury complete with road rash, surgery, playing a sport, working out regularly, working at a computer.
No one — so far — has had a perfect body. I belief that’s likely a myth created by airbrushing.
I’ve learned that nearly everyone has some tension in their shoulders — in the upper trapezius muscle, to be specific.
The low back is also a popular place for tension and pain to hang out. It’s amazing that by working on your rectus abdominis (the abdomen’s six-pack), the front and back of your body become balanced and your low back pain goes away.
I’ve learned that due to handedness, no one’s upper trapezius muscles are exactly symmetrical.
Some people think they’re relaxed, but when I pick up their arm or leg, they have a hard time letting go of control, giving me the full weight.
Some people want more pressure, some less. I’ve gained strength in my arms and hands and can now deliver more consistent firm pressure.
I’ve worked on fat people, skinny people, people with chronic health problems, healthy people, a lot of people stressed out from office work (I’ve posted before about too much sitting), an age range from 11 to 85, people with tight bodies and loose bodies, and one pregnant woman.
All precious.
When I worked on my daughter, memories of her infancy arose, and I realized that everyone who gets naked on my table is just this:
an old baby
no longer tiny or quite so helpless
nonetheless innocent and vulnerable like a newborn
I’ve learned that some people are not very knowledgeable about their own bodies, misnaming their body parts, unaware of tensions, oblivious to the postural or movement habits that cause them pain — that they’ve unconsciously created for themselves.
Your body tells the truth. It can’t lie.
Why aren’t body awareness and anatomy taught at home and in schools?
There are certain massage strokes that tend to get sighs of relief and moans of pleasure. I’ve developed an opening routine that opens.
Receiving massage is all about you becoming more alive and your nervous system waking up, your body shedding tension and moving into relaxation and pleasure, not to mention improving your circulation, breath, brainwaves, mood, compassion, immunity, energy flow, digestion, posture, alignment, balance, movement, and presence.
In many ways, allowing me to massage you is like letting me to take your armor off — the armor you probably weren’t aware of putting on until you started feeling tense or in pain.
Everyone can benefit from taking their time getting up afterwards, not rushing off in their cars to get somewhere else, not re-engaging their left brains too quickly.
Yes, leave your armor off for a while and stay for a cup of tea with me.
The Well: bodymindheartspirit 