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Shout out to the Witch Rx in Salem

I taught two classes this morning: the first had six students; the second took place over an impromptu cup of coffee.

My heartfelt thanks to the Witch Rx in Salem for opening his shop early so family and friends could practice a few few stress-relieving exercises.

If you haven’t been inside the doctor’s shop in awhile (or ever), you should.

 

Regardless of the reason for your visit, it’s fascinating: the good doctor employs artists who turn out a lot of the pieces on exhibit – and these guys have crazy imaginations & mad skills!

[btw – contact me if you have more than half a dozen employees and would like to offer them an inexpensive “inner” retreat for a change!]

LINK to the good doctor’s glass blowing shop

…..where you’ll find the following – among lots of other handmade glass pieces. These guys are seriously talented artists (for the uninformed, that donut is a weed pipe!!)

LINK to a recent post about the relationship between pot (“weed” in the current vernacular) and meditation; both relieve pain but one doesn’t have any ill effects.❤😊🕉

Namaste, Skip

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POT vs. MEDITATION FOR ANXIETY, DEPRESSION and ADDICTION

EVERYTHING – other than prayer (meditation) and service – has both a light and dark side, including pot.

Putting aside my personal fears and desires, here’s how these two pain relievers work:

MEDITATON

PROS – allows me to drop beneath the noise and stress of my conscious “brain” mind into the quiet calmness of my sub-conscious “body” mind – effectively taking my thinking mind offline, giving it a chance to rest and refresh – deepening my insight and intuition over time.

Meditation provides short and long-term physical, mental and energetic benefits. Like physical exercise, the benefits of mind control practices extend well beyond the time we spend on the mat!

CONS – we can’t live in a state of seated perpetual sub-conscious bliss! First of all, Sue wouldn’t let me – and we have to eat!!

POT

PROS – if appropriately administered, immediately relaxes and calms my “thinking” mind.

CONS – aside from any obvious short-term impairment affects if I overdo it, my short-term memory goes out the window when I smoke (which has its own pros and cons!), and this avenue of short-term mental relief has adverse long-term physical effects (a persistent cough being one of them!)

At some point the cumulative benefits of meditating will trump the short-term relief I find in pot and distractions like comic books (read yesterday’s post)!!

When is that going to happen? I’m not sure, but it’s drawing closer. 😉

Faith comes from meditating. Find it within yourself!

 

Namaste [“The aspect of me that isn’t affected by time and space – let alone anxiety, depression and addiction – acknowledges and honors that aspect of you”],

Skip

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ADDICT

According to the Internet, an addict “devotes or surrenders him/herself to something habitually or obsessively.”

Have I mentioned that I suffer from addictive tendencies? Some good: meditation. Others not-so-much.

Karma:❤

Several years ago, as an under-challenged and grossly overpaid accountant for a large investment firm, I pursued desires with abandon, and often a single-mindedness that would make my Irish ancestors smile.

Before the bottom fell out of our lives economically ten years ago, I collected almost 2,500 girly comic books from the late 90’s. It all started – and ended with Ricky Carralero’s Double Impact – don’t be fooled by imitations; his business partner signed Ricky’s name to lots of sub-par pics – the difference is obvious! Ricky’s pics jump off the page! Just sayin’…….

I methodically organized, cataloged, photographed, labeled and stored every piece of my prized collection (some I even read!) with my usual all-in mentality – until it stopped fulfilling me, and I turned my attention elsewhere.

Fast forward ten years. Corporate America reaches out from beyond the grave and says I owe them $5,000. [I checked; they’re right. Damn!]

Anyone want to buy 2,500 girly comic books? I just told a potential buyer “It’s a teenage boy’s dream – if the boy was born before 1960!”

Easy come; easy go.💔

[You see why I say Sue is divine!]

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EXCERPT FROM A LETTER TO MY BROTHER

……..as an RN (age contemporary) said to me the other day, “Why did they wait our entire lives to tell us this stuff [Traditional Chinese Medicine concepts]?!” Those energy meridians acupuncturists use? They’re very real!

I think the thing that stands out most to me about the Eastern Taoist disciplines is the emphasis on the cyclical nature of our world: everything – including us – in the normal course has five “seasons”:

1) Spring – 2) Early Summer – 3) Late Summer – 4) Fall – 5) Winter.

 

Growing up in Vermont we know each season has a different energy: things bloom in the Spring, hibernate in the Winter. It’s simultaneously sobering and relieving to realize that you and I are like magnificent old maple tress in the Fall: as good as we get. Like an old maple tree that’s been through a lot of seasons and storms, before long our limbs will become more brittle, and our leaves will dry and fall.

The awesome thing about these Eastern disciplines is the emphasis they put on restoring, maintaining and replenishing the energy that sustains us. That’ll keep your beautiful Fall foliage blooming longer!

Love you.

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DRIVE YOUR BRAIN LIKE A CAR

We all have two aspects of our mind: a higher and lower frequency if you will:

  1. Our conscious, higher energetic frequency, noisy, thinking, brain mind (the “thinker”) functions like an old fashioned manual transmission.
  2. Our sub-conscious, lower energetic frequency, silent, doing, body mind (the “doer”), which runs the ship so to speak, functions on autopilot: multi-tasking without cognitive input or oversight. Leaving this aspect aside for the moment because it’s silent and runs on auto-pilot…

On any given Tuesday, here’s how our five-speed conscious mind functions:

1          CORRECT                   “TODAY IS TUESDAY.”

2          INCORRECT               “TODAY IS WEDNESDAY.”

3          IMAGINED                  “TODAY IS MURGPHDAY.”

R          REMEMBERED          “YESTERDAY WAS MONDAY.”

N         NEUTRAL                   “                                  .”

In Neutral there are no words!! THAT’S how you know you’re in Neutral! In Neutral you’re aware only of your senses: sounds, sights, smells, tastes, and bodily.

Our conscious mind (the aspect we’re aware of) is where the voice in our head lives – 

but we can drive it anywhere we want to go!!

 

Learn to drive your brain! Meditate.

It’s fantastically liberating!

Blessings, Skip

p.s. you don’t want to be in Park; that’s going to come way too soon as it is!

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The Doctor Transferred HAL’s Brain and Consciousness Into a New Body!

Testimonial for The Digital Docs

My four-year old desktop computer, HAL started acting like an old dog last week: falling asleep; getting up less often; her sparkle was gone.

This is the part I hate: taking them to the vet for the last time.

I called Stephen Bach, the surgeon on call at the Digital Docs.

Stephen kindly spent more time than he billed me for trying to figure out what was draining the old girl’s energy – before she literally died in his arms. Thankfully, this time I wasn’t there.

Farewell HAL.💔 Hello HAL2!❤

The next day, like a stork the good doctor presented me with a virtual replica of HAL (though HAL2 is a little curvier: no muffin top).

The good doctor Frankenstein created a clone of HAL, transferring HAL’s brain and consciousness into a new body!

HAL has been reincarnated as HAL2!

Aside from the arm and leg Apple charged for the new hardware, no one could have made the transition easier, or the grieving process shorter.

Thank you Stephen.

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TAKE YOUR MIND OFFLINE

If you have a friend or neighbor who spends all day every day doing things for other people to the point that they’re not taking care of themselves (e.g., not eating, sleeping and/or exercising adequately – my mother comes to mind)…..

….with love, let them know that there’s a reason the stewardess tells us to put our own oxygen mask on first: so we can do a BETTER job serving others.

Take care of ALL of you, including your non-physical bits!

Learn to distinguish between your conscious and sub-conscious mind….

1  Conscious mind “thinks” – this aspect of our mind:

  • is evidenced by the voice in our head: words, typically of judgment or analysis;
  • functions like our heart and lungs: single, consecutive, constant beats, breaths, and thoughts;
  • has five operating “gears” or functions: 1,2,3, R & N [when we meditate, we’re looking for “Neutral” or observation-only mode]!

2  Sub-conscious mind “does” – this aspect of our mind:

  • “runs the ship” (i.e., controls physical movement: walking, talking, pooping, blood circulation, organ function, etc.) without our having to consciously think about doing those things;
  • stores our memories;
  • is typically taken for granted because we can’t “hear” it; rather, our sub-conscious mind is evidenced by actions, sensations, insights, instinct, and intuition.

……and between mind and consciousness.

 

3  Consciousness “is” – the awareness OF our thoughts (i.e., the witness: the “YOU” behind your thoughts) doesn’t “do” anything, nor can anything be “done” to it! For all intents and purposes, as long as your body/mind is sustained by energy, this aspect of you benignly “witnesses” it all – WITHOUT judgment (which is a product of our conscious mind).

Our deep, calm, quiet, still, underlying, non-judgmental consciousness is a source of indescribable bliss.

Tap into it!

Learn to drop beneath the static and noise (and the voice!) of your conscious mind – and experience a holistically restoring and energizing state of being – AT WILL!!

RECHARGE.  RESTORE.  REJUVENATE.

Take yourself offline! Meditate!

Blessings, Skip

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TAKE TWO ASPRIN AND CALL ME IN THE MORNING

To a friend I hadn’t seen in awhile who’s been under considerable stress:

For five minutes, once a day, for three weeks – take your mind offline as follows:

[If you can’t sit comfortably on the floor, sit in a chair. The physical part of this Rx is to eventually be able to readily get up and down off the floor!]

Set a timer for 5 minutes.

Optional: use a meditation app if it helps you focus. I like “Insight Timer”. I suggest something you can synchronize your breath to.

Sit comfortably. Close your eyes almost all the way.

Breathe “manually” into your stomach: expand your stomach as you inhale; contract it as you exhale. “Navel away on the inhalation. Navel back on the exhalation.”

Focus 100% of your attention on the mechanics of breathing. Observe the sensations. Try not to hear words of judgement or analysis in your head. Literally just enjoy witnessing your body breathe.

The long-term goal is to be able to sit upright comfortably while breathing rhythmically and subtly (i.e., quieting our physical bits in preparation to still our mental bits).

I recommend a pre and post flight system check: scan your self (again, without words) observing your physical, mental and emotional states. Did anything change between check-ins?

Mechanically, you’re distracting the typically noisy, thinking conscious part of your mind, and settling into your quieter, deeper, calmer, otherwise sub-conscious mind – thereby taking it “offline”.

Learn to give yourself, specifically your busy tired mind, a chance to rest, restore, recharge, and refresh – at will!

As an added bonus, each time you do, you draw a little closer to nirvana: the source of that sense of calm stillness, your awareness itself.

Hugs, Skip

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THE WORLD’S BEST WAITRESS

I saw a friend today I haven’t seen in awhile: the world’s best waitress (her words).

She works for a place that makes the second best eggplant parmesan around (Billy Laganas at Eastern Harvest makes the best – especially those damned sliders! OMG).

My friend asked, “How’s the yoga going?” so I told her that I decided to relocate when…..

the porch builders moved in right beneath the yoga studio!

She was under the mistaken impression (perhaps because I started an association for yoga instructors) that I ONLY teach other yoga teachers and seriously advanced students.

NOT.

Half my students are more or less my age contemporaries (I’m 60), most of whom can’t easily get up and down off the floor, so we sit in chairs! It’s tough to meditate if you can’t sit comfortably.

 

Wherever you are physically, mentally or spiritually – is the perfect time and place to begin practicing self-awareness and self-control:

RAJA YOGA.

Blessings, Skip

 

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YESTERDAY WAS OUR SECOND 2ND ANNIVERSARY

Two years ago Sue reluctantly agreed to allow me to establish a yoga school in 01945 in hopes it would become a mecca for yogis the world over for generations to come because………

I was [am!] going to enlighten the world!

Here’s what I learned in the last two years trying to commercialize the intangible:

There’s a light inside you – but only you can turn it on.

I can tell you how. I’ve blogged, danced, screamed, sang, cried and bled trying to turn it on in others – but only you can turn it on – and it’s not easy.

I’m at a crossroads.

The ability to control our mind is literally invaluable – yet, like the joke about a guy with a pocket full of hundreds that can’t attract attention in a brothel – I’m struggling and frustrated!

WHAT I’m teaching isn’t the problem!

People who know how to meditate can transcend the chaos and judgment of their conscious mind at will! Think about that!

The science of meditation is empirical! We witness and experience it for ourselves!

Help spread the word!

“Meditation therapy” (aka Raja Yoga) dovetails beautifully with virtually all healthcare services aimed at relieving physical, mental and emotional pain – particularly due to trauma – for both the patients and service providers!

Do you know someone with influence at a public or private medical, counseling or rehab facility?

If so, please forward this to them! Thank you.

Spring is a perfect time of year to start a new habit. Pick one that you’ll be glad you did 10 years from now!

Blessings, Allan (Skip) Dowds

Class schedule