Category Archives: blogging

Behind the scenes of a blog: search terms that have brought readers here :-)

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Behind the scenes of this WordPress.com blog, I can view my site’s statistics. One of my favorite things to check on is the list of search terms that people have entered into a search engine that somehow got them to this blog.

Besides the usual suspects like yoga, 4 hour body, trauma releasing exercises, buddha brain, spartan carousel, flu, and tibetan monks austin, here are some others over the past three months that have been amusing:

having a good axle-hole (?)

zafu brown (any relationship to Encyclopedia Brown?)

mcrae says dukkha means (okay, William, what’s up with that?)

yoaching yoga coaching

dont fall asleep in trauma (okay, i wont)

4 hour body can you eat refried beans everyday (love it!)

realigious ked wearing people (it’s a cult!)

There are some that are inspiring. I plan to do my own Google searches using these search terms. Some people know what’s important!

synesthesia and gamma waves (I’ll have what she’s having)

playful joy

shaking medicine groups

Thank you, readers

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At the end of January, this blog had gotten 5,000 views.

Today the count is up to 7,355 views. I also have several new subscribers. Welcome! I hope you find some value here.

Just want to say thanks to all of you. I appreciate you reading my posts and especially enjoy getting your comments.

This blog is an outlet for me to follow and pursue what interests me and share what I discover, both in myself and “out there” in the world. I imagine that not every post is everyone’s cup of tea, but to those who read my posts occasionally, or regularly, I really want you to know how grateful I am to have something to offer. And I’m glad you can pass up the ones that don’t resonate, too!

I feel like I’m on a journey, and I don’t know the destination yet, but getting there is a lot of fun. Thanks for being company on the road.

10 rules for brilliant women

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In my online wanderings, I came across this woman’s blog. I like it! It’s called Wise Living Blog. The blogger, Tara Sophia Mohr, is a coach.

Notice how nice it feels to be addressed as brilliant!

In this post, dated September 17, 2010, she writes about 10 rules for brilliant women.

Here’s the first rule:

1. Make a pact. No one else is going to build the life you want for you. No one else will even be able to completely understand it. The most amazing souls will show up to cheer you on along the way, but this is your game. Make a pact to be in it with yourself for the long haul, as your own supportive friend at every step along the way.

Here’s number 3:

3. Gasp. Start doing things that make you gasp and get the adrenalin flowing. Ask yourself, “What’s the gasp-level action here?” Your fears and a tough inner critic will chatter in your head. That’s normal, and just fine. When you hear that repetitive, irrational, mean inner critic, name it for what it is, and remember, it’s just a fearful liar, trying to protect you from any real or seeming risks. Go for the gasps and learn how false your inner critic’s narrative really is, and how conquerable your fears.

I love this one!

6. Question the voice that says “I’m not ready yet.” I know, I know. Because you are so brilliant and have such high standards, you see every way that you could be more qualified. You notice every part of your idea that is not perfected yet. While you are waiting to be ready, gathering more experience, sitting on your ideas, our friends referenced in rule five [the arrogant idiots] are being anointed industry visionaries, getting raises, and seeing heir ideas come to life in the world. They are no more ready than you, and perhaps less. Jump in the sandbox now, and start playing full out. Find out just how ready you are.

The rest of the rules are pretty inspiring. Click this link to read them.

Fall down seven times, get up eight

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I discovered this lovely blog post about the resilience of the Japanese people. Thought it was worth sharing.

They say that in times of crisis people show their true character. Anyone can be cooperative, patient, and understanding when things are going well and life is good. But it is the noble man or woman who can behave with grace and compassion and even kindness when times are very, very bad. For many people in Northern Japan right now, the times could not be worse. And yet, at least to the outside observer, the manner in which the Japanese people conducted themselves in the aftermath of this calamity has been remarkable.

Here’s more:

The best kind of motivation is intrinsic motivation. For the benefit of oneself — and for the benefit of others as well — one must bear down and do their best. Even in good times, behaving uncooperatively or in a rude manner is deeply frowned upon. In a crisis, the idea of complaining or acting selfishly to the detriment of those around you is the absolute worst thing a person can do. There is no sense in complaining about how things are or crying over what might have been. These feelings may be natural to some degree, but they are not productive for yourself or for others.

Click the link to read on.

Confessions of a Type-A Yogi (via James MacAdam)

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I loved the honesty in this post, about yoga, the ego, and damaging your body. I think he must be referring to Paul Grilley’s Yoga Anatomy video, which shows clearly how skeletal structure varies from body to body.

“Going deep” should never mean trying to emulate another person’s yoga without taking into account your own unique body. As meditators know and as Patanjali knew, you can “go deep” without moving.

Thank you, James MacAdam, for sharing your story.

Confessions of a Type-A Yogi In my early yoga days studying Anusara Yoga with John Friend, he once told me (through my girlfriend) that I could be a great yogi like my friend Darren Rhodes.  To me, this meant that I too would be able to contort my body into incredible formations, and demonstrate my world-class athletic prowess through the art of Hatha Yoga.   … Read More

via James MacAdam

Aimlessly wander

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Found this practice on Bindu Wiles’ blog, about the balance between structure and not:

Aimlessly Wander. This is a practice that is taught in the Shambhala Warrior training that I completed and is the idea of my teacher Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. Basically, you go outside with maybe some money or your debit card and maybe your iPhone set to Airport, or none of those things. You just go out. Maybe you take the train, maybe you drive, maybe you just walk. What you do, is you let yourself be pulled in any direction that you want, and you look at things and stop when you feel, and move again when you feel. You may find yourself inside a restaurant or sitting at a sidewalk cafe or you may never sit down, or you may sit on a bench for as long as you like. The whole time you are looking and noticing and letting yourself wander aimlessly. It can go on for hours. It’s done in a very relaxed state and you let your conceptual mind rest and go along for the direction and ride that your senses pull you in. It’s as if you were seeing everything for the first time.

Today, as I move, the contemplation of aimlessly wandering brings joy. Hope it brings joy to you too.

Did Marianne Williamson and legions of angels help Egypt?

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Just came across a blog post by the spiritual teacher Marianne Williamson, dated Feb. 2, during the darkest days before the Egyptian people prevailed and dictator Hosni Mubarak stepped down.

Maybe she’s onto something!

February 2, 2011

IN THE LAND OF EGYPT

In a radio interview this morning I was asked if I have hope for the future… whether I think love will ultimately prevail on earth.

From a spiritual perspective, yes love will ultimately prevail. Buddha became enlightened; the Jews made it to the Promised Land; Jesus resurrected. All those are religious tales that inform us of the basic imprint of the universe. No story is over until the happy part, and if it’s not happy yet then the story isn’t over.

But that is only the beginning of a framework for understanding. We mustn’t let the phrase,”Love will ultimately prevail,” be a mere platitude that serves to justify complacency…either spiritual or political. For whether we learn to love one another through wisdom or through pain is completely up to us. How long it takes before love prevails is completely up to us. How much human suffering occurs before love prevails is completely up to us. Free will does not mean we get to determine what ultimately happens, but it does mean we get to determine what happens in the immediate future to us and to those we love.

When you have thousands of people acting out a high-emotion, high-stakes drama such as that which is occurring in Egypt today, almost anything can happen.

On the one hand, we are witnessing the purity and power of the quest for freedom. The demand for basic human rights, the repudiation of a dictator, and the protest of an economic order in which 40 per cent of one’s population lives on less than 2 dollars a day – all of this is a pure, democratic rising up of the human spirit. And if America doesn’t stand in support of those things, then we’ve completely lost our own moral center.

At the same time, this situation has gone from volatile to violent. Freedom is rising, but the forces of oppression are cracking down. Chaos overrides not only the impulse to freedom but also the impulse to basic human decency. Blood is spilling. People are dying. The situation has gone from liberating to tragic.

Right now, let’s pray for a miracle.

May a great wave of sanity and peace flood the minds and hearts not only of the protestors, but also the military and police and government. The phrase “may cooler heads prevail” comes to mind. May men and women of honor and good will within every corner of Egyptian society be listened to, and their words and ideas heeded. May thousands of small miracles that you and I will never ever know about quiet down a conversation over here, cause a peaceful solution to emerge in a neighborhood over there. May a general sense of peace and good will – something we’d seen almost miraculously on display at the beginning of the protests — return to the streets of Egypt.

Try closing your eyes and see, with your mind’s eye, legions of angels roaming through the streets of Cairo. Do this as frequently as you can throughout the day. It is no idle fantasy. This is the exercise of spiritual power, and in the words of Martin Luther King, Jr., such power is “more powerful than bullets.” Even when we are materially passive, he said, we can still be “spiritually active.”

The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle means that as the observer changes, there is a change in that which is observed. Worldly news anchors report the news: miracle-workers help change the news by the nature of their thoughts. And the greatest medium of miracles is prayer. So today, let’s pray for Egypt.

Dear God, please pave a miraculous path for the people of Egypt, to peace and freedom and joy unending. Bless their hearts. Guide their minds. Illumine this moment. May love prevail. Amen.

I’m ready to visualize legions of angels roaming the streets of Tehran. And Washington, DC.

How about you?

Please share this post about the Chronic Stress and Trauma Recovery challenge!

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In an effort to reach as many people as possible who can benefit from the Chronic Stress and Trauma Recovery Challenge, may I ask that you please share this post — by emailing it to friend who could benefit and/or by sharing on Facebook, retweeting on Twitter, sharing on Stumbleupon, Digg, Reddit — using whatever social media programs you like?

There’s even a little +SHARE icon below the post that you can use. I’m trying to get some momentum going here!

The all-time daily high for people viewing this blog was 89 views on Feb. 3, 2010 — a year ago tomorrow. Right now I’m at 15 views for today — would love to beat that record!!!

I’m including the links to all my posts about this challenge below to make it easier to catch up on the info.

In order from oldest to newest, please read these three posts:

These posts will get anyone caught up with the challenge, which starts today. You don’t have to do it like I do it, but please try them at least once.

Doing these exercises can help anyone release stress and trauma. If enough people do them, we could co-create a world with more peace and love, and less violence, substance abuse, and suffering. Would you like that?

If you don’t think you can benefit, I ask you to try them just once. If you do these exercises and don’t tremble, I’ll kiss your feet and tell the world!

If you’re in Austin, Texas, I’ll be glad to teach you how and do them with you, at my home, your home, or maybe a more public place.

Thank you for sharing this.

A clear sign from the Universe. Flexibility. Freedom.

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I’ve reached day 20. The gratitude challenge ends tomorrow. Today I’m reviewing.

Here’s my parade of gratitudes so far, day by day:

  1. My cat Mango. My house. The internet.
  2. My daughter. Women friends. Gifted intuitive healers.
  3. My health. A car wreck. The best novel ever.
  4. Water falling from the sky. Mexican food. Saying no.
  5. Generosity. Root vegetables. An offer on my house.
  6. Doing this challenge. Imperfection. A day with my granddaughter, Hannah.
  7. NLP. Challenges. Resources.
  8. Asking for what you need. Seeking work. Integrative Chakra Breathwork.
  9. Options are the antidote to anxiety. Offers on my house. Work possibilities.
  10. The 4-Hour Body. Teaching yoga. Yes.
  11. Signing a contract on my house. Relationship challenges. Housewife on LSD video.
  12. Father and infant daughter. New watch. Pigeon pose.
  13. Meta position. The Metta Sutra. A good night’s sleep.
  14. Being a mad scientist. Having a wise realtor. Leaving home.
  15. Inner bigness. Jedi warrior Keith Fail. Awareness.
  16. Job interview. Insights. Shared dreams.
  17. My car. My house. My friends.
  18. The Work. Cat-moving advice. T-Mobile.
  19. Byron Katie. Life as it is. 5,000 blog views.

(By the way, as of this moment, this blog has gotten 5,019 views. Thank you again for reading, connecting energetically, commenting. I appreciate you.)

I see from this list a mix of specific gratitudes, for specific people, a video, a book, a company, a sutra, and more.

I also see broad areas of gratitude — insights, awareness, inner bigness, life as it is, no, yes.

Hmmm. I passed my own “chunk size” test! Yay! The object is not to be stuck in the details or in the big picture. It’s to have flexible perspective, to be able to see both the forest and the trees.

I am grateful to have the flexibility to zoom in and out on life with a measure of ease. I believe this skill is something I began developing since my very first day of NLP practitioner training several years ago. I hold the universe and an acorn in the palm of my hand. It helps tremendously with my equanimity — it helps me know I can be ready for anything. That confidence is priceless.

~~~

This 21-day challenge has coincided with selling my house. I had no offers on day 1, and now I have a contract and what looks like a pretty solid bet on closing February 18. Since I’ve often marked eras in my life by the home I was living in at the time, I am in transit, ending one era and beginning another.

It’s also coincided with a lot of attention to my work. On day 1, I was happily jobless, except for my joyous work as a yoga teacher and an NLP coach/change shaman offering free or low-priced sessions to get experience and build a reputation.

Meanwhile, my vision of my future work/identity keeps evolving. My plan had been to start as a full-time student at AOMA in July. I still love AOMA, and now I’m not so sure that becoming an acupuncturist is right for me. Nowadays it is hard to build a full-time practice in Austin, which has two acupuncture schools. I have time to get clear on this.

I believe I could become an exceptional acupuncturist, as long as I can practice “everything else” alongside it. But for me, maybe “everything else” is more to the point. I’m still working on this.

I’m considering getting other training, which may include classwork at AOMA. I have a couple of key words to guide me: blockages and beliefs. These words are about working with the body and the mind, i.e., touching and talking, and came to me during this challenge. That’s the big picture. Maybe massage school is where I need to start, to get a license to touch.

I can do Reiki now, without a license. Thank you, Jonathan, for attuning me.

I can do the verbal changework now under the banner of a coach or consultant, or, my favorite, well-being shaman.

It’s all energy work.

In the practical realm, due to the uncertainties of when I would actually close on my house, and desiring to keep my technical writing skills marketable until I have fully made the transit to self-employment, I updated my resume one day and spent the next day responding to job postings and sending it to recruiters for contract work. I heard from a recruiter that day, had an interview a few days later, and received and accepted an offer the day after that.

Honestly, I didn’t know it would be that easy, and that it was has touched my heart. Thank you, Universe, for showing my humble self that I’m on the right track. I hope to be doing contract work over the next couple of years to pay the bills as I get the training I need.

~~~

I’m incredibly grateful for the freedom I have. Especially when I compare myself to so many people in the world who can’t live where they want or do the work that they want, to people who feel trapped. (Actually, these are the people I want to work with.)

I can sell my house and buy a trailer!

I can quit a “permanent” job and do contract work to pay the bills and keep my skills marketable and have an adventure!

I can teach yoga and offer NLP/changework sessions and do The Work!

I can explore my desired life work and how best to learn and do that!

I can literally change my mind!

I am incredibly lucky and grateful that my life gives me these choices.

Byron Katie. Life as it is. 5,000 blog views.

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On this 19th day of my 21-day gratitude challenge, I am very grateful that Friday and Saturday, I got to spend hours in an auditorium with Byron Katie and my friends Thomas and Val and a whole bunch of other people, watching Katie, as she’s called, working with several people who were troubled about something.

Katie’s technique is called The Work, and the way we worked was to fill out a Judge-Your-Neighbor Worksheet (available online for free along with a lot of other resources) about a recurring stressful situation, something that reliably pushes our buttons. She encouraged us to be our meanest, pettiest selves when we filled out the worksheet.

Then she asks, or has us ask ourselves, four questions:

  1. Is it true? (yes or no)
  2. Can you absolutely know that it’s true? (yes or no)
  3. How do you react, what happens, when you believe that thought?
  4. Who would you be without the thought?

Then you turn the thought around three ways and find three specific examples of how each turnaround is true for you in that situation. For example, if my thought is “I hate him,” the turnarounds would work like this:

  1. The first turnaround is to the self. “I hate me.” How do I treat myself hatefully?
  2. The second turnaround is to the other. “He hates me.” List ways he hates me.
  3. The third turnaround is the opposite. “I love him.” How do I love him?

So from an NLP perspective, she’s working at the belief level, and she’s helping people reframe their experiences and emotions and beliefs and even identities. She refers a lot to people’s internal images (but not voices). On an energy level, she’s helping people move from contraction to expansion.

On Saturday, her first guest onstage was an attractive, polished woman who had flown here from San Francisco. Her husband of 30 years cheated on her with “a 27-year-old Brazilian whore” while she (the wronged wife) was undergoing treatment for breast cancer.

Katie took this woman through the process. She realized that she had stopped loving her husband but was willing to live a charade, she knew he was lying to her, et cetera. It took her out of her victim story. She also got huge applause for getting here with her frequent flyer miles since her husband had denied her access to all of their bank accounts. This woman is resourceful!

In the turnaround, Katie asked the woman to say, “I’m a whore,” and the woman couldn’t get the word “whore” out.

The unflappable Katie said, “What the heck. I’m enlightened. I can say it for you. ‘I’m a whore.’ There.” Big laughs and applause.

Later she worked with a woman who was so distraught because her husband, a diabetic, wouldn’t take his meds that she herself was on medication.

Once again, I’m grateful I got to see Byron Katie do The Work in person. If anyone wants to play with me, ping me.

~~~

In this moment, I’m grateful for life as it is. That’s what enlightenment is. That’s what Zen teaches. That’s what we practice when sitting in meditation.

~~~

I’m grateful to those who read my blog. Today it looks like I will cross the threshold of 5,000 views! Thank you for reading my posts. Thanks for connecting. Thanks for commenting.