April 2008 - Through Your Body

MARCH 2008
April 2008
Shift Happens
by ALAN DAVIDSON
Randy is eating my lunch! He‟s the
MOST immature man I‟ve met in
years: petty, small-minded, meanspirited, and judgmental, no less. No
wonder he running a political campaign for Harris County Judge. He‟s
not literally eating my lunch, I have
no idea what Randy‟s eating. I mean,
the noise my thoughts and judgments
about Randy are making as they ricochet around the inside of my head are
ruining my peace of mind.
ror I‟ve attracted to show me where
I‟m still petty, small-minded, meanspirited, and judgmental—Ouch! This
part of spiritual growth can be a real
drag. The question is, „How long do I
choose to keep “spinning that stuck
wheel” and suffer over it?‟
our own bodies and the Joy of Movement. Developing our Sensory IQ
gives us the skill needed to embody
the energies of the Nine different
Movement forms integrated by the
founders, Debbie Rosas and Carlos
Rosas. During a Nia routine I‟m
guided through movements that express the martial arts of Tai chi, Aikido, and Tae kwon do; the dance arts
of Jazz dance, Modern dance, and
(Isadora) Duncan dance; and the healing arts of yoga, Feldenkrais movement, and Alexander Technique.
All spiritual and psychological techniques are at-there-core, basic practices that un-stick the wheel of our
consciousness. The question is, “With
the thousands of years and multitude
of techniques, which work the best
and the fastest? The world is speeding
up and so is the effectiveness of many Each of these movement forms has a
spiritual exercises.
unique energetic signature. I love the
snap shifts form, say, the fluid flowing
Dukha‟s an ancient Sanskrit word
We are learning that energy follows
that means “stuck wheel.” The Budfeminine groove of Duncan dance to
attention, and that a clear-focused
the sharp yang masculine precision of
dha used dukha as a metaphor to
intention can shift consciousness in a
point to how the ego is stuck in limTae Kwon Do, or the grace of a yoga
snap of the fingers. The systems I‟ve
ited perception and thus causes sufpose into the splash of Jazz dance.
found for speedy (and dramatic) conThe learning here is knowing, in the
fering. The un-stuck wheel is sukha¸
sciousness-shifting are Nia, Big Mind,
the mind that is free (and able to spin
muscles of my body, how to choose
Inquiry—The Work of Byron Katie,
in every direction). I‟m far enough
the energy I most want to be for any
and PSYCH-K. Each of these spiritual
along my spiritual path to realize my
given moment—and with focused insystems leverages the power of my
thoughts
tention I can shift.
own intention. When I realize I‟m in a
Inside this issue—
and judgnegative spiral of thinking-feelingcontinued page 3
Enduring Measure of Fitness 2 ments about being, I can choose
Randy have
to shift into a lovThe Gandhian Trinity
3
nothing to
I know a way out of hell
4 do with him. ing state of being—
with the snap of
Satyagraha by Phillip Glass
5 In a very
my fingers. Today
Thoughts can Heal Your Body 6 real way “It‟s I‟m talking about
all about
two of those.
Don’t Hurry, Be Happy
7
me.” I‟m eatk.d. lang‟s watersher
8
ing my own Nia is a kick-ass
dance/exercise
lunch and
Arthur C. Clarke
9
routine, set to
blaming
Circle of Healing
10
groovy music,
him.
Member Spotlight/Russ Odum 12
whose foundation
Member Comments
12 Randy‟s the is the sensations of
karmic mir1
Alan (left) with New York Times bestselling author, Robert Allen
An Enduring Measure of Fitness: The Simple Push-Up
By TARA PARKER-POPE
As a symbol of health and wellness, nothing surpasses the simple push-up.
Practically everyone remembers the actor Jack Palance performing age-defying push-ups during
his Oscar acceptance speech. More recently, Randy Pausch, the Carnegie Mellon professor
whose last lecture became an Internet sensation, did push-ups to prove his fitness despite having
pancreatic cancer.
“It takes strength to do them, and it takes endurance to do a lot of them,” said Jack LaLanne, 93,
the fitness pioneer who astounded television viewers in the 1950s with his fingertip push-ups.
“It‟s a good indication of what kind of physical condition you‟re in.”
The push-up is the ultimate barometer of fitness. It tests the whole body, engaging muscle
groups in the arms, chest, abdomen, hips and legs. It requires the body to be taut like a plank
with toes and palms on the floor. The act of lifting and lowering one‟s entire weight is taxing
even for the very fit.
“You are just using your own body and your body‟s weight,” said Steven G. Estes, a physical
education professor and dean of the college of professional studies at Missouri Western State
University. “If you‟re going to demonstrate any kind of physical strength and power, that‟s the
easiest, simplest, fastest way to do it.”
But many people simply can‟t do push-ups. Health and fitness experts, including the American
College of Sports Medicine, have urged more focus on upper-body fitness. The aerobics movement has emphasized cardiovascular fitness but has also shifted attention from strength training
exercises.
Moreover, as the nation gains weight, arms are buckling under the extra load of our own bodies. And as budgets shrink, public
schools often do not offer physical education classes — and the calisthenics that were once a childhood staple.
In a 2001 study, researchers at East Carolina University administered push-up tests to about 70 students ages 10 to 13. Almost half
the boys and three-quarters of the girls didn‟t pass.
Push-ups are important for older people, too. The ability to do them more than once and with proper form is an important indicator of
the capacity to withstand the rigors of aging.
Researchers who study the biomechanics of aging, for instance, note that push-ups can provide the strength and muscle memory to
reach out and break a fall. When people fall forward, they typically reach out to catch themselves, ending in a move that mimics the
push-up. The hands hit the ground, the wrists and arms absorb much of the impact, and the elbows bend slightly to reduce the force.
In studies of falling, researchers have shown that the wrist alone is subjected to an impact force equal to about one body weight, says
James Ashton-Miller, director of the biomechanics research laboratory at the University of Michigan.
“What so many people really need to do is develop enough strength so they can break a fall safely without hitting their head on the
ground,” Dr. Ashton-Miller said. “If you can‟t do a single push-up, it‟s going to be difficult to resist that kind of loading on your
wrists in a fall.”
And people who can‟t do a push-up may not be able to help themselves up if they do fall.
“To get up, you‟ve got to have upper-body strength,” said Peter M. McGinnis, professor of kinesiology at State University of New
York College at Cortland who consults on pole-vaulting biomechanics for U.S.A. Track and Field, the national governing body for
track.
Natural aging causes nerves to die off and muscles to weaken. People lose as much as 30 percent of their strength between 20 and 70.
But regular exercise enlarges muscle fibers and can stave off the decline by increasing the strength of the muscle you have left.
Women are at a particular disadvantage because they start off with about 20 percent less muscle than men. Many women bend their
knees to lower the amount of weight they must support. And while anybody can do a push-up, the exercise has typically been part of
the male fitness culture. “It‟s sort of a gender-specific symbol of vitality,” said R. Scott Kretchmar, a professor of exercise and sports
science at Penn Sate. “I don‟t see women saying: „I‟m in good health. Watch me drop down and do some push-ups.‟ ”
Based on national averages, a 40-year-old woman should be able to do 16 pushups and a man the same age should be able to do 27. By the age of 60, those
numbers drop to 17 for men and 6 for women. Those numbers are just slightly
less than what is required of Army soldiers who are subjected to regular push-up
tests.
If the floor-based push-up is too difficult, start by leaning against a countertop at
a 45-degree angle and pressing up and down. Eventually move to stairs and then
the floor.
Mr. LaLanne, who once set a world record by doing 1,000 push-ups in 23 minutes, still does push-ups as part of his daily workout. Now he balances his feet
and each hand on three chairs.
“That way I can go way down, even lower than if I was on the floor,” he said.
2“That‟s really tough.”
Physical IQ
Sensing and Centering your body is the foundation of Physical Intelligence.
The four pillars of this vital IQ are strength, flexibility, grace, and bearing
(right posture). It is the perfect balance of all these qualities that create
physical power. Many work-out programs are out of balance: runners or yogis
who lack upper-body strength, weight lifters who are inflexible, or speed
walkers who don’t notice the sensation of their bodies as they move.
Shift Happens, cont. page 1:
Big Mind Big Heart is the seamless integration of Western psychology and Eastern meditation. American
Zen Master, Genpo Roshi, integrates the insights of Carl Jung, Fritz Perls, and Voice Dialogue (created by
Hal & Sidra Stone) with the dynamics of Zen Buddhism. The simple story is we have many “voices,” or subpersonalities, within our consciousness. Over time some of these voices become quite dominant, while others become weak or even suppressed. Think the voices of “petty, small-minded, mean-spirited, and judgmental.” Genpo realized that the Enlightened voices are already there, always present in consciousness, just
waiting to be accessed. With a little ground work talking to the voices of the ego, and focused intention, the
thousands of voices of enlightened consciousness are easily accessed, and can shift with the snap of the fingers. I can move from self to no-self like that!
Both these systems
have at their heart the
realization that states
of being are temporary, arising within
our bodies and consciousness. By developing my awareness
and intention I can
choose to be any energy I want. I can
choose the cheap thrill
of righteous indignation and project my
“petty, small-minded,
mean-spirited, and
judgmental” selves on
Randy. Or, I can
choose the energy/
voice of enlightened
kindness. Which feels
better in my body?
Which is more effective
for my life? Which
heals my heart and the
relationships around
me? Which feels stuck
and which un-stuck?
Shift happens, and for
Randy‟s sake (and my
own) I get to choose.
3
The Gandhian Trinity: A Template for
Ecology, Peace, and Social
Justice
By SATISH KUMAR
Mahatma Gandhi held no office, pursued no career, accumulated no wealth and desired no fame. Yet, millions
of people in India and around
the world are captivated by
his life and his achievements.
Gandhi inspired so many because he practiced what he
preached, he lived the change
he wanted to see in the world
and his message was non
other than his life itself. He
was an honest seeker of truth,
a fearless defender of the
weak and uncompromising
practitioner of non-violence.
He was born as Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi on 2nd October 1869 in the town of
Porbandar, Gujarat in Western India. His father, a devout Hindu,
was Prime Minister in his native princely state. The young Gandhi
was sent to England to study law. Then he went to South Africa to
practice it. There he was thrown out of segregated train on the
ground of his color. Shaken by this unjust encounter, Gandhi
mounted a non-violent civil disobedience to expose the evils of
Apartheid. Inspired by the writings and example of Henry David
Thoreau, Gandhi stirred the political circles of South Africa. He
called his campaign Truth Force, in Sanskrit Satyagraha. Faced with
the brute force of weapons and prisons Gandhi used the power of
non-violence and truth and proved its superiority. Surprised by the
use of this technique, the perpetrators of Apartheid found themselves confused and powerless.
On returning to India Gandhi refined his techniques of Satyagraha (Truth Force) and introduced them to empower the people
of India to wage their struggle for freedom. His movement became
so powerful and effective that the almighty British Colonialism
could not withstand it and eventually agreed to grant independence
to India. While the freedom struggle was in progress, Gandhi was
working on ideas of a new social order for post-colonial India. He
believed that there would be no point in getting rid of the British
without getting rid of the centralized, exploitative and violence system of governance and the economics of greed that they pursued.
Gandhi designed a new trinity to achieve his vision of a new nonviolent social order.
The first of this trinity was Sarvodaya, Upliftment of All.
The western system of governance is based on the rule of the majority and is called democracy. This was not good enough for Gandhi. He wanted no division between the majority and the minority.
He wanted to serve the interests of each and everyone, of all. De4mocracy is also limited to care for the interests of human beings.
Democracy working with capitalism favors the few who have capital. Democracy together with socialism favors the majority, but is
still limited to humans. Sarvodaya includes the care of the earth; of
animals, forests, rivers and land. For Gandhi, life is sacred and so he
advocated reverence for all life, humans as well as other than humans.
The second aspect of the Gandhian trinity is Swaraj, Self
Government. Swaraj works to bring about a social transformation
through small-scale, decentralized and participatory structures of
governments on the one hand. On the other, Swaraj implies selftransformation, self-discipline and self-restraint. "There is enough
in the world for everybody's need, but not enough for anybody's
greed", said Gandhi. So a moral, ethical, ecological and spiritual
foundation is necessary to build good governance.
The third part of the trinity is Swadesi, Local Economy.
Gandhi opposed mass-production and favored production by the
masses. Work for him is as much a spiritual necessity as it is economic. So he insisted on the principle that every member of society
should be engaged in manual work. Manufacturing in small workshops and adherence to arts and crafts feeds the body as well as the
soul, professed Gandhi. He believed that long-distance transportation of goods, competitive trading and relentless economic growth
would destroy the fabric of human communities as well the integrity of the natural world.
Mahatma Gandhi was a great champion of Hindu-Muslim
solidarity. This was appreciated neither by the fundamentalist Hindus nor the fundamentalist Muslims. Against the wishes of Gandhi,
India was partitioned on religious lines and hundreds of thousands
of Hindus and Muslims were massacred or made refugees. One
Hindu fundamentalist, named Nathuram Godse assassinated Gandhi
on 30th January 1948, just 6 months after India's independence. As
a consequence, Gandhi lost the opportunity to work for a new social order and his trinity had only a limited impact.
Satish Kumar is the editor of Resurgence magazine, from which this article is taken. His latest book about everyday spirituality is called Spiritual
Compass.
Gandhi embodied Moral and Spiritual Intelligence. M
vision of our lives and, from that vision, how well we
with love and listening with our heart. Spiritual Intell
our bodies. Spiritual IQ is also measured by the states
“I know a way out of hell”
BY GARY ZUKAV
An uneasy peace between Muslims and Hindus in India had disintegrated into hatred and violence and the
entire state was inflamed into rioting and
warfare. In response, Gandhi, a Hindu,
announced to the nation that he would
not eat again until all violence came to an end. The violence
diminished but Gandhi refused to eat until it stopped completely, and he became weaker and weaker.
One night as he lay in bed surrounded by worried
friends, a wild-eyed Hindu man broke into the room. He
threw a piece of food at Gandhi and yelled, “Eat! I am going
to hell anyway! I won‟t have your death on my hands too!”
Friends rose in alarm but Gandhi waved them away.
“Tell me why you are going to hell,” Gandhi said to the man.
“I have killed a Muslim boy,” the man sobbed. “I
swung him by his feet and crushed his head against a wall.
Nothing can help me!”
No one spoke.
“I know a way out of hell,” said Gandhi quietly. The
man raised his eyes in disbelief. “Find a young boy,” continued Gandhi, “whose parents have been killed, and raise him
as your own. But raise him as a Muslim.”
Gandhi‟s fast succeeded in stopping the violence
throughout India. The quiet did not last, but that vicious
and violent period ended temporarily. I do not know what
happened to the wild-eyed man, but I think of him often. I
think of his anguish, his despair and horror at what he had
done. I also think about the possibility of his journey out of
hell. The journey Gandhi described requires giving to, caring for and loving what is most difficult to give to, care for
or love—your hated enemy. Do you have someone in your
life you hate too much ever to love? Perhaps it is an abuser,
or one of the men who destroyed the Twin Towers. Maybe
you don‟t hate anyone that much, but you dislike someone
enough to complain about her to your friends.
Whether you hate or dislike, you are living in hell.
You do not have to die to experience it. You are in it each
time you feel your hatred or dislike.
If you don‟t like the way your hell feels, remember
Gandhi and the wild-eyed man, and then see if you can find
a way of your own out of hell.
GARY ZUKAV is the author of several books. This is an excerpt from his new book, Soul to Soul: Communications
from the Heart.
Moral IQ is simply our strengths, passions, and values woven into a fierce
e treat ourselves and each other. Moral IQ includes speaking our truth
ligence is the level of Cosmic energy, prana, and chi flowing through
s of gratitude, forgiveness, and joy we are being in the world.
5
Satyagraha,
Opera by Phillip Glass
Thirty years
ago, Philip Glass, a
convert from Judaism
to Buddhism, wrote a
Sanskrit-language opera about Mahatma
Gandhi, "Satyagraha,"
about the Gandhi's
early years in South
Africa. An updated
version will be performed at New York's
Metropolitan Opera House on April 11th, when Pope
Benedict is in town. Maybe he can drop by?
Satyagraha reflects on the period that Mohandas Gandhi
spent in South Africa (1893-1914) while fighting to repeal the so-called Black Act; laws that restricted the
movement of non-Europeans and virtually enslaved
South Africa's substantial Indian community. Gandhi
developed the concept of "Satyagraha," from the Sanskrit
Sat, meaning truth, and Graha, meaning firmness, to
describe his non-violent resistance to immoral government policies.
The American novelist Constance DeJong adapted
the story of Gandhi's struggle and prepared a libretto
from the Bhagavad-Gita. Glass kept the opera's text in
the original Sanskrit and used only "international" instruments, which could be found in both America and
India.
Each act of Satyagraha takes an historical figure
as a sort of spiritual guardian, watching the earthly action from above. In the First Act, the symbol is Count Leo
Tolstoy, one of Gandhi's inspirations throughout his life.
The two men carried on a correspondence that lasted until the Russian's death in 1910. In Act II, Rabindranath
Tagore, the renowned poet, scholar and Nobel Prize winner, oversees the progress. "The symbol in the Third Act
is Martin Luther King, Jr.," Glass says, "who always impressed me as a sort of American Gandhi, accomplishing
many of the same things here, and in the same manner,
that Gandhi did in India and South Africa. Tolstoy, Tagore and King represent the past, present and future of
Satyagraha."
One of the most intriguing points in the story is
how Gandhi, a Hindu, studied Christianity in London,
where he found Jesus' teachings on compassion so compelling that he based his life on them. The New King
James Version words a key verse (Matt: 25: 35-36) as
follows: "For I was hungry and you gave me food; I was
thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you
took me in. I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick
and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me."
"I think there is something very much at the heart
of Gandhi in those words," Glass said. "And of course it's
Christian."
Thoughts Can Heal
Your Body By ROBERT MOSS
jump or just thinking about it.
The “placebo effect” is an example of how the connection
between brain and body works in healing. It has been demonstrated
that when a patient believes something will relieve pain, the body
actually releases endorphins that do so. In a recent study, Parkinson‟s
patients who were given fake surgery or fake drug treatments produced dopamine (a chemical their bodies lack) in quantities similar to
those they might have received in a genuine intervention. Medical
research has suggested that 30% to 70% of successful treatments may
be the result of the patient‟s belief that the treatment will work.
„There is ample evidence that negative thoughts and feelings
can be harmful to the body,” says Lorenzo Cohen, director of the Integrative Medicine Program at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in
Houston. Stress is known to be a factor in
heart disease, headaches, asthma and many
other illnesses.
Studies by Janice Kiecolt-Glaser and
Ronald Glaser at Ohio State University demonstrate how even minor psychological
stress—that of newlyweds having their first
fight or of students facing an exam—can
compromise the immune system. The researchers found that a marital spat delays
wound-healing and that the stress of caring
for an Alzheimer‟s patient leaves the caregiver more vulnerable to illness even years
later.
When the body fights a virus or heals
a wound, it releases cyto-kines (literally,
“moving cells”)—chemical messengers that
call in immune agents. The Glasers‟ research
showed that stress distracts these cytokines
from doing their proper work, instead sending
them ranging wildly through the bloodstream.
“When the cyto-kines are misdirected,” says
Kiecolt-Glaser, “they produce something you
don‟t want—a prolonged inflammatory response that far exceeds
what is needed with infection.”
Just as our thoughts can make us ill, they also can help us
heal, say those who practice mind-body therapies. There is growing
clinical evidence that imagery is beneficial in treating skin disease,
diabetes, breast cancer, arthritis, headaches and severe burns, among
other conditions. Imagery also has been helpful in managing pain.
“The mind is our most potent weapon in the battle for
health,” says Lyn Freeman, a researcher of mind-body therapies for
chronic diseases. “It can be both slayer and healer.”
Our thoughts can make us sick, and they can
help us get well. That may seem like New Age thinking, but medical
research increasingly supports the role played by the mind in physical
health.
“People have been seeking healing through prayer and intention since Paleolithic times,” notes Dr. Herbert Benson, founder of
the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine at Massachusetts
General Hospital. “What‟s new is our detailed scientific knowledge of
how the mind-body connection operates.”
Scientists first proved a link between
stress and disease in the early half of the last
century. Since then, researchers have examined
old and new practices—including biofeedback,
meditation, guided imagery, spiritual healing
and deep breathing. The fast-expanding field of
psychoneuroimmunology, which examines how
the neurological and immune systems interact,
is providing new clinical evidence of the connection between thoughts and health.
“We now can measure changes in immune cells and the brain in ways that give us
objective scientific proof of the connection between them,” says Mary Jo Kreitzer, director of
the Center for Spirituality & Healing at the
University of Minnesota.
Some people still are surprised to discover that thoughts can control physical sensation. “The body responds to mental input as if it
were physically real,” explains Larry Dossey, a
physician and an advocate for mind-body study
since the 1980s. “Images create bodily
changes—just as if the experience were really happening. For example, if you imagine yourself lying on a beach in the sun, you become
relaxed, your peripheral blood vessels dilate, and your hands become
warm, as in the real thing.”
Similarly, under clinical hypnosis, someone who is told he is
being touched by a red-hot object often will produce a burn blister,
even though the object touching him was at room temperature.
Brain scans show that when we imagine an event, our
thoughts “light up” the areas of the brain that are triggered during the
actual event. Sports psychologists have done pioneering work in this
area. In one study, skiers were wired to EMG monitors (which record
electrical impulses sent to the muscles) while they mentally rehearsed Robert Moss is the author of “The Three „Only‟ Things: Tapping the
their downhill runs. The skiers‟ brains sent the same instructions to
Power of Dreams, Coincidence & Imagination.”
their bodies whether they were doing a
Peaking our Mental IQ integrates our unconscious, conscious, and super-conscious minds along with the left
and right hemispheres of our brain. The measure of our integrative success is measured, in part, with the
simple EEG of brain wave function (beat, alpha, theta, and delta) and their hemispheric balance.
6
Don't Hurry, Be Happy
By CHRISTINA FELDMAN
Sometimes the ordinary can seem to deprive you of purpose
and consequently of identity. To experience non-doing—to simply
observe life instead of clinging to its most outrageous ups and
downs—appears at first deeply uncomfortable in its unfamiliarity.
Often you'll find yourself using quiet moments as a springboard for the pursuit of some new, more exciting event. But if you
can shed your intensity addiction long enough to experience the ordinary moments in your life, you will find that they are all doorways
to the richness and vitality that live within your own heart. Instead of
relying on a rush of external events to delight you, you will quickly
find the delights of connecting to life just as it is, in this very moment.
When you celebrate the ordinary moments in life, you begin
to connect with all that has gone unnoticed in both your inner and
outer life. Awareness begins to permeate not just the juicy moments
but the plain ones, too. And you begin to question the human inclination to externalize both happiness and unhappiness. You start to
examine the long-held belief that your sense of wakefulness depends
upon intensity.
Slow down, find the gap between thoughts about the past and
the future, and discover the loveliness of an ordinary moment.
By fostering awareness on your meditation cushion and bringing it into your daily life—simply noticing the normal
sights and sounds that you often rush past or disregard—you begin to awaken your capacity to be delighted.
Delight does not live on a tropical beach or in a fantastic meal with friends. It lives within your own heart. When you honor
each moment unconditionally by giving it your attention, you can't help but encounter delight in the small moments.
This is living in a sacred way, embracing with equal interest the lovely, the difficult, and the countless moments in
your life that are neither pleasant nor unpleasant. Stepping out of an addiction to intensity, you reclaim lost moments in
your days—you reclaim your life and the capacity for delight that lives within you.
Touching the Ordinary
Settle into a relaxed meditative posture. Close your eyes and rest your attention within your breathing. Scan your
whole body, noticing the spectrum of sensations and feelings present in this moment. Notice how your attention is drawn
toward those sensations that are either pleasant or unpleasant. Be aware of how you respond to these sensations—the way
you delight in the pleasant and resist the unpleasant. Move your attention through your body, sensing the places where
there's no sensation—the palms of your hands, your ears, the place where your lips touch. Bring your attention to these areas and feel how your interest, sensitivity, and calmness bring them to life. How can you see them in a new way? Sense
what it means to rest within the ordinary, exploring the ease and peace you find.
Expand your attention to the range of external sounds. Notice the sounds that are pleasant and those that grate upon
you. Sense the way you are attracted to those sounds you enjoy and resist those that are unpleasant. Notice the sounds of the
ordinary—the hum of your refrigerator, the wind outside your window, the car passing on the street. Explore what it means
to listen deeply to those sounds and to just rest in pure listening.
Bring your attention to the spectrum of thoughts passing through your mind—planning, remembering, worrying—
attend to them all equally with a calm, unbiased attentiveness that sees their arising and their passing. What would it be like
to rest in the seeing, allowing the mind to do what a mind does, without taking hold of any of the thoughts that appear?
Expand your awareness to receive everything that is present in this moment—your body, feelings,
thoughts, sounds. Explore what it is to receive the moment, to rest in awareness. Sense the loveliness born
of interest, connection, and ease, and the way your world is awakened by the attention you bring to it.
What would it mean to bring these qualities into your life, to attend wholeheartedly to all that you neglect
or dismiss?
7
Christina Feldman has been teaching insight meditation retreats since 1976. She's the author of a number of books, including
Compassion: Listening to the Cries of the World and The Buddhist Path to Simplicity.
k.d. lang’s watershed moment By LEN RIGHI
It may come as a surprise to her fans, but k.d. lang is playing it straight, both on her new album, "Watershed," which she produced, and her latest tour.
"Watershed," the four-time Grammy winner's first album of
original material since 2000's "Invincible Summer," is lean, low-key,
introspective and very often compelling - superior contemporary
singer-songwriter fare dabbed with oblique touches of country and
cabaret, but a far cry from the drama and flamboyance of her most
famous work.
And her stage show? "It focuses on songs and singing," she
says during a 10-minute chat from Los Angeles. "It's really about the
music."
A far cry from her 2000 show, when lang appeared in an oversized
wedding gown with built-up bust, a brown bouffant wig piled high
with curls and jewelry dangling everywhere, bubbles filling the stage
from both wings, Lawrence Welk style. (She eventually stripped off
the dress, wig and accessories, proclaiming, "A girl can suffer for her
art only so long.")
Over the last eight years, lang has struggled with writer's block, brought on partly by the Sept. 11 attacks.
"That sure made me rethink and wonder what the purpose of pop music was," says the 46-year-old performer. "Then, Tony Bennett
said, `Let's make a Louis Armstrong record (the Grammy-winning duets album `A Wonderful World').' That took the heat off me for a while.
I toured behind that for about a year.
"When I came home, I wasn't feeling ready to commit to another (k.d. lang) record. So I did (2004's) `Hymns of the 49th Parallel' (a
covers album of songs by Canadians such as Joni Mitchell, Neil Young and Leonard Cohen) and toured behind that for a year. In 2006, after
`Reintarnation' (a reissue of some of her early cowpunk material) was finished, I started focusing on `Watershed.'"
There also were other significant changes in lang's life during that time.
Seven years ago, she became a Buddhist after meeting Lama Chodak Gyatso Nubpa,
an associate of the Dalai Lama who leads a Tibetan Nyingma Buddhist center in
L.A.
Lang, now a board member of the center, was introduced to Nubpa by Jamie
Price, the woman who has been her partner for the last six years. The women live
with lang's two dogs in a Beverly Hills home once owned by Rock Hudson. (In
2000, lang was involved with Leisha Hailey, the actress who inspired "Invincible
Summer" and now appears as wise-cracking journalist Alice Pieszecki on Showtime's "The L Word.")
Lang's interpretive skills animate several "Watershed" tracks. Arguably, she
is at her best on the languorous ballad, "Once in a While," which balances and
meshes several irregular musical movements as lang makes not only promises of
love, but the occasional craziness that accompanies it.
"It's about a relationship you wouldn't predict would work, `a love beyond
reason,' something so left of center you're surprised by it," she explains. "There are
expectations in all things, and no matter who I fall in love with, my quirkiness and
my little quirks are going to happen (laughs). I can't promise a perfect track record."
The emotions articulated on "Thread" are expertly entwined, too, as she
struggles to find a way to negotiate with a lover before simple disagreements mushroom into unresolvable quarrels. "I had you in my web, now here I am hanging by a
thread," she laments.
"It's a negotiating song when you're heading down Relationship Road," offers lang.
Then there is the sprightly "Coming Home," which blends strings and triangle with a
touch of twang guitar and banjo picking, and proposes that love opens up new horizons. "It's about finding oneself through others, whether it be a lover or other things,
finding a comfortable place," says lang.
Perhaps the most unusual track is "Jealous Dog," with its plucked banjo,
cooing background vocals and lang spinning a dreamy, three-part fable.
"It's really sort of a little journey into different aspects of jealousy," she says.
Lama Chodak Gyatso Nubpa,
"The first one is about material things, the perfect lifestyles of the rich and famous
that make you feel you're not adequate.
"The second is looking for support from faith-based religion, going through different hypocrisies, and if you don't fit you're not welcome. That's a kind of jealousy that is more aggressive and protective.
"The last is actually a celebration of someone I know who is very elegant and appreciates every single thing he has.
"So the moral of the story is to really, really soak up every ounce of life that is given you."
8
tures, complete with “the leathery wings, the little horns, the barbed
tail.”
Whatever attitude comes through — and it is almost always fraught
with ambiguity — religion suffuses Mr. Clarke‟s realm. He demands
the canvas of Genesis and upon it he enacts experiments in thought.
All science fiction does this to a certain extent, trying to imagine
alternative universes in which one factor or another is slightly different. What if carbon were not the fundamental element in life forms?
What if a society existed that never experienced nighttime?
Mr. Clarke‟s enterprise, though, is at the edges of the frame:
trying to examine the moments when things come to be and when
they come to an end. In the short story “Rescue Party” aliens come
to save Earth from an imminent solar explosion. They find that humans, a primitive species that had known how to use radio signals
for barely 200 years, had already saved themselves, launching a fleet
of ships into the stars, knowing their journey would take hundreds of
years.
The rescuers are shocked by humanity‟s daring and determination.
“This is the youngest civilization in the Universe,” one notes. “Four
hundred thousand years ago it did not even exist. What will it be a
million years from now?” The story foretells the dominance of this
species even though it is outnumbered by the creatures of the heavens — a dominance that, as Mr. Clarke makes sure we feel, will not
always be welcome.
Arthur C. Clarke died in his Sri Lanka home March 19th, 2008
Such apocalypse is the bread and butter of science fiction,
but
sometimes
with Mr. Clarke it is also the communion, the sharing
“Absolutely no religious rites of any kind, relating to any
of
a
moment
of
transcendence in which some destiny is fulfilled,
religious faith, should be associated with my funeral” were the insome
possibility
opened up. Hence the fetus of “2001.” That transstructions left by Arthur C. Clark, who died on Wednesday at the
formation
may
also
not be something to be desired by current stanage of 90. This may not have surprised anyone who knew that this
dards.
The
prospects
are just too alien, like the ineffable Overmind
science-fiction writer, fabulist, fantasist and deep-sea diver had long
in
“Childhood‟s
End”
that propels humanity to a new evolutionary
seen religion as a symptom of humanity‟s “infancy,” something to
stage,
inspiring
as
much
horror as awe.
be outgrown and overcome.
This
side
of
Mr.
Clarke‟s work may be the most eerie, parBut his fervor is still jarring because when it comes to the
ticularly
because
his
mystical
speculations accompany an uncanny
scriptural texts of modern science fiction, and the astonishing genability
to
envision
worlds
that
are eminently plausible. It is Mr.
eration of prophetic innovators who were his contemporaries —
Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein and Ray Bradbury — Mr.
Clarke‟s writings were the most biblical, the most prepared to amThe only way of discovering the limits of the possible
plify reason with mystical conviction, the most religious in the largis to venture a little way past them into the impossible.
est sense of religion: speculating about beginnings and endings, and
how we get from one to the other.
Arthur C. Clarke
Stanley Kubrick‟s film of Mr. Clarke‟s “2001: A Space Odyssey” for example — a project developed with the author — is
Clarke who first conceived of the communication satellites that orbit
haunting not for its sci-fi imaginings of artificial intelligence and
space-station engineering but for its evocation of humanity‟s origins directly over a single spot on Earth and allow the planet to be blanketed in a network of signals. There are many other examples as
and its vision of a transcendent future embodied in a human fetus
well.
poised in space.
But acts of reason and scientific speculation are just the beEven the titles of some of Mr. Clarke‟s stories invoke scriptural langinning
of
his imaginings. Reason alone is insufficient. Something
guage. “If I Forget Thee, Oh Earth ...” tells of a boy on a lunar colelse
is
required.
For anyone who read Mr. Clarke in the 1960s and
ony who is taken out by his father to see their mother planet ren‟70s,
when
space
exploration and scientific research had an extraordered uninhabitable by nuclear war, an experience that inspires a
dinary
sheen,
his
science
fiction made that enterprise even more
dream of future return to be passed from generation to generation. In
thrilling
by
taking
the
longest
and broadest view, in which the
“The Nine Billion Names of God” monks of a Tibetan-like retreat
achievements
of
a
few
decades
fit into a vision of epic proportions
believe that the very purpose of humanity is to write down the nine
reaching
millenniums
into
the
future.
It is no wonder that two genbillion permutations of letters that spell God‟s secret name, a project
erations
of
scientists
were
affected
by
his work.
assisted by representatives of an I.B.M.-style company who indulFor
all
his
acclaimed
forecasting
ability, though, it is ungently supply the equipment so the project can come to its longclear
whether
Mr.
Clarke
knew
precisely
what
he saw in that future.
awaited close. As the computer experts fly home, “overhead, without
There
is
something
cold
in
his
vision,
particularly
when he imagines
any fuss, the stars were going out.”
the
evolutionary
transformation
of
humanity.
He
leaves
behind all
Religious symbolism is not always beneficent of course. In
the
things
that
we
recognize
and
know,
and
he
doesn‟t
provide
much
what may be Mr. Clarke‟s most suggestive and disturbing novel,
guidance
for
how
to
live
within
the
world
we
recognize
and
know.
In
“Childhood‟s End,” an alien race of Overlords, with apparent generthat
sense
his
work
has
little
to
do
with
religion.
osity, establish a utopia on Earth, eliminating human warfare and
But overall religion is unavoidable. Mr. Clarke famously —
ushering in an era of plenty. But it is no accident that when the Overand
accurately
— said that “any sufficiently advanced technology is
9lords are finally described they have the appearance of Satanic creaindistinguishable from magic.”
For Arthur C. Clarke,
Issues of Faith, but Tackled
Scientifically By EDWARD ROTHSTEIN
Circle of Healing
by JEFF GUIDRY
Freedom and I have been together 10 years this summer. She
came in as a baby in 1998 with two broken wings. Her left
wing doesn't open all the way even after surgery, it was broken
in 4 places. She's my baby.
When Freedom came in she could not stand. Both wings
were broken, her left wing in 4 places. She was emaciated and
covered in lice. We made the decision to give her a chance at
life, so I took her to the vets office. From then on, I was always
around her. We had her in a huge dog carrier with the top off,
and it was loaded up with shredded newspaper for her to lay
in. I used to sit and talk to her, urging her to live, to fight; and
she would lay there looking at me with those big brown eyes.
We also had to tube feed her for weeks.
This went on for 4-6 weeks, and by then she still couldn't stand. It got to the point where the decision was made to
euthanize her if she couldn't stand in a week. You know you
don't want to cross that line between torture and rehab, and it
looked like death was winning. She was going to be put down
that Friday, and I was supposed to come in on that Thursday afternoon. I didn't want to go to the
center that Thursday, because I couldn't bear the thought of her being euthanized; but I went
anyway, and when I walked in everyone was grinning from ear to ear. I went immediately back to
her dowl cage; and there she was, standing on her own, a big beautiful eagle. She was ready to
live. I was just about in tears by then. That was a very good day.
We knew she could never fly, so the director asked me to glove train her. I got her used to
the glove, and then to jesses, and we started doing education programs for schools in western
Washington. We wound up in the newspapers, radio (believe it or not) and some TV. Miracle Pets
even did a show about us.
In the spring of 2000, I was diagnosed with non-hodgkins lymphoma. I had stage 3, which
is not good (one major organ plus everywhere), so I wound up doing 8 months of chemo. Lost the
hair - the whole bit. I missed a lot of work. When I felt good enough, I would go to Sarvey and take
Freedom out for walks. Freedom would also come to me in my dreams and help me fight the cancer. This happened time and time again.
Fast forward to November 2000, the day after Thanksgiving, I went in for my last checkup. I
was told that if the cancer was not all gone after 8 rounds of chemo, then my last option was a
stem cell transplant. Anyway, they did the tests; and I had to come back Monday for the results. I
went in Monday, and I was told that all the cancer was gone.
So the first thing I did was get up to Sarvey and take the big girl out for a walk. It was misty
and cold. I went to her flight and jessed her up, and we went out front to the top of the hill. I hadn't said a word to Freedom, but somehow she knew. She looked at me and wrapped both her
wings around me to where I could feel them pressing in on my back (I was engulfed in eagle
wings), and she touched my nose with her beak and stared into my eyes, and we just stood there
like that for I don't know how long. That was a magic moment. We have been soul mates ever
since she came in. This is a very special bird.
Jeff Guidry and Freedom are at Sarvey Wildlife Center: http://www.sarveywildlife.org/
Emotional IQ includes growing up through the stages of Selfish, Care, and Cosmic Care.
This story by Jeff Guidry about his love for Freedom is an excellent example of Cosmic
Care, caring for :all of us;” each other, our animal friends, and the planet.
10
Shift Happens! 5 Day Seminar
Peaking Your Physical, Emotional, Mental, Moral, and Spiritual IQs
Alan Davidson presents Five full days to:
Wake your body with yoga, aikido, and tai chi movement
Calm and Focus your mind with sitting and Tibetan Bowl meditations
Transcend and integrate the voices of self and non-self with Voice Dialogue and the Big Mind
Process
With modules on:
Physical IQ, Sense & Center, Strength, Flexibility, Grace, and Posture
Nia led by Helen Terry (tentative)
Emotional IQ, Breath, Eating for Life, and Sacred Intimacy
Unmasking your True Self—Mask Making with Grace Victoria
Mental IQ, PSYCH-K and the unconscious mind,
Inquiry—Questioning your Conscious Mind with The Work of Byron Katie
Big Mind/Big Heart and the super-conscious mind
Moral IQ—Values, Strengths, Passion, and Vision
Speaking Your Truth with Love/Listening with your Heart
Spiritual IQ—Tuning the Chakra System; Conduit for Spirit,
Dance of the Seven Veils
Saturday June 14th thru Wednesday June 18th-9 AM to 7 PM Daily
Houston, Texas
Led by Alan Davidson, Grace Victoria, and Helen Terry
Paid in full before May 14th:—$650, after May 14th— $750
Call 713-942-0923 to reserve your place, or mail checks:
Through Your Body:
1103 Peveto St.
Houston, TX 77019
11
Through Your Body Flock Spotlight:
Russ Odum By REBECCA HADLEY
Few people who know Alan Davidson today would
recognize him as the man that Russ Odom came to know
more than 30 years ago. The two first met when they
were both bartenders at the Montrose Mining Company.
In the waning, carefree days of pre-AIDS awareness in
one of Houston’s most popular bars, there was seemingly
always a party going. And Alan and Russ were never far
from the action.
“I think my partying was a little more controlled that
Alan’s,” Russ says. “It might have been easier for me to
walk away from it.”
Russ walked away permanently in the mid-1980s when he accompanied his partner to California.
“We were headed to San Diego with the intention of going into real estate,” he says. Instead, the pair split
up and Russ moved to Los Angeles to attend a summer program at The American Academy of Dramatic Arts.
The summer program turned into a three-year stint at the school
“I tried to break into acting, but it was very difficult,” Russ says. “I didn’t have the connections or the marketing skills to make an impact.”
After a brief stint back in the nightclub business, Russ moved to San Diego where he was hired to run the
customer service department for the well-known International Male catalog. With 60 people working under him in
a pressure-filled environment, Russ found himself examining his career path.
“I got burnt out on the whole industry,” he says. “I decided if I was going to make a move, now was the
time.”
So Russ moved into the Information Technology industry, eventually ending up at a company that specialized in providing audio/visual support for trade shows. Several years ago, the company was bought out and the
name was changed to Smart Source Rentals. And Russ found himself as the assistant regional manager servicing the San Diego, Las Vegas and Los Angeles region for the largest company of it’s kind in the world.
It was during this time that Russ reconnected with his old friend from Houston. “I opened my e-mail one
day and there was a message from Alan,” he says. “He had googled my name, and wondered if I was the same
guy he had worked with.”
The two have caught up via e-mail, and plan to visit in person when Alan heads to California in April. And
though he’s happy to catch up with his friend, there is a bittersweet air to the reunion.
“When we first met, the gay community was at its peak. Life was great, and we were making huge advances,” Russ says. “ But out of our entire social group at the time, there are now only three or four of us still
alive. AIDS slapped everyone back. All we could do was stiffen our spines and move forward.”
Flock Squawk—Through Your Body
Member Comments:
cluding jet plane turn around time, and hospital clinic
organization.
At first, he had to face many of his own prejudices and value system ideas when deciding whether to
Hope all is wonderful on your end…I've been
work with the Air Force, and after his decision to do so,
wanting to email since I listened to the "Leadership
he faced others' stereotypes when he mentioned who
Dojo" CD you sent out with Richard Strozzi Heckler. It
he was working with. I have to tell you, he says that it
was a really good overview, and there was one part that has been one of the great gifts in his career….he has
I particularly empathized with.
met so many 'shining lights', and compassionate and
concerned people….and also many "closet" healers
You mentioned how your partner had been involved with the U.S. military (Submarine Service), and and psychics. They are just drawn to him, I guess senshow he sometimes came up against rash judgments or ing a like-minded energy, and they disclose their hidden
prejudices from others. Well, my husband is a business talents to him. It has been an incredible journey and experience for him.
management consultant, doing Toyota style consultations (an avante garde, paradigm shifting system for
Just wanted to share that .
many American companies). His current contract has
Warmly, Jodine Cognato-Turner, Ashland, Oregon
12 consulting with the Air Force - in many areas, inhim
Hi Alan,