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CHAKRAS

For years I’ve seen our seven-chakra energy body simply as a quasi-physical aspect of our internal organs and systems [side note: it’s utterly fascinating the level to which we can manipulate this non-physical, essential aspect of ourselves!].

Today one of my QiGong teachers explained the chakra system from a different perspective: as the seven phases we pass thru from unconscious to conscious form. Paraphrasing:

We evolve (or not) through seven phases during life [corresponding with our chakras from the bottom up]:

  1. Elimination – necessary to exist
  2. Procreation – necessary to continue to exist
  3. Sustenance – corresponds with the basic “stuff” necessary to sustain life
  4. Love – the middle or heart chakra; from here we either live loving 1 thru 3, or (with 5) we ascend to 6 and 7
  5. Knowledge – comes from contemplation; necessary to unlock the higher levels of living consciously
  6. Awareness – comes from observation; we become aware of the existence of 7
  7. Presence – comes from meditation; the state of mindful consciousness; “You have form; it no longer has you.

I hope this resonates half as strongly within you as it does me. The trick to lessening suffering in our lives is to recognize it’s energetic, seasonal, and cyclical nature – and

go with the flow!

 

If you need help deciphering Patanjali’s map, call me – that’s why I’m here!

Blessings, Skip

❤😊🕉

Meditate – you can’t do it incorrectly [just more efficiently – that’s why I’m here]!!

$15 – scheduled group “meditation prep” classes

Current class schedule

  • Skype lessons
  • seminars
  • lectures
  • private lessons

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#BringBackPatanjali

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PLEASE OPEN THE STOWAWAY SWEETS BOX!

Yesterday I wrote about the five seasons of an uninterrupted life:

To everything there is a season.

We Sprout, Grow, Bud, Bloom and Whither

Everything – Everyone

 

That seasonal cyclicality (clearly evident in nature) is universally applicable, for example to marriage [keep in mind that most of us grow old, but not all of us grow up]:

We:

SPROUT – this is the “oppositional” or Spring or “opposites attract!” phase in which……..[well you know] [note: this phase lasts one third as long as the next three equal phases, and half as long as the last phase];

GROW – this is the “interdependence” or Early Summer or “it takes two!” phase in which we begin to work together toward a common goal, typically procreation;

BUD – this is the “inter-consumption” or Late Summer or “thank you!” phase in which we begin to sincerely appreciate our partner on a deeper level;

BLOOM – this is the “inter transformation” or Fall or “you bring out the best in me!” phase in which we begin to celebrate the oppositional traits in our partner, and together we’re striving toward harmony and balance;

WHITHER – this is the “infinite divisibility” or Winter or “we live happily ever after!” phase while we remain in these bodies.

The concept is universal – just like my other favorite subject!!

Blessings, Skip

Meditate. It’s good for relationships!

❤😊🕉

Meditate – you can’t do it incorrectly [just more efficiently – that’s why I’m here]!!

$15 – scheduled group “meditation prep” classes

Current class schedule

  • Skype lessons
  • seminars
  • lectures
  • private lessons

Proud sponsor of Yoga Instructors Association (MA)

#BringBackPatanjali

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RAJA YOGA vs. QI GONG

RAJA YOGA = ROYAL UNION

QI GONG = ENERGY WORK

 

Qi Gong is based on the science and discipline of Raja Yoga.

Raja Yoga is prehistoric and east Indian. Somehow (the legends are wonderful) it migrated to China and inspired/influenced Qi Gong.

Raja Yoga proves the divine nature of consciousness by distinguishing between it and our various physical, energetic, and mental “layers”.

Qi Gong focuses on our energy vessels and channels, without which these magnificent body/minds don’t work!!

When we run out of energy – game over.

 

Qigong takes the practice of “exercising our energy layer” (yoga’s pranayama) and elevates it to an art form: consciously and purposefully gathering and purging – replenishing, refreshing, refilling – ourselves with the energy that sustains us!

Like the nurse lamented the other day (an age contemporary): “Why did they wait until the end of our lives to tell us this?!”

“This” being the Eastern concepts that reflect the underpinnings of our universe!!

Hugs, Skip

❤😊🕉

Meditate – you can’t do it incorrectly [just more efficiently – that’s why I’m here]!!

$15 – scheduled group “meditation prep” classes

Current class schedule

  • Skype lessons
  • seminars
  • lectures
  • private lessons

Proud sponsor of Yoga Instructors Association (MA)

#BringBackPatanjali

 

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THERE’S A SEASON FOR EVERYTHING (aka “Most of us grow old; not all of us grow up.”)

The picture captures the gist of this morning’s lecture about the cyclical, energetic nature of our universe and everything in it – including us.

The concepts are universal and multi-dimensional. I’d be very happy to unpack the info for the truly curious, but here’s the bottom line, in the normal course:

We’re like flowers:

we sprout, grow, bud, bloom and whither.

 

That self-awareness is both sobering and liberating!

Having trouble sleeping? Call me. I can help.

Hugs, Skip

❤😊🕉

Meditate – you can’t do it incorrectly [just more efficiently – that’s why I’m here]!!

$15 – scheduled group “meditation prep” classes

Current class schedule

  • Skype lessons
  • seminars
  • lectures
  • private lessons

Proud sponsor of Yoga Instructors Association (MA)

#BringBackPatanjali

 

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The Teacher Is Also The Student

It’s humbling yet inspiring to have a teacher “hold a mirror up” in front of me.

Yogis use the phrase “maya” koshas (“illusory” layers) to refer to our various physical, energetic and mental aspects – fully aware that they are inseparable and interconnected.

Unbeknownst to me [so much for my self-awareness!], I physically “stand back on my heels” (I lean backwards, albeit subtly): defensively.

Back to our interdependent layers, if I physically lean backwards, what might that say about me mentally and energetically?

Hints: I’m neither a good skier nor motorcyclist. In the fist case, I can’t get past the part of my mind that screams “Lean WHICH way?! DOWN that steep-ass hill?! Uh, No!” Same question on a bike: “Lean WHICH way?! TOWARDS the pavement blurring past underneath me?! Nope!”

Just this morning I told our daughter she’s world’s braver and tougher than me – though I didn’t realize at that moment there was physical proof!

I’m a chicken.

 

I did win a couple schoolyard scraps as a kid (something about having to wear pink glasses), but for the most part I kept to myself and took any chance (no matter how embarrassing – sigh) to Casper.

Some sixty years later, a lifetime of unvented fears & desires still keep me back on my heels – but the good news is that I’m now aware of it.

Marching on (pun intended):

TOES DOWN!!

 

As one of my qigong (“energy work”) teachers reminded me this morning, sometimes the teacher is also the student.

God bless! Let me know if you’re having trouble sleeping – I can help!

Skip

❤😊🕉

Meditate – you can’t do it incorrectly [just more efficiently – that’s why I’m here]!!

$15 – scheduled group “meditation prep” classes

Current class schedule

  • Skype lessons
  • seminars
  • lectures
  • private lessons

Proud sponsor of Yoga Instructors Association (MA)

#BringBackPatanjali

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60 Year-Old White Guy

Why is a 60 year-old white guy from Boston jumping up & down and screaming about consciousness?

Because I just discovered mine two years ago.

Why did it take me so long (13 years of devout searching)?

Unlike Eastern cultures which revere and honor this aspect of each of us, here in the States I was raised to believe that if I couldn’t see, smell, hear, taste or touch something, it probably wasn’t “true” – and according to my grandfather (whom I love beyond measure) not worth wasting time on.

Sigh. I lived 58 years of my life with the light out. Please don’t do the same.

Ironically, it’s only through the Eastern practices of self-reflection and control that it’s possible to sense some things: to know them as “true” on an intuitional level MUCH deeper than thought. [I teach Raja Yoga and Medical Qigong].

Meditate. You can’t do it wrong, but it helps to have a teacher. That’s why I’m here.

God bless, Skip

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BREADCRUMBS

Someone suggested that I leave a trail of breadcrumbs to find my way back out of the Cummings Center the other day.

This is me leaving breadcrumbs for the next person trying to understand Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras:

Life is mathematical.

Here’s how it works:

The centerline represents zero; everything to the left of the centerline is negative; everything to the right of the centerline is positive.

Our universe is similarly bipolar. Everything we can sense, including our own body/mind, is a unique manifestation of positively and negatively charged sub-atomic particles. The East refers to these two elemental “states of matter” as Yin and Yang. Patanjali refers to them as Rajas and Tamas. Lucas called them the Light and Dark forces.

The image of a circling tiger and dragon is commonly used to represent those two constantly moving energetic states of matter. Love it!! The oppositional polarity keeps them on the move, giving rise to the “hunger” (the fears and desires) within each of us.

Back to the graph above, half of the world’s population is generally positive. A very small subset of positive people are extremely so, though most fall within a “normal” range.

Same on the other side of the elusive perfectly balanced middle line: half of the world’s population is generally negative. A very small subset [thankfully] of negative people are extremely so.

In class this morning, Master Leone asked students why they practice and train. Here are their responses:

To:

  • avoid suffering
  • have fun
  • find tranquility
  • find love
  • find community
  • find peace of mind
  • reduce pain

The keys to smiling more for ALL of us are self-awareness and self-control; specifically, never forgetting that consciousness is NOT a mental function!

Patanjali said:

1.12. Practice and non-attachment

1.13. Practice means NEVER giving up

1.14. By practicing continuously and earnestly over a long time, your efforts become habitual

1.15. Non-attachment means ALWAYS letting go (mastering desire)

1.16. With ultimate self-awareness, all attachments fall away

Master Leone said:

“It’s a constant struggle. It’s NEVER ‘Hey look Ma! No hands!’… EVERY MINUTE EVERY DAY.”

Blessings and gratitude, Skip

❤😊🕉

Meditate – you can’t do it incorrectly [just more efficiently – that’s why I’m here]!!

$15 – scheduled group “meditation prep” classes

Current class schedule

  • Skype lessons
  • seminars
  • lectures
  • private lessons

Proud sponsor of Yoga Instructors Association (MA)

#BringBackPatanjali

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OLD DOG LEARNS NEW TRICK [aka Cynthia’s Masterpiece]

I experienced Cynthia’s monster breakfast sandwich with the assistance of my sub-conscious mind: I saw, smelled, held, heard (yup – it spoke to me!) and ate the damned thing. And it was good.

The following I experienced with additional assistance from my conscious or thinking mind. I figured as long as I’m sharing one……..

Part of the requirements for the initial 100-hour Medical Qigong teacher certification are listening to Master Michael Leone’s lectures.

I posted something about Master Leone after meeting him last year. He’s a truly awesome human being. He’s tapped into something “other worldly” that I can only dream about experiencing.

Master Leone has been studying and practicing with a devotion that dwarfs mine – for some forty years – and it shows!

Reality check: part of today’s lecture made it all-too clear that I’m in the Fall of my life! Gulp.

 

This happened during this morning’s lecture:

A student asked Master Leone about the Medical QiGong protocol for a 22 year-old female exhibiting:

Anxiety

Depression

Autoimmune diseases including:

  • Celiac disease
  • Polycystic ovary syndrome
  • Allergies
  • Psoriasis
  • Fatty liver disease

I didn’t get to hear the detailed diagnosis/prescription part of the lecture because I’m a newbie, but I did learn that ALL those symptoms have a common cause:

Chronic Stress

 

Master Leone expressed what we all know intuitively: somewhere around our 18th birthday we wake up to the stark reality or weight of life: it’s responsibilities and impermanence.

And we each deal with that realization in a uniquely personal way based on the circumstances of our lives up to that point.

Those symptoms can literally become overwhelming as the mental and physical effects compound – and in today’s turbulent geopolitical, semi-virtual world, it’s getting worse – quickly.

Reach out and help someone. We’re all in this soup together.

We have the same incessant thinking pattern; we all have fears and desires, they just differ from person to person based on the unique circumstances of our lives.

Life is mathematical: half of us learn to cope with it better than the other half, and there are extremes at both ends – clearly.

Need help meditating? That’s why I’m here.

God bless, Skip

❤😊🕉

Meditate – you can’t do it incorrectly [just more efficiently – that’s why I’m here]!!

$15 – scheduled group “meditation prep” classes

Current class schedule

  • Skype lessons
  • seminars
  • lectures
  • private lessons

Proud sponsor of Yoga Instructors Association (MA)

#BringBackPatanjali

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PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT

I found another place where love reigns: Learn to Cope, a support group for parents of opioid addicts.

Unfortunately, it’s another story of the worst in us bringing out the best. Here’s the bottom line:

HEROIN = DEATH.

 

Heroin isn’t where the trail begins for the kids, but it’s all-too-often where it ends.

It’s the end of life as it was and NOT just for the kids.

As an addict (thankfully, I don’t wrestle with this monster) and a parent I can attest it’s MUCH worse for the families who can’t control the addict, than for the addict who can’t control the disease.

Opioid addiction is ravaging our country, one family at a time.

It’s every bit as insidious and deadly as these God-awful mass killings. [I met a recent college graduate the other day who was all excited about his new job with Big Pharma. He literally told me, “Hey, we just make the stuff.”]

Of the 50+ parents in the room:

Some have buried children.

Some never hear from their children – which is the good news.

All have had their lives changed forever, ravaged emotionally; most financially.

 

People shared their fears and experiences (like an AA meeting, though here meeting facilitators provide support and guidance) and heard from a speaker, Maureen Cavanaugh (founder of Magnolia New Beginnings) a terribly brave, strong woman whom it’s been my privilege to meet recently.

Maureen spoke candidly about her experiences and counseled and tried to console the “newbies”. Unfortunately, this is the kind of member-for-life club that no one should have to belong to.

The understanding, empathy and compassion in the room was palpable. If there was a common sentiment, Maureen may have summed it up when she said

“Are you kidding me?! I’d do ANYTHING to keep her alive!”

 

WTF has happened to us?!

You know where to find me.

❤️🕉

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IT’S ALL ABOUT ME

Two years ago I had an epiphany regarding the nature of consciousness.

It changed my life and the lives of the people around me.

But this “news” wasn’t meant for me. After all, Patanjali didn’t write the Yoga Sutras for himself! He was CLEARLY already enlightened!

I’ve spent 24/7 for two years trying to enlighten others. I came enticingly close a few times – which just fed my enormous ego.

Today my teacher told me I can’t.

Apparently something priceless can’t be given away.

BUT if you’ve read my post about being a 60 year old addict (and Irish) you know this new news isn’t going to stop me from trying!!

She told me lovingly; frankly, it was quite touching. She acknowledged that my heart’s in the right place, but pointed out what’s so clear to her and others: my head and heart aren’t working together. Too much of one or the other is actually self destructive.

[And here I thought I was in perfect balance!]

If you haven’t seen this cartoon clip about “keeping your nose and belly button facing in the same direction” it’s well worth a few minutes:

https://www.facebook.com/graphikoo/videos/1091139277693004/

My newest marketing effort is called “Back to Basics” (we’ll see how long I can go without talking about consciousness! Ooops!)

Ultimately, Raja Yoga is about becoming one with the universe, but the first step is “ahimsa”: the opposite of violence: love – and it begins with you.

Blessings, Skip

😊❤️🕉

Meditate – you can’t do it incorrectly [just more efficiently – that’s why I’m here]!!

$15 – scheduled group “meditation prep” classes

Current class schedule

  • Skype lessons
  • seminars
  • lectures
  • private lessons

Proud sponsor of Yoga Instructors Association (MA)

#BringBackPatanjali