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De is the Chinese character for virtue and, as stated by luminary Lonny Jarrett ‘implies bypassing the mind to know truth with the heart’. This statement strikes me as uber-profound, and what comes to mind is the picture of the 5 elements in our student clinic at school with the adage below ‘Virtue is the Essence’; something I feel so close to my heart that every time I see it I feel as though my heart has been struck like a gong at a monastery, signalling the beginning of a most sacred occasion. So often in our Western, materialistic societies, where our most basic survival needs are not only met entirely but we enjoy options that, again as Lonny illuminated to us over the workshop, emperors of millennia of yore could not even dream about, we tend to get ‘suffocated in our own minds’. Truth has become very much an intellectual affair, as denoted by the relentless rambling of universities, the information overload of the internet and the media etc. etc…and yet as I rode the subway home tonight and read these words, I realized that the most enduring and eternal truths I have ever learned had come to me not by something I had read but by something I had done. It suddenly dawned upon me how impoverished I was, still stumbling on in my studies of Chinese medicine and shamanism, still reading spiritual text after spiritual text, while my being was left inside to ‘suffocate’ under all this…hesitation? Was that it? I apprehended a heavy feeling within me, akin to dread…hmph…Was I simply an information glutton, using my forever seeking as a coping mechanism for my much deeper fear of finding and doing?? Was I destined to arrive suddenly at middle-age, sure with many, many more concepts to boot and intellectual propensities; a much more interesting human specimen for certain but a more virtuous one?  I wasn’t sure. I became scared in that moment, as I realized how easily it was to fall asleep in life and still believe one was carrying on to the best of their abilities. But it was not so. I felt suddenly the horror of civilization around me: the endless hedonism intrinsic to a consumerist society that offered satiation of every desire at a moment’s notice. I saw around me, and within me, the unmotivated, deadened, benumbed, will-less human automaton; living the same day constantly over and over, with a few nuances here and there, but really all the same…I had some notion of truth and yet I knew that the most truthful people, the ones I loved the most, Gandhi, Jesus, MLK, had become so beautiful by their endless sacrifice to humanity, to action….
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Calling All Creators

 
"What do you do when an animal is mortally wounded? Do you run up to it and get real close so it can kick you and injure you? You’ve seen what a dying animal does, flailing about: it’ll kill anything close to it. Stand back and let it die. And when it’s dead, go in and get that tail.” Milton, Toronto Mystic, on the absurdity of protesting the G20


            While listening to Max Igan’s latest profound commentary, I was struck during his discussion of the ins and outs of corporatism and its inevitable journey to fascism that there is hardly an example in all of human consciousness of what an actual HARMONIOUS society looks like.  And it’s not like they haven’t existed.  I think foremost of my great Uncle, Ernest Thompson Seaton’s book The Gospel of the Redman  whose account of the worldview and social culture of indigenous peoples in North America before they were thoroughly engulfed by colonial civilization describes a utopian society where a homeless citizen is viewed as a terrible sin that weighs down on all members of society who quickly seek the individual out, clothe them and nurse them back to strength in their living so they can reclaim an empowered role in society.  And utopian is not being sensational but is, in fact, borrowing the term expressed by many colonists, soldiers and priests alike, who were dumbstruck at how few social ills that were commonplace back home in Europe, such as corruption, poverty and war, were present amongst the ‘savages’.  But even though such books are out there, during our most FORMATIVE years of education when the worldviews are constructed that sustain us for most of our lives (unless we rebel at some point), we are force-fed a boring, extremely narrow and most certainly prejudiced perspective on the way things are.  Some of even more dramatic inclinations would say that our modern educational institutions represent the true terrorism in this world! (“Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school” Albert Einstein). 

            Truly, the state of our educational systems is poisoning the evolution of not only individuals but human culture in general.  To think that our youth are still reading science books based on outdated scientific paradigms such as Newtonian Physics, are still being taught Mathematics as a secular subject (when the origin of Math is wholly mystical and spiritual—-just check out the life of Pythagoras to see it was more than just about triangles! Better yet, watch the movie Pi!), are still being taught sexual education from a fear-based foundation of the threats of STDs and HIV rather than explaining that sexual techniques nourish intimacy, are still being taught HIS-story instead of HER-story and phew! – the list goes on and on, folks. You get the picture…But it’s far from hopeless: the Internet, when used with the right intent, represents possibly the greatest antagonist of ignorance WE HAVE EVER SEEN.

            This is important NOW because in case you missed it our whole sense of the world just took a massive kick to the face this past weekend and it’s due time.  We’ve been living in a dreamland, folks, of entitlement, SUPERfluous conveniences and complicit complacency for a LOOOOONG time, and it’s TIME we woke up.  In some ways, we owe the now-unmasked fascist police force a huge thank you for giving us unparalleled motivation to change the world. That’s right ‘peace officers’: THANK YOU! It’s weird, isn’t it, how the truth works like that sometimes? Oh, paradoxes (‘Sweet are the uses of adversity’ Will Shakespeare).

            As I said before, I was struck during Max’s commentary that there are precious little thought-forms out there of harmonious societies for us to reference, to be inspired by and guide us.  This is unsettling and of great detriment I feel.  Again, knowledge of those societies is out there but it’s often suppressed in an INSTANT by hoodlums of history writing or bombed into anonymity the moment the phrase WE ARE A DEMOCRACY is uttered (heck, or even thought!). We in the West are lucky in the sense that we have more freedom to roam than other nations that are frankly in pitiful states of brokenness and tyranny and we must realize and seize that freedom, remembering the struggle it come out of. 

            So we can do the research and find the stories of those sublime societies and string them together in the tale of humanity’s forgotten or deliberately hidden past OR we can dip into our souls/true nature that is ALWAYS plugged into truth and vision what kind of a world we would like to live in.  Then, we are beginning to create thought-forms or ideals, which are powerful in themselves because everything that manifests in the material world must first begin as an idea before stepping down the steps into physical fruition.  We all need to do this and do it muchly.  We need to continually engage our creativity, setting our imaginations wild to vision the world we want to live in and then share those ideas with others, finding common grounds, nurturing that ground and planting more seeds in those grounds, where fertility will be even more so, mineralized by the meetings of our minds.  We need to start unplugging ourselves from all the little distractions that the modern world attempts to throw at us to wrest away from alignment with our true nature (that means you, World Cup!).  And we need to realize this is spiritual work and that that’s the highest work we can do.  We are on a mission, folks, from the moment those two halves of Mama and Papa made a whole, and it’s to push things forward, change the world and cultivate that change evermore!

            Don’t be so doomy and gloomy these days, brothers and sisters. Lick your wounds. It’s not like this kind of bullshit hasn’t gone down before and in MUCH WORSE fashion.  Just ask any of your elders, especially if they’re not Caucasian!  What just happened is only the beginning but we have the most advanced technology in the universe at our disposal to create new outcomes: CHOICE. Consciously make choices and assume your divine role of creator of this world, of this universe.  Don’t be hoodwinked by all the fear and emotions flinging around like drugs these days.  That’s what all the forces that are against change want: us to be so caught up in drama that we try and fight what’s already dead.  We should be much more interested in aligning and creating what is just now being born.  The empire is falling.  What are you doing standing before it and yelling at it to die?  It IS dying.  Get out of the way so you don’t get squished.  As a spiritual teacher recently told me with a knowing grin, “G20, is that like a vitamin supplement or something?”, we should also be so fleeting with the attention we give the monoliths of sociopaths.  What are you waiting for?  We’ve got a world to change!!! Start dreaming, start visioning, start sharing (and caring-BIG LOVE!) and start creating. What else were you born to do? And NEVER forget:


Imagination is more important than knowledge.

Albert Einstein

 

In La’kech

Darren
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Wouldn't it be brilliant this weekend if nobody showed up to protest? If all them 'peace officers' fitted with their gamut of 'peace-making tools' (their 'peace-making' shields-tasers-batons-and let's not forget them 'peace-making' super-sonic gazoos) were left standing around with nothing to do but bask perhaps in the glorious sunshine of a luminous summer day? What if there was no riot for the riot-police? What if there was another, better, funner and more creative, effective way to protest? What if we left that old world of patriarchal-capitalist-hegemonic-materialist-military-industrial complex behind by not cooperating in the reason for $1 billion dollars (from who knows who!) for 'security'?

It would make the $1 billion spent on security seem disastrously ABSURD!!! I can see the gleaming, gleeful headlines parading the newstands:

$1 billion+ Goes To Complete Waste As Would-Be Protesters Decide to Protest in New Ways!

Security? Can You Say Over-Reaction?

"I'm Bored. Do you know who won in the World Cup today" says young Police Officer

Riot-Police En Masse Caught Napping in Nearby Park

SERIOUSLY: instead of protesting we should gather to share ideas on how to create a new world of integrity, authenticity and beauty, mixing it up with spontaneous song and dance to truly celebrate our humanity and our planet. What use is there anyhow going downtown to confront our would-be leaders when we know the inevitable will occur: we'll be barred access by LEGIONS of antagonistic 'peace officers' with lots of mischievious ways to deter us, zoned off in carefully controlled spaces that will only make us more frustrated, ultimately feeling more angry and deflated, and potentially put in danger by true provocateurs whose anger boils over into violence (giving the riot police occasion to work and perhaps use their super-sonic gazoos) OR there will be provocateurs planted by the police as they did in Quebec some years ago. Ultimately, there's nothing really to gain by it unless you really want to go and rage away and get potentially harmed, as our would-be leaders chuckle behind their armed armada, feeling all the more important and victorious by the droves protesting outside, disabled from actually doing them any harm...

There's lots of great events already converging all over the city where people will be gathering to create and celebrate. I for one am taking part in the beautiful Human Summit on Sunday. I'm also considering heading to Dufferin Grove Park for a day of meditation, music and playing crystal singing bowls. On an aside, know that Saturday the 26th is not only a lunar eclipse but one of the most significant astrological configurations we've seen of late. To be at a protest, feeding our corrupt leaders with our frustrations and anger would be a deft way to distract us from absorbing this amazing celestial imprint. In fact, many astrologers and other well-meaning thinkers are advising that the 26th is a great day to be spent at home or with friends, absorbing the beautiful energy from the skies. Something to chew on!

I hope you consider my sentiments, brothers and sisters! Feel free to add your thoughts and feelings as well! Let us come together in these disturbing and wondrous times to create the world we've always dreamed of! Let us stand in our power and remember what we really are!!!

BIG LOVE
Darren

***FINAL NOTE: a great way to raise one's energy this summer is by experiencing The Chemical Brothers EPIC New LP, Further. Listen to a clip below!***
HAPPY SOLSTICE!!!
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Changing Peace 05/28/2010
 
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Peace is something of an anthem of our modern humanity. We hear it as the call against the state of seeming perpetual war on our planet. We here it also as the call of the great spiritual revival taking place among us, calling on us to create lives of utmost serenity. And yet, peace is in bold need of redefinition because what we really need in our world is not peace at all but change.  Change connotes a force much more relentless, bold and active. This doesn't mean we have to do away with the word peace but we must assert a more expanded definition for indeed we do not need passivity at this time of great shift, nor people to sit idly trying to attain personal states of nirvana while the world around us falls apart. If we are going to make it through all of this turmoil of economic meltdown, environmental catastrophe and the ultimate deconstruction of what makes our worldviews and their subsequent systems efficient we need to boldly and tirelessly align ourselves with the force of change.

Ultimately, change begins with the self. I've been around enough activism in my life and enough people complaining about the state of things to know that a lot of us who go out to protest, culture jam and the like lack integrity in our own lives. Many of us are still living lives swaddled in selfishness, escapism, addictions, and general nihilism that poorly lacks in the ethics department. I've met a tantamount of people who passionately decry the conspiracies manipulating humanity at large who are addicted to drugs and other self-destructive tendencies. I was one of them once. But I've realized that in order to clean up this mess we need to clean up the mess in our lives first or else we're projecting ambiguous actions and shaky ethics. As a wise teacher told me recently, true we must point the sword to the throat of the abusers and dictators but the sword must always be held more closely to our own throats. Latent in this is the whole problem of the victim identity that our society is so privy to. I've had discussions with many people about the state of the world coming from the conspiracy realm and many come across as wanting someone to blame so they don't have to take responsibility, almost obsessively so. Just recently at the Freedom Festival where I was a speaker, I engaged a young man in conspiracy theories and could hardly get a sentence in. It was just an endless gushing of negativity. When I finally got his attention and said: "So what are you doing about it?" He said continue becoming aware as if that was enough and then launched into another theory. It was mechanical and sad. Indeed, awareness is essential but only a half-truth. We need whole truths and action is the other half. If we sit around absorbing more and more theories tirelessly from the net we're just another kind of consumer. The human soul is built for much more incredible things!

So as the big G8 and G20 Conferences converge on us this summer, I urge everyone who is going out to protest and act as a force of resistance to contemplate deeply these matters. We gain nothing by allowing the intoxicating emotions that come with victimhood to overcome us as we hurtle hatred and calls of injustice at the perpetratorial elite. Instead of giving them our energy in a vehement display, ask yourselves what are you doing with your energy to change the state of things. Better yet, ask each other, for we're all in this together and we need to depend on each other to stand up for a world that is held together by strong ethics and unrelenting integrity; by lives devoted to self-creation not self-destruction; of unwavering wills that will stop at nothing to do what is right.
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I was talking with my partner last night about a practice that we've woven into our life that has proven quite profound and that is the sharing circle.  It's a practice I learned during my years studying the ways of the indigenous of Turtle Island (or North America) up at Six Nations.  My teacher taught us that the sharing circle is one of the essential ways the indigenous maintain community by offering a way to resolve issues amongst members that can be rapt with intensely heated emotions and facilitate healing of its members by encouraging the opening of the heart to pour forth the deepest parts of the self that often lay hidden behind emotional armouring and other acts of repression.  As we participated in this sacred act, we were encouraged to share whatever pain was ailing us, to unburden ourselves completely and fully.  We were also told that everyone was allowed to speak for however long they wished and that we were willing to stay till sunrise if it took that long for one to pour out the deepest wounds buried within them.  Finally, there was no interrupting the speaker and no one had to necessarily respond to what was spoken.  Merely a space was opened for our soul to be expressed, in all its rampaged glory. 

These sharing circles became one of my favourite activities up at the land.  I always admired the stoic attentiveness of the elders who held the space with a fierce love shining in their fire-flickering eyes, looking on as men and women alike opened shattered places that some had no idea were even there inside of them.  Indeed, some nights the circle began at 8pm and we did not retire until 2am, and yet our attention never wavered. It created a profound communal pact as we all wished to be there for each other, silently holding the space, getting up from time to time to offer prayers of tobacco for someone who had just spoken, praying for their sufferings to relent and for them to be transformed by the pain, not simply comforted. 

I had never witnessed the beauty of the human soul in such a way, bedazzled with all its tumult of tragedy, all its festival of idiotic obsessions, its stubborn self-destructive leanings and, most especially, its immense yearning to be free of pain; to unburden; to dig into the most howling of aches and bear it to Creator to do away with it.  I saw grown men collapse into tears and anguish, others share things they had never-ever thought they'd share, and even a young man share his suicidal tendencies in their most existential and nauseous-nightmarish capacity.  And I watched that young man grow stronger by each circle, as he relentlessly dug in and shared with more courage than anyone the dark wounding of life's inevitable passage of struggle.  It was a revelation like no other. 

    "Wouldn't it just turn into people complaining about all the crap in their lives?" my partner wisely asserted.
   
But it didn't.  The circle was not a sharing space charged with merely complaining petulantly and repeatedly about the unresolved issues pinning us down.  The intention of the circle was to release our destructive tendencies to direct us to the cultivation of virtuous lives.  I was struck most deeply by the realization that speaking from the heart was a wholly different affair than normal speaking, one of a palpably different energetic than the normal 'sharing' conversations we have with friends where we often interrupt each other at such frequency that we perpetually stop each other from digging deep enough to reach the central temple.  I became convinced that the sharing circle was essential to proper human relations.  I became convinced that everyone needed to experience it and even make it a discipline in their lives if we ever hoped to heal the fractious wounds of contemporary society, drowning in alienation, fear and narcissistic individuality.

My partner and I use it when we find ourselves in a crisis-kind of situation in our relationship.  You know the yucky-mucky spots when you're so angry at the other that you can't bear looking in their soul-shining eyes, and you turn away, ashamed at the revilement bubbling within you toward this beautiful other, spiralling into more anger at your own shame, and the inevitable frustration that comes with not giving voice to our concerns when they arise spontaneously, caging them deep down where, like any caged thing of animal or energetic nature, it just gets wilder and more ferocious.  Yep we all know them well, I'm sure.  So I presented the sharing circle to her one day because I knew it was good medicine and that it would clear our situation up and push us along.  She was open to it and so we dove in.  Not much of a circle, mind you, with just two, but a circle nonetheless and a powerful one at that. 

The results were brilliant and quite simply relationship changing.  It was hard, especially for her from the outset as she didn’t have the experience with this kind of thing as I had.  Hard for her, that is, to not respond with facial expressions of pain and even disgust as sometimes hard truths leapt from my heart.  But she, strong soul she is, endured beautifully, and managed to get hooked on the serenity of silence.  We would use a meaningful object we had around for a talisman, usually some kind of gleaming looking crystal.  We'd say our peace, taking all the time we needed to get it just right, knowing that even if we didn't we had the space to stumble and fumble around, knowing we wouldn't be cut off in huff.  It was remarkable how effective it was, how crucial it was, in fact, for us to manoeuvre the inevitable pitfalls of relationship.  Heck, without it we may not have survived, at least not at the high level of development that our relationship is now pushing into.  That’s just how vital this sharing circle is, folks.

These circles always end up in a lovely place. Their primed for loveliness.  It’s just what happens when you give the beauty of the bashful soul time to unfurl its sacred scripture.  You’ll be wonderstruck at how exquisite your partner is.  And you’ll be blown away at what clarity and wisdom comes out of your own heart.  Life will taste a little sweeter, transmuted magically from a bitter.

So let me break it down for you, about how we go about it anyhow.  Bear in mind this is not some set-in-stone kind of thing, but something I encourage people to play with:

1. We sit face to face in a space where we know we won’t be interrupted (that means phones off).  Cushions and the like are helpful as our sore bums are no excuse for leaving one hanging with their spirit gates flapping open.
2. We start with a 5-10mins meditation, usually accompanied by some sweet relaxing music. During the meditation, I often either just focus on having no relationship to any thoughts popping up so as to burrow a highway right to the heart that thinks before the mind OR for those more into an imaginative affair I use visualizations called ‘light-work’ which involve imagining strands of light blazing from my heart to my partner’s.  This generally flows into both of our hearts turning into shining suns, or green vortices of energy a la the heart chakra.  Either way, the focus is on the connection.  Try not to get washed away into the mystical too much.  There’s serious work involved here.
3. We open our eyes and the talisman we’ve chosen that we’ve placed between us is picked up by one of us (if the emotions are so heated still at this point paper-rock-scissors can suffice to solve the stalemate, though the meditation should generate enough peace to facilitate smooth sailing).
4. Share away. Remember no interrupting the other while they’re expressing, which means holding back facial expressions, sighs etc. Simply hold the space for them. You will be amazed at what a precious gift that is and you’ll be so grateful when you experience it in return. Finally, the talisman can be passed back and forth for as long as it takes.  This isn’t just a one-shot deal.

    I hope some of you try this out in your partnerships.  And it needn’t be only used at crisis points.  We’ve recently begun doing them just to share how much and what we love about each other and also just to share what’s going on with our own personal journey through life.  It doesn’t have to be relationship centred.  It’s an essential need of the soul to express what’s going on at the deeper levels.  Repression can lead to lots of dilemmas.  The key is expressing with the intention of moving forward, not backward to stew even further into the sewer.  Release and move past your issues.  The sharing circle is a great opener and encourager of this kind of evolution.  May you enjoy the spirit of the circle!

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Happy Spring to everyone!  Spring is an exciting time of year, one of stretching out and awakening after the inward contraction of winter's cold and leaping into the vivacious growth that this time of year promises as warmth sprinkles vitality onto the Earth, causing plants to burst from the ground and buds to bustle on trees!

In Chinese Medicine, the season of Spring correlates to the Liver/Gallbladder and the Element of Wood.  Thus, the Liver/Gallbladder is the system in the body that is getting the most energy and by understanding what their functions are we can harmonize with their actions, strengthening them and, ultimately, resonate with the spirit of the season which is traditionally viewed as one of the ways to optimize health in Chinese Medicine.

As Spring is the "growing season" our own growth is encouraged.  Spring is a time to shoot up for the stars and Sun, just like our plant brethren, setting goals as high and lofty.  It's a time to challenge our limits and our inhibitions as there's quite literally a huge surging of energy all around us that we can partake in, making it a favourable time of year to push forward through things that have been potentially blocking our growth, using the help of the Spring at hand.  It's a great opportunity to travel roads least traveled and try something you've never done or always wanted to do but felt inhibited about. The energy of the Wood Element dominant in Springtime gives us that upward thrust of energy. The key is to become aware of it, latch onto it and use its momentum to go after endeavours; set goals and run to them.  The archetype for the Wood Element is the Pioneer, which calls to mind an individual who is setting new trends of development, always pushing forward passionately into unknowns.  When someone says 'Take Care!' as a farewell, next time echo the words of my friend Conrad who often substitutes instead 'Take Risks!'

"Action compels the Pioneer. She vanquishes resistance
with the thrust of a warrior's determination."
from Between Heaven and Earth

Spring is the perfect time to detoxify the mind-body-soul because the Liver/Gallbladder complex is so invested in this energetic.  Thus, setting an intention to detoxify in any or all of these realms resonates with the spirit of the season. This is why many people are initiating cleansing diets, such as the Master Cleanse or Wild Rose, to amplify what is already going on internally.  Spring is a great time to give up addictions that may be keeping us attached to behaviour patterns we feel we've outgrown.  The key is to drop and run, not setting a foot back in the sewer we came from.  The upward movement of Spring, raising the sap in trees and our own qi and blood, gives us ample support for such heroic endeavours!

Spring is really about cleansing to make space for our new endeavours and their climax in Summer, when our Spring goals are truly flowering.  If we don't create this space within us, we won't be able to get the best out of Spring and our flowerings in Summer's solar symphony will be bogged down by lack of space to expand at their zenith.  Fasting once a month or bi-monthly is a great way to hit this spot on, remembering that a fast is optimized when we don't just give up food for a day to rest our digestive organs but also give up our computer, television and even reading so the mind and soul can also take a rest.  It can be a challenge to denude ourselves of all these distractions and yet it facilitates a powerful going within to engage in-sight that will then help us literally "spring" outward at the fast's end as we're inspired at looking and finding in ourselves wisdom deeply seated, without surface distractions keeping us on a more superficial level of being.  This can be a spiritual catalyst of the highest kind!

A meditation protocol is also perfect, 20-30mins a day of sitting with the intention of having no relationship with any thoughts, emotions or sensations that may come up.  In this fashion we detach from the egoic chatter in our minds, find objectivity in our experience and allow more freedom for the currents of springing energy to move unimpeded.

For partners, it's a great time to open up sharing communications as certain indigenous cultures emphasize.  A great practice is to sit before one another, steeping your minds in a brief meditation accompanied by music, and then choosing a talisman (a sacred object) such as a crystal or gemstone that the speaker will hold as symbolic of their time to express.  One begins to speak and the other is not to interrupt but hold a space for the other to express themselves, giving them as much time as they need.  In sharing circles I've been part of with indigenous healers, they are ready to stay all through the night if that's what it takes for us to express the darkest reaches of our souls!  When one is finished, the talisman is passed to the other and it is their turn.  Communication in this way is cleansing, devoid of emotional reactions and cultivates integrity and respect through deep communion of heart to heart.  Whatever comes up, whether it be tears or laughter, share it all, as if a intimate gift bestowed to your partner.  These kinds of communication can offer a revolutionary perspective on relating to one another, the ultimate aim of a relationship.

Yoga is also a perfect Springtime activity as it allows us to strengthen our flexibility and agility, which are crucial for movement to occur.  We all know that life is replete with adversities as it wants to cultivate our strength and courage.  Rarely do we find a path forward in life that doesn't throw roadblocks and other impediments at us.  These are not curses to obsess or complain over in victim-complexes but challenges to get us to exercise and reveal to ourselves our own brilliant ingenuity to problem solve and be relentless.  When we engage adversity in this way and succeed, we are made much more aware of our strengths!  A great teacher of mine who is a master of metaphors likened the journey of life to the journey of a plant, the essential being of the Wood element. When one thinks of the life of a plant one honours the "sweet uses of adversity".  Firstly, a plant must break out of the confining shell of its seed in the burst of birth. Then, it has only one goal in mind: to shoot up and up toward the Sun and the Light!  But this is no small feat!  The plant has to manoeuvre through tough soil, rocks, pests and predators, and then break through the hard ground.  And though temporary exaltation may come with sprouting into the air above, then there’s the challenges of climate and weather changes and the sheer unknown dangers, such as a rambunctious pet dog or even child coming over and ripping them right out of the soil!  But the plant never complains: up, up and up it goes, ever-reaching for Light, a traditional symbol of self-awareness!

Nutritional Guidelines

Bitters are great for Spring (think dandelion or if a coffee drinker trying to go black for a while) as they trigger secretion of bile that aids digestion of fats and helps Liver/Gall Bladder metabolism greatly.  Secretion of bile is also how the Liver/Gall Bladder primarily cleanses the blood of spent red blood cells and other toxins, detoxifying the whole body.  Bitters are one of the foods we don’t eat enough of in our sweet-fixated Western diets, pointing to a deeper philosophical dilemma in our comfort-convenience-centred Western society that offers a boon of escapism and hedonism to avoid what makes us uncomfortable.  Paradoxically, it’s what puts us into discomfort that often gets us growing the most!  Moreover, bitter is also the flavour most nourishing for the Heart in Chinese Medicine, the source of our love!  Now that’s something to ruminate over! (Key song here: the triumphant anthem “Bittersweet Symphony” by The Verve -- the video is a perfect illustration of facing everything and avoiding nothing, the central tenet of the Wood Element!).

Leafy greens, eating less in general, adding a few raw foods into the diet, milk thistle tea, and cooking with Turmeric recognized by Ayurveda as a Liver herb.  Turmeric regulates blood sugar (used to treat diabetes and hypoglycaemia), regulates menstruation and aids digestion.

Goji Berries are a great food for the Liver and Kidneys, and are classified as a blood and yin tonic. They contain a good amount of carotene along with vitamin C.

Taking walks in parks, spending time in nature gets us in touch with a cleaner environment, allowing our Liver a break from its busy detoxification activities that can be excessive in the pollutant riddled environment of the city where everything from the air we breathe to the food and drink we ingest and imbibe can present a daunting effort of detoxification.  Moreover, being in nature attunes us to the seasonal current which is expressed as the natural cycle which helps our own Wood Element resonate with the thrust of plant shoots and buds on trees bursting out as leaves.

Here's a few more nuggets of wisdom from the ancient tradition of Chinese Medicine to ponder.  These are common forms of Liver Qi stagnation, an imbalance according to Chinese Medicine.  If you have any of these signs or symptoms and would like heal them, this is the best time of year to seek treatment using acupuncture.  Acupuncture is a natural and holistic medicine that balances the mind-body-soul by balancing the flow of qi or life-energy flowing within us along a series of pathways or meridians.

Virtues of Liver/Gallbladder/Wood:
Benevolence, flexibility, boldness, forging plans, endure hardship, clarity, judgment, self-confidence, positivity, ambition, zest, decisive, performs well under pressure

Vices of Liver/Gallbladder/Wood
Anger, frustration, impatience, over-ambition, poor self-confidence, indecisiveness, lacking perspective, stubbornness, intolerance, over-performs, stagnation, arrogance, impulsive, tyrannical, volatile emotions

Head and Face
Headaches and migraines, dry/inflamed eyes, dizziness, sour-bitter taste in mouth, blurred vision, poor night vision, ringing in the ears

Throat and Chest
chest tightness and pain, lump in the throat, pain between the ribs, shallow breathing wheezing or inability to breathe deeply and freely

Digestive
Abdominal pains to severe ulcers, indigestion, gas, heartburn, erratic appetite, irregular elimination, spasmodic pain of stomach and intestines (IBS), bloating

Tendo-Muscular Pain
Most of the pain in the body has its root in tendon, muscle and nerve health.  In Chinese Medicine, the Liver/Gallbladder govern the tendons and sinews and often influence the muscles and nervous system.  By using acupuncture to stabilize these organs, such symptoms can be resolved.

Sleep
insomnia, excessive dreaming, waking between 1-3am and trouble falling asleep again, nightmares, waking with anxiety

Menstrual and Menopausal symptoms
menstruation imbalances (PMS, irregular cycle, aggravation of menopausal symptoms, cramps), cysts and lumps in reproductive organs and breasts (accumulation of toxins Liver is unable to process), swollen and tender breasts

Other
nail health, addictions to stimulants, fatigue, emotional outbursts, feeling overwhelmed, uptight

If you are experiencing any of these signs and symptoms and would like the help of acupuncture to help them please feel free to contact me by phone or email:
647 726 7789/dhbodhi@gmail.com.

Namaste!
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The latest SHEN show in Stratford at the Yoga Collective for Earth Day was a rousing success! I've been hard at work of late re-designing the whole output to bring in more learning about the chakra model to stretch peoples' imaginations with the ecstatic and liberating notions of our multi-dimensionality offered by this ancient Vedic perspective from India AND to also create a performance of healing sounds using the numinous quartz crystal singing bowls that embraces more participation from attendees so that it's not so much about creating an audience/performer separation but a co-created field of intended healing vibrations. It was fitting to have Earth Day as the time and space for such a rebirth and the powerful, universal intention behind it helped launch the event into new and awesome ground!

This was the first time I presented the chakras to a public audience as my other presentations had been specific to yoga teachers.  It was blessed to see the keen awareness light up as the rainbow-mind of the chakras bullied dualistic notions of black/white into more depth and texture among the audience. I can't emphasize how powerfully healing it is just to simply be aware of the many realms offered by the chakras as a map of consciousness and the journey of the evolving self. The sheer multi-dimensional scope truly positions the human being much closer to its origins which was always in a place of more mystical heritage than the narrow views offered by our modern social conditioning. As the "A-Ha" moments among the throng multiplied as we went through the physiological, psychological, and spiritual associations of each chakra, the emancipation of consciousness was palpable and moving. Afterwards, people came up to me suddenly realizing a particular ache or pain in their body as a signal of a deeper block or issue in their consciousness. They were thrilled to have a new area in which to work with their lives, hopeful to have their own healing placed in their hands with the compass of the chakras to guide them, echoing my beloved Ayurvedic teacher and guide, Luiza Ormonde, who wrote "...the parts of your body that do not work well reflect the parts of your life that do not work well."

This can be a daunting proposition to some and not as simplistic as it might seem to merely draw connections between pain and states of mind and attitudes. Indeed, consciousness as the fundamental energy composing us is at the root of all disease (even genetic or karmically created) but to heal consciousness can be a lifelong work. Healing becomes complex at this juncture as we realize that sometimes we must carry an illness our whole life. However, this need not become a burden or suffering if we choose to work with the imbalance, seeing it as a teacher and even initiator into higher consciousness and evolution of our being. As my Chinese Medicine mentor, Lonny Jarrett, taught me, the physical body is an impermanent vessel designed to eventually break down, perpetually prone to wear and tear. Even the most spiritually adept, he said, have imbalances as we all must come to terms with the imperfections of the material realm. In this sense, death and disease become something different as we acknowledge that of course physical health is something we can work to optimize but perfection is often elusive and not always an indication that the being is virtuous and highly developed consciously. Ultimately, it's our state of mind and heart that is the greatest health we can radiate as it points to the eternal within us. Toward balance we go! Phew! What a tangent!

After the chakras were introduced, we turned off the lights for the arrival of Earth Hour, Michelle, my partner, helping build an atmosphere of candlelit vigil as we attended our connection to the Great Mother. We began by setting an intent that the healing we were going to manifest with the crystal bowls, vocal tonings and a subsequent journeying through the chakras would be not only for the healing of ourselves but also to heal our connection to Mother Earth. I then sang an incantation, calling for Spirit and Creator to be with us and for the spirits of our ancestors to come and cultivate this healing with us.

As we went from bowl to bowl, each one corresponding to a chakra, we sang vowel sounds that also correlated to the chakras, with the intent to resonate our sounds with the  frequencies of the chakras, stimulating and balancing them. We also breathed in the colours of each chakra with every inhale, using the power of creative visualization to expand the healing capacity. I marveled by the collective chorus we made with our voices and how the archetypes and wisdom of each chakra would style the way we sang.  For instance, Manipura, The Solar Plexus Chakra, was filled with the fiery vigour of its nature and the bombast of its intent to help us own and hone our power.  Anahata, The Heart Chakra, almost compelled me to break out into ecstatic chants, as wings blew out from the sides of my chest it seemed.  There was so much love in the tones our voices created. And Sahasrara, The Crown Chakra, seemed to almost be the sounding of a symphony as we struck other bowls in unison to build a finale of epic proportions. As we chanted a few OMs to end, the room was a buzz with rich, salving energy.

To close, Michelle joined me for an improvised "Crystal Hymn" as we offered all attendees a gift of song.  We played a respective bowl each and began our duet, singing whatever sounds presented themselves to us, not merely singing but being sung it seemed. We leaped into high soprano, dived into guttural chants and swung into arias. It was one of the most beautiful experiences of human expression I've encountered and all in the room were deeply grateful for the experience.

As we opened the floor for questions, comments and anything anyone wished to share, I was a tad anxious not knowing how people would take the new design. However, I was immediately mollified as exuberant comments poured forth. People talked of observing colours, describing many palpable healing sensations and cathartic moments, and one friend even took me aside to describe bashfully that he was approached by a spirit who placed its hands on his back. Clearly disturbed by the experience as he's not one normally open to such experiences, I counseled him gently, knowing that it could very well have been the one he'd recently lost. I was amazed at how much Spirit had attended to us.

I look forward to more of such wonderful evenings of sound and healing and already have many, many ideas of how to keep evolving the show for the next event in Stratford at the end of April. There hasn't even been an introduction to Kundalini, the force of evolution latent in the Root Chakra. And I also have plans to incorporate Shaking Medicine, a technique I learned from my two-year work with Bradford Keeney in Creative Transformation Therapy. I'm enlivened and exhilarated to share these powerful healing traditions with people. It's a blessing to serve in this capacity. May the vibrations continue to grow ever sweeter and ever bolder as we all awaken to our true divine heritage, ever-evolving and pushing forward into the greater depths of our being, for the sake of the whole...
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Way 03/26/2010
 
How I weep, silvery tears sighing forth from the gold hidden in my blood; the volcanic vision erupting from the seething dreams of my heart. How I weep, joyously, for being human; for being an ambassador of the One, sent to guide all fragments to come whole. How I weep, knowing the nectar of the very stars whispers ever in my ear the songs that I must sing to enchant the broken world...

The sacred tobacco offering is held high in my shaking fist, as I raise it to Father Sun, down to Mother Earth and beat it to my chest where Heart prepares their wedding day.

On the subway, I come to tears as I fight to stay above this sea of forgetfulness I see in every eye. We are beauty beauty beauty, I wish to cry out, dance out and shake into my human family! But I do not…I imagine great webs of light pouring from luminous orifices along my spine, feeding all souls in this cage…but am I just coping? Am I afraid to act and defy logic? Am I not born to be furious at all this social conditioning, ravaging the wild power clawing at the armour that inhibits the sweet soaring of our souls?!

I skip home. Skipping rocks. It’s a lost spiritual art. When I skip, I forget how high I can leap and how fast I can go, as if the ground were rubbery; a long trampoline christened by my crazy calves. I skip and can’t stop laughing, all the way home.

I am born again ever since I realized that I only came through my mother’s womb: my true parents are divine. And now I am ever child…

There’s much to be done. I have been for so long not on the Way. The way is ever pouring from my heart but my heart has been obscured by superfluous desires and conditioning. I sit still now, wherever I am, even if I’m moving. I want to see this Way and feel it in every thing I do. I want to watch its rays of light pouring out in each heartbeat. I want to disappear in it, say goodbye to I and become a mere conduit for its expression. For I know now, yes I know that all the Way wants to express is that yes things all got split up and scattered, even at harrowing distances that may have taken millennia to cover, but here, now, always, an act of love saves the world from peril. And think of how many you can make in a day: that is its challenge…I open my eyes, the sage burns, the trees flit in the wind. The sky above, the earth below, and I between, a pillar of the universe…yes I open my eyes and see a world waiting to be loved…how long shall we delay?
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On Self-Healing 03/15/2010
 
One of the most profound developments in health in the 21st century is the burgeoning realm of self-healing.  Yet, this is by far not a modern notion and appears novel to some only because the dictum of Western Medicine has for long established the doctor as the authority figure who holds the patient's complete health in their hands.  Thankfully, this perception is evolving.

Self-healing covers a tremendous area of subjects, from something as traditional as nutrition and exercise, to more exotic forms such as yoga,  Tai Chi, meditation and Qi Gong.  Ultimately, the deeper tenet at work here is that health is something we are foremost in control of and we must take responsibility of it so that we do not become victims of illness and other states of dis-ease which can overwhelm us if we're not aware.

It starts with the intention to take care of oneself and the later realization that after realizing the boon of managing one's own health, one can then become a resource to transmit healing wisdom to others.  This becomes especially relevant in the relationship of parent to child.  For the most part, we've grown up ignorant of just how much we can do to improve and maintain our health and our life-force.  This is how the modern system of health-care was set-up.  The goal now is to inform people about how easy it is to engage their health and how truly enriching it is for one's life to know and palpably feel a certain amount of control over our health. 

In Chinese Medicine, the tradition of self-healing emerged in its ancient origins.  I always marveled while living in China how each morning the city was teeming with people in parks going through the fluid forms of Tai Chi, stretching, and partaking in other forms of mind-body-spirit exercise.  It was inspiring and yet disappointing as I reflected back to the West and knew such sighs were a rarity indeed.

I encourage everyone to start to take responsibility for their health and for the vitality to which they exude in their life.  The Internet is a marvelous resource for this.  Nutrition is a great place to start.  One of the adages of Chinese Medicine is that the first attempt of healing is always done with food and it is only when nutrition fails that acupuncture and herbals are administered.  Food is the most abundant medicine we take, every day, three times a day.  Each meal has the potential to create or destroy our life-force.  It's a wonder that many of the degenerative diseases plaguing modern humanity with all its technological marvels are rooted in poor nutritional habits that begin when we're young.  However, simple changes in diet can have seemingly miraculous effects on how we feel day in and out.

Another important facet is exercise.  In the East, the focus however is not on high-energy physical activities that burn fat but on soft exercises such as Tai Chi and Qi Gong which build energy slowly and enduringly.  Many people in the West forget that we have a limited supply of life-force and the key is not to deplete it but cultivate it so that it is constantly glowing with power and able to nourish us with lengthy life spans.  Obsessions with physicality and the bold determinism of individualistic societies often create people who wantonly exercise to the point of sheer exhaustion and then they burn out and wonder why.  Cultivation is key!

Finally, meditation is the long forgotten tonic for a healthy psyche.  A daily meditation practice helps us cure obsessive mind chattering, which is also depleting of our energy, even more so than physical exercise!  Meditation also gets us more in touch with our spiritual nature, giving the wisdom of eternity a chance to bubble forth and nourish us with guidance.  Meditation is essential for a sane life and helps us find a place of stillness where the relentless cycles of emotions and thought cease and we find inner-peace directly emanating from our most innermost reaches.   As spiritual teachers have taught for aeons, meditations gives us a way to understand the true nature of consciousness, which is really all that is!  This can be one of the most empowering experiences of one's life!

Self-healing does not mean we shrug off the guidance of authorities on health.  Health practitioners still are leaders in this realm because of their extensive training and experience.  Yet, by engaging one's health, we can open dialogues with them that make our experiences with them much more fulfilling.  No longer do we feel confronted by mystery and at the power of enigmatic forces of disease that force us to throw our power at the feet of a physician.  Now we can understand better what makes this marvelous life pulse and how to hone the beauty and power of its expression.  I often tell people that there's no better time to be sick because we in our societies we have such a convergence of healing traditions of both ancient and modern design.  Health workshops are constantly running in the city and I urge you to check out what some spaces offer.  Knowledge is power!  Ultimately, by empowering our own lives in such a fashion, we radiate wisdom and strength unto others and partake in a great sharing of love and compassion as we lift each other up and co-create vitality together.  What a beautiful way to live!
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